Mumbai, India

In the words of Charlie from Lost, "Where are we?"

We've made it to Mumbai and while it is enormous and taxis honk their horn at everything and anything all hours of the day, we're really getting into it. But it didn't start that way. We rolled into Mumbai at 2 a.m. on Thursday to a nice air conditioned airport. Jet lagged and feeling sick, we whizzed through customs, hoping to get to our hotel as fast as possible. It seems that we hired the slowest taxi in Mumbai and as an added bonus, he gave us the scenic tour through Asia's biggest slum called Dharavi. By the time we made it to our hotel, I was sure India was a mistake and since I was the one who wanted to come here, I couldn't admit that I wanted to turn around. But of course, there is nothing a little daylight can't cure.

Mumbai is fantastic. Everyone is friendly, and it seems that everyone wants to say hi to me. People yell, Madam! just to get me to look. It's like their inside joke. Geoff has alerted me that when i walk, i seem to point my finger like a six-shooter and i may actually be initiating the hellos. Yesterday, we were at a museum and I had just put Purell on my hands (yes mom, i'm listening) and was shaking them dry when a whole family started saying, "Hello, how are you? good day!", and i couldn't figure out why everyone was so damn friendly. Geoff pointed out my six-shooter purell wave was most likely it.

We checked out a movie at the Mumbai cineplex to get a feel for the grandiose Bollywood movie scene. O.k. we actually saw "The Curse of the Golden Flower" but we did see a preview for what looks to be the most amazing Bollywood action film ever. Cash! It's got action, it's got chicks, it's got singing and dancing. I can't wait to see it in Delhi. And of course, to our surprise we had to stand for the India national anthem before the movie and take an intermission for drinks in the middle of the movie. But when tickets are $3.50, we're sitting front row of the balcony every time.

Our final day in Mumbai was spent at an ancient island off the end of Mumbai. Elephanta Island dates back to 300-600 a.d. and it's a massive temple carved into caves in the rock. It was awesome and had its fair share of pesky monkeys, one of which grabbed a coke bottle out of a man's hand. i tried to get close for pictures but geoff was convinced I would be mauled so I was forced to use the zoom instead. I could take those monkeys.

Tomorrow we begin to travel again. Our first overnight train ride up to Jaipur. We're looking forward to less rain, more palaces and way more Indian food!

And a quick thanks to my best friend Laurie and her husband for being awesome. They hooked us up in London with our last load of laundry for a month, our last hamburger for a month, and our last hug. We wish they could come along (peer pressure).

London, England

GUEST BLOGGERS:
LAURIE & NEIL

There are certain advantages and disadvantages to being the first guest bloggers but certainly the best part of it is being amongst the first to send Erin and Geoff off on their big adventure. So Crack Cow it was...

We're not sure when our 7:35 am flight seemed a good idea but neverthelesss, crossing London Bridge at 5:30 am as the sun was coming up was certainly a thrill and started us off just right...or thereabouts. Unfortunately, British Airways didn't seem as keen as us to get to Cracow's Balice Airport so we were unfortunately late in landing. Normally, this wouldn't necessarily be a problem but seeing as a) we'd rented an apartment from a local Polish company (problem being our Polish is unfortunately nonexistent) and b) we were meeting Erin and Geoff at the apartment with no way to contact them, this proved a bit tough. With the language barrier in full swing, we phoned the apartment company to let them know we would be late but to still allow Geoff and Erin to check in without us.

Managing to navigate the taxi from the airport ok, we were dropped off outside our apartment building on a tiny side road with no one in sight. As we stood in front of the austere, near crumbling apartment building with no reception or name on a buzzer to identify, we started to wonder where we had come to for a 'holiday'. Fortunately though, Erin and Geoff appeared from around the corner to brighten our moods and save us from a travel breakdown. And thus the weekend getaway started - from relaxing in the amazing town square to visiting the awesome salt mines and, oh yes, lest we not forget the litres of beer, delicious vodkas and pierogis of course! The Poles certainly know how to do it!

Highlights of the trip:

LODY- the ice cream was fantastic! We ended up staying right near a Lody shop (one of many, mind you) and were continually surprised by the line coming out of the place. The queue on Sunday was consistently about 30 people long. We spent a while trying to figure out reasons why... a 30 person queue over a period of 6 hours would be an astonishing 10,800 people all buying ice cream from the same place. Surely not? After seeing though that the line just wasn't dying down, Erin couldn't resist anymore and dragged Geoff with her to verify that it was indeed great ice cream - time to buy shares in it I think!

SCHINDLER'S FACTORY- the best part of visiting this site was that the factory itself doesn't look to have changed at all. They have converted a small building to turn in into a bit of an exhibit explaining the history behind the factory but everything else remained the same, which really helped to drive home the experience - altogether a humbling but uplifting one.

PIZZA- we were shocked at how many pizza places there were in the city of Crakow and even more surprised that we managed to go the entire trip without eating any.

BEARDY'S- Geoff was rather pleased with himself that he seemed to be the only one in Crakow with a full-on beard and managed to keep a running tally on this through the weekend. Much to his chagrin, on our last night, we came face to face with another fellow bearded man to which Geoff's response was,"Hey Beardy"

And last but certainly not least, THE SALT MINES- from the beautiful chapels (a'hem, more like cathedrals) to amazing statues and paintings carved some 300 feet underground, we're just not convinced these miners actually did any actual mining...

All in all, Crack Cow was a fabulous time- good food and drink and great company. Sadly, it whizzed by and now were finding ourselves back at work while Erin and Geoff jetset off to Mumbai... where did we go wrong?!

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Krakow, Poland

Gdansk (aka Danzig) turned out to be a pretty cool town. We headed up the coast a bit to swim in the Baltic Sea at the beach town of Sopot. Sopot boasts the longest wooden pier in Europe but I think we'll always remember it as the highest Speedo per capita rate in Europe. Oh yeah, the Baltic Sea is cold, though strangely not as cold as the Jersey shore about two weeks back.

Our time in Gdansk was a little tough because I got sick for what will be the first of many times on this trip. Whoever purchased the block of me getting bird flu before we even got to Asia in the betting pool should consider themselves lucky. Me, not so much. My sickness prevented our one-way boat trip to Hel (and, perhaps, Hell) thus Hel (and, again, perhaps Hell) will have to wait for now. Although we quickly headed south for Warsaw, the bird flu also prevented me from entering the pierogi eating contest. I am sure this upsets many of you and I promise to make it up later.

Yesterday, we arrived in Krakow. This seems to be the hippest of the Polish towns so far. Our friends Laurie and Neil will be here tomorrow so the weekend should be fun. It will be a nice change of pace from the last few days which have been, almost entirely, depressing.

We visited the Warsaw Uprising Museum yesterday morning which chronicles Poland's last-ditch, no-holds-barred attempt to reclaim its country at the end of WWII (this included enlisting women and children on the front lines and manufacturing their own weaponry in various underground hideouts). Unfortunately, it resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of Poles in Warsaw and was punished by the Nazis with the destruction of more than 85% of the buildings and homes in the city. It really is amazing that Warsaw has been rebuilt in such a metropolitan manner.

Today, we visited Auschwitz. Obviously, much greater minds in much more appropriate contexts have addressed the horrors of Auschwitz but needless to say, it was horrendously sad 67 years ago and it is still horrendously sad today. One particularly upsetting note, we read in the local English paper this morning that UNESCO had to recently change the official name of Auschwitz to highlight the fact that it was a German Nazi operation after many international news outlets (mostly German) have been reporting that it was actually a Polish concentration camp.

Without forgetting what we've seen, we look forward to the lighter side of Krakow.

Dublin and Poland Photos

It took awhile for us to figure out how to get these posted but here they are:

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Gdansk, Poland

I was really nervous to start blogging because I thought I wouldn't have anything to say. Lucky for me we missed our first flight to Poland by 12 hours. The adventure begins!!

First Lesson: Learn how to read European time in 24 hour increments. Second Lesson: Read the fine print when the airline sends you a time change. It seems our flight was changed from 17:55 to 06:10 which was read by a certain person as a 15 minute change. In hindsight, that seems to be a 12 hour change. So on Thursday morning after a leisurely breakfast and email checking, we realized we had missed our flight. And it seems that airline call centers all over the world employ unhelpful people. So we went to the airport, feeling like idiots and expecting to pay for 2 new flights (which we entertained going to Budapest or Vienna for fun). But miraculously the RyanAir gals at the airport didn't blink without putting us on the next flight to Warsaw for free. What?! is this possible? We miss our flight and they put us on a sooner flight with no charges. We didn't even have to pull out the "honeymoon" sob story. Crisis Averted!

So we made it to Poland with time to still find Pierogis before bedtime. We called ahead and checked into an awesome hostel in Warsaw. Unfortunately we have been spoiled by an awesome hostel with a cool artsy vibe and every hostel after has been hard beds, dirty pillows and communal showers. I guess that's budget travel for you.

Before we left Warsaw for our original destination, Poznan, we had a Pierogi lunch at a restaurant that boasts an eating contest of 59 pierogis in 25 minutes. Never to ignore a challenge, Geoff is prepping his stomach as we speak to get ready for the challenge when we return to Warsaw. I'm pretty sure he can't do it since he can only eat 5 1/2 hotdogs in 30 minutes, but a challenge is a challenge and as long as he doesn't throw up on the table Kobiyashi- style, I'll cheer him on and take pictures. The other great thing about this restaurant is my Doppelganger works there. (see pictures) If you didn't think I was a true Polska, then meet my long lost twin sister. I couldn't ask her if she was a Korsczoloski (my real name for those who didn't know) because she didn't speak any English and I couldn't act out "long lost twin sister". But people have stopped us many times for directions or to speak to me in Polish thinking I'm from here. It feels great. Nie Rozumiem! (i don't understand).

This country is a tough country. You can tell they've been through some hard times. Every where you go, there are reminders of WWII and the mass devestation of the city. All the guys look like they are from Anarchy 99 and all the women, well, look like me more or less (a little wider face).

We took the train to Poznan where Geoff's sister-in-law used to live. She is from a small village near the German border, but she went to university in Poznan and her sister lives there now. The one thing about Poland is I thought it would be easier to communicate- it is a European country after all. But Geoff and I have had a hell of a time getting around on public transport. The drivers yell at us, the passengers try to give us directions and all the time we just stare blankly. But luckily, there are some amazingly nice people here, like our new best friend from Poznan. We were outside the train station trying to hail a cab, and the drivers were yelling at us and driving away. This really nice guy behind us said he could help. He was Polish, but spends his winters in Marco Island, FL as a bell hop then travels for 2 months with his earnings before going back. Not only did he let us share his cab to the main square, but he paid for it. And on top of that after we left our book in the cab, he came running after us. He's our new best friend!

Anna's sister Maria met us in the town square accompanied by her friend who spoke English so we could communicate. More charades! We had a great dinner with the two of them and then were left with just for Maria for the night. We didn't have much to say, but she was unbelievably hospitable. She drove us to Neigoslaw in the morning where Anna's mom and family live. It was quite the day. Only Anna's mom spoke English so we did a lot of smiling and pointing. At one point we went to Anna's aunt's house and did shots of Bailey's irish cream with her. At another point we watched Mr. Bean with her brother and his wife. All in all, it was a lot of fun and a bit surreal at times. It was great to see where Anna was raised and get to know all of her family. Our family now!

So that puts us in Gdansk, Poland. This was a last minute decision but the weather turned for the better so we thought we'd hit the Baltic Sea beaches. The town is beautiful and when Geoff posts next, he can talk about it.

One last thing: I need to backtrack to the end of Ireland, which we never saw the sun again. Our trip to Athlone to find Geoff's great grandpa was a bit of a bust, but the librarians at the local library gave us full access to old town documents and church ledgers to look for him (i mean his name). we did find other family members we think and got the email of the town historian, so hopefully something will come about.

Dublin was crazy! So much bigger and metropolitan than i thought it would be. We spent our nights in a dorm hostel which hopefully will be the last of that. Sharing a room with 4 other people is not our style. The city is packed tight with all kinds of history and mostly what i took out of it is that the Irish hate the British. And vice versa. Oh, we also took the sweet Guiness brewery tour. It's very touristy, but pretty awesome. It's a 7 floor museum that ends at the top with a 360 degree glassed in bar where you get a free Guiness. Very fun!

O.k. So that's it for now. phew! Lesson learned: blog more often or be forced to write alot. Off to the beach!

Galway, Ireland

First things first, we're going to try a new approach to this and take turns making entries - a picture of the typist will appear at the top.

Xander and Courtney's wedding was sweet. The 12-hour reception culminated in traditional Irish dancing to House of Pain. Nice. We actually got two days of nice weather on Saturday and Sunday. We took a nice hike along the Cliffs of Moher through cow pastures and under electric fences. I don't think the farmers here have shotguns, at least we hope they don't.

Galway is a pretty cool city, but like most of Ireland, there's not much to do here but drink pints. We sat outside for about 2 hours yesterday and I got a nasty sunburn - that gets you mad street cred in these parts. The weather couldn't be worse today.

We're off to Athlone tomorrow to, as Erin keeps saying, "dig up some graves." I'm pretty sure there's a better term for tracking down one's ancestors, but who knows.

And yes, Spragoo, we will be hitting 2 of the 7 new wonders (Taj Mahal and Great Wall). If you're looking for polls, talk to Ben and Lars, they're feverishly working on one.

Take care.

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Doolin, Ireland

Here we are moments before leaving for the airport. Our bags are packed precisely, our clothes are all clean, and the butterflies in our stomachs are on speed. Let's go!

We've made it to Ireland, and Erin's already realized she forgot a belt. At least its not her passport, but she should have remembered something that easy. After a flight full of crying babies and a bad Billy Bob Thorton movie, we arrived in Shannon early yesterday morning. The airport lacked basic security, evidenced by the mother of the bride smuggling pounds of meat in her golf bag for a 4th of July bbq. Before we left the US, we thought that part of our trip might involve a goodwill tour to reestablish some dignity to the good ol' US of A. We quickly learned, on the bus ride from the airport to Doolin, that our job would be tougher than we realized when we sat behind a crazy New York cabbie who was explaining to the entire bus his 9/11 theories which included missile strikes and barns full of people. Needless to say, we have more work cut out for us than we initially thought.

Doolin is a tiny town, with about as many cows and sheep as people. The cows, sheep and people here all agree that the weather sucks. It has been cold and rainy (and really windy) since we arrived. This is how we pictured Ireland weather - in January. Although it's too windy right now to visit the Cliffs of Moher or to take a ferry to the Aran Islands, we were able to get in a round of pitch-and-putt golf. The wind was so strong, we would lose balance on the back swing, or at least that's our excuse for some poorly played shots. It was the most beautiful course I've ever played on and also the fastest. We played 18 holes in less than an hour and a half. The nice thing about Ireland that every event is capped off with a Guinness. So we celebrated our first Irish round of golf with Guinness and beef stew.

The 4th of July bbq was fun. There was lots of Irish singing and dancing. The band knew a lot of patriotic US songs but sadly nobody knew the words so we all just sang "Take me out to the ballgame." It was odd. There's more dancing tonight and hopefully the weather improves so we take in the cliffs and the islands in a few days. Assuming we get on the right buses, we'll be in Galway on Sunday and Dublin on Tuesday.