06/25/2026
When telling friends and family that you signed up for an international trip where you don't know where you are going? Looks of amazement. Rolled eyes. So. Many. Questions.
Itās difficult to explain why, and I believe I have answered it differently any time someone asked me.
When distilling it down to a few things, it makes sense to most-
1. I trust the people planning it implicitly
2. I have known them for years, and theyāve done this before where everyone who went raved about it
3. Thereās soooo much I have to plan working as a planner in my job-job and leader in MPI ā itās nice to not have to think about any details (other than the terrible packing job I did not knowing where we were headed!)
Weāve been back for several weeks and Iām only now getting a chance to write about it because (busy, and), quite simply, Iām still not sure of the impact it has / will have on me. I know I made friends and enjoyed this incredible experience with everyone.
Going on a ābusiness tripā where you do talk about business, while on a crazy adventure that went wayyyyy too fast is a (literal) trip! Not a single detail was left out. I highly recommend it.
And, I will absolutely do it again, given the opportunity!
NEW ZEALAND was the live-broadcasted revealed destination at a hotel in L.A. at about 2pm, and we headed out on a 10pm flight. It truly is remarkable how the secret was kept for two years with so many people being in on it ā kudos to everyone in and on the team (+ ) for keeping it under wraps.
If Iām honest, I have also been feeling a bit like I didnāt bond quite as strongly as some seemed to have with each other. Now, I'm trying to give myself some grace after the really hard time I had in the two month lead-up to the trip, but itās how Iām feeling, nonetheless. It is both kind of a blur and also something I wish I could do-over with a better mindset. When Iām more āmyself.ā
I have been seeing so many notes and photos posted of many of the group gathering around the world since we all got back on May 8th and Iām a bit jealous!
I look forward to reuniting with as many of my NZ SFR pals as possible in the coming months, years ā especially this smaller āAdventure Junkieā subset of the group of 50!
We took a walk in fall in Glenorchy, NZ, and I managed to get all 15 of us in a āgroupieā (everyone else looks so happy and cute!)ā¦ smack in the middle of what was a wild five days.
Thank you, Liz, Nicole, other Nicole, Natalie, Sarah, Betsy, Eli, and oh so many more for making this experience of a lifetime a true experience of a LIFETIME!
(I'm hoping to do better with this TT post series again!)
