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The Travel Bugs - Casey and Paul Thomas

Paul's from Australia. Casey's from the States. We met in Africa, married in Puerto Rico, and now after three long years in Greensboro studying and working our bums off we're ready for a little adventure. Join us as we explore the Americas, and let's see where we end up . . .

We refuse to keep too tight of an agenda, but here’s a rough outline if anyone wants to catch a flight and meet us anywhere.

Mid-May to Mid-July—The US of A. Lots of National Parks as we first head up, then over, then down.

The rest of July and August—Mexico and this funny little island in the Caribbean that’s famous for cigars.

September and October—Central America with lots of volcanoes and nature and . . . who knows what else. We’ll find out.

November, December, and onward—South America. We’re for sure going to see Machu Picchu. The rest is a glorious question mark.

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Joined on: May 9th 2006
Last Login: November 7th 2009

Blog Entries: 22
Photos: 750

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Blogs & Travel Journals

by The Travel Bugs, order by Date newest first.

By The Travel Bugs
January 28th 2009

Once upon a time in Peru South America » Peru

Cruising through the jungle

Once upon a time in a continent famous for half-naked parties and outrageously oversized reptiles were two weary travelers making the most of the final weeks of an amazing journey. You may have thought that they simply fell off of the face of the continent never to be heard of again . . . and in a way I guess they were. But instead of being swallowed up whole by anacondas or impaled by poisonous arrows of aggressive Amazon tribes, they were simply eaten up by the humdrum of stationary life. Now just over two years later as we await our [View Full Entry]

By The Travel Bugs
December 12th 2006

Cuckoo for coca leaves South America » Peru

First cup of coca tea

If you recollect from last post, we abruptly whisked you back in time about a month to our adventures in lovely northern Peru and then wrapped up in Cusco with us all gung-ho for the Inca Trail and all the other ancient wonders of the region. Well, our spirits were gung-ho anyway, our bodies were absolutely uncooperative. They wanted to do nothing but sleep at this altitude. But before I get into all of the wonders of the Andes (and of the coca leaf for that matter), I thought I’d write a line or two about the Incas. And since I [View Full Entry]

By The Travel Bugs
November 27th 2006

From the armpit of the world to the belly button South America » Peru

Totoro reed boats in Huanchaco

It’s been a while since we’ve blogged, and we’ve covered a lot of ground and gotten quite a bit behind. After toying with the idea of blowing off the whole blog thing, we decided that we’d do what we could when we could, and hopefully if we’re not too busy holding babies when we get back to Washington we’ll have time to finish up this thingamajig sometime before the end of the year. But for now, we’ll turn back time a month, and go back to where we left off way up in Ecuador. It seems so long ago now. (Picture [View Full Entry]

By The Travel Bugs
November 2nd 2006

It must be the altitude or something South America » Ecuador

The beauty of Ecuador

What a difference an hour and a half flight can make. Going from Panama City at sea level to Quito at over 2800 meters in altitude (that’s almost 9000 feet—yikes) was a bit of a hit to our systems. I felt very weak, congested, and downright ill the first day and both Paul and I have gotten winded climbing a flight of stairs, never mind the longer hikes we’ve tried. It gives us a real confidence boost for the upcoming Inca Trail—four days of walking between 2742m (8500ft) and 4195m (13005ft). Gulp! Culturally it felt totally different, as well. Instead of [View Full Entry]

By The Travel Bugs
October 24th 2006

It’s not just for fancy hats and drug lords anymore Central America Caribbean » Panama

Hats from Panama . . . Panama Hats

Panama has really surprised us. Maybe it’s because we didn’t do our homework and learn more about Panama before we came. Or maybe things are changing rapidly here these days. Probably a bit of both. But, this is one amazing, diverse country, and they’re practically giving it away for folks who want to come and live there. Paul and I are tempted. I should probably give a little bit of background on the place, although keep in mind much of this has been gleaned from conversations from taxi drivers that I’ve spoken to and blurbs from our crappy guide book and [View Full Entry]

The Miraflores Locks on the Panama Canal

By The Travel Bugs
October 19th 2006

Costa Rica: Red hot lava and pretty little butterflies Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica

Whatcha looking at?

Holy dooley have we seen some pretty nature stuff since we last wrote! I know that Costa Rica is famous for it and all. Well, let me tell you that they come by that fame honestly. But, before we could arrive in Costa Rica and see all that neat nature stuff, we had some serious journeying ahead of us. If you remember, we last posted from Isla Ometepe in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. Well, the next morning we started out bright and early, (we’re talking sunrise, folks) in hopes of arriving in Fortuna, Costa Rica, the hub for those wanting [View Full Entry]

Fortuna with Volcan Arenal looming above

By The Travel Bugs
October 10th 2006

Honduragua Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua

Our dock in Utila

To be completely honest, the Honduras part of our journey was a bit of a let down for us. It seemed a bit more dangerous than the other places we’ve visited (although I don’t know that it is), and due to the different accent I struggled to communicate much more than normal. Now to be fair, we really weren’t there long enough to form a proper opinion or to write the place off completely, and there were a couple of spots that we really liked. But all in all, the place just didn’t do it for us. Maybe it was because [View Full Entry]

By The Travel Bugs
September 24th 2006

You better hope the chicken dances-Part 2 Central America Caribbean » Guatemala

Lilies in the market
A copy of Diego Rivera's painting

So there we were in Xela, exhausted, but bound and determined to make it to that darn Feria . . . (if you haven't already, you probably should read Part 1 first) We walked the kilometer or so to the place where public transport took folks from town to the fair. And, as always, they made sure the shuttle bus was good and full. I sat on the tire well and Paul got cozy on the floor. We didn’t think much of the discomfort since the fairgrounds is only a couple miles out of town. Again, we weren’t thinking. There was [View Full Entry]

By The Travel Bugs
September 24th 2006

You better hope the chicken dances-Part 1 Central America Caribbean » Guatemala

Guatemala's famous chicken buses

This one is a doozie, folks. Brace yourselves. We’re still in Guatemala, but we’ve covered a lot of ground since we last blogged. And being that we’re not so good at editing things out, that means that there are lots of stories and photos for your enjoyment, perhaps even more than you would like. Bear with us. We last left off in Livingston our port of entry into Guatemala. And it was a really good place to transition from Belize. In Livingston, the folks by and large speak Spanish, but English is pretty regularly used, and we still got to listen [View Full Entry]

By The Travel Bugs
September 7th 2006

So long and thanks for all the fish . . . Central America Caribbean » Belize

Doesn't get any fresher!

Our trip to Belize thus far hasn’t gone quite like I had thought it would go. That being said, it now dawns on me that we really didn’t have any firm plans in Belize other than meeting Matt and Melissa in Caye Caulker and enjoying some island life for a few days. And we did in fact accomplish both of those tasks. I guess I just didn’t reckon we’d have so much island life. But I’m getting ahead of myself. So I’ll take a step back and pick up where we left off way back in Playa del Carmen. We knew [View Full Entry]

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