The Plan B Adventure

Hello from Caracas, Venezuela. We are back on the left side of the world. After a few great weeks in Spain and Portugal we have many stories and experiences to share…..but first we must respond to our public. Gulliver Swenson, our resident Howie Mandel, has posted a few questions and we thought it was time to ask others for questions as well. We will post our answers to Gulliver’s questions here but to read other’s questions and our answers please view the posted comments. By the way we are up to 3000 unique viewers and almost 30,000 page views. Congratulate yourselves on enjoying our trip right along side us!!! We thank you for your interest.

The public has some important questions…..

1. How many books have been read?

We have been trying to consolidate our book holdings and agree on reading the same books…so we are up to about 20-25 books. Becca’s fav: Murder on the Orient Express/ Jeff’s fav: The Power of One

2. What is the closest either of you have come to serious injury….either at your own hands or the hands of another?

Knocking on wood..nothing to serious. Becca had a run-in with a purse snatcher but came away unscathed and Jeff had his own run in with Airbus A319 seat which has royally bruised his shin. We won’t mention the false alarm on the Achilles tendon scare in Cambodia!

3. What is the most valuable thing that has been lost (doesn’t necessarily have to be monetary value. I once had a 15 hour train trip and after two hours i changed trains and left my grocery bag full of lunch and dinner on the last train. Only about 30 stones, but worht much more to a starving student)

Without a doubt Becca’s Rite-Aid special, $1.99 alarm clock. It was invaluable for five months in getting us up for flights, buses, or whatever. Even moreso, Becca had travelled with it extensively for the past ten years and was in tears when it was discovered missing after our trip thru the Jo’burg airport.

4. What is the closest moment to someone calling off the rest of the trip?

Ironically it was happening just as you were asking the question. After 8 hours on a not-so-great TAP flight from Porto to Caracas we encountered multiple frustrations. After slipping by the lobby prostitutes, encountering the dodgiest elevator we’ve ever operated, being unable to accomplish the simplest task of finding bottled water and just wanting to jump in the warm shower, we find the water in our room didn’t work, Becca’s shampoo had exploded all over her backpack and the dogs just outside our window wouldn’t stop barking until the sun (apparently afraid of the dark) came up. Needless to say….even going back to work at Harris sounded good at that point!!

5. Where was the best meal?

This is a toughy. We compared and contrasted on flavors, costs, service, location, etc. and decided it was, hands-down, Becca’s birthday meal in Tavira, Portugal at Aquasul. To complement the Joao Pires bottle of Vinho Verde Jeff had (starter) a buffalo mozzarella salad wrapped in serrano ham and (entree) pork medallion stuffed with spinach and mushrooms and topped with some sort of heavenly sauce; while Becca started with a honey and walnut-encrusted goat salad and finished with a monk-fish, pesto risotto that would make your toes curl! We finished off with a white chocolate and raspberry tart just before watching Italy win the 2006 World Cup…..could it be anymore perfect!!!

6. Who is the consesus best person met on the trip?

We have met some of the most interesting people during our journey. Everyone from our most recent (the Ganim sisters and dad, Mit) to the drunkest and most hilarious(Craig, our favorite Aussie) to the most fabulous(Sister Mary otherwise known as James Costello) have been our immense pleasure to enjoy travel with. But the man that wins the prize (still two months to go!!) is Mosleh Farajat who works at the CleoPetra in Petra, Jordan. His comedy and hospitality as well as continued email correspondence put a smile to our faces every time we remember his “Hallawallah” responses to every weary traveller.

Don’t forget to submit your inquiries we love answering and as you will see in our next post we have more than enough time thanks to Simon Bolivar…….

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 19th, 2006 at 2:36 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.