Hola!! If you missed my last couple posts, then you probably don’t know I’m back in the Southwest after returning from a vacation of a lifetime. My sister-in-law (hi, Laura!!) lives in Australia and we finally made the trip to go visit her and her family. Since we aren’t exactly on that side of the globe often, my husband, kids and I decided to visit nearby New Zealand and Bali, Indonesia as well. We also had extended layovers in Honolulu and Hong Kong. You know, because traveling with kids isn’t hard enough.
I’m going to admit, I did a TERRIBLE job documenting my outfits. I took about a million and one pictures of my kids and the sights, but not of myself. Which if you ask me, is just how it should be on vacation. I also spent a ridiculous amount of time wearing leggings, jean shorts and swimsuits, which isn’t exactly worth sharing with the world.
I’m going to forego most of the usual links to the items I’m wearing in these pictures. I’ll include a few where it makes sense, but if you are curious about something and don’t see a link, either write a comment on the post below or email me (sensibleshopaholic@gmail.com) and I’ll give you the scoop.
Packing for this trip was awful. We had the full range of climates (snow to beach) so I packed a little bit of everything. Here you’ll see two of our carry-on bags. My Tory Burch Dena diaper bag and a Trunki, which we used to pack all the kids’ toys. The Trunki is amazing if you’ve never seen one before. The kids can literally ride on top of it, which was a lifesaver in airports when we checked our stroller. Plus it kept my kids entertained while waiting to board the plane.
Our first stop was Honolulu, Hawaii. We planned a 23 hour layover in Hawaii to break up the long flight overseas for our kids. And you know, a layover in Hawaii wasn’t all bad either. I’ve been to Maui and Kauai before, but this was my first time to Ohau. Since we had just under 24 hours, we hit up the beach and pool before our kids literally passed out trying to find a restaurant for dinner.
The time change was tough, as the kids were up before sunrise. We decided to walk around Waikiki and check out the city. I was shocked to see all the amazing shopping! Too bad it wasn’t even 8am and none of the stores were open. After some more time at the pool, we headed back to the airport.
My go-to travel outfit is always comfy shoes, leggings, t-shirt and a scarf. During winter I also grab a cozy sweater. I spent a lot of time wearing some variation of this outfit on this trip.
Next stop was Auckland, New Zealand. The city was cool and we took a ferry out to Waiheke island. It was a rainy and humid day, but I loved this outfit. My comfy patent linen Toms, leggings, bargain Old Navy t-shirt, jean jacket and a Kendra Scott necklace.
Next up was Queenstown, New Zealand. It was wintertime there and temps were right around freezing. Especially since I didn’t have a ton of suitcase space for a cute puffy coat, I went with an old North Face ski coat that packed down really small. It was function over fashion for this portion of the trip.
I was excited to bring back out my favorite buffalo plaid shirt from this past winter. Paired with booties, jeans and a tassel scarf, I was right on trend in New Zealand.
We took an 8 person plane to the Milford Sound and went out on a boat cruise. This was one of the coolest experiences I’ve had in ages. Admittedly, that tiny airplane made me nervous flying over the mountains, but it was worth it when we found a huge pack of dolphins while cruising down the sound. The dolphins rode the wake of the boat for about 10 minutes, all while we captured a few once-in-a-lifetime videos. Absolutely amazing.
Queenstown was breathtakingly beautiful and reminded me a lot of a little ski town. We also ate at the world renowned Fergburger, because calories don’t count on vacation, right?!
Next stop was Sydney, Australia. We only had a day in Sydney and this picture was taken about 3 minutes before it started dumping rain. My kids loved playing on the Opera house steps and we took another boat cruise to check out the harbor. I wish we had more time there to explore the surrounding towns and beaches.
However, we couldn’t have been more excited to get to Perth, Australia. That is where my sister-in-law lives and we had a blast seeing their lives down under. I think the highlight was visiting a wildlife park where you can feed and pet live kangaroos. I can’t explain how cool this experience was and how nice the ‘roos were. We also got to pet a koala and take a picture with a wombat.
My tassel tank is from Old Navy.
The beach in Perth was gorgeous and we had perfect fall weather the entire time we were there (70 and sunny). I could have lounged on that patch of grass and watched the waves crash all day.
Leggings are Athleta and Tory Burch flip flops.
I’ll admit, it was REALLY hard to leave Perth, but Bali, Indonesia was up next. We spent 5 nights in Bali and it was absolutely spectacular. The people were as nice as can be and the scenery was gorgeous. This was the one part of the trip where we were pretty lazy and spent most days by the pool. We did get dressed up a few times for dinner, though. My dress above is by Vineyard Vines, necklace is Kendra Scott and sandals are Tory Burch.
We hired a professional photographer while we were in Bali to take a few family shots. We’ve done this on vacation before and I think it is the best souvenir you can buy. I love pictures and we will have these memories of our family for the rest of our lives. We haven’t received the edited pictures yet, so this is an unedited shot straight off the photographer’s camera. The shot was taken at our hotel.
I wouldn’t exactly call Bali a fashion mecca, but there were some really cute items in the local shops for dirt cheap. I bought a couple tassel necklaces for 40,000 Indonesian Rupiah (right around $3 USD). I honestly wish I would have bought a few more for that price!!!
You can see my black tassel necklace here, not that anyone would notice since there is a GIANT LION about 10 feet away from me. Zoos are a little different over there, that’s for sure. There was no glass or anything in between me and the lion. He was chained up and appeared super calm, which honestly made me a little sad for the poor guy. However, I was shaking in my jean shorts as I walked up to take this picture. Don’t mind the dorky sticker we had to wear while in the zoo!
Our best route to get back to the US was through Hong Kong. We had a 14 hour layover there and I wish we had more time to explore. We did grab lunch and walked around the enormous Times Square mall in Causeway Bay. We planned to take a gondola up to see the city, but it was dumping rain that morning. I’m still glad we were table to take a taxi into the city, even if it was only for a few hours.
I’m back in the States and for the most part, recovered from the jet lag. The picture above shows a couple of my Indonesian fashion finds. I found my shorts in a little shop in Bali for right around $5 and my necklace was $3. Just because I’m on vacation, doesn’t mean I stopped looking for a deal.
Like I said, it was a trip of a lifetime. Really tough at times since we had two toddlers with us, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Have you ever been to any of these destinations?
