Step Two: Apartment

About thirty-six hours passed between signing the papers on our new car to hitting the road. We don’t waste any time. Mike was in the driver’s seat for the trip from Spokane to Seattle, and Hanna played DJ (which means she listens to about thirty seconds of a song and then skips to the next). We had a nice introduction to the weather we will be expecting in Seattle; it pretty much drizzled during the whole five-hour trip. The drive turned slightly scary in Snoqualmie Pass (think mountains and lots of wind) when it started snowing. Please keep in mind that a) we just bought a new car, and b) we rarely drive in snow. As we were able to write this, we obviously persevered. Sure was a pretty view once the snow ended:

Washington or New Zealand?

After making it to Seattle, we began our apartment search. Apartment-huntin’ is a bit different in Seattle. In New York we would typically go to a broker, ask to see no-fee apartments, and then view a bunch of apartments in a single day. This ease doesn’t seem to exist in Seattle. Most rentals are found on Craigslist, and you sit…and wait…and wait for someone to call or email you back. We sent countless emails and left a billion messages for people. Good times.

Over the course of three days, we saw about ten apartments. We got super excited about one in particular. We had a 1:45pm appointment to view it, and the woman called us at 1:28pm to say that we could come early because no one showed up to the previous appointment. By the time we arrived (literally like three minutes later), the stupid dummies who were late had just arrived. The apartment was in a great Queen Anne location (walkable to a grocery store and many shops), had two bedrooms, and was a decent size. We knew we wanted this place…but so did the couple who showed up before us. Since they did get there first, the apartment was theirs. We hate them. We left there in a mopey mood.

The owners of the last apartment we were going to see were holding an open house from 2-3pm, and we got there around 2:45pm. Upon walking into this place, we (Mike especially) knew that we wanted it. Two bedrooms! Patio where we could put a barbeque! Dishwasher! Washer and dryer IN the apartment! Full bath upstairs and half bath downstairs (yes, it has an upstairs and a downstairs)! Free parking space! Storage closet in the basement! While these amenities may seem standard to some, these things are gold to New Yorkers. This just felt like a grown-up apartment to us.

Another couple was finishing up their tour, and we assumed they would get this place. The woman was pregnant, and this two-bedroom apartment seemed perfect for them. We patiently waited for them to say goodbye to the owners, but to our utter surprise, this couple DIDN’T fill out an application. They said that they would email it. We ran over, chatted with the kind owners, and filled out an application on the spot. We were the last ones to see the apartment, and we left there feeling pessimistic. Even though we explained our jobless situation, we thought that this apartment would definitely go to someone else.

As we were driving back to Hanna’s sister’s apartment, the phone rang. It was the owners of the last apartment. They were pleased to tell us that the place was ours. You don’t even know how excited we were. We zoomed over to the owners’ house where a “WELCOME, MIKE AND HANNA!” greeted us on their front door. We chatted and filled out the paperwork, and the apartment was ours. Officially ours.

Wanna know what we are doing today? Moving in. We are bringing all of our stuff from Spokane to Seattle today, and we are proud to say that we really do have a place to live.

We Don’t Have Any Pictures of Our Apartment Yet. Enjoy This Picture of a Seattle Park on a Sunny Day Instead.

The Lanai

We have now been to Maui together four times: on our honeymoon, on our first anniversary, with Kiwi Mike and Kylie during Thanksgiving 2012, and this trip. We are super thankful that we are able to stay at Hanna’s grandparents’ place:

Right Building, Top Floor. Steps to the Beach.

Our absolute favorite place in the condo is the lanai:

Lanai View, Straight Down.

View from the Lanai.

This balcony overlooks the ocean and is the perfect space to do some whale-watching. While Hanna has been to Maui during whale season, Mike never has. We both couldn’t get enough. While we never saw the whales’ full bodies, we saw plenty of spouts, flippers, heads, and tails:

Whale Tail.

Whale or Nessie?

Whale Between Boats.

During one day’s whale session, we watched a kiteboarder and a windsurfer get super close to some playful whales. Sure, they probably weren’t as close as we thought, but it was absolutely nuts to think that the whales could easily breach and knock these guys for a loop.

The lanai was a perfect place for Mike to enjoy his morning cup of coffee, and we both enjoyed reading our books stolen borrowed from hostels there too. Most spectacular are the sunsets:

Amazing.

Stunning.

(Insert an Adjective That Describes a Beautiful Sunset Here.)

Maybe we are just suckers for beautiful views from top-floor balconies in people’s homes, but we were more than happy to while away the hours on the lanai.

One Night in Sydney

After a fantastic two weeks navigating windy roads and waving to sheep, it was time to leave the beauty of New Zealand behind. Our super-cheap flight back to the States left from Sydney, so we planned one last night there. The only downside: our flight from Christchurch to Sydney left at 7:45am…which meant we had to wake up at 5:15am to make sure we had enough time to drive to the airport, drop the car off, and check in for an international flight. All went smoothly, but we were super tired when we landed after a three-hour flight.

So where did we lay our heads, you ask? Nowhere big…just the Four Seasons overlooking Circular Quay in Sydney. We kept debating where to stay in Sydney for just one night, and Mike realized he had enough credit card points to book a fancy hotel:

We Make Ourselves at Home Quite Quickly. Classy.

View from the Room. Kinda Cool Watching Traffic on Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Slightly different than trying to drown out the sounds of a snorer in a hostel dorm room, yeah? Truth be told, however, we expected fancy extravagance from the hotel, and it was…just okay. The lobby and room were both fine but nothing special.

Our plan for that day was to sit by the pool and then nap. (We woke up super early. Don’t judge.) The sky was quite overcast, so we only sat by the pool for a bit. The nap came earlier (and lasted longer) than expected. We wandered around for a bit, grabbed burgers and fried pickles, and wandered around some more:

Bridge. Cruise Ship. Both Massive.

Amazing Sky.

Because of the late lunch, we split chicken schnitzel parmigiana for dinner from the same pub where we watched some of the Super Bowl. Dessert was a huge lemon meringue pie slice. Long story short: food was the priority that day in Sydney.

After a great night’s sleep in an overly big king-size bed, the next day’s plan was to sit by the pool before leaving for the airport that afternoon. The weather, however, did not cooperate. Not much sun was spotted, and it drizzled for a bit. Not exactly the last day in Sydney we expected… We wandered, shopped for groceries, and grabbed some Japanese noodles for lunch. We also worked in some time for a photo shoot by the Opera House:

Mike Contemplating Life at the Opera House.

Textured.

Hanna Lovin’ Life.

Before we knew it, our time in Australia had to come to a close. We left for the airport around 3pm and tried to mentally prepare for our nine-and-a-half hour flight to Honolulu.

Sydney from the Airport. Last Photo Taken in Oz.

Ferry Easy Travel to Phuket

We spent five relaxing nights at the beach resort in Krabi, and we got quite used to our easy days. You only get two blog posts about our time there since our goal was relaxation…and relax we did. It’s hard being unemployed with nothing to do but read by the pool. Alas we had to say farewell to our luxury life and make our way to Phuket.

A van (complete with DVD player and such bootleg DVDs as Despicable Me 2 and inexplicably Mariah Carey: Live at Madison Square Garden) picked us up and brought us to Ao Nang pier. We were a bit early for our ferry, but that gave us enough time to take pictures:

A Sea of Longtails.

Still Can’t Get over the Rock Formations.

We boarded our ferry and headed out to sea. Mike sat on a bench on the back deck, while Hanna (in an effort to combat seasickness) sprawled on the deck. About fifteen minutes into the ride, we pulled up about one hundred feet from shore…and waited…and waited. Finally boatloads (literally) of people pulled up alongside our ferry and boarded. We had the pleasure of waiting for more boats. This added a good hour to the trip. We, however, weren’t complaining: we each were listening to iPods and chillaxing in the sun. (The word “chillax” is an absolutely stupid word.)

The trip took about two-and-a-half hours, and we were entertained by a guy who smoked seven cigarettes (Mike kept count) and his wife who wore booty shorts with no underwear. Unfortunately Hanna’s eyes won’t forget what she saw. Remember, folks, Hanna was laying on deck.

We are happy to say that Hanna did not get sick at all on the smooth water, and we pulled into Phuket in good spirits. The mini-bus to our hotel took some time, but we made it to our hotel in one piece. We are staying at the same place we stayed last trip. Seems pretty much the same (good WiFi and air con, cable TV that plays Desperate Housewives and Sex and the City nonstop, quiet enough). More deets about our days in Phuket to come…

What $52.82 Will Get You in Bangkok

We are assuming that all of our faithful readers remember this post from our last trip that detailed all of our expenditures in a single day in Bangkok. No? You don’t? You’ve failed us, friends.

We have received the countless emails and comments that requested us to do a similar post this time around in Bangkok. Here we go:

Private Room with Air Con in Hostel: $15.28. Not the Plaza…But Clean.

Chilled Coffee Drink for Mike: $0.40. He Enjoyed Drinking These on the Roof Every Morning.

Laundry: $0.61. We Sprung for an Actual Machine Instead of Doing It by Hand.

Brunch Consisting of Banana Shake and Omelet over Rice for Mike and Orange Juice and French Toast for Hanna (Not Pictured: an Order of Toast): $4.28.   Such Artistic Lighting.

Three Books Bought at a Used Book Stall on Khao San Road: $3.36. We Figured We Needed More Beach Reads for Our Upcoming Ten Days in Krabi and Phuket.

1.5 Liter Bottle of Water: $0.40. 7-11s Are Everywhere, and Their Generic Brand Tasted Just Fine to Us.

One-Hour Thai Massages for Each of Us: $9.17. Yes, $9.17 Total. The Clean Place by Our Hostel WAS That Cheap. Jealous?

Big Bottle of Chang Beer for Mike: $1.62. He Quite Enjoyed Drinking a Beer on the Roof Before Sunset.

One-Hour Thai Massage for Both of Us (Round Two): $9.17. We Met Two Canadian Guys Who Wanted to Get Massages, So We Went Again with Them. Awesome, Eh?

Dinner of Pad Thai: $1.83. We Each Got a Plate from a Street Cart. (Yes, Even Hanna.)

Nutella Pancake for Hanna and Peanut Butter Pancake for Mike: $2.14. Yes, We Paid More for Dessert Than for Dinner. We Love These Things.

NOT PICTURED:
Groceries: $4.56. We bought some very essential groceries (two boxes of cereal and a sleeve of Oreos) in preparation for our time at a fancy resort in Krabi. We forgot to take a picture. Don’t hate.

Now you know. We felt like we had a super full day, and we are proud to say that we spent $2.52 LESS than we did on a comparable day on our last trip. We’re so amazing.

Quote of the Day: Airplane Edition

As we were disembarking from our plane yesterday morning, an American woman in her late 50s started talking to us. She, her husband, and their twentysomething son were on their way to Koh Phi Phi for their other son’s wedding. It was very clear that Mom did not want to travel all this way but felt she had to…nice passive-aggressiveness! She was surprised we knew where Koh Phi Phi was, and we told her a bit about our time there during our last trip.

She then asked where we were headed to, so we explained that we were traveling for a few months and that we had previously traveled for about a year. She was impressed and said, “Oh, so you must be missionaries or something?” That gave us a chuckle. Just call us Elder Mike and Sister Hanna.

Overall the trip wasn’t that bad. We flew from Spokane to Seattle, Seattle to Taipei, and then Taipei to Hong Kong. We both actually slept on the Seattle/Taipei flight. Shocking. The plane was quite warm though. Maybe that’s because we were on the upper deck of the two-story plane. We’re classy like that; we fly in style. No personal air vents at all though…odd. Hanna got stuck in the middle seat, but luckily the small Chinese old woman next to her only crawled over her lap once to go to the bathroom. Mike didn’t watch any movies, while Hanna watched Notting Hill. Eva Air, your movie selection was kinda crappy. Please do better next time.

As our timeclocks are knocked off, we didn’t do too much yesterday. As we waited for our rental apartment to be cleaned, we sat in a park and wandered through a massive luxury mall. (Your gifts from Prada, Chanel, and, uh, Juicy Couture are in the mail.) Naps were had, and grocery stores were wandered through. We will be more exciting later. Going to bed at 8:30pm makes us old people.

We totally realize our blog has been devoid of pictures. That should be corrected shortly.

Same/Different: Transportation and Accommodations

We’re big fans of themed blog posts (see our Boring Budget Series), so we thought we’d talk about what’s the same vs. what’s different between this trip and the last one.

TRANSPORTATION: We took almost every method of transportation possible (train, bus, plane, car, ferry, tuk-tuk, elephant, etc.) on our last trip, and since flights tended to be the most expensive, we left that as a last option. We had many a long bus and train ride because they were the cheapest method possible…and we had all the time in the world. This time around, however, we are bouncing around a lot more in a finite period of time. Goodbye, night trains! While we will take a ferry or two in Thailand and will rent a car in New Zealand, our primary method of transportation is airplane. Don’t worry…we didn’t throw the budget out the window. We have scouted for good deals and have used our favorite budget airlines Air Asia and Jetstar to save some dough. While in cities, we will still try and use public transportation as much as possible and only take cabs when absolutely necessary. It is still us after all.

ACCOMMODATIONS: During our last trip, our mantra was budget, budget, budget. We stayed almost exclusively in hostels and almost always in dorm rooms. Even if we were only saving $2 a night, we chose the dorm room. A penny saved is an extra penny to be spent on ice cream. This trip we are still trying to keep the budget down but are treating ourselves a bit more. Because we will only be on the road for a couple of months, we are able to spend a couple bucks more a night. Many of the places we are staying have been booked through Airbnb. We like the idea of renting our own little apartment, and, as always, a kitchen is essential to staying on budget. In many cities (Sydney, Hong Kong, etc.), booking an apartment is surprisingly just as cheap as a hostel, so that works for us. When we are choosing to stay in hostels, we are throwing caution to the wind and staying in private rooms. The snoring and skin flakes of yore wore us down just a bit. We really enjoyed meeting other travelers in hostels and are choosing to go back to some of the places that we stayed in last time. Budget is still the priority, but we are slightly loosening the purse strings.

Guest Post: Why Hanna and Mike Are the Best Travelers Ever

Note: When we were too lazy to write original blog posts, our good buddy Kiwi Mike stepped in and wrote a post about why Mike won the senior pic poll. We asked for more guest posts, and we thought the lowered rate of paying us
US $500 was definitely fair. We had not received any takers…until now. Mike’s high school friend Susan met the challenge. She and her husband Alex recently went on a European sojourn, and she sent us a revealing post about why we are her travel heroes. (Her pictures are better than ours though…)

I have been not-so-secretly jealous of Mike and Hanna ever since they announced their around-the-world travel plans. I enjoyed living vicariously through their adventures as a faithful blog-reader (and voter…Hanna’s comeback in the high school photo contest was engineered by yours truly), while, like most of you perhaps, sitting behind my desk at work.

Inspired by the globetrotters, my husband and I planned our own ambitious trip: Istanbul – Cappadocia – Paris – Normandy – Provence – London in 2.5 weeks. While we successfully sprinted through our ambitious itinerary and certainly enjoyed the sights, culture, food, and people we encountered along the way, we were reminded firsthand of a very important reality that Mike and Hanna hinted at daily. Travel is work. Yes, travel can be relaxing and fun and wonderful in that it opens a window into another life and another way of living. But it is also hard. Very hard. And so, in my brief guest post, I’d like to pay tribute to the work that Mike and Hanna did for nearly a year and the service they did for their readers in letting us travel by proxy. Whatever led you here (wanderlust, schadenfreude), I’m sure you join me in saying “thank you!”

Here are three vignettes to illustrate my point:

1. IT’S HARD TO SPEAK TURKISH
On our first day in Turkey, we decided to take a cruise along the Bosphorus; we thought it would be a good way to see the city. We tried for an hour to book a cruise from the hotel, but we were thwarted by a shoddy internet connection, a front desk manager who tried to sell us the five-hour version for $79.95 (per person), and, yes, the language barrier. We decided to head to Eminönü (the departure point for many cruises) to see what we could find. New to the city and eager to find our ferry, we hopped in a cab. While the driver delivered us to our destination, he extracted a pound of flesh along the way. My husband handed the driver a TL20. The driver then held up a TL5, pretending that we had given him the smaller bill. “It’s TL7,” he said, “You owe me more.” Confused and jet-lagged, we gave him the additional cash, realizing our error as he sped away. The transport tribulations were replayed several times (we encountered more than a few surly bus drivers and one additional taxi scam) and then finally figured out the fairly convenient Istanbul tram. Hats off to Mike and Hanna for mastering public transport early on in each city.

2. THE DAY OUR FEET FELL OFF
Wary of cabs, we stuck to public transportation from then on. In Paris, we got along easily on the fabulous Metro and also chose to walk much of the city. And walk we did. One day we explored Saint Germain and then walked to the Rodin Museum, the Musée d’Orsay, the Louvre, and the Pompidou. We ate dinner while walking along rue Cler and then climbed the Eiffel Tower. Defeated by Paris, we collapsed in our hotel room that night. The next day we headed out for a daylong tour of the Normandy D-Day beaches. Travel is wonderful, but we felt compelled to squeeze as much as possible from every second. This way of living is both exhilarating and exhausting. Again I applaud Mike and Hanna for finding balance in adventure.

3. A HOME IN AVIGNON
There’s nothing like resting at home after a trying or very active day. Unfortunately while traveling, you’re never sure of what “home” will look like until you get there. We booked what appeared to be a lovely hotel in Avignon…but what turned out to be a permanent sauna. Temperatures outside were around 90 to 100 degrees, and the hotel staff informed us their cooling system could only get the rooms 10 degrees cooler or so than outside. We had to grin and bear it. Too hot and tired to find different lodging, we procured a fan and made do. Once or twice we chose to nap in our car (after a particularly large lunch, for example) rather than brave the hotel. None of us need luxury, but predictability and comfort are crucial to peace of mind and happily co-existing with your mate/fellow travelers. Once again, here’s to Mike and Hanna for grinning and bearing it . . . together.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t comment on the point of travel: the pay-off. Rather than speak in platitudes, I’ll leave you with a few pictures.

Yours in travel,
Susan

The Blue Mosque - Istanbul, Turkey

Süleymaniye Mosque from the Bosphorus - Istanbul, Turkey

Fairy Chimneys - Cappadocia, Turkey

Paris from the Eiffel Tower - Paris, France

American Cemetery - Normandy, France

Fisherman on the Rhone - Avignon, France

Rewind: Where We Were a Year Ago (Emei/Baoguo, China)

September 23, 2010
Emei/Baoguo, China

Hanna's Friend...Until He Peed on the Floor of the Train.

After an action-packed train ride from Chengdu (yes, the kid above really is the peeing culprit), we arrived in the one-street town of Baoguo which sits at the foot of Mt. Emei. We quickly found the Teddy Bear Hostel. Let us quote from their website:

“When we are young, clumsy bear, beautiful bear mum, handsome bear dad, cuttie bear baby, mischief naughty bear bro and silly lovely bear sis are all our best friends. They are our guid-angle, watching us growth. Teddy Bear is the happiest memory of our childhood.
Now we have gorwn up, jobs has exhaused us, love has torn us. We are fatigue and tiredsome. But Teddy Bear Hotel is everyone’s home, although it is not as luxury as 5 star hotel, but we could have the most cozy time here.”

Unfortunately we didn’t have the “most cozy time” there. Sure, our five-bed dorm room was spacious, and two German teens already in there were quiet and respectful. The remaining traveler? A Chinese girl in her late twenties. We battled with this girl during our two nights there.

The first tussle arose because of the air conditioner. If air con is available, we use it. Who likes sleeping in a hot room? On the first night, the German guys were asleep already when we headed into bed. Being the respectful travelers we are, we tiptoed around and drifted off to sleep in the breezy room. About an hour later, the girl comes in and immediately shuts off the air conditioner. Did she think about the four other people in the room? Of course not. We each woke up then drenched in sweat, so Mike quietly turned on the air con again. When we woke up in the morning, the unit was off. This was strike #1.

On the morning that Mike climbed Mt. Emei, he woke up around 5am to the sounds of the shower. The girl was up already (perhaps she was climbing too?) and in the bathroom. Mike noticed that the girl had turned on the overhead lights, so he shut them off to ensure good sleep for everyone else. (He also turned on the air conditioner which the girl had obviously shut off for the millionth time.) He was planning on getting up around 5:30am anyways to make a 6am bus, so he got dressed and then slipped out the door. The girl was still in the bathroom as he was leaving. It makes total sense to take a really long shower at 5am.

As the bus was about to pull out of the station, the girl comes running from out of nowhere. She was planning on climbing the mountain yet almost missed the bus because of her hour in the bathroom. Hanna said that soon after Mike left in the morning, the girl turned on the lights AGAIN and turned off the air conditioner AGAIN. We hated this girl.

Fun fact: did you know that admission (half-price because of Mike’s student status, of course) and the round-trip bus ride to Mt. Emei cost US $22.37? That’s more than half the money we spent that day alone. Emei is expensive compared to China in general.

And now….bonus pictures from Mt. Emei:

Mike's View for the Day: Never-Ending Stairs.

Yes, Even Horses Made the Trek.

Field of Clouds.

Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter Oreos, and Buddha.

Looks Harmless Enough, No? Don't Joke the Monkey.

Mike forgot that he played travel guide and just found this short video. Hopefully it gives some context for the terrifying bridge-of-monkeys experience:

After a year on the road, this is still one of Mike’s favorite days.

The Mouse

Yes, it’s true. We did go to Walt Disney World on a last-minute trip last week…because we didn’t get enough magic in Tokyo or Hong Kong. This is our last true vacation in a long while, and that reality is slowing sinking in.

No Post Is Complete Without a Jumping Picture, Right?

First off: remember Duffy from Tokyo? Well, somehow the little guy hopped on a plane and is trying to integrate himself all throughout the Disney parks in Orlando. Sadly he is losing the battle. It made us laugh because he was such a fixture in Tokyo. The Japanese were obsessed with him, yet here in the States, no one really knows who he is…or cares. He greeted a few fans outside his own store:

Duffy. Hidden Mickey Alert: We JUST Noticed That the Tan Part on His Face Is Mickey-Shaped.

Duffy Stuff on the Shelves…and No One’s Buying.

Random note: we stayed at Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort which has different themed wings. We stayed in the Mighty Ducks area, and a three-story Ducks helmet greeted us to our wing. No day was complete without chanting, “Quack! Quack! Quack!” as if it were 1992.

Rather than write deep analyses about how the Disney rides represent the painful journeys we all experience throughout childhood, we will present pictures instead:

We Really Were at MGM. Note the Sorcerer’s Hat in the Way Background.

Awkward Senior Pic of Mike. Still Not Sure Why We Left New York to Get This Picture.

Giraffe Attack at Animal Kingdom.

Neither of Us Has Ever Eaten a Turkey Leg at Disney, But Everyone Else Loves Them So Much That a Shirt Is for Sale.

We completely realize we don’t have any pictures with characters. Let us state our dismay that there are always lines of about 30 minutes to have your picture taken. Gone are the days from our childhood when characters are just roaming through the parks…

More pictures to come tomorrow.