We each got nice new hiking packs (thank you Taften and Thomas!) and they are all packed up and ready to go! We’ve been breaking in our walking shoes (thank you Absandian, Chris and Brigid!)
The passports with our new names arrived late last week which was cutting it a little close for our comfort, but they made it! We have our international drivers license, but don’t worry, we’re planning on letting the locals do most of the driving for us. We only really plan on renting a car to do a beautiful drive referred to as the Mae Hong Son Loop out of Chiang Mae toward the end of our trip thanks in part to Brad and Xiao Ling (more thanks!).
We’ve also got some good antimalarials and probiotics from Rachel’s sister Sharon and her partner Isaac. Thank you, Sharon for keeping us healthy! Catharine and Peggy have made sure that we won’t start our trip with sore necks by providing us with some very nice and easily packed travel pillows for the very long plane ride; it’s 15 hours from San Francisco to Hong Kong and then another 2 hours from there to Manila. And Abe and Erin have given us access to a bunch of their audio books to help pass all that time! Jennifer and Steffen have made sure that we can stay in touch with all of you by giving us a little netbook to write this blog!
We are bringing a very limited wardrobe, but feel like we’ve got our bases covered. Everything we’re bringing will dry very quickly – especially with the use of Shannon and Derek’s travel clothesline! All of this and our little carryon packs are only about half full. Of course Rachel is filling some of that space by adding snacks for the plane!
Oreo definitely knows something is up, but we’ve been reassuring him that it’s alright. He’s got something even better than coming with us – a 3 month vacation at Ange and Arnim’s! They will no doubt take such good care of him that he second guesses wanting to come home with us at the end. 🙂
Our renters will be coming in Wednesday night and our awesome next door neighbors Sarah and Will have opened their guest room to us until we depart Friday morning so we’ll be nearby if they forget how to use the stove or have any last minute questions before we go. Then, if anything goes wrong, our other neighbors, Dave and Sue, have kindly said they’ll be the point people for any urgent house repairs and the like. We are seriously hoping that they never get a call!
As you can see, this trip is not something that the two of us are doing at all! This whole things is a big ol’ community sponsored event where we get to reap the rewards. We are SO very grateful to everyone for your support and help in making this happen. It is truly going to be the trip of a lifetime!
For those of you who are local, we’ll see you at the May Day festival when we first get back!
