We bought our tickets on Friday--that's the most money either of us have shelled out in one fell swoop for a plane ticket! But incredibly committing and exhilirating because they are completely non-refundable and we had to sign in blood a 5-page disclaimer that would make Clinton's lawyers run and hide (not a loophole in sight to weasle through!).

Sunday, Aug 2 at 4:30p.m. we're OFF ready or not! SF to London on Virgin Atlantic (cheerio for having our own video screens in coach if their commercials are real! I doubt the facial is included or Swedish masseuse for Chris). We'll soon head off to see some Irish Springs and the Blarney Stone after we have duly paid our respects to the Fab 4 in London. Then 3 Sept London to Harare on Air Zimbabwe. Overland meandering around Victoria Falls, Lake Malawi (perhaps houseboating is a possibility but I doubt we can bring an ice chest full of Coronas, Cherry Samuel Adams, (fill-in-the-blank with your favorite beers), blow-up rafts, and spare rudders, to fit in our rucksacks), then up to Tanzania to climb Mt Kilimanjaro (unless we hallucinate from altitute sickness which might not be too bad...it'll still be the frigging highest we'll have ever been on two feet even if we don't scale the peak at 19,000-something feet). 30 October, fly from Nairobi to Cairo and strategically dodge aggressive carpet salesmen and bullets from fundamentalist Islamic crusaders bent on dissuading foreign tourists from visiting. And spend our Halloween with some true mummies in Luxor! Then 6 November fly to Rome and jump an Espresso or probably Multo Lento trene to Tuscany to fatten up at the Villa Rossa and Shirleerina. Then time becomes a blur. We don't have to hurry because we'll have all of December and January to wander through civilizations' beginnings in Greece, Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Israel. Our flight will take us from Amman, Jordan to Delhi, India on 3 Feb but I truly doubt these dates will stay fixed. Such is the joy of nomadic life. That's the first 6 months. I am sure that the rest will work itself out. We know that the Himilayas will draw us in and we've heard that Nepal is good in March too. Definitely out of India before the monsoons take over in April and May which I've heard make the Guerneville flooding look pathetic. Somehow we'll get a flight to Bangkok and go onward to Indonesia.

Are you tired yet? Well, apart from the ticket research, we've been stocking up on more miscellaneous supplies to ease our souls and help the illusion that we can be comfortable on the road: Swiss army knife (that I paid way too much for but has a neat lil' leather case for attaching to a belt; including room for it's miniature Mag light, and compass-magnifier-ruler-all-in-one-thingy that I couldn't resist), a flat round plastic fits-all-sinks-around-the-world stopper (that the Ace Hardware salesguy said all the Germans buy to wash their clothes in the Holiday Inns across America), "Staying Health in Asia, Africa, and Latin America" book (so that we know exactly how to self-diagnose diseases like schistososomiasis in case we accidentally ingest blood flukes (worms) that live inside a small water snail OR how to intice leeches to let go or brucellosis in case we inadvertantly handle goats), and super-dooper ultra thin silk underwear for those freezing nights when smell and dirt prevent us from snuggling in our down bags, and lots of other wonderful tidbits. Aren't you dying to go with us now?

To help us get psyched for those new exotic lands, we checked out some Lonely Planet videos from the library on Indonesia, India, and Greece; which definitely felt like mini-vacations after a few long days pumping money into the GNP and adding to the Ozone's depletion fighting commute traffic. For those of you who might not know what LP is, it's the 20-30 something travel budget guidebooks that are somewhere between Let's Go (catered toward college 22-year old party animals on a quest for the ultimate club)and the more wealthy middle-aged Frommers' Guides for the 40-50something-year-olds. Chris and I want to make our money last as long as possible by staying in ultra cheap hotels/pensiones/guesthouses which LP guides do a good job of covering.

Well, that's all I have time to write about for now. There's so much more but I have more web surfing to do...I am on a quest to find the cheapest, best, lightest mosquito net. All the Army-Navy stores seem to have disappeared. And I refuse to buy a gun rack.

For those of you who have sent emails, we appreciate your words of encouragement. Just to plant the seed, we will definitely need your letters coming once we hit the road. Since Africa isn't exactly cyber equipped in all gorners, we'll let you know how to address snail mail before we leave...all you'll have to do is write our names and address letters to us at Poste Restantes around the world where we can pick up our mail at approximate dates.

By the way, thanks again for the wonderful REI gift certificates because we were able to buy some truly needed stuff like the aforementioned silk long underwear, guidebook, ThermaRest, and special socks. We're buying the backpacks this week cuz REI finally sent us a coupon! 20% off and we're hoping to snag an extra coupon from someone since they say each member is only allowed one coupon per purchase. But 20% off (in addition to those glorius green and white gift certificates from our generous benefactors) will make a huge difference so we can buy the Rolls Royce models of our future houses!

Cheers and peace,

Paige and Chris