Round the World in 35 Days

So I've reached the end of my journey and I have to say I'm having difficulties bringing myself back to reality.  It was an amazing experience and I'm not quite ready to rush back to the responsible life!  I didn't sleep really at all the last night in San Fran as Margo and I spent hours dancing to Toto and Bieber, Disney and Britney, and eating amazing food her Aunt Kay had packed for us.  My taxi came at 6am and 10 hours and one layover later I was greeted by my awesome fam and a welcome home sign!  .

We drove back and feasted on delights such as Larosa's pizza, Skyline Chili, fruit salad, cookies and Graeter's ice cream.  My dad joked about having goetta afterwards but I'll wait and buy some at the market this weekend :).

I have to give a shout out to my travel buddy, Margo.  We spent almost every waking moment together and made it through airport troubles, drunk teenage hostels, rental car issues and sheer travel exhaustion together and I think I love her even more because of it.  She commented that after all that time we still had stuff to talk about, even if half of it was a made up language.  It really was weird being on the flight home without you, Nighthawk.  I looked over at the suit next to me and made an involuntary scowl, but luckily he was asleep.  I can't wait to see her again so she can fix my hair when the part is messed up... or make fun of me for wearing my orange NYC tee half the trip.  GIRAFFE PRIDE!

So really, I hate to say this is it!  Thanks for following me around the world... maybe I'll send an update after we find out how much killing the wallaby will cost us!  Check Facebook for pics soon.

-Jilldonix, Jilltong, Jillaroo (actually Australian slang for cowgirl), Jilldo, Jillabong-

San Fran is Nice

Today Margo's Aunt Kay was so nice to take us on a walking tour of Chinatown (her profession is that of the tour guide persuasion) and we had Dim Sum for lunch. This afternoon Margo and I split off and I studied for my phone interview while Margo read in the North Shore area and stopped at the house before meeting up with her high school friend, Derek.

We met at Olive about half a mile away and I had a couple of the best martinis ever - dirty with goat cheese stuffed olives and then a spicy one with jalapeno-stuffed olives. Both yum yum time in their own right, and we had really good guac, bruchetta and pizza to wash it down. We had a quick stop at a dive bar that had a DC style whiskey shot and pbr for $7, but I stuck with the pbr and played a couple rounds of Galaga (my favorite arcade game) before admitting defeat and returning to our table.

Tomorrow we'll be grabbing lunch with our DC friend Micah who moved back west for school and I hope to see high school bud a lud Anna!!!! Then I fly back the next morning :(

BACK TO REALITY.

San Fran a Ban a Lan a Ding Dong

The flight from New Zealand was pretty stellar aside from the stereotypical American in front of Margo that was way too big for his seat and in addition to putting his seat all the way back, his weight pushed it another few inches, leaving her crammed in her seat like Elaine in the Seinfeld episode where she is left in coach while Jerry enjoys first class.

Customs and security were surprisingly a breeze; we only took about 45 mins or so after getting off the plane before getting into a cab.

Margo's cousin's son Drake was at her Aunt Kay's house when we arrived and he is cute as can be. We went for a walk through the neighborhood and the weather felt a lot like South Africa - need a jacket but warm during the day.

We are staying at their friend's apartment on Nob Hill which has a view of the Golden Gate Bridge holler! We walked to a place called Sugar Bar and had a few drinks and wanted dessert but thanks to the bartender being lazy or hating how hot we were, we were denied a yummy fudge brownie sundae. Instead we bought cookies at a corner store and I am about 2000 calories over my daily limit even though I didn't have lunch.

I'm looking forward to attacking the hills of San Fran tomorrow and exploring the waterfront area.... Maybe get some shopping in?

I haven't planned for this part of the journey well. When asked by Margo's Aunt Kay what I wanted to see I shrugged and and said 'I dunno...walk around?' I'm a good tourist kind of. Tomorrow we will be meeting up with Margo's friend Derek and I'm really excited. I've heard so much about him and have been wanting to get some San Fran night life in so here we gooooo.

Ramble Mamble I have basically been up since 6:45am today but New Zealand time...and at this posting it is currently 4pm or something tomorrow. That is a long time.

Uninterrupted sleep here I come!

New Zealand... That's as Clever as it Will Get

Ooops. I guess spending 36 hours in cities doesn't allow much time to blog. At this point I'll have to put pictures up when I get back but I'll break the country of twin coasts down for you.

Rotorua: B E A utiful. We had the pleasure of crashing with a high school friend of my faja's and his wife, Jeff and Claire Schnell. It was so nice to be in a quiet house, sleep in a warm and cozy bed and have amazing home cooked meals. They were so gracious to let us stay. Jeff took Margo and me on a mountain biking trail one morning and it was soooooo cool to put it plainly. The foliage in New Zealand is amazing. There are so many layers of grasses, ferns, trees - you name it.

Later that day Marg and I hit up a spa that used water from the sulphuric lake which it overlooked. It was a great way to complete travel and a morning of mountain biking.

That was all we had time for so we headed out in the morning to Paihia.

Paihia: Beautiful, quiet beach town in the bay of islands. Very quiet since it is the off season and a storm did roll in, but only after we made a trip to Waitangi where the treaty between the Maori and settlers was signed. We got to see a cultural performance and since there was no one there we had a private guided tour of the grounds WHAT WHAT. Living it up in Paihia in style :). Oh and we saw a dead pig washed up on shore. That was fun. Margo pointed out we are three for three on dead animals in our respective countries: seal in cape town, dead wallaby in our car in Australia, now pig in Paihia!

Auckland: It has been rainy and cloudy but we went across the bay today to Russel and the sun poked out for a bit. It was great walking along the water and seeing the skyline from afar. It's a cute little town set into the hill and I had an amazing breakfast with a BOWL of coffee.

This morning I went out running and within 5 minutes I slipped and took a spill at a cross walk. Literal legs in the air, cell phone flying action. It was pretty awesome and my bleeding leg made me look bad ass as I continued on the path. There was some kind of biking race that seemed like a time trial going on and there are surprisingly a lot of young adults that do serious cycling in the area. I also saw a YWCA running group...well a few... which gave me an idea that this is kind of an active town. With so much open space I could see why cycling is a popular sport here.

Tonight we might be touristy and grab a drink at the top of the needle, which surprisingly isn't that big. It's no Empire State Building but it is still high enough to satisfy my vertical limits.

Tomorrow evening we fly to San Fran. I am really excited to see what it is like and honestly, I'm broke and need to get a real job. I miss my Letha Bear and hope she hasn't forgotten about me!

Summary of New Zealand: Beautiful countryside, very nice people, weather not as bad as the locals thought it was :).

Mid-Trip Breakdown...Check

So short blip while I'm in an internet café. Currently in Darwin, which is pretty lame. We got in about 1:30am last night and upon arrival found out somehow our reservation was canceled and they had only two beds left and in different rooms. So after not having slept well the night before and arriving from a late night flight, Margo had to go our separate ways and I think the best part was the stench of sweaty unbathed boy when I opened my door and the sound of leaf blowers blowing garbage off the street at 3am. I didn't pee or go to brush my teeth because I had somehow in three minutes lost my access card to the room so there ya go. Right as I felt settled the guy in the bed next to me starts snoring. Thankfully Margo let me cry when parking the car and the guys in my room let me cry myself to sleep.

So Darwin is like if Virginia Beach was trashy. "Wait Jill, Virginia Beach is kind of trashy." Ahhh yes you would be right, but instead of 18 and up bars with kids trying to get other people to buy them alcohol (or having already been drinking elsewhere), make the legal drinking age 18 and BAM! Darwin's main strip. We drive down the main drag - Mitchell Street - at the tail end of of the night so there are skantily clad girls with greasy faces and straightened hair and smeared eye liner to match. The hostel reception room is filled late teens early twenties wasted and checking their facebook pictures. I'm not saying I don't check my facebook page when I'm drunk, but the scene was way too cliché. This morning I go to find Margo and a girl is walking down the hall with a sheet wrapped around her and her bum-a-lum is hanging out. It's an all girls floor but come on. I hope she was wearing a thong.

ANYWAY complain fest over. Summary of Darwin, not so great. Summary of hostel life, I might be getting too old. That being said, I had a great run on a path that is sandwiched between the botanical garden and beach. I love being able to run in different cities. I get to see more of it and be with my own thoughts, which right now are very simple :).

Margo and I did a lot of errands like buying our passes to Kakadu National Park tomorrow (WOOHOO!) and then spent the afternoon at Kimdil beach reading up on New Zealand and reflecting on how mature and awesome we are. I spent a bit much on a swim suit but I decided I like it a lot and I got a horrendous souvenir towel that is now filled with sand.
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Sydney is a great city, btw. We stayed in King's Cross which is known as their red light district but the more we walked around it had a very Wicker Park feel. The city itself feels very Chicago - easy going and friendly but busy in it's own right. If I was offered a job in Sydney it would be really hard to turn it down. Running along the bay around the Opera house and watching the birds in the Royal Botanical Gardens have been so peaceful. I've really felt comfortable there and look forward to going back Monday morning. I wish we could have spent a few more days in Sydney but I guess I'll just have to visit again or get a job :).

I have to mosey on so I'll leave you with a video I took at the beach today.

Love yas!

A Moment for da Primates

I just wanted to take a moment and note that primates are cute, funny, smelly and fascinating to watch. When one looks at you it's like it's peering into your soul.

Big Five and Counting

This was the weekend I really was looking forward to. Everything I have experienced in South Africa up to this point has been amazing and it felt like every day topped the previous one, but Kruger is something I will NEVER forget.

We only had two solid days to tour the park so we stuck to the southern and central part of the park. The first day was a four hour drive from one of the southern most gates to our restcamp in Satara, and it was a blur. Your eyes become so exhausted from scanning the horizon looking for animals that blend in really well! To boost our motivation we developed a point system: 1 point if you spot a species for the first time, and 1 point each time you were the first to see one of the Big 5 (Lion, Elephant, Rhino, Leopard, Buffalo). I failed miserably and probably should get my eyes checked because by the end of the trip we saw about a gagillion Elephants, and I am pretty confident in saying I did not spot any.

The night drive was proabably the highlight of the trip. We were rushing to get to our restcamp before the gates closed at sundown when someone stopped us and said there was a fresh lion kill right down the road. We obviously didn't have time to get over there without suffering a R500 late entry penalty but figured our organized night drive would take us by there - which they did! The drive started off slow and the guide stopped the truck to show us a chameleon in the tree......now the fact that he spotted that in a tree is impressive, but we want to see blood and guts! The truck rolled on and we saw a Cevit and Cerval along the way, the latter which is very rare to see since it is so small and nocturnal, but it was cold and the sun wasn't coming back for a long while.

That's when the spot light made it's way to the kill. The males had already had their fill of the recently deceased buffalo, and were sprawled in the grass bloated and overstuffed like me after a trip to McDonalds, but the females were chowing away at the rest of the buffalo (which consisted of it's ribs and completely intact head, expressionless). I could have sat all night and watched but the truck had to move on. Take a look below.

***WARNING**** If you do not want to see animal carcass and hear bones crunching, I'd move on and take my word for it that it was awesome.

By the end of day one we had seen two of the Big Five, three if you count the dead buffalo. Not too shabby.

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The next day we were still jazzed about the kill we had just seen and even went by the site to watch the males polish the rest off. It is insane to be fifteen feet away from a lion with no fence between the two of you. To be as close as we were to any of the animals was a treat, which brings me to AMAZING KRUGER MOMENT #2.

Our restcamp (Satara) was situated in lower central part of the park, a couple hours from a restcamp named Olifants which overlooks the river and is a great place to spot hippos and even see a kill if you camp out all day. It was recommended to stay to the south to see more animals but after deliberation we decided to head north. It was a risk but lordy did it pay off.....

Sooooo we're crossing this riverbed, right? We see an elephant in the trees, right? Oh man out comes a baby that's so cute it's drinking water! Wow we are so close to elephants that's so awesome!

James: Oh s***! Look at that!

Hannah: James roll up the windows!

'Oh my God that's so crazy!' 'It's so close you could touch it!' 'What do we do?! Roll up the windows!' 'Where's my camera?!

Hysteria ensues and everyone alternates between rolling down the windows, up the windows, pulling out their cameras, cursing like a sailor and processing the fact that a Leopard just walked out of the bushes and was so close to the car had you leaned your hand out it either would have been eaten or you would have just touched the fur of a freaking leopard. He walked into the clearing and along the riverbed, completely ignoring our presence and proceeded on his merry way without a glance, but we sure noticed him. Had it been a velociraptor in Jurassic Park, we would have been dead for sure, but luckily feeding time was over. This rare sighting definitely kept us on a high for the rest of the day.

The next couple days were driving and photographs, and it really was a surreal experience. We saw all the Big Five, in addition to a large male Kudu (which is rare), impala, water buck, hippos, crocs, giraffes, wildebeest, monkeys, baboons, all sorts of birds and a million impala. I'm glad we made the small adjustments to make time for Kruger and that James and Hannah had as much enthusiasm about the trip as I did, because I won't forget this for a long time.

Off to the Bush

Just a quick note. We had a bit of delay in our Kruger trip so we are leaving in about ohhh 5 minutes! Margo and I are flying out of Johannesburg on Wednesday August 4 now so we can have 3 days watching lions and giraffes and the like.

I woke up with hives on my left arm and made a trip to the emergency room so I am now off my malaria pills and will be watching any mosquito bites closely. I also had two shots in my bum for the rash so Margo and I are much closer friends now - fyi cortizone shots in the rear end are painful!

See you in a few! Hopefully bug-bite free and with all my limbs.

Stellenbosch

Oh how sophisticated we are. What is a trip to South Africa without partaking in a wine tour? Our driver picked us up around 9:30am (us being Margo, James, Hannah, their coworker John and myself) and, possibly by his own planning, took us to the most sophisticated winery first. It proved most beneficial since we were most coherent, but given it was 10am and we hadn't eaten breakfast we obviously were less so on the way out.

This winery in particular had a group of dogs basking in the morning sun which can't be a bad deal. Imagine living day to day with sunny skies, crisp air, mountains in the background and acres upon acres to roam free. Given such a life they were very friendly and had a strong interest in our bread and cheese picnic before heading off to the next vineyard.

Aside from the dogs this repeated for the next six and a half hours, time passing more and more quickly. Our plan was to have lunch after one particular vineyard but this is where I will say the day went uphill. Walking in there are stone walls and old paintings, down the hall a room with chairs and a zebra skin rug. Keep walking and you enter another cellar-like room with cobwebs everywhere, a piano and a counter. The previous owner demanded the building be kept exactly as it was, including the cobwebs because he believed they helped wine in some way (that detail is a bit fuzzy).

The first woman helping us did not seem enthused by a group of young Americans halfway into their wine tour so we were passed on to Roderick who quickly realized his dry sense of humor would be well received. He hooked us up with healthy pours and even let John play and sing 'Orinoco Flow (sail away)' by Enya, so the only logical follow up is to invite him to our cookout later that evening! He and a friend came but that will be for a later post.

Between talking, singing, drinking and the crazy awesome cheese plate we realized we would have to pass on lunch to squeeze in a couple more vineyards, one of which was that of golfer Ernie Els. We were not greeted by the friendliest staff or the best wine but the view was incredible. My toes loved the view.

Like all great things the day had to end and Raymond drove us back to the house to get ready for the cookout. As you can see by the last photo we were a bit spent and the trip back to Camps Bay served as a good wine-induced nap.

That day will go down as one of the best for this trip. We lucked out with amazing weather, a great and patient driver and more laughs than I can count - oh and the wine aged french barrels was good too :).

So Apparently Cape Town Has Awesome Boutiques

Margo and I jumped off our 6:25 am flight from JoBurg to Cape Town, dropped our bags at the hostel and dove right into Long Street. Long Street is a young, touristy strip that has tons of quirky hostels and restaurants much like a college - 20 something town, and probably one of the best boutique selections I've come across.

Most of the shops we stepped into had rooms off to the side where the owners worked and had alterations available - and boy do they know how to sell their stuff. One shop owner had a home made 'runway' in front of a mirror and kept dressing me in her clothes, suckering me into a dress/belt combo. OH WELL I guess it's worth it to be fabulously unique. Another surprising thing is the sprinkling of antique and vintage shops. If I wasn't worried about my bag getting stolen I might have bought more... who knows.

The vibe in Cape Town is odd - it's hard to get a grasp on it all. Everyone seems really chill and the streets are bustling with activity and purpose, but whether I am creating the unease in my head or not, I don't feel completely secure. I left my camera at home yesterday so I didn't have to worry about someone running by and jacking my purse leaving me in the hole a $600 camera. While I don't have pictures of the architecture or gardens, the memories will suffice for now.

ROBBEN ISLAND - island that Dutch used as a safe haven until they exiled lepers, military hid Mach 9 and 10's during WW2, and where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were held. Margo and I had an interesting time with that. I am not one to get on a tour bus of sorts or go on any type of trip with more than four people. We read in guide books that you can rent a bike and ride around the island and explore yourself so we waddle up to the desk to buy our ferry tickets for 1pm, returning 4pm - sweet let's do it. Boat ride gives great view of Cape Town, Table Mountain/Lion's Head trio. We unload and start walking towards the archway noted 'Robben Island' we walk through and are stopped by a van yelling at us saying we have to get on the bus...soooo we join the other lazy zombies and hop on a bus, which drives us around the island and narrates the history of the Island blah blah blah.

We then get off and are led into one of the old communal prison cells and told the experience by a former political prisoner from the 80s. He walked us through the typical daily experiences he had and walked us to the exercise yard that still had plants from a garden Nelson Mandela had helped start. Towards the end he told us where Mandela's cell was which I spent all of two minutes trying to see since the tour bus coo coos were all trying to take pictures of their faces, pony tails and finger nails with Mr. Mandela's old cell.

All in all it was a great experience and I'm glad I got that bit of history because it is a horrendous practice to jail people for wanting equality or just because they fit in a category that equates to a racial slur. It was just disappointing to be lumped together with the tour bus types that don't really want to soak in the experience and just want to see their lives through a window. I lost a bit of the history because of all the exhaust I inhaled.

I should sign off now because James and Hannah are picking us up from this internet cafe to take us to a house in Camps Bay for the weekend! Tomorrow is a wine tour and Sunday driving to Cape of Good Hope to see penguins!

Our Afternoon With Sir Kent Goldings

The first few days here have been a whirlwind so today has been a decompression day. I woke up this morning and did a small at-home workout including jumping jacks, crunches, mountain climbers and the like, and had to take a break after each one because we are a mile above sea level here in Pretoria. Coffee and blogging soon followed, as well as a quick lunch with James and Hannah. We got to do our first significant amount of walking today - a half mile from the grocery store! :)

I have to say my afternoon was top notch. I read a bit of my book and took a cat nap, then enjoyed the afternoon sun with Sir Kent Goldings (Kent)! He is a seven-year-old German Shepherd and recently acquired bye James and Hannah after colleagues moved back to the states and couldn't take him. He has proven to be very smart as well as stubborn.

Just like Létha, you have to have two tennis balls to get him to drop the other. He also liked to drop the ball about 15 feet away from me before coming to my feet. It took a few tries but he learned quickly that he had to bring the ball straight to me, and if not he would be reminded by 'no, get your ball'. We played for thirty minutes or so and he would stop intermittently to get a sip of water from the pool. Yes, the pool. For him it is the worlds largest toilet bowl to drink from!

The method to his madness is not to simply bend over and sip, he lies down completely and dips his whole face into the water for a ginormous gulp. If he wasn't a huge furry dog you'd think he was a duck diving for dinner.

Another awesome thing about Sir Kent are his hunting instincts. I first noticed it when I accidentally threw his ball into the pool. He paced around a bit and once it was close enough to the edge you'd think he couldn't wait to get his teeth on it. He paused, slowly bent down until his nose was right of it, hovered for a second and.... BAM! He grabs the ball right out of the water like a spear to a fish. He began to do this several times, including a couple that I threw in myself.

Here's to you, Sir Kent Goldings!

Roughing It

It's a sunny, crisp, autumn-like day, as has been every day so far. Cool in the shade but warm and relaxing in the sun. Clear blue skies. Now enter the best brunch you have ever had, as seen in the photo. Hannah and James' friends, Shawn and Rodney invited us to their house for a day-long brunch event that put my heart-shaped waffles and fruit to shame.

We arrived around 1pm to mimosas, wine and all the food you see, all made by the two of them. There were lentil-stuffed peppers, red spinach dip in a home made bread bowl, potatoes with a Thai chili jam, savory muffins, cheeses and kudu sausage from the grill... to name a few.

Their house was something from MTV cribs. very open layout, living room with huge doors opening to their wrap-around yard, open kitchen that led to their wonderful open-air patio, and so much sunshine and natural light to satisfy your need for vitamin D.

Around 6pm we decided we needed to head back to the house to prepare for our own get-together! Friends were coming over to grill out on the back patio. I give props to everyone for drinking mimosas and wine all day only to transition straight into beer and barbecue!

James cooked up chicken wings and lamb chops in their braii (grill). Braiis come standard in South African houses since it is such a large part of their culture, which makes me wonder why Americans haven't caught on given our summertime obsession with grillin' burgers and have a bud light.

-As you can tell I haven't been lacking in activities so far, and it's all thanks to my awesome hosts! This country is beautiful and it is really a shame everyone had to live behind gates (both around the house and inside) and electrified fences. It almost seems a waste to have such amazing yards and tree-lined streets when you mostly can only drive past.

-I'm still learning the nuances of the culture and even though it is very diverse there seems to be a racial separation between servers and those served. Margo and I have been told that Cape Town is a much more social, integrated atmosphere, so I look forward to seeing what the southern coast has to offer!

**I apologize for the combined paragraphs. Blogger decided to stop working.

Waka Waka We in Africa

I wish I could say it was a long, arduous journey but in reality it was relatively painless. Getting loose ends tied up before leaving was a bit stressful, though. Things always take longer and there is always more to do than you think.

I shipped my laptop and the last of my belongings back to Ohio, dropped my cable box off in Northeast DC (thanks to Margo's brother!) and we were off by 11:15 to our 5pm flight. My last meal of veggie burrito bowl was amazing and getting to the airport was a cinch and traffic-free.

Yay! we are at the airport! Right? NOPE! As we went around back to grab our bags from the bed of the truck, we realized Margo's mattress was so jammed against the gate it wouldn't open, nor could we unlach the the cover to pull them out topside. After about ten minutes of trying to open both with no avail, tensions obviously started to rise. Margo's passport was trapped in the truck, as were the Oreos Erin has hidden in my bag!

After about 25 minutes of going through every possible scenario, we used brute force to stretch the cover upwards and there was just enough room to slide them out to freedom.

I had to check my bag which was a bit irritating considering there were people with much larger bags than mine rolling their way to an overhead compartment, but everything made it to Johannesburg without issue. Security only took about 30 minutes and the flight was broken into two 7.5 hour segments (and viewings of Marley and Me & Invictus) making the trip much more enjoyable. Customs took all of five minutes. I have never had a more positive experience having nothing to declare! The best part was we had two wonderful hosts waiting to greet us :).

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For dinner we went to a yummy traditionally South African restaurant and had a plate called 'Wild Thing' which had a piece of Ostrich, Warthog and Springbok to try which was all amazing. I think the favorite was the Springbok. For dinner I had a pepper crusted Kudu filet cooked medium with potato wedges and a great glass of South African Pinotage to go with :). After, we headed to an art gallery/lounge for Hannah and James' friend's birthday party. It was such a great space seated on a hill overlooking the city, and we were greeted at the door with yummy mojitos in old coke bottles. As the night progressed the DJ's started up the strobe light and smoke machine, and as artificial smoke filled our lungs we began to dance to more and more house music. After about three hours of dancing Hannah and I were a bit spent from all the jumping around, so we headed home to crawl into bed for a good nights rest.

Waking up at 10am this morning was a bit rough and I definitely could have stayed in bed, but I'm glad Hannah roused me so I could get the wonderful day started! The skies are clear and blue. All I needed were jeans and a sweater to walk to the outdoor market, which has such amazing and affordable food. Organic whole chickens are about 40 rand a kilo, which equals about $6.50/kilo. We bought two bags of home made beef and springbok for 15 rand each (about $2.50).

Whew!!! That was a lot to spit out but I hope to write shorter posts with better detail as we go. Brunch is coming next, and maybe a nap?

Less Than One Month!

Ok! So we are within the 30-day mark and needless to say I am VERY excited. I thought I'd share a rough itinerary of what Margo and I will be doing with our lovely hosts, James and Hannah. Shout out to Hannah for making this colorful calendar :).

I met James while we were Econ tutors at Ohio State and actually met Hannah and Margo through him once I moved to DC. Hannah works for US Agency for International Development (USAID) and James...well I still don't understand what James does :). He works for the Office of International Health (OIH) though! They moved to South Africa right after the new year - Margo and I miss them so much we decided to create a 'round-the-world trip just to see them!

We will be spending just over two weeks in South Africa, then hopping over the Australia and New Zealand each for a week and then San Francisco for a few days. After that I will head home and figure out what I'll do next! There are still things I need to do before July 15 but needless to say, I am very excited!