hiking in flip flips (self-titled blog entry)

Dear family, friends and total strangers,

Welcome to our travel blog! Here Stuart and I hope to document our traveling adventures in New Zealand and…wherever else we end up going (options currently on the table: Australia, Southeast Asia). The last few weeks have been devoted to all the things you would expect from two people who are leaving the country. We spent our time eating delicious American meals, visiting family and friends, reading up on NZ and buying things that may or may not fit in our over-full suitcases. We have great hopes for the next 12-24 months, namely that they will be jam-packed with fun and great stories, all of which we will share with you here on the blog!

Today is officially our last full day in the USA and my first thought when writing this first blog entry is “GOOD GREIF where has the time gone?” It seems just yesterday we were graduating from university.... but in reality the summer has come and gone and here we find ourselves on September 14^th: not fully packed, our trip not fully planned, and our goodbyes not fully said. Don’t misinterpret us…we’re prepared for just about anything but part of our mission is to not over-plan. This is especially hard for me (Maggie) but also especially good for me. We are learning how to think and make decisions on our feet, live in the moment, and experience life as it comes. The title of our blog originated with this sentiment. Though we both have hiking boots (Stuart after a bit of resistance) there will inevitably be trails we want to explore when all we have are the flip flops on our feet. So what do we do? WE GO HIKING IN FLIP FLOPS.