Our First Step

Our first step on this trip was a difficult day of traveling.

For those that travel, and do not have to do so on a tight budget, get DIRECT flights! We had an adventure right away as we had 3 total flights in our first day, with over 16 hours of straight travel in the air and in airports.

We left Phoenix around 6:50 and arrived in Mexico City around 11pm at night.
We left Mexico at 2:15am and arrived in Bogota, Columbia around 630am.
We left Bogota at 845am and arrived in Quito, Ecuador around 11am.

The money saved was well worth it, it just makes for long days of traveling.

We savely navigated each customs/immigration within these countries. A few times, they searched our bags and we thought they might take some of our food or liquids, but furtunately they did not.

Once in Quito, we were picked up by our taxi and taken to our hotel. We checked in and took a two hour nap. Though it was not close to enough to make up for the sleep we missed, we all felt refreshed and toured the city. We found a market of tourist stuff and bought a few things.

For dinner we had some great typical Ecuadorian food. Krystle, Lauren and Rob all had a popular local drink. Rob was the only one to finish it, as Krystle and Lauren both found it a little too foreign for their tastes.

Tomorrow, we awake around 5am to head to our boat and the Galapagos Islands. We will spend 3 or 4 days on this book. I do not believe I will have internet access on the boat, but I will try to post again as soon as possible.

Here we are after arriving safely in Quito, Ecuador.

Here is Krystle and Lauren being silly.

Leaving on a jet airplane

Today is the 29th Day of the 5th Month of the Year of the MAYANS!!!!!!
Tomorrow... we leave on another adventure.


Here is the beginning of our trip into South America.

We have two main destinations.. The Galapagos Islands, west of Ecuador, and Machu Pichu, near Cuzco, Peru.

Rob and Lauren Burns are going with us!


Those of you that haven't seen this blog yet. Look in the past to see the 9 month trip Krystle and I took in 2010. We traveled to Costa Rica and Spain.

Home Sweet Home

Enough said.

We are home after over 7 months of Traveling!!!

Thanks for all that followed the blog while we were traveling. Talk to you all soon.

Since we do not have phones yet, if you want to get in contact with us, email us at Jordan.Book85@gmail.com or Kbook6@gmail.com

Indianapolis, Indiana

This is a picture of the plane we took to Indianapolis. 13 rows of seats with a total of 50 people, super small!!!


We arrived in the afternoon on Wednesday and found our friend Stacie waiting for us right away. It was great! We then went to the restaurant where she works to have some free lunch which was yummy, then we headed back to her place. She lives in a town-house with her friend Dana, and her dog Bella. Dana is so graciously sleeping in Stacie’s bed and letting us use her room. So we went to Stacie’s parents house for dinner, we have been planning this since Costa Rica, and her mom made us chicken enchiladas.! We met her parents and brother, played a few games of what they call “corn-hole” and we call bean-bag-toss, then we all enjoyed very yummy enchiladas!


Thursday we drove around downtown Indianapolis for a little while, took a few pictures, and just saw the city. This is the only day Stacie had to work in the evening, so we drove her to work, headed back to her place, and then went and ate dinner later at the restaurant.



Friday was a relaxing day. We stayed home, relaxed, went into downtown again for a little bit. We went over the the NCAA hall of fame. Here are some pictures from that.





Early morning Saturday we drove to Chicago. Check out the Chicago blog before this one. Sunday we drove home from Chicago, relaxed and went back to Stacie’s parents house to have another nice dinner, and watch the Manning bowl #2. It was the football game of the Colts (Payton Manning) vs the Giants (Eli Manning). It was very fun, especially being around all Colts fans.
We went to bed that night to prepare to wake up super early for our 6am flight. We will be home in Arizona bright and early in the morning just before 7am (because of the time difference). We can’t wait to see all our family and friends!!

Chi-town

We headed to Chicago early on Saturday morning, and arrived before noon. It was Jordan, me, Stacie our friend from Costa Rica, and her roommate Dana. We started at Millennium Park.

This is a large park with a few museums, a large fountain, some tourist sites, and a very large stage for concerts. We wanted to see “the bean” which is a famous part of Chicago. Here are some pictures with the bean!




After walking around the park for a little while, we walked down Michigan Avenue and through downtown Chicago. We walked to the Willis Tower, which is the new name for the Sears Tower. It was super cloudy and not worth it to go up, so we didn’t, but here are a few pictures of it.



We then went over to Navy Pier. There was a lot to do there, but we just walked around and ate some lunch.


Chicago has a free zoo!! So of course we went to that. It’s called Lincoln Park Zoo. Here are a few pictures there. They actually had a lot of animals, it was fun.





After the zoo, I was lucky enough to get to see my aunt, uncle, and cousins from Wisconsin again! We met up for dinner at Uncle Julio’s and it was yummy tex-mex food. Here are a few pictures with my cousins.




Back at Millennium park is the Buckingham fountain that has a light show and music each hour. It was very nice to sit and watch, and we actually had some fireworks in the background during which was nice. I got a few good pictures of the city at night as well.



Us in the hotel room

We headed back home in the morning after seeing Stacie’s college. St.Francis University near Chicago. We hit some rain but it wasn’t too bad. Chicago was a little bit cold but I am sure we will have a big change when we get home to the heat of AZ.

Newfane/Buffalo, New York with my Grandma

Buffalo

We arrived to Buffalo on Saturday around 6pm, and my Grandma and Aunt were patiently waiting for us at the station as we arrived 30 minutes late. We had a nice ride back to my Grandma’s house through the scenic route, and it is so beautiful out here in Newfane, New York!

My Grandma and Aunt Cheryl live about 1 mile away from each other and it was very nice to see both of them. I hadn’t seen my aunt in about 15 years, since the last time we were in Newfane. The last time I saw my Grandma was in Arizona last year when my Grandma and Grandpa drove out to visit for a little bit. Unfortunately, my Grandpa passed away 1 month ago, so we didn’t get to see him, but it was very nice looking at pictures and talking with my Grandma about him.




Sunday we attended church with my Grandma and Aunt. My grandpa had attended this church since he was a young boy, having grown up right down the street from the church. Immediately following the service there was free pizza because this was the first Sunday of Sunday school for the children. On the way home we stopped by the cemetery that my grandpa is buried in. Jordan spent the remainder of the day watching football and my cousin Stephanie and her husband Frank came over and visited us. I hadn’t seen her in over 15 years.


Monday, my Aunt Cheryl picked us up and we headed to Niagara Falls. We went over to the Canadian side because it has a better view of the falls and it truly was a beautiful sight to behold.






Tuesday we helped my grandma clean up her garden by picking potatoes and weeds.
Wednesday morning was another early travel day as our flight left at 815am. We will be in Indianapolis by 115pm. Our last stop until Phoenix!!!!