won't sleep 'til brooklyn

we're taking a trip around the globe + telling you all about it here

[wontsleeptilbrooklyn]

is it possible that we are even more excited for the USA in 2016?

[wontsleeptilbrooklyn]

Today marks one month since we’ve been back from our trip around the world! Seems like time flies when you’re traveling & also home.

Top: first day verse last day of trip

Second: Going through NYC customs

Third: Our flight path around the world

Bottom: pit stop in queens on our way home from the airport

[wontsleeptilbrooklyn]

week 3 (and almost to week 4!)

hi! just checking in to let you know that we’re still alive + kicking and making our way around the north east. last time i checked in, we were just leaving Syracuse after a week or so visiting joe’s family.  we headed to boston for a few days to visit family & friends, which was a blast, and then drove to cape cod last sunday and have been here since. 8 whole days in one place, back to being just the two of us (though my uncle and aunt joined us over the weekend). you’d think we’d be sick of it just being the two of us, but it’s actually been very nice to have some time + space back after running around like crazy for almost 3 weeks visiting everyone.

we have been keeping busy, working on cleaning up the house to get it ready for the summer. lots of manual labor which has been tough but rewarding, mixed with some relaxing and getting some of our own personal to do’s taken care of. joe has been doing some work for his brother’s company, which has been a huge help knowing we have at least a little bit of money coming in for the first time in eight months.

we have a couple more days of quiet here on the cape and then we’re heading back to CT & NYC for a week. we plan on heading into the city a bit to see some more friends & old coworkers & spending time with my family in CT. from there we’ll be driving south for an extended memorial day weekend to see more friends and family.  we wanted to make sure that we are taking advantage of having all this time while it lasts, and i think we’re doing a pretty good job at it. we will eventually be back in our apartment in the city (we sublet it to friends of ours) and once we are paying rent again, i think we will be motivated to be back to a more “normal schedule.” but for now, we visit and keep travelling on a smaller scale.  I can’t believe that this coming wednesday will mark 4 weeks home! time continues to fly, even back in the us of a.

[wontsleeptilbrooklyn]

"casualties" of our around the world trip

what I think (?) is a complete list of the things that we lost along the way, slowly marking our territory on our trail…

1. lock on becka’s big back pack: missing upon picking up the bag for the first time in romania on day 2, though nothing in the bag was touched.

2. becka’s alabama hat. fell out of the side pocket of my big backpack during a flight, i assume. unless someone swiped it between check in to pick up….falling out seems much more likely. so bummed about this one because it was my only hat for the trip…and i wanted to wear it during the national championship game!

3. joe’s water bottle: lost on a bus trip in europe, where we think the clip was hit just the right way that it fell off under the seat and we didn’t catch that it was missing it before we left. (we started intense checking of every flight & ride in any vehicle after that)

4. 2 of becka’s pens. one really nice one from a fancy mexican resort visited last year, left on the plane in africa. the other one for recording specific travel details, lost somewhere unknown in africa.

5. becka’s big towel. had been put in the front pocket of the big backpack and fell out at some point during a flight in asia. as if i didn’t learn from the alabama hat incident. it turned out that we barely needed even Joe's one towel, so it was totally fine.

6. joe’s cheap black sunglasses. lost somewhere in japan.

7. joe’s black vest. left in the hostel in south korea after one too many drinks with the hostel owner before catching our flight to china.

8. un-determined clothes and elephant print travel bag - missing after making the mistake of allowing our Luang Prabang guesthouse owner do our laundry. Found a couple of clothing items that weren't ours (men's undies, a ratty tshirt, and some see through leggings) that we promptly left when they were discovered.

9. Penguin :( Managed by an evil dog (kidding) in Sydney. penguin is still with us today, but has had some unintended liposuction and needs some reconstructive surgery.

10. Joe’s hat :( lost in a sand dune in Peru.

Lost on purpose/Donated: my winter coat that I wore in middle school and early high school that my brother brought for me to Japan and China during the 2 weeks of winter we experienced. It was a J.Crew Sport jacket, which shows you how old it is, considering that brand doesn't exist anymore. Donated to a place in Hong Kong. All in all we did a great job keeping track of all of our stuff, especially the things worth value! A few of my friends convinced me my iPad mini would be stolen if I brought it with us on our trip and that I should leave it at home. We even kept an engagement ring the whole time! We have become big proponents of the "always check everything one last time before you leave. Always." I should also mention we didn't leave our pride & dignity anywhere, either! Good successes all around.

[wontsleeptilbrooklyn]

Travel Stops & Spots

I mentioned yesterday that the longest place we stayed still was 6 nights in Penang, Malaysia. I was curious to see how many times we had stayed slightly shorter & ended up compiling a whole list. If you're interested, I thought I'd share it here:

6 Nights

Penang, Malaysia (with Joe’s cousin & husband & 4 kids)

5 Nights

Phnom Penh, Cambodia (Christmas & engagement celebrations)

4 Nights

Paris, France (there for 5 nights, 1 in a a sketchy place, 4 nights in an Airbnb) Cape Town, South Africa (hostel) Livingstone, Zambia (hostel) Lusaka, Zambia (Joe’s friend from high school) Chiang Mai, Thailand (guesthouse)

3 Nights

Olching (Munich), Germany (Joe’s cousin) Santorini, Greece (hotel) Stellenbosch/Franschoek, South Africa (guesthouse) Zanzibar, Tanzania (hostel) Tokyo, Japan (Airbnb) Seoul, South Korea (hostel) Shanghai, China (hotel!) Hong Kong, China (hostel, one of the worst we’ve stayed in) Singapore, Singapore (hostel) Gili Air, Indonesia (bungalow) Cairns, Australia (hostel) Puerto Varas (hostel) Buenos Aires, Argentina (here for 6 nights, 1 in the Plaza, 3 at an Airbnb in Palermo, and 2 at another Airbnb in San Telmo)

2 Nights

Bratislava, Slovakia (Elephant (??) Hostel) Kraków, Poland Cesky, Krumlov, Czech Republic Split, Croatia Istanbul, Turkey (here for 3 nights, stayed at a hotel for 1, Airbnb for 2) Mykonos, Greece (hotel) Kyoto, Japan (guesthouse) Beijing, China (3 nights, 1 in a Marriott, 2 in a hostel) Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (Airbnb) Siem Reap, Cambodia (guesthouse?) Bangkok, Thailand (here for 4 nights, 2 in a hotel in Chinatown, 2 in a Marriott) Luang Prabang, Laos (guesthouse) Vang Vieng, Laos (guesthouse) Phuket, Thailand (here for 5 nights, 1 night in town, 1 at Kata Beach, 1 at Karon Beach, 2 in great little guesthouse) Ubud (Bali), Indonesia (3 bedroom villa with our own plunge pool) Lake Tuapo, New Zealand (hotel) Nelson, New Zealand (Airbnb) Wanaka, New Zealand (Airbnb) Queenstown, New Zealand (pod hostel) Sydney, Australia (here for 4 nights, 1 in free Marriott, 1 at a friend’s girlfriend’s place, 2 at a friend’s parent’s place) Melbourne, Australia (hostel) Tahiti, French Polynesia (here for 4 nights, 1 at a hotel by the airport, 2 at a bungalow on the south side of the island, 1 Airbnb) Moorea, French Polynesia (here for 3 nights, 1 at a bungalow on one side of the island, 2 at a guesthouse on the other side of the island) Castro, Chiloe Island, Chile (hostel) Santiago, Chile (here for 3 nights, 2 at a Courtyard Marriott, 1 at the Ritz Carlton) Mendoza, Argentina (Airbnb) Lima, Peru (2 nights at the Marriott in Miraflores) Aguas Calientes, Peru (hotel)

1 Night

Zandvoort, Netherlands (free hotel due to weather/flight issue) Bucharest, Romania (Funky Chicken Hostel) Budapest, Hungary (Airbnb) Zadar, Croatia Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovinia Budva, Montenegro Durres, Albania Rome, Italy (for 2 nights, but crashed a friend’s Airbnb 1 night, hotel 1 night) Naples, Italy Termini, Italy Siena, Italy Florence, Italy (Airbnb- our weirdest one!) Venice, Italy (2 nights, but 1 @ a free Marriott (Bolosco), 1 night @ guesthouse - which was one of my favorite places we’ve stayed on this trip) Amsterdam, Netherlands (on the Botel - a boat hotel!) Johanessburg, South Africa (free night at the Protea, a Marriott) Chipata, South Africa (Protea hotel) Lilongwe, Malawi (my friend’s house–there for 2 days, but on a Fri & a Sun) Senga Bay, Lake Malawi, Malawi (hotel) Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (hotel) Arusha, Tanzania (2 nights, 1 night a Tues & 2nd night a Thurs) Hiroshima, Japan (hotel) Nara, Japan (guest house) Osaka, Japan (guest house) Hanoi, Vietnam (hotel) Ha Long Bay, Vietnam (overnight on a boat) Hoi An, Vietnam (hostel) Vientienne, Laos (guesthouse) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (free Marriott) Sepang, Malaysia (overwater bungalow) Padang Bai, Indonesia (guesthouse) Pukehina, New Zealand (Airbnb) Wellington, New Zealand (hotel) Blenheim, New Zealand (guesthouse in a vineyard) Christchurch, New Zealand (hotel) Greymouth, New Zealand (hostel) Franz Josef, New Zealand (hostel) Gold Coast, Australia (“hotel”) Hamilton Island (Whitsundays), Australia Airlie Beach, Australia (2 nights, 1 awful hostel, 1 amazing Airbnb) Tourquay (beginning of Great Ocean Road), Australia (hostel) Warrnbool (end of Great Ocean Road), Australia (motel) Whitangai, New Zealand (motel) Hamilton (near Hobbiton), New Zealand (Airbnb) Santa Monica, California, USA (friend’s apartment!) Puerto Montt, Chile (awesome amazing guesthouse) Valparaiso, Chile (Airbnb) Casablanca Valley, Chile (Airbnb…Tiny house!!!) Huachachina, Peru (hotel in an oasis in the middle of the desert) Cusco, Peru (hotel) Puno, Peru (hostel…with no heat) Arequipa, Peru (hostel) Colonia Del Sacramento, Uruguay (Airbnb) Montevideo, Uruguay (hotel)

Less than 1 Night/Day

London, England (layover) Prague, Czech Republic Salzburg, Austria Zagreb, Croatia Hvar, Croatia Stari Grad, Croatia Blagaj, Bosnia & Herzegovina Dubrovnik, Croatia Athens, Greece Pompeii, Italy Sorrento, Italy Almafi & Positano, Italy Salerno, Italy Vatican City, Italy Prosecco Road (Valdobiadenne), Italy Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe Nagano, Japan Kobe, Japan Udon Thani, Thailand Koi Noy Ang (small island off of Phuket), Thailand Brisbane, Australia San Francisco, California, USA (layover) Atlanta, Georgia, USA (layover) Vina Del Mar, Chile (drive through) Nazca, Peru (flight over the Nazca lines in a tiny airplane) Ollytantambo, Peru

[wontsleeptilbrooklyn]

HOME: WEEK 2! Yesterday marked two weeks since we've landed back in the US of A and I'm SO proud to say that on that day, Joe Made Money!!!!!!! For the first time in close to 8 months, we have a "plus" in our daily budget of expenses. We have spent the entire last week in Syracuse, hanging out with family & friends & enjoying life in the 'cuse. We spent a record breaking 8 nights here, which is the longest that we've stayed anywhere since last August!! Our previous record was when we stayed with Joe's cousin Angie and her husband and 4 kids in Penang, Malaysia for 6 nights. 6 nights the longest stretch we've stayed still in almost 8 months...crazy. we did have a sleepover in Syracuse at joe's brother Jeff & sister in law Jen's house one night, so we still haven't slept in the same bed for longer than 6 nights. future goals! after a great week & change here, we are on the move again today. On the road again...

[wontsleeptilbrooklyn]

Free Marriotts Around The World

A list of all of our free hotel nights that we used around the world, using points! Surprisingly less than I thought we had used. We still have a ton of them leftover! (Turns out there aren’t AS many Marriotts in the world as you’d think.) That aside, all amazing places that we stayed that was SUCH a treat!

Venice, Italy - Autograph Collection, Boscolo, Marriott (1) Johannesburg, South Africa - Protea (1) Beijing, China - Courtyard Marriott (1) Shanghai, China - Courtyard Marriott (3) Bangkok, Thailand - Courtyard Marriott (2) Kuala Lumper, Malaysia - Renaissance, Marriott (1) Sydney, Australia - Autograph Collection, Pier One, Marriott (1) Santiago, Chile - Courtyard Marriott (2) Santiago, Chile - Ritz Carlton (1) Lima, Peru - Courtyard Marriott (2)

15 nights total in 8 countries and 9 cities!

[wontsleeptilbrooklyn]

Stats & Recaps

Joe and I really love stats (part of our version of heaven involves something called "Life Stats," where you see X number of times you did Y....but that's a whole other story for a whole other day). Anyways, we (I) kept records and lists of lots of the different things that we did, so get ready for a deluge of those to come...

[wontsleeptilbrooklyn]

Buenos Aires, Argentina - Part 3!

We made it back from Uruguay and had a little more than 48 hours left of our trip...and we wanted to go out with a bang! But we had run into a bunch of hiccups towards the end which caused us to be over budget and we needed to reign it in. So much for living it up! Coming in on or under budget was very important though, and technically we’ve been living it up this entire trip so we were able to handle a low key ending.

Thanks to the Uber fiasco in BA, all uber rides for 5 days were FREE, which was huge to help us get to everywhere and see everything in time and on budget. We ran around town visiting the San Telmo market (1), La Casa Rosada (2, where Evita gave her famous speech), La Boca (3), and MALBA (4, 9, the Latin American Art Museum, with a very cool Jeff Koons exhibit outside)! The demand for uber was insane due to the free rides, so we ended up taking some long walks to get to where we needed to go, which gave us some great close up views of the city (6,7,8). We also popped into a local mall (5, something we’ve accidentally done in so many places that we find it an interesting view on the local culture now…or something like that).

Our last night we did go out for a fancy steak dinner & tango show. Tango shows typically run about $70-$90, but if you dig a little deeper, you find the non touristy tango shows that locals go to that run a little cheaper. Ok, a LOT cheaper. Try $10 for the both of us cheaper. One of the biggest things that I’ve learned about this trip is that if you want to do something that is super expensive, there is almost always a cheaper option for the locals. our dinner was great, and at the end of the meal we spoke with a waiter who excitedly told us he had served Michelle Obama a few weeks ago (once he found out we were American). Pretty funny way to spend your last meal, right? After that we headed two blocks away and enjoyed the local tango spot, called a milonga. A milonga is where you can go for lessons, then have time to practice, and then watch a short show put on by the pro’s. This particular spot had a live band and is rated one of the top local milongas in the city. We were lucky enough that it was open on our last night. It was such a great evening!

our last day involved a couple of more strolls around town to see a few more things. We had planned on doing a free walking tour before heading to the airport, but the weather had something else in mind. For having such fabulous weather the entire length of our trip, the last two weeks killed us with rain! We spent the last few hours in the common area of the b&b/hotel we had stayed in & snagged our last free uber to the airport when the time came. We hung out in the American Express Centurion lounge for a few hours before we boarded our flight and headed home!!! We couldn’t believe that the time had come and we had reached the end of our trip. So bittersweet, but we were ready. we couldn't believe that it was actually happening--that we had made it all the way around the world and that it was time to go home!

[wontsleeptilbrooklyn]

Friends, family, weddings, voting and haircutting. After 7 months of travels we clearly had a few things to catch up on. #traveltheworld #usa #todolist #needsleep #fun

[wontsleeptilbrooklyn]

One week

We’ve been home for exactly one week now, which is kind of a crazy fact to process. In the past 7 days, we’ve been to CT, Syracuse, New Jersey, CT, NYC, CT and back to Syracuse. We’ve been ping ponging back and forth seeing family, friends, and even attending a wedding! It’s been wonderful, but exhausting and a little overwhelming. We’ve been lucky to see so many friends and family along the route of our trip, but we haven’t had so many people together all at once! it's funny how that's something we even took note of.

Now we are back in Syracuse visiting Joe’s family for hopefully a solid 7 nights in a row. If we manage to do that, it will be the longest that we’ve stayed anywhere since last August! we are ready to slow down and appreciate staying still. But the “what are we doing” feelings are already creeping back in, even after just one day of having no obligations. It was less weird to be jobless on our trip–that had a purpose and a reason. But now that we’re home, it feels a lot stranger. We barely took time off the year leading up to our trip to save vacation days, so it feels even more strange to have all this time. Wonderful! But strange. as you've probably already realized, I'm not very good at sitting still.

So for now, we are going to be taking advantage of our time and the fact that we have so much of it. We have a small amount of money saved for our coming home fund to help transition us back into post trip life. Our expenses we had on the road–lodging, travel, food, sightseeing, etc.–drastically decreases when you have places to stay that don’t charge you rent (thanks to our family & friends) & a borrowed car (thanks to my family). So save for gas and our regular food & drinking needs, we are able to live at a lower daily cost than we were for the past 7-8 months.

I still have a couple more posts to put up (including our final two days of the trip!) and now that we actually are starting to have some down time, I can get to my to do list. we plan to move back into our apartment in Brooklyn eventually, but for now are enjoying our time readjusting (friends of ours have been subletting). I don’t know how long we will keep posting here, but I promise to let you know once we figure that out! Most of you reading this knew us before we started this blog and adventure, and let's just say there's a reason that we made that trip happen! We love to explore and something tells me we won't be stopping anytime soon. We have a couple of road trips on the horizon, reunions, weddings, and a couple of weeks here and there taking advantage of our time off before we get back work.

[wontsleeptilbrooklyn]

Around The World, Part 2

The second half of our trip, from day 111-221:

Bangkok, Thailand

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Luang Prabang, Laos

Vang Vieng, Laos

Vientiene, Laos

Udon Thani, Thailand

Phuket, Thailand

Penang, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Sepang, Malaysia

Singapore, Singapore

Bali, Indonesia

Gili Air, Indonesia

Ubud, Indonesia

Brisbane, Australia

Auckland, New Zealand

Roturua, New Zealand

Lake Tuapo, New Zealand

Wellington, New Zealand

Nelson, New Zealand

Blenheim, New Zealand

Christchurch, New Zealand

Greymouth, New Zealand

Franz Josef, New Zealand

Wanaka, New Zealand

Queenstown, New Zealand

Gold Coast, Australia

Whitsundays, Australia

Airlie Beach, Australia

Cairns, Australia

Sydney, Australia

Great Ocean Road, Australia

Melbourne, Australia

Auckland, New Zealand

Whangarei, New Zealand

Hamilton, New Zealand

Hobbiton, New Zealand

Tahiti, French Polynesia

Moorea, French Polynesia

Santa Monica, California, USA

San Francisco, California, USA

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Puerto Montt, Chile

Castro, Chiole Island, Chile

Puerto Varas, Chile

Santiago, Chile

Valparaiso, Chile

Casablanca Valley, Chile

Mendoza, Argentina

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Lima, Peru

Ica/Huacachina, Peru

Nazca, Peru

Cusco, Peru

Ollyantaytambo, Peru

Aguas Caliente, Peru

Puno, Peru

Arequipa, Peru

Lima, Peru

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Colonia Del Sacramento, Uruguay

Buenos Aires, Argentina

[wontsleeptilbrooklyn]

Uruguay

With the extra time we had from cutting out Bolivia and Brazil, we were able to stretch out our time in Chile, Peru, and Argentina. But we were still itching to get another South American country in since we had traveled all this way, and Uruguay seemed like the perfect choice. (It is also the one other country that isn’t marked as a Zika Zone by the CDC on their website. Uruguay also doesn’t charge the $160 reciprocity fee, so we were good to go on both accounts.) We decided to take the boat over to Colonia Del Sacramento and spend a night there, and then take the bus down to Montevideo for a night before heading back to BA.

We took an uber from our Airbnb to the boat terminal, which in itself was somewhat momentous occasion as buenos Aires just launched uber three days before. The city of BA and the taxi company are somewhat run by the mafia, so they’ve had some issues getting uber up and running. lots of arguments, threats, street blockage/traffic, and anti-uber signs everywhere. Crazy!…but I digress. We took the boat over to Colonia, checked into our Airbnb, made dinner, and went to bed.

we were up early the next day to squeeze in a tour of Colonia before hopping on our 1pm bus to Montevideo (which is the capital of Uruguay). Colonia is a cute little town, unfortunately it was rainy and gray, which is never the best way to see a place. There had been a really intense/bad storm the night before, and our Airbnb hosts had been telling us how there were tornadoes to the north of us! Despite the weather, it was a very charming town (yet another UNESCO world heretige site). We saw the old gates to the town (2), one of the more famous streets (3), and walked around to admired the cute Colonia-ness all around (4, 5, 6, 7). it is somewhat normal to rent a golf cart or a little buggy (pic 1) to get around town, which would have been really fun to do if we had the time and money to do that!

we were about an hour or so into our 3 hour bus ride to Montevideo, when we stopped. For a long time. It turned out that the storms (it had been raining for over a week before we arrived) had caused massive flooding, and the main road in between Colonia and Montevideo were no exception. We were stuck in of a raging river….right over the road that we were driving on. so after waiting around for a few hours, we (and the rest of the traffic jam waiting to cross the bridge) turned around and went back to Colonia. luckily our Airbnb hosts graciously offered to let us crash on an air mattress in another one of their spare rooms (they had friends in town for the night that were staying in the room we had slept in the night before).

we took advantage of having a few more hours in Colonia to walk along the water and check out the abandoned bull riding stadium up town (9,10). We eventually made our way back to the apartment to cook and hang out with our new friends before they went to their 12:30am to 7am party! as we were sitting around their living room, we saw ourselves on the local news, which had been filming the roadblock where our bus had been sitting for a few hours. Pretty much local celebrities by the time we left Uruguay the following morning on our boat back to BA for our final 2 days of the trip!

[wontsleeptilbrooklyn]

Zika

A lot of people (cough cough our mothers) were verrrrry worried about us going anywhere with the Zika virus (cough cough our mothers want grandchildren with normal sized heads, apparently). We put off the decision for as long as we could, and when it came to booking our flights in South America, we had a tough choice to make. The places that we had on the agenda that were identified as Zika zones were thankfully only 2 countries: Bolivia and Brazil. We were on the fence about Bolivia to begin with, because it would cost us $320 to enter the country (reciprocity fee of $160 each). We had paid that for Argentina and Brazil (the United States charges people from these countries that much money to enter the US, so these countries charge US citizens this cost back and call it a reciprocity fee) before leaving on the trip, but had to get the Boliva one at the border. Obviously a hefty amount of cash, especially at the end of our trip, and for only a few days in Bolivia (I really wanted to go to the Uyuni Salt flats. Look up pictures if you’ve never heard of them, it’s gorgeous!). So Bolivia was easier to scratch off the list, despite my desire to see some of this country.

It was MUCH harder to make the decision to skip Brazil and Rio. We had to get our Brazil visas before we left, and they were one of the harder ones to get. We ended up having to get a second passport to get the Brazil visa, because it takes 3 weeks to process at the embassy in the city. In fact, we didn’t even have time to get them before we left on our trip, and our friend Amanda was kind enough to pick them up for us (thanks Mandy!) and bring them to Paris when we met up in the fall. (I should note that we needed to either add extra passport pages to our original passport OR get a second one in order to have more room for stamps. The cost was about the same, having a second passport was maybe $20 more expensive. So not a HUGE deal but another slight annoyance.)

Obviously Rio is one of the biggest and most famous cities in the world and we reallllllly wanted to see it. Especially as it is hosting the Olympics this summer and is always alllll over the news (most of the time not for good reason, but details, details). I have been itching to go to Ipanema Beach and dance to “girl from Ipanema” on the sand (also one of Joe’s favorite jazz songs). I wanted to drink Caprahini’s and eat a Brazilian barbecue. And I wanted to go see one of the seven new wonders of the world - Christ the redeemer! Alas, even though we had sunk $320 into going and it was one of the places we were realllly looking forward to, we decided to scratch it. the news coverage about the intensity of Zika there right now, the decisions of a lot of athletes claiming to be skipping the Olympics because of it, and general unease about the city itself led us to the sad decision. Luckily our visas are good for 10 years, so as long as the Zika virus gets under control before 2025, we hopefully can get down there for a visit. I also really wanted to go to Iguazu falls, which is in the area where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay connect. So another trip for another time.

Funnily enough, a day or two after we finalized our South American flights, we stayed at an Airbnb in Tahiti, French Polynesia, with a young couple with a 1 year old. I was talking with our hostess about our travel plans & mentioned our recent decision. She had me repeat what I was talking about, and when I explained it was because of Zika, she had a confused look on her face. She then proceeded to inform me that everyone in Tahiti had Zika a few years ago, including her, and it was nothing more than an annoying cold (she didn’t have it while pregnant with her son but shortly before he was born & there were no issues with her child). It was almost embarrassing how much of a non issue she made it seem and how shocked she was that we changed our plans for it. Alas! I guess we’ll never know if it was a good or bad decision, but I’ll tell you one thing. The Uyuni salt flats & Rio & Iguzu falls will be our first stops once Zika is under control!

[wontsleeptilbrooklyn]

So, should I delete your blog?

My grandfather to me after being home for 24 hours. (The answer is no, not yet! We still have a few more days to write about & a bunch of recaps & you can watch us acclimate from the wild back to the real world if you're so inclined).

[wontsleeptilbrooklyn]

Day 1 vs. Day 221: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. After 221 days of travel across 41 countries I'd say that @goular wore it best #traveltheworld #fun #usa

[wontsleeptilbrooklyn]

hola! I mean, hello!

we're currently at the airport in buenos Aires, waiting to board our flight home!!!!!!!! if all goes well, we'll be back on American soil in the morning. we still have a few days to catch up on the blog & lots of other things to post about (overall lists, overall recaps, etc), so this blog is not going anywhere, for now (sorry).