An Idea of what we will be doing in Nepal

As I was doing some research about Nepal and where to buy travel books, I decided to look up some videos about the Annapurna Circuit Trek we will be doing there and found this little gem. 

The trek will take us about 25 days with about 7 days of prep. It is said to be one of the best places to hike in the world. Hopefully when we are done, we will have our own video like this!

Seeing friends

We would like to say thanks to Saskia, Sohail, Brittany, and her roommates for giving us a play to stay....and food!

Walking around on Princeton

Practice trip

So this mini trip to DC and Philadelphia has been very informative. We have figured out some things we need to improve on and tweak before the big trip so I'm glad we were able to do this! Check out this cathedral on princeton's campus!
-A little more on the practice trip, we did learn a lot of important things on this trip and the most important thing was what to pack and what not to pack. We only had our back about 2/3rd full but it did let us know about how much space we have and how heavy we would like our bags to be. A 30lbs bag might get old after having it on for a few days. We also had a great time getting to know the train, bus, plane, subway, taxi, and car rental of DC, which helped us a lot learn about what might and might not work with our bags. Once we start going we will set up another "how-to-pack and travel" blog and share our ups and downs of living out of a bag!

Early lessons!

Ashley getting ready in the train because the morning alarm never went off! Lesson learned = Always have two alarms set!

Mini vacation!!

So here we are in Baltimore waiting on our train to DC. We had a choice of two tickets for $28 or wait an hour for two tickets at $12. Which do you think we chose??? The backpacker mindset is already setting in! We are off the DC and then Philly to visit friends and family.... Should be a blast!!

60 Days!

Well, the trend looks like we are going to update every ten days until we leave. A few new things have happened. Ashley has gotten 1/2 of the shots she needs and is now working on the rest. I will be getting the last shot I need through the VA for free. Not a bad deal! We are starting to pack the last of our belongings and getting them ready for storage. We will also be going up to DC next week to get our China visa. Unless you want to pay someone $200 to do if for you you have to go to the Chinese Embassy to get the visa. For $200 we can get a round trip ticket to DC.... so we decided to go ourselves and take a small vacation... before our big vacation. Also getting ready to sell the car and working on changing banks. We went with USAA because they have very low charges for using your ATM card overseas. They also reimburse a little bit of the ATM fee from the other bank. Other than that we secured a place to stay in Bocas Panama and are looking into scuba classes for Ashley. Should be fun! 

70 Days!

It's now 70 days until we leave!  I've gotten a few immunizations...still some more to go.  Derek is getting some next week!  We have secured an apartment for 2 weeks in Bocas del Toro....what a wonderful place to spend some time!  It's a great little studio and will be perfect for us while we get used to life on the road!  I'll also get my diving certification there so Derek and I can go on a few dives!  Can't wait for takeoff!   ~Ashley

80 Days and Counting!

Well, we are down to 80 days until we leave now. Things are starting to get a little busy and we are starting to do the mundane uninteresting things that come with planing a large trip like this. First we had to get visas. That's always interesting but we were able to get out India and Vietnam visas all worked out. To get our China Visa we will have to go to DC and most likely wait in line all day just for the chance to asked what the process is to get their visa. In the end it will be worth it though!

The next big thing on our "to do" list is to find out about shots and immunizations, which is a pain because they are NOT cheap. Right now we are both scrambling to get them done before we leave without paying over a $1000 for the two of us to get immunized. Good news its that the shots for Ashley (at least some of them) are covered by the new health care act and her insurance company. 

Other than that, most of our shopping is done and soon we will be packing everything we own into boxes and start learning how to live out of a small bag long term! 

India Visa!

The Real Countdown!

We are now at 92 days until we leave!!  It's amazing how fast the time goes by. Before we know it we will have less than 2 months to go!  We have accomplished a lot these past few weeks...tickets are bought (except for the trip back to the states!), planning hostels for Panama, buying lots of fun of gear/clothes/gadgets  (we'll see how many actually get used haha).  Check back in soon for more details!