Moving Day

Originally, our plan was to get everything packed up and Jigar would be on the road by 11am. That didn't quite happen. We had to go pick up the UHaul truck and return the rental car we took to Pennsylvania yesterday. By the time we got all of that done, it was already 11. Then I had to go to physical therapy. JC came over not long after I got home and he brought us some lunch from Subway. We had lunch and by the time we got to packing, it was 1! How did that happen? We started to pack up the stuff that we still left to pack. We figured we still had 4 hours of work ahead of us. Pretty soon Nick showed up to help out. Eventually, our neighbors Joe & Yoori dropped by. We asked them to stop by to see if they would like any of our furniture. It wasn't long before we put Joe to work. We finally got everything packed up by 5 and started to load the truck. I got the job of truck sitter. Not a bad job. Sit in the truck to avoid getting a ticket while double parked in front of the hydrant and look for a legal parking spot. About an hour into the loading process, there was a torrential downpour. The loading was halted for half an hour (I used that time to nap in the truck). When all was said and done, the truck all loaded up by 7:30. We thought we weren't keeping that much stuff, but we managed to fill the whole UHaul! By this time, the crew has dwindled to Jigar, JC, and me. Jigar had something to eat and got together a few things to take with him to Massachusetts (we are storing our things at my parents'). He cleaned Donatello's tank so it would be spic & span for his new home (he is going to live with his old pal Daisy Duke). We had a brief foray with disaster when we couldn't find the UHaul contract, but it turned up in the bag with the GPS. Jigar & JC finally hit the road at 9:00. They are on the road right now driving up to Greenfield. I have lots and lots of cleaning to do here. There is still lots of work to be done, but we are in the home stretch.
Bye Donatello! We love you and we'll miss you!!!

Marriage License!

Today we drove to Pennsylvania to get apply for our marriage license. We can pick it up any day next week. When we got back to the city, I went to visit Chris and Britney to do a trial run for my hair. It looked amazing! I am starting to realize this is all really happening and it is getting very exciting... I don't have time to be excited, though, because we are moving out tomorrow morning and we still have 3/4 of an apartment left to pack!

The Last Day of School

Today was the last day of school. It was also Jigar's grandfather's funeral. He passed away earlier this week at the age of 96. He was quite the world traveler in his day. He will be in our thoughts and prayers. Perhaps he will guide us on our trip.

Leaving Tele is bittersweet. It is really sad because we learned to teach at Tele. We learned everything we know about education there. We met at Tele! We loved our co-workers, we loved our work (most of the time), and we loved the kids. We are closing a chapter in our lives that meant a lot to both us. At the same time, we are opening a new and exciting chapter that we can't wait to get started on.

There were a lot of ups and downs today, but we don't really have time to think about it. We have to move out of our apartment on Saturday so we have to pack up everything we own in the next 48 hours. That might be possible, but we also have to drive to Pennsylvania tomorrow and apply for our marriage license. Yikes! We still have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in... Better get to work!

The Master Plan

Today was our last day teaching at HSTAT... at least for awhile. It was sad. I know that we will both miss the students & the staff at Tele. It has been a really good place for us. We both learned to teach there. We met there. Lots of memories... but now we are starting something new. We get married in less than 3 weeks and 3 weeks from tomorrow we leave for our trip. I can't believe it is already time for us to go!

We are getting married on Saturday, July 5th in the Poconos. It will be a beautiful day and we will be surrounded by our family & friends. And then for the honeymoon...

Our current plan is as follows:

Fiji (1 week)
NZ (5 weeks)
Australia (7 weeks)
India (20 weeks)
Indonesia (2 weeks)
Malaysia (2 weeks)
Thailand (3 weeks)
Cambodia (1 week)
Vietnam (3 weeks)
Philippines (3 weeks)
Laos (2 weeks)
China (4 weeks)
Mongolia (3 weeks) if we can get a multiple entry visa from china
China (2 weeks)
Nepal (2 weeks) - can we get from china to nepal?
Stop back in India
Egypt (2 weeks)
Israel (2 weeks)
Tanzania (4 weeks)
Zambia (1 week - not even - just want to see victoria falls)
South Africa (4 weeks)
Morocco (3+ weeks)
Brazil (3 weeks)
Bolivia (3 weeks)
Chile (3 weeks)
Peru (3 weeks)
Ecuador (3 weeks)

If we have any money left and we aren't totally sick of traveling:
Panama (2 weeks)
Costa Rica (2 weeks)
Nicaragua (2 weeks)
Honduras (2 weeks)
Guatemala (2 weeks)
Mexico (2 to 4 weeks)
back to NYC

That's a whole lot of places and a whole lot of weeks, but we are ambitious! Maybe we'll get sick of traveling and come back after a few months, maybe we'll stop somewhere along the way and teach, maybe we'll run out of money way before we think we will. Who knows... The whole idea is to be spontaneous and go wherever we feel like checking out and do whatever we feel like doing. Life is too short to sit back and watch it go by. It'll be interesting to look back at this post at the end of the trip and see how much we did or didn't stick to the plan. Whatever happens, I am sure that it will be one of the most amazing experiences of our lives and an amazing way to kick off our lives together.

Bye (for now) Daisy

We dropped Daisy Duke off in Massachusetts today. My sister, Sandy, and my nephews, James & Michael, are going to take care of her while we travel the world. Thank you Sandy, James, & Mike! It was really sad to leave her today (I cried a lot), but she was happy. She had a yard to play in and 2 other dogs to play with and a couple of cats and 2 little boys and a surrogate mom who all love her very much. That made it a lot easier. I know she is in good hands. But home isn't quite home without her. -Gin

One month to go...

Only a month to go before we leave... Right now things are a little crazy with wedding planning and trip planning, but it will all be worth it in the end :)