November 22, 2009 – Day 332 – Arambol Beach, Goa, India

Having planned on leaving today, we failed miserably at this single goal. In fact, it wasn’t miserable at all but quite nice indeed because we decided we would just love one more day here! A stroll through the towns endless souvenir shops yielded little but a stronger desire to hurry and get onto the beach. We passed the usual cows on our way down the beach who were doing their best to keep their hooves dry. Ahh, the beach!

Life on the beach

November 21, 2009 – Day 331 – Arambol Beach, Goa, India

After a heart pumping run on the beach this morning, we decided to toss things up with a breakfast of oatmeal with sliced bananas and fresh orange juice. Mmm! There is a huge fruit stand in town that sells everything from green beans and eggplants to fingerling bananas and melons. Everything just seems to taste better here in Goa!

Fishing boats in the morning

November 20, 2009 – Day 330 – Arambol Beach, Goa, India

Arambol Beach is a lovely, quiet beach. We enjoyed a long day in the sun and perfect water. It’s great for swimming since the sandbar goes out so far and the waves are typically calm. We started our day off with a champion’s breakfast: an omlette, toast, and fresh pineapple juice.

Our palm frenged walk to the beach

November 19, 2009 – Day 329 – Arambol Beach, Goa, India

As uninteresting as they are to us (and to you readers as well), travel days are a necessary evil. It took three very slow, very crowded local buses to get us from Panaji to Arambol Beach but we finally made it.

Cows need a little beach time too

November 18, 2009 – Day 327 – Panaji, Goa, India

Today will go do in history as the most ridiculous search for a place to sleep. Hmm, where to begin? Maybe with the sleeper bus we took here last night that rocked violently all night on a curvy road and the “two person” bays were only long enough to accommodate 1.5 people in the fetal position. Or maybe the flat tire in the middle of nowhere. Or maybe with the hour and half fully loaded walk from the bus station, over the bridge into the city and then all around the city looking for a hotel that was (a) not full, and (b) not Rs. 1000 per night.

Lights on the interstate at night

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November 17, 2009 – Day 326 – Mumbai, India

We really packed in a full sightseeing tour of Mumbai today! We started the morning with a taxi ride to the Hanging Garden for a nice view of the beach and a bit of the city. The garden is very pleasant and extremely well maintained and for this reason, many Indians like to spend time walking around and people watching (yes, they stare at each other too), especially since the park is free to go in. Across the street is another smaller park where we passed a mini-market with 8-10 tables of random wares for sale and the giant shoe to check out the view.

Hazy day on the beach

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July 1, 2009 – Day 188 – Zadar, Croatia

Since Morgan has to leave on a late flight tonight, we had to head back to Zadar this morning. Saben and Lin checked into the hostel and then we spent a warm sunny day at the beach. The water is still quite cold but it is just as clear and blue as the famous pictures of Croatia suggest.

Ice cream tends to be where the action is

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June 28, 2009 – Day 185 – Biograd, Croatia

In the park, we savored our pastries and passed around the orange juice in the early morning light. Today we spent a sunny, warm day on the pebbley beach of Biograd far away from the loads of naked and nearly naked vacationers and locals.

Beach...obviously

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June 26, 2009 – Day 183 – Zadar, Croatia

A painfully slow travel day….Eight hours from Dubrovnik and we were the only 2 passengers on board the bus for at least 4 hours (so the driver felt compelled to “take breaks” at least once an hour). Very beautiful views on a very narrow mountain highway that winds back and forth, back and forth til you have nearly lost your head! In Zadar, had trouble finding lodging (just like Izmir). Had to take city bus 3km out of town to the HI hostel (cheap but lame place). Spent evening walking around the beach and throwing rocks in the water while we waited for the sun to set. Lindsey’s brother Morgan will be arriving to meet us tomorrow!

June 25, 2009 – Day 182 – Dubrovnik, Croatia

Feeling well rested and happy to have found such a great place to stay, we woke up early and walked back into the old town, about 20 minutes from our apartment. We easily found a cheap bakery for breakfast and enjoyed our pastries in the courtyard just outside the city walls looking down at the clear turquoise water below.

The blue sea

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