Countdown

14 days from today Deb and I are going to leave the States and start our around the world travels! We are starting with an RV trip around the south island of New Zealand. We then move to Thailand to teach English, after teaching we will travel thru SouthEast Asia and then backpack thru Europe before coming back to the States in May. Yep, thats our Outlook calendar for the next few months, don't try to schedule a meeting cause we be busy!

I envision our travels will be a combination The Goonies, Lord of Rings, The King and I and the books Hatchet, Call of the Wild, Sidartha and my all time favorite Where the Wild Things Are.

Deb's vision:Rick Steves (You Tube him if you don't know who he is) teams up with Food Network and Travel Channel to produce a mini-series that will win world-wide acclaim for capturing the essence of so many countries in so little time...

The safe (read:right) bet is Deb's vision but on a budget. I know some of you are rooting for Max, Frodo and Sloth to befriend us along the way and maybe, just maybe, we come to find Middle Earth and that island Where the Wild things really are...

WHY? Well, we looked at travelling for a whole year, but soon realized that our experience as volunteers at Mercy Home for Boys and Girls was life changing and we wanted to have a similar experience as a married couple. So, the search was on and we settled on a CIEE (Council on International Education Exchange) program which will provide us the opportunity to teach English to elementary school kids in Thailand and best of all it gave us a reason to move across the world!

We hope to share with all of you (friends, family, well-wishers, Joey O'Malley supporters,etc.) our experiences, pictures and stories from abroad on this blog. We will attempt to update it as much as possible, but do not know what our internet options will be in Thailand, yet!

For now, please forward this on to others that might enjoy following us on our little adventure and be sure to pray for a safe journey. 14 days, oh my!