Around the World in 30 Days!

Go big or go home.  That's kind of the way we unintentionally roll.  Brian and I returned to Hong Kong on July 22nd after a whirlwind trip that literally brought us all the way around the world.  Since Brian is a teacher, he has the summers off.  Since I work for a European company, I get a crapload of vacation and no one blinks an eye at taking multiple weeks off at a time.  Which works for us.  So, Brian and I started scheming what we wanted to do for our "home leave" back in January.  We knew that we definitely wanted to see friends & family, and we also knew that we wanted to save some time just for the two of us, kind of how we did last year.  At the time when we were booking our tickets, I was supposed to have a business trip to Germany the 4th week of July, so we decided to spend the first two weeks of July in the US, followed by one week together in Europe, and then going on to my business trip for the last week.  In the end, the business trip got cancelled, but we had already booked our plane tickets and were too excited about going to Italy together to change the plan.  I also had had an unusually spontaneous moment (my friend politely pointed out that this spontaneity occurred about 5 months before the event occurred... but STILL...).  Brian and I both love music, and appreciate a good concert.  Hong Kong is sort of void of a lot of good concerts... it is kind of where old bands come when they are in retirement and want to play a few gigs here and there.  So... when we found out that Mumford & Sons, one of our favorite bands, was going to be playing in England at the time we were in Europe, I decided that we should just go to England too,  and we proceeded to book tickets.  Brian was shocked that this idea came out of MY mouth, but I think he was pretty excited too.  

So, the original plan was to go to New York to see Brian's family & have a sort of family reunion at his aunt and uncle's re-union, but things sort of changed a few months before we booked our tickets.  Unfortunately, Brian's dear grandmother has started developing Alzheimer's disease, and so we decided that it would be good for him to go to the US a bit ahead of me so he could spend some time with her.  In the meantime, some training that I needed to attend for work got scheduled in Portland around the same time.  A trip to Portland?!?  Sign me up.  So, Brian left ahead of me, got to spend some nice time with his grandmother and family in Phoenix, and then we rendezvoused in Portland.  

Portland will always hold a special place in my heart, and I take every opportunity I get to go there.  I never have enough time to see all the people I want to see, shop at all the tax-free stores I miss, or eat at all the new yummy restaurants that have opened since the last time I was there.  I only was in Portland for three nights, and tried to pack in as much as I could in the time when I was not at work.  I managed to see quite a few friends, but of course left wishing I could have seen a few more.  And, of course, we got so busy talking that I didn't take any pictures.  But, Portland will always have a special piece of my heart, and, though, I don't know if we will every live there again, it will be a destination whenever I can make it there.  

Some very special people in Portland that we DID get a chance to take pictures with are the Kelly family.  Brian's best friend, Erin, was a big part of why he moved to Portland, and I love these guys as much as Brian does.  It's hard to only get to see them once a year.  The 6 month old baby that we met last summer at the beach is now a walking, noise-making little BOY.  I couldn't believe it!  We had a really lovely evening catching up, and it was like no time had passed.

Erin & Alex - Alex was super stoked about his new hat!

After way too short of a time in Portland, we made our way through the hellhole that is O'Hare to get to a place I had never been, Rochester, New York.  This is where Brian's mom had grown up, and all of her brothers and sisters had returned for the week.  When I say ALL, maybe that doesn't sound like a big deal to you... until I tell you that there are eleven of them.  Yep, Brian and I BOTH come from gigantic families (there are 15 in my dad's family).  So, while it was chaotic, it felt pretty normal to me.  Same chaos, just different faces.  I'm totally used to it.  I guess maybe that is one of the reasons why Brian and I click so well.  We actually didn't stay in Rochester... instead, we stayed at a beautiful location about an hour away, in the Finger Lakes area of New York.  Brian's mother had found a perfect rental for our family - it had three cute little cabins, so all of us had our own space, but we were together when we were awake.  It was right on the lake, and just a nice location to get away from the hustle and bustle that is Hong Kong.  

Our cute cabin on Canandaigua Lake

View of the Lake from our Cabin

Our first family dinner - this was the chaos I was talking about... as for the next few days, rinse & repeat

The Reichardt Siblings

One of the things that is hardest about being away from the States is that we only get to see our families once or twice a year.  Which makes it hard when one of your family members is a cute little boy named Oliver.  I might be biased, but this kid is just one of the cutest kids I know.  It was fun getting to spend so much time with him & see all of the things that have been developing since the last time we saw him.  I love his little voice saying "no" (although it is probably not so good that I smile every time he says that) and his little giggle which means "yes".  Our last night together, I was in a chair pretending to sleep, and he crawled up in my lap and gave me a huge Oliver hug.  I have no idea where that came from, but it was just the sweetest little thing. 

Brian and Ollie

About 4 hours away from Rochester is another beautiful part of New York near the Catskill Mountains.  This is where Brian's other best friend Gavin lives with his wife, Katie, and their newest addition, Neva.  Brian and I made the trip out there to see them, and I'm so glad we did.  We had a nice time catching up, and their place was even one more step removed from the craziness of Hong Kong... I actually could see stars through the skylight in our room, and it. was. so. quiet.  

We drove back to our cabin just in time to celebrate the 4th of July with Brian's family.  We had a BBQ with the whole gang at our place, and watched the random fireworks all over the lake area. 

Well, we tried!  :)

The day after the 4th, Brian and I had booked plane tickets to fly from Rochester to Columbus, Ohio, to see my family, but we were once again spontaneous (hehe), and changed the plans that week.  Brian's sister, Lisa, and her husband, Ryan, were in the process of moving to Alabama from the DC area, and Joan & Randy were taking the dog & Ollie for the week so they could pack.  They were going to be passing right through where my parents live, so we decided to just drive with them.  Yes, in case you are counting, that makes 4 adults, two dogs, and one toddler.  Luckily, Lisa has a minivan, and we all fit pretty comfortably.  

This was pretty much the configuration for 7 hours.

We made it to Ohio without any major hiccups.  Brian's family members are pretty much all experts at the art of the road trip, so they have car travel DOWN.  It was so great to get to my parents' house.  Though I've lived in many places, there is just something about coming back to the place where I grew up that puts me at ease.  And... we had a special occasion to celebrate.  The upcoming birth of my parents' first grandchild.  My sister & Matt will have a little boy December 21st. 

A snake baby for the Wolf Family!

I've been pretty bad about being a penpal, but there are a few friends in Ohio that I try to see every time I come home.  Two of those are my best friends from college, Mandy & Ellen.  We met our freshman year & made it out at the end of 4 years all in one piece.  Times are a little different now.  We've gone from chasing boys to... well, chasing boys.  Little ones.  Mandy has three sons, and Ellen just had her first.  The whole gang came down to Enon for the afternoon, and we had a great time catching up.  I really enjoyed getting to see all the kids.  They were a ton of fun!  :)

Love these girls

If I've been a bad penpal with my college friends, I'm even worse about keeping in touch with my friends from high school.  Luckily, my friend Verity reached out to me when she saw I was coming to the US, and we had a great time catching up at our old Friday night hangout, Young's Jersey Dairy.  She's also got two absolutely adorable kids, and Brian and I had a great time hanging out with the whole family.  She hasn't changed a bit since our days in high school, which is a very good thing.  It felt like no time had passed at all. 

Verity & I at Young's

July is a very busy month for us... we have what we call the tri-fecta... July 15th is our anniversary, the 16th is the day we met, and the 17th is my birthday.  Brian and I decided that we would follow the traditional wedding gift plan... you know, paper for your first anniversary, silver for your 25th, etc, etc.  Well, I had somehow gotten into my head that the 2nd anniversary was WOOD, so Brian and I both planned our gifts around this.  Until... one day at work, Brian called and said "Um, honey... 2nd anniversary is Cotton... 5th is wood.".  Well, we both had already gotten good wood ideas, so we have decided to swap wood & cotton.  I got Brian a humidor to keep his cigars in, and he got me what he thought was a wooden jewelry organizer... which ended up being made out of metal.  But, oh well, it's all just getting too complicated.  I love it, and that's all that matters.  The whole thing was just funny!

Exchanging gifts

Of course, my mother wanted to organize a family photo where we are all wearing the same thing, so this is this year's production... not bad if I do say so myself!  :)

Brian is teaching AP US History this year, so we thought we would take in a little culture while we were in Ohio.  We all went to the Underground Railroad museum in Cincinnati, which was fascinating.  I would highly recommend it.  While we were down there, I got to see my oldest friend, April.  We met when we were 7 and have managed to keep in touch all these years despite several international moves on both of our resumes.  It was great to see her.

Last year, I came away from my time with my family feeling like, while I had SEEN everyone, I hadn't really TALKED to anyone.  It's easy for that to happen when there are a lot of people around.  So, this time, I planned individual time with everyone so that we could really have some quality time and really talk.  Brian & I went fishing with my dad, and Em, Mom & I had a ladies lunch & then made these cute onesies for Em's new baby.  It was nice to do things that way, and I walked away feeling better than last year.  It's still hard to be away, but it's the little things, I suppose.

I'm holding my favorite one - "Miso Cute"

The time in the US went by way too fast as usual.  Brian and I kind of had a "moment" in the Newark airport as we were preparing to fly to Italy.  We both looked at each other and kind of went "Um, I just kind of want to go back to Hong Kong right now.".  This trip was awesome, don't get me wrong, but it was kind of exhausting.  But, anyways, we got on a plane, and, when we woke up, there we were... in  Rome.  We got in at about 7 in the morning, and, while I was jet lagged, I was super excited and ready to GOOOO!!!  My dear husband, on the other hand, is not really a morning person to start with, so, pile on top of that jet lag, and what you get is a poor comatose guy just trying to keep his eyes open at the Colosseum.  I felt so bad... here we were in the middle of some of the coolest historical sights in the world, and my husband was in a fog.  So... lesson learned.  I will budget one day of "catch up on sleep/don't plan much" any time we do something similar in the future.  I have to say, going to Italy in July is not the best... first of all, it is hotter than hell.  I'm talking like, you better bring an extra set of clothes for every day kind of sweating your buns off hot.  Second, you think you are all clever going to Italy for a romantic vacation, but so does half of the rest of the US.  So... it's kind of jam-packed with tourists, which makes it a little less "quaint".  Here's my tip - go in October.  I've been to Italy two different Octobers, and I had a much better trip both times.  I am a pretty good trip planner, but I did make one mistake in Rome.  I had pre-booked tickets for everything except the Colosseum... and with all the tourists, the wait to get in to the Colosseum was nearly 2 hours.  The wait for all of the other locations, which we had thankfully booked tickets for in advance, was probably at least that long or even longer.  I can totally see how someone could come home to the US saying "that was a terrible trip.  All I did was wait in line".  Because, if you don't pre-book your tickets.  So... note to those of you who might plan a trip to Italy in July.  PRE-BOOK.  EVERYTHING.  Okay, you get the point.

He looks awake... but was SOOOO tired!

Our second day in Italy, we went to the Vatican.  We had pre-booked tickets for the Sistine Chapel, so we sailed by all the people who unfortunately had not... and the line was probably three hours long at 9 in the morning!  In the rooms that lead up to the chapel was Brian's favorite thing out of our whole trip to Italy... which kind of surprised me.  We got to this room, and I said, "Oh, yes, in this room is the School of Athens" painting.  Brian was SOOO excited.  You see, he references this painting all the time in his classes, so, to see it in person, well, pretty much rocked his world.  I was so excited to see HIM so excited. 

The School of Athens

After seeing the Sistine Chapel, along with about 500 of our closest friends, we went over to see St. Peter's Basilica.  This is one of the most amazing churches in the entire world.  I think the thing that is the most impressive is just its sheer SIZE.  The letters that run along the entire ceiling are 7 FEET TALL, but they look tiny from the floor.  Everything is just massive in size.  It's good just to wander around at leisure and try to take it all in.

Michealangelo's Pieta in St. Peters

That second day also happened to be our anniversary.  Brian has a few Italian kids in his classes at HKIS, and so he got recommendations for restaurants from them for both our anniversary & my birthday.  Both recommendations were a little more on the "local" side, and it was nice to get off the beaten path a bit.  We have promised to try to make this "tri-fecta" special every year, and this year was definitely that.

Celebrating our Anniversary with a walk through Piazza Navona

The next day, we took the 1.5 hour train from Rome to Florence.  Florence is my favorite city in the whole world, so that was where I wanted to spend my birthday.  We stayed in an old castle, which was absolutely perfect.  The staff was excellent, and they had a rooftop terrace with a fantastic view of the whole city.  On my birthday, we were eating breakfast when the staff popped over to my table with a fruit tart with "Happy Birthday" written on it.  Brian hadn't even told them it was my birthday - they saw it on my passport.  This hotel definitely gets two thumbs up from us!

I was unfortunately sick for my birthday, so we took things pretty easy... strolling from one Piazza to another, eating & drinking our fill.  It was truly a lovely day, and Brian once again had booked a really nice restaurant for that evening.

Dining on the Piazza della Repubblica on my Birthday

The Duomo

Lunch by the Ponte Vecchio

Our Terrace - best view in town!

The next morning, it was time to be on our way... next stop - London!!  We decided to just take a taxi from Heathrow Airport to our hotel near the Tower of London, which ended up being the most expensive taxi ride I have ever taken, but... on the positive side, we went by many of the famous London sights, so I considered it more of a "guided tour" than a taxi ride.

Tourists from the Taxi - Big Ben!!

KP & Brian with Tower Bridge.

We had just a few hours in London the next morning until we needed to head down to the concert, so we decided to go to see the Tower of London... the sight of many beheadings & where the Crown Jewels are stored.  Once again, I was so happy to get to see another awesome historical sight with my history teacher husband.  He always brings things to life for me, and I only wish I could be so lucky to be a student in one of his classes.

Tower of London - Off with their heads!!

After that, we went BACK to Heathrow and picked up our rental car.  Brian was cool as a cucumber when driving on the other side of the road.  I, on the other hand, opted to just close my eyes when we were getting just a wee too close to the trees or cars or whatever on my side of the car.  He did great in the end, and we returned the car without a scratch.

Brian rocking the right-hand drive car

The concert was in a town called Lewes, about 90 miles South of London.  When we found out about the concert, we immediately e-mailed several B&B's in the area to find a place to stay.  Most were booked up already, but one e-mailed back telling us they weren't sure if they wanted "concert-goers" to stay at their place.  After assuring the woman that we were responsible adults in our mid-thirties, she agreed.  The B&B was absolutely perfect, and the husband and wife that run it were adorable.  They were a cute little British couple in their 80's and we had a lovely time chatting with them for a few hours in their home.  I think they realized we weren't so bad either.  ;)

At the concert - Finally!!  Yay!

The concert was two days long... the first day, the only band we really knew was Vampire Weekend.  They did not disappoint - we had such a fun time!!  :)

 Vampire Weekend - Awesome!!

During the next morning, we decided to check out the British coast & went to Brighton.  It was a lovely little town.

Brighton

The real highlight of that day, however, was getting to see Mumford & Sons.  I still remember the first time I heard a song by them.  It was Chinese New Year in 2011.  Brian and I thought we should somehow celebrate, so we went out for Chinese food at this gross little Chinese food place in Tigard, Oregon.  We were sitting there eating our gross Chinese food, when I heard this catchy tune with a lot of banjo.  We shazzamed it, and saw "Mumford & Sons".  We immediately went home and downloaded the whole album.  We were hooked.  Since then, we have been dying to see these guys in concert.  They did not disappoint.  One of the best concerts I have ever been to.  

Mumford & Sons - bring on the banjo!!

We were flying out the next day, but not until late, so we pondered what we should do with a full day in the UK.  There was little question on what to do when I found out that my dear friends from Holland, Stefano & Rixt, who had moved to England, were free.  They had just had a new little baby, so it was great to get to see them and meet him in person.  With good friends, it doesn't matter how much time as passed - it is just as comfortable after a few years of not seeing each other as it is if you had seen them the day before.  This was one of the best afternoons of our entire trip, and went by way too quickly.

On the way to see Stefano & Rixt, we went right by Stonehenge.  We didn't have time to actually go into the sight, but we could see it from the road.  Good enough, I guess!  :)

My dear friends, in Bath

That night, we flew back to Hong Kong.  I have to say, we were ready.  Every single part of our trip was fantastic in and of itself, but putting it all together, it was a long time to be away from home.  I am so thankful that we have the time & resources to do all of this traveling, however, maybe we will spread it out a little more next time.  :)

So, there you have it.  Around the world in 30 days.  I wish I could say that I'm never going to do this again, but, in fact, I am doing it again only one month later.  I'll be leaving for the US on August 17th, then flying to Brazil, then back to Hong Kong via Europe.  So, maybe I'll just try to make a record of how many times one person can go around the world in one year instead.  Or, maybe not.  :)