September 27, 2017
Today was a looooong drive from Fes to the Sahara just outside of the city of Merzouga. A friend of a friend runs the Sahara Garden. Brahim coordinated everything for us and welcomed us upon our arrival with open arms. Truly an amazing human being. We were welcomed with dinner and singing and dancing around a bonfire.
September 24, 2017
Our second stop in Morocco was the blue city of Chefchaoen. A small city located up on a hill, wandering thru the medina surrounded by so many shades of blue was quite a different experience from Tangier. We stayed at Casa Perleta, a small bed and breakfast recommended by our friend. It was perfectly located within the upper hill area of the medina. The blue hues of the walls of Chefchaoen are believed to have originated when the Jews came while escaping Hilter in the 1930s. The blue is said to serve as a reminder to lead a spiritual life while symbolizing the sky and heaven.
September 11 - 15, 2017
Enroute to our close friends' wedding in Greece we found a cheap flight to Paris via Reykjavik, Iceland and decided to take advantage and do a little stopover in an effort to (fingers crossed) see the northern lights. We decided to restrict our few days to just the southern highlights along the coast. The first thing we noticed was that even though it was supposedly shoulder/low season in Iceland there were significantly more people than when we came the year before in August.
May 11, 2017
We rented a car in Fukuoka and drove about an hour and a half outside the city to check out Kawachi Fujien, known for their famous wisteria tunnels. I'll have to admit until this trip, I was convinced that photos of the wisteria tunnels were either photoshopped or not real, even the nail salon I go to has photos of the tunnels hanging on the walls.
May 10, 2017
Yatais or food stands in Fukuoka are really popular and are sprinkled all over the city. They usually set up shop in the early evening and stay open until the early morning. We decided to eat at Yatai Mama Chan and it did not disappoint. Mama Chan wasn't there that night but her son and husband held down the fort and prepared our dinner. It was so simple but we quickly fell in love with the fried rice and ramen. So delicious!
December 5, 2016 - December 16, 2016
With plans for our international travel to come to a close soon, we both decided we had to do another trip on theSamambaia. This time we decided to try for a trip thru the Banda Sea. This post has a ton of photos, so we've separated them into different categories below.
November 26, 2016 - November 29, 2016
We spent the next three days exploring in and around Inle Lake. The lake is huge and lined by reed marshes and canals that take locals to the small towns that surround the lake. We visited local markets and saw some of the local craftsmen still practicing their trades - boat-making, weaving, fishing, and metal-working.
Enjoy the photos!
November 23, 2016
After Yangon, we made our way to another popular Myanmar destination - Bagan, mainly known for the thousands of temples spread across 40 square miles. Between the 11th and 13th centuries, there were more than 11,000 structures (temples, pagodas, monastaries) in the area and only about 2,200 remain today. We spent the next two days exploring the area, getting up before sunrise and finding the best vnatage point for sunset.
November 21, 2016
First impressions of Yangon, we all seemed a little discombobulated and felt really confused where we were, who we were seeing, who Burmese people were, etc. This might have been because of the heat and the intense week we had in India. We tucked ourselves away in a super western hotel to collect ourselves and set foot outside again.
November 12 - November 20, 2016
We were lucky enough to be a part of TOMS in its early years. Nearly two and a half years after we left, we were blessed enough to participate in a TOMS giving trip in India with two incredible partners, Karuna Trust and Aravind. For more information on each organization please click on the links. Both are amazing organizations in different ways.
November 10, 2016
Visiting Bhutan wouldn't be complete without a hike to Tiger's Nest. This Buddhist monastery considered to be one of the most important in Bhutan, hangs on at the cliff's edge more than 3000m above sea level.
The temple was first built in 1692 and believed to be where Guru Padmasambhava meditated for three years, three months, three days, three hours in the 6th century. Guru Padmasambhava is a real historical figure said to have brought Buddhism to Bhutan from Tibet and believed to be the second reincarnation of Buddha.
November 9, 2016
Today was spent exploring the valley of Punakha. Initially we passed the Punakha Dzong set between what is said to be a male and female river. This dzong is also known as Pungtang Dechen Photrang Dzong, which means very awesome dzong or the palace of great happiness or bliss. But we will come back to this dzong later. We did happen to run into a National Geographic tour group as we stopped to take a photo. I think we preferred our small private trip after seeing the large group tour bus and I'm pretty sure we paid less for our private tour.
November 7, 2016
When we initially chose the itinerary I'm not sure we read all the details or quite understood what the roads and transit time would be between cities. Today was a long day driving from Thimphu to Trongsa. Thankfully, we had a stop about a third of the way at Dochula Pass, home of 108 stupas built by the eldest queen mother as a memorial in honor of the Bhutanese soldiers who were killed in December of 2003 in the battle against Assamese insurgents from India. The pass is at an elevation of 3,100 meters (10,200 feet). In the distance, on a clear day, you can see the snow capped mountain peaks of the Himalayas. Thankfully it was a clear day for us.
November 5, 2016
Before this trip, we were deciding between Nepal and Bhutan. After our friends Sean and Marcel told us about their trip last year, we decided on Bhutan. Lucky for us, Marcel had done a ton of research on tour companies, so we contacted the same group that coordinated their trip last year, Adventure Planet Travel. The owner of the company, Ugyen, was very responsive and gave us several suggested itineraries based on our interest. We decided on a 7 day itinerary focusing on central Bhutan.
November 2, 2016
I hope you're reading this next post on a full stomach. If not, you're tummy will definitely grumble for the next few minutes.
In our 24 hours in Nagoya could be summed up in two words, it would be "happy tummies". All we did was EAT EAT EAT. We had every intention of seeing the fall colors here but again, we were a little too early so we did the next best thing.
October 28, 2016 - October 30, 2016
Halloween isn't Halloween, until you've done it in Tokyo.
Our best friends, Hajime and Maily, spent last Halloween in Tokyo and told us it was the best party of their lives. It didn't take much convincing us or Jonathan's cousin, Stef, to join in the party this year. Knowing the Japanese and their love to dress up, we knew we had to be something special. I would try to explain what we were...but I feel like the pictures can pretty much do all the talking. Just as we expected, there was a big party in the Shibuya area, where thousands of people flocked the streets and would stop to take pictures with anyone and anything!
days two hundred and eleven thru two hundred and fifteen: april 17, 2016 thru april 21, 2016
Coming to Japan, we had really wanted to see a sumo match. After doing much research, Jonathan discovered that every year there is a free match at Yasakuni Shrine in Tokyo. Of course, the seats are first come first serve, so we tried to show up an hour early, but still ended up waiting in a long line. However, the arena is fairly large and we were able to get pretty good seats in the shade where we could see.
day two hundred and ten: april 16, 2016
Today, we headed over to the train station to catch the bus to a nearby flower festival where pink flowers were supposed to cover the entire grounds with Fujisan in the background. Just before purchasing our tickets, the man collecting the tickets told us that there were less than 10% of the flowers blooming and that in his opinion it wasn't worth going. We took his advice and decided it probably wasn't worth the money so we headed out to the lake to enjoy the morning air and find a clear view of Fujisan.
days two hundred and eight thru two hundred and eleven: april 14, 2016 thru april 17, 2016
After landing back in Osaka from Seoul, we boarded the train and headed north for our full day of travel to get to Lake Kawaguchiko. Our timing couldn't have been more perfect. Our AirBnB host told us that it had rained all morning and it had just cleared up within the hour before our arrival. We rode the express train, which we were pleasantly surprised with since it was a Fujisan themed train.
days two hundred and five thru two hundred and eight: april 11, 2016 thru april 14, 2016
Previously we hadn't given much thought to visiting South Korea, but with a few extra days on our hands and flights being pretty cheap we decided to take a quick hop over to visit our friends there. We had a great time exploring around the city and shopping and eating and spending time with old friends. Allie especially enjoyed checking out the street art around the university area.
days two hundred and one thru two hundred and four: april 7, 2016 thru april 10, 2016
On the 7th, we spent the day in transit on trains and boats making our way south to Teshima Island. Every three years, there is an art exhibition called the Setouchi Triennale. We had been told by friends of friends that Naoshima Island was a must visit if we had the time. After doing some research we discovered that Naoshima is just one of the islands in the Seto Inland Sea that houses permanent and temporary art installations. With our last minute planning we were only able to find one option for accommodations on any of the islands and to our pleasant surprise, it was an awesome AirBnB experience with Kazu Hide, a Teshima local who had returned home to grow and sell fruits and vegetables while also managing a small homestay. He was an excellent host and hosted us each night with tea and great conversation. He also cooked dinner for us one of the nights and it was quite exceptional.
