The Guests of Chance

29/03/2012

Finally, as promised, a new blog post is up! This one is our first day in Istanbul... can't wait to catch you all up on the rest of our adventures! Much love to you all from New Hampshire - maybe less exotic, but no less full of surprises.

It is 12:30pm in Istanbul and the call to prayer rings out over the snow-capped rooftops. There are four or five mosques nearby, and the calls are staggered, as though they're being sung in a round. They snow is falling fat and lazy, collecting lightly on the brightly colored hijabs that cover the w...

27/03/2012

Hello friends - sorry for the radio silence! We are, in fact, back in the US - sad that our adventure had to end, but thrilled to begin the next chapter of our lives! Obviously we have LOTS of blog posts to catch up on, and now that we're back in a place of good internet we'll be updating more regularly. I can't wait to fill you in on Turkey, and then go back and tell you all about Mallorca, England and parts of Italy we didn't tell you about before! A new blog post will be on its way shortly. Thanks for reading!

30/01/2012

New post up - the end of our stay in Sherwood Forest! Thanks for reading, all, and much love from Istanbul!

We knew, upon arriving in Sherwood Forest, that we would have to make at least one trip to the visitor's center. Touristy though it may be, it's still Robin Hood, and I grew up watching the Disney fox rob from the rich and the Men in Tights give to the poor.

16/01/2012

New blog entry, after a crashed hard drive set us back! I'm catching you up while we recover photos, so you can read the new post about Sherwood Forest, and be sure to check out the much-updated "Advice" page! You can find the new blog entry on the home page I've linked to. Thanks for reading!

30/12/2011

A new blog post - finally! Rome!! Happy New Year to you all!

The best way to see a city, in my humble opinion, is with someone who possesses an incontrovertible sense of humor. We were lucky enough to meet such a man; he is the nephew of our AirBnB hosts in Frascati. His name is Mark, he lives in Australia, and he might be the best tour guide in Italy.

06/12/2011

Another blog post goes live - Rome Part One!! Enjoy, and thanks for reading!

As I thought about what to title this post I realized that Rome is the subject of many an adage: Rome wasn't built in a day, for example, or all roads lead to Rome. For a city that seems to inspire (slightly trite) life lessons, where does one begin to write a blog post? Can I do justice to this anc...

20/11/2011

New blog post up - Positano! An incredible place. Enjoy!

I have an embarrassing admission, and you have to promise not to judge me too harshly for this one…. I adore cheesy romantic comedies. True, they entertain me mostly while I'm knitting (and don't have to pay close attention to the soporific dialogue), but I sometimes find myself thinking about them ...

13/11/2011

A new blog post - Naples and Pompeii!! Will try to catch up more over the next few days. Love from Mallorca!

I'd heard two things about Naples before our journey began. First, that it is far better to experience the city with a local guide than to attempt navigation as a tourist.

24/10/2011

New blog post is up - from Brindisi, Italy - in the far south. Today we leave for Rotella, on the east coast, to help a family harvest saffron. Can't wait!

From the moment we arrived in Italy we heard about the differences between the North and South. The Northerners believe the people from the South are lazy, and the Southerners believe many of their problems stem from having been united with the North 150 years ago. The sentiment I heard is that Ital...

15/10/2011

A new blog post goes live - forgive us for the time lapse!! This one's from Reggio-Emilia, in the north of Italy. Loved this town! Much love to you all from Olevano Romano, a tiny town outside Rome.

For six months before our trip, Justin took Italian lessons. Fede, his tutor (a stunningly beautiful Italian whose smile melts even the coldest winter days) grew up in Reggio-Emilia. Her mother, Valeria, offered to have us stay with her.

02/10/2011

New blog post - Riva del Garda!! Beautiful town. To Naples tomorrow!

Before I tell you about Riva del Garda, the beautiful town on a lake surrounded by mountains, I need to paint you a picture of our CouchSurfing host there, Mauro.

28/09/2011

A new blog post goes live - Venice!!! One of the best pictures Justin has ever taken (well, in my humble opinion) included. :) Enjoy!

I can see why people, for centuries, have waxed poetic about Venice. The city is living poetry, is adjective in stone and water. It grabs you by the hand, waltzes you around and lets you go… to stagger backwards, dizzy and breathless. There is no place like it; I wanted to crawl down under the stree...

22/09/2011

Another blog post goes up - fair Verona! Off to Riva del Garda tonight!

We arrived in Verona with directions from our first CouchSurfing host, Stefano, to his home just outside the city central. We managed to find the correct bus, and I was feeling pretty good about my ability to follow directions when I promptly got us off at the wrong bus stop.

21/09/2011

Finally, our first post from overseas... Milan!! Love to you all!

We began our trip abroad as all great adventures in history have begun - by leaving one of our bags on the shuttle from LaGuardia to JFK. Thankfully the panic was short-lived, as the shuttle driver looped around and brought our bag back to us. Justin gave him an enormous hug and I tried to continue ...

16/09/2011

New post - my goodbye to Chicago. Milano next!

A year ago, when someone would say about our trip, "That must be a lot of work!" I would reply, "It's nothing - you just have to decide to do it!"

08/09/2011

Two new posts up! The first, Redwoods: http://tinyurl.com/3nnkbrw and the second is below: San Francisco!

We went to San Francisco to see friends, and it was a first visit for me. The city looks exactly as I had pictured it - permanently running either uphill or downhill, as though every place in the city is running away from something. It's disconcerting, but lovely.

06/09/2011

New blog post up! Our favorite place so far. Thanks for reading, all!!

In northern California we decided to take a scenic drive off the main road for a while. A few miles down there was a ROAD CLOSED sign blocking our way. We pulled over to take pictures and noticed a hiking trail marked just ahead that led down toward what we assumed was the ocean's edge.

01/09/2011

FINALLY - another blog post goes live!! Forgive us - we've been elbow-deep in fondant for a while. :) I'll do my best to catch up with the blog in the next week. Meantime, thanks for reading, and the overseas departure date looms!!

I had been waiting to put my toes in the Pacific for weeks, and after we parked in our campground we set off down the trail that was supposed to lead us to the beach.

10/08/2011

Another post goes live - this one from eastern Washington. Love from Dodge City, KS!

I had found us a campsite on the way from Kalispell to the Pacific Coast Highway. It was in southeastern Washington state, right on the banks of the Snake River. All I knew was that it was about an hour off the main road, and as we turned off the interstate we were immediately glad we had a full tan...

09/08/2011

New blog post up - sorry for the absence! Much love from Otis, CO!

My dear friends, please forgive us for the lapse in blog posting. Turns out the internet is hard to find in some of the tiny towns we’ve stayed in, and - let’s be honest - it’s hard to post a blog entry when the alternative is spending time with family. I have a whole mess of posts queued up, so hop...

31/07/2011

We've got a Twitter account! Come follow us

26/07/2011

In Big Fork, MT lives a woman named Adrienne. She is a friend of Justin’s mother, and we stopped in to see her on our way.

18/07/2011

New blog post up - thanks to all of you who "liked" this page!

As we drove back to Rapid City from Crazy Horse, we parked in a tiny pull-off next to a lake surrounded by high, rather jump-able (in our minds, anyway) rocks.

16/07/2011

New post up - The Badlands, Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Next up: cliff jumping!

The Badlands, an unapologetic gash in the earth, stretches for 381 square spectacular miles. We drove The Badlands Loop, a one-hour stretch of road that runs from the upper prairie to the lower prairie and back again. There were big-horned sheep and rocky outcrops that looked as though they’d been w

16/07/2011

So here's where we'll take comments on the blog, if you're so inclined. (Please be so inclined. It makes my day). :)

16/07/2011