If you liked "Carla and Audra do South America", you're sure to love the bigger, better, even more efficiently-packed, and even less pre-planned "East We Go!"
Some quick background to get you oriented:
Carla originally conceived of the idea as a follow-up to her 10-day Taglit-Birthright trip to Israel, which was scheduled for Feb. 13-23rd. As she is taking a year off from work, Carla decided to extend (really, forego) her return flight from the Birthright trip and use the opportunity to visit Greece and Turkey. While Carla was semi-searching for a Travelmate, Audra's plans were changing and evolving of their own accord...
After leaving her job with GSI Environmental in Houston for a 9-week volunteer opportunity via Engineers Without Borders in Nigeria, Audra was faced with the prospect of re-entering the work world, laying plans for a return to grad school, or...maybe something else? To Carla's surprise and delight, Audra asked if she could join the adventure...and the scheming began.
While discussing timelines, Audra mentioned that she had a wedding to attend in Hawaii on June 2nd..."so I'll have to be back by then" she explained. As a passing thought, she also mentioned that her friend, Joe, was going to be working in Nepal, at the Mt. Everest Base Camp, in the Spring/Summer months and that he'd suggested she come to visit. In a moment of revelation and glory, they looked at each other (proverbially, because I think we were on the phone), connected the dots, and the idea of a "round (more than half of) the world" trip was born.
At present, Carla is hanging out in Tel Aviv, decompressing from the 10-day whirlwind of Birthright and seeing the city at a more leisurely pace while Audra finishes up an interview in New York and gathers up all the things that Carla forgot :)
Audra arrives on Saturday!
I promise the next blog post won't be written in the third person. Stay tuned!
