39 Days and Counting!!! Don't PANIC

J Well it's been 10 days since an update so it's about time to let you know how our planning is coming along. Firstly, we finally got our passport applications completed. I know, your thinking we're crazy for not having them done already, believe me we tried. We sent in our applications over 4 months ago, and had them returned to us 1 month ago. Apparently we did not have our guarantor sign photocopies of our drivers license and we sent in photocopies of our birth certificates, which is not allowed. The good news for anyone ELSE who's thinking of traveling is that on August 15th the government of Canada changed the renewal process. However if your name has changed, you still have to go about it the normal way. Read the news release here.

Our friends Christian and Liz got us this neat camera tri-pod called the gorilla-pod made by Joby. Which we're looking forward to making good use of (yes I'm a picture-taking-maniac).

Also, we've determined where we'll be staying for a week in October.. SPAIN! Our application to a special program was accepted. The organization is called PuebloIngles, which translated means English Village. Basically a bunch of native English speaking people are given free lodging, meals, and a bus trip from Madrid, for participating in their program. It's a chance for native Spaniards to hone their English by talking in an English only environment for a whole week. There are one on one times, phone conversations (over the phone literally) and group activities. The benefit for us is to help someone while enjoying the scenery and experiencing life in Spain, at no cost to us! If your interested in seeing more details head on over to their site.

The venue we're staying at is La Alberca in the province of Salamanca. We'll be sure to visit the city of Salamanca as well, which is a meca of universities, and perhaps we'll stay a week there and take a Spanish language course. We'll it's time to book our hostel stay for our first few days of the trip in London. Caio