Leaving Today

Departure time has reached T minus 8 hours and counting. Everyone we could think of should have recieved an email with our blog address in it so there should be a lot more comments on this and future posts...

hint hint

For those of you who want to know when and where we'll be (really just a rough guide) here's a map with some dates. Pretty much all of it is subject to change... kind of like everything in life!

For those of you who like to read here's the rough guide to E. and Z.'s travel plans in the textual format - note the lack of really hard and fast dates after our mom's leave Australia!:

Seattle, Wa USA - Home Base [Depart 11-16-08]
Auckland, New Zealand [Arrive 11-18-08]
Christchurch, New Zealand [Depart 12-8-08]
Sydney, Australia [Depart 12-14-08]
Melbourne, Australia [Depart 12-17-08]
Adelaide, Australia [Depart 12-22-08]
Sydney, Australia [12-28-08]
Brisbane, Australia [Jan/Feb 2009]
Townsville (Cairns), Australia [Feb/Mar 2009]
Darwin, Australia [Depart 4-10-09]

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam [Arrive 4-10-09]
Hanoi, Vietnam [Arrive around 5-10-09]
Laos [May/June 2009]
Thailand [July/Aug 2009]
Cambodia [June/July 2009]
India [Sep 09 - $0.00(until the $$$ runs out!)]

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Bicycles and their Bags

We have had a few of you ask what our bikes look like all packed up. Well...here are a few photos. Although we have 'practice' packed a few times, this time it took us an exorbitant amount time - trying to get things just right, wrapping the frame in foam, packing frame upon frame. We spent a good couple hours today painting "FRAGILE" on the bags, in the hope the airline loaders will show us mercy.

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Adieu and Farewell

Namaste.

We feel immense gratitude and love for the people in our lives. Thank you all for your encouragement and support! We will be departing this Sunday November 16th for New Zealand. New Zealand will be the first stop on what will be an 18 month bicycling and volunteering journey through 8 countries.

Many of you have been listening to us banter on year after year about this obscure 'trip' and its hard for even us to believe that its actually happening. We're both inspired, amazed, and unbelievably excited for our upcoming adventure. And, we would love to share it with you, beyond blogs and postcards - we would love for you to come travel with us! If you have ever had the desire or inkling to travel in NZ, Australia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, India, or Nepal - we will be traversing these countries over the next 18 months and would love to share the experience with you.

With Peace and Gratitude,

Elise and Zach

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Almost there!

We're wrapping up the gear shakedown over the next few weeks and we've
made some hopefully wise decisions about how to achieve a minimalist
packing list. E. got a pair of '08 shimano hike-a-bike shoes with
incredibly stiff soles which when paired with our favorite time ATAC
pedals and a bike/shoe fit with Craig at Cycle University should make
for hours of riding without numb feet!
Z. Got a pair of Pearl Izumi '07 Mid Alp GTX hike-a-bike shoes that
have ridden and strolled around town very well so far. We're both
happy to have found shoes that replace our need for bringing along
multiple pairs of shoes and pretty well match our requirements list
which was:
- hikeable with preferrably a Vibram sole
- clipless compatible with a deep enough cleat recess to allow walking
without sounding like you're in tap shoes
- waterproof preferrably goretex
- no funny buckle closure systems that will break in the middle of
nowhere
We're scheduling some time with our seasoned bike tourist friend to
get an objective opinion on our "essential" packing list which should
help us collectively drop around 10#. And with the exception of a
small list of replacement parts we're gear ready and excited as heck!

Sent from my iPhone

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And now for some relieving news: we have gone and actually purchased the tickets for the first two legs of our trip!

And now for some relieving news: we have gone and actually purchased
the tickets for the first two legs of our trip!

on our fourth and longest trip to see our travel agent we finally bit
the proverbial bullet and bought tickets for the New Zealand and
Australia portions of our trip. We'll be heading out november 16th and
arriving the 18th in Auckland. three weeks in New Zealand, leaving
from Christchurch. the day after we arrive in Sydney both our mothers
arrive and stay with us for just a bit under 3 weeks.

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Fortune Cookie Forecast

E. just opened a fortune cookie that contained 3 fortunes, all saying the same thing:

More money and travel is in your future

Z. opened a fortune cookie that contained only 1 fortune saying:

Now is the time to try something new

Is it June yet?

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