melee - leroy and melissa

No more boards. No more rotations. No more pagers. We are done with med school, and we're out to see the world. Six continents. 15 countries. 10 languages. 54,417 air miles. 2 travelers. One! We are keeping this travel blog mainly as a travel diary for ourselves, but we also want to share our trip with family and friends. It's better than an interminable slide show at the end of the trip, right? We hope the travel blog becomes a great way for you guys to keep in touch with us (and to procrastinate)!

02/13-02/21 - Salvador, Brasil
02/22-03/02 - Buenos Aires, Argentina
03/02-03/09 - Santiago, Chile
03/10-03/19 - Stanford, CA, USA (Match!)
03/21-03/26 - Melbourne, Australia
03/26-04/09 - Manila and Boracay, Philippines
04/09-04/16 - HCMC and Mekong Delta, Vietnam
04/16-04/23 - Bangkok and Krabi, Thailand
04/23-04/28 - Dubai, United Arab Emirates via Hong Kong
04/28-05/02 - London, United Kingdom
05/03-05/09 - Cairo, Egypt (Meli goes to Orlando for a conference)
05/09-05/20 - Paris, France (05/16-05/18: Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
05/21-05/22 - Athens, Greece
05/22-05/31 - Madrid, Marbella, and Sevilla, Spain
05/31-06/05 - Toronto, Canada
06/05-06/16 - L.A. and Bay Area, CA, USA
06/16---->? - Graduation and moving to L.A.

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Joined on: February 12th 2007
Last Login: July 11th 2009

Blog Entries: 105
Photos: 2299

TB Code: [blogger=32159]
Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by melee, order by Date newest first.

By melee
June 5th 2007

THE BEST AROUND THE WORLD TRIP EVER... ENDS North America » United States » California » Los Angeles

Zero Gravity

So here we are… 6 continents… 16 countries… 105 blog entries… 2262 posted photos… 15,389 page views… 174 comments… 16 people meeting us along the way… 1 guest blogger… 5 host families… and 113 days later. This was the perfect trip to take at the perfect time. When else will we be fresh off an engagement, on the verge of starting our careers, with four months of free time? In the middle of the world trip, we came back to Cali for Match Day to find out our fate and were ecstatic to get our #1 choices. As the trip comes [View Full Entry]

By melee
June 4th 2007

“Canada, Not California”: Violating the Cuban Embargo, Falling Down Stairs, and Breaking and Entering on our last night in Toronto North America » Canada » Ontario » Toronto

The Drake Hotel
This is what Michael looks like when you want to take a picture of him... This is his mean face. Or his tango face? Awww, he looks like a panda bear!

Note: The Canada blogs have been rewritten and reposted due to requests for anonymity. Hush yo mouf As our vacation winds down, you’ll notice that we are spending more time relaxing and less time exploring. Some will call it traveler’s fatigue. I call it conserving energy for residency. Meli’s aunt kicks off brekkie by making us grilled cheese sandwiches, then prosciutto and cheese panini. Knowing that we have a long day and night ahead of us, I cross the street for dried mango and Red Bull. In all out Pinay fashion, Meli’s aunt [View Full Entry]

By melee
June 3rd 2007

Niagara Falls North America » Canada » Ontario » Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

Note: The Canada blogs have been rewritten and reposted due to requests for anonymity. Ahhh Sunday! The perfect day to sleep in, particularly on the last leg of your four-month vacation and round-the-world trip. So why in heavens am I up at 5:30am again??? It is what it is. I check craigslist for apartments and do other online errands, then crawl into bed to try to get more shuteye with no success. When the house is astir, I get up and join them for pancakes and eggs before we make a late morning departure for the Falls. Niagara Falls I have [View Full Entry]

By melee
June 2nd 2007

The walk of shame? No way! It’s the best way to work up an appetite for a BBQ North America » Canada » Ontario » Toronto

Stress Relief
Management with solutions

Note: The Canada blogs have been rewritten and reposted due to requests for anonymity. Walk of Shame We drive back through Toronto’s downtown in the bright light of an early Saturday morning. The CN Tower, having been unlit the night before save for a few blinking red lights, is fully visible now. My friend Andrea, who lives here, climbed 150 flights of stairs to the top of this tower for a wildlife charity this year. Staring at the “world's tallest freestanding structure on land,” which stands 553.33 meters (1815 ft 5 in) high, all I [View Full Entry]

By melee
June 1st 2007

Watching Brasilian TV with Cleopatra over an Italian dinner with Whiskey and Rye in Hope of a Happy Ending. Not Bad in Toronto, eh? North America » Canada » Ontario » Toronto

Putting it out there!
Butterflied grilled shrimp with a seasoned crust

Note: The Canada blogs have been rewritten and reposted due to requests for anonymity. Welcome to Canadia! I refuse to let jet-lag get the best of me, so I will myself to stay in bed until 10am. Meli is not as successful, waking up at 5am. She blogs, checks e-mail, renews health insurance, all the things one does at 5am after going to bed at 2am. Big Screen TV Time The ladies have business to take care of this morning. I bashfully opt out, preferring to stay in to watch TV and play Risk. I get the full run down before [View Full Entry]

By melee
May 31st 2007

Blog Entry #100: MAD-MIA-YYZ (Madrid to Miami to Toronto and Coming Full Circle) North America » Canada » Ontario » Toronto

The 100th blog should be about Antarctica, the seventh continent on our must-do list (and usually on everyone’s list when trying to recall all seven land masses). It should include mesmerizing photos of sheets of ice that seem to go on forever. Or maybe of Polar bears drowning, but that would be the Arctic, wouldn’t it? Well, we’re closer to the Polar bears anyway. Our centennial entry is one that comes full circle… full circle to North America and the Miami AA airport lounge we have affectionately dubbed “This is Not a Nightclub.” Full circle to fami [View Full Entry]

By melee
May 30th 2007

Our Last Day in Europe: Reflections on Madrid Then and Now and a Paseo on Gran Vía--Blog Entry #99 Europe » Spain » District of Madrid

Gaztambide 39
Meli at her old pad

Madrid Then and Now I’ve already dedicated so much of this blog to the deep affection that I have for this city. It’s a hard city to get to know, I think, much like Los Angeles. It is not as friendly as Rio de Janeiro, nor as beautiful. Brasil is easy to love. I don’t even have to try when hosting guests in Rio. But Madrid - how do you show someone that such an austere city filled with brusque madrileños is a down-to-earth and do-what-you-feel town you can’t help but be mad about? I don’t know, to be honest. It’s [View Full Entry]

By melee
May 29th 2007

A Return to Madrid for Our Last Days in Europe Europe » Spain » District of Madrid

El Oso y Madroño
In Puerta del Sol, this is the symbol of Madrid and also a popular meeting spot.

Altaria in Reverse We are at Estación Santa Justa with half an hour before our 9:25 Altaria train. Leroy had toast and jam at the hotel café, and I munch on a chapata de tortilla (bocadillo/baguette with tortilla española) at the station. On the train, I make the horrible realization that our seats have us facing backwards for the 3.5-hour journey. No, no, no! This is not good for motion sick people like me, who can’t go backwards in vehicles nor read on them. I convince myself that I’ll fall asleep soon enough, and some small part of me also wants [View Full Entry]

By melee
May 28th 2007

Last Day in Sevilla: Café Leviés and Flamenco at La Casa de la Memoria Europe » Spain » Andalusia » Seville

Café Leviés
Moonshine? Naw, it's legal. They have their own label to boot.

The Wok is The Bomb We have a full day to spend in Sevilla, but having seen the sights, eaten tapas, drank cañas and txakolí, and gone to a soccer match, there’s really not much left but flamenco. The museum for flamenco does not seem as interesting as seeing a show, so we make reservations for the 10:30pm show at La Casa de la Memoria in the center of town. Now what? Feed the belly! I can get full on tapas, but I don’t think Leroy can, so we go to Plaza Nervión, which is a shopping center near the stadium. [View Full Entry]

By melee
May 27th 2007

Sevilla: Surprise Tapas, Reales Alcazares, La Plaza de España, Pintxos y Txakolí, and FC Sevilla vs. Zaragoza Europe » Spain » Andalusia » Seville

La Catedral y La Giralda de Sevilla
An interesting mix, don't you think? A little Islam here, a little Christian there...

Bus to Sevilla We leave our La Quinta refuge a little after 8am. Adiós, Heavenly Bed. Adiós, balcony view. Adiós, almendras Marconi. Adiós, Marqués de Riscal. We take a taxi to San Pedro de Alcántara, the nearest station. It’s not really a station. It’s more like a curb, with a ticket kiosk nearby. We buy our tickets for about €14 each and wait on the sidewalk for our 9:10am bus. We are entertained by the police who have pulled over a group of teenagers and seem to be searching every cranny of their car. They’re even turning their pockets inside out. [View Full Entry]

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