And so it begins....Around the World in 108 days

The trip of a lifetime is right around the corner for Faith and I.

We are at the San Francisco airport. Faith's sister Jennie and her family dropped us off at the airport this evening after we enjoyed a lovely dinner with them at Max's in Burlingame. Faith's twin nieces were sad to see their auntie go. We are now preparing to take a red-eye flight to Atlanta. We will have a brief layover in Georgia, where we will get to see my oldest sister Kim, my niece Mia and nephew Liam for breakfast before we fly to Nassau in the Bahamas, where we will stay for 3 days. We disembark on the 12th. The trip has already started off right as we were upgraded to business class for our flight to Atlanta for cheap and all you can drink cocktails.....decisions to make here. Sleep like I planned or have a couple drinks and keep writing? I'll let you know how this works out.

Back to that trip I was talking about. We are preparing to embark on the spring 2011 semester at sea (semesteratsea.org) voyage that circles the globe on a cruise ship. The entire trip will take 108 days, from early January to late April. We head to South America, Africa, Port Louis, Mauritius, and Chennai, India. The leg of the of this voyage that I'm most excited about is the final leg of our trip. Singapore, Ho Chi Men City, Shanghai, and Yokohama. I can't forget to mention a stop in Hilo, Hawaii on our way back to San Diego, CA. I feel a sense of gratitude and hope that this will be life a life changing experience for us both.

My emotions are beginning to settle after weeks of packing, saying goodbye to friends, and leaving behind a job I loved with Apple. Bottom line: I just got engaged to my best friend and love of my life and we now get to travel the together. I'm thinking our kids may one day think that mommy and daddy were pretty cool.

I'm getting the sense that we are going to make many new friends, take incredible pictures, and gain a sense of spirituality from being at sea that we will only be able to describe when we are in the moment. My heart tells me that this voyage will help me to learn more about myself, be a better person, and professional.

We are a few minutes from boarding. I look forward to sharing the stories that are special to Faith and I.

Thanks for reading....until next time.