WanderLustin' - Travel Log

When Laura and I worked at Room to Read, one of our favorite traditions was the “shout-out”. At the end of every bi-weekly all-hands meeting, the meeting moderator would open up the floor for people to publicly thank one or more of their co-workers for going above and beyond the call of duty in some way. Usually it involved someone who spent extra time helping them with a project, or someone who took on a particularly tough or unpleasant task and finished it with a smile on their face. It was a great way for people’s extra hard work to be recognized in front of the entire San Francisco team, and it always felt good to get an “attaboy” from a co-worker every once it a while.

In that same spirit, Laura and I would like to give a few shout-outs to friends and family members who have, in their own way, helped to make our trip thus far a positive, healthy, and fun experience. Here they are, in no particular order…

Our Parents — A HUGE shout-out goes to our parents for taking on many, many responsibilities for us while we’re on the road. To Laura’s parents, we’d like to say a huge thank-you for inviting (let’s just say that’s how it went) our little Nutmeg into your home for an entire year, even though you already had a cat of your own (and one who does not, it seems, take kindly to stranger cats invading her space). We promise we’ll replace the rug (and sofa, and chair, and…) that they’ve decided to destroy in protest, and we hope they’ll settle their differences before every knitted or woven surface of your house is destroyed!  

To my parents, another huge thank-you for agreeing to be our part-time accountants, postmen, and travel agents (shout-out to Laura’s parents on the last role as well… Italy is going to be awesome!). Not only have my parents had to deal with a river of paperwork that comes with a somewhat complicated financial life (and with tax time coming up, to boot), but they’ve also helped us deal with a credit card that was recently stolen — not, it seems, while we’ve been on the road, but before we left (it was a backup card for this trip anyway, but it’s still a huge hassle to deal with when you’re out of the country).
Charmaine — I can’t tell you how many times we’ve said out loud, “Thank GOD Charmaine convinced us to bring small rolling suitcases rather than backpacks!” You have no idea how many time we’ve watched poor, petite backpackers (usually women) nearly kill themselves trying to heave a giant backpack onto their backs, then strap a full daypack on their front sides and try to stay upright while running for a bus or train. Miserable. We debated the backpack vs. rolley issue for a long time before deciding to bring our Eagle Creek Switchback Max 22” suitcases, and Charmaine was a big part of that decision. We’re so happy we did — we can roll them almost anywhere, they’re compact enough that we can carry them when we need to (and they convert to makeshift backpacks in a pinch), they’re versatile (they have zip-off daypacks) and we can open them and actually *see* everything we’ve packed in them without emptying the entire bag. Charmaine, our backs thank you, our shoulders thank you, and our tidy packing and unpacking (and packing and unpacking…) brains thank you!
Future Travel Companions — To our parents (once again), Laura’s sister Teresa, my brother Dirk, our friends Sarah, Ilan, Christi, and Ginny, a huge shout-out for taking on a *lot* of travel planning for us to make our future meet-ups a reality. We really appreciate all the research, correspondence, and other leg work you’ve all done to put together some kick-ass travel plans for Egypt, Israel, Tanzania, Italy, and (hopefully!) Greece. We miss everyone a ton already, and we can’t wait to see friends and family in a couple of months. Thanks for making the planning for those portions of our trip so incredibly easy (for us, at least)!
Kerry Coulter — Kerry was my Boot Camp SF trainer for a couple of months before we left on our trip, and we randomly ran into her in our CPR training class as well (small world). We had high hopes of doing regular strength training workouts on the road — we even brought along two different dual-handled resistance bands — but after a few weeks traveling in New Zealand, we still hadn’t used them. I sent Kerry a quick email asking if she’d be willing to throw together a few different workout routines for us (we would pay her for her time, of course), and she graciously agreed to do it for free! It was a very generous wedding present, and one that we *fully* intend to use… real soon now. :) Seriously, though, now that my ankle is mostly healed, we really want to get some strength training in at least once or twice a week. Kerry, thanks for doing your part to keep us from getting too flabby out here!
Blog Commenters — Writing a blog is sometimes a bit like shouting in the dark. Is anyone listening? Does anyone care or enjoy reading our travel ramblings? Fortunately some of you, our faithful readers, chime in regularly via the blog comments feature and let us know what you think. To our most frequent commenters: Amanda (defender of 20-somethings everywhere), our parents (yet again), Dirk and Greg (my virtual tech pen pals), Katy, Nancy, and Patrick, and all the other blog readers and commenters, thank you for letting us know that you’re out there! As always, let us know if there’s something you’d like to hear more about, and we’ll be happy to oblige.
Great Guides — In New Zealand, many thanks to our incredible Stray Travel guides Mambo and Ricky (aka Brittany, aka Horatio), our hilarious guides Chris and Adam at the Waitomo glow worm caves, and our veteran rafting guide Ben at Rangitata Rafting. In Australia, shout-outs to our Way Outback guide Paul, and our Pro Dive scuba instructor Chris (aka Irish). More than anyone else we’ve put our travel faith in, you guys have made the trip incredibly memorable and fun.
Home Front Reporters — Last, but definitely not least, we’d like to thank our friends and family who’ve kept us up-to-date on the exciting and not-so-exciting happenings on the home front. We’re not complaining (have we said that yet?), but one of the hardest things about being on the road for so long is missing out on the daily lives of our friends and family. It’s a lot harder than you might think, believe me. Big shout-outs to Sarah, Ilan, and Christi for regular life updates, Nathan for throwing us a brain teaser every now and then, our parents for figuring out how to install (and use) Skype and making regular free calls (all others are encouraged to do the same!), and our siblings for helping us feel like we’re connected. We really miss you guys (have we said that yet?), so don’t forget to include us when you’re emailing the locals about the latest “happs” on the home front.

That’s enough Lustin Love for now, I suppose. Hugs from the road, and keep those emails, comments, and Skype calls coming!