ALASTAIR + LALEINIA

Fun fact: Alastair used to love mountain biking. When he was 14, he even built his own bike! Well, he hasn't owned one in just about a decade, and it was time to change that. Being in Utah, we are literally minutes away from loads of mountain bike trails, so Alastair is back in the saddle, so to speak. His first ride was by far his longest at just over 30 miles. Since then, he has spent a lot of time on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, which sits a little ways up the mountains around the valley. He almost falls off every time, mostly because he thinks he is still 15, but he is loving it.

Being outdoors and active seems to be a huge cultural thing in Utah. We decided to join the crowd by getting away from the crowds and heading to the mountains! We have hiked around Squaw Peak, which provides a beautiful view of Utah County below, and have walked in the Provo canyon, as well as Slate canyon. We are enjoying our time in Utah so far. We go on walks in the canyon and by the river a lot. Work is going well, and we are making the most of the summer weather by being outside!

This month has been a busy one! Since getting back into the United States, we've quickly transitioned into the normality of life. A lot has happened this month, so we'll share with you some of the highlights! 1.   Job:  Alastair started work and he has loved it! Every time I pick him up from work, he talks about all the exciting things that went on. It's really great when you have a job that you love! 2.   Graduation: He did it, Alastair graduated! We headed back to Rexburg for the weekend and watched on as Alastair walked the stage. The Jankowski clan was all there to show their support, so we couldn't help but have a mini reunion. It's always a fun time when we're all together! 3.   Home: We moved into a little place that we now call home. It's tucked away, far enough from the college scene that we don't feel like college students. I mean, come on, we are adults now! 4.   Spring Break: We had some visitors come down during the break. It was nic...

Another amazing six months! As you can see throughout this blog, we have hit another two continents, Africa and Europe. We are conquering the world!

Slightly rested from the last few days of excitement and adventure, we woke up as the Eurostar was arriving in Paris and headed out into the Parisian capital. This was to be a test not only of our traveling endurance, but also our French language skills. Both of us had taken lots of French in high school, and we enjoyed giving it a go after so many years. Long story short, we were terrible but much better than we thought we would be! We gave French a fair effort throughout the day, but almost all those we spoke to reverted to English for us. The plan was to start the day with our bucket list in mind by climbing the steps of the Eiffel Tower. We figured that if we went straight there, we wouldn't have to worry too much about queues. We arrived, realized how cold it was, saw there was no line, and left in search of warmer clothes! This was the day that Laleinia forsook her fashion over function mentality (although she still looked really cute). That's what cold, we...

After saying our goodbyes to Dad, Mum, and Connor in Johannesburg, we boarded the impressive but uncomfortable Airbus 380, flew through the night to Paris. As soon as we arrived, we made our way to one of the main train stations and got on the Eurostar, bound for London. Alastair hadn't stepped foot in his own country for almost six years, and hasn't really lived there for almost a decade. He was as excited to be in England as Laleinia, who would be in London for the very first time. Hollie (part tour guide, part photographer, part sister, part sister-in-law) met us at the station. We were all in for a long and exciting day and got straight to work. We bought our tube passes (well, Hollie did - thanks again) and headed over to Buckingham Palace. Our tight schedule meant that we didn't have time to chat with the Queen, and so we made haste to our next destination, Trafalgar Square.  One of our favorite things about London was getting from place to place. Of ...

It is impossible to summarize our African experience and do it any justice with words, but we have to try. As we were creating this video, we were amazed and so appreciative of all the things we have been able to see and do in these last few months. What an experience! We have been able to see such an incredible range of things, from animals to cities, mountains, people, art, and culture. We have traveled in cars, on planes, boats, quad bikes, buses, cable cars, safari trucks, even elephants! We have slept in a beautiful house, nasty (and some nice) hostels, a rondavel, safari tent, cabin, and the back of a car. We have traveled almost constantly, and have even eaten crocodile on more than one occasion. We have had the time of our lives. Being in Africa has strengthened our desire to experience as much of the world as we can. We will definitely look back often with happiness at our time in Southern Africa! And we must say that we wouldn't have been able to enjoy all that we d...

The very last thing that we really wanted to do in South Africa was to visit an informal settlement, which we refer to as a shantytown. These areas are home to thousands of people, and are the the most poverty stricken places that we have ever seen. We have heard stories of rapes, murders, baby killings, etcetera that occur in these areas, and so we knew that if we were going there in our relative ignorance, we would need to go with someone who was in the know. At one of the primary schools that we visited, we met a teacher who was willing to take us around. He knew people and had a good rapport with the community, and so we were excited to go with him. The first thing that we did was to go straight to a ladies house close to the entrance. From what we could tell, she was in charge in the community, and our friend was asking her if it was ok for us to enter and take pictures. She was friendly to us and allowed us to go in! The houses were amazing. They were built fro...

Our last day in Cape Town started early for Alastair and Connor, who woke up at 4:30am to climb Lion's Head to see the sun rise. The hope was for some photos similar to those we took a few nights before, or to be able to climb above the clouds and see a sea of cloud below, but it just wasn't to be! After battling the darkness (almost all without a flashlight) and reaching the top, the sun rose, or at least we think it did since we didn't actually see the sun for a few more hours! But every cloud has a silver lining, and in this case, the cloud itself was its own silver lining. Alastair has always wanted to be in a cloud, completely surrounded, and this was definitely the case up on Lion's Head. After spending a while admiring the cloud, and admiring themselves for reaching the top, Alastair and Connor descended to start the day. Our last day in Cape Town was relaxed. We just took things slow and enjoyed being in such a cool city. The weather wasn't grea...

One of the biggest reasons for wanting to visit Cape Town was to drive a little south and see the Cape of Good Hope. We didn't really know much about it, other than that it was important enough to be signposted on a distance/direction sign post in Hong Kong. We just had to visit. It turns out that the Cape of Good Hope is the most south-western point of the African continent. There were a surprising number of tourists who came out to stare at the rocks and ocean at this geographically significant location. The Cape of Good Hope must have been important for sailers back in the day. Alastair and Connor wanted to get to the most south-western point, and so left the sign post and the car park and climbed over the wet rocks to get out to the furthest part of land that they could. There isn't really much else to say apart from that it was a beautiful place, and being there felt like an accomplishment to us! Next, we drove north up to Muizenberg, a place known for its s...