We have ARRIVED!

So after yesterday´s harrowing travel adventure day (or two as it may be), we finally arrived here in Porto Alegre! In all our trip took just around 39 hours to complete. About 2 hours after my previous journal entry, our flight was called and we ran into the terminal with glee. The flight actually stopped first in Florianopolis and then headed to Porto Alegre. We arrived here in Porto Alegre around 9:30 PM, greeted by Herman (Anne´s dad), Fanny (Anne´s mom), Liesbet (Anne´s sister) and Steven (our friend who is traveling with us from Belgium).

We got back to the house, took a wonderful shower (which was made even better with a cold beer :), had a bit of food and went to bed. We slept so soundly that we completely missed a giant thunderstorm that dropped around 3-4 inches of rain overnight!

Today we´re both feeling extremely happy and relieved to be here at Annelies´ parents´ house! The difficult journey ensures that we will enjoy ourselves even more :)

In a hour, churrasco (Brasilian barbeque) and relaxing by the pool, where it´s slightly overcast but a perfect 85 degrees outside...

Dec 23 - around 5PM in Rio: "Tall Tales..."

So if telling horrible travel journeys are anything like telling about that 4-foot fish that you caught but just "got away at the last second", have I got a travel story for you!

Right now we´ve been in Rio´s GIG airport (Galeão - Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport) for just about 10 hours. We finally managed to get a ticket on a plane that "may or may not actually leave today" according to the TAM airlines staff. And this magical ticket finally manifested itself after hours of waiting, inquiring, cutting in line, waiting again, yelling, crying, screaming, waiting, and yelling again! The TAM Airlines operation is officially fudido!!!!

Basically, TAM airlines overbooked wayyyyy too many flights given that some 11 planes from their fleet are in the shop for service. Why the other planes are not in the shop is a different and somewhat frightening question altogether! ;) Anyhow, the situation is so bad that Lula (Brasil´s President who was just re-elected for a second term) has ordered that the Brazilian equivalent of Air Force One be used to help out stranded travellers just before Christmas. That´s right, the plane that transports the President of Brasil is being used to carry around passengers because TAM is so inept...

Brazilians are sure passionate people. I´ve seen hundreds of arms wildly gesticulating and flailing in the air to describe one´s utter frustration. Several folks yell and scream, pointing at the TAM airlines service staff (those poor souls who didn´t cause the problem and who are really just trying to help...). Others have screamed things at the staff that cause the crowd around them to applaud in solidarity. All this to be captured by several film crews, a big human interest story for the 6 o´clock news.

But anyhow, just to recap my own frustration: we´ve been travelling for almost 30 hours at this point. No sleep except for a few cat naps whilst sitting on the long flight from Paris to Rio de Janeiro. Fighting fog in London (and enduring much stress to find alternative routes of transportation) . Frantically packing everything to hop on an open train to Paris (we didn´t have assigned seats cause it was overbooked too!). Waiting around for 8 hours at the Charles de Gaulle airport. A 10 1/2 hour flight where the pilot hit the ground so hard on landing that the tires must have popped. 10+ hours (and counting...) in Rio´s airport. At last check, flights are only 6 hours delayed, some up to 7 1/2 hours. It´s now just after 5PM and we´re supposed to be on a 4PM flight.

The difference between a tall tale fishing story, however, and our travel story, is that our story is entirely true!

Dec 22 2006 - around noon "On the Eurostar"

We´re finally on our way to Brasil!

So after a challenging and stressful ordeal to figure out how to leave the bloody island that is Englad, we find ourselves on quite pricey "flip-up" seats on the Eurostar. Ok, so England isn´t actually "bloody" in my book; but it damn sure is EXTREMELY foggy right now! Heathrow was socked in with fog so thick you couldn´t see 100 feet in front of you. From our flat, we actually couldn´t see to the other side of the Thames river! British Airlines cancelled all of their domestic flights for the previous 2 days and most flights were delayed by many hours.

If we didn´t get on the Eurostar, we would have been stuck in a tent just outside Heathrow airport for hours with thousands of other tourists. The likelihood of us making our outbound flight from London to Paris in time to catch the long-haul flight from Paris to Rio would have been virtually nil.

We are set in for a very long travel day that is so far going all right. At the end of this arduous journey family, friends, churrasco and caipirinhas await! Oh, and did I mention it´s almost 40 degrees C (95 degrees F) over there? :)

Holidays in Brasil...

Hello! Greetings from Brasil! I thought I would try to keep an up-to-date travel blog of our trip to Brasil this year. So I´ll be updating the blog hopefully very frequently, and if not by a computer, I´ll attempt to keep a travel journal and transcribe the text onto the blog; so anytime I have a date in the title, the text comes from the journal. Pictures should come later. We hope everyone is doing very well and has a very Happy Holidays! Much love,

-Jason & Annelies

Colorado Winter Wonderland

Hi all!

So after great wedding and nice trip to Los Angeles, Annelies and Jason headed over to Colorado for a bit of vacation and some quality time with Jason's family. Grandpa Bernie and Grandma Andi were in town for a few days and we got to see them!! They look great and are doing very well!

We spent a few days at the house with them, Steve & Anita, Carrie, and of course Tucker. It was very relaxing and a nice get-away from the hustle-and-bustle of either London or Los Angeles.

After Grandma and Grandpa headed back to Florida, Steve, Anita, Jason and Annelies took a trip into the mountains for a few days. Leaving on a Wednesday afternoon, the weather was extraordinary; sunny and 60 degrees without many clouds in the sky. We actually headed up to the Keystone area and Jason and Annelies checked out a few townhouses/condos (after getting close to buying a property right near the ski lifts at Keystone, Jason and Annelies decided otherwise--we're too far away to enjoy it!).

That afternoon we went up over Berthoud pass and on to our final destination, the YMCA camp near Grandby. We got our own little 2 bedroom cabin; a great facility with a kitchenette, some games and puzzles, and of course, no television! We spent the evening having a nice meal, drinking some nice wine, and putting together a puzzle!

The next morning, after a good night sleep, we awoke to a winter wonderland! Over a foot of snow fell during the night, so gentle that none of us knew that anything was going on outside! Ever prepared for anything, we had enough supplies to last through the morning :) After a bit of shoveling snow in the afternoon, we headed out to Grandby to catch some dinner and firewood from the local grocery store. We spent the rest of the day in a cozy warm cabin telling stories, playing games, finishing the puzzle, and all-around having a great and relaxing time!

Annelies and I have commented about how unbelievably fast the weeks fly by anymore. Before we knew it, the week trip to Colorado to see family was over and we had to return to London :(
Time is flying again right now; it's busy season for Jason at Shopzilla. Annelies has also been very busy at Nestle these past few weeks. We're both looking forward to 2 weeks of vacation in Brazil! We hope everyone is doing well! Lots of love,

-Jason & Annelies