October 31 - 3:15PM - Flight to Rio de Janeiro

Let the madness begin. Kevin and I are once again setting out on an epic journey, this time to Brazil. Deciding to travel to Brazil had something to do with satisfying an urge to conquer South America and come closer to setting foot on every continent. It's an effort to fully experience alternatives to US culture, ideas, and visions rather than just the desire to sit on a nice beach and relax. I want to be surprised and experience the unexperienced!

We are an hour or so into our first flight out of San Francisco, we’ll soon land in Houston and then catch a connecting flight to Rio de Janeiro from there. We should arrive tomorrow. We’ve decided to immediately book out from Rio soon after landing and head up to the North-East coast of Brazil to Salvador da Bahia, a historic city that was the first colonial capital of Brazil with a rich cultural, culinary and musical tradition. We’ll spend a few days there and then travel to the center of the Amazon Jungle to a city called Manaus on the Amazon River. Once in the jungle well try and book a jungle tour or Amazon boat tour for several days. After the jungle we'll then head back down to Rio for the final days of our time in Brazil where we will most likely hang out, take in the sites and get a little partying done as well.

From experience I have learned not to try and guess what this trip is going to be like. We’ve got a general idea of what we want to do but I know that I can read and research and try to imagine what’s ahead but it will always be totally different from what I was expecting. That’s the best part about it and it’s the reason I travel. What I do know is that the blank pages in this journal are going to be filled with some interesting, exciting, crazy and unimaginable experiences. It’s going to be life changing.

I’ve got my iPod, my travel watch, my guidebook, my backpack that’s been around the world with me and my journal. I’m ready for anything.