See You in June!

We left.

Now we're in Los Angeles hanging out at our friends Anne and Brett's house while we wait for tonight's flight to Costa Rica to meet my parents, brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and niece. This flight should provide us with some small laughable attempt at rest after a couple weeks of non-stop movement. Yes, we're exhausted from trying to take a vacation. It's sad, but quite true. I'm sure any parents visiting this blog will likely chortle at our need for more than 4 hours of sleep at a time, but we're weak I guess.

Maybe our weakness isn't so surprising considering that in the last few weeks, we've been hemorrhaging money at an alarming rate. REI not only has much of our money, I'm pretty sure they also own some common stock in our souls. At least our souls will be comfortable in their quick dry underwear. The funny thing about all of the shopping is that Laura and I now look like his and hers travelers. Our bags are the same but in different colors. All of our clothes are basically the same (though I like my dresses more). Right now, we're even each wearing zip-off cargos and fleeces. It's so cute I feel like vomiting.

Some of you know the itinerary, some don't. So for those that haven't gotten cornered yet, here's your introduction to where we'll be wandering. As mentioned previously, our first stop will be Costa Rica where we'll be for 10 days. From there we fly back through Los Angeles where we'll visit Disneyland in the hopes it can drain our energy enough that we'll sleep the entire way to Fiji, where we'll stay for 9 days in the Yasawas.

After lounging on the beaches long enough to become a hitherto unseen of shade of red, we’ll fly to Australia to see Andy Ross, a friend since third grade, get married. Congrats buddy! From there we hop quickly up to Hong Kong, a city I've wanted to see for a long time. Denny Chiu was nice enough to give us plenty of suggestions as well as some things to shout at merchants. If I get stabbed the first time I shout something, I guess I'll know I've been duped.

From Hong Kong we move to Bangkok, Thailand where we'll stay for three days before moving up to Chang Mai, Thailand for four more days. We then fly to Luang Prabang, Laos for 6 days before jetting into Hanoi, Vietnam. We'll hang out in that area for a bit before meandering down the coast to Ho Chi Minh City on a train. We’ll be in Vietnam for two weeks total before moving up to Siem Riep in Cambodia where we’ll make sure to stop and see Angkor Wat. We’ll then fly down to Phuket and hang out on the Thai beaches for about a week.

Once we leave that part of the world, we’ll be flying into Dubai where we’ll throw hundred dollar bills at each other in celebration of our arrival into the consumerist holy land. We’ll try to make it to at least one of the other emirates and perhaps even Oman. After we’re completely broke, we’ll head over to Johannesburg, South Africa and get ready for our 5 week overland truck trip. That trip will begin at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and take us through Namibia, Botswana, back to southern Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho, and end up in South Africa again at Cape Town. You can see the trip’s route for yourself if you like by visiting the Dragoman overland tour website. We’ll be hitting up all kinds of awesomeness on that trip. Assuming we’re not devoured by any of the local fauna (which many of you know I’m actually quite terrified of no matter how unlikely that outcome is), I’m sure it’ll be one of the best experiences of the trip.

From there it’s back to the US via London and Dublin. We’ll fly into Boston to stay with some friends and then putter around the New England area for a while where we can hopefully locate and cripple Tom Brady. We’ll then zip on down the coast on a train to North Carolina to see more friends before taking off to Kentucky for the Adams family reunion where we’ll be happy to see family though I’m guessing we’ll also unfortunately be exhausted. Any family members reading this should know that they’re quite welcome to pamper us in exchange for more travel stories.

From there, it’s home to a jobless existence and a little bit of relaxation before plunging headfirst back into the grind. We’re hoping society has installed soft and fluffy pillows on the grind by then.

Once we have some time and some pictures to share we’ll update you all on our adventures.

Tally ho,

Dan & Laura