You're Going Where on Your Honeymoon?

CP Abroad

by Ramon Monras-Sender and Amy Pickard

Amy Pickard and Ramon Monras-Sender are both Philly-based musicians. They recently got married and decided that, in lieu of a traditional honeymoon, they would quit their jobs and go traveling.

Six months sounds like a long time to travel, but the world, as it turns out, is frickin' huge. You could travel all of your life and still want more. It seems sad in a way that you can never see all of the things you want to see, but I guess that's part of the beauty of it. Better to end one's life still curious, still interested, still seeking. Better than bored, no?

We had a difficult time narrowing down the places we wanted to go. At the top of the list were Thailand, India, China, Japan, Eastern Europe, Africa, Nepal. Impossible! We realized that traveling for six months was likely to be exhausting, so we decided we would break the trip into two-month chunks. Amy had always wanted to go to Thailand, if only for the food. We have a friend living in Nairobi who offered to put us up. Ramon really wanted to revisit Spain, having spent every summer there growing up. And voila! An itinerary was born.

Chunk one: Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos

Chunk two: Kenya and Addis Ababa

Chunk three: Morocco and Spain

And for spice, a trip in the middle to the Himalayan Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan. Not at all a budget destination, but we were both so enthralled by the place that for our wedding registry, we asked for donations to visit this country. As a traveling group of two, it'll cost us $230 per person per day to be in the country, compared to our $35-per-person-per-day budget for the rest of the trip. So after Southeast Asia, we'll have eight fine days in Bhutan, then on to Kenya ... we hope. These plans were made before the current political upheaval happening in the country. We're keeping an eye on the situation and will change our plans as necessary. That come-as-it-may attitude is, well, foreign to anxiety-inclined Amy and highly organized Ramon, but we'll keep at it. Six months on the road is bound to help.

(editorial@citypaper.net)