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Staci and Martin - Staci and Martin

After graduating from college in 2007 and spending a few years in the working world, we quit our full-time well-paying jobs (well, Staci did...Martin was part of the lovely American economic depression) to move across the world and teach English in China. Hmm...foolish, or awesome? It's going to be the year of a lifetime, with adventures we'll never forget. Join us as we cry, laugh, experience life as we never have before, and make new friends while trying to stay in touch with the old ones. We'll be returning to the USA during the summer of 2010, where we'll hopefully move to a new city and begin life yet again anew.

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Joined on: June 5th 2009
Last Login: February 9th 2010

Blog Entries: 107
Photos: 180
Recommended by 1

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Blogs & Travel Journals

by Staci and Martin, order by Date newest first.

By Staci and Martin
February 7th 2010

Thailand: 4th country! Asia » Thailand » North-East Thailand » Nong Khai

Welcome to Thailand! We got up early, waking up the guy at our hostel to let us at around 6am. We walked to the bus station where we proceeded to swat away mosquitoes for an hour before the ticket booth opened and sold us our 7:30am bus tickets for the Thai-Lao International Bus headed for Nong Khai, Thailand. Vientiane is only 22km away from the Thai border, and an easy border crossing into the very close city of Nong Khai. All in all it took us about 1 hour to cross the border (what, no cool visa this time? Just a [View Full Entry]

By Staci and Martin
February 5th 2010

Feb 5th Asia » Laos » West » Vientiane

A short blog for a day filled with lots of relaxation and not too much to report... We found ourselves spending most of the day just wandering around and taking in the sights, smells and sounds of a new city and country. One thing I'm loving about Laos is the simple fact that scams are almost non-existent, everyone smiles at you, and everyone says 'hello', 'thank you' and 'goodbye' to you in THEIR language, NOT English. Everywhere we've been thus far has been on the tourist trail and there's been absolutely no lack of English speaking abilities. It's actually surprised us [View Full Entry]

By Staci and Martin
February 4th 2010

Feb 4th Asia » Laos » West » Vientiane

Iced Coconut Coffee

Today was another lovely day in SE Asia; one that made us quickly forget about the bus woes of yesterday, a day for breathing in all that exists here in this wonderful place. It started with a 9am alarm at our hotel, both of us sighing in relief that we were in Vientiane and had had a nice sleep in a very comfortable bed. After showering we decided to head out and find some cheaper accommodation for the next few nights. We got lucky after just one failed attempt- Chantha Guesthouse, listed in our LP and full last night, had one [View Full Entry]

By Staci and Martin
February 3rd 2010

The Wheels On The Bus Go..... Asia » Laos » South » Savannakhet

Savannakhet Breakfast

What do a motorcycle, a dog, and cabbage have in common? Hopefully not much, right? Wrong. They were all on the 10 hour long non-air-conditioned bus ride we took from Savannakhet, Laos, to the capital, Vientiane. First, lets get out of Savannakhet. After waking up on our own without an alarm (it felt so good to sleep in a bit), we checked out, left our bags with the guest house, and ventured out to explore the city. Since it's not a tourist destination, we didn't find much, but it was still fun to find a little restaurant to grab a bite [View Full Entry]

By Staci and Martin
February 2nd 2010

Feb 2nd Asia » Laos » West » Vientiane

Our H to S Bus

Ahh, ANOTHER travel day. Sensing a theme here? ☺ We knew when we started this trip that it would consist of lots of hours on probably uncomfortable buses, so we were prepared…but they definitely do get tiring. The amazingness of everything we see on a daily basis quickly makes us forget how exhausting those bus rides can be…until of course, we get on one again. The café we booked our bus tickets through picked us up at 7:30am in a taxi, along with another couple whom we’d also run into in Ho Chi Minh City. That’s been happening a LOT on [View Full Entry]

By Staci and Martin
January 31st 2010

Jan. 31 Asia » Vietnam » North Central Coast » Hué

Train

I (Martin) didn't sleep as much as Staci did the train last night, but as is the case probably for most 6'5'' giants given the same accommodations. On time, we arrived in Hue to a swarming crowd of the taxi drivers, all wanting to take you to various hotels they were promoting. We "reserved" a guesthouse (Called Halo) and were in communication with them, and they confirmed they would pick us up at the train station. We didn't see anyone with a sign with our name, and we didn't want to set ourselves up for a scam, so we decided to [View Full Entry]

By Staci and Martin
January 30th 2010

Last day in Hanoi Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Hanoi

Ahh, ANOTHER day of travel. We woke up a little before 8 and enjoyed a buffet breakfast on the top floor of our hotel. Made us wish we'd brought our cameras, as there were some amazing views! We checked out of the hotel by 9am and were once again on our mini-bus with everyone, headed back to the harbor on Cat Ba Island to board the boat one more time. This time, the boat ride was obviously much shorter. Martin and I were nerds and watched the keynote presentation of the new iPad on his laptop during this time, making sure [View Full Entry]

By Staci and Martin
January 29th 2010

monkey island... Asia

Wow, we slept like babies (cute ones!) last night, our first time ever sleeping on a boat. We quickly were able to tell that this trip was worth it, but even more so when we opened our cabin's door to an amazing harbor view. We got excited to see the sun was going to make more of an appearance today as well, as it was a bit foggy yesterday. Breakfast was a nice assortment of breads, fruits, and juices. We had about 45 minutes of travel time, so Staci and I headed to the top to sit down and relax. We [View Full Entry]

By Staci and Martin
January 28th 2010

Our First 'Cruise' Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Halong Bay

Tour Group

This morning started with another failed wakeup call (good thing our alarm worked, once again) and a quick checkout of our hostel. We didn't have time to have the provided breakfast, as we needed to be at Kangaroo Cafe for the start of our tour just around 7:30. We got there, dropped off one of our bigger bags, got 2 iced coffees for take-away and quickly boarded a mini-bus with 10 other people, a driver and a tour guide. We all did the obligatory introductions as our bus started to drive away from Hanoi, and found out everyone was the following: [View Full Entry]

By Staci and Martin
January 27th 2010

Hanoi walk-around Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Hanoi

Lake

We slept in a bit today, thanks to not having an accidental wakeup call, and the loud squeaky pipes taking a break. We needed to head back to Kangaroo Cafe to pay for our tour, as it was due a day before departure. Going to the ATM and withdrawing two million dong (Vietnamese currency) feels strange, as we haven't been used to having a million ANYTHING at our fast cash fingertips. After paying, we enjoyed the lake some more, although some parts appear to be fairly polluted. Walking over to St. Joseph's Cathedral (built in 1886) did not take long, and [View Full Entry]

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