aaaaaaand we're off!

we are at san francsico international airport, waiting to board the first of the twenty seven flights we will be on in the next eighty days. it was a crazy, wild, crazy whirlwind getting everything packed (for the trip and moving out of our place) and saying our goodbyes (we left for the airport directly from a little farewell party in our dear friends' backyard) -- but here we are, hoping we have what we really need, looking up last minute confirmations and itinerary items, and bubbling over with excitement and anticipation (stewed with some real exhaustion of body and mind!). this dream is really happening!!

i will be trying to blog as often as possible from our trip - you can also follow along via instagram.


here's the final lineup:
march 24-april 1 :: new zealand (we decided to go to both the north and south islands!)
april 1-april 10 :: china (hong kong, then yangshuo, then xian, then beijing, then shanghai)
april 10-april 12 :: train from shanghai to lhasa (yes, 48 hours on a train!)
april 13-april 18 :: tour through tibet
april 19-april 30 :: trekking on the annapurnal trail in the nepalese himalayas
may 1-may 4 :: recovering and exploring in pokhara and kathmandu
may 5-may 7 :: hot air ballooning and cave dwelling in cappadocia, turkey
may 8-may 10 :: istanbul
may 11-may 16 :: johannesburg and safari in kruger national park and private game reserve
may 17-may 20 :: capetown and the cape of good hope (and...ian convinced me to do shark diving!)
may 21-may 25 :: dubai, arabian desert and abu dhabi
may 26-may 29 :: buenos aires (and a quick ferry trip over to uruguay!)
may 30-june 3 :: quito, banos and the ecuadorian amazon
june 4-june 8 :: galapagos islands
june 9 :: arrive back in the usa!

here's to a biiiiig adventure!