SwiftRambles

Trip At-A-Glance

If you have been a faithful reader of this blog (all two of you!, you would have seen the various at-at-glance summaries we've done for the countries we've visited.  We feel that this blog wouldn't be complete without a final summary. So here it goes!

Continents visited = 5

Countries visited = 16

Planes = 24

Taxis = 79

Buses = 105

Boats = 35

Do cats have memories? - Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

We got back on a Wednesday and then no sooner than the following Monday we had to jet off again. Barely recovered from our jet lag, we braved yet another plane trip.  But this time it was to re-unite with our cat, Guinness, and to visit with Tom's parents, the Witmers, who were gracious enough to cat-sit for nearly a year.

To me, it felt like it was just yesterday when I said goodbye to Guinness the cat but in fact it was Thanksgiving 2009.  I was wondering if he would even remember me - who knows what a cat's memory is like?  But as soon as I saw him he let me pick him up and he tolerated it for all of 5 seconds - which is totally normal.  I think he remembered me! Or at least I chose to believe he does.  And after what I am sure was a terrifying plane ride home, he didn't miss a beat and stepped out of his cat carrier like he owned the place (which in a way, he does).  Very different from his reaction when we took him to the Witmers where he cowered under the bathroom sink for hours.

Here's Guinness in his favorite spot at the Witmers (artwork is John's - he's very talented!).  This place next to the windows allowed Guinness to engage in his favorite hobby, bird-watching:

Oh, and yes, we did visit with Tom's parents while we were in SLC and had a great time.  We went for a quick hike and got to enjoy the fall colors that were already showing up in the mountains of Utah:

Around the World in 80 Pictures

We have been posting our pictures from our trip on flickr and we created one slideshow that covers our whole trip. It was hard to narrow it down to 80 pictures from the over 4000 pictures we uploaded over the course of our trip!

To see our highlights check out the slideshow below or to view it directly on flickr, click here:

And now for the obligatory "before and after" pictures...

Before: Leaving our house with our new haircuts and clean clothes:

After: Taking off from our final stop, Gili Meno, Lombok, Indonesia.  Longer hair, beat-up luggage, and smiles on our faces:

Thanks for reading our blog!  We enjoyed creating it and cherished the feedback we received.  

We still have a few more items to share about life back at home, so stay tuned!

-Tom and Amber

How do we carry our life around?

The hardest decision for us was not where to go, how to budget the trip, or what to pack. We had the most difficult time deciding what luggage to take! We had a lot of parameters to consider: cost, size, mobility, type of loading, wheels or no wheels, carry-on or check luggage, number of straps, security, and Amber's critical criteria: color.

The luggage decision was an important one because it basically holds our life everyday we are traveling. I realized after watching the Amazing Race on TV and from my past experience overnight backpacking that no matter the luggage, weight is the key issue. But what is the perfect piece of luggage for long-term travel? Most travel-bloggers seem to agree that a backpack is the way to go and thus we began the great backpack search.

Here are some that we considered and some notes about them:

13 days and counting...

I wrote a poem for Amber for a Christmas present that she wanted me to share:

 

13 Days and Counting...

It is again the best time of year!

To see my wife full of holiday cheer!

Initally I didn't want to spend the time and money,

But I am definitely in the holiday spirit, Honey.

I appreciate that you decorated our home,

It is especially comforting before we roam...

I can't believe the moment is upon us

When we travel on plane, boat, and bus.

I feel like we are reaching a goal

That we set a long time ago.

Together we planned and saved

To seek out the monumental trek we craved.

I love your passion, spirit, and guts

To break us out of our corporate ruts

First on our list is Costa Rica,

Where I will zipline with my chica.

Then we fly to Guatemala

Where we learn Spanish and see waterfall(a).

We will secretly travel to the Cuban isle

Where I will smoke cigars all the while.

Then off to Pategonia for some hiking -

I think the scenery will be to your liking.

Maybe then we will hit Mendoza

To drink some wine and see how it goes-a.

At this point we should head to Brazil,

To see Ricardo and have a feijoada meal.

Why don't we head to Bolivia

Before the rain forests are oblivia?

Then on to Peru way up high

To see Macchu Pichu before we die.

Columbia should cap our southern trip -

Not overrun by drugs and is actually hip.

Then across the globe to Asia!

We can head to Thailand and Maylaysia.

Nepal, China, and Japan are on my list.

Cambodia shouldn't be missed!

Wow, we are going to see many places,

Eat crazy food and see new faces.

My gift this year is my sense of adventure -

Something we'll need to pack at this juncture.

Merry Christmas to my courageous wife

As we leave on the biggest journey of our life!

-Tom

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season:

-Tom

What Christmas Means to Me

Now that it's 12:05 on Wednesday. This means it's officially Christmas Eve.  Do you know what Christmas means to me?

Our first week off...

Normally on a typical work day, I'd be looking at this:

Instead of staring at my computer at work this week, I got to look at this:


And this: