Visa Visa Visa

This week has found me being pretty lazy. I gave my project defense Tuesday, and have tried to relax a little since then. I have most of my Vietnam visa setup. Picture taken, form filled out. Now I just have to get the certified check and send it in. Not too bad. The Chinese visa is worse, I have to go into New York City when I get home and spend the whole day getting that one. Hopefully that will be the only visas I need. Meh. A boring post but 58 days until I leave. Very excited!

Insurance, Flights, and Volcanoes

Unless you're living under a rock, I'm pretty sure you know all about the recent volcano eruption this week in Iceland. Apparently the planet Earth is breaking apart at the seams. We've had like 10 quakes in the past month over size 7. And now a nice blanket of ash for Europe. I'm just hoping it doesn't stop my trip dead in it's tracks. I've bought some level of insurance, but that's mostly for medical evacuation and so forth. It won't cover a major natural disaster like this. Sad face. I also bought my flight from Istanbul to Hanoi. A nice little 15 hour travel time. If we're lucky, I'll be going. Until next week everyone.

Cape May = Camp David

Short post today. Kristen and I just got back from Cape May. It was awesome, and the first time we actually used a Priceline reservation. We ended up staying at the Congress Hall hotel, which years ago used to be the equivalent of Camp David. We had a corner room at the top floor, overlooking the town on one side, and the beach on the other. Very romantic. It was a really nice relaxing weekend. Just what I needed to recharge the batteries and get ready for the last 5 weeks of college / grad school.

Choo Choo Train

Trains always remind me of Ralph Wiggum. If you don't get the reference, then me explaining it won't make it funny. I'm a dork.... choo choo choose you.... ahh it slays me. Anyway, I bought a 21 rail pass for europe. Essentially I can get on any 2nd class train for 21 days in 21 countries in Europe. $600 bucks, which seems steep, but again, I will be going on a crazy spur of the moment schedule. Off the top of my head I'm looking at starting in Spain or France somewhere, meandering North to Amsterdam and Denmark, then South through Germany and the alps, enjoying a little bit of Italy, then catching the ferry (also included in the pass) to Greece, where my 21 days end meeting Kristen in Athens! So considering distance traveled, I might actually come out on top here. We'll just have to see.