Nobody wants to see how sausage is made

How to you make plans, yet keep your plans open at the same time? By driving yourself crazy. Here's the process we've been through since the wedding:

1) We wanted to go somewhere new, and initially thought Ukrain would be exciting, but it's difficult and expensive to get to
2) We want to visit our friend Davide in Naples and the best time to visit is July 11th to 18th
3) We wanted to get an apartment in Berlin, but if we go to Italy for a week, we're paying for a place we're not using
4) So we decided to delay our arrival in Berlin until after Italy, and decided we'd go to Croatia (instead of Ukriane) before Italy (we already booked the hotel in Zadar from 7/5 to 7/12).
5) Finding a mid month rental start date in Berlin has been difficult
6) Finding a convenient way from Croatia to Italy has been difficult. The direct flights are expensive and ferrys are limited
7) If we take the ferry to Ancona, we can take a train to Rome, then a train to Naples (arriving around the 14th and staying until the 18th)
8) Davide (our friend in Naples) works on weekends and wouldn't have a lot of time to hang out with us unless we came earlier in the week (he has Mondays off) AND he wants us to meet his girlfriend who gets there on the 16th.
9) We've now found a dream apartment in Berlin that looks amazing (pics) with a great location (Simon-Dach-Str. 38 10245 Berlin, Germany). It's on a lively street around the corner from a cupcake shop and near Dave's office (Berlin Dave, not Naples Davide)
10) To get the dream apartment, we'd have to rent it for two weeks that we won't be there in June, but it's cheap enough that it balances out with other apartments we looked at for the time we would be there (but with a better location, size and decor)
11) If we take the dream apartment, we won't be going to Croatia or Italy in July and our trip is back to square one.

That's how the beginning of our trip is shaping up. As for the end of our trip:

1) We want to be back in time for my older brother's 40th birthday.  I'm assuming there's going to be a big party.
2) In order to get the cheap flight AND be back in time for the party, we'd have to cut our trip short and fly back on December 11th (only $350 one way from Lima to NYC on Spirit Air, woohoo!)
3) That means either less time in India (skipping orientation week) or less time in Buenos Aires (4 weeks vs 6 weeks)
4) There are no cheap flights from Santiago, Chile to Lima, Peru.  All advice points to taking a 40 hours bus ride, but it only cost $50. Fun!
5) So when we leave Lima decides when we arrive in India in order to spend the time in each place we want to, and do all the things we want to do in those places (Diwali in Madurai for example)

Lastly, our estimated air fare (and train, ferry, etc), total is running neck and neck with the around the world tickets you can get from the major airline alliances. Tempting. But... there's not 16 places we want to go, and if there were, you have to spend at least 10 days in each destination.  That doesn't jive with our itinerary.  It's just painful scouring all the cheap flight deals we found to make this happen, only to get slammed with a $1400 one way ticket from India to Buenos Aires.  There's no way around it and it's more for that one ticket than all the other flight we'll buy combined.

Nobody ever wants to see how the sausage is made, and this is why... Though I'm sure when we get to Germany, the sausage will be delicious.

-Bill