A Whole Closet of Clothes...

San Francisco, CA USA

February 8, 2008
N 37°48.049
W 122°24.580

There have been a lot of firsts over the past few days as we settle back into our lives again. I don’t know if I should really call them “firsts,” we have done them before, but not in the past year or so. For example, we considered ourselves runners before we left on the trip, but another pair of shoes, running shoes, would have taken up more space in our packs—they didn’t make the cut. Now that we are home we plan on running again and that first run is going to hurt!

The other big thing over the past few days is wearing non-travel clothes. Every time I look in my closet it feels like shopping, a lot of it seems new and exciting. Wednesday night was the first time in over a year we have been able to enjoy San Francisco in non-travel clothes and non-travel mode. As I was getting ready, I went to my closet, looked through several sweaters, shirts, shoes, and pants before making a selection. I sat there thinking, “this all seems like new stuff to me, but I wonder if it is even fashionable to wear.” It was hard to believe all the clothes; especially after traveling for a year with 4 shirts, 2 pants and a couple sweaters. It was a little overwhelming.

I have never been a cover girl for Vogue in terms of fashion, and in the past year I knew I was far from fashionable with my blue fuzzy fleece (Marc called it my Cookie Monster sweater and would always follow with a growl of AHHHH, Cookieeee!), burgundy sweater and my red, brown and beige hat. In fact, in big cities I was a little self conscious of my get-up, and I was ready to put that behind me.

I pulled on a light blue sweater, jeans and some heels. After my shower, I put on eye shadow, mascara, eyeliner… the whole nine yards. I was even able to blow dry my hair and some what style it. I laughed a few times as I wobbled in my heels as we headed out the door. It was a surreal experience after being away for a year.

The night was a lot of fun. We were able to catch up with old friends, eat great food and drink good wine. It was a perfect night in San Francisco and it felt good to be home.

More Lists...

Best Coffee

1. Hanoi, Vietnam
2. Bilbao, Spain
3. Buenos Aires, Argentina
4. Positano, Italy
5. Dalat, Vietnam

A Room with a View

1. Hvar Island Apartments, Croatia. We had a view of the castle, harbor, marble promenade along the sea, and the Adriatic Sea. The sunsets were amazing from our balcony.
2. Bayview, Koh Phi Phi Don, Thailand. The bungalows are terraced into the hillside, giving each room a view from the balcony. At night we would sit on the balcony, read, drink a cold beer and stare out at the Andaman Sea as longboats chugged by.
3. Pensione Maria Luisa, Positano, Italy. The city is built on a cliff that gradually goes down to the water at about a 13% grade. Since we didn’t have anything obstructing our view we had spectacular views of the Tyrranian Sea from our balcony.
4. Pension San Sebastian, Spain. When we walked into our room, we looked straight out at the Bay of Biscay. This was great until the sea turned angry and tore out the balcony below us overnight and knocked on our window a few times. It might have been too close for comfort.
5. Marriott Marquis, New York City, USA. Even though we were using Marriott reward points we lucked out by being upgraded to a room that overlooked Times Square. It was a lot of fun watching the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks battle it out on the JumboTron.

Things We Take For Granted

1. Flushing toilet paper down the toilet
2. Paper napkins instead of waxed paper
3. Stop signs and other means of traffic control
4. Ice
5. Tap water—not only for drinking, but for brushing your teeth too.
6. Black pepper. This is completely non-existent in Chile. It is hard to come by in Argentina, but some places do have it if you ask.
7. Picking up our cell phone and calling home without mortgaging our house.
8. Enjoying the scenery while walking down sidewalks instead of dodging the various piles of dog poop!
9. Wearing perfume instead of DEET!
10. Fresh Water showers

International Headlines for 2007 (what we saw when we had CNN)

1. Myanmar Protests
2. Bhutto Assassination and Pakistan politics
3. Trapped Miners in Utah
4. Disappearance of Madeline McCann in Portugal
5. Iranian President Amadinajad speaks at Columbia University
6. Paris Hilton goes to jail. Paris Hilton gets out of jail. Paris goes back to jail (do we care?)
7. San Francisco Oil Spill
8. Kenya Elections go south, riots breakout
9. Britney Spears melts down, loses her kids
10. Maradona hospitalized in Buenos Aires
11. South Africa wins Rugby World Cup
12. OJ Arrested in Las Vegas sports memorabilia armed robbery
13. US Sub-prime mortgage crisis
14. Dow Jones Tops 14,000
15. Tiger Mauls kid in San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day
16. Australia wins Cricket World Cup
17. Michael Vick Arrested for Dog Fighting Ring
18. Chinese Toy Recalls
19. Marion Jones Confesses to Doping, loses medals
20. Al Gore wins Nobel Peace Prize
21. Oil Hits $100 a barrel
22. Anna Nicole Smith found dead. Who is the Baby Daddy of little Dannilyn?

Wanna See Some Pictures?

Do you want to see the best-of-the-best pictures from our travels?

If so, we’ll be running through the Top 1000 shots from our journey on February 29^th. The big screen TV’s at Giordano Brothers will be rolling, a special music-mix will be rockin’, Happy Hour will be in session, and G’Bros famous sandwiches will be hot!

We would love to meet everyone that followed our journey over the past year; those we know and those of you we don’t. Everyone is welcome! So make plans to celebrate leap year in the City by the Bay.

We’ll see you at Giordano Brothers
February 29th at 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
303 Columbus Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94133

Pod People...

San Francisco, CA USA

February 5, 2008
N 37°48.049
W 122°24.580

Today was a big day for us. Our “pod” was delivered and we had to move back into our place. It was an interesting process—both the delivering of the pod and the thoughts going through our heads. The good thing was we worked as a team and got the job done.

Let me back up one day. We arrived home on Monday after spending the weekend in Sacramento retrieving our car, watching the Super Bowl, making a stop at Lowes, and grabbing a bunch of miscellaneous items at my Dad’s house. After unpacking our car, we walked around the house preparing stuff for the delivery of our pod. This is the surprising part… Marc and I fought more in a single afternoon then we did our ENTIRE trip.

Being home feels great, but at the same time I think both of us have a lot of pent-up anxiety, uncertainty and mixed emotions about being home. It was strange, 72 hours earlier we were travelers; navigating our way around the world, unfamiliar territory at every corner. After several “interesting” exchanges throughout the day, we looked at each other and asked what the heck is going on? In the end, we kissed and made up, but it was a frustrating day.

Today, we started by casting our ballots, grabbing coffee at Trieste, then returning home to wait for the pod. When the delivery men arrived at 9:00 AM, the street in front of our house was chaos. A large PG&E truck was double parked a half block up the street, there was a cable guy blocking one side of the street in front of our house, an AT&T truck with men working on the poles next door, a taxi driver being scolded by a police officer, and then the cabbie tried to stop in the exact spot the pod was being dumped.

The pod was coming up the street on a forklift, the cabbie was backing up, honking cars were creeping up the street and we stood there in amazement laughing. It couldn’t have been crazier if we planned it.

As soon as our pod was dropped at the curb we threw the door open and started unloading. We unloaded a total of 36 boxes, 4 wardrobe boxes, a BBQ, deck chairs and a bunch of miscellaneous items that we didn’t even remember packing a year ago. It took us about an hour, and at least a dozen trips up the elevator, to empty the contents of the crate. After everything was unloaded we tackled the kitchen and then our closets. We steadily worked until 5:30 PM, leaving ten boxes for the following day.

We did have a few surprises throughout the day. Plus, we were even lucky enough to find a rotary cheese grater with a big chunk of moldy parmesan cheese still in it. I noticed a little yellow on the outside of the grater and said, “There better not be cheese in here.” Sure enough, I opened the grater, and dumped out a few ripe chunks.

As we unpacked box after box we were amazed at how much stuff we have. We questioned why we need all of this stuff. We lived quite comfortably for a year with only what we could fit in our backpacks. We survived without sharp knives, a Cuisinart, dozens of sweaters, and numerous pairs of pants, shirts and shoes… do we really need all this stuff?

I guess that’s the question we’ll have to answer over the next few months as we adjust to old our lives back in San Francisco.

Historic Sites/Cities

1. Angkor Wat (Siem Reap, Cambodia)
2. Normandy, France
3. Washington DC
4. Rome, Italy
5. Taj Mahal (Agra, India)

Thanks for Meeting Us (whoops…we only had four)

1. Shelby and Dustin (twice)
2. Bob and Teddy
3. Pat and Randy
4. Elise
   

Funniest Stories

1. Massage in Vietnam with Teddy
2. Delhi Run Around…
3. What a Pisser…
4. Close Call at Abel Tasman
5. I Want to Get Arrested…
   

Best Sunsets

1. Montanita, Ecuador
2. Hvar Island, Croatia
3. Koh Phi Phi Don, Thailand
4. Halong Bay, Vietnam
5. Mumbai, India

Home...

San Francisco, CA USA

February 2, 2008
N 37°48.049
W 122°24.580

After 1 year and 3 days traveling through 99 cities in 23 countries, we are officially home. Currently, I am sitting at our dining room table thinking about our good fortune.

We traveled through five continents, including North America, and never once had anything stolen, no major injuries, or were faced with a hostile or life threatening situation. Okay, maybe there were several white-knuckle bus rides, near misses with scooters, a memorable trip from Agra to Delhi, and lets not forget our favorite… the bus ride in Ecuador.

For some reason people excitedly ask, “So did you get sick?” It’s unfortunate; I think many people are afraid of traveling because they’re afraid of getting sick. However, as long as you’re cautious; don’t drink the water, keep your hands and nails clean, don’t eat fruits or veggies washed in water, and eat fresh hot food, we really believe the chances of getting a food born illness is slim. So did we get sick… outside of a couple coughs and colds we had the pleasure of hosting a mild case of the Big D Shuffle, in Cambodia.

I can now safely take off my St. Christopher necklace (thanks Vosti), knowing I am safely home. I am proud to say we traveled without incident. I couldn’t say these words two days ago, or our plane might have crashed into the Pacific Ocean.

It feels great to be home even though it doesn’t really feel like home yet. Our “pod,” or storage unit, containing all of our material belongings arrives on Tuesday, and then the process of reassembling our home begins. In addition to unpacking our personal items, we have to make some minor repairs; nothing big, just minor things that need attention after renting our house for a year. As our friend Scott said, as long as we didn’t find any bullet holes in the walls or dead hookers in the closets, it was worth a trip around the world.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It has been over a year since our final cleaning frenzy when tears flowed freely from my eyes, excited about our impending adventure; however, scared at the same time, unsure of our immediate future, afraid of the unknown. We knew we had planned well, meticulously well, but sometimes in life you’re thrown a curve ball. We knew there would be curve balls along the way, things out of our control, and those are the things that scared us.

The past year has been incredible. At times I felt like I was removed from my body, floating above, not really sure if I was living out this dream. We saw incredible sites, learned an unbelievable amount about the world, ourselves and each other.

Most importantly, as a couple we grew closer than ever, counting on each other every single day, always working together to find our way. Of course there were a few disagreements, raised voices, idle threats of returning home, but in the end we pulled together, solved the problems at hand and had incredible year.

We want to thank our family and friends who supported us along the way. In some cases we received emails from home with work updates, parents picked up our mail and we were lucky enough to have people visit us along the way. Everyone was instrumental in helping us realize our dream. Thank you!

So what next? We plan to keep on Blogging over the next few weeks; documenting our reentry period, tossing out a few more Top 5 Lists, simply winding down and preparing for a public picture showing. Keep in touch… we’ll make sure to post all details surrounding dates, times, and locations.

Also, I’ve decided I will continue to write and post at least once a month. The posts will most likely be related the best city in the world, San Francisco.

Most Difficult City to Navigate Even with a Map & Compass

1. Venice, Italy
2. Vienna, Austria
3. Hanoi, Vietnam
4. Genoa, Italy
5. Tokyo, Japan

Our Favorite People We Met Along the Way

1. Roger Vanderbeek (on the bus from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales)
2. Sara Patterson (roomed with Elise on junk boat in Halong Bay, Vietnam)
3. Miles and Ben (Elise’s buddies in Sydney, Australia)
4. Jef and Irna (in a pub in Brugges, Belgium)
5. Carline and Di (on the roof of our guesthouse in Positano)
6. Mr. and Mrs. Ito (showed us around Tokyo)
   

Best Books We Read Along the Way

1. “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair
2. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kensey
3. “Angela’s Ashes” by Frank McCourt
4. “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen
5. “Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides

Best Restaurants

1. El Boliche de Alberto—Bariloche, Argentina. We were able to watch our steak being cooked at this incredible steak house. The beef in Argentina is some of the best we have ever had. We made a second trip to this place since the first night was so incredible.
2. Lobster Street Side—Nha Trang, Vietnam. We had fabulous lobster grilled on the street with a tasty lime sauce. At 180,000 dong per Kilo the lobster was a real bargain. We sat on the street on the preschool table and chairs slurping every last bite of lobster out of the shell.
3. Café de Amis—Hoi An, Vietnam. This restaurant had a fixed menu each night. We were able to order seafood, vegetarian or meat. Since there were five of us we were able to try all three!
4. Osteria de Benci—Florence, Italy. This is where I had my favorite meal in Italy. The classic bistecca alla fiorentina served on top of fresh arugula with the perfect amount of pecorino shaved on top was fantastic. I don’t typically eat a lot of red meat, but this large t-bone steak was so good I was practically gnawing at the bone when I finished. This place was recommended by a friend of mine who visited Florence two weeks before us.
5. Restaurante Ze Manel—Coimbra, Portugal. The especialidad do casa, or special of the house, is feijoada a leitao, a stew of beans and suckling pig. I ordered the special, while Marc ordered a variation with rice and meat on the side. Our dishes arrived in large soup bowls with ladles. Mine had a side of rice and Marc’s a side tray of meat soaked in olive oil and garlic, pleasant aromas instantly filled our table.