2011 plans come to fruition (and a ton of photos)

Now things are getting going.
We are now very organized with the nitty-gritty of our 2011 plans. Some short trips for the next few months (including a trip to California coming up in a few weeks) and a trip to the UK in the summer for Andy's mum and dad's 50th wedding anniversary. Then we will be taking a month to study and get our teaching English as a foreign language crendential in Vancouver, taking classes full time Mon - Fri and then working on the weekends. And then ..... taking some overseas time. We hope to achieve our dream of living and teaching in Asia by the fall - hopefully for about 6 months. We're open to where and when, although it is still very much our goal to spend some time travelling in China.

So now our focus is on working and saving as much as we can. Evan is hard at work nearing the completion of his degree in anthropology. His capstone project includes our worldwide travels, and an associated project is a photographic project of religious expression as we have observed travelling through the various countries - so this week we've been looking through hundred of photos that include the churches of England, Spain, Italy, Iceland and Eastern Europe, Cambodian spirit houses,Nepal funerals and Hindu gods, Egyptian pyramids and mosques, Easter Island statues and bird gods, palaces of Thailand, temples of Hong Kong and China, mayan sites in Costa Rica .... and on and on. Inspiring us all the more!!!!

So lots going on - all very exciting...

"That is the charm of the map. It represents the other side of the horizon where everything is possible" (Rosita Forbes)

Italy photos

Finally ... some of our photos from our recent trip to Florence and Pisa, Italy.

First five - Florence:
1. Florence's famous Duomo dome (main cathedral)
2. From the Ponte Vecchio along the river Arno
3. Piazza del Duomo - the main cathedral square
4. The fantastic interior of the Duomo dome
5. A not completely legal photo of the 17 foot tall David







Last two - Pisa:
1.From the top of the Leaning Tower of PIsa - overlooking the Field of Miracles
2. The cathedral and famous leaning tower

Saving to Vagabond

So, most of our time is being spent as we said in our last post: working to put money away for an exciting summer and fall. The spa has picked up just in time for Ev to save, and Andy has as much work as he wants as per usual. Andy's parents will be coming in the spring, so we helped them arrange that this past week. Andy is speaking to our friend, Gina, at this very moment to help us arrange our California trip which sounds like it will be happening in February or March. Ev will speak to his mom tomorrow to finalize things... trying to arrange dates that work for all involved.

We have booked our flights to the U.K. for Andy's parents' anniversary which will be in the first part of the summer, and next will be arranging dates, locations, and plans for our big fall vagabonding stint.

Ev's degree application has been approved as has his senior project which means all he has to do now is follow through with the next two terms of classes, and the bachelors is a done deal!

The most exciting events of the past few weeks have been 1)joining a casino because they were having a drawing for a trip wherever one wanted to go (we didn't win) and 2)listening to an inspiring talk at our local book store by Marcia Shaver, a women from Seattle who walked 500 some odd miles on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in Spain; so that's another experience to be had!

By our next posting, we hope to have made some actual commitments regarding our fall departure, but it all depends on how much we can save, so we'll take a closer look at that this week.

Until then......

"We are all travellers in the wilderness of this world, and the best that we find in our travels is an honest friend." -Robert Louis Stevenson

New Year

It's been a month since our last entry - whoops! We plan to update every two weeks at the moment until we start to get more exciting things going again. However, we have just got back from a great trip to the UK and Italy over the Christmas holidays, and spent last night doing our yearly ritual to welcome in the New Year. And we're loving our new home. How easy travel was this time.

Our UK time was relaxed and quiet, uneventful apart from lots of crazy weather. We were very fortunate to miss the travel disruptions in and out of the UK with the snow and ice. We had three nights in Italy, and made the most of our time - two nights in Florence and one in Pisa. Highlights included seeing Michelangelo's David in the flesh (stone)(in a near empty gallery), visiting the Uffizi gallery to see some truly famous works of art (such as Botecelli's Birth of Venus), walks around fabulous squares and buildings (in the snow!), and some truly memorable and wonderful food - wonderful Chiantis, tender and delicous pastas and hot chocolates that you could stand a spoon up in! We also got to climb up to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and explore the Field of Miracles - full of marble buidings from the 11th century on. We managed to travel around fairly succefully on Italian trains and buses despite severe disruptions with strikes, broken ticket machines, long lines of passengers and snow cancellations. Good (if cold) times. Hopefully some photos to follow soon.

Now we're back in the USA and preparing for this next year, and all we hope for. In the next few months, we anticipate a trip to California and a visit stateside from Andy's mum and dad, while Evan finishes up his degree by the summer and we stockpile some cash. It's also getting time to organize ourselves for one of our bigger plans this year - which looks like we'll be spending a chunk of time in Vietnam. And travel this year ..... China looms!!!!

Happy New Year!!!!
.......
"What are you waiting for?" (Lope De Vega