Comin' at ya NYC!

 

It's official!  The boy and I booked our tickets to New York City!  It's the first leg of our journey and we'll be leaving Seattle on June 16th.  It's nice to finally have them purchased so we have an official date to look forward to.  The price wasn't terrible either.  We'll be crossing the country for less than $200.  Nice.

We're attending the NoFF (Nomading Film Festival) on June 18th and then we'll set out for South America soon after.  Thanks for accompanying us on this journey.  We can't wait to get out and experience more of our world!

Airfare Wars

I've been a madwoman lately when it comes to looking up airfare.  To be fair, looking up and booking plane tickets is one of my favorite things to do in the whole wide world.  I like it more than sneezing, unicorns (gasp!), pain au chocolats, and mayyybe even slightly more than Anderson Cooper. maybe.

When the boy and I decided to start researching airfare for our RTW expedition we immediately jumped to the conclusion that we'd be purchasing an around the world ticket.  We knew that it'd be cheaper and that we'd probably get more bang for our buck.

I started with Airtreks, Star Alliance, One World, and Sky Team.   I made a sample itinerary and sent it out to each air service to get our starting quotes.   Our sample itinerary looked a little something like this:

Seattle -> New York -> Guayaquil, Ecuador -> London -> Delhi, India -> Bangkok -> Seattle

This way, after our stop in Ecuador, we could hit the major hubs around the world and then travel overland from there.  We know that Europe should be relatively easy to traverse using the train system or airlines like Ryanair or Easyjet.   Easy peasy, right?

Wrong.  Turns out that our cheapest quote (by far) was $3,523/person.  Ouch.  It still wasn't as bad as another quote we received that put our estimated cost at $7,500/person.  My bank account is dry heaving with me just having to type it out.

Okay, so technically $3,523 isn't too bad.  I mean, you are paying to travel across the entire world but we had expected it to be a little cheaper.  We're also traveling during peak holiday season which I'm sure didn't help us out fiscally.

While RTW tickets are good in a lot of aspects, we decided to exhaust every other option we had in order to save money.  We've looked into taking a transatlantic cruise from South America to Europe.  We actually found one that left from Panama City and arrived in Spain (with a stop in Curacao, no less) that was only $450/person.  We found a few other inexpensive transatlantic cruises as well.  Only problem is that most of them end in April and won't start up again until September.  We need to depart in June or else we'll just waste our time and money while waiting to leave the States.

The boy also discovered that some cargo vessels will often take on passengers, much like cruise ships but minus the extreme thrills.  It's an alternate way to travel and would be an amazing story.  Chris sent out a few e-mails and we're waiting to hear back from most of them.  One cargo vessel offered to take us on board but it was for an exorbitant amount of money and we respectfully declined.

As of now, I think we're going to forgo purchasing an around the world ticket.  It makes more sense for our unique expedition.  We won't even really know where we're headed until we collect the letters in the Galapagos.  We might need to take the Trans Siberian, hitch hike the western coast of Africa, jump on board someones yacht, or maybe even catch a cross country train in China.  I'm actually more excited now that we won't have deadlines or specific times that we'll have to reach a certain country. 

We're pretty happy with our decision and hope that we'll be able to offer more tips and tricks as we approach our official booking time.

Here's what our extremely tentative schedule looks like:

• June 16/17: Depart for NYC
• June 18: Attend the Nomading Film Festival (NoFF)
• June 20: Fly out of NYC to Panama or Ecuador (which ever is cheaper)
• June 21-?: Retrieve letters from the Galapagos and deliver any addressed within Central and South America.
• July sometime: Fly or sail to Europe.

From Europe we have an open slate.  It'll be my first time in Europe and I want to see as much of it as possible.  We're hoping that we have a good amount of letters scattered throughout the continent and that we'll be able to find low cost ways to travel.  We'll also attempt to make our way to India at some point, and also end up in Thailand.  We'll make our way home from there.  maybe. 

There you have it.  Our weeks of research summed up in a wee blog post.  It's going to be an interesting ride and we're thrilled that you're coming along with us!

Planning and Purses.

Our weekend was low-key at best.  The only time we left our little "village" was to head to the next "village" over to go to school.  That's right, school.  Thanks to the snowstorm/snow day we had on Monday we were forced to work on Saturday to make up for it.  No bueno. 

To make things worse, the boy's been battling the plague all week.  The local doctor claimed that it was just a sore throat (and administered a few shots to the bum) but we have our doubts.  I'm pretty sure that he had strep throat.  He couldn't eat, drink, or even sleep because it hurt so bad.  Needless to say, this weekend (aka Sunday) was spent relaxing on the couch, watching Korean reviews of the Grammys, and preparing a teaser for Message in a Barrel.   

We were also able to sort out a budget and make a list of things that we'll need for the expedition.  Since we'll be filming and producing videos and not just traveling I fear that we'll be packing quite the load.  We'll be carrying around a laptop for editing, our two hand held video cameras, my DSLR, our waterproof point and shoot, and our Polaroid along with all of their accessories i.e. mics, batteries, chargers, etc. 

Ideally I'd only like to take one [large] backpack and a little purse or satchel.  Speaking of purses- does anyone know where I can find a good purse-like apparatus for my camera?  I don't want to lug around a camera case that will automatically have me standing out as a foreigner.  I want something that's on the down-low but will also protect my camera. 

I'm a big fan of the Epiphanie camera bags.  They're stunning purses, but they also offer adequate protection for your camera and lenses.  I like the fact that they don't look like a bulky camera bag and they come in a variety of styles and colors.  I'm worried that they might be a just little too flashy for backpacking.  Still, the boy said that he would get me one as my Valentine's day present if I found one that I loved.  (I'm a fan of the "Lola")

I've also looked at Ketti Handbags.  They're just plain beautiful and a little more "natural" looking.  You know what I mean?  These have a more neutral look to them and I feel like it would blend in easier in say, South America or even Southeast Asia.  The only problem is that they're so popular that every bag I want is on back order.  Le boo. 

Still, I might just give up and buy an over the shoulder sling bag as we go and add in padding inserts that can be found here.  Any helpful advice is more than welcomed.  The least noticeable bag, the better.  I don't want to have a big target around me that says "tourist with a plethora of nice(ish) cameras". 

The Big Reveal

Well after much deliberation and a few consultations with close friends, we finally came up with a name for our RTW expedition.

Drum roll please...
 

I love it.  LOVE it.  Almost more than cheese and Anderson Cooper and Thanksgiving and puppies.  Almost.  The boy actually came up with the title and I came up with the tag line.  How's that for team work eh?  "Message in a Barrel" is the perfect name for our trip as we'll be taking messages from a barrel that are addressed to various people (see: strangers) around the globe.  Those that have put their letters in the barrel do so in good faith that someday they'll be delivered to their rightful owners.  "Destination Delivery" is a very fitting tag line as our main goal is to make sure that we hand deliver these letters to whatever country they're addressed to- and we won't know where that is until we have the letters in hand. 

Oh I'm so excited.  Things are starting to fall in to place and now I have something to distract myself from our imminent departure from Korea.  We've got budgets to set, flights to plan, things to pack, and samgyupsal to eat.  Yes.  I fully plan on stuffing my face with all things Korean before we leave.  Judge me not.

Thank you for coming along on our journey.  Who knows?  We might be able to deliver a letter for you!


Oooh! And if you would be so kind, could you pretty please with a turkey on top vote for Captain and Clark over at Tripfilms.com?  We've got some stiff competition in the Film Maker of the Year, Destination Profile, and Getting Local arenas.  Being nominated was definitely honor enough, but I would literally cry tears of sweet joy if we were to win.  We wouldn't be anywhere without you.  Thank you so much for your support.

What's in a Name?

We are stuck. 

The boy and I have yet to determine what we're going to call our expedition around the world.  We need something catchy... and relevant to what we're doing.  We've come up with a slew of names but none of them feel right. 

Here's what's on the docket for now.  We have...

"The Maverick Expedition" (the boy has called it this from the start)

"Letters Home" (ya know, cause we're hand delivering the letters we pick up)

"From Sea Mail to E-mail" (eh, wee bit cheesy?)

"Post Modern Post Script" (I don't get it?)

"Letters in a Barrel" (Not bad... not bad at all)

and my personal favorite...

"Letters from a Broad".  Get it?  Cause I'm a girl... and I'd be global.  (insert roaring laughter here. please?)

Just remember, we like puns and alliterations.  We'll be taking letters addressed to various strangers located around the world and hand delivering them.  We won't know exactly where we're going until we have the letters in hand.  We've got one name that we're rolling around on our tongues but I don't want to give it out just yet.  Hopefully we'll have a name to reveal in a couple of days.  Until then, any input would be greatly appreciated. 

Keep on keeping on.