When my finacé and I decided to go to New Zealand from the United States for our honeymoon, we knew we needed some expert assistance to make it happen. We had both traveled internationally only in a limited capacity, and trying to build yet another spreadsheet to plan this trip with all the other wedding planning did not sound appealing.

So we reached out to MacKenzie, the owner of The Departure Co. She was incredibly responsive, and we were on the phone making plans less than 24 hours after I reached out. We let her know what vibe we were going for, generally which areas we were interested in visiting, and the budget we were working with. A few days later she had drawn up an entire itinerary with reference numbers, help lines, and tons of vendors to pick from! All we had to do was pick which ones we wanted! As a Type A traveler, I'm used to being the one doing all the research and figuring out all the logistics of our trips. This was INCREDIBLE! It was a dream come true.

Then, of course, the coronavirus hit. We had tons of questions about things like trip insurance, travel restrictions, and quarantine orders. Luckily our trip is still out a ways and not an immediate problem, but MacKenzie got back to us immediately with a ton of reassuring information and we got on another call to hash things out. There is no one I could trust more in this time of stress and uncertainty to make sure we are completely taken care of and at ease.

MacKenzie was extremely helpful every step of the way of the way. We approached her with no plan of what we wanted to do & just a destination; she found us the perfect hotel, vineyards, excursions. We received exclusive benefits at the hotel for booking through MacKenzie that definitely heightened the experience of our stay. We’re already looking into our next adventure and can’t wait to take advantage of The Departure’s extensive resources!