I got 3 vaccines: Typhoid, Yellow Fever and a Tetnus Booster. Total price, more than $400. That pricetag hurt more than any of the shots!

When we got to Korea, we priced some vaccines and found them about half the price of the same ones in the U.S.

Better still, we waited until we got to the Kingdom of Low Prices – India. While waiting for our flight out of Delhi, we stopped by a clinic and priced vaccines again… and found a winner. I got 7 vaccines, (Lifetime Hep. A, Hep B, Meningitis, Rabies, Typhoid, Polio and TB) all for a total of $115. Griffin had several shots as well and we both drank lots of fluids and rested for a few days.

We had to get second and third doses of Hep. B and Rabies, for which we had to do some searching in other parts of the world. We found Hep. B for $15 in Indonesia (As long as you’re away from the touristy areas in or around Bali) and the 3rd dose of Hep B. in Spain for 5 Euros.

Unfortunately, we never priced a 2nd dose of Rabies for less than $100, which didn’t seem worth it after the $7 initial dose, so we just called that one off.

The bottom line is, if your home country is over-pricing their travel vaccines, a little research could save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars. If you don’t get your travel vaccines at home, it’s more than okay to leave home without them, as long as your DO get them.

Out last stop in Australia was Melbourne, a lovely city on the South East coast, a quick flight from Sydney.

I was getting pretty excited about visiting Melbourne as we had arranged to stay with a friend of mine I hadn’t seen in nearly a decade. (Wow, that makes me feel really old.) We were planning to meet up with my friend, Victoria, and her family and head to nearby Phillip Island to relax a bit.

Before meeting up with Vic, we checked out some of the scenes in Melbourne. Personally, I liked Melbourne a lot because it was so “green.” I don’t mean in the environmentally friends sense, although it may be, but that it was literally very green with beautiful flowers everywhere and Gardens to walk around in for hours.

We started with the Royal Botanic Gardens, which was just a short walk from our hotel. We could literally have gotten lost there and enjoyed the colors the whole time. We wandered around and checked out the huge variety of plant species. Everything is nicely labeled, which is awesome so you can know just what are looking at and finding some cool facts out. There are gazebos everywhere for relaxing while taking in the scenery. All around awesome place.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Griffin’s favorite bird of all time, which we found in Melbourne, the Cassowary. We like to call it the Dino Bird because of the oddly shaped crest on the top of its head that looks prehistoric in our minds, if to no one else. Anyway, Griffin has become obsessed with this bird.

After checking out the garden for a while, we stopped in the nearby Shrine of Remembrance, a military museum detailing Australia’s journey to freedom and contributions to world wars. It’s a solemn place of remembrance and touched our hearts even as foreign visitors. The place also boasts a pretty amazing architectural feat, which can be seen in the Sanctuary. A sunken stone plaque which reads, “Greater love hath no man” is read by the visitors in such a way that they much bow their heads to read it. The quote is part of the Bible verse, John 15:13, which states, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Every year on November 11th at exactly 11:00am, the sun shines through a open block in the roof and lands directly on the word “Love.” Daylight savings time has caused the necessity of a mirror to be placed to continue to tradition, but it is no less powerful. During the rest of the year, visitors can enjoy a simulation.

Finally we were ready to meet up with Vic’s husband, Chris, for the ride down to Phillip Island. I was happy to see my friend again and meet her sweet family. We had a great time catching up. As it turned out, we also got to meet Chris’ parents and Victoria’s parents as well, which was a blessing to us.

Vic and Chris offered lots of advice for things to see around the island, so we started with the Phillip Island Wildlife Park. This place is getting up close and personal with all kinds of animals and we loved every minute of it. We got to pet Kangaroos, Wallabies, and Emus and saw Koalas, Eagles, and so many more animals I can’t even think of them all. Basically, I didn’t want to leave there and tried to talk Griffin into letting me have a Kangaroo to take home. He said no. =(

We took an extended family trip with all ten of us to The Nobbies, a nature park with one of the most beautiful coastal walkways I’ve ever seen. There is a small island off the coast with hundreds of seals sunbathing, which we enjoyed seeing as well.

Finally, we had to do it, we went to the Penguin Parade. This is a natural phenomenon that occurs nearly every evening at the same time, when hundreds of penguins arrive on shore after a day of fishing and waddle to their beach homes. These are not just any penguins, though, they are “Fairy Penguins,” tiny little fuzzy penguins that stand about 12 inches tall. They are some of the cutest things you’ve ever seen. People have been coming to watch the penguins come home since the 1920’s and it’s still extremely popular. I tried to talk Griffin into letting me have a penguin to take home. He said no. =(

After a few days of seeing the sites on Phillip Island, we tagged along to Vic and Chris’ home back in Melbourne and had a great time hanging out and playing with her cute kids. From there, we booked a rushed flight to continue our journey in New Zealand!

If your in the area, I can’t recommend beautiful Melbourne or Phillip Island highly enough!

After spending several weeks enjoying the coast of Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef, we decided to continue down the east coast to Sydney.

Griffin had visited Sydney before, but I hadn’t, so I was getting pretty excited.

Upon landing we headed out to Bondi Beach to catch up with Griffin’s friend, Joel, who was letting us crash at his place for a few days. Bondi Beach is an awesome place and we had a great time relaxing there for a few days.

After a couple of days at Bondi Beach, we hopped a train to just outside the city center, where we were greeted by Kathryn, a friend of Griffin’s from his previous travels, and her husband James, who had graciously offered to let us stay with them during our visit.

We arrived to a wonderful home cooked meal, which we had been missing for a while. And, after a good night’s sleep we were ready to go explore Sydney.

Our first stop was the most recognized landmark in Australia, The Sydney Opera House. The place is huge and it was interesting reading the placards and learning a bit more of the history of it. We opted out of the tour because it was a little too expensive for us and we were having a hard time fitting our Australian expenses into our budget already. We took a fun walk around the Royal Botanic Gardens and then walked across the Harbor Bridge for a great view of Sydney Harbor and another look at the iconic Opera House.

We did, however, decided to tour “The Rocks,” which was the area where the British Prisoners, who would become the first Australians, initially settled upon arrival into Sydney Harbor. Since it was a national holiday, the tour was only two Australian Dollars. Sweet! The tour was interesting and I highly recommend checking it out as it really gives you a feel for Australian history.

Later we went down to the harbor to watch the fireworks for Australia Day, which was a nice surprise since we hadn’t planned that!

We spent the next couple of days catching up on work. You may have noticed that pattern by now. Usually, our travel schedule consists of touring for a few days and then working a couple days. While we saved up for our travels while we were in Korea, we decided that we didn’t want to deplete our savings and then have nothing when we arrived back home, so Griffin ramped up his business and I’ve been doing what I can to help. If you are thinking of long-term travel and can do some work remotely, I encourage you to try it! It can also be a nice break from the constant barrage of tourism.

So, after relaxing and working a couple of days, we went back into town and took a ferry out to the Manly Beach area. Basically, all of Sydney is beautiful and lined with beaches. I love Sydney!

Kathryn and James could not have been more gracious hosts. They took their free time on the weekend to drive us to the Blue Mountains to see the view. I’m sure the scenes there were beautiful, but unfortunately we weren’t able to see them! There was a fog that moved in and we couldn’t see a thing! We settled for checking out some postcards of what the scene would have looked like. We hope to visit again one day when the weather is better. Kath and James are such a fun couple that we really didn’t need to see the mountains to have fun.

We spent a total of about a week and a half in Sydney, which was not nearly enough for this beautiful city. We hope to visit again some time after we’ve saved enough Aussie Dollars to see everything!

About midway through our time in Indonesia, we needed to decide our next destination. Griffin’s little sister had set a wedding date, so our time was limited, but we knew we wanted to see all we could of Oceania before heading back to the U.S. So, we booked our next flight to Cairns, Australia, the most popular access point to Australia’s famed Great Barrier Reef.

We arrived in Cairns and got settled into our hostel before trying to determine what avenue we wanted to take to get out on the reef. Griffin had been diving before and easily talked me into wanting to give it a try. We looked into several intro-diving options, but they were all pretty expensive. Finally, we found an option that would grant us the opportunity to actually get our diver certification, as well as a way to get our budget around it.

We headed down to the Reef Encounter office to talk with them about their Hostie program. Basically, we needed to go out on the live-aboard boat as paying customers, during which time we would get our diving certificates, then we would stay aboard to help with things like washing dishes and making up beds, etc. In return, we would have free accommodation, free gourmet food, and at least two free dives each day. We figured out that in order to balance out the amount of money we needed to spend as customers, we would need to stay aboard for an extra 10 days. It seemed like a lot of dishes, but we decided to give it a try.

Early the next morning, we boarded the Reef Experience, a day boat by the same company that would dock near the Reef Encounter and serve as a taxi out to our floating hotel.

We settled into our rooms and got started with our course right away. I believe we had the best dive instructor possible in ‘Albie.’ The guy was patient, fun and extremely talented and knowledgeable. Not only was he a great teacher under the water, but his explanations of theory were easy to understand as well. Eight dives, several hours of book work and a test later, we were certified divers able to dive on our own up to 15 meters.

Each time we went under the water was a new experience. It honestly could never get old to me. Sometimes we had an agenda, something special we wanted to see, sometimes we just went for a relaxed exploration. We enjoyed swimming through tunnels, or just peaking into some of the soft corals to see what fish were hiding there. No matter what, we always saw something new and amazing.

As hosties, our days started early with setting up for breakfast. As soon as that was finished, we would go out for our morning dive. From the water, we would grab a quick shower to get the salt water off us and then head downstairs to wash up the breakfast dishes. Then we would spend the rest of the morning cleaning up rooms for the incoming new passengers. Lunch setup, lunch dishes, afternoon cleaning… all just the next steps until we could get in the water again for the afternoon dive at 3:30. After the dive, wash off again, dinner setup and dishes, plating up desert and then waiting to see if there is room for us on the night dive. Head to sleep and then do it all again the next day. By the time we left there, we felt like regular crew members. We stayed aboard so long, we decided to go ahead and get our Advanced certification. Now we can dive down to 30 meters. =) Not to mention, we gained several new friends. Always the best part of travel.

When we finally got off the boat, we literally had land-sickness. For the first couple of days on land, we felt like we were constantly swaying. It was a crazy feeling.

We ended up sticking around in Cairns for another couple of weeks, catching up on some work and checking out the town. We even went back out to Reef Encounter for a another night and a few more dives.

Cairns is a beautiful place with a million options for checking out the reef. We met some great people and had some of the best experiences of our trip.

Have any of you been scuba diving? Share some of your favorite memories and locations in the comments. We would love to hear them.

From here, we booked a flight down the coast to Sydney. Check back to see what we got to do there. =)

I have rested my head on everything from plush amazingness, to a couch cushion, to nothing at all. A couple of months in, I was a little worried about the possible future pillows I might encounter, but I wasn’t thrilled at the thought of lugging around a giant pillow or fighting to stuff it into my bag every morning. So, I did some research on what other travelers suggest for the best travel pillow.

This is not ideal.

This is really not ideal.

It didn’t take long to figure out that a down pillow is the way to go. Firstly, I love down stuff. If I could surround myself in down cushiness all the time, I totally would. It’s comfortable, it has a nice cooling affect and it’s lightweight. Additionally, a travel size feather pillow can fit almost anywhere. Believe me, if there is an inch of open space in my bag, I can force my travel pillow into it!

The best travel pillow I came across was from GooseFeet Gear, a one-man company that makes custom down gear including everything from down socks to pants to pretty much anything you want.

I got in touch with Ben, the main man over at GooseFeet to ask about his options for a travel pillow and he quickly gave me some great advice. This guy really knows his trade. He asked me all kinds of questions about how I sleep and what I like in terms of firmness and loft in pillows, etc. By the time he was putting my pillow together, (and Griffin’s, who had to have one as well), I was getting pretty excited about it. Ben actually makes all his products by hand and to order. You can’t beat that!

Optimal.

The pillow was perfect! I chose a black color so as not to show much dirt and Ben chose a rip-stop material to make sure it was durable. The first thing I did was spend some time squishing the pillow down and checking to see how long it took to regain its shape. Then I practiced stuffing it into the smallest spaces I could find and then taking it out and shaking it back to its original form. The pillow passed every test I could throw at it, so I thought it was time for the ultimate test, sleeping. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, my hostel-provided pillow granted me a great opportunity as it was basically a rock with a pillowcase. I whipped out my down travel pillow and was ready to go. I woke up the next morning and decided Ben had done me a huge favor. The thing slept great and I woke up feeling refreshed, without the sore neck I knew would await me with the cotton rock I would have been sleeping on.

From that point on, the pillow has stayed with me on planes, trains, buses, cars, etc. I just shove it into my day pack and I’m ready to dream. It adds no weight to my bag, which is ideal, it’s withstood everything I can throw at it, and grants me the ability to sleep on those rocky overnight trains.

If you’re a traveler looking for lightweight, durable, stuffable pillow, GooseFeet Gear is the place to shop. If you’re like me and your idea of heaven has down clouds, just drop Ben a line and he can hook you up with pretty much anything you want! Don’t sleep on this advice… just get the pillow.

We’ve all sat through the recorded information that bores people to tears on a hop-on-hop-off bus tour. The information is fed to you through an ear piece, if it’s working, and then you’re left to wonder what’s been left out and wish you could ask someone directly about particular points that interested you. But there’s no one there but the driver, who may or may not speak your language.

Gray Line Tours was a refreshing change. Everything was streamlined and the tour ran like a well-oiled machine. The bus rolled on in a timely manner to all the places on our list, while a very knowledgeable guide told us information about places we were passing as well as the places we would soon visit. She answered questions for us about the tour bus operations and any other little questions we could come up with about the city and tourist attractions. This was extremely helpful as we had a limited time and wanted to make the most of it. Since we both love European history, having someone we could get facts from was welcome part of our time in Munich.

As guests of the Munich Tourism Board or, München Tourismus as is it official called, we were so excited to get tickets to Gray Line Tours Grand Circle tour, which visits virtually every touristy area in the city.

We decided that to get the most of our experience, we would take the tour around in a complete circle, listen to all of the information uninterrupted, and then choose the specific places to “hop-off” at during our second time around.

This plan worked out great for us and we enjoyed getting to glean as much information about the city as we could before getting out and about at the sites of interest.

All in all, we can highly recommend Gray Line Tours in Munich. We very much enjoyed getting to see the city from the open top of the tour bus, get some extra information and avoid losing precious time by having everything organized for us. If you have the opportunity, please check Gray Line out in any city. You won’t regret it!

When someone says Munich, most people immediately think of Oktoberfest. Yes, this famous festival does fill up the city for 2 weeks each year, but there is so much more to Munich than beer and pretzels.

We had the opportunity to visit Munich as guests of the Munich Tourism Board, officially known a München Tourismus. Their website, with information on just about everything available in Munich, may be the only guide you need. It’s certainly one of the most comprehensive city websites I’ve ever seen… and I’ve seen a lot.

Upon arrival at the main train station, we walked just a few hundred meters to King’s Hotel, which was exactly what we needed to get rested for our whirlwind tour. After a quick and delicious dinner at the famous Augustiner Keller and a tour around the beer cellar, we spent the next several hours before bed trying to decide what to see for the next two days. It was no easy task! We could easily have stayed two weeks and still not see everything! Instead I turned page corners in a city guide book and then tried to cull it down from roughly 30 of my favorite activities listed.

We jumped up early the next morning and headed off to the city center to take in some of the sites. Munich has so much history to learn about that we barely had time to take it all in. We even passed by a little known building with just a plain marker indicating the place where plans for the holocaust were first hatched. From there we took a short walk over to The Frauenkirche, also known as The Cathedral of Our Dear Lady, a beautiful church with several unique aspects, including the legendary “devil’s footprint,” and a curious menorah on the ceiling. You’ll have to visit to find out why it’s there! (It’s quite a touching story.)

By then it was nearly 11:00am and we rushed back to the Marienplatz to get a glimpse of the Glockenspiel in action. We were delighted when the hour struck and the giant clock came to life. You really can’t miss it and it wasn’t at all disappointing to us! Below is a video of the clock in action. It’s a bit long, but fascinating, especially if you’ve never seen it before. Although, I highly encourage you to head there and see yourself!

We settled down to lunch with Isabella from München Tourismus and took her advice on some traditional Bavarian menu items. I think we would weigh entirely too much if we stayed in Munich for any longer than a few days. Wow, that food is amazing.

Finally we headed off to meet up with the famous New Europe Free Walking Tour group to catch some more history for a couple of hours. If you’ve never tried one of these walking tours, you don’t know what you’re missing. They are informative beyond belief, entertaining and will help you get oriented in the city in no time. Plus, they’re free! You should tip your guide at the end according to what you think their tour was worth. What a nice business plan.

When I say that it’s important to get into a tour, I really mean that. Any walking tour will take you around the city to places you never knew existed and give you more information than you could find in a thousand guide books. We had no idea about some of the landmarks in Munich as they are so subtle, yet so important. We saw an extremely unique memorial to the German resistance, the place where the army tried to block the Nazi’s from marching, fun things like the May Pole in the city center, markets, beer gardens and so much more, all while being thoroughly entertained and enlightened about each of these places. The more you know about a city, the more you will love it! München Tourismus can also set you up with a tour, and personally knowing how thorough they are, I know it would be a great option for sure.

When the tour was finished we took a closer look at a couple of beer gardens and had a bratwurst dog for dinner. Yum. Griffin tried out the famous Weissbier, or Wheat Beer, but I’m not crazy about beer so I settled for a Fanta. After Griffin grabbed some night photography time, we headed back to the hotel to catch up on rest.

As if day one didn’t hold enough, we quickly headed out the next morning to see what else we could get into. We were delighted to “hop” onto a Gray Line tour bus to hop on and hop off throughout the city. What’s great about this company is there is a live tour guide to give you information about the upcoming stops and different landmarks about the city. Other companies tend to have a recording, but recordings don’t answer questions, so we were happy for the change. A complete circle takes around an hour and half, which we actually did just to have some uninterrupted information about the city. Then we jumped off at the different stops that interested us the first time around.

Of course, no tour of Munich would be complete without a visit to BMW Welt (World). Here you can catch people driving their new cars around the indoor test facility or venture over to the BMW Museum and see how the company got started as well as all the makes and models! It was really cool, but there was no free gift of a new BMW at end! Too bad!

BMW Welt is the same tour stop as the Olympic Park, which is a beautiful site in itself. It’s easy to spend hours wandering around taking in all the athletic history.

We were also able to check out the English Garden, Opera House, City Hall, and the Nymphenburg Palace, all within a few steps of a Gray Line stop.

After picking up a few souvenirs, we finally and regrettably had to leave the beautiful city of Munich all too soon. I am absolutely sure we’ll be back again! If you get the chance, please make sure to visit Munich… even if it’s not Oktober!

We were greeted at the King’s Center Hotel by a friendly staff and a smooth and quick check-in. (Also a plus when you’ve still got those backpacks on!)

Our greatest greeting, though, was when we entered our room. The room was absolutely beautiful. It included a large, wood-framed bed carved with beautiful designs, a desk, a beautiful wardrobe and others. I have to admit to you that I love a clean bathroom… I wasn’t disappointed with the bathroom in our room. It was spacious and clean and had everything we needed, including plush towels. We’re both into nice linens, so we love good towels! Is that weird? =)

We asked reception for a recommendation for a good restaurant nearby and we were so glad we did. The staff didn’t hesitate in directing us to Augustiner Keller, the famous beer garden and cellar that we didn’t even realize was close to us. We had a wonderful dinner there and then took a walk around the cellar as well.

After dinner we settled into our room and spent some time looking through guidebooks at the limitless things to see in Munich. (No easy task.)

We both slept like rocks and awoke feeling so much more rested and happier. If you’ve done long term travel, you know the importance of good sleep and recuperation to help you travel well. Cranky travelers are not good to be around!

We crept downstairs in our PJ’s to have breakfast and we were, again, pleasantly surprised. A buffet of deliciousness awaited us and we couldn’t wait. I love breakfast food and I could eat it three meals a day. This buffet had everything I wanted and then some! I definitely ate too much, but it was so worth it!

It is so much less stressful to go see the sights of a city when you know you don’t need to worry about the place you’re coming “home” to that night. We knew our hotel was centrally located, comfortable, clean, offered good sleep and a delicious breakfast the next morning. You can’t beat that.

To top it all off, when we were getting ready to leave, the staff made it leisurely by offering to hold our luggage for us while we spent the last day in the city seeing the rest of the sites on our list.

I will say that we encountered one slight issue, which was a slow internet connection. Internet is not included in the room prices, which is annoying this day and age, so we purchased it separately. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t the connection we were hoping for, which slowed us down in our work a bit. Overall, not a big deal, but something we feel the hotel should work on.

If you’re looking for good accommodation in Munich, we can definitely recommend King’s Center Hotel, a fantastic place to get rest and then get involved in everything Munich has to offer!

After debating a while on whether or not to go to Thailand after an exhausting trip through India, we decided to give Indonesia a try, as we had previously visited Thailand on our honeymoon.

We did some research and found that you can rent houses in Bali, world renowned for surfing and beach life, for only a couple hundred dollars. We booked into a little hotel for a few nights to relax and find a place to spend a few weeks.

We arrived in Bali on November 23rd, which was pretty much perfect. Although a lot cooler temperature-wise than the burning sun of India, we weren’t complaining of feeling the Summer heat while our friends and family back home in the states were bundling up for Winter.

We quickly worked out a housing deal with Bernard, a seasonal worker in Bali, to rent his house for the next several weeks. Because Bernard’s place came with high speed internet and several other perks, it was a bit more expensive at right about $430 for just under a month. It was just what we needed to get away from the chaos of the surfer laden Kuta area, but still have internet access to fit Griffin’s growing freelance design business.

The house was two bedrooms and situated near the beach, although the walk down proved to be a larger task than we thought. It also had a full kitchen and pretty large bathroom. Strangely, the kitchen and bathroom were separate from the bedrooms. We’re still a little unsure of the architectural design there. Perhaps the best part: it came with a daily maid! Every day the sweetest lady would come and make the beds, sweep, dust, wash dishes, clean the bathroom, change the sheets or whatever else she noticed. It was awesome.

Meanwhile in Bali we took in the sights and even tried our hand at surfing. Griffin, who had been surfing before, got it straight away, while I had to work a little longer. I’m not saying we’re professional or anything, but… yeah. Throughout the month we had lots of opportunities to play in the water, walk on the beach, try out cool restaurants and just relax.

Finally toward the end of our trip we headed out of the island of Bali and ventured North to Java to check out attractions there.

We were a little disappointed because the famous Ijen Volcano, known for it’s sulfur mines and huge crater lake, was not open to visitors due to an eruption only a few days before we arrived. So, we carried on to our next volcanic destination, Mr. Bromo.

Mt. Bromo is known for it’s volcano inside a volcano structure and for it’s ash cloud eruptions that happen about every half hour or so. The volcano has spread ash over the nearby region of Cemoro Lewang at least a few times over the past decade or so.

We checked out Mt. Bromo at sunrise which was a beautiful and awe-inspiring site. To get there, we just booked a jeep ride at one of the mountain side homestays that took us most of the way up to the view point. From there, some stair climbing was a good way to get some warmth as it was pretty chilly in that higher altitude at 4:30am. We watched the sun come up over the beautiful landscape and stayed a little longer to see the ash clouds erupting from the mountain. Then back down to our hostel for a nap!

From Mt. Bromo we headed to Yogyakarta to visit Borobudur Temple. This magnificent architectural wonder is one the most spectacular buddhist temples in the world and probably the coolest one we’ve seen. It dates back to the 8th or 9th century. The bell shaped stupas each house a buddha statue inside. Again, we were up early for a sunrise tour of the World Heritage site. It did not disappoint. As much as I hate waking up before daylight, it’s always worth it to see such beauty.

Yogyakarta also boasts another World Heritage Site, the Prambanan Temples, which are Hindu temples first built around 850 and rediscovered in the early 1800’s. It reminded us a bit of Angkor Wat, a site we got to see while visiting Cambodia on our honeymoon.

During our month long stay in Indonesia, we relaxed, saw some awesome sites and made some new friend. We even got to attend a wedding there, which was definitely a highlight of the trip.

After so much time in Asia, we decided to check out a new part of the world and booked a quick flight to Cairns, Australia. Check back soon to hear about our tour of Eastern Australia.

Big thanks to One Source Network for providing us with the Velbon UT 43D tripod as many of the shots in the post would not have been possible without it.

With a combined total of more than 50 countries visited, Griffin and I have stayed in our fair share of questionable hotels. It’s a rare opportunity to report accommodation that actually exceeds our expectations.

While checking out the sites in Brussels, Belgium, we had the absolute pleasure of staying in a fabulous boutique hotel called Pillows. This hotel is one of Sandton’s “concept hotels” being introduced throughout Europe. Basically, the concept is that the hotel is all-inclusive, with as many extras as you can possibly think up, all for the price of any room that you book. I think we must have asked the poor receptionist a million questions about this to be sure we had it right!

Upon check-in we were just in time for afternoon tea and sweets, which was provided in the downstairs lobby. We were permitted to help ourselves to whatever we liked. After settling into our amazing room and not really wanting to go out again for dinner, we went back downstairs and made a meal from the appetizers and drinks served in evening, which suited us fine. We were offered any drink we wanted and an array of finger foods that filled us up while we relaxed at the bar.

Initially, I thought the name Pillows was an odd one for a hotel, but after one night’s sleep in that bed, it seemed perfect! That was, hands down, the best bed I’ve slept in on our travels. It truly felt as if I were sleeping on a cloud for an amazing night of much needed rest and recuperation.

We slept in for an extra hour, which I can seldom do in most places, but the quiet location of Pillows afforded me the luxury. When we woke up, we padded downstairs in our PJ’s to see breakfast would hold for us.

This is just one of the three tables full of breakfast food to choose from.

We were not disappointed! If you’re counting the number of “bests” we’ve encountered, here is another: this was the best breakfast we’ve had in any of the 32 countries we’ve visited so far! Talk about a buffet! There was every kind of bread, spread, egg and sausage you can think of for breakfast, including what has to be my favorite kind of toast spread I’ve ever tried. (It tasted like a kind of ginger cookie, but with the consistency of peanut butter. I have yet to find this spread since, though I’ve been looking everywhere!)

After filling up on bacon and eggs, etc., we headed back up stairs to get caught up on some work. The internet was super fast, so that wasn’t a problem.

Before long we were off to see the sights in Brussels, feeling completed rested. We were pretty much just plain excited we had booked two night and could do it all again!

Honestly, after just two nights at Pillows, we felt like we’d had a week-long vacation. It was just what we needed and at just the right time!

My only complaint, if you can even call it that, was that the sensor lights in the bathroom (Yeah, I said sensor lights in the bathroom) were positioned just a little too far away from the shower, which prompted the lights to periodically turn off while I was in the shower. Not to worry, though. A quick wave of the hand and everything came back to life.

If the other Sandton Hotels are anything like Pillows Brussels, I can’t wait to try them! If you’re in going to Belgium, I cannot recommend Pillows highly enough!

By this point, we had enjoyed a lot of Indian food, some hot weather and some interesting places. However, for Jaisalmer, we were mostly interested in the Sam Sand Dunes, just about 30 minutes’ drive outside of town.

We quickly booked a jeep tour and headed out to the desert! The dunes did not disappoint. It was strange to see a sudden desert come up on the horizon and be able to access it from a main road. I can’t say that the desert stretched as far as the eye can see, because, frankly, it didn’t. The desert was big, don’t get me wrong, but you could easily walk to the end of it in about 20 minutes. Still impressive, though.

As we walked across into the dunes, we were spotted immediately by the touts we had grown so accustomed to in India. They were out in full force to sell everything from snacks to camel rides. (Point of advice, camels make this place one that is not friendly to bare feet. I recommend bringing sandals!)

We watched as costumed performers sang and danced and begged for tips. We enjoyed an ice cold water in the desert as we watched the sun set over the dunes. Then we headed back to our hotel and counted the day as a good one.

There were other cool places to see in Jaisalmer, which we quickly set out for. We took in the Gadisar Lake, which was near the place we met for the jeep tour. I found this one interesting mostly because of the giant fish that call the man made lake home. Apparently most Indians don’t eat fish, but like to feed them. =) The fish grow large and plentiful and are a lot of fun to watch.

Jaisalmer, like any other Indian city, also has a large fort, which we also scoped out. This was was honestly a little more decorative than some of the other forts we had seen, so that was a nice change.

We also spent some time looking at the Patwaon Ki Haveli and the Bada Bagh, two really beautiful pieces of architecture.

At this point on our journey, we had spent about six weeks in India, and to be honest, we were sort of itching to get out. We sped through the sites and booked our flight out of New Delhi, hopped a train to the airport and away we went.

We hope you will continue to follow along on our journey. Please check back soon to read al about our month-long vacation in Bali, Indonesia.

Travel Tips:
As I said, at this point of our trip through India, we were a little tired of India. We sprung for a nicer hotel, which did not disappoint. Hotel Roop Mahal, which had great food, nice room (with ac) and was in a good location. The price was steep for India at around $14 per night.

Transportation: We took an AC 3 Tier class train to from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer, which cost about $7 per person. Remember, if you want to book a train in India you need to do that as far in advance as possible. For help in booking train tickets, you can always e-mail us, or check out seat61.com and click on India on the left hand side.

For Jaisalmer, we actually didn’t hire a driver and just talked with the autorickshaw guys for the one-two times we wanted to ride instead of walk. This is mostly a walking city, so no need to secure a tour guide or driver. Your one-way trip in an auto-rickshaw should cost you no more than $1-2. We did book the jeep tour out to the Sam Sand Dunes, which cost us about $5 each.

Daily Budget: Our daily was $40.08 for 4 days including train travel, accommodation, food and all attraction entrances.

Griffin and I have had pleasure and opportunity to see some of the most beaufiul places on the planet. But, sometimes, it’s not the most beautiful things that are the most interesting.

Deep in the heart of China’s mainland, sits the city of Xi’An, one of China’s Four Great Ancient Capitals. Though it’s not much to look at, it holds one of the most fascinating scenes in the world.

Xi’an, with over 3,000 years of history, took its place as China’s capital city during several different ruling dynasties for a total of more than 400 years. Its significance is far reaching as the start of the “Silk Road,” one of the most important trade routes in history, interconnecting Africa, Europe and Asia.

Since we’re not trading anything, we came to Xi’an to see something different. That is, something different that you can find anywhere else on earth.

During the days of Qinshihuang, the first emperor of unified China, one thing became abundantly clear: this guy was paranoid about death. Though the man is credited with many of China’s historal feats, including the beginning of construction of the Great Wall, he is perhaps best known for one thing, the 8,000 life-size clay soldiers that now guard his tomb.

First discovered by a group of farmers in 1974, archaeologists unearthed the now famous, Terracotta Army, still standing at attention and in perfect formation for their job as the attendants of the emeror’s soul. Every soldier is unique, with their differing facial features most likely being attributed to the unpaid laborers who constructed each one. The soldiers are also ranked and stand ready for their individual jobs as messengers, horsemen (complete with horses), officers, and even those tasked to accompany the carriage believed to house Qinshihuang’s soul.

There are four known pits where the soldiers are burried, located about 1.5km away from the emperor’s burial mound. Each of the soldiers was once painted from head to toe, but the oxygen that reaches it upon excavation instantly fades the colors and the true clay color emerges with minutes.

Standing at the enourmous warehouses, where the army members are still being systematically excavated and restored is truly mind-blowing. The details of their armor and the eyes that search out enemies are hallowing.

We toured the grounds with a guide who filled us in on the history, as well as the rank and job of each of the soldiers. What struck me, was just how life-like the army actually is. They are not only life-size, but they are actually set-up to be efficient. There are clay guards at the meeting room doors of clay officers. There are clay horses at the ready for messeges that may need to reach the clay ears of an officer at another camp. Some soldiers stand at attention and some kneel in reverence, to an emperor who was afraid of being vulnerable in life and in death. By the time we left there, we were talking about the Terracotta Warriors like they were real men, suspended in animation.

This experience was one that I will truly never forget. Looking out at this sea of soldiers made me feel small and and yet safe. I can’t recommend this destination highly enough.

If you’re making your way to China, it’s good to remember that Qinshihuang built more than a wall. His creations are still standing ready to greet you.

This article was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast

On from Jaipur, we took about a 5 hour train ride to Jodhpur, also known as The Blue City.

We were pleasantly surprised that The Blue City is actually blue. Since visiting Jaipur, which was supposed to be pink, but really wasn’t, it was cool to look out over the city and see a whole lot of blue.

Jodhpur boasts an amazing asset, its incredible Mehrangarh Fort, which is set up on a hill, visible throughout the city. What’s more, the tour of the fort itself, is fantastic. A thorough tour of Mehrangarh will take several hours. What’s unique about this fort is that it’s not just old city walls, it’s an actual museum throughout the tour. You can visit the rooms where former Indian kings met with foreign dignitaries, see the actual palanquins (lifted chairs carried by servants) that the royal families used to ride on, battle tested armor and swords, and other really amazing artifacts. The fort is actually one of the best stocked museums in India.

Jodhpur also has a pretty cool building, which we didn’t take the time to visit, called Umaid Bhawan Palace. The palace is actually split up into three parts, a museum, a hotel and the primary residence of the Erstwhile royal family. If you do get the time, please go visit it.

Another cool thing we did see was the Jaswant Thada, a really cool white marble mausoleum which has walls thin enough that the sunlight shines through the marble and creates a cool glowing effect. It’s a small place, but well worth the visit.

We knocked out everything we wanted to see in Jodhpur fairly quickly, so we headed on to our last stop, Jaisalmer.

Travel Tips:

Our visit in Jodhpur included some work time, which worked nicely for us because although Jodhpur is a great city to visit and I highly recommend you stop there, the tour time you need there isn’t that much. I recommend only 1 1/2 -2 days.

Hotel: We stayed at a place called Shivam Paying Guesthouse. The cost, per night was about $8 per night for the two of us. This included a free breakfast and free wifi. The food was good and the beds comfortable. We did have a couple of problems. Our first night was spent with an “air conditioner” that was actually an extremely loud fan which just circulated hot air. We had to open the windows for fresh air, which invited mosquitos. We finally upgraded to a room with an actual a/c. We then had some trouble with the free breakfast, which they wanted to charge for. We had a discussion with the manager guy and eventually got what was advertised.

Transportation: We took an AC 2 Tier class train to from Jaipur to Jodhpur, which cost about $11 per person. Remember, if you want to book a train in India you need to do that as far in advance as possible. For help in booking train tickets, you can always e-mail us, or check out seat61.com and click on India on the left hand side.

For Jodhpur, we actually didn’t hire a driver and just talked with the autorickshaw guys for the one-two times we wanted to ride instead of walk. This is mostly a walking city, so no need to secure a tour guide or driver. Your one-way trip in an auto-rickshaw should cost you no more than $1-2.

Daily Budget: Our daily was $41.78 for 3 days including train travel, accommodation, food and all attraction entrances.

We took a comfortable 5 hour train ride in the AC Chair car from Agra to Jaipur for a total cost of about $13 U.S. Upon arrival, we quickly set out to see the sites. During our four days in Jaipur, the Pink City, we were fortunate enough to encounter a great driver to take us around to all the sites. He was even honest enough to go by the taxi stand and get a pay slip so we could be sure we were not overpaying. This is basically the most honest man in India by our account.

We took time to visit the Isarlat Tower to see a great panoramic view of the city, which actually isn’t as pink as we thought it would be. Honestly, it’s more of a beige city. After seeing the view, we headed over to visit the City Palace. City Palace, once a royal residence, is now a really cool museum. It has courtyards and interesting artifacts, as well as a guy who “charms” snakes regularly outside the gate. The beautiful doorways that adorn each entryway around the palace are enough to make anyone want to stay around for hours.

Just across from the City Palace is one of the most interesting and most visited places in all of India. Jantar Mantar is an observatory and planetarium that houses fourteen large geometric devices for measuring time, tracking the positions of stars and planets and predicting eclipses, etc. The instruments were designed by Maharaja Jai Singh II, who was King of Jaipur in the 1700s. He had 5 such observatories built, of which the one in Jaipur is the largest and most famous.

Next on the list in Jaipur was the Palace of Wind, which is a really cool structure that was meant to be shaped like Krishna’s crown. It reminds most people of a honeycomb.

Griffin checked out the Amber Fort for some photo opportunities and we took a brief stop to look at the Jal Mahal, or water palace, which is visible from the main road.

We enjoyed our visit to the Pink City and were also excited to move on to the next city, Jodhpur. Check back soon for info on “The Blue City.”

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While traveling in New Zealand, we definitely wanted to take a stop in Rotorua, New Zealand’s hotspot for geothermal activity. A short stroll around town can take you past countless hot pools and bubbling mud pits being heated directly by the Earth’s core.

The absolute best way to see everything Rotorua has to offer in one place is with a morning visit to Wai-O-Tapu.

While Wai-O-Tapu is great to visit at any time of day, I recommend visiting in the morning; at 10:15 to be exact. That’s the time the Lady Knox Geyser erupts each day and you definitely don’t want to miss it. Griffin and I were surprised by how much we learned about geysers in the brief speech given by a park guide shortly before the spout gave us a show. It was still going when we finished our photos and headed to the main park area to check out the rest of the “geothermal wonderland.” Of course, don’t show up at 10:15 exactly. You’ll need to get there early to get tickets and make your way to the viewing area, which is a little past the main entrance to Wai-O-Tapu.

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After the geyser, head back to the main entrance to continue your tour. There are three routes around the park, a short, middle and long, depending on how much time you have. The long route takes about 1-1 ½ and I highly recommend doing this one. Honestly speaking, I can’t think of any of the sites you would want to miss by taking a shorter trek. Not to worry, all three routes are easy walking and self-guided, so you can go at your own pace. You’ll find the place well marked and the routes easy to follow with a handy map, which you can find in several languages.

The thing we kept asking ourselves was “How on earth did this many geothermals end up in one relatively small area?” It’s amazing.

Highlights of the walk include the Sinter Terrace Formations, Champagne Pool, Crater Lakes, Hydrothermal areas, and an amazing range of colorful pools and volcanic areas. You’ll need to remember your camera for sure.

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Nearby the park itself is another famous site, the Mud Pools, which was entertaining enough to make us stop and stare through more time than we noticed.

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The geyser, park and mud pools all combined to give us a fantastic morning adventure that you will absolutely not want to miss. I promise this place is definitely worth the visit.

Tips:
Wai-O-Tapu opens at 8:30am and closes at 5:00pm, with the last admission at 3:45. If you arrive early in the morning, make sure you time it so you can leave to see Lady Knox erupt at 10:15am.

Get to the geyser area early as the viewing area fills up. If you’re planning to take photos or video, you may want to check which way the wind in traveling before choosing your seat as mist from the geyser can wet your equipment pretty thoroughly.

There is a lovely cafe if you need refreshment as well as a visitor center on site.

The staff is extremely friendly and they will go out of their way to answer any questions for you and help you find your way around.

Make sure you follow the guide map closely so you don’t miss any of the hotspots. They are each numbered, so they are easy to follow, but some of the turns can confuse you if you’re not checking the map closely.

For more information, visit the Wai-O-Tapu website here.

Experience the warmth of our people during an evening of ceremonial rituals, powerful cultural performance, storytelling & hangi feasting!

One of the things that I was most looking forward to about visiting New Zealand was getting to know a little more about the Maori culture. I had heard little pieces of information about the indigenous people of this beautiful place, and was interested to learn more. Although Maori people make up more than 14% of the population of New Zealand, it is still difficult to get much history about the culture, short of just asking someone.

Then we heard about the Tamaki Maori Village in Rotorua. We quickly signed up for this unique learning experience.

Our bus arrived at our hostel right on time and we were greeted by both the driver and a guide. As we made our way to the village, the passengers formed a tribe and our bus became an ancient canoe that we paddled along the way. A chief was chosen to represent our group and the guide gave us important information about how the Maori people came to be the first inhabiters of New Zealand.

Upon entering the village, three Maori warriors came make sure our tribes came in peace. Once it was established that we meant no harm to the village, we were invited in.

Inside the gate, the village stands much like Maori villages once did. Groups are free to tour around and watch presentations about village life and even participate in a few dances and games if they like. Maori history and culture is alive and well here.

The group was then lead to an outside pavilion area where our dinner was being cooked via geothermal heating in a pit! We watched as lamb, chicken and vegetables were pulled from the ground, smoking hot and smelling amazing!

While dinner was prepared, we were treated to a show like no other. The warriors and women of the tribe put on demonstration after demonstration to show us everything from how to keep rhythm during dances, to how to kill an enemy with a wooden paddle. Photography was encouraged, but who could take their eyes away from this spectacular exhibition?

After a short video about even more Maori history, we were ushered into the dining hall for a feast! The very food we saw pulled from the pit earlier had been prepared, along with other treats, and was set out buffet style before us. I’m a little bit of a picky eater, but there was nothing I didn’t LOVE about this dinner. When desert came, it was more of the same homemade goodness, including a new favorite, Pavlova!

When all hearts and bellies were full, we set off from the village to return to the modern world. Our driver led us on several sing-a-longs that made the time pass all too quickly.

In the end, this was one of my favorite experiences of our travels so far, and is sure to become a fantastic memory of our trip to New Zealand. If you’re visiting New Zealand, I encourage you to give this experience a try. You certainly won’t regret it!

If you want to check out this fantastic experience, you can check out their website here. The tour lasts 3 1/2 hours and they will pick you up from your hotel or hostel. They are awesome about giving discounts, so be sure to check with them beforehand or check with your accommodation staff. You’ll need to book at least a day beforehand and the tours are available 7 days a week. We also highly recommend skipping lunch on the day of your tour! Please let us know if you go!

There’s really only one reason to visit Agra. I’m not saying that there’s only one thing to see there, but everything else really just pales in comparison.

You know what I’m talking about, the Taj Mahal; truly one of man’s most beautiful creations. After you’ve seen the Taj, is there really anything else to visit in the city?

Actually, there is. Though none quite as breathtaking, Agra touts several sites of interest to those visiting.

Agra Fort is a very beautiful mix of architectural design and building materials. Trading the red sandstone for white marble within the fort, Shah Jahan, gave instructions for the interior of the fort, which his grandfather had begun with the sandstone on the outside. From the Eastern outer wall, a fantastic view of the Taj can be seen, which was important to Shah Jahan, as he had built the Taj for his deceased wife.

The Tomb of Akbar is another great site to visit. It is believed to have been the inspiration for the Taj Mahal and houses the tomb of Emperor Akbar the Great, which he helped design and commenced himself.

We had the pleasure of hanging out with “Khan,” our auto-rickshaw driver for the day. Though depressed about the recent split with his girlfriend, he was quite knowledgeable about the city.

Khan took us to a great spot for a view of the back of the Taj along the opposite side of the Yamuna River. You can walk down a road for free and see the view, a little off center, or you can pay 100 Rupees to enter the Moonlight Garden area for a better view. Inside the garden is the ruin area of the mythical “Black Taj” which some believe Shah Jahan had in mind to build across from its counter part, but didn’t get the chance. The black “foundation” can be seen inside the garden. Griffin took a look, but I took a pass.

Now, let’s back up a bit and get to the real reason anyone visits Agra. We were both pretty excited to see this beautiful, timeless symbol, the Taj Mahal.

 

We started out early and met up with Khan outside our guesthouse at 5:30am. He dropped us off within walking distance as no polluting vehicles are allowed within 500 meters of the gate. When we arrived, the lines were already long. Griffin went to get the tickets and I went to stand in line. As it turned out, the line for tickets was more time consuming than we thought. Entry is expensive at 750 rupees per person, or about $15 U.S.. Indian entry is less than $1! As part of your ticket, you’re given a bottle of water and shoe covers for walking around the museum area of the Taj. Nice.

We finally were allowed inside after a very thorough pat down in gender segregated areas. My Clif bar was confiscated and Griffin was forced to go to an off-site locker location for tripod contraband… twice.

By the time we got inside, the sun was already pretty high in the sky, but the crowds had not yet turned up. We took our picture on the iconic bench alongside Princess Diana, and spent a lot of time admiring the intricate marble designs and gazing at the beauty of the structure itself. We walked around the tombs of Shah Jahan and Mumtez Mahal and remembered how special and important love is.

We were lucky to be there around the time of a full moon, which meant the Taj was open for a night viewing. The cost is the same as a daytime viewing, but you’re only allowed to visit for 30 minutes. To be honest, we were kind of disappointed by the night viewing. For some reason, it was only open until 9:30 instead of the 12:30 time slot we were hoping for. The moon was not very high in the sky therefore not really casting any light on the Taj. We were surprised that there are no lights illuminating the Taj! Gates block off the entry and you can only go as far as the red sandstone gate. Photos were next to impossible because of the low light and the fact that no tripods are allowed. It was still beautiful and now we can say we’ve seen the Taj Mahal at night, but it’s not really worth the time and expense.

While India may be “intense” to say the least, the Taj Mahal makes it all worth it. I highly encourage anyone to visit Agra and be reminded of love both past and present.

Travel Points:

Hotel: We had the privilege of staying at a great hostel in Agra called Friends Paying Guesthouse. This is a family run place where the kids lend a hand in serving the guests with a sweet smile. The rooms were spacious and clean and they really went out of their way to make everyone feel welcome. The price was right at $4.50 per person per night. All the guests were treated to a wonderful meal of Mutton Biryani in celebration of a religious festival while we were there. Griffin witnessed the “mutton” being transformed from a goat, if you know what I’m saying.

Transportation: Transportation around Agra is cheap, as in all of India. Khan was with us for the entire day of touring for a total of 650 rupees or about $14 U.S. We took a train from New Delhi to Agra and continued on to Jodphur. For more information about train travel in India, check out seat61.com.

Daily Budget: As always in India, the daily budget it pretty low. The total, for two people, including train to Agra, transportation within the city, hotel and all meals was $23.97 U.S. for 4 nights and 5 days.

Tips: Tripods ARE allowed at the daytime viewing of the Taj Mahal, but only with previously obtained permission from the Archeological Survey of India. Otherwise, leave them at your hotel because they WILL find them. Tripods are NOT allowed for any reason at the night viewing. Neither are video cameras. Food is not allowed and the guards ate my blueberry Clif Bar.

Your tickets to the Taj serve as discount coupons for other area sites. In other words, they will charge you more without the Taj Tickets. The actual price is printed on each entry ticket, but they will jack it up if you don’t present your “coupon.” So, keep it and keep it with you. They are only valid on the day of use at the Taj.

Things got off to a rough start for us with some trouble getting to our hotel, but after we got that sorted out, we were off to check out the sites.

New Delhi is the capital city of India and has so much to see, we could hardly wait to get started.

We started out at the Red Fort, which used to be the main residence of the royal family. The fort is huge and full of history.

This was the first time we noticed a strange habit with soldiers here that most of the western world is unfamiliar with. As we rounded a corner of the fort, we both looked back to check out the gate we’d just come through, when we saw it… a shot gun pointed directly at our heads from behind a guard post. No, we weren’t in trouble and the guy wasn’t intentionally pointing the gun at us, it’s just where how he chose to rest his rifle. As more time passed for us in India, we grew accustomed to seeing guns pointed at us, and, even more strangely, the guards often point their guns at themselves or other guards. I think gun safety is glossed over a little here. So, please don’t be alarmed if you visit India and notice the same.

We were fortunate enough to hang out all day with the same auto-rickshaw driver, Muhammed, and he told us about the cool sites to see.

He drove us over to the government and military buildings in the area, which were pretty impressive. Here, offices of the Ministries of Defense, Finance, Home Affairs and External Affairs are housed as well as the office of India’s Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

Next we went over to the Indira Ghandi Memorial Museum. Indira Ghandi was a four-term Prime Minister of India, who was assassinated in 1984 by her own body guards. The memorial is impressive and beautiful and made me want to learn more about Indira herself.

Finally, as sunset was approaching, we headed over to The Bahá’í House of Worship, also known as the Lotus Temple. The building is shaped like a giant Lotus flower and is one of the coolest designs either of us has ever seen. It has 27 petals and 9 pools outside, which contribute to the cooling system for the main sanctuary. As Christians, we’re not into searching out other religions, but we can always appreciate good architecture! (Plus, it was free!)

After that it was back to our hotel for a good night’s sleep.

We checked out a good part of the Main Bazaar area where we were staying as well. Griffin got his camera bag fixed by a local taylor for about $1 (U.S.) and we frequented a great restaurant with killer Indian Thali. Yum!

From here, it was back on the train to Agra, home of the Taj!

Travel Points:

Hotel: While in New Delhi, we stayed at Hotel Payal, which we actually do not recommend. The rooms were fairly clean, had air conditioning, and wifi, but it was the service and staff attitude that really put us off. Being tourists in India, especially when one of us has blonde hair, means we elicit a LOT of attention from just about everyone. Touts LOVE to see us coming. For this reason, we try to get our hotels to come to the train station to pick us up, thus keeping us from being ripped off by people who think we don’t know any better. When I asked for a pick up from Hotel Payal, the guy told me to “ask someone” when we arrived at the train station. This basically invites every con artist around to make up wild stories about our Hotel having burned down in the night, being full because of a festival, or that it’s only for prostitutes and druggies. It took us more than an hour to find the place, which is only about 10 minutes away from the train station. When we arrived, we were not even acknowledged at the front desk until the guy behind the counter finished cleaning and dusting back there. Forget the fact that it’s 6:30 in the morning and we’re still carrying our giant backpacks… Let’s DUST everything. We were asked for our passports, but the guy told us he wouldn’t be able to check us in yet as his scanner was broken and he would need to go down the street to copy our passports. When I expressed some concern about that, he became impatient with me and starting yelling at me, demanding our passports. I reluctantly gave in and gave him my passport, which he tossed on the counter and walked away to show us to our room. The door was wide open to the outside and guests were coming and going. I took the passport and placed it on the chair behind the counter so it wouldn’t get stolen. Our room wasn’t ready yet, so we were given a room to wait in for the next 4 hours until it was. We were asked to pay for the wifi, despite it being advertised as free on the booking site. We refused and were given the password for free. Finally, at around Noon, they said our room still wasn’t ready, but we could stay in the one we had been waiting in… for a higher price. Again, I refused this and told him we would just wait until our room was ready. He gave in and gave us the upgrade for free… the only highlight of that place. Please do yourself a favor and do not stay here.

Transportation: Train trips can be booked online at cleartrip.com. Be warned, the trains fill up weeks in advanced and should be booked accordingly. For more information about the trains, including types of cars and train routes, check out seat61.com and click on India under the Asia category on the left.

Daily Budget: $45.00 for both of us including lodging, food, transport and activities.

After a good night’s sleep, we headed up to meet our hostel owners and have some breakfast. Krishna, the hostel guy not the Hindu god, gave us the run of the city over eggs and toast.

We decided to book a full day tour of the city with Krisha for the following day, meanwhile taking care of some errands.

Our tour day started early as we made our way to the Ganges River for a sunrise boat ride. As you approach the Ganges, there are several things you will notice immediately. Although the Ganges is the holiest river in India, it isn’t treated very well. Garbage swells in every inlet and touts are everywhere trying to sell you some good karma. As Christians, we’re not too worried about karma, but found it funny when a girl became frustrated with us for not buying her flowers and stated, “Whatever. It’s your life.”

Cows are considered holy by Hindu people, and so are permitted to rome the whole of the country freely, including cooling off in the Ganges. Somehow, I always thought that was a myth, but I can assure you it isn’t. So, in the garbage filled river cows drift happily by.

As our boat driver rowed us silently up river, we approached one of several important places in the life of a devout Hindu. They are called Ghats, or more specifically “burning Ghats.” A Ghat is an embankment along the river, but a burning Ghat is basically a holy crematorium. As a tout told us vying for a guide job, “Burning is learning. Cremation is Education.” According to Hindu beliefs, reincarnation occurs over and over until a person dies in the holy city of Varanasi and is cremated at a burning Ghat along the Ganges river. Unless they have great Karma, this is the only way for a Hindu to finally reach Heaven.

You can see the smoke from the Ghats from several hundred yards away and as you get closer you can see the fires burning. Usually there are at least five bodies burning and several more families waiting with the body of their loved one. The families don’t seem sad at all and instead seem happy and relieved as they go about preparing the body and fire.

We were told that in some cases the bodies aren’t burned, but are simply rowed out to the middle of the river and unceremoniously dropped in. In those cases, the person can still reach heaven, even though they weren’t cremated. Examples include the bodies of children, pregnant women, victims of leprosy or snake bites, holy men and those who commit suicide. We did witness a body being loaded up onto a boat, but we got distracted by a guy trying to sell us something, and then we noticed the boat coming back to shore without the body. When we asked our boat guide about that, he said, “snake bite.”

So, let’s see what we’ve encountered so far. Trash, Cows, ashes and dead bodies… oh, and one more thing… people bathing in the river. Now, I know that this river is “holy,” but bathing in there? I’m quite sure I wouldn’t be caught dead in that river.

After the sunrise river tour, we headed back to our hostel for breakfast. Then headed back out check out the rest of the city.

Our first stop was the largest university in the area, Banaras Hindu University. The university is beautiful and has a unique arched campus. The temple in the front serves as a place of worship for its students.

Next we headed to the Durga Temple, also known as the Monkey Temple. We love a good monkey temple! Hundreds of monkeys came to greet us and stalked everyone for food. Note: no cameras or bags allowed inside.

We visited a local silk factory where we watched as some workers used a loom to hand make embroidered bedding. We were taken to a shop and shown the beautiful silk products available to purchase. Sadly, we couldn’t fit any of the duvet covers into our backpacks. =)

Afterward, we were pretty tired due to our early start time, so we passed up another temple and headed back to our hostel.

The next day we boarded the Indian Railway for New Delhi.

Stay tuned for Part II of our Train Tour of Northern India.

See more of our picture from Varanasi in our SmugMug gallery here.

Travel Points:

Hotel: We stayed at the Sabh Laxmi Guest House in Varanasi. It’s truly a family run place. The food is great and the staff are extremely friendly and even game me a free Henna Tattoo. It’s not that clean, but what it lacks in cleanliness is makes up for in friendliness. The owner knows that the place is run down, and he’s working on it as he has the money to do so. Overall, we recommend it.

Transportation: Train trips can be booked online at cleartrip.com. Be warned, the trains fill up weeks in advanced and should be booked accordingly. For more information about the trains, including types of cars and train routes, check out seat61.com and click on India under the Asia category on the left.

Daily Budget: Our daily budget in Varanasi was around $40 (U.S.) for 4 nights and 3 1/2 days. This includes the following: hostel, taxi from the Nepal boarder to Gorakhpur, train from Gorakhpur to Varanasi, full day tour, all admissions and fees, rickshaws and food.

What sort of things do you bring on board a plane when you travel?

Excluding gum and travel pillows, the use of certain travel necessities, namely electronics, will probably be accompanied with the need to use earphones of some kind.

For me, this is easier said than done.

Cue all crying babies… now.

Whenever I board a moving vehicle of any public nature, particularly for long voyages, I’m pretty sure there is an all-call announcement for any parents of small, fussy children to please gather around me and commence making noise. Also, loud talkers and snorers will sometimes fill in the gaps if there are any open seats near me that have not been taken by tantrum-throwing toddlers.

Since I knew we were going to be on lots of flights and trains, etc., I decided to go ahead with some noise canceling earbuds. I got them several months ago and tested them out immediately. I was amazed at what I could hear… (music), and not hear… Korean middle schoolers screaming their way down the hall. I even periodically missed bells and would be startled to look up and find my students had already begun entering the classroom. The earbuds I chose were the Audio Technica ATH ANC23. The price was right at about $70 US.

One problem: when listening to long e-books or on trans-Atlantic flights, my ears started to hurt from the shape and weight of the buds. Noise canceling earbuds, at least the kind we have, come with a two inch block in the middle of the cord to switch the function on or off. The silicon tips on the ear buds weren’t cutting it. The weight of the switch would occasionally pull from my pocket or shirt and tug the earbuds out of my ears, which was not pleasant and constantly having to reseat my earbuds was super annoying.

When Griffin ordered his earbuds, he experienced the same. So, we began looking for some more comfortable tips to bridge the gap between peace and pain.

We found the answer in Comply Foam, super comfortable foam tips to fit any buds.

There are several different options when it comes to Comply Foam tips. Do you want cylindrical shaped or spherical? Color or wax guard? Griffin and I both landed on the cylindrical shaped tips with a wax guard to keep them clean.

The tips feel a lot like your standard foam earplugs. They squish to get them into your ear and then slowly expand for a tight fit. The greatest thing I found about the Comply Foam tips is the added noise canceling effect. By providing a tighter seal inside my ear, less outside noise gets in, letting me enjoy more of the sound quality I was missing before.

They are extremely comfortable and don’t hurt my ears, even after long hours of usage. And, when something tugs they don’t pop out of my ears, allowing me to keep listening with no need to stop what I doing to put my earbuds back in.

As a matter of fact, my luxury item, if you will, while trekking to Everest Base Camp, was my iPod. Having some music to listen to relaxed me during the tough hikes and kept me from stressing. It may have also saved my husband’s life by keeping me from throwing him from the mountain for dragging me up there. On more than one occasion, my entire iPod would be worked out of my pocket and drop to my feet during a steep climb, but the Comply Foam tips held steady and I never even needed to adjust them. With Comply Foam, I feel like the earbuds work how they were intended, and maybe even a little better.

So, the next time a loud-talking mother and snoring father with a screaming baby surround me on a plane, I’ll just squish in my Comply Foam tips and cancel them right out of my world. Ahhh…

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