Prologue

"A Dream Made Reality Beyond Compare"; the uninspired slogan would never have garnered my attention had it not been for that tiresome wait in a Costa Rican airport.  Cathi and I were both waiting when that fiendish camera poked its face out of her purse and into my outstretched arms. We moved together and smiled. It wasn't until we got back from that trip that we saw that phrase in the background of our impromptu portrait. Its hollow words resonated louder as we returned from a week of job searching in Costa Rica. As eager young fiances, we discovered our future in teaching abroad along the way of this trip. It was the perfect marriage of our collective passions. Teaching, traveling, living. A way to do what we love. On this Central American journey of ours we failed to get a job, but found that our dream could be turned into our reality. Fate seemed to have given us a subtle, though cheesey, go ahead.

This blog's attempt is to reflect the trials, triumphs, mood, and motivations of two young newlyweds as we begin a life. This isn't merely an attempt at a travel blog; other people have been to more exotic locales more often. It isn't solely an open diary of newlywed life either, as posts covering checkbook balancing and laundry could end up being a formidable substitute for Ambien. No, this collection of thoughts and adventures is a sort of hybrid mutt, stuck somewhere amid the plains of topics that head our way. We write to update, explain, and maybe even entertain as two young teachers start their careers. Cathi and I head to Spain with two bags apiece and a lifetime ahead of us.