We've finally solidified our 'twice a decade' trip, to New Zealand - no stopover in Fiji. Will go late October for about 3 weeks, starting and ending in Auckland. Other than that no solid plans yet. I have been once before and enjoyed it ... a little blandly. In my case the old joke, "what's the difference between NZ and yogurt? Yogurt has culture," seemed relatively true, I'm hoping it was my choice of itinerary and not the destination.
So! All comments about NZ, or for that matter about making travel exciting and enjoyable, cheerfully accepted.
Also, we have the layover from hell: nine and a half hours in LAX. Please please please if anyone has good advice for what to do not too far from the airport or how to get there, feel free to contribute! Funny, it's perhaps the one city in the US I'm not comfortable with, too big and sprawly and this perception that if you get stuck somewhere in traffic, it could be for hours.