Well, we’ve amended our travel plans. Again. But it’s a good thing.
Indi and I sat down today to really hammer out the details of the next leg of our journey. We looked at the money we have, the money we estimate we’ll have when we leave Japan on December 3rd, and how much flights to respective destinations cost.
Turns out it’s a LOT. Flights to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur (to put us back in Thailand/Myanmar range) cost more than a thousand dollars and the visa for China alone is $150 per person. That’s out. Direct flights to London were $1000 apiece. On a whim, we looked up flights directly from Osaka to Rome. I don’t know if we caught a special or something, but it was only $545 a person to fly halfway across the world. Sold!
That means we’ll be able to see some of Europe before we have to come home! It also puts us in range to fly from Europe (preferably the UK) to NYC and make another roadtrip home before resuming a ‘normal’ life for a while. In addition to all that, we’ve met many awesome people from various parts of Europe that we’ll get to meet up with. It’s a win/win! We start in Italy (Christmas Mass at the Vatican? That would be awesome!) and hope to see Spain, France, Germany, and the UK at least. Anything else we can squeeze in, rest assured we will!
We are sad that we’ll miss Myanmar and China on this go-round. However, it gives us another reason to come back to southeast Asia in the future. If we had gone forward with the plan to visit those countries, we would’ve spent over $2000 more than what our new plan entails. We’re all for stretching our budget at this point.
Speaking of which, thank you to the folks that have donated. We feel truly blessed to be able to take this journey in the first place and are very happy to be able to share our experiences through this blog. We will keep going as long as we can to bring you new images and tales of our adventures!
Rhys' Pieces 
Get in touch with me when you hit Paris. I'll give you some places to go and things to see.
Also, if you can, make a stop in Prague. It's gorgeous. Always interesting to see the difference between Eastern and Western Europe. I'm sure there's much less of a difference now, but 8 years ago, the differences were quite striking.
Heart of your mother is well again 🙂 And OH You lucky, lucky boy! To get to take Indi to see some of what you experienced in Italy! And to experience it anew through her eyes. The architecture will woo her artist's heart and the artwork will steal it away. You MUST experience Christmas at the Vatican if you can, it is bound to be an extravaganza of an experience never to be forgotten. But you must also go to Florence, the heart of the Renaissance. And just think – you won't have to live on peanut butter for most of your trip this time, LOL. You like Indi's spaghetti because it's all from scratch yum – I promise you, you haven't lived until you've eaten Italian in Italy!! Probably everything you get will be from scratch. It is a gastronomic delight. I'd be willing to bet you would fall in total love with lasagna there. Ravioli, spumoni, fettuccine, you'll really discover your Pisarro roots there. (I think it was Pizarro before they came here, your grandma would know). Love you guys lots. LoryMom