Todd and Lisa’s RTW trip

Hey everyone… this is our first time blogging. We can’t figure out if we think we are cool, or if we are big dorks!! We are going to try and keep this updated so that you can be part of our trip. Below is our tentative itinerary. We have no idea where else we may end up. Anyone who wants to join us somewhere… SHOULD. Perhaps an engagement aniversary party in Australia???

8/14- NY-London
8/18- London-Israel
9/1 - Israel-Germany
9/10-Germany - India
10/26- India-Thailand
12/21–Thailand- Vietnam
1/23- Vietnam- Singapore
1/31-Sing.- Bali
Unknown dates—
Bali- Sydney- Aukland- HOME SWEET HOME. Probably around May or June.

We’ll be figuring out this blog thing as we go. You guys can write back to us on it… but remember EVERYONE can read your comments…. (you guys know what i’m talking about!!)

Hello everyone…. we are having a wonderful time with Arwen and Scott in London. We are having a little trouble with our blog… so if you could all check on your screen, if there is a place to push Logout..please do it. Once our blog issues are resolved we will write Chapter 1 of RTW.

—-check out our new link that you can track us with—-

We leave London at 3 am tomorrow!!! Our accomodations feel like a luxury resort. Arwen and Scott have a wonderful flat in the middle of the city with great fluffy towels, Thanks Guys!!! We have had a great time here, except we keep almost getting run over. We can’t figure out which way to look, and even if you do look the right way… these Brits are CRAZY!!!! (especially the bus drivers). We checked out Buckingham Palace today, and watched the guard march around, what a boring job. We can’t figure out why he’s even there, the Queen is on holiday and there is a huge gate around the palace anyways. These nice police guys in the funny hats were in front of the palace. British cops are much nicer than NYC cops. The other photo is of Big Ben (wink, wink), a shout out to my new nephew…
Anyways off to the motherland tomorrow!!

Thanks everyone for writing comments… we feel loved!!

After staying up all night with Arwen in London, taking the bus with all the drunks at 4 am to the airport, and getting the last row in the full airplane, we landed tired in Tel Aviv where we were graciously picked up by Judy. She whisked us away to northern Israel where Eve’s family was vacationing. We have spent the last few days hanging at the beach on the Mediterranean. It is HOT here. Todd says he feels like Moses. Todd also went into his first synagogue, and then taught Lisa how to spell it. Below is a picture from a port city called Caesarea. It is the ruins of a Roman village from 37 BC. It was amazing how easy it was to visualize the city. There were pillars from palaces, marble where bathtubs were and even still intricate mosaic’s on the floors. Lisa was riding horses in the hipodrome, While gladiator Todd was running wild(don’t ask). We arrived tonight in Jerusalem. The last picture is a panoramic of the Old City in Jerusalem. Shalom

Our time in Jerusalem was wonderful. We did a lot of walking (Todd still feels like Moses and is slowly starting to resemble him) and A LOT of eating. The food in Israel is fantastic, especially at the Village Green, Kobi’s restaurant. The veggies and fruit are sooo good, not to mention the Falafel and Shawarma. Natalie and Oded’s wedding was so much fun. It was a real party. We felt like we were in an Israeli MTV dance club. Lights, and shots and cameras galore….you don’t even want to get us started on the food!!! We were mental noting for our wedding…. in 200????

After Jerusalem we headed south to the Dead Sea. We floated around for a while and got massages. This trip is really getting tough. We continued on to Eilat, which is at the very south of Israel (check the map). It borders Eygpt and Jordan. The Red Sea is AMAZING. The water is perfectly clear and blue. The fish are bright and everywhere. The Pacific Ocean has got nothing on the place!! We also went scuba diving for the first time. We are kicking ourselves for not ever doing it in Hawaii. Our guide said we were naturals, as he took our sheckels!

Today, we ventured out of Israel and into Jordan. Crossing the border was a cinch…and then onto the Arab hussle game. We got a taxi and drove up through Jordan to an area called Petra. Petra is an old city (we’re talking OOOLLLDDD) that was actually built by carving the building out of the stone mountains and canyons, in the middle of the desert. It is where Indiana Jones and the last crusades was filmed. Its hard to explain how amazing it was. When we get to a place where we can upload pictures, we will. Being in Jordan was a real cultural exp. for both of us. We rode camels for part of our hike through Petra.

On our way back we took an amazing road, that lead us through beautiful desert valleys. The mountains are a spectacular red. When we arrived back at the border we paid our driver and in the typical hussle/Arab way, he said we owed more. Todd was listening to why… and Lisa was like HELL NO!! Long story short, Lisa procedes to get into it with the driver, his pimp, and the Jordanian border patrol (who had BIG guns, and we ain’t talking muscles). We then proceded through customs WITHOUT paying more. You can take the girl out of NY, but you can’t take the NY out of the girl!!

More to come later….. we’ll post some pictures to this soon.
xoxo

This is Natalie and Oded at the wedding…ahhh the newlyweds!!!
Below are pictures of us flaoting around at the Dead Sea. Sunset there was very beautiful. The pinks and blues are quite a change from the reds and oranges of Maui sunsets. The last picture, though it looks suspicious, is actually a mound of salt extracted from the Dead Sea.

These pictures are of Masada, a fortress built on top of this mountain Todd is standing in front of, please turn your head. Believe it or not, Lisa woke up early enough to watch sunrise and hike to the top of the mountain. Our hostel had a balcony that overlooked the desert and the Sea.

The pictures below are mostly of Petra. Like we said in the post, Petra is breathtaking and the pictures do not do much justice. But, none theless, you can use your imagination. The last two pictures are in Eilat. Look how clear the water is here!!! We loved the Red Sea.

Just another beautiful day in the vineyards of Germany!!

So far, so good. Germany has been very nice and relaxing. We have been spending most of our time hanging out and eating with friends. Caroline and Klaus, who we are staying with, have been extremely hospitable. We went with them to the castle we are in front of in the first picture. In the evening there was a concert in the entry hall of the castle. The music was of the time (like 1700’s), and they dressed in the clothes from that period as well. It was strange to be there thinking about being in India in just a few days. We are going from castles and violins to bed bugs and pick pocketing monkeys…. ohhh what we have to look forward to. We also went down to Straußburg (very exciting to use that funny letter) to the European Parliament. We visited the restaurant that Todd worked at and spent the day with Frank and Cornelia, who Todd worked with. It was wonderful company and Frank got his money’s worth of his english dictionary. Caroline and Klaus live, and own the vineyard in the picture. That little pink gazebo is a beautiful room. We had a birthday party in there. What a view!!! We have also been drinking wonderful wine and beer from this area. The wine was actually from their vineyards.
On a personal level, we are truly testing each other. Todd’s feet stink and Lisa is developing a mullet. aaahh true love!!!

***we love all your comments, keep ‘em coming!!

We leave tomorrow for India… it seems as if we just figured out where all the keys are on the european computer. We are really excited about India, but also nervous at the same time. It kind of feels like the its beginning of our trip. This whole time we have been staying with family and friend… so its like our hand has been held. We hear both wonderful and awful stories of India.
Here in Germany we have been properly schooled in all of the curse words… and we have been using them, cursing all the places that don’t accept credit cards. It seems like everywhere..what kind of über-ficken country is this!! We have also done a really good job at cracken’ every joke including the word München (German for Munich). Not to mention that the word for exit is —ausfahrt–pernounced very closely to ass-fart!!! hehehehe. We won’t expand onto things like gute fahrt.
It been fun!!! We’ll write from India……

Well, we arrived in India after a nine hour plane ride from Frankfurt at 1 am. Lucky for us, we had already thought ahead and booked a hostel for the evening. What a culture shock to walk out of the airport in India. After the shock and mob scene, we found our name Mr. William Johnson, we have never been so happy to see our name before now. Our driver took us to our hostel, through the crowded streets. There was a festival going om. The festival of Ganish, that elephant headed goddess. Babies, kids, mother, fathers, brothers, sisters…. all in the middle of the street chanting and playing drums, and it’s 2:30 am!
The hostel was quite clean and Lisa said, “If all our hostels look like this, then India will be OK.” Let’s just keep this statement in the back of our heads, we have another 7 weeks here! The bathroom was really funny. It was a toilet with a showerhead next to it. You could literally shit and shower at the same time. Ahhh how much India has to offer. Though it was 3 am it was very difficult to go to sleep with all of our anxiety and excitement of what this country has to offer. After a little vitamin A, we went right to sleep, and slept until 1 pm the next day. Lisa was actually scared to get out of bed and face the world of Mumbai…..
Out to see Mumbai! We quickly saw the bad things India had to offer, poverty, pot holes, beggers, homes built out of tarps on the road. We thought to ourselves, “Why are we here?” Autorickshaws, small taxis that look like a covered Flintstone’s car, crowded the streets with taxis, buses and Hondas driving in any lane possible. Horns honking like you wouldn’t believe. even at old ladies and children. We arrived at Colaba, a hip and on the rise city on the ocean. Looked more like Chinatown on Sunday with water and Inidans. We cruised around, taking it all in. lisa was actually scoping all the beautiful things to buy. But overall, it was an assualt on the senses and we were in a true daze. So we sat down to have some delicious 1 dollar lunch. Don’t ask what it was, but it was good.
We have been getting ripped off a little bit by taxi drivers etc. but its so cheap, we kinda figure 1-2 $$ is worth not worth the hassle of the fight. (they probaby know we’ll think that!). Besides the people trying to rip us off, the indian people are very nice and helpful. We have been stopped in the street by people just to ask where we are from and have a little conversation… and at the trainstation there is a tourist ticket window so that you dont have to deal with all the chaos!!
As per Carolines instruction (and probably to ceces liking) we have been washing our Malaria meds down every morning with a 1/2 shot of scotch whisky. Apparently, it will kill anything hanging out in your stomach. After seeing the Mumbai hospital… we’ll take any advice not to get sick.
This evening we are off, out the the city, on a 15 hour no a/c train ride to an area called Bhopal. we’ll keep you all posted!! so far so good!! Todd is no longer Moses… He is now Ghandi
oh yeah… the food is delicious. we would tell you about it but we have no idea what it is… except spicy!!!