BY JUSTINO I got home 2 weeks ago today, but still have not adjusted to day to day life off the road. After 27 flights (San Diego to Houston to DC to Newark to San Francisco to Newark to London to Newark to Beijing to Hong Kong to Guangshou to Saigon to Hoi An to Saigon to Singapore to Sydney to Wellington to Aukland to Wellington to Melbourne to Singapore to Kuala Lumpur to Phuket to Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur to Beijing to Newark to San Diego) totaling 46,631 miles, and thousands more driving across Australia and New [View Full Entry]

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By Justino After three months in Wellington there are alot of things I'll miss. Here's my top ten: 10. The smell from the cookie shop on Lambton Quay 9. Walking along Oriental Beach at night 8. The view over the city from Boulcott Suites 7. The accordion guy on Cuba street 6. Sundried tomato hummus from New World 5. The Recliners at the Four Kings Bar 4. Habit Gymnasium 3. The Gold Lounge at Reading Cinemas 2. Kids jumping off the docks 1. My students at Old Vic Goodbye Windy City... xxxxxxx jb [View Full Entry]

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by Justino Easter break at the law school allowed us to take a family trip to the New Zealand South Island. It started with a beautiful 3 hour ferry trip across the Cook Strait from Wellington to Picton where we picked up a rental car. We then drove to Nelson where we stayed in an old English cottage with wooden beam and brick construction. The place looked four hundred years old, but it was actually built 6 years ago out of recycled materials. From Nelson we drove down the spectacular West Coast, which may have knocked the drive around the Big [View Full Entry]

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ZACK - I spent my 14th birthday flying over the Tasman Sea. I spent most of the time sleeping on the plane ride over here. My mom got me a box of Begian chocolate from the "Duty Free" store in the airport, along with an ice cold bottle of sprite. These sound like the birthday gifts of a 60 year old Swiss woman, but I was greatful nonetheless. When our plane reached Wellington, we noticed that the entire sea looked like angry little wrinkles on the face of the ocean. It was super windy, and that was causing a lot of [View Full Entry]

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BY JUSTINO To lead this nation onward and to glorify and grace the land. Its voices echo down the years -the voices of the pioneers. In my experience, the spirit of Australians hasn't changed much since E.J. Brady described it in the 1800's. Like the United States, Australia is a country of pioneers and community building was required for survival. Sometimes it feels like we've lost that spirit in the U.S., especially in our large cities. In Australia, a country larger than the U.S. if you don't count Alaska, but with a population of 21 million compared to our 300 million, [View Full Entry]

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Heidi G'day, seriously they do say this everywhere. Sydney is one of the most friendly cities I have ever visited. Everyone seems to be happy and life just seems to be good here. We are staying in a little apartment in Greenwich, which is a short boat ride to the city. There is a cool little beach called Greenwich Baths that we can walk to. Today was one of the hottest days in Sydney and we spent the afternoon swimming and sitting in the shade of the huge trees there. You may be suprised that I was in the shade, [View Full Entry]

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BY ZACK It was weird watching the inauguration of Obama late at night in our little hotel room in Hoi An, Vietnam. My dad had trouble staying awake for it and kept drifting in and out. People in Vietnam seem to like Obama, but there was no celebrating on the street...or no more than usual. The Tet festival is approaching (Lunar New Year)...so there is lots of celebration going on all through Asia. One of my favorite things we have done on this trip so far is a cooking class in Hoi An on the last day we were there. I [View Full Entry]

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By Justino There is a moment when you are travelling in a foreign environment that you completely break away from your daily routines, let go of your life and worries at home, and live in the moment. That moment for me was 3:00 am yesterday on a sleeper train somewhere between Saigon and Da Nang. I woke up surrounded by the sounds of families sleeping and the clatter of the train on the tracks. I grabbed a bottle of water, some toothpaste, and my toothbrush and stumbled to the toilet that you were only allowed to use in between stations because [View Full Entry]

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by ZACK We are now in Vietnam. We flew here from Guanzhou, China and we got to Guanzhou by train from Hong Kong. I really liked Hong Kong, but I found there wasn’t too much to do there besides go to the local Disneyland. China is already generally crowded, so I couldn’t even imagine the lines to get on some rides. A bunch of Chinese guys dancing around in giant talking mouse costumes didn’t really tickle our fancy anyway. The train ride from Hong Kong was really nice, and we passed a lot of rice patties. It was interesting to see [View Full Entry]

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Since we have been on the road for a month I thought I would list some of my favorite things When we flew on Southern China Airlines from Beijing to Hong Kong the flight attendants all lined up at the front of the plane and bowed to everyone to introduce themsleves. In Hong Kong I took the Star Ferry across to Kowloon and found a park where men and women were practicing Tai Chi. Next to them was a lake with flamingoes and other lovely birds. I really wanted to take a photo but it seemed like such an intimate setting [View Full Entry]

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