Well, more big news on the planning front- our date of departure has been set.  Just recently, we were planning to start the trip by driving across the country.  You see, we need to get to North Carolina for the holidays and driving seemed like a good way to start the trip. But, rental cars would cost close to $1000 for the time we'd like to take, not counting gas and lodging.

At the same time, I had been wanting to go to New York on the way over to see some clients and visit the city.  So, we looked into it and found tickets direct from Seattle to New York City for $120pp one way on Song Airlines.  You can't beat getting across the country for that.

So, final plans are made and our departure date for the trip will be December 11th.  We'll go to New York until the 14th and then catch a train down to North Carolina, where we'll borrow a family vehicle (hopefully) and visit friends in the south for a while before Christman.

Then, we leave NC on the 30th for Hawaii thorugh New Years- and then the trip REALLY begins on January 6th.  Damn thats a lot of planning- but its so fun!