The Dream Trip

So it's time to tell the world where in the world we'd love to go. This list is the dream list, so don't be making fun of us for over-extending ourselves, or for being ridiculous to think that we could hit up all of these places without going insane. We ARE going insane, that's why we're doing this! Well, that and we want to see certain parts of the world before we have babies. We're trying to pack in as much as we can without feeling like we need a vacation from our vacation. And even then, we'll probably need to take a vacation from our vacation, as traveling is extremely stressful, and traveling in hard-to-get-to-places is even more stressful. So consider this the dream, rather than the plan:

December 22-29: Family Trip in warm location TBA
December 29: Fly to Buenos Aires
January 3/4: travel to Mendoza
January 5-6: celebrate with Roni and Cindy and their families!
January 7: Fly to Chile?
January 12: Fly to Thailand
January 13-Feb 1: Travel through Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos
February 2: Fly to Sri Lanka to see Upeka!
February 7: Fly to Southern India
February 8-March 14: Travel through India
March 15: Fly to Israel?
March 16-25: Travel through Israel?
March 26: Boat to Greece
March 27-April 24: travel through Europe
April 25: Home!!! (wherever that is!)

So...whattdya think? Is this ridiculous? Okay, maybe a little. The places with question marks represent those place that we might not get to, in the spirit of spending more time in other places, or in the spirit of getting home earlier to find/start gainful employment. Ah, gainful employment.

There are other places that we'd tossed around, and some of them might make it back onto the list in the spirit of adventure. They are:

1. Machu Picchu in Peru -- one of Andy's favorite places, and thus, one of the places Lizzi must see
2. Easter Island -- cool, very cool, an Andy suggestion
3. All of Australia -- a place Matt desperately wants to visit. I think that we can visit there with kids, which is the reason that it's not on the list this time around. Plus, there's some talk of a certain brother and sister-in-law maybe living there for a bit at some point and doing some amazing doctoring thing.
4. All of New Zealand -- a place that Matt desperately wants to visit. Again, I think we can visit there with kids, when we go to visit the brother and sister-in-law. We'll make it to Oz!
5. Antarctica -- this is NOT Lizzi's idea. She will go along with it AT SOME POINT.
6. All of Africa, particularly Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, South Africa, and Madagascar -- there's just SO much to see in Africa, that we figure that it will warrant a separate trip. It's a place we plan to visit later in our lives.

So that's the dream in a nutshell. Here's hoping we can make it happen!

Gear and Stuff to Do

For the past couple of weeks, I've been carrying around a list of the things that I think we need to either buy for our trip, or just not forget to bring with us. I realized this morning that I could just post it (the novelty!) so that it would be around on ye olde Internet for when I need it next. Brilliant!

What we need to buy/bring:
Backpacking Packs -- that's as opposed to hiking packs
Shoes -- super sturdy day hiking shoes + sandals
Quick-dry towels

Lightweight Jackets -- that will also keep us warm when we hit winter

Ponchos

Eating Utensils + Bowls

Digital Waterproof Watches

Sleep sacks

TSA approved locks

Emergency First Aid Kit

Bug Repellent

Pens and Paper -- to give out to people who don't usually have pens and paper

Motion bands for motion sickness

Toilet Paper

Wet Wipes

Hand Sanitizer

Prescriptions

Melatonin to help with sleep adjustment

Benadryl to help with sleep adjustment

Camera -- Matt's in charge of buying a new camera that's actually small. He's psyched.

Laptop/Pocket PC?

Cell Phone?

Stuff to Skype with?

Plug Adapters

Extra Passport Pics for both

Some Clothes -- longer skirts/dressyish pants for Lizzi, zip-off pants for both of us, bathing suits

Nonoffensive tshirts that we're cool with throwing away when we get back

Things we need to do:
Finalize our will
Square away our Life Insurance -- make sure we've named appropriate beneficiaries
Deal with our cats
Put our crap in storage
Deal with our bills
Pay our taxes
Get Vaccines -- ouch!
Get a New Passport for Lizzi
Get Travel Insurance

We Are Buzz Lightyear

Dear Internet,

We're going on a trip. A really big trip. And right now, in the planning stages, we're supposed to tell as many people as we possibly can, so that we can make the whole thing feel more real. It's kind of like the way people tell as many people as possible about a non-threatening surgery, just to reassure themselves that it is, indeed, non-threatening. So, Interweb, we're telling you. Except, of course, we're keeping it semi-secret for now so that we don't get fired from our current jobs, or not hired for other jobs that we might want. So Interweb, keep this trip thing on the DL, okay?

Cool, thanks.

We're also supposed to be saving money. So far, that isn't fun and it also isn't feasible, seeing as we don't have a whole lot of money to save. We're cool with that, though, because we (read: Lizzi) thinks that as long as we can pay our bills, we can go on this trip. And guess what? There's ALWAYS a way to pay your bills, even if it means selling organs! Kidding, of course.

So, without further ado:

The trip: the "plan" is to circumnavigate the world in 3-4 months. If it sounds absurd, that's because it IS absurd. Right now the "plan" includes South America, East Asia, India, maybe Israel, and parts of Europe. I have absolutely no idea whether we can do all of that in 3-4 months. That's why it's just a "plan" and not a plan. We'll get there, to the actual plan part, I'm sure of it. We'll have lots of help along the way, too. There will be smartypants writers who moonlight as travel agents, physicians who have seen a lot of the world already, a lawyer from Oklahoma who spent many many nights getting drunk in East Asia, no shortage of blogs, and lots and lots of books that will be too heavy to take on the actual trip. In the meantime, we get to keep talking and talking and talking about it to anyone who will listen. Especially those of you who don't think that we'll actually go through with it.

Your job: Keep reading, keep supporting! Give us lots and lots of suggestions. Remind us to be careful, even though we already know that. Remind us that it's really COOL to take time out of our lives to do this trip, not just really crazy. In fact, flat out tell us that we're not crazy. Request presents from various parts of the world! Help us shop at REI for lightweight but durable clothing, and for indestructable packs. Remind me that I don't need 15 pairs of underwear. And of course, when we're actually on the trip and we Skype with you from the middle of nowhere, remind us that you're just half a world away, and that's not that far, really.

Our job: when we're on the trip, our job will be to keep ourselves safe and happy and healthy, and keep you updated so that you know that we're safe and happy and healthy. Above all else, our job will be to have the experience of a lifetime together (hooray for together!), and to remember as many moments of it as we can, so that we can re-live the experience for years and years to come and encourage our (future) children to become hippies. Right now, our biggest job is to get ourselves more excited and less nervous.

So dear Interweb, I leave you with that for now. And by Interweb, I mean Matt, since he's the only one who can check this site right now. Let's get to it, people! To infinity and beyond!

love,
lizzi