Our bag is ready, all errands are done and we are just about ready to fly out. We took very little in terms of clothing and were able to fit everything we need into 1 backpack. The most important thing to us however, will be staying here at home-our little cat, Cuggits. She is the cutest cat you will ever meet not to mention the smartest! (yes, we are typical Jewish parents). She is quite the traveler herself-born in East Jerusalem, raised in Tel Aviv and now living it up in New York!

Our good friend Ori, is coming up from Philadelphia to stay at our place and take care of her while we travel. He is a veteran when it comes to babysitting Cuggits and she loves him (more so around lunch time). We are taking a picture of Cuggits with us so we have something to show when people ask us if we have kids (happens about 10 times a day) and also for times when we miss her too much…

We’ve both been to Vietnam in past trips but this trip we’re going to visit Laos and Cambodia for the first time. Just this week the New York Times website posted a list of The 53 Places to Go in 2008 and Laos was made it to the top of that list! You can also read the featured page about Laos.

One of the things we’ve heard about Laos is that the pace of travel is slow and relaxing. There are two areas in particular that sound interesting to us: Luang Prabang in the North and Si Phan Don in the South. But the best thing is that since Laos is near the beginning of our trip we’ll have plenty of time explore and to change directions if something else seems attractive in that country.