And we're off...

We're here! Since it's my turn to post I'll mention my adventures in NYC as well. I got to hang out with Jess & Krissy B, 2 of the girls I lived with in Florence. I hadn't really gotten to explore NYC before so I spent the days roaming the city (and yes, lost in Brooklyn) and figuring out the subway system. Jess's fiancee, Ray, took us to the Red Sox vs. Yankees game too. Overall it was just awesome to spend some quality time with the girls before taking off.

Nicole and I met at the Subway station on Friday to head to the airport together, and while we were enjoying our last beer in America we overheard "Last call for flight 1472 to Cape Town" on the loudspeaker. Since we had 30 minutes before our flight left we were a little confused but we sprinted to the gate anyway. We ended up waiting in the plane for another hour due to toilet troubles, but I'm glad we didn't risk it... that would've been an embarrassing call home. The 19 hour flight was pretty grueling but we made it and Anne was waiting for us when we arrived. She drove us to the house of her daughter, Nicolette, who lives in Cape Town. We had dinner and crashed pretty early last night then spent today relaxing and going for a driving tour with Nicolette. The tour was a good intro to Cape Town as we got to see some spectacular (albeit foggy) views of the peninsula. Apparently this is the coldest it gets in Cape Town (8* Celcius... I haven't worked out the conversion yet) and it was hailing for a bit so we've been staying indoors. We are headed to Franschoek with Anne this afternoon and so far we're not too sure what the next 2 weeks have to offer (or even where we're staying exactly) but we'll see! Anne, Nicolette and her family have taken very good care of us so far so we'll be in good hands. Write more soon!

finally!

It wasn't pretty, but we survived NYC. Amy was able to do some site seeing, and I'm going to guess her favorite tour was my "Soprano's Tour", which included walking around Brooklyn in parts that looked like the headquarters for body drop offs. Here is a little advice to everyone - if you take a train and by mistake end up in Brooklyn just do yourself a favor and immediately head back towards Manhattan. Parents and any who are worried about our travels, we survived Brooklyn therefore Africa should be a walk in the park.
Any who, I was able to catch up with old friends... including patron. Let's hope for Amy's sake that this headache goes away before she has to sit next to me on a 18 hour flight.
I guess it's finally time to say goodbye states and hello africa! Our packs are filled to the brim (so don't expect anything more than a postcard), and we're finally off to save the world or something like that...
Hawk, we'll see you in the motherland!

Concrete Jungle

Well, the adventure has started...
What better way to get started than to hang out in NYC for a couple of days? Our time here will consist of running last minute errands, spending time with friends, relaxing and for Amy a Yankees vs. Red Sox's game. We leave for Africa on Friday so stay tuned for updates.
Off to central park...