We are very excited to visit the birthplace of “Bull’s Blood” wine. There is a small town in Hungary called Eger. They are most well-known for their wine, which you can get by visiting the various wineries in the area called the “Valley of Beautiful Women.” We’re hoping to visit as a side trip from Budapest.
Author: globegazers
Two Months: To Do
As of May 2, we are two months from our departure date! There is so much to do. We decided to make a list to help us celebrate what we’ve done and keep track of what is left.
PLANNING
- Contact and plan our safari – DONE
- Make lodging arrangements for Johannesburg
- Explore Travel Insurance Options & select/purchase policy
- Add pages to both passports – NOT NEEDED TILL ASIA
- check visa/passport requirements for all countries
- Get passport photos taken for visas (have several printed)
- Scan all documents into digital format and save to both emails
- Gather all CC contact numbers, embassy numbers, etc. – download app?
- Get new international drivers licenses
- Get family and friends setup with Skype/Vyber
- set temporary change of address with post office
- Finalize packing lists
- Put together med kit
- figure out how to unlock Eric’s phone?
- Figure out what to do with Della’s phone
- decide on final packs
- decide on final plug options (give dad others to return)
- purchase plane ticket to NYC
- purchase plane ticket to South Africa – DONE
- purchase plane ticket to Prague – DONE
- purchase train ticket Johannesburg to Capetown
- Collect travel planning documents (scanned/packed)
- Contact insurance company related to cars
- fill out power of attorney documents (general and medical)
HOUSE/STUFF
- Rent our house – HALF DONE
- write a lease for our house rental
- Sell books on amazon?? (eric)
- Donate stuff not worth selling – HALF DONE
- Make arrangements for storage of the amount we plan to keep
- Pack up the house
- Study
- Master Bedroom
- Guest Bedroom 1
- Guest Bedroom 2
- Kitchen
- Living Room
- Basement big room
- Basement sound room
- bathroom 1
- bathroom 2
- master bathroom
- garage
- utility room
- Sell extra clothes on ebay
- discontinue utility services
PETS
- Texi to vet – SCHEDULED
- Texi to TX – SCHEDULED
MEDICAL
- Make a visit to our travel doc for meds/vaccines – SCHEDULED
- Dentist appointments – SCHEDULED
- Final doctors appointment – SCHEDULED/DONE
- Eye exams – new glasses (della) – DONE
- figure out when insurance ends – DONE July 1
MONEY$
- Finish up credit card minimum spends – DONE
- Cancel unnecessary credit cards
- decide which cards to continue gaining miles on
- notify all cards of international travel
TO BUY
- External Hard drives – DONE
- wire padlocks (TSA)
- space on the cloud for storage (decide what spaces we will use: dropbox, google drive, other??)
- rain covers/travel covers for packs
- drain plugs
- extra camera batteries (della) – DONE
- buy more camera memory cards – DONE
- Good walking/hiking/zumba shoes
- good sandals – DONE
- travel clothing – MOSTLY DONE
EVERYTHING ELSE
- Get website up and running – DONE
- Photo website up and linked into our Blog
- Della – figure out how to pack/transition classroom
- Buy new washer
- Buy new dryer – DONE
- Install washer/dryer
- Have going away party
- Eric – learn/practice driving stick shift
- Eric – transition to shaving with bladed razor – DONE
- Eric- get LASIK – DONE
- Della – advertise student blog
Fast Forward Friday: Spiš Castle
Source: http://www.deviantart.com/
Spiš Castle is in eastern Slovakia towering above the town of Spišské Podhradie. The ruins make up one of the largest castle sites in Central Europe. It is another UNESCO Heritage site and one I can’t wait to visit. It looks like a setting of a grand fairy tale!
First Goodbyes
We are getting closer and closer to the departure date of our trip. We’ve definitely been getting swept up in the anticipation. Luckily, a lot of things are coming together for us: we have both spoken to our jobs and have a start date for our leaves, we have someone potentially lined up to rent our house, we have a plan for our kitty, we have major plane tickets booked and a safari planned! But, there are definitely some things we are not looking forward to. I had to face one of those tonight.
Today I taught my last Zumba class at Dancing the Soul. It is a wonderful dance studio where I have worked for almost the last three years. It’s a strange thing to say goodbye to something that has been a constant part of your world and routine for so long. It was also time to say farewell to some of the wonderful women I have been dancing with every Wednesday!
Saying goodbye is never an easy task. I know that this will be the first of many goodbyes we will have to undertake before we leave in just over 2 months. It will be goodbye to family, friends, routine, familiar faces and places. While I am so excited for the adventure this trip will be, I am dreading the part where I have to do things like this.
But enough with the sad stuff for now… back to the anticipation. Even though I will be leaving Dancing the Soul, I hope to not give up Zumba for the year. One of our goals is to attend Zumba classes in as many different places as we can! Just keep your eye out for posts tagged Zumba Round the World and I’ll let you know what it’s like to Salsa in Slovakia or Cumbia in Kathmandu!
For those of you who can’t wait to dance around the world, check out this song! Zumba Round the World (All Around the World by Paulina Rubio)
Fast Forward Friday: Wieliczka Salt Mine
The Wieliczka Salt Mine is near Krakow, Poland. It was built in the 13th century and was mined for salt until recently. Now it is mostly a tourist attraction. It boasts the beautiful natural wonder of a salt mine with caverns and beautiful crystals, but also interesting man-made sculptures, statues, churches, altars, and bas-reliefs in the rock salt.
I Wear Your Granddad’s (Travel) Clothes… I Look Incredible!
As we’ve been planning for our trip, we have had to think about what clothes we want to bring that can stand up to a year of travel. We’ve read all about getting fabrics that are durable, quick drying, odor resistant, etc. The easy way to do this would be to go to REI and have ourselves a shopping spree…
but that’s not really our style!
We’ve been shopping for our travel clothes at… surprise, surprise… the THRIFT SHOP!
Why the Thrift Store?
We’ve always shopped at the thrift store for a cheap source of everyday clothes. As part of keeping our trip affordable, we figured we would take the same approach when searching for travel clothes. You can find quality clothing for reasonable prices. Despite Macklemore’s song, it’s not all multi-generational hand-me-downs or quirky, outlandish things. Brand names are not that hard to find.
How to Search
It does require a little bit of extra effort to find items appropriate for travel. It’s not like there is a special travel section like you might find at a “new goods” store. First, we did our research on the kinds of things that we were looking for. Most people tout clothing made out of synthetic fabrics like polyester because it dries quickly. Other people say merino wool is even better for temperature control and odor resistance. Most thrift stores organize all of their clothes by size (though some by color). We have gotten pretty good at gauging fabric as we’re flipping through hanger after hanger of shirts or pants. We have also mastered the art of finding the tag that lists fabric type and care in almost no time at all.
What We’ve Found
Eric’s Haul
Della’s Haul
We were excited to find some of the brand names that we would probably have searched for if we were looking for new clothes such as Go Lite, REI, and Columbia.
What’s Left?
We aren’t only shopping at the thrift store. Certain items, like underwear and shoes, we think are better to buy new. Also, we have received some excellent gifts of other new items. We have also utilized Ebay and Sierra Trading Post (which has been great with coupons and an easy return policy).
We definitely recommend making the thrift store part of your travel shopping plan!
Macklemore said it well… “One man’s trash, that’s another man’s come up!”
Fast Forward Friday: Prague
Prague will be our first stop in Europe. We’re looking forward to a completely different vibe than Africa. Prague is home to numerous tourist attractions, not limited to the amazing Prague Castle. The historic center is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We’ll have to fight the loads of other tourists, but we think it will be worth it. Lots of amazing things to see… AND beer to drink!
Fast Forward Friday: Cape Town
Cape Town is one of the most well-known cities in South Africa. Obviously, we’re looking forward to climbing Table Mountain and seeing all of the amazing views of the city from there. But there are lots of other things to be excited for in this area: Penguin spotting at the Cape of Good Hope, wine tasting, Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned), and great neighborhood site-seeing.
Underrated Destination: Oakland
We had the privilege of visiting Oakland this last weekend. Oakland often gets overlooked in favor of San Francisco, but we thought it was a fantastic city with lots to enjoy. It is, of course, blessed with the presence of Dana, Della’s sister, which would make most places awesome. Though, Oakland was pretty fun in its own right!
Downtown
We thought the downtown area was quite nice. Pretty clean and easily walkable. There were plenty of places to eat and nice outdoor gathering areas. We spent an afternoon exploring much of what the area had to offer.
Preservation Park
This park has 16 historic buildings. Some of them were there originally and others were moved to this location. The houses are all currently in use housing things like non-profits, cafes, legal offices, etc. They were beautiful houses and the park was very pleasant. Our only complaint was that the signs were mostly worn off so we weren’t able to read all the information!
The signs were mostly worn off.
China Town
Oakland has a bustling China Town with lots of good-looking shops and eateries. We were bummed we didn’t get to try one of the Cambodian restaurants we spotted.
Lake Merritt
Lake Merritt is in a great central location. It has a wonderful walk/bike trail all the way around the lake. There are great views into downtown and across the lake itself. The general mood around the lake was busy and merry. People jogging or strolling around with kids or dogs during the day and barbecuing, listening to music, or picnicking in the evening.
Oakland Cathedral (Christ the Light)
On the northwest side of Lake Merritt, you can’t help but notice the amazing Oakland Cathedral. This was on of the more architecturally interesting cathedrals we have been in! Once inside, you’re struck by the amazing amount of natural light and the way everything inside draws your eyes up and to the depiction of Christ at the front. It is somehow created by all natural light coming in through grating behind. This is definitely worth a stop.
The church is the amazing building on the left.
That image is all natural light coming in from the outside
Lakeside Park
The park is located on the northern end of Lake Merritt. It is a very pleasant park that includes a free botanic garden. We wish we could have explored the park more, but in the late afternoon it decided to rain on us.
Grand Lake Theater
The Grand Lake Theater is a great old theater in Oakland. It shows current movies now (we saw Divergent.. it was only OK) but has been around and showing films since 1926. It was beautiful inside and out. We definitely recommend seeing a movie there!
If you have a chance to visit Oakland, we recommend it!
Special thanks to Dana for hosting us! Check out her blog at http://biketheway.blogspot.com/ and maybe even give her a donation to her Climate Ride coming up!
Fast Forward Friday: Sossusvlei
Sossusvlei is part of the Namib Desert. It is filled with sand dunes with very little life. I imagine it will be a little like visiting the Great Sand Dunes here in Colorado. Though, check out those trees. So dead yet so beautiful. I think this is one of the places in Africa that I am most excited about.
Globe Gazers 