• It’s Parade Time!

    31May
    Categories: Just Having Fun Comments: 0

    This May in Oregon we are experiencing a weather anomaly. Typically this time of the year, which coincides with the annual Rose Festival, brings us rain with intermittent periods of sunshine. It’s one of those local jokes when the rain comes where we elbow each other and say, “Well, of course it’s raining, isn’t the Rose Festival this weekend?” This year has been different, however. We have had sunshine and temperatures in the high 70s and mid-80s since we returned to the state and the forecast calls for more. It’s been amazing! 

    Because of the normal rain, we have never considered going to either of the parades that take over the streets downtown Portland during the festival, but when Linsey mentioned the Starlight Parade was Saturday night, we quickly made plans to be there. An illuminated parade, the Starlight Parade is nothing like Disneyland’s Electric Parade, but there is something magical about being downtown as dusk turns to dark and glowing marching bands and twinkling floats pass by. Another highlight of this parade is the pre-parade 5K race which follows the parade route. As tradition has it, many racers dress in costume, giving the crowd a reason to cheer and laugh. We were certainly entertained and are considering what our costumes should be if we enter next year–if you have any ideas, let us know!

    Here are some of our favorite snaps from the evening:

  • ‘Tis a gift to be simple, ’tis a gift to be free

    28May
    Categories: Thoughts Comments: 0

    After nearly nine months of having only the items that we could carry on our backs and in our hands, it has been quite a shift to re-enter a home that can hold up to 1100 square feet of stuff.  We generally try to operate on the KISS principle (keep it simple, stupid) and this move-in has been a great opportunity to put into practice our desire for simplicity. Of course, it didn’t help that our renters left us the gift of two months of cable, complete with DVR set up, but it sure has been fun to watch the NBA Conference Finals!  Although we purged as we packed up the house in August, we have purged even more as we unpack and are feeling more and more free! The system we are working on involves garage sale/giveaway, storage, and keeper groups. It’s so fabulous to have more free space in the house and we hope to to be smart about what we keep and what we purchase in the future. We do apologize if you notice that something you gave us is no longer in our home. Don’t take it personally–we can’t keep everything and we just don’t need it all. 

    Through the unpacking process, I have often reflected on the way we saw others live around the world. We saw the whole range of accommodations from dirt floors, bamboo walls, and long drop toilets to beautiful gated homes in suburban neighborhoods. We aren’t feeling guilty because of what we have, but our experience has make us re-think the need for many of the things we own and/or the need for the quantity of those things. I find it funny when I look in our closet and know that just a couple weeks ago we only had a few items of clothing each. I wonder how some of the people we met on our journey would react if we brought them into our home and showed them all we had. I’m certain they would be quite overwhelmed and they would probably laugh at us when we told them that we are not rich by American standards.

  • 16,690

    26May
    Categories: Home Comments: 1

    Yep, that’s the number of photos and video taken over the past 8 months.  We did realize that the stop animation was included and possibly padded the stats by 3000 or so.  Don’t worry we won’t subject anyone to a slideshow marathon.  We have narrowed it down to under 200 which hopefully would be tolerable to watch.  We should have a posting of our favorite 10 photos in the next two weeks.  Stay tuned…

  • Tip Top

    26May
    Categories: Thoughts Comments: 0

    It’s hard to summarize our journey into bullet pointed lists. There were very few, if any, truly bad experiences so as we think back through each country and each city, there is a highlight or fun memory from nearly every one. Certainly, some rise to the top over others, but let it be known that we really enjoyed each country we visited. We have no regrets about the way we distributed our time in each place and feel so pleased with the way it all shook out in the end. What follows is our attempt at spelling out the best of the best, with a little note about the not-so-hot bits too.

    Top Overall Moments

    moonrise

    1am moonrise-Mueller Hut, New Zealand

    An un-favorite moment: Getting our bike stolen in Luang Prabang, Laos and the attempt to search for it among the thousands of bikes in town that looked just like it really sucked.

    Top Accommodations

    • Bag End, South Africa
    • Dreamlands, South Africa
      imgp5600

      Living room at Dreamlands - Jeffery's Bay, South Africa

    • Kim Grimes’ Home, Kenya
    • Thien An Hotel, Dalat, Vietnam
    • Thien Nga Hotel, Hoi An, Vietnam
    • Lake Wanaka Holiday Park, New Zealand
    • Golden Tour Eiffel Guesthouse, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
    • Muan Baan, Chiang Mai, Thailand
    • Our Tent, New Zealand

    One of the worst accommodations: The foam pad and neon green colored lighting of our guesthouse in Nha Trang, Vietnam left much to be desired. Not to mention they only had twin bed rooms. You really do pay for what you get as this was one of the cheapest places we stayed in Vietnam. Thankfully we were only there two nights and we spent

     most of our time on the beach or on the sweet rooftop balcony. 

    Top Cities Visited

    • New Plymouth, New Zealand- surf and snowboard in the same day!
    • Wanaka, New Zealand - every thing you’d want in a lakeside resort town
    • Dalat, Vietnam- the quietest town in Vietnam, set in the mountains north of HCMC
    • Luang Prabang, Laos – culture, activity, and the vegetarian buffet, Laos sandwiches, crepes, and yummy fruit shakes
    • Cape Town, South Africa – beauty, outdoor activity, and a fun waterfront scene

    One of our least favorite cities: Phnom Penh. Loved the people, hated the pollution. 

    Top Meals Eaten

     

    imgp22301

    Thanksgiving Feast - Wanaka, New Zealand

    • Passion Fruit Chicken – Hanoi, Vietnam
    • Thanksgiving Feast – Wanaka, New Zealand
    • Tacos at Jeff & Jan Bauers – Bangkok, Thailand
    • Seafood cooked by Ali including red snapper, white snapper, crab, tuna, and prawns – Diani Beach, Kenya
    • All Thai food consumed in Thailand – massaman curry, tom yum, panang curry, phad thai, khow soi…
    • Anything cooked up by Rebecca Le Roux – Midrand, South Africa 

    One of the worst meals eaten: Chicken fingers basket with fries and mayonaise in New Zealand. It should have been called the Mayo with a side of fries and chicken fingers basket. We had to scrape half a jar of mayo off the fries just to find them!

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    Cheetahs on safari - Masai Mara, Kenya

    • New Plymouth, New Zealand
    • Mt. Cook, New Zealand
    • Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa
    • Halong Bay, Vietnam
    • Safari in Kenya
    • Zimbabwe

    We are least likely to return to: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. We hit HCMC during an off time as it was New Years and most things were closed. The city didn’t have particularly great character or atmosphere. It was just a big city with lots of noise. Perhaps if we had come at another time our experience would have been different.


  • Playing in the Dirt

    24May
    Categories: Home Comments: 2

    Although we are still working on the inside of the house, this past week we have had the perfect weather to work on the outside of the house. Thankfully our friends did some major work on the yard prior to our return so our work has been focused on getting our garden sorted. Today we planted our starts (cheaters, we know) and are now excited to watch them grow. Additionally, it turns out we came home at the peak of iris season. We forgot how beautiful the iris’ in our yard are and have been admiring their intricacies and incredible color. Here are some favorite recent shots:

  • The Beard

    23May
    Categories: Around The World, BEARD Comments: 0

    Warning: If you don’t want to see John’s face grow for the next minute and a half then we would warn you not to watch this video. Due to copyright laws I have no music for this video so you will have to play some yourself.  Hope you pick something good.


    YouTube Direct

  • Slow Movin’

    19May
    Categories: The Road Home Comments: 1

    On Sunday after attending our Grandma’s 90th birthday party we officially were back in our house for the first time in nine months.  After making a mess out of our garage and finding mouse droppings in our box spring we decided to work into sleeping in our house.  This meant setting up our tent in the backyard, blowing up our air mattresses and getting into our sleeping bags which still haven’t been cleaned since their last use in NZ.  We’ve been unpacking slowly (purging as we go) and getting used to having more than just what we can carry on our backs.  By night number two we moved into the guest room and figure by Friday we will finally be sleeping in our room.  

     

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    Home sweet home

     

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    What a mess!

  • The Stats

    17May
    Categories: Thoughts Comments: 7

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    As you can imagine, in 210 days of international travel, and 248 total days of travel, we have some pretty serious stats. Here’s a collection of numbers we have been keeping…

     

    Regarding transportation, we took this number of the following:

    • 16 Planes
    • 13 Buses (and over 150 hours logged)
    • 12 Boats
    • 5 Motor scooters
    • 5 Bicycles_mg_9911
    • 2 Trains
    • 2 Cyclos
    • 2 Station wagons
    • 1 Campervan

    Regarding accomodation:

    • 1 school (Zimbabwe)
    • 5 homes
    • 26 guesthouses/hostels/hotels/motels/cottages/inns
    • 70 nights spent sleeping in a tent or car

    Other miscellaneous numbers:

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    • Countries Visited: 9
    • Times Sick: 4
    • Holes in clothes: 6
    • Friends visited: 9

    What is your guess at how many photos and video we came home with after this journey? If you know the answer you are excluded from this game.

  • We are back

    15May
    Categories: Around The World, On the Road, The Road Home Comments: 3

    Check out the homecoming photos at John’s parent’s blog.

    We aren’t technically back on the grid yet–there is some freedom in not having a cell phone.  We will be easing back into things slowly and starting the job search soon, but not too soon.  Today we will see our house for the first time in 8 months.  It’s exciting to be back, although a bit strange.

  • Taking Notice

    13May
    Categories: The Road Home Comments: 4

    There is much we have been processing over the past two weeks we have been back in the country. Some things are heavier than others and it is interesting just to notice all of the things that seem out of place. We have been keeping a list of some of the things that have stuck out and given us reason to pause…

    • Toilets and just bathrooms in general here are amazingly nice.
    • There is a totally different selection of candy on the shelves. Where did all the Cadbury go?
    • Hearing American English has made us turn our heads more than once.
    • We have really soft toilet paper. When did they start making five-ply?
    • Drivers here don’t want to work together on the road. It’s been awhile since we have seen or felt road rage.
    • The roads are really smooth! We have tried driving over pot holes just to remind us of Kenya.
    • People drive really nice cars that aren’t banged up.
    • The internet is so incredibly fast. Wow, it’s fast.
    • It’s weird being on the same time zone (or relatively so) as friends and family.
    • There are public bathrooms everywhere and they are free and clean and you don’t have to bring your own tp.
    • We can drink straight from the tap or the shower head.
    • Customer service actually exists in the US and you can get refills on drinks.
    • Cars stop for pedestrians here. We don’t have to play Frogger with traffic anymore!
    • It’s a real adjustment to drive and walk on the right side of the street. We constantly put on the wipers instead of indicators.
    • No one is staring at us when we walk down the street. Surprising since John’s beard is still in full force.

    There are many more things we have seen that have given us reason to pause and comment. We do have to be careful not to be critical and remember that every country has its differences, but that doesn’t make one better or worse than the other, just different. We are readjusting well and it has been good to have some time in America before actually going back to our home. It has given us a chance to ease into our transition. We are excited to be back in Oregon and see the journey full circle.

    Our adventures aren’t over though so keep posted as we will continue to post!

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