On day while procrastinating from writing a paper, I decided to jump on Facebook real quick. "Hey, what is this? A 'Where in the world should you live' quiz" who could resist? Of course I took that joker. You'll never guess where it told me I should live? AUSTRALIA! Hey! Why not? I'm game. So, as a joke I updated my status to, "The Lord spoke to me, I'm suppose to live in Australia!"
Brian (the good man that he is) said he would go with me. After a few jokes here and there, we thought about it...why not?
SO...here we are...planning a trip to New Zealand and Australia.
It is working out kinda crazy--everything is coming at once. I'm planning on graduating in December, then December 31st-Jan 9th I'll be in Israel (with my school). Then Brian and I will be flying out of Los Angeles Jan 13th and we'll be gone till March 4th. I will come back to New Orleans then to go to Greece (with my school) on March 11-23rd. And from there maybe a little trip home and then BOOM off to camp in the summer.
I feel like I am living in a surreal world. I can hardly believe what I have ahead of me. I am so excited that this dream of traveling is turning into a reality.
I am on a strict budget...ya know, only buying a cup of ice when I go out and working 40+ hours a week while taking 15 hours of school...but it's cool. It will totally be worth it.
I am excited about this blog, it is going to keep everyone (or just those of you who are interested in following us at least) up to date with our planning and the journey. We will be posting pictures & blogging about the trip.
Until next time...
Nicole
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Where it began...
As I settled into a 26 hr stay in the Salt Lake City, UT airport, I opened up my laptop and logged onto facebook. I was met with the usual notifications; so and so is in a relationship (boring), you have been tagged in new pictures (uh oh, wonder what they could be), Nicole Ruggiano has just completed a quiz (hmm wonder what this is about), click. Turns out, Nicole's magical destination was Australia, a place I too have on my list of things to see before I die. A simple comment turned into some facebook chatting, and 26 hrs of boredom and internet researching later, I was set on backpacking around New Zealand and Australia after I graduate. This all sounded great, but I was unsure of where I'd get the money to fund such an excursion, and I doubted someone would be dumb enough to actually buy a plane ticket to go backpacking with me, with no plans of where we were going to stay or how we were going to get there (it's ok parents, we'll figure it out ;-)).
This whole thing turned real when Nicole made a stop through Gainesville on her way back to New Orleans from picking a car up in south Florida. I had figured out that with some careful saving and selling my beloved motorcycle I could cover my portion of the trip. We could stay in hostels, camp, and crash a few people couches to keep our living expenses down. So we decided to take the plunge. We logged online to find a fairly inexpensive fare, from LAX to NZ, NZ to AUS, and then from AUS back to LAX. A few names entered here, a credit card number there, and one shaky-fingered click later, we had tickets.
The past two weeks since then have been a whirlwind of scooping up backpacking gear and planning out must see places while we are there. I have contacted several people my dad knows in both places, which will hopefully provide us with some friendly places to stay and maybe even a connection on a vehicle while we are in NZ. Since this is my first trip of this kind, I have been extensively researching everything from backpacks, to sleeping bags, to water purification systems. I am so excited that this trip I have been hoping for is actually becoming a reality.
This blog will be a way to share the experiences, plans, and pictures from now until the end of the journey. Please check back often for new updates, as we will be posting plans as we figure out what we will actually be doing while we are there.
Thank you all for your support through prayers and with hand me down camping gear.
-Brian
If anyone feels compelled to donate monetarily my paypal account is bc_wright@hotmail.com
This whole thing turned real when Nicole made a stop through Gainesville on her way back to New Orleans from picking a car up in south Florida. I had figured out that with some careful saving and selling my beloved motorcycle I could cover my portion of the trip. We could stay in hostels, camp, and crash a few people couches to keep our living expenses down. So we decided to take the plunge. We logged online to find a fairly inexpensive fare, from LAX to NZ, NZ to AUS, and then from AUS back to LAX. A few names entered here, a credit card number there, and one shaky-fingered click later, we had tickets.
The past two weeks since then have been a whirlwind of scooping up backpacking gear and planning out must see places while we are there. I have contacted several people my dad knows in both places, which will hopefully provide us with some friendly places to stay and maybe even a connection on a vehicle while we are in NZ. Since this is my first trip of this kind, I have been extensively researching everything from backpacks, to sleeping bags, to water purification systems. I am so excited that this trip I have been hoping for is actually becoming a reality.
This blog will be a way to share the experiences, plans, and pictures from now until the end of the journey. Please check back often for new updates, as we will be posting plans as we figure out what we will actually be doing while we are there.
Thank you all for your support through prayers and with hand me down camping gear.
-Brian
If anyone feels compelled to donate monetarily my paypal account is bc_wright@hotmail.com
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