bikes, bikes, everywhere bikes

biking around anchorage did NOT prepare us for biking around amsterdam...

we rented cruisers yesterday thinking how great it would be to bike around like the locals, utilizing the red bike-specific sidewalks and bike lanes that are on every single street. at first it was great--we covered distances in minutes that, from the map, we thought would take hours; we biked to the anne frank museum; we made it to the ocean where hundreds of amsterdam commuters lock their bikes on the pier and hop on ferries to get to work; and we cruised to the red light district and decided it'd be easier to get around on foot. after eating lunch, checking out a secret attic chapel and wandering around for awhile, we decided to hop on the bikes again. that's when things started getting a bit difficult...

it must have been rush hour in amsterdam. at first we were just navigating through hordes of tourists, which was an obstacle course in itself, but once we hit the main streets we found ourselves biking with dozens--no, HUNDREDS--of other bikers, bikers eager to get home from work on a friday night, and they were not pleased with our speed or our confusion. i have a new found sympathy for clueless tourists on the coastal trail. WE were those clueless tourists who were crossing busy multi-lane roads when there was probably a bike path very nearby. i'm sure amsterdam is an amazing city to bike in, but knowing your way around would make things exponentially easier. we made it back to our hostel safely and breathed a sigh of relief once we locked our bikes to the wrought-iron fence that borders vondelpark. when we ventured out again for dinner we stuck to walking.

amsterdam is beautiful and amazing... you have to admire the parent who bikes around with a baby on the front of the bike and a toddler on a seat in the back, and the girl who bikes in an extremely hip miniskirt and knee-high boots. it's sunny and nice out right now and we're going to eat lunch in the sun and then catch a tram to the airport...

next stop: ethiopia.

laughing out loud

the stewardess (is the correct term air hostess now?) thought the milk was unopened and so she shook it fervently to mix it up. she and the man in 32C were surprised to find out it was, in fact, previously opened, and it want all over him. now you may be thinking how insensitive of you to erupt in seat-shaking laughter at his wet misfortune, but you would be missing the context. not only had this older gentleman been annoyingly flirting with this hostess for the past few hours, but he had done it openly, and he was crushing lori's knees with his heavy frame. so not only did we laugh, everyone laughed, even the good natured man. i mention this quip, not because it was the most significant part of our trip so far-hardly-but because this is a good sign. lori and i had been laughing all day. laughing in the face of difficult situations:

it all began with the indian embassy changing their visa policy on october 1st, unbenounced to us. being the planners that we were we had researched this back in may and were confident we would get our visas the day before we left. what we didn't know was that they had begun outsourcing this process and the embassy was no longer a part of it. and since we are alaskan residents our office was in san francisco. we pleaded our case anyway-arriving at Travisa a few minutes before the door began, at 8:55am, the day of our flight. they would "try"we were told, and instructed to come back around noon. however, the rule was that you dropped off your application between 9am and noon and picked it up between 4:30pm and 5:30pm. not possible for us since our flight was at 5:43pm and we needed to arrive 2-3 hours ahead. noon held no visas and no passports. at 2pm we told them we had to leave for the airport in order to be 2 hours ahead, and we needed our passports to board the plane. not laughing yet. but as we raced through D.C. traffic with the manager sitting beside allen in the front seat of the trusty minivan, we knew all would be well. we got those damn visas, we got our passports, and we were going on this trip. so it was no wonder we planned a scheme to arrive at the aiport with a roll of large bags for putting large backpacks in and freely giving them out, auctioning them loudly in front of the teller who told us that "they couldn't just be given out freely" when we asked for a second one. (after she ripped a hole in the first.) and it's no wonder we laughed so hard when we realized that we did not bring our hotel details for amsterdam as we were an hour from our destination; we would figure it out, laughing. we laughed late into the night last night, and we know that this is an indication of what's to come. we already love travelling together.

anticipation

we're currently at mandy's parents' house in virginia awaiting our departure tomorrow morning. we re-packed our bags one last time, bought an amharic phrase book for ethiopia, and by 3 p.m. tomorrow we'll be bound for three days in amsterdam. hopefully we'll be able to get our indian visas pushed through before we leave tomorrow. we'll see.

this is our itinerary so far:

oct. 11-13 amsterdam
oct. 13 fly to addis ababa, ethiopia's capital city
jan. 13 depart addis for delhi, india
may 15 leave india for d.c. and finally home to alaska

we don't have many set plans, aside from the month of february, which we'll spend volunteering in kolkata. we're really excited...it's going to be amazing. we'll keep you posted.

we got the itch

Saturday, July 7, 2007


Here's how it started:We were driving back from a snowshoe to Symphony Lake.

Mandy: "I should just admit to myself that I just want to travel. I just don't have a travel partner..."

Lori: "Well...I'd like to travel, too. Let's do it."

Mandy: "Seriously?"

Lori: "Totally! Let's just do it!"

The next day we sat in Shannon's room for a good hour, tracing various routes on her wall map of the world, looking at plane tickets and fantasizing. Our original plan included about 15 countries; after further research we realized that wasn't the kind of trip we wanted to do. More time whittled our choices down to four; eventually, we settled on two (although neither of us are willing to forfeit a few days in Amsterdam as a kick-off to the trip).

And here we are. It's July, I'm discovering how terrible I am at saving money, and we've got three months. The India and Ethiopia travel books have been living on the bathroom floor for easy and frequent access. My bank account is slowly, slowly growing. I'm consumed with excitement even though I think I'll actually miss Alaska winter. There will be plenty more...