Curtis and Jen

My name is Curtis Hanson and I'm an application developer/systems administrator for the local school districts. I'm also a C-17 mechanic for the USAF and a clerk at a convenience store. In addition, I'm a student at Oregon Institute of Technology in Portland where I'm completing my degree is CS. I travel as often as I can - provided the mortgage is paid. Have currently been to 29 countries and 32 states; and have lived in the US (currently), South Korea, and Germany.

My name is Jennifer Joe. I was born on a clear Friday morning in San Francisco, California. I left there to move to Oregon when I was 29. Currently, I’m working at the City of Tigard as their Environmental Program Coordinator making sure the drinking water is safe for consumption as well as assisting our residents to conserve as much as they can in this drippy climate of ours.

We are preparing for our trip to Iceland. Curtis has been here before but Jennifer has not. We are both really excited to see the amazing sites Iceland has to offer! “Don’t go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Get Ready for Europe!

Europe » Sweden » Stockholm County » Stockholm April 3rd 2016

SNOW!

Curtis and Jen

Tuesday, 22 March, 2016 Stockholm, Sweden The start to our vacation did not start out the way we would have preferred. We had the worst fight experience to Stockholm from Portland. First of all, Delta changed our seat reservations and would not let us sit together to Minneapolis. The flight to Paris was okay, but on arrival, we still did not have our final boarding passes to Stockholm – and we only had an hour until our connecting flight left. After walking half way across the airport, we found out we needed to get our tickets from the counter that was near where we originally got off the plane. We hiked back to where we were supposed to be, then waited for quite some time for an Air France customer service agent. Even though there were ... read more

Gelato and Bolognese

Europe » Italy » Veneto » Venice April 1st 2016

Venice

Curtis and Jen

Monday, 28 March, 2016 Venice, Italy Curtis bought tickets for a flight scheduled waaay too early in the morning – 8:40 am. That may not sound that early but we had to be up at 5:00 am to make it there on time. Painful... We felt bad as Bill agreed to take us to the airport. We got there with time to spare, and for once, the plane left on time. However, before our flight Curtis made sure to try a Max burger. Patrik was right, much better than “those other” chains. We were happy we got to try it, but are now sad we cannot get them in the states. Our layover was in Copenhagen, which appeared to be a really nice airport. Too bad we were unable to enjoy it since we had 30 ... read more

Easter Weekend

Europe » Sweden » Stockholm County » Stockholm March 28th 2016

The Vasa

Curtis and Jen

Friday, 25 March, 2016 Stockholm, Sweden We overslept till 11 again, but woke up to Uncle Bill’s tea and coffee. He even made us some of his perfect scrambled eggs. Yes, they are perfect. He drove us into town where we met with Stefan, Maria’s brother. Stefan is friendly and extremely knowledgeable of the city. In addition, he is incredibly funny making him the perfect tour guide. Our first stop was the Vasa Museum which houses the Vasa, a 17th century ship that sunk about a mile from land on its maiden voyage. Beautifully constructed but poorly designed, the ship sat at the bottom of the Baltic for 333 years until it was recovered and restored. It is an awesome museum and worth checking out. Next, Stefan took us west to Gamla Stan, one of Stockholm’s ... read more

Southern Iceland

Europe » Iceland » South » Vík October 1st 2015

P1030205

Curtis and Jen

Tuesday, 22 September 2015 Höfn to Kirkjubæjarklaustur, Iceland Although we didn't necessarily sleep in, we were still the last ones to leave the hotel that morning. Back on the Ring Road, we started the stretch where we could see glaciers from the road. View Vatnajökull from Ring Road One of our favorite stops was at the glacier lagoon, Jökulsárlón. This lake is situated on the edge of Vatnajökull National Park and is found right off the Ring Road. Here we saw a seal lazily roaming around the large pieces of ice as if it were swimming in a large glass of ice water. Jökulsárlón has been the filming location of several major films such as A View to Kill, Die Another Day, Laura Croft: Tomb Raider and Batman Begins. The TV show the Amazing Race also ... read more

Waterfalls Galore

Europe » Iceland » East » Egilsstadir October 1st 2015

Icelandic Hot Dog

Curtis and Jen

Sunday, 20 September 2015 Akureyri to Egilsstaðir, Iceland On our way out of Akureyri, the first thing on the agenda was stop by a gas station for a hot dog (and fuel). We got hot-dogs that were topped with french fries, cheese and an amazing sauce! After stuffing our faces, we started heading towards our next destination, Egilsstaðir. Midway, we partially passed through what is known as the Diamond Circle. The Diamond Circle is Iceland's second most popular "circle" tour after the Golden Circle. Many tourists fly in to Akureyri and make the tour from there. The circle partially overlaps the Ring Road and extends north to Húsavík and back down eastward to the Ring Road again. We didn't have time to make it to all the destinations on the circle and missed out on the ... read more

Marshmallow Fields

Europe » Iceland » Northwest » Snæfellsnes September 20th 2015

Fields of Marshmallows

Curtis and Jen

Thursday, 17 September 2015 Reykjavik, Iceland We arrived in Reykjavik (Ray-key-a-vik) about 7 a.m. We rented our car from a local company and found ourselves having to call them to find the lot. We walked across the parking lot and down the road in the brisk foggy weather to rent our car. In trying to figure out where the rental place was located, Curtis had problems getting his cell to work, but Jennifer had no troubles at all. The international airport is actually in Keflavik which is located 45 minutes west of the capital city. Curtis drove our rented Kia to the city and hit morning rush-hour as we approached city limits. Usually the first thing we do is find our hotel and drop off our luggage, however, for this trip we tried something new. We ... read more

Giddy for Gili

Asia » Indonesia » Lombok » Gilli Trawangan December 23rd 2014

The most amazing pool ever. EVER!

Curtis and Jen

Ubud and Gili Trawangan - Tuesday, December 23, 2014 Both Curtis and Jen were done with haggling and deciding on transportation options so we had the hotel arrange it for us. They expertly scheduled our shuttle to the dock and the speedboat to our next destination where we would spend Christmas - the largest of the Gili Islands, Gili Trawangan. The tickets included the return fare from Gili Trawangan and shuttle to Seminyak on Bali and cost 2.4M IDR. The price seems steep at first, but after calculating how much we would pay if we haggled each fare individually, we would probably save about $20 USD. While using the service, it was surprising to see how many other tourists utilized the same option. The Gili Islands are about a two hour speedboat ride north east of ... read more

Geckos, Monkeys, and a Bat

Asia » Indonesia » Bali » Ubud December 22nd 2014

Two monkeys

Curtis and Jen

Ubud, Bali - Saturday, 20 December, 2014 After a not so quick ferry ride (we actually got passed by a boat that left after us) we are finally leaving the island of Java and on our way to relaxing Bali. Getting off the ferry we needed to find transportation to get to the other side of the island. After some searching we found the bus station and haggled a price for tickets. Eventually we agreed on 60K IDR each for an air conditioned bus. This seemed a little expensive but we were willing to pay for the added comfort considering the last ride. The trip took approximately five hours. What we have learned about Indonesian pubic buses is that there is one driver and one guy that sells tickets. The ticket dude on this trip was ... read more

Five Grueling Days

Asia » Indonesia » Java » Yogyakarta December 21st 2014

Us in Yogyakarta

Curtis and Jen

Yogyakarta (Prambanan) - Tuesday, 16 December, 2014 Our second day in Yogyakarta begins our day trips to Java island's most popular natural and archaeological destinations. Prambanan is an ancient Hindu complex of Hindu temples built around 8 - 10 CE (AD) and are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We arranged a driver from our hotel for 400,000 IDR for a sunset tour. Park admission was not included and was 225,000 IDR ($20 USD) each person. Every monument in this country seems to be 225,000 IDR for foreigners, which seems a little steep. Our driver picked us up around 3pm at about the hottest part of the day, 95 F. He took us to Candi Sambisari (pronounced sandy sambi-sorry), one of the outer-lying temples, first. It appeared there were no foreign tourists about, only local school children. ... read more

Jakarta and Yogyakarta

Asia » Indonesia » Java » Yogyakarta December 15th 2014

The National Monument

Curtis and Jen

Jakarta - Friday, 12 December, 2014 After the long and uneventful flights to the country, we arrived at our hotel, Artotel, just before 2 a.m. The hotel is, as its name implies, arty. Not a single wall (interior nor exterior) was spared decoration. The lobby is decorated with a large purple and silver Christmas tree and the ambient speakers blare modern American-pop versions of holiday favorites. Our room has a large flat-screen TV and cable with all our American channels, all of them. A special reserved channel advertises the Artotel while playing an instrumental version of "On The Bus Mall" by The Decemberists. On another station, the Travel Channel is doing a show on the most haunted places on earth, this time featuring Portland's Shanghai Tunnels. Being so early in the morning, we went to bed. ... read more

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