Welcome to Our Jaunt Abroad!
Oh man, down to the wire. As I sit here and write this first post, it’s late the night before we take off for China, and it’s starting to sink in that we’re really leaving for the trip. I’m trying to stay up late in order to make the inevitable jet lag a little better (according to Jet Lag Rooster, this website I read about that makes sleep schedule plans for you based on where you’re about to fly off to – very cool!). I’ve been trying to get this blog up and running for a while now, but between my own procrastination and all the other things we’ve had going on, it’s been close. So, the blog isn’t as completely done and polished as I’d like it to be yet, and changes will come for sure. Oh well!
Tomorrow we take off for Beijing from Seattle, where we’ve been for the past few days with my parents, finishing up our last logistics, errands, and planning. While this feels in a lot of ways like the beginning of the trip, we’ve already been traveling for about five weeks, so we’re well removed from our old lives in New York. It’s a strange feeling, to be just starting, but already so far into it. I can’t wait to post about the trip so far (the “domestic travels”, as Rorie has taken to calling it), since we’ve been so many awesome places (Spoiler: Louisville, Nashville, Austin, Salt Lake City, Portland, Lopez Island, and Seattle)!
Beijing starts not only the international trip, but also the true backpacking experience. So far it’s been a comfortably American, family vacation-style of travel, but now we’ll leave the rest of our clothes, suitcases, and laptop with my parents and jump into the deep end of traveling light, staying in hostels, and figuring out a foreign place we’ve never been. It’s incredibly exciting, but also a little intimidating to have thought about this and planned for so long and to finally be here!
We’ll both add more posts soon – for now, thanks for stopping by, and wish us luck on our 11.5-hour flight!
