Saturday, October 25, 2008

"I love it when a plan comes together"

- Col. Hannibal Smith, The A Team.


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If people could be classified as one of the A Team, I would say I was Col. Hannibal Smith with a dash of BA Barcus. My friend Cheryl is a bit more like Murdoch, loveable but slightly, um, well how do you say it - insane. She's the delusional one who is convinced that Vancouver is a nice place. And she's also a crazy lady that demand I post more often even though I'm not convinced I have much to say at the moment.  See, told you she was crazy. 

The biggest news to report is the new map up above and to the right. It's all new complete with multi-coloured route markers - ooooo, aaaaahhhh - that show the new itinerary we've decided on. After my momentary panic of what to do and where to go I think I've figured it out (well for now at least). So here's what we've got so far.

Central America:
Southern Mexico: 3 weeks
Belize: 2 weeks
Guatemala: 3 weeks
Honduras: 3 weeks
Nicaragua: 3 weeks
Costa Rica: 2 weeks
Panama: 2 weeks

South America: 
Ecuador: 3 weeks
Peru: 3 weeks
Bolivia: 3 weeks
Chile: 3 weeks
Argentina: 5 weeks
Paraguay: 1 week
Brazil: 5 weeks

Africa: 
South Africa: 4 weeks
Lesotho: 1 week
Namibia: 3 weeks
Zambia: 2 weeks
Malawi: 3 weeks
Tanzania: 6 weeks
Rwanda: 2 weeks
Uganda: 2 weeks
and then
Ethiopia and beyond.

And that's where the dots on the map stop. Not because that will be the end of our travels. I hope not. But because that's as far as I'm allowing myself to plan at the moment. And by planning I mean, filling in an excel spreadsheet that looks a lot like a day planner. We still hope to carry on travelling on into Asia via Russia. But there's no need to get ahead of ourselves (that's a note more for me than you btw).

As it is, I've already been collecting tonnes of hostel, tour and adventure links in my del.icio.us profile. You can check them out there. Yes, I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to planning.

Another list I've started is things I'd like to do. This trip is completely selfish for me, in the sense that it's all about trying things I want to do. Here's a list of the top 10 in no particular order.
  1. Learning to scuba dive in Honduras
  2. Seeing the Galapagos
  3. Seeing Easter Island
  4. Getting competent in Spanish (and revive my French)
  5. Taking the slow boat through the glaciers of Chile and Argentina
  6. Cage diving for sharks in South Africa
  7. Searching for gorillas in Rwanda
  8. Climbing Kilimanjaro
  9. Seeing the big 5 on safari (although I'm sure I'd settle for 1 out of the 5)
  10. Experiencing the world with Adrian

Out of these 10, the closest to being ticked off is the language thing. I've been teaching myself Spanish off and on for about a year. And how's it going? You tell me.

Puedo hacer los phrases basicas. Y puedo leer despacio los libros sin el diccionario. Pero hablo muy malo. ¿Verdad? 

Well, I'm working on it, okay. I've finished my intro spanish tapes, I mean mp3s. I'll soon finish my beginner's book before I undertake the first year MIT spanish course. So hopefully I'll improve before I have to put it into practice.

As for the other things on the list, some of them are pretty crazy and I'm not even sure if I'll actually go through with them. But if I do, I hope Cheryl doesn't mind if I start classifying myself as crazy Murdoch. 

And with that it's time for an update ( I actually first posted this without it).

So where are we now?

location: Toronto, Canada
ETD: March 15, 2009
savings: $36,498

2 comments:

Cheryl said...

awwwww so you think i'm good crazy and you love me. i KNOW that's what you meant.

ps am SUPER jeals. Easter Island is totes on MY list. so so very jeals.

(but hearts)

liz and adrian said...

it's a good thing I understand Cheryl-ese, cuz I'm pretty sure that message wasn't in English.

you are crazy. i've just told the world what they already know.

if you want to go to easter island, meet us in Santiago some time in August and come with us. you don't have to decide now; it could be one of your spontaneous adventures.