I have a confession to make.

I am kinda, sorta, maybe a little bit, burned out.

Not of traveling of course. That would be just plain ungrateful. Just of some of the things that come along with traveling... Stepping in cow / donkey / goat / camel shit. Nearly getting run over by a rickshaw / tuk tuk / walla walla. The contsant threat of food-born illness / disease-carrying mosquitos. It's been a LONG time since these two Californians have stepped foot in a western country, and we are starting to inevitably crave some of the finer things in life. Street lights and sidewalks. Clean air and blue skies. Wine and cheese.

The great thing about foregoing the more economical "round the world ticket", is that there is no strictly defined direction we have to travel in. Just cause the earth didn't kindly and conveniently place its countries in the order we'd like to visit, doesn't mean we have to adhere to its geography. So, we've decided to turn this trip a little upside down in the 3rd quarter.

WE'RE GOING TO NEW ZEALAND!!!!

The idea came randomly, and I'm not sure who first suggested it. But once the words were uttered, we knew it was absolutely the way to go. We've realized that over the past several months, we've done a whole lot of seeing and not a ton of doing. Our memory cards are bursting at the seams, and so are our pants. We miss the days of climbing glaciars and rafting rapids and riding ostriches.

So, we are expediting our India visit a bit, and are off to greener pastures next month. We are going to pack up a camper van with fine wine and real cheese and the last season of Lost, and will hit the paved, uncongested highway in style. This change of plans has given us a renewed energy and enthusiasm for the rest of our trip and we are so, so excited.

Added bonus. Malaysian Airlines is letting us turn our 12-hour Kuala Lumpur layover into a legitimate stopover, free of charge. So we'll spend a week checking out Malaysia and Singapore en-route. So, SO excited.

After New Zealand, we are toying with a few options. Backtrack to do Southeast Asia properly. Go somewhere totally unexpected like the Philippines or Papua New Guinea. Or maybe spend a week totally blowing what's left of our budget with some sushi eating, gadget shopping, and karaoke singing in Tokyo. The world is, as they say, our oyster ;)

Have I mentioned how excited we are??