(Updated April 9, 1999)
. . . we are jobless and homeless . . .
. . . a perfect time to go backpacking!
After 5 or so days of backpacking, we'll head up to Beyond Malibu (where we met) to help the staff move in for the summer. After a week at Beyond, we'll begin driving East, stopping first in Montana to visit Dave's folks. We'll also hike into the Bob Marshall wilderness (west-central Montana) to join the Rufner's for a few miles as they walk the Continental Divide Trail to Mexico.
July 4th will be celebrated will Jill's folks in northern Wisconsin. We'll be spending a week or two with them as we finalize visas for the next stages of our journey. After a stop in Haiti to visit a missionary friend, we hope to land in Europe for the remainder of the summer.
Currently we plan to spend most of our Europe experience in the eastern countries, and are looking forward to exploring the Czech Republic, Poland and the Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia).
In late August, we hope to be in Russia, first visiting St. Petersburg, then taking a night train to Moscow. We'll continue SE by train through Kazakhstan and into Uzbekistan (for most of you it's time to start pulling out the maps!) where we'll hop onto the old "Silk Road" and turn eastward. Kyrgyzstan (average elevation of 9500') follows Uzbekistan and we hope that we'll stay warm in our few weeks there! After Kyrgyzstan, we'll reenter Kazakhstan and hop a train in Almaty that's bound for China!
OK, so that all came to pass, and by now you know that we had two wonderful months in China, Christmas in Hong Kong, January in the Philippines, February and March in Thailand, Laos and Myanmar (Burma). Back in Thailand we made a somewhat last-minute decision to head East again and experienced the luxury, comfort (and free public toilets!) of Japan for 2 weeks. Having relatives in Tokyo was a deciding factor!
Back in Tokyo we were running into roadblocks (expensive flights) trying to plan the last few months of our trip, so we ended up rethinking our itinerary. Instead of heading to India and then working our way west, we plan to catch a cheap flight all the way to Southern Europe (Italy or Turkey) and then turn around and travel east again. Perhaps India will be our last stop rather than our next one!
We still have some tricks up our sleeves, so expect to find us in some not-so-typical places this spring!
