Kevin and Ben's Eight Month Around the World Trip!

Dear Friends and Family:

After one year of research and planning, Ben and I are finally embarking on our eight month around the world backpacking trip on March 14, 2009!

For those of you new to our travel plans, we’re taking the rest of the year off to explore, work, read, volunteer, write, wander, and marinate in foreign cultures. This trip will take us through Japan, Northern China, Tibet, Southeast Asia, Nepal, India, Turkey, the Middle East, Tanzania, South Africa, Brazil and Paraguay.

Our style of travel will be the road less traveled and our itinerary is open—we will fly into one city and out of another and we’ll have weeks or months to get from “A” to “B.” We’re taking backpacks, a couple changes of clothes, a mini laptop, a pocket sized video camera and that’s about it.

Our departure from Washington will be bittersweet as we leave behind many friends and fond memories. Ben had the honor of working on Capitol Hill for two Members of Congress and he made a difference in the lives of thousands of constituents. I served two Presidents at the White House and managed to get scolded by the President only once. I also witnessed Ben’s mother serve as a Member of Congress with tireless dedication and commitment to the great people of Kansas.

And of course, when we depart, we want to include you in our travels! We’ll share our adventures through Facebook with blogs, pictures, and video. You can also see an interactive map of our planned route on our travel blog.

We’d also love for you to join us for a week or two (we might even stay in a real hotel for such an occasion!). My sister is meeting us in Thailand and others are booking tickets to join in Egypt, South Africa, and Brazil. The travel dollar is going further and further everyday….e-mail us to strategerize.

But if you can’t make it overseas, we’d like to invite you to our Bon Voyage Party in Washington, DC the night before we depart, on Friday, March 13, 2009, at 7PM. The address is below, stay tuned for more party details!

1117 10th Street NW
Apt#10
Washington, DC 20001

Cheers,

Kevin and Ben

Itinerary (dates are just a rough estimate)

March 14, 2009
Washington, DC

March 15 - 16
Seoul, South Korea

March 17 – 24
Japan

March 25 – May 1
China

May 2 – June 17
Vietnam
Laos
Cambodia
Thailand

June 18 – July 20
Nepal
Northern India

July 21 – July 26
Istanbul, Turkey

July 27 – August 30
Jordan
Israel
Egypt