Hello, hello everybody we have a bunch of super exciting news to share. To kick us off, Crossing Borders continues to inch forward thanks to your support!! We officially have a flight booked to Japan in October as well as the flight from Japan to South Korea. With all of the donations and contributions made through our We Did It campaign, Cashapp and Venmo contributions, T-shirt sales, and other merchandise sales we are able to fund the first month of our round the world trip! The first month will be spent in Japan, exploring the country from tip to tail, before heading off for a month in South Korea. Some accommodations have been booked in Japan, with more to follow as I become more confident in Japan's reopening by October 2021 and our JR passes will be purchased once I hire a cinematographer! The trip is coming up fast and reality is setting in more and more as the days fly by!!
Our Jill-of-all-trades, Becki, is a member of Wanderful as well as Sojrn, and these two companies held a contest back in April. Well, she (I) decided to throw my hat in the ring and see if I could come out a winner. SURPRISE! I did!! While the details still need to be ironed out, these are the things I do know. Sojrn is a company that provides study abroad opportunities for adults, with set destinations with specific goals or studies. They call these Chapters. Basically I get to pick from one of these month-long Chapters; deep diving into the local communities, the topic I'm learning about, and the culture. All of the details are up for the 2021 Chapters with more information to come about the 2022 Chapters, which I would like to participate in as it aligns with the show nicely. Through contacting Sojrn, I have narrowed it down to three different Chapters, but I think I know which one is calling me the most. It'll just depend on what the itineraries and details look like to help me officially make a final decision. The three are Mental Wellness in Bali, Conservation in Cape Town South Africa, or surf and sustainability in Costa Rica. As of right now, South Africa is calling my name the loudest, with Bali right behind it. With this contest, that means I have another month of travel taken care of, at least for me. For my cinematographer, I will pay her way, but I won't have to worry about making any kind of arrangements, that will all be taken care of for me which is such a load off my shoulders, even just for one month!!
While both bits of news are ridiculously amazing, we DO still need help funding the rest of our trip and in hiring a cinematographer, editors, and a composer. So any help you can give to keep us on the road for the other 10 months would be fantastic! You can donate through CashApp ($RShare), Venmo (@Rebecca_Share), on our We Did It Campaign page here, the version with perks here or by purchasing a shirt and/or other merchandise here.
Also because of when the South Africa trip would be, which is what I'm tentatively scheduling around right now, and the Covid situation our itinerary has been tweaked. I made a post in Instagram about it a couple of weeks ago, but I thought I would take some time to talk about it here too. As of today, India is still not coping well with this disease and the borders don't look they will be opening any time in the near future, so any plans to travel there have been scrapped. Even if the borders were to open, I don't feel it would be ethical or safe to visit given the news. East Africa is also off the table because we will be spending the time in South Africa instead. Time in South Korea has been extended from 2 weeks to a month, as has our time in Egypt while France, Croatia, and Montenegro have remained at their 2 week timelines. If it turns out these three countries have quarantining requirements by the time we go, France may get scrapped in order to spend more time in Croatia and Montenegro- our plans are flexible so we'll see how everything progresses.
Iceland has been added to the itinerary because I would really just like to go back and see the country when it's lush and vibrant, comparing and contrasting the landscapes from when we went in frigid March. I'm also itching to see the active volcano and to visit more remote areas of Iceland by RV to see what life is like for those who live out there compared to in the capital city of Reykjavik. Chile and Argentina have been replaced with Guyana just for ease of travel and costs. Getting to parts of Chile and Argentina that I wanted while on our way to Peru made less and less sense and I felt it would be too rushed as each country would only be able to get about 2 weeks, maybe less. Going to Guyana allows us to spend our time in a location not many people go to or know about (you pretty much have to be part of a guided tour to get to many places in the country from what I've read) and allows us to have some pretty neat experiences. We won't be hurrying to cover a ton of ground during our time there, like we would in Chile and Argentina, and we can spend more of it with locals, taking in the culture which I'm excited about.
I've also tried my hand at making a stamp to be used in making my own thank you cards for purchases and donations. I love it! I have a "thank you" stamp arriving from Amazon soon-ish, as my writing is atrocious, which will go in the upper right-hand corner. This is obviously not a super important update or anything, but I'm damned proud of how it turned out so its going in here!
Phew- I think that's all for right now! I can't wait to update you as more and more progress continues. We're getting there!!
-Becki
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