I am so blessed to have so many people to love in my life. Thank you for all of the fun and fabulous times! Keep in touch with me through this website, Skype, IM, email (nelle@indietravelers.com), or any other way you can think of! I love everybody.

Now. The trip technically begins on Saturday when I take the non-stop from Atlanta to Moscow, but I'm flying to Atlanta tomorrow morning so today feels like my last day. I had planned on making this first entry a dialogue on global perspective. The world seems incomprehesibly vast in space (more on this when I ride through Siberia), yet so inevitably interdependent in terms of environmental issues, and so connected with today's communication technology. Sigh. You may already be bored, but the good news is that the chaos of packing, last minute errands, laundry, cleaning, and getting cavities filled at the dentist (yes, my face is numb) has left little time to reflect on the journey I am about to take. Suffice to say, "it's a small world after all." My goals for this trip are to have fun and gain some perspective. Not too ambitious, but definitely EXPENSIVE. If you're interested in doing something similar to this year (hopefully) of extended, independent travel...my advice is to start saving.