Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Big Ticket Items

For Sumon, the trip has in a way already started. He left the comforts of home Sunday morning for...the comforts of Snow's home in Massachusetts.

There's still a lot of work to be done, so we decided to use this last week for some of the big tickets items. Snow had found a pack for Sumon at a great price, so she picked it up for him. It's a great pack, definitely a keeper. She had also found a SteriPen, which is a cool little water purfier. We haven't heard good things about the state of the drinking water in a lot of the countries we're going to, so a good water purifier was an absolute must. We were originally thinking of iodine tablets, but we'd need a lot of them, which could have gotten expensive and unwieldy, and we didn't want to turn orange by the end of the trip. We researched this SteriPen pretty extensively, and we saw a lot of good reviews, so we decided to give it a shot. We bought one, but we had to exchange it as it was defective. The second one seemed to work a lot better, or at least as described. Of course, since we lack any lab equipment, the only way to really test out if it works or not is to actually use it and see if we get sick. We're pretty confident that it works just fine, but cross your fingers for us anyway. The cool thing about the SteriPen is that it comes with rechargeable batteries and a solar charger, so all we really need now to keep this thing working is the sun.

Sumon also decided to get a new pair of shoes. He was worried about his feet having problems in 120 degree heat, so he decided to carry a pair of sandals along with his sneakers. We stopped off at REI to look at sandals, but the sales associate there talked him out of getting them, as she didn't think they'd offer the right kind of support for backpacking. She instead pointed him in the direction of trail running shoes, particularly a pair that breathe better than standard hiking boots and wick sweat and moisture away. The shoes were pretty comfortable, and seemed like they'd do a good job, so Sumon went with those instead.

Now, before you think that this is going to turn into another post about Sumon and his clothes, we also picked up permethrin from REI. Permethrin is a chemical that repels insects. We spray the stuff on our clothes and mosquito netting to keep the little buggers away. Combined with DEET, which is sprayed onto exposed skin, this will hopefully keep us safe from malaria-carrying mosquitoes and other insects. Speaking of disease prevention, Sumon's father, who is thankfully a physician, was able to provide us with a lot of the medication we'll need. We'll be taking doxycyclene almost everyday for malaria, and we also have a few courses of several antibiotics, just in case. Again, cross your fingers...

Some of you have pointed out the lack of pictures on this blog. Well fine, you've got us there. The blog isn't much to look at right now, but once we get our camera, which is the final big ticket item we need before we leave, you won't be able to escape our happy and delightful faces. We're hoping to get that tomorrow. That should put an end to the major shopping. There are still a few odds and ends that we'll need to pick up, such as sunblock, a money belt for Snow, and maybe a few other things. After that we pack, and then we're off!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

"Wings of Silver, Nerves of Steel"

We received our tickets in the mail yesterday. This is absolutely wild. All the planning over the last 10 months...all the excitement and uncertainty all encapsulated and printed onto these sturdy slips of paper. This is truly amazing...we're really doing this! There have been so many times where it looked like this trip wasn't going to happen at all, for a few different reasons. It went through so many changes, but ultimately, we're very happy with the itinerary we've put together. That's the best thing: we put this together ourselves. We found an excellent price by consulting several travel agents, we researched all the places we're going to stay, eat, visit, etc. We put the budget together ourselves. We created this trip whole cloth ourselves. It really is an amazing feeling. It's a little bit nerve-wracking, sure, but the fact is, this could be one of the greatest things we do in our lives. Yeah, it's a big undertaking, but as a wise man once said, "go big or go home!"

A note about our travel agent: we spoke to a few different travel professionals, both on the internet and conventional brick-and-mortar companies. We settled on Air Brokers International. They're a company that specializes in around the world travel for people on a budget. They got us the best price on the most destinations. We literally had one other travel agent say to us "I don't know how Air Brokers was able to get that price!" Our sales rep, Kristina, was wonderful to deal with. She did a yeoman's job in helping us for several months. We must have changed the trip on her a thousand times, even as recently as two weeks ago! She never lost patience with us (ok, maybe in private, but she never let us see it), and was more than accommodating throughout all our spastic idiocy. For those of you who may be planning a trip around the world, you can do worse than clicking the link above and sending in an inquiry. We had a great experience with them.

For the people who have been a bit confused about how long we are going to be away for, we depart for Amsterdam the night of March 28th, and we return to Boston the night of May 15.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

No Turning Back Now

Well, our tickets have been purchased, and now they are on their way to our respective houses. This makes the whole thing so...real.

Also, we're keeping the trip the same length after all. We were going to take out some places and make the whole thing one week shorter to save money, but ultimately, we asked ourselves the question "when are we going to do something like this again?" If we took anything out, we'd probably end up regretting it. Thus, 7 weeks it is. Our travel agent won't kill us, and we don't have to change the name of the blog. Victories all around!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Your Travel Suggestions Here:

We have had an outpouring of support, love, well wishes and suggestions and have decided it would be best to get the suggestions in an organized section of the blog. We have, of course, been doing lots of research on our own (see essential bathroom reading), but your first hand knowledge, suggestions, comments, and cautions will of course help us along the way. Anything and everything is much appreciated. So here is a list of the place we plan to visit.

Amsterdam, Netherlands
Cairo, Egypt
Alexandria, Egypt
Mt Sinai, Egypt
Dahab, Egypt
Delhi, India
Agra, India
Calcutta, India
Bangkok, Thailand
Phuket, Thailand
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Osaka, Japan
Tokyo, Japan

Friday, March 7, 2008

Some Essential (bathroom) Reading

We figured we'd talk a little about our research resources. We've purchased as few good books that have really helped us plan out this trip.

The first is Rough Guides First Time Around the World. This was the first book we bought, and the title seemed like it was appropriate enough. It's got lots of general information about exactly how one would go about putting together an around the world trip.

From there, it became all about Lonely Planet. Southeast Asia on a Shoestring, Egypt, and Rajasthan, Delhi, and Agra were all great help. The Lonely Planet books all have great information on where to go, where to stay, where to eat, how much we can expect to spend, local customs, current events, brief histories of the regions, and lots of other areas of interest. They've really written with the backpacker or budget traveler in mind.

Just so you know, this post is not an advertisement. We get no money from either Rough Guides or Lonely Planet for mentioning their books here. We just thought it was a good idea to let people in on the resources (other than the internet and talking to other travelers) that we personally have decided to use, in case anyone else out there is planning a trip like this.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Buying New Clothes

Sumon going solo on this post:

Traveling in 120 degree heat is one of the worst ideas for someone whose "fashion sense" consists of the color black and...well, that's about it. Jeans and heavy sneakers aren't great ideas either. Thus, I've got two options: Not go on the trip of a lifetime I've been planning with my best friend for almost a year, or get over myself and just adopt a new wardrobe for six months out of my life. Easy decision, but one which leads me to hitting the clothing stores looking for clothes I normally would never wear. For my money, I look ridiculous in white T-shirts and shorts, and yet, here I am, buying both. It's for the good of the trip, so it really isn't a bitter pill to swallow. I'm actually kind of glad I'm doing this. This trip is all about getting out of my comfort zone, and doing something new with my life. I'd be silly if I was going to get stubborn about something as trivial as the clothes I'm going to wear, especially if my normal palette could leave me passed out in the Egyptian desert.

Lightweight cargo pants are an interesting invention. Comfortable, and lots of pockets...great for traveling (I know there's a reference I can make to the film and novel Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but I can't seem to find it)!

As for the trip itself, it's going to be a week shorter, we've decided. We're pretty sure our travel agent is going to kill us...



Saturday, March 1, 2008

Ok, So It's Been a While

Disappearing for almost two weeks is probably not the best way to start off a new blog, but we can assure you that it's only because we've been so busy lately. Though the blog lay dormant, there's been a flurry of activity around here. The trip is officially less than a month away, and we've still got a ton of work to get through. Here's what we've been up to since our last post:

Last Monday, we met up in the city to get our visa for India. Visas can be a pain to get, depending on where you're headed, and they usually comprise something else to pay for before you even leave. Still they are necessary, and we headed into New York City to hand in our application and passport at the processing center. India's consulate outsources its visa processing to a private company, so we had to find our way there. After Snow got her passport pictures taken (the visa application requires two copies), we submitted our apps, with the expectation that they would be ready to be picked up at the end of the business day. Thus, we had ourselves a day to spend in the city. Since Snow had plans to move back to her home near Boston at the end of February, she took it as her last New York City hurrah...for now. We decided to use this time to look at restaurants for Snow's graduation party in May. Snow and her mother had been hard at work for several weeks looking for nice places to hold the big party, andwe were going to look at a couple of candidates. One was in Long Island City, Queens, the other in Brooklyn. We took a subway into Queens to visit the former, and figured we could walk from the subway stop to the restaurant. After what felt like an eternity of walking, we decided to give the place a call to see if we were close. That's how we found out that we had the wrong address...let's put it this way: that whole avenue/street distinction is pretty important. Whoops. Let's not take the time to wonder how we're supposed to find out how to get around in strange foreign countries if we can't figure out Queens and just move on.

Realizing it would be another eternity before we get to the correct address, we decided to skip the restaurant and stop off for lunch before making our way to Brooklyn. We ate at a Mexican tortilla restaurant (owned and run by Asians...see, it is an interesting world), and took the two subway to get to the restaurant in Brooklyn. We made it to this place without much incident (ok, so we made a wrong turn while walking to this place, but we weren't thrown too far off course). We weren't all that enamored with this restaurant. It had a dynamite view of the city, and it was on the water, but they weren't worth the exorbitant per person price they were asking for. The restaurant was nice, but not that nice. Thus, it was a pass.

Back in Manhattan, we still had some time before we had to pick up the visas, so we decided to stop off at EMS in lower Manhattan to look at backpacks for Sumon. Snow didn't need to look for one as she just happened to find one laying around in her basement while moving out of a previous residence. Some people have all the luck. Sumon tried on a couple of packs, one of which he liked, but we decided not to buy just yet. Since we're leaving from Boston, we decided to wait for a week or so before the trip to buy, so that we can save money by going to New Hampshire, where there is no sales tax. Anyway, we've got a good idea of what kind of pack we're looking for now.

At this point, it was time to head back to the visa processing center to pick up our newly visa wielding passports. This kind of licks us into India. Every step we take just makes the trip that much more "real." The anticipation for the trip is probably equal parts trepidation and excitement. Sometimes we just can't believe that we're going to be doing this. It's so amazing.

Once we got our passports back, we went back to Snow's house on Long Island to try to figure out the visa for Vietnam. We found the application on the web, but we can't seem to find exactly what the visa fee is! It's pretty frustrating. Anybody out there have any idea? Please let us know if you do. Thanks!

Much of the rest of the week was taken up by Snow's big move. There was a lot of stuff that needed to be packed. She had to secure a storage space (she's planning to come back to Long Island after the trip), and then rent a U-Haul to transport her beloved queen size bed to Sumon's parents house, where it will be stored. Sure, she could have kept the bed in storage, but apparently, Snow didn't like the looks of the storage space, thinking the bed wouldn't be happy there (don't ask) so she decided to just keep a bunch of boxes there instead.

Snow moved off of Long Island on Friday night (having to drive through a Connecticut snowstorm in the process). That brings us to today. We're actually wondering about changing the trip. It's crazy to start thinking of that less than a month before departure, but we're backpacking around the world, which is synonymous with "budget travel," so we have to cut costs where we can. The other consideration is weather. It's going to be over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in most of these destinations, and we're wondering if we can even survive such heat. Our thresholds for heat are pretty low (that's particularly true for Sumon, who may have been a block of ice in a previous life), so some changes may be in order. We're both definitely married to Egypt, so that's not coming out. India's pretty important too, especially since we've got the visas now. Southeast Asia, which clocked in at over three weeks, is probably going to be truncated. We may end up spending more time in Europe, which would be quite a bit more temperate. More on that as it develops.

Our travel agent is going to kill us...