I’m sleep-deprived and running on adrenaline. I’m on the Will Rogers airport waiting on the OKC – DFW flight. To add to the excitement (some may call it stress), our flight is delayed for almost an hour. Typical.

The last two weeks have been the busiest I’ve ever been. Work seems like a cake walk compared to the amount of stuff I’ve had to do to prepare for this. But, no matter how much preparation and spreadsheets that I created, it still came down to the wire, packing-wise.

After a full day of getting the house ready, the studio ready, our personal grooming needs taken care of, running errands, downloading shows/movies/music/software, making calls, I started packing at 10 pm and Chris started packing at 12:30. We did a great job and the spreadsheets DID help a lot but I had to make some cuts in the wardrobe. But, I was OK with that. It always happens.

What I didn’t expect was that we were going to have to take a larger suitcase for our checked bag. My pride was crushed. I thought that my superior packing skills would surely come through and we could find a way to fit all of our stuff into three small, carry-on sized bags and two backpacks. But, that was not happening.

Finally, at 3 am, we were finished. Frazzled, exhausted but finished. Bed. Then, up at 7:30 am for an 8:30 am airport shuttle pick-up.

It was in those minutes while we were waiting with anticipation for the shuttle when I had a moment of panic about the trip. Complete anxiety. As I stood in our music room looking out for the shuttle, I really had a minute to take in what was happening. I know I’ve been planning this thing for what seems like forever but this was the first time, in this moment, when apprehension crossed my mind.

Of course, it didn’t last long. As soon as I saw the blue Airport Express van, I knew it was go time and I was ready to go.

– kb

I needed to lighten my load…

Thanks, Ashley Russell!! You made my transition from SuperCuts to a proper salon blissful. Chris LOVES it (and thinks it should be shorter).

Last weekend before we depart. Spent it booking the rest of our hotels, New Zealand domestic airfare, and Australia domestic airfare. Bought trip insurance (medical). Signed up for a Skype account. Prank called each other using said Skype account. Took inventory of clothing. Created packing spreadsheet. Made list of things we needed. Went shopping for four hours (ugh).  We were able to catch a Thunder game on Sunday night which gave us a much-needed break from all this trip stuff.

Packing is the most daunting part of this trip. The thought has haunted me for months, always in the back of my mind, mocking me… How the hell do I pack for seven weeks with only one carry-on suitcase and a backpack? While we are checking one bag, I can’t really count it b/c it’s mainly for toiletries and Chris’s shoes. We are planning to do laundry a few times during the trip so that will help. But, still.

How do I pack for a variety of climates? How do I pack for a variety of activities across nine destinations? How do I pack when I don’t really know all the activities that we may do? How do I balance looking cute with comfort and style? (With me, comfort usually wins out. Style, be damned!)

My strategy is layers: tank tops, short sleeved t-shirts, long sleeved t-shirts, and cardigans with jeans, shorts, or a black short/long skirt. A couple of nice dresses for the evening. Color scheme is neutrals with a little splash of color here and there. There’s going to be a lot of grays, whites, and blacks in our pictures but what else is new? Neutral is my signature color.

So, I began my list. First, I categorized the activities that we will most likely be participating: city walking, outdoorsy/hiking, water/beach/boat, night out, and working out. Second, I listed all the clothes that I planned to take and marked which activities I could wear each item. This helped weed out some items that couldn’t pull double-duty. Adios, 4-inch black pumps.

Here is Chris’s pack list. He’s using the simple approach.

– kb

It’s 9 pm on Sunday night and Chris walks into the room and sees me on my computer on the couch.

Him: What are you doing?

Me: I’m working on a spreadsheet.

Him: That’s weird.

Me: Really? It’s really fun.

Yep. I like planning and organizing. I use spreadsheets a lot to manage whatever project comes my way, both for work and my personal life. I actually like creating spreadsheets and find it relaxing. Kind of like my mother finds it relaxing to clean house. (It’s in my genes, what can I say?)

Needless to say, planning a trip of this magnitude using miles & points requires a few spreadsheets. Here is an example of one for our hotels.

So, yeah, I’ve been working on this sucker for at least three months at night sitting on the bed in the privacy of my hotel room. I’m sharing this for those of you who, like me, use spreadsheets in their personal lives. I know you guys will appreciate it.

– kb

Every year, Chris and I take a trip for our wedding anniversary. A yearly honeymoon, if you will. It’s a tradition that we cherish and plan to continue forever. Our trips have ranged from big to small and everything in between: Lake Tahoe (2003); Playa del Carmen (2004); New Orleans (2005); Kansas City (2006); St. Lucia & Bequia (2007); Anguilla (2008); Santa Barbara (2009); Grand Cayman (2010); Galapagos (2011).

Feb 2, 2012 is our 10 year anniversary. We wanted it to be BIG. Like, really big. As we started to plan our trip, a former colleague was posting about her sabbatical trip which included a round-the-world ticket from her preferred airline. Bingo! I had completely forgotten about the OneWorld ticket that American Airlines offered. The wheels in my head started spinning. Hard and fast.

I travel for work. A lot. This translates to thousands of frequent flier miles and hotel points. I decided that now was the time to cash all those miles and points in for a trip anywhere we wanted to go (well, anywhere American Airlines or their partner airlines go).

How did we decide where to go? First, the city had to have a Hilton or Hyatt. Second, American Airlines or one of their partners had to fly there. Once we started there, deciding where to go was pretty easy. Our only requirement – hit as many continents as we can. So, we are going to almost all of them. Here is our itinerary:

Buenos Aires, Agrentina (5 days)

Madrid, Spain (5 days)

Hong Kong, China (4 days)

Auckland, New Zealand (5 days)

Queenstown, New Zealand (5 days)

Sydney, Australia (5 days)

Brisbane, Australia (2 days)

Great Barrier Reef (5 days)

Cape Town, S. Africa (5 days)

(We would have included Antarctica but AA doesn’t fly there)

Some of you are probably wondering how the hell we can take seven weeks off of our jobs to do this. Well, we are both self-employed. Since I work on a project-to-project basis, I had some time off in between projects. Chris owns his own recording studio and is able to make his own schedule. Our only other responsibility is our cat, Hermes, and he will be taken good care of by a great friend who will be housesitting as well.

I hope you keep in touch with us through our blog. We promise to take time to document our adventures. If you have any suggestions of people, places, and things that we should see during our trip, we’d love to hear it!

– kb

Krystal and I really love to travel.  And, we’re very fortunate that her business-related travel requirements earn her an outrageous amount of airline miles and hotel points.  We are able to travel in ways that are so luxurious that we’d never be able to afford the trips without the points and miles.  It’s a dream come true for travel enthusiasts.

This year, with Krystal between clients during the time of our annual Anniversary Trip, and with hundreds of thousands of airline miles banked, we decided to go “all in” with an “Around the World” ticket from American Airlines.  Our seven week adventure will take us to Argentina, Spain, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa.  We’ll spend time on every continent except for Antarctica.  We’ve previously visited Asia, Europe, and S. America.  But, this will be our first trip to Africa or Australia.

It was Krystal’s idea to write about this trip.  We both like to write.  And, many of our friends and family are very excited to hear about our trip.  So, we’ve created this blog to share stories and photos during our trip.  Stay tuned for frequent updates.  We’ll start with some posts about the planning and preparation beginning tomorrow, January 1, 2012.

See you in the new year!

-Chris