We are both continually amazed at how having this web site has connected us with people we would have otherwise never known.  Just a couple of nights ago, we had dinner with the sister of a friend’s former roommate, Maria.  I was asked her in an email how in the world she knew about us. Here is the connection…

Maria was a housemate with my long time friend JJ in Seattle (1999-2002).  We met a few times, but only at parties etc. A couple of years ago, JJ moved to S. Carolina and Maria lost touch, so she recently Googled him, hoping to make contact.  She then found a blog post from me about his wedding in 2003.  While reading about his wedding, she noticed a reminder that Sachi and I were traveling around the world and started reading TwinF.  Once she saw us reach Barcelona, she contacted her sister Camila, who got a group of her friends from business school to take us to their favorite local tapas bar in Barcelona’s Gracia neighborhood.  Though we only barely know Maria, the tiny connection was enough to help us make new friends in a foreign country. Thanks Maria and Camila!

If this wasn’t enough, Maria also reminded us that we help her brother too…

My brother Fernando and his wife printed out all your Thailand dispatches and read them on the plane to Thailand in early September.

Crazy. We both think it is pretty amazing that suddenly, because of blogs and the Internet that these sorts of connections are possible. What a world in which we live. What a world.

Sachi and I were just minding our business at a cafe in the Barri Gothic of Barcelona, just off the Ramblas on Ferran. I looked out the window and glanced up at a hip-looking guy with a bag slung across his shoulder and a head of huge curly hair.  In knew in an instant that it was Malcolm Gladwell, New Yorker writer and popular author of The Tipping Point and Blink.  Being one of my favorite authors and a blogger, I knew his look and seemed nearly unmistakable as he walked by.  Then, just as I mentioned to Sachi that it looked like him, he came into our cafe and sat down across the room from us.

How random! How often could that possibly happen - even in New York? But in Barcelona it was almost surreal. I had to investigate.

After we finished lunch I walked over to him, a bit nervously and feeling a little intrusive and said "Are you Malcolm?"  He smiled and said "yes!" and I introduced myself and Sachi.  We talked a bit about why he was in Barcelona (a speaking engagement at a conference) and our trip.  He was surprised that Sachi and I are still on good terms after nearly a year. I tried to resist the urge, but I ended up doing the ultimate fanboy action and asking for a picture with him - I just had to.  Malcolm was completely gracious about it and seemed like any other nice guy you'd meet on the street - in Barcelona.  Good guy that Malcolm.  After a bit of small talk we left him with his hand written notebook and coffee.  I couldn't help but wonder - is that his next book?  Maybe it's about chance meetings.

Lisbon with Locals, originally uploaded by LeeLeFever_TwinF.

Sometimes things just come together in the most timely ways. Yesterday we stopped by an Internet cafe in Lisbon to check in on the mid-term US elections (Yay!) and found an email from our friend in France, JF Groff. JF had contacted his friend Andre in Lisbon (whom he met at a tech conference) and alerted him of our arrival. In turn, Andre contacted us with an offer to get together in his hometown. I got Andre's phone number and within a few hours we went from being alone and wandering to experiencing Lisbon with Andre and his girlfriend Batixa in their 4 door Smart car.

From their favorite pizzeria to gourmet desserts and a bit of nighttime sightseeing, Lisbon became a different place for us - and all we did was check email.

Andre and Beatrice, thanks so much for taking the time to hang out with us for a night - we had a blast and count you as great friends. I'll remember too that Portuguese dogs say "Ão! Ão!"

Early on the trip, I got an email from a person calling himself JFG and saying that he was working on a new project related to travel and was a fan of TwinF.  Further, he said that if we were ever near the French-Swiss border to let him know – that we had a place to stay.

Over the last couple of days we took him up on his offer and spent a couple of days with him, Jean François Groff, his wife wonderful Masumi and their sons August and James (and lovable dog Yu). Coincidentally, we were married on the exact same day and the women of both couples are Japanese (Sachi being half).

Apart from staying in a charming French house in the French Alps and eating delicious food with the family, I got a chance to geek out with someone who I learned is a true Internet pioneer.  In short, JF was a member of Tim Berners Lee’s team at CERN that originated the World Wide Web that we all use today.  He was there at the very, very beginning when Tim worked at the office beside his.  Today he is the CTO of Netvibes – a handy web site that brings together all sorts of information from the web in one place.  So, it was a pleasure to speak geek with someone who has seen it all happen and is into exciting things now.

Apart from the geeking out, our time with them also made us a bit envious.  Not because of their house or cars or anything material.  We were envious because they have a warm and lively home – something that we have been without for 328 days now.  Seeing their everyday life made us miss home a bit more and look forward to our arrival by the end of the year. 

We owe the Groffs a big thanks for their hospitality and hope we can return the favor in Seattle some day. 

Here are some photos from a walk we took just outside their home in Savoie…

This was shot from their front porch...

 These are from the charming town of Annecy, France...

Rome was a highlight of the whole trip, not because of the ancient sights or the delicious food, but because of the people – specifically Robin Good and his brother Giovanni, who knows a *lot* about the city. As promised, they scooped us with their motorbikes and showed us their Rome – the Rome that doesn’t appear in many guidebooks. I had one of the best sandwiches in my life at a place that Robin has visited since he was a kid. Warm focaccia bread came from heavan I swear.

I wish we could see every city from the back of a motorcycle driven by a local. The video hopefully captures a little of the feeling. I love my conversation with Giovanni about Ducati Motorcycles. It's de MOST!

Music: Devotchka: Charlotte Mittnacht

Meet a Roman: Robin Good, originally uploaded by LeeLeFever_TwinF.

I've known Robin through the Web for a few years now, but this is the first time we've met in person. When Rome came up on the itinerary, I looked forward to seeing Robin and he has been an amazing host. Last night we had a great dinner in the neighborhood where he grew up (near the Vatican). As an added bonus, we got aquainted with what he called "Tobasco Place", where he and his friends used to dance alone at 3am to Earth Wind and Fire on top of columns around Castle St. Angelo back in the day. From the picture above, you can tell Robin is full of personality and spice - I could totally see him busting a move out there. Today we get on motorbikes with his brother to "see places no tourist sees". Sounds like the Rome we'd love to see.

Check out one of Robin's sites at .

One of the things we miss about being on the road is contact with our friends and family and even a little contact with fellow Americans.  Sachi was saying yesterday that she has gotten so used to English with an accent now that it sounds normal.

Luckily, we’ve had a few occasions to hang out with friends from Seattle to get our fix.  What has made this extra special is that we never made specific plans to meet anyone – it was purely good timing. We both want to give a quick shout-out to a few folks that made the effort to meet us along the way…

A few days before arriving in Hong Kong, our friend Christi realized that we would be there at the same time as our mutual friend Kerry.  Sure enough, we were there at almost the exact same time and spent a day and night together, including a little karaoke.

After that we heard from our friend Jake Ludington that he would be in Beijing for a conference and sight seeing and sure enough – the dates coincided nearly perfectly.  We ate Peking Duck, drank beer over the Forbidden City (below) and in a couple of neighborhoods around Beijing.

With both Kerry and Jake, meeting them really made us feel like we made new friends.  We knew them both before, but not very well.  Now though, having shared international experiences together, we have great new friends.

Lastly is our friends in Amsterdam and The Netherlands.  Betty and Josh got married months ago and planned an Amsterdam honeymoon.  Once their date was set, so was ours and Amsterdam become a far off date for us to make. As it worked out, we had a great time with them over a few days, including a Heineken Experience.

I’m lumping Lilia and Robert into the Seattle people because Lilia lived there for a while last year.  This is the same Lilia that also met us in Moscow.  She and her Dutch husband Robert opened their home to us in the town of Enschede, Holland and we got a chance to meet their friends at a party for Lilia’s birthday. Their friends also included Ton Zylstra, a blogger that I’ve known online for a long time and finally got to meet in person.  It was such a great experience to see a glimpse of their normal lives in Holland.

Sachi, Lilia and Ton at Bad Bentheim Castle near Enschede...

 Our hospitable hosts, Lilia and Robert...

For the next couple of months we’ll be in Europe – so if anyone out there is visiting and would like to hook-up, please do contact us – we’d love to meet you…

Our friends Kathy and Sharon have finally reached home in the UK after 420 days, 60 weeks and 60,000 miles and 50 countries.  In a recent post they were concerned about "reverse culture shock" from coming home and suggest these treatments (edited for length):

... brushing teeth out of a cup; drinking warm water out of large bottles; mixing up tuna mayonnaise in the tin and continue to use plastic plates and share cutlery; hide money upon our persons; wear clothing with lots of pockets; take photos of random images and people in the street; dry ourselves using our travel towels; not use a hair dryer; hand wash underwear each night; wash up any cooking utensils before eating a hot meal; buy a bus ticket & see where it takes you; talk to strangers and ask them how long they have been travelling for;  sleep in a bunk bed with ear plugs in; etc.

 These totally identify with us and we have a few additions:

We may continue to...

• Shower with flip-flops or sandals
• Share deodorant
• Never plan for more than a week into the future
• Wash laundry in the sink
• Communicate using the metric system
• Wear a shirt too many times before a wash 
• Randomly give shopkeepers incorrect change
• Communicate in only "hello", "yes" and "thank you"
• Blog and video everything

And finally... continue to use only three pairs of underwear. 

Phew!  The Trans-Siberian Railway trip is officially over - we arrived in hip and modern Helsinki, Finland yesterday. Despite all the writing and videos on the train, we've fallen a bit behind - and we haven't even talked about Moscow and St. Petersburg.

We'll say more soon, but we both want to say a BIG thanks to Lilia, her sister Diana, and her friend Olga for showing us their Moscow.  Lilia is from Moscow but lives in Holland and recently did an internship at Microsoft in Seattle, where we got to be better friends.  We can't say enough about the generosity and hospitality of our Muscovite friends.

This is Sachi and Lilia over the Moscow River:

 This is Olga with Matt (a fellow American traveler) and Sachi in Moscow.

 And how can we forget Kuzya,the resident parrot, who can be bribed into speaking a few words for a pomegranate seed. 

It is a Trans-Siberian right of passage - drinking vodka with Russians on a train in the middle of Siberia. This video shares a few of the moments I'll never forget and a few that I can't really remember.

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