18 January 2011

Last Days in Bulgaria

Nearly three weeks into the New Year and finally a new blog post. I apologize for slacking on this, as we have been focusing on a few other projects in the mean time:

  • Over the holidays, we drove all around Bulgaria and Romania with our friend Beth, who flew from Texas to travel with us. I'll post a recap of our adventures so keeping checking our blog. 
  • We have updated our travel itinerary. The short of it is that we are flying to Frankfurt on January 22 and will be in Germany for 3 weeks. Then we'll spend 2 months backcountry skiing in the Swiss, Italian and French Alps. We hope to fly to Norway by late April and ski for a month there. Thanks again to Jeff, Sebastian, Chris, Vanessa and Simone for helping us get our skis to Germany!
  • We have landed a few writing deals with Backpacking Light Magazine. Highlights include: a summary of travels in Latin America and in Russia, eight photo essays, and six reports from ISPO (the international outdoor gear convention in Munich in early February)
  • Additionally, we'll start working as gear testers for Backpacking Light. We will be specializing in light and ultralight gear from European brands like Aclima, Vango, Klattermussen, C.A.M.P., Laufbursche, and Berghaus.
  • I got a haircut. This might not seem like big news, but it is only my third haircut of this trip. And if you've been reading Kristin's blog, you've seen pictures of my most recent hair style. 
  • Kristin has continued to work wonders in our "kitchen," creating fantastic vegetarian and vegan meals and desserts within the limits of a fridge, microwave, and food processor. She has plenty of downtime between programming for her scientific research and waiting for the testing to finish running. 
  • Finally, Kristin and I have just thoroughly enjoyed each other's company. It is just the two of us - all day, every day - and we love it. I don't know if we'll ever get a chance to spend this much uninterrupted time together. Being with her is the best part of this journey. 
Sunrise over the Carpathian Mountains in Romania. December 2010.