Number of times getting lost: 2. Number of times leaving the house: 2.

So we started this chilly, rainy day to a late start... Thanks again jet lag/sleeping in the airport. We left the house at noon to wander the streets of Amsterdam with the following to do list:
- find prepaid phones
- locksmith
- join a gym
- buy bicycles
- grocery/staples shop

First stop, cafe! No way we'll get all that accomplished without some caffeine! An hour later we set out and surprisingly, we managed to accomplish three of the tasks.

Pre-paid phones, DONE, check the sweet two tone Nokia 9 button phones we got! Oh and you can call us and SMS us at no charge to us! Then, surprisingly to us, we found a locksmith, he also sold Amsterdam mugs, hats, keychains and magnets, but whatever, he made us a key for 6.95 euro. DONE. Next, we managed to find a grocery store (shocker) where we had good intentions - we got cereal, peanut butter, bananas, milk, oatmeal (or so we thought - who can read these labels?), toilet paper, and body wash. Whew we were exhausted, time to go home... umm where are we and how do we get home? Its this way, no its this way, oh HELL, there's the cafe that we started the day at, lets just retrace our steps. Finally home, so we came back to rehydrate and refuel - enter "oatmeal" which turns out to be more of a consistency of baby food, but throw 3 spoonfuls of peanut butter and a sliced up banana in there and its GOOD!

2 hours later... Let's go find this gym: "Fit for Free" please note its actually 19euro / month - how'd they get their company name? Whatever, its 5 blocks away and definitely in our price range, lets go:

Gym shoes - check

iPods - check

Wallet - check

37 minutes of walking in the rain... WHERE is Lijnbaansgracht 350, Nederland?? Maybe its this way, no maybe its this way, oh HELL there's a grocery store let's just go get food. Two bags of chips, a bag of Peanut M&Ms, and a tube of cookies later and we're on the sofa with a glass of wine and Ugly Betty re-runs.

Better luck tomorrow on finding gyms, bikes, and hopefully a clue!

Night Trolls.

Just touched down in London town

Greetings Trolls-

After spending four lovely days and three eventful nights in the UK's capital city, we're stuck in the airport for 24 hours. As bad as it sounds its given us a chance to slow down and reflect on our experience thus far - aka start this blog.

We breezed around London, sightseeing and enjoying several foamy soy lattes (fyi its called SOYA here, not soy) and the occassional adult beverage in the evening. We lucked out weather wise, well at least compared to Chicago, and got a chance to see the sun everyday, including the first day after waking up around 1p, thanks JetLag.

We are especially excited to finally touch down in our new home AMSTERDAM. After months of planning, weeks of packing, days of goodbyes and hours of waiting, we finally will be home and able to unpack and unwind!

Togo says hi (on the table), though he's tired of sleeping in a suit case, especially now that its a bit tighter since we had to take stuff out of our checked luggage and put it in his carry-on with him to get our bags from 31 kilos to 23.

So from Gatwick Airport we say hello and goodbye, off to try to get a few hours of sleep and not over sleep our 3p flight later today!