We're off again

Time to say goodbye to sunny Florida and hello to the Atlantic and Europe. Our cruise leaves this Sunday, 30 April, from Miami. First stop after five days at sea is Ponta Delgada, Azores (Portugal.) We are busy packing and getting ready. And we are really excited!

It will take us two weeks to get to Barcelona, and from there we are heading straight to Valencia for a few days before flying to Germany. I doubt that I'll be updating the blog over the next two weeks, unless I win some kind of on-board trivia game and the prize is free internet access (hey, it could happen!) Anyone interested in really following us, can check out the "bridge cam" on the Norwegian Jewel at http://www.ncl.com/fleet/jewel/index.htm# The link that says "bridge cam" is somewhere toward the top of the page. There are also links to more information about the ship - our room number is 9166, for anyone who wants to look it up on the deck plan (or for anyone who wants to have a bottle of wine sent to our room :-) Hey, that could happen, too!)

As for our month in Sarasota, we didn't do too much other than run errands on our bicycles, but we had a nice and relaxing time. It was great to see family during our time here, and to talk to many of you on the phone. Hopefully we'll be able to keep in touch through the blog and email.

From Florida

We are still in Florida, with about two weeks to go before our cruise to Europe. Lots has happened: My parents put an offer on a house here in Sarasota (looks like they're going to stay...) and they have decided to come to Europe to visit us and Matthias' family in Germany and then join us for a Russian river cruise in June. Should be great fun!

Newsflash! 18 April: Our "favorite cousin" Andrew just informed us that we have been upgraded to a balcony cabin on the transatlantic cruise! (Top that one, Josh!) Not bad having a cousin who's an Assistant Cruise Director with NCL in Hawaii. Thanks Andrew - we're so psyched!!

I didn't realize that some people were waiting for an email update before checking the blog, so those that haven't been keeping up can go back in time to see what we've done. Now that I've sort of figured out how to upload pictures (which only works some of the time), there are photos included in the last few entries. Unfortunately, the entries start with the most recent, so there's no real good way to read them in order, unless you want to go back to December (under "archives" on the left of this page) and start reading from the bottom. That could be quite tedious, however.

Speaking of tedious...I cleaned up the photo gallery (link is to the left) by deleting tons of pictures, but there are still 260 photos in there, making for quite a long slide show.

Hope everyone is doing well. Cheers!

The Return

We are now back in Florida, USA, having completed the first phase of our journey. Overall, South America was pretty great, and now we've got to buckle down, take care of business (taxes, immigration forms, etc.) and plan the next phase of our journey. It's funny, actually, how many people we saw at the airport who were coming back for similar reasons (taxes), including someone I knew from NYC - Keith's friend Emily!

As you can see, I have now learned how to post pictures on the blog, so I may go back and include photos in some of the posts. And, I'll need to weed through the pictures posted on Yahoo to take out the bad ones (for those of you who just can't wait, see the link to Photos 7 at the left). But I suppose business before pleasure..


Buenos Aires was lots of fun. We spent five days there, exploring the city, enjoying good food (Matthias has sworn off meat for the next month - until our cruise, that is...) and taking in the sights.



A highlight of our time in BA was our trip to the Feria de Mataderos, which included a huge crafts market with amazing silver and leather goods, folk music and dance, and horsemanship competitions. Matthias and I just loved the horseys!

Now that we are back, we are looking forward to reconnecting with friends and family. Please write or call when you have a chance, if you don't hear from me first!