Loose of Limits

So, we have to move. Our landlord just had a baby and he and his wife want to move into our/their place. It sucks. We needed a 6 month lease because we plan to leave San Francisco in September or October, but 6 month leases are hard to find in SF. We finally found one. We move into it in 2 weeks, and it's...fine. We don't love the apartment and we really  don't want to move. If there's anything good that's come of this, though, it's that having to move has reaffirmed our commitment to take The Trip. Moving out of an apartment we love and into an apartment that's just okay means we're taking steps to make it happen. At one point, Steph said to me, "We are DEFINITELY taking this trip now. Because I am not going to make the sacrifice to live in an apartment I don't like for no reason." She said it in a tone that I know means business - a tone I don't question - so this new apartment means we're committed. It's happening. Awesome! ...

Before I start - How awesome is my husband? Reading his post about why he travels was one of those reaffirming moments where I am reminded of how much I love him. I love that he seeks to find commonalities with strangers and that he embraces differences. He's a keeper. As soon as we decided to take this trip, we knew we wanted to start a blog to chronicle it - not just to share our stories with our friends and family, but as a commitment to recording our own experiences. But we're not leaving until October. That's a long time to keep up momentum for something. Not to mention, we have to consciously save a lot of money between now and then, and that's a long time to sacrifice while keeping our eyes on the prize. So we decided we wanted to blog about our planning and research in the meantime as part of our goal to keep up the excitement for The Trip. I immediately started trying to come up with a name for our blog. I had read that officials in Burma will deny visas ...

Okay, this post is strictly about lady business. Men, if you're uncomfortable or not interested, don't read ahead. 

Imagine every medical decision you'll have to make over the next year - eye doctor appointments, prescriptions, annual check-ups, teeth cleaning, over-the-counter meds, insurance coverage, birth control, etc... And now imagine that you have to make all of those decisions in advance, at around the same time. That's basically what we're doing in preparation for our trip. We know we don't have to have everything we need before we go - you can certainly buy headache medicine and Bandaids nearly anywhere, and we're almost always 100% on-board with any remedies offered by locals. Side note: One time, when I had a bad cold and had lost my voice in Jamaica, I accepted a home brew from a local Rasta Jamaican I had grown to know and respect very much while living in Negril. It didn't look great and appeared to have small twigs and leaves floating in it, so I held my breath, pinched my nose and took it like a shot. It tasted surprisingly good - like a thick fruit juice, l...