Less than 3 weeks...

Yesterday was the 3 week mark until our departure...wow! I think we're pretty prepared at this point, this biggest task left is selling/packing up the things we aren't taking on the trip. We have 2 garage sales this weekend (come by if you're in Springfield!) and after that it's crunch time to clean out the house. Jason and I have both been getting a lot of questions about the logistics of the trip, so I figured I'd try to answer some here. Feel free to ask more if I miss any though!

FAQ's

What are you going to eat?
We'll eat local food, often from street vendors. LOTS of rice and noodles. Jason wants to try dog, I'm up for trying most of that stuff! I started eating meat again so I'm ready to eat it there. We're going to try and eat 2 meals a day to help our budget, but I get pretty pissy when I'm hungry so we'll see how that actually goes :)

Where are you sleeping?
We're staying in hostels for the most part. Some people thought we were camping in the jungle the whole time (no way!). Pretty much a room with a bed and shared bathroom, sometimes dorm-style rooms, pretty much the cheapest option we can find.

How long will you be gone?
Based on our budget we could stay for about a year, but we'll pretty much stay until we run out of money or are just ready to come home.

Is it dangerous?
For the most part, no. Of course there will be some places that aren't as safe, just like there are in the U.S. But we're pretty well informed as to where these places are and we'll be cautious.

Where are you going?
We're going to Southeast Asia! Which is pretty much straight south of the Eastern half of China. We're flying to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in Vietnam, then traveling to Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. Then we plan to fly to India and go to Bangladesh and Nepal. This is totally flexible though, so who knows, maybe we'll end up in Iraq after Indonesia!

Are you bringing a gun?
NO

Will you have a phone?
No again.

Internet access?
Yes, pretty regularly. We'll update as much as we can!

How long did you have to save for this?
We started saving in August of last year, so it's been a solid year of working our asses off and saving like crazy.

What are you packing?
Not a lot! We each have a fairly large backpack, and are packing as minimally as we can. I'm bring about 4 tops and 3 or 4 bottoms, and 3 pairs of shoes. I imagine Jason will bring less. We have to carry a years-worth of malaria medication, as well as some over the counter stuff. We'll post pictures of our packs once they're packed!

Do you know the language?
Not a word. But in the majority of places we'll be able to communicate in English with a lot of people, and it's amazing how well you can get by with hand signals. We have a small translation book with 5 languages in SE Asia as well to help us get by.

I think that sums it up pretty well. I'm starting to get a little nervous about it, mostly to leave family and friends. But it's pretty much all excitement! Let us know if you have any other questions, and thanks to those who have been so supportive and helpful! I especially want to thank my parents who are letting me store my car at their house among other things, and are helping with some of the logistics while we're gone. They're also celebrating "Early Christmas" for us this week and taking us to the airport. The trip would be a lot more difficult without them, so thanks for all of your help!