Yes -- this is so hard to believe. The tickets are purchased. We always told ourselves that when the tickets were purchased we would know that this is really happening. Not that trips can't get cancelled after the tickets get purchased (...right Pam???). But during all the weekends and evenings of sorting through volunteer books and websites, contacting different agencies, thinking through international weather patterns, it still all felt like the whole thing was in idea just living in our heads.
Now we have tickets that tell us we can really travel to these places. Now all that is left to do is notify our jobs we are resigning, find good loving homes for the kitties, sell or give away most of our belongings (Craigslist here we come...!), ship the rest of the belongings to parents, get immunizations, get final medical and dental check-ups and stock up on needed meds, get travel insurance, obtain necessary visas, sell Miral's car... Yup! We're just about there...
Well, okay -- so there are a FEW things still left to do to make this astounding idea of a dream-trip that burst into our heads in some way and at some time that we can now only vaguely recall into a reality. But at least we now do have an itinerary that we can now put up on a website that we will someday share with all of our friends and loved ones so that they can cyber-travel along with us -- and maybe even think about joining us for pieces of it!
This is how we plan to step off and lose our way:
LATE DECEMBER: Pack the car; drive to Chicago; spend time and say farewell to Miral's family and friends; continue the drive to New York City; spend time and say farewell to Ivan's family and friends...
JANUARY 10: Flight: Newark, NJ, USA > Atlanta, Georgia, USA > Bogota, Colombia
JANUARY: Attend Melissa and Scott's wedding in Santa Marta!!; Explore Colombia
FEBRUARY: Ecuador - Volunteer helping with nature conservation in the cloud rainforest: http://www.jatunsacha.org/texto1.phpid_submenu1=1&id_menu=3&id_submenu2=4
MARCH: Explore Bolivia and Peru
Flight: Lima, Peru > Atlanta, Georgia, USA > Newark, NJ, USA > Zurich, Switzerland
APRIL & MAY: Swiss Alps - Volunteer at an interfaith retreat center: http://www.schweibenalp.ch/en/ueberuns/blick.html
Flight: Zurich, Switzerland > Dubai, United Arab Emirates > Entebbe, Uganda
JUNE: Uganda - Volunteer at a school for children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic: http://www.kidsworldwide.org/ugandastpaul.htm
JULY: Explore Tanzania
Flight: Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania > Doha, Qatar > Delhi, India > (Ivan: Leh, India; Miral: Calcutta, India)
AUGUST: Ivan: Himilayan India - Volunteer living with and helping a local family with their harvest: http://www.isec.org.uk/pages/learningfromladakh.html
Miral: Calcutta, India - Volunteer organization caring for the sick: http://www.geocities.com/athens/2960/mothert.htm & a home for persons with developmental disabilities: http://www.larche.org/home.en-gb.1.0.index.htm
SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER: Explore Nepal and India
NOVEMBER: Explore Thailand
Mid-NOVEMBER - Mid-DECEMBER: Laos - Volunteer at a children's school disseminating progressive education techniques: http://www.gurukul.edu/help_project_asia_sunshine.php
Mid-DECEMBER - JANUARY: Explore Vietnam & Cambodia
BEYOND: Who knows...?
