Married!

Greetings from the new Mr and Mrs!! Yep we are married!

Just a quick update here as we just got off a plane from LA to Tokyo and then to Kuala Lumpur where we are currently camped out awaiting our flight to Kathmandu.

So what does this mean? Our 6 month backpacking trip around Asia has officially begun!

The last couple of weeks have been such a whirlwind of events, culminating with our Mexican wedding. The week couldn't have gone any better...friends and family trickled into the small town of Los Barriles on Baja's East Cape and we had a blast. Christian and his friends caught dorado (which was cooked up for the group by the local restaurant), drove quads, we swam under the stars, sipped on cocktails at the swim up bar, dressed up for our welcome Halloween party (and a live bat flew into one of the tables haha), danced like crazy at the bar in town, chilled out next to a beach bonfire, released baby turtles and got married :). And we did all of this (and more!) surrounded by 80 family and friends.

It was amazing.

One thing I loved about our wedding is that Liz was our photographer...early on we knew that having a friend be our photographer was the right way to go...and from the beginning, we knew Liz was the best choice. Before we took off for Asia, she sent over a few sneak peeks. I can't wait to see more!

But until then, check out a few of her beautiful snaps from our big day...

Thanks Liz!

{Photos by Liz Denfeld}

{My brother performed the ceremony}

{I was so happy that some of our small blogger group from Amsterdam was able to make it down to Mexico for our wedding :) Carly, Ellen, Liz, Jana and their guys}

OFF TO MEXICO...TO GET MARRIED!!

We are finally off to MEXICO!

I cannot believe the day is finally here #holycrap. We are so excited to lounge around all week with our family & friends. This week will be absolutely incredible.

Soon after, we throw on our backpacks and leave for our 6-month Asian adventure. 

Wedding craziness. RTW trip craziness. Getting used to not being in Amsterdam craziness. I hope to be back ASAP to provide a little update but no guarantees ;) we will be soaking up these next few weeks as much as possible.

Lately, I've been enjoying this beautiful lil love snap Emma took of us a couple months ago during our Parisian picnic ;). 

Check our Denis and Emma's blog here for some ridiculously awesome travel posts.

You can also follow me on Instagram for snippets of our wedding week in Mexico and of the first stop on our Asia trip: NEPAL!

And to Denis & Emma: wish you guys were here but SEE YOU IN BANGKOK!!! 

Eeeeeeeep!

'Rach'elorette Party Weekend in San Diego

 Yay! Christian's dad and best friends are in town! While they are off exploring Southern California, my sis and I have been checking wedding stuff off the list...we leave for Mexico in 4 days!!!

One thing we checked off the list a couple weeks ago was my bachelorette party (aka the rach-elorette party)!

Actually I flew into California from Amsterdam on Thursday night and took off for San Diego the next afternoon. My friend Smitty and I sipped on champagne upon the Pacific Surfliner bound for San Diego, met my sisters and some more friends for some brewery-hopping in San Diego and got to sleep early to prep for the next morning. 

The next day, my friends had strict instructions to take me to breakfast while some others prepped the party house. Julie rented a house for us in Ocean Beach just a short stroll from the beach and the bars! Once we got to the house, we chilled in the backyard, looked at the photobook prepared by everyone, sipped on local beers, champagne, and munched on all kinds of goodies from Trader Joe's (yum!).

The rest of the day was a blur of barhopping, fish tacos, gummy bear shots and 'Rachael jeopardy' hahaha! Unfortunately jetlag got the best of me around 9PM. But not until after I saw that my brother-in-law Mike prepared the world's largest charcuterie (cheese and meat plate)--one of my favorite things!

On the bright side, going to sleep early meant that we were ready to take on Pacific Beach on Sunday! But first, Chef Mike did it again and him and his two buddies came and cooked all of us breakfast burritos from scratch!

I loved my bachelorette weekend so much that I didn't return back to Orange County until Tuesday. I had never been to Ocean Beach before, but you bet we'll be back!! With all of my closest ladies in one spot and with the beach right down the street it was the absolute perfect welcome back to California after almost 6 years in Amsterdam.

Thanks, Twinnie!

{A huge charcuterie waiting for us back at the party house!}

{Twinnies!}

{Post bach-party in Pacific Beach}

Polish Wedding (& a few hours in Berlin!)

When Christian and I studied abroad in Finland, we weren't the only exchange students who met and fell in love. Our favorite travel buddies Denis (French exchange student) & Emma (a local Finn! aka Denis' souvenir from Finland) were another couple and Bob (Dutch exchange student) & Agnieszka (Polish exchange student) were too. 

Considering 3 couples came out of our semester abroad in Finland, we're convinced Lappeenranta is the place for love <3.

Anywho, just a few weeks ago...our dear friends Bob and Agnieszka got married!! It was a no-brainer that we were definitely going to travel East to Poland for the wedding. 

Christian flew out a few days early to hang out with his best friend (who lives in Wroclaw) and I came out later via overnight train (I love trains!). I left The Netherlands and 9 hours later I woke up in Poznan :). Shortly after, Christian and his friends arrived too. 

It was only a quick weekend in Poznan but we were able to squeeze in some Polish nightlife and chilling in the sun. Once wedding day came, we walked to the church and oh myyyy what an elaborate church it was!! At the reception, we toasted to the bride and groom, pigged out on a table full of Polish food, sipped on chilled vodka (there was a bottle at every table!) and well...later in the night, did some more pigging out...on a roasted pig! It was incredible and met every expectation I had about the sheer awesomeness of a Polish wedding (and it was in THREE languages: Dutch, Polish and English). 

It was quite incredible to be able to study with these two as they fell for each other then to be able to be a part of their wedding day.

The next day, I had to head back to Amsterdam pretty early. I had no complaints though because I flew out of Berlin and, after taking the 3-hour Warsaw-Berlin Express, I had a few hours to kill before my flight. Two words: Prater Biergarten! I loved this place when we first visited Berlin years ago and just knew I had to return--and I'm so happy I did. I'm now convinced that no pre-flight meal is better than a German bratwurst, kartoffelsalat (potato salad) and a couple white beers (carb overload anyone?) in a shady biergarten! But when in Rome...errrr Berlin, right?

TIPS

*Drink a beer at Brovaria brewery in Stary Rynek (Poznan's main square). I got the beer sampler--delicious!

*Walk into a vodka bar for a quick shot between bar-hopping (only 4 zlotys or 1 EUR)

*Rent an apartment near the main square, there are tons to choose from--we booked via Air BnB (we are big Air BnB fans)