I love traveling with Noel for the obvious reasons; she’s beautiful, fun, funny, and genuinely someone with whom I love spending time. On top of that, she’s an archaeologist, so I always learn something new about the places we go. We compliment each other brilliantly, as I am quick to focus on cuisine and culture, and she can take us somewhere and talk about its historic significance. We most recently went to China (over Christmas), and loved every minute of the trip. We made the decision to run away rather than pick which family to spend Christmas with. While there, we did some of the typical tourist things, but also made sure to get ourselves nice and lost once or twice, trying the real cuisine and soaking up the local culture. Before that, we took a month and a half in the spring to tour through Ireland, England, Wales, Brussels, and Germany, planning to end up in Paris. But once we had finished touring Neuschwanstein castle, she asked me if I were hungry, I said “I could eat,” she asked what I was in the mood for and I answered, “Pizza.” She got this funny look in her eye, looked south and said, “You know, Venice is only four hours away.” Tell me you’d rather travel with anyone else, and I will call you a dirty liar. We have both dreamed of traveling to Australia and would love the opportunity to do so. I am a former professional digeridoo player and would greatly appreciate the chance to learn, listen and play with real tribal players. Please consider us for the trip, I promise we would be good for quite a few stories.

There is no way to describe the feeling of walking over the same steps and seeing the same things the emperors of China experienced. The light was amazing and ethereal near this small pagoda, and Noel snapped this.

If you go to China (which I highly recommend), you must go to the warriors at Xian. Yes, the rows and rows are amazing, and breath-taking… but it’s the little things. I don’t know if someone working there just has a sense of humor, or if this particular warrior was really set up this way originally, but we couldn’t resist taking a picture of the ONE warrior not facing forward. He seems to be mugging for the camera, and we love his little clay self for it.

Scorpions? Check! Chrysalis of unknown origin, bug intact? Check! Starfish? Check! Oh yeah, there’s plenty to eat at the Night Market in Beijing…