Hawaii----------> Singapore

Hi Everybody!

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! It has been a very busy week for us. Christmas Eve we left Honolulu ( Thanks Espinosas!!) and headed to Singapore via Manila. After an eleven hour flight we found ourselves in a very warm Manila Airport. A few hours later we arrived in Singapore at 11:30 pm local time. Thankfully we had a wonderful taxi driver who helped us find our AirBnB and gave us some local tips for Singapore.  Since then we have been seeing all the sights and enjoying everything this amazing (but extremely humid) city has to offer! Due to a slight miscalculation on the part of our travel agent (ehm, oops) we had to change accommodations for our last night here in Singapore. Let's just say if you ever find yourself wondering "Should I book a room at budget hotel in the heart of Little India?" go ahead and say no. Although you should definitely go see little India because it is pretty cool, if a little loud at night and not terribly clean. =D

I planned to upload some pictures tonight but it turns out another down side to Little India is the very slow internet so no pics tonight! Hopefully I will be able to post them soon and tell you a little more about Singapore. Until then, goodbye and Happy New Year!


Love,

Grace

San Francisco---->Hawaii

Hey everybody!
Whoohoo 6 views yesterday!  We are really churning up some interest here!

Let me start by saying, Grace was quite modest and didn't regale you all with the details of my plight but the first night in San Fran was not good to me. I will never see a Safeway trashcan the same way again.  So, after catching up on my rest and regaining my dignity we decided to explore a little.  I don't know about you, but I feel like I could swim the distance between Alcatraz island and the wharves that line the bay (and I am not crazy swimmer).  Pictures make it seem far away, but if there were still inmates there, I think it would be a bit close for comfort.  There must be a lot of sharks or something...

Then the obligatory "Bridge in the background while sitting on a cable car in San Fransisco" selfie.  Too bad you can't tell we are on a cable car and the bad lighting almost eliminates the bridge all together... just trust me; we are and it's there.

After getting into town we decided to get something to eat.  This was the "half sandwich and bowl of soup" option on the menu.  Yikes.  SO MUCH FOOD.  I was still feeling "Meh" from the night before and I think the "I'll eat a crumb or two of my wife's" would have been a better option.

Had to get up at 4:30 to get to our flight out of Oakland the next morning and the weather was AWEFUL.  High winds(30-40mph), torrential rain(buckets and buckets of rain), and a fully booked flight(3 empty seats).  Not an encouraging start... We were asked to gate check our backpacks and reluctantly did so only to watch them get literally kicked down this chute in the pouring rain, and then have them sit there for 15 minutes before being loaded.  You can see Grace's pack near the bottom (its the green one) and mine is closer to the top (its the orange one)

Ahh well, if the bags can't take a little rain or kicking they might not be the bags for us.  However, the Osprey bags came through with flying colors.... but when the airline offered a survey immediately after we disembarked the plane, the airline got some scathing feedback.. justice served. How upset CAN you be Hawaii?  We went from rainy San Fransisco to this:

We were in Hawaii for a family wedding and had a lot of fun hanging out with family before, during, and after the wedding, and couldn't have asked for a better time.  

Me, all dolled up.

 The view from the venue

I had the hottest date at the party bar none

Then, after the wedding some friends were gracious enough to host us till we leave for our next destination, allowing us time to do a bit more sight seeing.

There are beaches in Virginia.  But not mountains like this:

The beaches ARE pretty nice though

I just cant get over the beauty here!  The view is nice too.

 A little jog up to the Makapu'u lighthouse..

 This picture doesn't convey the nearly shear drop several hundred feel to the raging water below.
--"Sharp rocks at the bottom?"
--"Most likely..."
--"Bring it on"

Then we did hit some of the tourist spots as we are, after all, tourists.

I was subjected to this sign...

Went snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, and saw a bunch of fish and even a turtle, but it wasn't quite bright enough for the pictures to come close to conveying how beautiful and vibrant everything was.  So here is a halfway decent picture of the turtle.

Anyway, thats about all for now, but we will be updating soon, and miss all of y'all already.

Aloha

~Chris

Williamsburg----> Denver------>San Francisco

Suddenly it's day three, guys! After a wonderful family birthday party on Saturday my kind parents drove us to the airport EARLY Sunday morning for our flight to Denver. 

Denver was exactly how we remembered, surprisingly flat but surrounded by the most amazing mountains. After a brief but lovely visit with Joseph, Katy, Rory and Noel we were on the road again to San Francisco. 

San Francisco is so unlike anywhere we have ever been! Today was extremely hazy and we could barely see the city, hopefully tomorrow it will clear up. We are going to do all the touristy stuff and I can't wait to see Fisherman's Wharf and ride in a Cable Car. We are determined to take some great pictures of this beautiful city so you should see them soon. =D

 All the flights and time changes have hit Chris pretty hard tonight and he is fast asleep right now, and to be fair, it is almost 10 pm VA time. Thank goodness for delivery so I can still enjoy some famous San Francisco Chinese food! 

That's all for now! Hope all of you are doing well!

Love,

Grace

Hi Everybody!

As many of you know, in July 2014 Chris lost his job unexpectedly. We decided to turn lemons into lemonade and began planning our dream trip around the world. We intend to spend six months getting hopelessly lost, eating strange (but hopefully tasty) food and learning about our world. 

Thanks for checking out our blog! We will do our best to keep it updated as we get ready and travel. =D