August 22 - August 28 To get to Mykonos we took a slow, six hour ferry. Booking and getting to the ferry wasn't a problem, however getting a seat was. On the boat Zara and I scouted out the most comfy seats available and found a great spot next to a window. Slowly but surly the seats around us were filling up. Then suddenly people were being evicted from their seats. See, you needed a reservation. We didn't know this but found out we could reserve on the boat for a small fee. Well, when we went to do this the [View Full Entry]

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Athens, Greece August 19-21 Athens blew away all expectations and myths, well except the Greek myths. I had heard Athens was very smoggy and, in places, dangerous. Since Zara and I have been to Beijing we were expecting the worst in regards to the smog. However, when we arrived we really didn't notice it. We were careful in Athens, but never felt in danger. The main reason any tourist visits Athens is for the sites and they do impress. With the purchase of the Acropolis ticket you gain admission to six other sites in town. Most of the ancient ruins are [View Full Entry]

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August 10-16 Morocco was our first non-European stop on our trip and was a great introduction of what's to come. Honestly, I thought we'd be easing into things with Morocco. I was so wrong. To get to the African continent we took a ferry from S. Spain to Tangier, crossing the strait of Gibraltar. We opted for the slow, 2.5 hours, ferry that left from Algeceras. The ferry itself was quite nice and very comfortable. We thought " if this is what's to come, we're in luck." On the boat we met a group of five brothers from the UK and [View Full Entry]

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Gran Canaria, Spain, August 5 - 9, 2009 The second installment of our time in Spain begins in Gran Canaria. Here we visited my dearest childhood friend, Bibi. When we were little our mothers were best friends, which made us practically inseparable. But then I moved to the U.S. and she moved to a small island off the coast of Morocco. It's been 13 years since our last visit, half my life. Time has done little to separate us however. Much of the visit I kept pinching myself, saying "It's really Bibi! I'm talking to Bibi!" It's funny to recognize the [View Full Entry]

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First and foremost, sorry for not updating our travelblog very often. We do owe all our readers our entries on Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France. Europe is so big and there is so much to see, it´s hard to find time to keep in touch with family, let alone update our travel blog. Plus, the internet is so darn expensive here. I promise when we get to Africa and beyond our updates will be more frequent. Anyway, I now present Impressions of Spain. Before I began this trip I thought of Spain as the country between France and Morocco. "Why does [View Full Entry]

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Our week and a half in Germany was mostly about visiting with friends. We started off in Fulda, where we visited my childhood friend, Isabel, and her family, Alex and little Charlotte. They picked us up from the airport in Frankfurt and brought us back to Fulda, a quaint German town full of rolling hills and historic sites. Here we visited the oldest church in Germany (802), toured a palace, and strolled along cobbled streets with Charlotte running ahead. But Fulda wasn't so much about visiting the sites than it was about visiting our hosts, who have built such a nice [View Full Entry]

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Iceland is cold and always sunny, well at least while we were there. On our first day we arrived at 7am and weren't able to check into our hotel until 1pm. So, we were very tired and had some time to kill. Since we were so cold and already wet from the rain we decided to go to the pool. In Iceland all the water is heated by geothermal energy. The pool was no exception. The water in the different pools varied in temperature and was the best way to spend our first day in Iceland. Day two was spend whale [View Full Entry]

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The New York leg of our trip got off to a rocky start. We waited in the airport for two hours for our college friend to pick us up, but she never showed. We still haven't heard from her, so we're not sure what happened there. We finally decided to reserve a hostel and found a nice, clean, boutique hostel off Broadway. After we got settled we figured, hey we're on Broadway, let's see a show. So we asked the front desk where to go. Anne Hatheway was performing in Shakespeare in the Park in a tiny outdoor theater. We stood [View Full Entry]

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Well, this is it. We only have 7 days before we leave. Friday was our last day of work and next week we move out of our apartment. During my goodbye's many people were curious as to what we are packing. This was also a questions I have been curious about during my planning, too. So I'm going to take this time to layout what exactly is in my bag. This is not to say I need everything I'm packing because I haven't left yet. But, this is where I'm starting. The description below is for Jonathan. Pack: Deuter 42: It's [View Full Entry]

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To Our Friends, Family, Fellow Travelers, and The Strangers We Meet, This is the last day of our journey to the East and I would like to take this time to thank all those who have made it possible. To the those reading this journal who do not know me, do not be put off by my personal acknowledgements. Just read on and you may find something of interest to you. First, to all of our wonderful friends and family members who came to our wedding to celebrate with us and support us, thank you. To those who couldn't make it [View Full Entry]

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