Hello friends,

The last few weeks have been a soft launch to our year of travels. We spent a few days in my hometown of Sitka, Alaska before flying to London to spend time with Paul’s friends and family. We’ll properly start our travels across Asia tomorrow, when we’ll fly to Istanbul.

As many of you know, Paul is from England, and we met in London when we were both students in 2006. After a stint of travel in India and Nepal in 2007, we returned to London for the 2007-2008 academic year before moving to the US and getting married in August 2008. Back then, we lived in a shared flat in London, one of the most expensive and crowded cities in the world. We were focused on finishing my master’s degree and saving money for our move to the US, so we didn’t take advantage of the many sites and activities in London or further afield in Britain.

By the time we left London, we were sick of the crowds, expense, pollution, and stress of living in London. We didn’t go back to England for the next seven years. With so many destinations to explore closer to Seattle, … Read more