Torrie and I just booked our flights for Auckland, New Zealand! Thanks Werner, Marianne, and Marc for making this trip possible! Whitney, doing a study abroad there for 6 months, is our on-the-ground travel agent for our upcoming NZ adventures. She's come up with some great suggestions so far, including a hike to a South Island mountain top for an overnight! I'm interested in some South Island train excursions, but so far Whit is pushing for the fly & car routine. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Visited Countries Map And here is a map of where I'm going to be living there. I wasn't able to get the map to turn out right, so you'll have to zoom out a little bit. The University of Cape Town is right at the foot of Devil's Peak mountain and I'll be living in the Observatory neighborhood. The green balloon shows approximately where my house will be and if you look southwest of that, you can see pinkish-white buildings all huddled together to the side of the mountain (that's UCT). Obs is a "hip" place with lots of restaurants, cafes, [View Full Entry]

---

---

Around the time of my first departure, I experienced my life's happiest moments, and soon thereafter I encountered its saddest. A period of 5 days brought all the felicities of love, friendship, and voyage, along with the extreme heartbreak and melancholy that comes with the mourning of a fallen comrade and brother. Such concentrated emotion stacked on top of 45 hours of continuous travel is more stimulation than I'd ever ask for. No sooner than 8 hrs. after I had landed at Santiago's Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport had I made preparations to return home that evening. Returning [View Full Entry]

---

---

Here is my travel blog. Writing this I realize how rarely I divulge information about myself. My 3 sentence profile at the top of this page is already much more than what I usually reveal. This blog will be used to let you all know what is going on with me. Check back every couple of weeks or click subscribe. Some entries will be short, some entries will be long, but hopefully all entries will entertain you. Envisioning large subscriptions and widespread acclaim, I've joked how my blog is "goin' national baby!" This is now officially my "Breakout Blog." I leave [View Full Entry]

---

---

I'm back from Orlando getting ready to go to Sydney. I'm still on cloud nine from the bowl game. I can't believe we won! It was awesome. From the minute we took the field, we beat them. We beat them on offense, defense, coaching...even our managers were better than theirs. There is something about schools from Florida. Miami, is known as a school of thugs. Florida State has academic problems. Florida is no better. Their players are all also thugs looking to run their mouth and hurt someone. I'm so happy we beat them. I hate Ohio State, but Florida is [View Full Entry]

---

---

With the departure date less than 2 months away (eek!), trip preparations have really launched into full gear. One of the main things I have been dealing with since the spring is vaccinations. To go to Asia for an extended period of time entails a lot more shots than I could have imagined. I budgeted about 500$ for vaccinations and medications, and after my first doctor's appointment that pretty much flew out the window. A couple of great tips on how to save on vaccinations: -Try to get as many as you can through your general physician. The second I stepped [View Full Entry]

---

---

A few awesome travel blogs http://sarahlane.typepad.com/sarahtravel/ Sarah, you are one funny girl. I'm kindof obsessed with you. I hope you don't find that wierd. http://www.hedgehogswithoutborders.com/weblog/index.php This site is one of the reasons that these blogs are amazing. Jessica and Tim, the writers on this blog, wrote extensivly about Elephant Nature Park, and amazing elephant conservatory that isn't listed in most guidebooks. Thanks to the great tip, I'll be volunteering for 2 weeks at Elephant Nature park (More on that later). http://www.travelbl [View Full Entry]

---

---

July 15 - I broke my rule of riding on Sundays, but I didn't want to spend another night at the super expensive hotel. I made my way to Ann Arbor where I'll stay for a couple of nights until the large weather system passes over. No point in riding in the rain if I can avoid it. :-) July 18 - Still rotten weather so I decide to hangout for another day. Fortunately there's a Starbucks and bookstore across the street. I picked up the "Motorcyclist" by Roger.. Roger's insight to motorcycling, traveling and balancing work life is erie familiar. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Yesterday at about 1:30pm I finally left town and made (again) the mistake of taking the Bishop Ford freeway. Never do that. But finally I made it to Indiana, kept to the Interstate until I got to Route 12, which I took through the bottom half of Michigan. I saw all kinds of closed down shops and theme parks, a double lighthouse that wasn't near any water, hundreds of RV parks welcoming race fans, which made sense once I passed the Michigan Speedway. Somewhere in there my left saddlebag opened up and tossed my atlas into the street. So now I'm [View Full Entry]

---

---

We are still in America and very excited about returning to India! Like last time, we will probably be posting on here every day. The hotels are all pretty good at having some sort of business office to use. Please subscribe is you would like to have the latest blogs emailed to you. Also please send us comments (which are published on the web) and messages (less public-only for us to read). We appreciate ypur prayers and hope we can share some of the amazing things we are seeing and doing! Love, Ben [View Full Entry]

---

---