Blog updates using the iPad

As we continue our preparations for our big trip, Teresa and I have been thinking about what options we'll have for updating our Travel Blog while we're on the road. One piece of advice that my daughter (Georgi) gave us is that there are lots of places on the road these days that offer free wi-fi, and that if you take some type of wireless enable device (like an iPad) with you, you'll be able to save lots of money that you would otherwise spend at Internet cafes.

So we decided to take our iPad with us on our travel... problem solved, right?

We'll not quite. Using the iPad on the road presents 3 challenges 1. The on-screen keyboard is fine for short sentences, but not so great for long Blog posts, 2. The Safari browser has some compatibility issues with Blogger (our choice for Blog hosting), and 3. The iPad doesn't have a built-in SD card reader, so getting photos on to the iPad won't be easy.

Solution... invest in 3 small iPad add-ons 1. First, we bought a Zaggmate keyboard for the iPad (the one with the hard-shell), so hopefully that will also protect the iPad during the trip (cost $99 Zaggmate Keyboard). 2. we bought the BlogPress app for the iPad (cost $2.99 Blogpress App), 3. I bought the SD card converter from the Apple store (cost $29 Apple SD Card Adapter).

Hopefully all those pieces will work together and we'll be able to keep everyone up to date on our wonderful adventure (I'll be trying them out of the next couple of weeks before we leave New York).

Weather conditions

I've always found it difficult finding a good weather website that let's me see details of trends and conditions of cities all across the world, not just the USA.

So I was delighted to recently find this great website http://weatherspark.com/#!graphs;a=Turkey/Istanbul that not only show temperature averages, but also rain totals and typical cloud cover... it also easily changes between Celsius to Fahrenheit.

NYC Bucket List!

We've created our first draft of the NYC bucket list.

Contrary to some bucket lists, these are items that we've done in the past and we've loved so much, or are such a part of our time here, we want to do them again.

So, here it is, in no in any particular order:

1. Happy Hour at the Ritz Carlton in Battery Park City (views of Lady Liberty and Staten Island...or is that Ellis Island??)
2. Walk through Central Park and go to the Boat House
3. Visit the Whitney Museum (Edward Hopper exhibit going on now!)
4. Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge
5. Eat steak at the Strip House
6. Walk around the Village and Soho and dine at Woo Lae Oak
7. Picnic on the Staten Island Ferry (this is something we haven't done together yet)
8. A visit to Puck Fair (where Paul and I met)
9. Perhaps an opera at the Met
10. One night out full of bowling and karaoke

Wish us luck!  We'll let you know how we progress in whittling down the list!

Frequent Flier Points

When we decided to combine our journey to Australia with a big travel adventure (3 months on the road) we figured it was as good a time as ever to take advantage of the frequent flier points we'd accumulating over the last couple of years.

We found https://awardwallet.com/ a really useful site to track all our points, and to better understand where we might get the greatest bang for our points. It's also really useful for alerting us when new points were posted and when points were due to expire, etc.

I also found http://www.webflyer.com/programs/mileage_converter/ a great site to help understand how to get the points moved around from one account to another with the least amount of loss in the processes.

Heart is full

Feeling so fortunate, blessed and full of love after last nights Going Away Party at Scott and Todd's house. Thank you everyone for coming and for sharing your warm wishes! Remember that we take you with us in our heart and soul.

XOXO,
Teresa and Paul

Ready, Set, Go...

So... the balls are now all in motion. Teresa and I have resigned from work and have planned the transition of our apartment lease to a friend of ours.

Now we can formally begin to plan the big trip down to Australia...

As it stands Teresa and I plan to travel down to Peru for a quick 10 day trip to Cusco and Marchu Pichu in mid-April, then to Melbourne Australia via Paris, Istanbul, New Delhi, and Bangkok... with a number of side trips along the way.

The only catch is that we'd prefer not to tap in to any savings, and we'll be on the road for 2-3 months. So we're going to try our best to use a combination of Frequent Flier points (for both flights and Hotels) and stay with friends when possible, and moderately priced hotels when we have to.

I'm going to keep posting updates as we build out our plans, and it will be interesting to see how successful we are in the end.

Wish us luck....