Adventures Await

So what is this fabulous adventure I mysteriously alluded to in my last post?

Well, it all started a few years ago, even before we left for Japan. Actually, I can even trace it back to an AIM conversation between me and Bob before we started dating. We were doing the all the "get-to-know-you" stuff, and Bob said that his passion in life was to travel. I agreed. At that time neither of us had been to more than a few foreign countries, and had barely seen any of our own country, but what traveling we had done, we liked. And we wanted to do more. So when we were moving to Japan, one of noted Japan's proximity to Russia. I don't remember who first suggested that perhaps we could ride the Trans-Siberian Railroad when we were done with Japan. The original plan was to stay one year, then go home via train all the way to Western Europe, maybe London, and then fly home. I even bought a Trans-Sib guidebook back in July 2007 with some Barnes and Noble gift cards I got for graduating college. Then we arrived in Japan. The plan soon snowballed. We liked living abroad so much that we wanted to do it in more places. So we got to thinking. The plan became to ride the Trans-Sib to Europe and then work there, probably teaching English, perhaps in Poland or Turkey. Or the Czech Republic...or Greece...or Spain... so many opportunities!

At some point we ended up staying three years in Japan, and while we still like living abroad, we want to do more traveling. We do travel every break we get, which has allowed us to see the Philippines, Vietnam, Korea (twice!), Hong Kong, and quite a bit of Japan. But on these travels, especially in Southeast Asia, one always meets long term and round-the-world travelers. I met quite a few of these people when I went to Malaysia and Singapore four years ago, and Bob met several when he went the year after. Meeting people in hostels and hearing their fabulous stories is so inspiring, and also quite jealousy-inducing. The icing on the cake was when I found this great blog of an American family of six who went the whole way around the world without losing a single kid. At first I thought, I'd love to do that with my kids one day. It didn't occur to me that I have a great opportunity to do it right now.

Luckily it did finally occur to me, or Bob, and we started making plans. They were small-scale at first. Well, we already have this plan to go to Russia and Europe. Why don't we add in Southeast Asia at the beginning? It's quite easy to get from Japan to Bangkok, Singapore, Manila, or Jakarta. Then we could just work our way up through China and hook up with the Trans-Sib. And Bob has always wanted to go to the Middle East, so... why not go through Eastern Europe to Turkey, then swing down and see Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, and Egypt? Then from Egypt, Africa is right there....

Several good friends who we met here in Japan have returned or moved to the southern hemisphere, so we decided to add Australia and New Zealand as our first stop. And we had such a good time at home last summer, plus Bob's got a free plane ticket home, that we decided we should go back to America for a month or two. We've also got two weddings to attend. So the trip as it now stands:

Fly to Virginia- stay through at least October 2nd- drive cross-country to California- fly to New Zealand- Australia- Southeast Asia, most likely including Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Lao- China- Mongolia- Russia- Eastern Europe, most likely including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, and others?- Turkey- Syria- Lebanon- Israel- Jordan- Egypt- down the coast to South Africa- fly to South America- meander about with a sort of northward direction, and eventually find our way back to VA.

Here's where you come in. If you are moving abroad, live abroad, or have a good friend who does, let me know! We want to visit as many people as possible. Heck, you don't even have to live abroad; we'd love to come visit you on our cross-country trip. We will definitely be seeing friends/family in South Carolina, Texas, Colorado, Christchurch, NZ; Canberra, Melbourne, and Perth, Australia; Damascus, Syria; and possibly Liverpool, England. Know anyone else we should visit? Let us know!

New Year's Resolution

I'm going to be a better blogger.

It would be hard to be worse, considering my last post was over a year ago. There's nowhere to go but up! That is good news. I don't even know if anyone reads this... it's not like I've given you any good reason to, with my erratic/ nonexistent updates. But I've got only about 200 days left in the Land of the Rising Sun. Okay, maybe a little more, maybe as many as 220. Still, not many. I want to document this whole experience... well, I wanted to document this whole experience, but it seems that I will have documented just a little here and there and (hopefully!) a lot in my final months. Whatever. Point is, I don't want to forget everything that happened. My life in Japan is fantastic. Honestly, I don't want to go. But Bob is ready to leave, and we've had three great years here, so I guess it's time. Little known fact: we originally came planning to stay only one year,but ended up staying three. For that I am eternally grateful to my husband. And, even better, a new adventure is starting soon.

So. I need to get back into the habit of blogging (or into it for the first time) so that I won't forget the end of this adventure, or the beginning of the next one.

What's your New Year's Resolution?