Gratitude Overdue

This post is long overdue as we long ago were the recipients of the overwhelming kindness and thoughtfulness of our families. This year, instead of requesting gifts for Christmas (since we were purging anyway) our list was comprised of places and activities that we would like to see or do during our journey. We were touched at the support and encouragement reflected in the gifts we received. From a tour of the Great Wall to the Petronas towers tour to a bike ride in the Netherlands and kayaking in Denmark, we could not have been more overwhelmed by the monetary support gifted us by our family. This support goes above and beyond the kind words, encouragement, prayers and promises to "kick ass" if anyone messes with us. We are especially in debt to my mom and step-dad who are caring for, feeding, loving, walking, and playing with our dog and cat while we pursue this dream. Also, Jared's parents for storing some of our stuff and helping with the storage unit if needed (not to mention Jared's friends and all their moving help). AND, people who are not obligated to us by blood but are so kind and generous in offering us a place to keep our car- Nancy and Marc Nagele, we owe you a great debt and it is impossible to repay you in words alone.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Oh, and thank you.

As I write this, I am at Tokyo Narita Airport. Two words. Admiral's Club. This place is like a wee bit of amazing. Want some sushi? Want a quiche? How about some red wine? Well, you are in luck because they have it all, no matter how random the combination:

 



Jared and I might be a little skewed in our current opinions as we are going on about 22 hours of travel right now, but we love this place. Did I mention that the food and drink are free? It will be hard for us to justify not traveling with this luxury in the future. Oh and we showered.... in a spa....

 



 

At least it felt like a spa. It was amazing. We might just arrange it so we fly back home through Tokyo (actually, no, that would be silly).

 

The flight here was not that bad. No screaming babies, no snoring men, no other types of unpleasantness. We watched three movies, took some snoozes and played on our electronic devices. Overall, we have been VERY lucky and are grateful for our travel experiences thus far. With the exception of being the last ones on the plane to leave DFW (we had a misunderstanding and were distracted by the Admiral's Club provisions) we have had an absolutely perfect start to this adventure.

 

 UPDATE: We made it to Singapore and the rest of our travels were equally easy and enjoyable. Singapore post will be up once we are finished exploring this impressive city.