We’ve been pretty diligent in our planning for the honeymoon - booked cheap hotels in London, Paris and Madrid, hooked up with friends, created a preliminary itinerary and budget, and scoped out all the gear that we need for the trip. However, some parts on the back end of our trip - our hotel in Seville, Gibraltar, and all of Morocco - haven’t been booked yet, as well as our overnight jaunt through the Sahara desert.

While a big part of of us want to get these done, I’m resisting the urge (or maybe, giving in to laziness?) and allowing these parts of the trip to happen by chance. What would a backpacking trip be if it was all perfectly planned out - although of course not everything goes according to plan! Also, since these parts of the trip are relatively less expensive than the first 3 cities we’re going to, we feel like we can take an adventure in looking for a place to stay without paying so much for it when we get there.

This decision will probably make most control freaks go wild - what, you’re going there and don’t know where to stay yet? But these are often the best parts of the trip! Let’s see if I’ll be eating my words three weeks from now

For the past week, we have been overwhelmed by the generosity of people. We owe this trip to the many individuals who would like us to fulfill this trip of a lifetime. Gabs and I are amazed how our trip is finally coming together.

 We started off with the honeymoon registry, a novel idea that jumpstarted our Manila to Morocco dream. We are happy to report that because of this registry, we have been able to raise as much as 75% of the trip’s cost. All because of the enthusiastic response of friends, family and even strangers! As our gift to the world, please spread the word about the honeymoon registry idea to any one planning to get married so that they too can use if to make their travels come true. We will be very happy to hear about other couple’s wonderful experiences with this registry idea.

We also would like to thank ROX for opening up a lot of possibilities for us. Our upcoming trip has become more exciting  with the opportuntiies given to us by ROX (c/o Roel Chan).

We also would like to thank those people (you know who you are) who have just been happy to provide for a struggling backpacking couple. Your generosity inspires us.

Truly, our upcoming trip is a gift. Thank you!

It’s September 9 and we have less than a month to go before we fulfill our Manila to Morocco adventure. Here are some of the things we have yet to do:

1. Look for accommodations in Seville and Morocco. We are still trying to explore couch surfing at these places.
2. Get our backpacks and other travel gear.
3. Learn how to cover our trip using camera and video (thanks to Roel of ROX for opening this opportunity for us!)
4. Plan how to go about  blogging and posting photos during the trip and eventually writing our book - yipee!
5. Purchase activity tickets online.
6. Finalize itinerary per day. However, i have come to the realization that it is still best to just be open and not be too set in our skeds. It is always fun to mix up planning & sponteneity - adds to the flavor of the trip! We might just put into practice some tips listed on Lonely Planet’s Experimental Travel.
7. Save Up -yes we still need pocket money!

That’s it for now. We shall keep you posted on other preparations leading to our trip!

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