The Rise and Fall of Seantonio Banderas

With a writing speed that rivals only that of George R.R. Martin's, I've fallen a year behind on my blog!  Writing this blog has been a tumultuous endeavor as it highlights one of the worst milestones of my life and has forced me to face some hard facts.  With twenty four winters passing since my last modeling gig and a hairline that's receding faster than the polar ice caps,  I've had to accept that I'm only better looking than most people now.  And that's quite humbling.    One day you're turning heads, the next your turning thirty.  I'm an old man now, and this is my story...

Instead of experiencing a traditional Thanksgiving that involves unbuckling your pants to make room for dessert, watching football, and drinking beer, Sarah decided to surprise me with a trip to Minnesota for the holiday weekend so we could watch some basketball.  I hadn't been to Minnesota in over a decade, so I was pretty impressed by how awesome Minneapolis and St. Paul were.  The public transport is legit, with direct routes from the airport to both downtowns, as well as an expansive indoor skywalk that connects all major buildings in downtown Minneapolis.

Outside of the game, we didn't have any set plans, so we mostly just wandered around and drank beer since there are microbreweries everywhere.  I don't know if the excessive visiting of said microbreweries or an overwhelming quantity of MSG impacted my judgment, but I can definitively say that St. Paul has the best Thai food in America.  We also took advantage the Black Friday sales to purchase the Oregon Trail card game.  However, this led me down an unfortunate path brimming with broken bones, dead oxen, and dysentery.  No one survives the trail unscathed.

The T-Wolf on the monitor is howling at a full moon with shocking similarity to the way Sarah howls at a very different, but equally majestic full moon that hangs above our mantle....

When a man looks at this, he sees a giant cherry on a spoon.  When a woman looks at this, she sees me lying in the spoon with a stream of hot fudge cascading down my perfect body.  And quite frankly, you women have incredible taste.

If you look closely, you can see that this wolf is made entirely out of recycled materials.  Pretty impressive!

After spending Thanksgiving in Minnesota, we decided to do Christmas in K.C. and New Year's in New England.  Being a cheap bastard in the year prior, I convinced Sarah to hold out until January to buy a Christmas tree so we could get one for 80% off when stores were dumping their excess supply.  And that folks is how you get a $400 tree for $80 dollars.  It was also during Christmas that I decided to supplement Josh's robe life, during which he regularly roamed around our house in a plush woman's robe, with a fake silk kimono.  I figured he could at least look elegant when displaying the lower two-thirds of his thighs.

After Christmas we flew to Sarah's parents in Connecticut so we could attend our friends' wedding (Congrats Jackie and Tyler!) and then braved a New England Patriots game on New Year's Eve.  Unfortunately for (Or maybe fortunately for) Sarah's mother, she was feeling under the weather and therefore could not be destroyed by it.  Sarah's dad, however,  got the pleasure of braving the coldest regular season game in Patriot's history with us.  Nothing beats a negative two degree day with gusty winds at Gillette Stadium.  

Thankfully the staff provided everyone with hand warmers as they entered, which I promptly shoved down my socks so I didn't lose a toe to frostbite.  Sarah's father and I proved men are the weaker sex, displaying a keen eagerness to leave the game at halftime to escape the cold.  Sarah showed no sympathy when telling us to man up, because we weren't leaving until the end of the third quarter at the earliest even though the score was 21-3.  At some point during that 15 minute quarter that seemed to last 3 hours, I questioned whether or not I should pee myself for the immediate warmth, knowing that it would eventually freeze and leave me even colder.  I'm not proud of what happened next...

Our only promise of warmth emanated from the stadium speakers, where the sound guy was sitting in a heated booth and blaring Beach Boys and songs about heat waves.  Meanwhile the hawkers were screaming out, "ICE COLD BEER!", as if that  somehow sounded appealing.  It was freezing, I was surrounded by Patriots fans, and I couldn't even drink because our beers froze within seconds of being poured.   It was one of the worst days of my life.  It was one of Sarah's best.  Why do these damn Patriots fans always come out on top?!?!!

First christmas in the house!!!  

Since Josh is our surrogate child, we let him pick out his stocking... And then Santa filled it with Batman underwear

This is the spot where I had to sit and listen to Sarah talk about how handsome Julian Edelman is.  Did I mention how terrible this day was?

Winter continued to be rough in Kansas City upon our return, with the coldest January on record in over 100 years.   See, some winds of winter exist (GoT nerds get it :))...   Sarah decided to rescue me from the cold and take me back to Mexico for my birthday.  Were her motives sincere?  Or did she just want to see my thirty year old skin dry out and wrinkle in the Mexican sun like some sort of disgusting raisin?  Obviously she was pleased I was getting to her age after I spent months mocking her for being in her thirties whilst I was still in my twenties.  And that's exactly why I couldn't trust her.

We started our journey by meeting my brother Bryn, as well as our friends Martha and Aaron in Mexico City and then made our way to Palenque, an ancient Mayan city in Chiapas, Mexico.  I'm proud to say that this time we made the next leg of our flight, unlike our failed attempt to go to Honduras!  One of my other fifty brothers, Josh, also decided to take time out of his incredibly packed schedule as an aimless drifter to meet us down there.  Between Bryn quitting his job to bum around Mexico for several months, me taking two years off work, and Josh not having a real job since Y2K, we Lowe bros have really shown this world how to just barely scrape by.  It's not easy being so damn ambitious.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to achieve so little?

In order to get to Palenque, we first had to fly into a town called Villahermosa and then drive a few hours.  We arrived pretty late, so we decided to stay in Villahermosa for the night before continuing our journey.  For a total of $20, we got a two bed apartment that slept all 6 of us, plus a driver that met us at the airport so we could follow him in our rental car.  For those of you that have never driven in Mexico, you probably have no idea how impossible it is to park a car, let alone an SUV.  We basically had to parallel park into a spot that was 4 inches longer than our vehicle.  And that spot was not between two cars, but between two buildings.  After several minutes of failed attempts, our Airbnb host decided to save us and somehow maneuvered into that spot like it was no big deal.  I don't even understand the science of how it was possible, but then again I'm Asian and therefore a terrible driver.

Upon leaving Villahermosa the next morning, we headed to our jungle-laden Airbnb, which was about halfway to Palenque.  Along the way, we stopped to meet the Airbnb host at a gas station so we could tail him to the villa since it's not exactly on google maps.  Eventually we turned off the highway for a little gravel travel, which eventually turned into stretches of road that were more pothole than road.  After passing through a few villages, we stopped at a small clearing and hopped into our hosts 4x4 pick up truck.  We then spent then next twenty minutes driving along a muddy, make shift road, stopping only to open barbwire gates to pass through.  But alas, we came upon another clearing and everything became very clear indeed.  Paradise was waiting.

I mean a birthday trip to hang out in a jungle paradise with private waterfalls and ancient ruins.  I pretty much have the worst girlfriend ever.  She like, doesn't even get me.

Do you know what to call a horse that lives next door? A neigh-bor....  Bahaha Laffy Taffy strikes again!!!

Sometimes I like to put on a little Ryan Cabrera and just watch the birds.  You know, just normal dude stuff.

Lean with it, rock with it, when we gonna stop with it? Lyrics that mean nothing, we were gifted with thought.  Is it time to move our feet to an introspective beat? It ain't the speakers that bombard, it's our hearts that make the beat.

As you can tell from the photos, it really wasn't that beautiful at all.  It was pretty much the worst Airbnb I've ever stayed at.  Like, we didn't even decide to just spend an entire day there without leaving cus it was so amazing.  I can't even describe to you how ridiculously awesome this place was.  We had private access to a multi-tiered waterfall where we could hang out in pools above the rapids.  We could take kayaks out into the river, ride horses for free, hike around the forest, chill out in hammocks and outdoor beds, or just drink beer and relax in the house.  Sarah literally thought she might cry because it was so beautiful.

The owner says the long term plan is to turn the property into a resort with the main house serving larger groups and smaller cabanas holding up to four people each.  Luckily we got in while it's still just a house along the river, because having everything to ourselves was amazing.  Having a location in the middle of nowhere also has one of my favorite perks in the world: A night sky free of light pollution.  There's nothing like staring into the sky that's actually full of stars.  It's crazy to think that while my goal of seven continents is ambitious now, someday people will try to get to multiple planets.  Who even knows what's in that crazy sky of ours.

We had stocked up on groceries before arriving, so we (Mostly Martha) were able to cook big group dinners, play card games, have a lot of laughs, and just enjoy life.  It was pretty much as perfect a place to hang out as you could ever ask for.  Aaron and Bryn were able to get some ridiculous drone footage over the waterfalls and I was able to bum Aaron's camera lens to take some photos of the night sky.  I don't know how they found this place, but I'm definitely grateful to have such awesome friends and family.  

I am not your rolling wheels, I am the highway.  I am not your carpet ride, I am the sky.  I am not your blowing wind, I am the lightning.  I am not your autumn moon, I am the night. The night......

So many foreign worlds, so many to behold.  So many for us, so ready for us....

We eventually dragged ourselves away from our little slice of paradise to go visit the ancient Mayan ruins.  Bryn got the pleasure of driving the entire trip, which was a pretty terrible draw considering how bad the roads were, but we all appreciated it!!!!  The ruins in Palenque are quite interesting because they aren't fully excavated.  The central part of the historic city is easily accessible, but the majority of surrounding ruins are still buried in the jungle (Though some are visible along the many hiking trails).

We also got the pleasure of hearing the street peddlers blow into wooden jaguar heads that simulate the great cat's roar.  There's nothing like taking back to back international travels to the same country, so you can experience the same cheap souvenirs again!! RRRAAARRRR!  The true highlight of my journey, however, was finding the shrine of Lord Serpent Jaguar.  Can you imagine living in such a time when you could have addressed me as Lord Gorilla Puffin with a straight face?   After bumming around the ruins for a few hours, we made our move to get back to the Airbnb before nightfall, since driving on pot filled roads in the dark didn't sound appealing.

Windows to an ancient world

You know that house is haunted

If we're not too careful, maybe we can all get lost....

These monkeys own an entire forest.  I will spend years paying off my mortgage.  Which species is smarter again?

I think most individuals start to feel a little older once they turn thirty, but to be honest, I don't think that's a bad thing.  You're twenties are for screwing up and figuring out who you are, your thirties are for becoming an adult...and paying off all the debts you accrued in your twenties :).  Our next few adventures were domestic, with a visit from some English lads and a long weekend in Philly and DC.  There was also a misinterpretation of the word 'probably' that led to Sarah becoming pregnant, but that's a story for another blog....




Random GoPros

There's always a big church...

The people living here pump water from the river up to the houses for bathing.  Pretty crafty really.

Trying to make ends meet, you're a slave to the money then you die.  I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down.  You know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet, yeah. No change, I can't change, I can't change, I can't change.  Cus I'm here in my mold, I am here in my mold.  But I'm a million different people from one day to the next. I can't change my mold, no no no no no.... 

Sarah and Sean's Sensational Stockpile of Snappy Snaps

There's a reason they call me the Asian Tom Selleck.  My mustache is so damn sexy.  I practically had to beat the ladies off with a stick.  

Ready. Steady. Yeti.

I told Sarah that if life is a spoon, I'm the cherry on top...Judging by her face I'm not sure she agrees.

The only two Patriots fans I was willing to tolerate...

It was so cold that color ceased to exist.

You can join the cowards all aboard the outrage train, yeah you can stay afraid...Or you can slit the throat of fear and be brave.  You can scratch that little itch, 'til you're moving like a mother fucker up in this bitch!

You should see life as a means to your triumph!

Or as a means to your napping....

Lowe Bros!  Damn those tall, handsome, muscular bastards. I'm the short, chubby one.  Those jerks took all the Schwarzenegger genes and left me with only the DeVito remnants.

But at the same time, I think it's pretty clear I've mastered the art of seduction...

Don't need no five star reservations, I got spaghetti and a cheap bottle of wine.  Don't need no concert in the city, I got a stereo and the best of Patsy Cline. Ain't go no caviar, no Dom Perignon.  But as far as I can see, I got everything I want.  Cus I've got a roof over my head, the woman I love layin in my bed.  And it's alright, alright.  I've got shoes under my feet, forever in her eyes staring back at me.  And it's alright, alright. Cus I've got all I need and it's alright by me....

This tree legitimately looks like it has legs to walk...

I feel it all, I feel everything.  I felt afraid, but I fought the fear and trembling. Yeah I feel it all, I feel everything.  But I never looked back and now this fear... This fear is trembling!

Something tells me my 30s won't be so bad...

I will not play this out discretely, it is real and unashamed. I am human and I'm terrified, but want it all the same.  Cus I wanna overcome, yeah I want to love someone.  Yeah the heart, the heart, the heart, the heart is a muscle. AND I WANT TO MAKE IT STRONG! Cus the heart, the heart, the heart, the heart is a muscle.  I WANT TO MAKE IT STRONG!

York and The Return to America

Before I dive into the last blog of our UK adventures, I have to give crazy mad props to the awesome people that helped make my year and a half in London be so awesome.  First off, I have to thank my extended family up in Huddersfield for letting me crash with them until I found a job!  Which luckily for my bank account only took a week.

When I finally moved down to London, I only had two weeks to find a place, and somehow wound up making friends for life through a Gumtree "roommate wanted" ad! I mean who else would have joined me for a spontaneous overnight bus trip to Paris?  Or would constantly feed me and show me around London?  Or secretly try to replace me with another Asian after I moved out (Though I'm not sure she was as pretty, or loved appletinis as much). And it was a ghost dangit, I never cried. Especially after watching Love Actually.  It was definitely a ghost!   Bee and Paolo, you two are legends!

To my travel friends Ginni, Anna, and Sharon for randomly meeting up with me and introducing me to new places and new friends. To Stine for showing me the Little Mermaid statue of Copenhagen and introducing me to Smørrebrød  To my boy Peppe!  From living in hostels, to giggling in Gili T, to playing pool with Thai hookers, to crashing a moped, to having no idea what happened that New Year's Eve or why we were covered in body paint, to both ending up in London... Life is too crazy dude, I wish we could have hung out more whilst I was there.  To Cathy and Bob, for inviting us up for our Rushden weekends!  To James and Jules for joining us on our little camping adventure, complete with S'mores!  And for hosting us when we had to make our final flights back to America... And for being so nice to us all of the time! To John for constantly getting drunk with me and introducing me to Gelupo's Gelato!  And for being so god damn handsome.  To Chloe for introducing us to all the best places to eat in London and demanding I wear 'The Suit' to her wedding!

To the softball team for letting me be part of the group once I started dating Sarah.  Although Sunny was probably a little too friendly... And he was always going on about how much he loved Neal's nuts, I just don't know what all that was about...  To Ian, James and Julin - You guys saved us.  If you didn't let us stay with you for those final two months, I don't know what we would have done. I would have had to re-open GigaLowe Inc. and sell my body in the night again.  Though, to be fair, I did give you my family recipe for Seantonio noodles, so even stevens.  And lastly - to my boys at work: Rambo, Manimal aka Mr. Mantastic aka Mantasia aka the Man of my Mantasies, Abs, Slutty Steve, and Captain Phillips.  I have five brothers in the US, but as far as I'm concerned, you guys are complete ass holes.  I never would have survived without you guys, you're family.  And Man, I'm sorry you ended up in the ED the night I left, for symptoms that could only be attributed to a broken heart... Or a rufie from Ram.  There's really no way to know... Until he confesses.  But anyways, to everyone listed and to those I forgot, thanks for making my UK adventure one to remember :)

And now that my rare bout of thankfulness and gratitude is over...on to York!

One of the coolest parts of York - there is still a castle wall that still surrounds most of the city center.

We are always running for the thrill of it, thrill of it.  Always pushing up the hill, searching for the thrill of it.  On and on and on we are calling out, out again.  Never looking down, I'm just in awe of what's in front of me...

Coming here was the last time we got to use our English Heritage passes!  Well worth the cost if you're into history and/or like to wander.

Technically our trip to Budapest/Lisbon was Sarah's Bday/Our Anniversary gift, but for her last weekend in the country, we figured we might as well take a cheeky last trip.  Ergo, we headed to Kings Cross one last time, so I could hop on a train that, once again, disappointingly I might add, did not leave from Platform 9 3/4... I mean J.K Rolwing literally based a character off of me.  Do you really think she came up with Seanold Weasley on her own?  You think the long, luxurious hair is just a coincidence? The hot girlfriend? The incredible skill at Wizard's Chess ( I mean, I'm Asian people).  And that's not even beginning to mention what I can do with my wand... (Don't worry if you've begun to feel titillated, it's just one of the many side effects of reading my blog).

York is kind of the atypical English city that I always imagined in my head.  It is filled with tons of little shops, big open squares, street performers, aspiring artists, pubs, a huge cathedral, and some random ruins.  I think England gets a lot prettier as you travel North, and once you hit Scotland, it's downright amazing.  If I ever move back to the UK, I would definitely live outside the hustle and bustle of London.  The nice thing about going to a place like York, is that you don't really need a plan and can see everything in a day or two.  So we wandered about, ate Indian food one last time, and randomly stumbled upon a train museum, which was actually really cool!

Fun Fact for HP nerds... This area, with all the buildings jutting out, is called The Shambles.  It is believed to be J.K. Rowling's inspiration for Diagon Alley! Accio Seantonio!

I'm going to miss all the old buildings in Europe.  The oldest building in Kansas City was constructed in 1850... Practically a spring chicken compared to this thing.

This owl does not look like he's having a hoot

Ahhh the good old days, when only rich people could ride the train.  It's good being better than everyone else.

After leaving York, we spent one last night in Huddersfield, so I could see my cousin, aunt and uncle one last time before coming home.  And Sarah forced me to get a haircut as a birthday gift, whilst she went out to lunch with her friends!  Uncool.  The missus flew back home a few days after we got back from York, whilst I had to wait another month, but luckily I was able to get back home before Thanksgiving and see some of my siblings!  Moving continents is always crazy, but luckily my mom was able to put us up whilst we house hunted!

We are pretty awful at the whole not traveling thing, so before we knew it we were already off to Connecticut to spend Christmas with Sarah's family.  We even took a trip into New York City on Christmas day!  Sarah's sister, Candice, and her boyfriend Eric, also came to visit us the following weekend to celebrate New Year's, so moving back definitely didn't put a damper on the chaos maelstrom that is our lives...And things were only going to get crazier as we hunted for our first house, but that's a story for another blog....

Random GoPros

York Minster in all it's GoPro glory

Apparently putting a super creepy baby doll in the train makes for a better exhibition.

You might sail across the sea, set up camp beneath this tree. Or climb a mountain, spend your time in heavenly surroundings watching down.  And my heart keeps beating and I'm still dreaming of me and you, me and you.  Well my heart keeps beating and I'm still dreaming of you...

 Sarah and Sean's Sensational Stockpile of Snappy Snaps

I walked accross an empty land, I knew the pathway like the back of my hand.  I felt the earth beneath my feet, sat by the river and it made me complete.  And if you have a minute, why don't we go somewhere only we know. Somewhere only we know...

Go home into your blue jeans, have some chicken and some baked beans.  Pick a backyard football team and not do much of anything.  That's what I love about Sundays...

I miss Costa!  It's completely ruined Starbucks for me.  Don't even get me started on a cheeky Nando's....

And all the things we did still fill me up with butterflies.  Cus I still flatter, I still shine, whenever I remember your sweet smile.  My heart keeps beating and I'm still dreaming of me and you, me and you. Well my heart keeps beating and I'm still dreaming of you...

Victoria Falls and the Raft of Death

After our safari ended, we were transported to the third country of our trip, Zimbabwe.  Our destination was Victoria Falls, which is considered to be one the seven natural wonders of the world.  As most of you probably already know, the other six are my abs.  The falls were originally named Mosi-oa-Tunya, which means 'The Smoke that Thunders".  We had 2.5 days in the area, so we decided to chill out our first afternoon, visit the falls on day two, and go rafting on day three.  In hindsight, rafting on our last day was the greatest decision we ever made, as rafting literally destroyed my desire to live...but more on that later.

After having a quiet first night and catching up on sleep, we woke up early and headed to the falls.  We had read online that the tickets were $10 and you could leave the park and re-enter it as much as you'd like throughout the day.  When we arrived, the ticket was $30 and only good for a single entry.  Bah!  Damn you capitalism, taking advantage of us tourists.

Victoria Falls from the airplane

I've only seen the bottom two...Some traveler I am.

Sometimes Sarah likes to walk behind me so she can check out my sexy bum!

The volume of water that comes down is insane, that's why it actually does look like smoke.  And because it drops so far...well, it sounds like thunder.

Since there is pretty much nothing to do in the actual town of Victoria Falls, other than get harassed by the hundreds of people trying to sell you crap souvenirs, we figured we should try and spend as much time in the park as possible.  Party to enjoy the scenery and partly so people would leave us the f alone :)!  There is a path that winds around the park, so you can see all of the individual falls that make up Victoria Falls.  The scenery is absolutely amazing, you feel so completely dwarfed by how large it is.  There is also a section on the Zambia side, called the Devil's Pool, where you can actually sit in a natural pool on the edge of the waterfall.  We didn't have enough time to go, but it was also $100 for 15 minutes, and I'm not made of money.

The Devil's Cataract

Depending on what time of year you go, this can be a full sheet of water or completely dry.  We came somewhere in the middle, which ended up being perfect!

I need to live in the wild instead of a city

Kayaks on the Zambezi...If only we knew what we were getting into...

Since we paid so much for entrance to the park, we decided to do a second loop, so we could just enjoy the sights and not worry about taking photos.  We were rewarded for our efforts because we stumbled upon two deer hanging out along the cliff's edge!  Life just seems so easy when you see animals relaxing in the wilderness.  Those deer roam around a giant park and have a free view to what many consider the most amazing waterfall in the world.  Meanwhile I work all day in an office and rarely see sunlight.

After leaving the falls, we went to our lunchtime spot, The Lookout Cafe, which offers cheap beer, good food, and even better views.  We came in after a group of about fifty Chinese tourists that all ordered the exact same meal...and ate about half of it.  Such waste!  After eating, we wandered around town, did some souvenir shopping, and eventually found a place that had African style tapas.  Impala meatballs and wild game meat skewers for the win!

I would take being out in the world over sitting on the couch watching Netflix any day.  Too many amazing things to see and do.

I love this shot, the deer relaxing in front of the waterfall.  Wild and free, just like life is supposed to be.

"Take every risk, drop every fear"

Not a bad little panorama

People complain about moles ruining their gardens...Imagine warthogs.  

Wild game meat skewers!  No idea what kind of meat, but it was delicious.

Ugh.  Rafting.  Sarah had the idea to go white water rafting in Zimbabwe, because it is considered by many to be the best in the world.  I consider it to be death incarnate.  I had a bad feeling when they split us into uneven groups.  Most had six, one had five, and our group had seven.  Instead of splitting up one of the larger groups and make each group six, they chose to have odd numbers.  Not that having balance in a raft is key.  Neither is having people paddle through the rapids, or putting the experienced people in front, or having a guide that even remotely knows what he's doing.  None of those things are important.  Unless you want to live.

Our guide, Stuart, was literally the worst guide I have ever had doing anything in my life.  If you go rafting and he is your guide, you will probably die or lose your desire to live.  The course is made up of about 19 rapids along the Zambezi River, but depending on the time of year you go, the level of each rapid can fluctuate.  We had to walk around two level sixes, but were able to paddle through four level fives.  For those of you that are unfamiliar with rafting, it isn't uncommon for people to die on level four and fives.  The previous times I've gone rafting, I'd only fallen out once and each time the raft was flipped intentionally by the guide for fun.  Sarah and one other girl fell out five times, everyone else fell out four.  Our raft fully flipped three times.  No other raft flipped more than once...

The third time the raft flipped, was by far the most dangerous.  As we went towards a rapid, known as "The Washing Machine", we were told to paddle hard and aim for the right side of the rapid, because it is a level four on the side and a six in the middle.  Level six rapids are off limits as there is a high likelihood of injury and possibly even death.  Our guide, who sat in the back of the raft and acted as our rudder, apparently thought it was a good idea to steer us directly into the carnage.  Not only did we all get absolutely smashed, but our entire raft got sucked into the river before getting shot out.  I literally thought I was going to die.

My GoPro footage would later reveal that I got sucked under for over thirty seconds, spinning around in a whirlpool before getting shot out.  It was pure luck that I got sent above the water at the exact moment I gasped for air, because as soon as I was out, I was sucked under again.  Luckily I was able to spot Sarah when I finally came up for good, so I at least knew she was ok.  However, one girl didn't make it out so lucky.  She smashed her back on the rocks and through tears indicated she was at a pain level of 7 out of 10.  To make matters worse, we still had five rapids to go, as well as an 800 meter hike up a cliffside.  And if her day couldn't get any worse, when we got back up and were eating lunch, she got stung on the tongue by a wasp and I had to pull out the stinger.  It was chaos incarnate. It was Africa.

One of the few times our raft was actually upright...

The safety measures in Zimbabwe aren't exactly great...

As crazy and dangerous as it was.... We will never forget this trip!

We woke up the next morning completely shattered.  Neither of us could walk without limping and we had to hobble 2 miles across the border and go through passport checks between Zimbabwe and Zambia, since we were flying back out of Livingstone.  To make matters worse, I had to do this whilst carrying our big backpack that held all of our clothes and weighed like fifty pounds.  Life is always a struggle.

Luckily, shortly after the border crossing we found a huge resort, so we were able to stop in and get a coffee before organizing a taxi to the airport.  The resort was absolutely amazing (and full of rich people), but I'm glad we stay in tents and have adventures.  Why spend all that money going to Africa if you aren't going to go out and experience it?  I'll never understand people that go on vacation to sit around a pool, drink fancy cocktails, and play on their cell phones when they could go out and see what this world has to offer.  Turn that phone off and chuck it in a drawer people, you need to untether from that sh!t.

Who can resist buying Simba chips?

A hippo drink stirrer!  This will be stirring Tito's and club sodas in Orlando in no time...

After another full day of flying, that included transfers in South Africa and Qatar, we finally got back to London.  However, we never rest for long, so within a few weeks we were already on our next adventure to meet Sarah's parents in Belgium.  Did they approve of me?  Did Sarah's mom refer to my body as being pure dynamite?  I guess you'll find out on my next blog...


Random GoPros

The Lookout Cafe

Our version of Paradise Falls

And I'd give up forever to touch you, cus I know that you feel me somehow.  You're the closest to Heaven that I'll ever be and I don't want to go home right now...

Like ants on a log...

 Sarah and Sean's Sensational Stockpile of Snappy Snaps

Nearly any view is made better with your first beer of the day!

What did on eye say to the other?
Between me and you, something smells

My shame at incorrectly navigating us

She's in my shirt, wearing my shades, holding my GoPro!  What's mine is not mine.

What you feel is what you are and what you are is beautiful :)

Oh that boy's a slag, the best you ever had.  The best you ever had is just a memory. And those dreams aren't as daft as they seem, not as daft as they seem, my love when you dream them up...

So many travels!  Our second continent together.  We will reach #3 when we are both back in the US!

You're somewhere I wanna go.  Nice and swift as we take it slow.  You know we sit just right, it's one hell of a sight...

We're here for the moment, so let's own it.  For the moment, so let's own it.  Why are you waiting, it's here for the taking.  It's good loving, it's worth making...

After she fell out, I had the choice to help her back into the raft or take photos mocking her.  I chose wisely.

I think we spent half our day's journey walking around the rapids that were too dangerous to raft through.

We took this photo whilst we still thought we were going to live

Completely shattered, but glad we made it out alive!