It's Been a Year Now

Day 365
Today is different, today is my one year anniversary. It's been one year since I landed in London, and one year since my crazy life of travel has begun. I can't believe it. To celebrate at midnight Nicole had bought me a sambuca shot. Come to think of it that may have been more of a punishment than anything else!

I feel like I should have something really good to say right now, but I just don't. I should have some be reflection or something, but every day brings something new so I don't have any time for reflecting. Reflection will happen when its all over and done with. What I do know what that this was worth it. It was worth working around the clock, not buying new clothes and nights out. It was worth giving up a job that I loved and saying a temporary goodbye to my friends and family. I am so fortunate to have this opportunity and I know that I will be a better version of me for the rest of my life for it.

We had a busy day in front of us and we were up early. The first thing to do was try on all of our clothing and make sure it fit, some of it didn't and we would have to come back later for it. Due to this we ended up paying for late check out, it would just be easier to pack. After the first clothes stop we went to pick up the rest of our shoes. These were all ready to go.

Luckily we got the rest of our clothing with enough time left over for Nicole to go for a swim and for me to watch the end of The Pursuit of Happiness.

At 4 pm we checked out and put our multiple bags in storage. We had one final meal at the restaurant that we eaten at almost exclusively here. At 6 pm we were picked up by a mini bus and taken to the place where we had to wait for our actual bus. The wait was much longer than expected and we chatted with some other travelers.

This was not any normal night bus, but a sleeper bus. I was pretty excited because I hadn't been on one before and I was looking forward to a much more comfortable nights sleep. I was sorely mistaken. There were three rows of beds that ended in five in a row in the back. The ones in the back were like fully reclined seats and weren't really built for comfort, forcing you to lay in odd positions. The bed in the rows had the added advantage of privacy, but the tall western guys had no hope of fitting in them. We were in the back, this was basically a 5 person bed. I ended up with the one that went into the isle, one of four that did that and one of four seats with ample leg room. I should have switched for a more private one though, I'm short enough that I would have fit. Nicole had the window to my right and on my left was a guy with no leg room. Both of them rolled over on my constantly. When that was combined with how uncomfortable the seats were I had no hope of any sleep. I spent the night just listening to my ipod and trying to drown out the snores around me.

Fitting Time

Day 364
After a yummy English breakfast we had a fitting. Everything was really good and we ordered more. Doesn't everyone need to have a winter coat in 90 degree heat?!?! The sheer amount of things we had was really getting to be problematic. To make matters worse when we got back to the shoe place I ordered a pair of custom made crazy sneakers. After the shoe place we preceded to shop some more. This was really getting to be problematic!

For dinner that night we took a cook class that was just the two of us. It wasn't nearly as hands on or professional as the one in Chang Mai had been. We did the cutting but the actual cooking was done by the girl who was teaching us. At least we got to do the eating. It was very good. I didn't even get to have the main dish though. We had to pick the same thing and Nicole had her heart on learning how to cook fish. I don't like fish, but went ahead and did that because she was so had been looking forward to it so much. I don't think I could have eaten much more food anyways.

Later we once again attempted the night life. We ended up at a bar way out of town on the beach. This had to be the worst beach bar I have ever been too. I'm glad that the bar offered free mini buses to and from their location.

Custom Made

Day 363
Nicole and I were up early, but a more reasonable early to head to Hoi An. Luckily this was only a 4 hour bus ride in another luxury bus. We also decided to just stay put at the hotel that we were dropped off at so we didn't have to wander far in the heat.

Hoi An is know for its well preserved buildings and some nearby Cham ruins. We wearn't here for that. Hoi An is the cheapest place in Asia to get custom made clothing. We asked our hotel to reccomend a place and we were directed about 7 doors down the street. We were greeted by two very friendly women who waited patiently while we spent quite some time sorting through various books and picking out things. Once this was done we picked out fabrics and were measured. We were able to have any changes we wanted made. It was really an incredible amount of fun and we both went a bit overboard.

After some lunch we accidently wandered into a custom made shoe place. We had not meant to do this but somehow each ended up with two pairs.

After resting in our room for a bit we grabbed dinner and then attempeted to discover the nightlife. It wasn't too exciting though so we soon went back to the hotel.