...you coulda been anywhere else in the world right now, but you're here with us! Thanks for that.

So, I'm guest-blogging here because I'm the other half of this travel-duo. Meredith's my best friend, my shoulder to cry on, my partner in crime - all that stuff. I'm side-kicking on her blog because I loved watching her document her first trip to Asia and naturally cheerlead all her other excursions. I've got my own blog - a rambling, scrapbook-ish, little page, with few readers, but plenty of love and inspiration - so I'm already comfy in the medium. But I publicly thank my homie for inviting me over and sharing her blog.

As we plan our excursion, we bounce ideas off each other and share excitement. During one of our exchanges, the idea came that I'd post over here because Mer's blog is dedicated to this subject. She's got a scrapbook blog, too, but this one is specifically for her travels. I'm not the biggest photog, yet, but Mer inspires me with her shots and images. She'll post plenty of pics from our trip, just like last time. I'm more about words and narrative, so I'll probably hit you with play-by-play stuff during the planning and the journey.

Well, here's the specs of our trip:

• Where: New York City (Manhattan)
• When: 3rd week in July 2009
• Rationale: While we have world travel experience and aspirations, we're both young career girls on budgets. Why not travel domestically this summer? Our pockets may not be large, yet, but we don't have to be stuck at home.
• Goal: To be tourists in one of our favorite cities (we've both return visitors), on cultural safari. It would be serendipitous if we met cute African twins - one a doctor, the other an IT-guy - on our visit, who swept us off our feet, married us at a dual New York Public Library ceremony and reception and moved us into neighboring Brooklyn brownstones. Then we'd travel the world as a foursome (growing our little families), spreading Brown people love wherever we went. ;-)
• I'll cover the travel and lodging stuff and many other details in days to come. Our planning process is a story within itself.

But for now, here's the take-away: We have the same initials (M.T.) I'm an ATLien, she's a Carolina-girl. I'm a library-lady, she's a health educator. We're college classmates, sorority line-sisters, cute single sistahs who're trying to live the lives we want -the way we want. We're travel buddies with computers, zip drives, cameras, iPods, dreams, and ideas.

Mer and Mon are definitely trippin'.