BELGIUM

We were greated by Henry and Elian in Antwerp with 3 boxes of goodies - chocolates, cookies, cheese and blueberry danishes (the list goes on but I'm stuffed!). Mika has been struggling to keep up with the bakery's output but I have to say she has given it a hell of a shot.

We are in serious trouble....for the past 3 days we have been nothing short of spoiled. For crying out loud our family owns a bakery here! We've travelled to Brugg, Knokke and Antwerp in two days and have feasted everywhere. We assume that Nepal and India will counteract the effects of such glutteny. But that's not for another month, so th feast continues!

(This was actually hooked up to an IV drip for direct injection for Mika)

(Truffles....mmmmm)

A traditional Belgium lunch - fresh herring with onions, cottage cheese, tomatos and of course bread straight out of the oven.

And what would Belgium be without a waffle.

The canals of Brugg (little Venice) with Henry and Elian.

We leave for Italy tomorrow morning.

-Alan and Mika

AMSTERDAM

Walking off the plane it seems that we have skipped forward a few months. We had buried our jackets at the bottom of our packs but we needed them right away. Apparently its Fall in Europe.

Neither of us slept on the flight over, even though we had three seats to ourselves. Chaulk that up to the excitement and anticipation of the unknown. Just to make things interesting, we conveniently forgot to get our India passport while in NYC - Praveen, I blame this entirely on you! So, in our semi-conscious state we thought it best to head directly to Da Haag in search of the Indian Embassy. Its amazing how much money you can spend so quickly on absolutely nothing. After 2 trams, a train and $100, we arrived at a street corner where a lovely Polenesean woman told us we were on the wrong side of town! After explaining that we were from NYC and there was no way we could be wrong she phoned a friend. Turns out the embassy was right donw the street. In an Amazing Race style, we followed directions to the embassy and were then redirected to the visa office (which by the way are in different buildings - of course). Finally a nice Dutch woman told us what we should have known before we left...it takes time to get a visa from India - at least a week. So, we strolled through the streets. Ironically, soon there after we had our first fight - at the entrance to the Peace Palace of all places! Luckily, as designed, we made our peace and had a drink to toast our adventures.

After much needed sleep we have decided to take up our Visa search with the Italians. The food is better there anyway!

Hedda - we cannot thank you enough for the apartment. The view is magnificent.

Amsterdam was wonderful and confusing at the same time. Which is probably what it is supposed to be. We easily walked every inch of the town just trying to find our way. Luckily they plop those outdoor cafe's and coffeeshops everywhere.

Our time in Amsterdam was spent mostly gearing up for the times to come. A transitional period so to speak. The journey has begun and its all just sinking in. Here are a couple more snippets...

(Just in case anyone was wondering, it takes less than 7 minutes to make a soft boil egg. We are not totally sure how many less but we will let you know when we get it right! We tried every day!)

-Alan and Mika

The Final Countdown

It's funny how things work out. For the past month and a half Mika and I have been trying to figure out how to put all the peices of this trip together. Who knew how much time and effort was required to just experience life! As my dear friend the Worm so eloquently stated, "It's like a rubix cube". I guess that final right corner green piece is about to fall into place.

After stressing for weeks over the apartment we finally signed a lease Monday night. Now its all odds and ends which seems to be an unending list of items that all require separate trips to either Duane Read, Target or EMS. And by the way, for those few that don't know yet - apparently when you want to return something you MUST have the same credit card you bought it with. Nothing like braving the elements in the NYC Metro system only to find out you don't have your wife's AMEX card. Which by the way is linked to your account and feeds into the same pool of debt that the AMEX card in your wallet does and the nice hippie at the store won't take!

But this too shall pass. Friday is the beginning. Boxes are packed and are heading to the parents basement. Today was the last day of work and in 1 week we set sail.

I've been telling Mickey for weeks what is about to happen. This will be the hardest part. I think tonight he has finally caught on that something is amiss. I'm not sure if it was the random guy I found on Craigslist that came by to pick up the stereo system or the fact that I have been loving him way to much recently, but he knows. And that makes me sad.

Tentative itinerary plans

Here is a rough idea of where we are going to be when. Flights may change, we may stay in places longer or shorter or maybe even add in some new destinations! But for now this is it!

FLIGHT FROM NYC-AMSTERDAM-Sept 3

• AMSTERDAM Sept 3-11 
• BELGIUM for a few days and travel to ITALY
• ITALY Sept 15-28
• GREECE Sept 29-October 8
• TURKEY October 9-14

FLIGHT FROM ISTANBUL, TURKEY TO KATHMANDU, NEPAL October 15

• NEPAL October 15-November 7
• INDIA November 7-23

FLIGHT FROM BANGALORE, INDIA TO BANGKOK, THAILAND November 23

• THAILAND, LAOS, VIETNAM, CAMBODIA, (possibly) MALAYSIA  November 23, 2009-February 8, 2010

FLIGHT FROM SOUTH EAST ASIA TO SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (the only potion to early to book as of yet)

• AUSTRALIA February 9-23

FLIGHT FROM SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA TO CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND February 23, 2010

• NEW ZEALAND February 23- March 29

FLIGHT FROM AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND TO NADI, FIJI March 29

• FIJI March 29-April 6

FLIGHT FROM NADI, FIJI TO LOS ANGELES, CA April 6

From here Alan and I have lots of ideas of how to end our trip and I am sure plenty more will come up along our way. For now -- IF we have enough money, ideally we would spend a couple months hiking and camping out WEST, hopefully getting a chance to do the John Muir Trail. 

Yes we have a blog

As many of you know, we have been postponing our honeymoon until the exact right time. Well, Mika's graduation has come and gone, Elissa will be married shortly and the economy is in the crapper. Seems like a perfect time to hit the road and see what the rest of the world is up to! We depart for 7 months of bliss on September 3rd, heading East until we hit LA (yes East!)

We thought that this would be a great way to share our adventures with you. We will update our blog throughout our trip or whenever we can find the time to make it to a cyber cafe!

Enjoy.