Danke!

Everyone who welcomed us back home, they guy who drove us all the way from Graz to Osnabrück and his friends for having us stay over, Jakob and his WG for a wonderful stay in Graz, the Bulgarian criminal who drove us away from the Bulgarian Turkish border not without picking up a show pidgeon who wrote on Jeroen’s lap beforehand, the couple who took us across the Turkish border to Bulgaria invited us for dinner and then took us back to Turkey again to sleep at their place, Katha and Haluk for a very nice dinner, the friendly people at van ferry port, who invited us for tea, the guy who did a death walk with us on icy Van castle, the Canadian traveler for his great stories about Turkey and how he sold his soul to the oil cleansing industry, the great hostel of Van, above all to Cem, for some very nice evenings with music, introducing us to the kurdish movement, Farook’s niec for patiently translating on the phone, Farook for the most amazing view on the caspic sea his hospitality, great food and trying to communicate with us across language barriers, Mamooleh for beach sliding with us in her car, taking us for dinner and letting us float in a swan, Maziyars mother for delicious food and a warm heart, Maziyars father for his cool communist style, Maziyar for taking us to his familys place and introducing us to his amazing parents, Tamhasb for hosting us in Teheran and introducing us to dates, walnuts and honey, Hamid Reza, who saved us from starving when arriving at Zahedan train station in Iran, the hospitable guys at the police station in Quetta, the friendly family in the train to Quetta, who invited us into their compartment, gave Linda a new look and shared the presence of their dead animals with us, the guy, who took us on a bike tour in Chandigarh, the Sikh temples in Deli, where we could eat and learn to make some Roti, Mr Gogi, for a special experience in Deli, all the very good restaurants in Rishikesh, above all the little buddha, the Osho double at our apartment and later also at the yoga school, the nice old lady at our apartment, Karl for giving Jeroen some coffee company, while he was eating himself through Rishikesh, the doctors, who fixed up Jeroen and did not steal his kidneys, Yogi Dinesh, Pria, Guru Ji and all the students at Om Shanti Om Yoga teacher training, Chrystal and Damien for their great stories, company and the coolest moving-in present, Anneloes to share some time with us, the guys who told us about the Ved Niketan Ashram, where we had a great time, the local monks who helped us find our way and explained us about Tibetan Buddhism in Mcleod Ganj, the truck drivers who picked us up after our bus broke down on the way to Daramsala, invited us for tea and drove us to Gaggal, Guy and Daniel for exploring the Golden temple with us, all the Sikhs for giving the opportunity to eat and sleep and experience life in their beautiful temple, Gagan, the singer at the Golden Temple in Amritsar for showing us the way to the foreigner accommodation, the friendly Indian border staff who took us from the border to the next bus, the Pakistani border guards for putting up one hell of a show and for the hassle free border crossing even with some fun pictures, Sechad, the hostel manager in Lahore for always offering us tea and for his amazing smile and for reminding us of Stefan Verbücheln, the Shakiria dancer who showed us and taught us about drag queen dancing culture in Pakistan, Chan Vararyam for being an amazing Saraiki singer and for explaining about Darwar fort, the guards at Sadiq Garr Palace for letting us onto the premises and showing us around in the palace, Wahid, the supervisor at Black Buck Reserve in Cholistan for showing and explaining us about the black bucks, Mudassir for his company and some material for interesting stories and his familiy for giving us the opportunity to experience village live in Punjab and providing some delicious food, Ali’s family for inviting us into their home and catering us with delicious food, Ali’s uncle Mansur and his friends and family for inviting us, for many interesting political discussions and for some good Pakistani literature recommendations, Ali for being an incredible hosts and the innumerable number of nice places he showed us in Pakistan, Hameedullah and his friend for taking us out for an amazing dinner and teaching us about journalism in Pakistan, Salman for offering his help in the struggle to get an Indian visa, the super friendly guards at a visa service center who turned a horrible experience into something bearable, the friendly couple who drove us to the hospital in order to get a Polio vaccination certificate, Faisal, his wife Amna and his children Aresh and Rawin for their amazing hospitality and Faisal for pulling strings and for being our personal hero when we were most annoyed with the bureaucracy, Ammad for driving us back through crazy traffic and kindly offering us his help with basically everything, Talha for teaching us about Homeopathy in Pakistan and showing us around Rawal Pindi, Ali the cricket player for showing us the way back to our hotel, introducing us to a local delicacy and joining us for dinner with his soon to be wife, the girl who recognized Linda in the bus for making her feel famous and because she was daring to learn how to ride a motorbike, the friendly staff of Agha Khan hospital for teaching us more about Ismaili culture, Azmat for being an incredible host and going out of his way to show us around Islamabad and Rawal Pindi, Haris for a nice conversation in the bus to Islamabad and helping us out to find a hotel when we arrived, the Khan brothers from Balakot for hospitality and the insights they gave us into Muslim traditions and explanation of cricket rules, the friendly police officers who saved us in an unsafe but safe area and invited us to stay for the night and provided us with tea and breakfast, Ali Sher, Akhbar Sher, their father, their friend and especially Miam Akhmat for driving us all the way down to Balakot, hiding us from the police, providing us with food and their great company, in the petrol station owner Daher, his brother Jeanjeb and his staff for giving us a ride, inviting us for tea and lunch and for organizing a ride for us in a Pakistani truck, the guy who shared the back with us and almost fell out taking a picture for us, the guys in the little pickup truck who drove us to Jaglot, the kayaking experts from New Zealand and France for giving us the chance to get a glimpse of their bold expedition down the Indus river, the Hushe boys for teaching us cricket, all the Pakistani woman and children for looking so beautifully colourful, Ali form the Mashabrum inn in Hushe for sharing his amazing mountaineering stories, his chapatis and for looking very cool, the football playing kids for showing us their skills kicking up dirt in the amazing backdrop of the Karakorum range, Niaz Ali for letting us camp at the PTDC in Skardu giving us blankets and even a matress to stay warm and for his warm friendly smile ,Simon for being a badass on his motorbike and for spending almost two weeks with us and driving us safely through the Karakorum mountain range in his amazing camper,Mia and Brecht and a whole bunch of Pakistani for spending a nice evening out, Lal Shezadi for giving us the opportunity to meet so many nice people in her little restaurant, for cooking amazing food, for being one of the most honest and direct persons we met and for inviting us to her children’s birthday party, Salar and Yasir for their frequent dinner company and for doing an amazing video project, the two Pakistani travellers from Sialkot and Lahore we met in our favourite Karimabad restaurant for their company and sharing their amazing travel stories, the family who invited us for tea an snacks and provided us with a whole bag of apples, dried fruits nuts and a delicious pomegranate fresh from the tree, the people working at the kado foundation for showing us around, explaining a lot and doing an amazing project, Mehboob, the manager of Hunza embassy hotel in Karimabad for helping us out and being an awesome host, the friendly doctor who not only prescribed medication but also helped us find a hotel in Karimabad, the taxi driver who helped us to find Aliabad hospital, the Aljazeera journalists who helped us gain some fame in Pakistan, the owner of the world famous Hunza apricot cake place for inviting us, the old ladies giving us more courage crossing deadly suspension bridges, the two hotel owners for explaining us some hiking routes in Pasu, the shop owner in Sost, who helped us exchange money and organized a taxi to Pasu, the border control doctor for welcoming us in Pakistan with a big smile, Sohrab for his company and helpful advice and for showing up surprisingly again in Karimabad, Muhammed Afta and the “very, very old” (and therefore wise) man who took us under their wings, showed us the way to the bus towards Pakistan and taught us how to stay relaxed, drink some tea and then still always be the first in line, the girls in a Tashkurgan restaurant for helping us order vegetarian food and for an unforgettable picture session, the guy who drove us to a hotel in Tashkurgan, the second couple of Chinese hitchhikers, we met, for their short company and the guy who took all four of us towards Tashkurgan , the two girls who let us jump into their taxi, took us close to the Tadjik border and did their best to help us find a new ride, Tusunjan for looking super fabulous in his army outfit and for giving a thumbs up to Linda because of Jeroen’s impressive height, Kaule for being so kind to host us in his home, the man who drove us all the way to Karakul lake, organized a place to sleep for us at a friend’s place and gave us a tasty watermelon, the two guys in the truck filled with watermelons who took the four of us in, Andrea and Aaron, the first Chinese hitchhikers we met, for their company, the other two guys who boldly picked us up and saved us from the sandstorm, the two guys who drove us boldly into a sandstorm, the driver who took us with to the first village out of Kashgar, the bus driver who in our confusion at a police check post helped us out by waving us back in and explained how we could get to the Karakorum highway, the tour guide who came to our rescue and helped us order vegetarian food in a meat dominated city when no one understood us, the friendly railway staff who did their best to make our stay at the station as comfortable as possible and let us sleep in the first class waiting room, the friendly guy who waited patiently for the police to do a rigorous check on our bags and passports when it turned out they were mainly interested in a picture and then drove us to Korla, the elderly men in Hejing who spontaneously offered us a plate of traditional Uyghur lamb and rice, the two guys that drove us with death-defying speeds over the steep and narrow mountain passages to Hejing, the guy with his injured stiff-legged friend who graciously made space for us in their car, despite the obviously uncomfortable sitting position for the friend, Gabli, Galiba, Noajason, Xinarhan, the lovely family for saving us from the cold and hosting us in their home for the night making us feel very much at home with their amazing hospitality, the guy who drove us to a village Ulanbhehrk Bekint, south of Nan Shan, Jengdje and Laidjanjao who drove us from Nan Shan back down to the main road, Yuko and Winshan, her very soon to be husband that drove us to Nan Shan and organized not only a dinner for us but also a night in a yurt which helped us survive the freezing cold, father and son who drove us to a petrol station further south, the minivan driver who took us out of Urumqi to a crossroad, Alimjan, Kevin, Merzhat and their friends for spending time with us in Urumqi, introducing us to Uighur culture and for their singing and dancing performances, Mark for hosting us in Urumqi, showing us around and introducing us to even more delicious Chinese food, the friendly security guard who did not quite lose his senses in the security insanity in Urumqi and let us into a little park opposite of red hill park with our backpacks, the woman who helped us find our way to the city centre in Urumqi, the family in the train who provided us with fresh Chinese dates and also tried to help with our phone, the friendly guys who helped us recharge our phone at the station in Xi’an, Kai for showing us around town and sharing his communist party and policeman stories ,the girl from the optician who helped us find our hostel in Xi’an, the family that took us in their van and brought us to a metro station in east Xi’an, the couple that dropped us off just outside of Xi’an, the father who educated us in alternative ways of toddler toilet training by holding his 2 year old over a trash can to do his business, the girl in the bus for giving us a good laugh by hiding behind her curtain while covertly taking pictures of us, the little boy who, with some slight pressure from his mother, dared to strike up a conversation with us with many spectators watching over his little shoulders, the truck driver that slowly but steadily took us further down the road to a service area toward Xi’an, all the curious villagers that kept showing up to have a glance at the unexpected guests, the incredibly curious and friendly neighbour that kept on dropping by to give us hot water, fruit, bread and moon cakes, the cute little girl in the small village under the highway near Sanmenxia that was brave enough to talk to us and helped us with her mother to find us a place to camp and gave us a candle for the night, the older couple that brought us to Sanmenxia, the friendly character that presented us with two ice creams at the highway service area, Leiluo Renjian and Shandong who spontaneously, after inviting us for lunch, gave us a tour in Zhengzhou and dropped us again at the highway in spite of a huge detour, the police men who ignored us enough to sleep quietly in our tent, the family that took us in their van to Heze where we pitched our tent behind the petrol station and unfortunately next to the loo, the manager at the service area restaurant that invited us for a free lunch, the two younger guys who drove us to a service area near Qufu, the two businessmen who took us with and arranged our next ride further west, the young guy on his way to work who dropped us off on the middle of the highway, the almost aggressively flamboyant, high-tempered and highly styled hair-dressing couple who dropped us off at the highway, the bus driver who helped us find our way back out of town, the friendly couple who took us in good will, though against our own will, back to the city centre of Qingdao, the tow truck driver who stopped in the middle of the drive way and drove us out of Jhiazhou later trying to pull a far too heavy truck in need which postponed our journey by one day, Sissy Lee and her friend Huiwen Zheng for providing us fully committed assistance not only in getting our Pakistan visa but also in shopping and dropping us at the right spot for hitchhiking, the guys who sang only slightly detuned karaoke on the beach, the couchsurfers Mia, Brett, Shavon and Jason Lee who went all the way out of town to join our blasting beach party, the nice lady who gave us company in front of the Qingdao church, all our Chinese friends who helped us to create the wechat song and video, the couples who posed lovely on the beach in Laoshan bay for the camera, the old man for shaking the tree, the beautiful brides in Qingdao for the show they were providing to us, Mia, for being such a wonderful host and taking us back home to Berlin calling, Dai for giving us the opportunity to experience eating stamppot with chopsticks, Chenchan for driving us for two hours through rush hour traffic to drop us off at our hotel and for his amazing smile, Song and his students/colleagues who invited us to all kinds of little treats and took us just outside of Qingdao, the guy who wanted to drop us off at the nearest train station but decided to take us with to Zibo instead, the guys who took us from Texas customs to Jinan and also dropped us of in the middle of the highway, the guys who took us from Texas customs to Jinan and also dropped us of in the middle of the highway, the two guys who took us to Texas and tried to find a car heading to Qingdao at every single car park on the way, Tjin Chen Pang or Jesse for taking us into his tiny van, the lady who drove us out of Beijing and dropping us off in the middle of the highway insisting on helping us to find another car, Shaun for sharing some crazy stories about his mother, Dan, Katie and Morgan for inviting us into their home, biking around Beijing without getting us killed, sharing their stories and giving us great hiking tips, the woman on the bus with great nonverbal communication skills who showed us the way back from Shentangyu to Beijing, the super friendly restaurant owners in Shentangyu who let us hang out there half day providing us with tea and incredibly cheap nutritious breakfast, Jerry and his girlfriend/wife (depends on who you ask) for inviting us for a beer and entertaining us with his stories, the Brazilians who invited us to Brunos goodbye party and gave us insights into a diplomats life in Beijing, Mike for being an incredible host and story teller, Owen who gave us some insights into the life of a Chinese journalist, Sabine who took us for dinner in Beijing, Captain China for being awesome and inviting for an early morning beer, Fan who drove us all the way to Beijing and invited us to dinner, twice, the woman and daughter who, despite of having some problems backing up their car, brought us to Saihan Tal, the friendly Inner Mongolian guy with his daughter that took us from Erenhot further south, Bayra, Elka, Mega and Djaky for their incredible hospitality and copious amounts of vodka in Zamii-Uud and getting us across the Chinese border in record pace, the friendly guy who took us out to the road toward Zamii-Uud and Mugka, Zula and Damut for driving us all the way there while bouncing up and down on the worn out at shock absorbers of their car, the taxi driver and the British couple in his car that drove us back to Sainshand, the family that ran the ger camp in the Gobi desert, invited us for tea and offered us a free bed, Javi for his inspirational enthusiasm and the wonderful discussions we shared, the young monk for answering our many questions about the buddhist temple, the taxi driver that took us further down the road for free and the guy in the transporter van that took a detour for us and drove us all the way to Khamaryn Khiid, Narentsk and Sotnom for driving us to Sainshand and walking 3 circles round a buddhist structure for good luck on the road, Kurdle for stopping his truck to ask if we wanted to join him, when we weren’t even trying to hitchhike and for inviting us on Mongolian horse milk and Chinese vodka, the taxi driver that stalked us in Ulanbator, but only to offer us a free ride ánd a note in Mongolian to explain the meaning of hitchhiking, which we could use on our next ride with the elderly Mongolian guy who took us further down the road south, Sha for giving us matching T-Shirts so we can run around in partner look and for writing us a life-saving note with Chinese translations to travel in China, Thomas for telling us about a magical place in Gobi desert, the truck drivers who took us back to Ulanbator and even hid under the heavy lot of our backpacks to not get fined, Elise and Frederic for nice conversations and their tips on travelling in India, Zuska and Thomas for making our stay volunteering worthwhile, Dologo for her crazy laughter, the Airmarket staff for printing fake flight tickets for us, the guy with his son and daughter who took us from Nadaam back to Ulanbator and his son for trying to teach us some Mongolian, the girl in Ulanbator who helped us to find the bus to Nadaam festival, the familiy who took us from Dachan to Ulanbator for squeezing us in and for delicious horsemilk, the three farmers who took us to Dachan, the border control guy who took us to a lake for taking us with when we were hardly trying to hitchhike, the Mongolian border policewomen for her perfect English, the little guy who shared dinner with us in Sukhbataar for the nice drawing of his ger, the Mongolians who took us over the border, the Russian tourist who took us to the border, the border control police for teaching us how to perfectly sweep asphalt and for stopping cars for us, the bus driver who took us with to the border control post just in front of the Mongolian border, the drunken Russians, who helped us to get on a bus, the couple who introduced us into ways on getting road luck by throwing money out of the window, the Russian guy who may or may not have been employed by the KGB, the guy who took us from Ulan Ude and invited us to join him to a Buddhist temple, the uncle and nephew from Kirghizstan who drove us to Ulan Ude and offered Linda a bed in the back of their van, the taxi driver who took us on an empty ride out of Irkutsk for free, the friendly waitress in the Georgian restaurant in Irkutsk, who translated every vegetarian item on the menu with her smartphone, the bus driver who picked us up then and took us for free all the way to Irkutsk, the Chinese travel group who took us with from the ferry until their car broke down, the UAZ driver who took us to the ferry from Olkhon, Misha, Lena, Sasha and the other guys for integrating us into their little camp community at lake Baikal and for a crazy Banyu session, the super friendly staff in patio hostel Irkutsk, Maxim for helping us out in Novosibirsk, Lidya and her boyfriend for picking us up at the bus stop and taking us all the way to Bisk, Alexey, Tanja and Igor for inviting us into their community, all the other pilgrims and Sergei in particular for sharing his stories with us, Jura, Irena, Tanja and her husband who safely took us down a deadly steep slope and all the way to Teletskoye lake, the guy on a bike trip who took us to the most incredible view point in the Altai mountains, the three Altai guys with whom we were pushing their car towards Ulagan, Irena for opening up her home to us and teaching us about herbs and mushrooms, Polina for being our personal Google Translate and taking us on a wonderful day-trip to a nearby waterfall, Tanja for her traveller spirit and her awesome yoga lessons, Arseni and Vasia for showing us all kinds of weird animals, the reappearing taxi driver that drove the three of us all the way to Aktash, Joe, for sharing his yoga skills with us, Loïc for his puppy eyes and his boundless energy, Polina for giving us our second most luxurious stay in Barnaul, Anja and Slava for cooking delicious food with us and showing us how our camera works, Matt, Valentin, Anna, Richard, Alena, Nadja, Irena, Lera, Julia, Nastja, Anja, Vanja and all the kids at Aapple Camp, Ivan, for driving us with lighting speed to Barnaul and treating us on the most wonderful evening in his city penthouse, the wonderful family in Kulunda, for showing us around town and helping us hitch a ride east, Jura, Svetlana and their 5 cute children for having us over and spending time with us in Pavlodar, the horseback riding rangers that hoisted Linda on a horse in the Kazakh steppe, Sertay, Alma and their relatives in Molodezhnyy and Radnikovsky, for their wonderful curiosity and amazing hospitality, the guy who took us with and gave us tomatoes and cucumbers for the road, the local teacher for taking us a city further east, the Kazakh police officer for giving us a ride in his police car, the curious people around the stranded bus on the exit in Osakarovka, the Kazakh who suspected us to be globalisation agents, but drove us towards Karaganda nonetheless, the friendly girl on the bus and the helpful guy at the bus stop on our way out of Astana, for helping us find our way, Sergey and Nathalia, for inviting us into their home, their thoughtfulness and openness and for showing us around Astana by night on bike, Evgeni, for offering us a monster ride, learning Russian and English together and helping us to book the train in Chelyabinsk to Astana, the friendly guy who took us from a very bad hitchhiking spot to the crossroad to Ufa, Lera and her wonderful aunt, for having us stay at their place and offering us tasty strawberries from the garden and Russian buckwheat pancakes, Lera, Rinaz and their friends for spending a wonderful evening with them, Rinaz, who took us from Tjeboksary to his hometown Tjistobal, the guy, who drove us all the way from Vladimir to Tjeboksary, Nicolei and Sergej (?), who brought us to Vladimir, Olek, who drove us out of Moscow, the friendly hostel staff, who helped us getting our registration sorted and gave us a lot of information on Russian politics, Fedor and his little sisters for showing us around in Moscow, Katya, for letting us stay at her place in Moscow, Andrew and Andrew for taking us to Moscow alive, Sasha for driving us straight to the Russian border and for having a nice conversation with us, despite some language difficulties, Larissa and her husband for taking us away from Brovary, the petrol station staff, who tried organizing a lift for us in heavy rain, Alexis, who brought us to Brovary, Sonya, Ted and Isha for letting us stay at their place, the friendly woman, who helped us get the right bus, Erika and her husband for helping to order something vegetarian in Russian, Chucky for his company, Caspar for saving us from our computer problems, for some great films and music and for staying on earth with this weird species called humans for some time, Anna, who gave us a great tour through Odessa and lots of great pictures, Yaroslav for letting us stay at his place and a memorable Yoga lesson, the friendly border guards, who let us out of Transnistria again, Alex, for a wonderful night at the Nistra and his parents for letting us in, Nadia for helping us cook a delicious Borschtsch, Victor for being such an unforgettable nice person and for his company, Lydia for taking us to Chitcani, the friendly border guards, who let us into Transnistria, Olga, who helped us translating some interviews, the taxi driver, who wouldn’t accept a tip, the guy, who sang a song for us in Romanovca, Svetlana, who invited us over for strawberries, liquor and sweets and showed us the last German house in Romanovca, the ladies in the shop in Romanovca, who helped organising a taxi and offered us ice cream and water, the bodyguard, who drove us to the cross road to Romanovca, the business man and his girlfriend translating on the phone while we were driving from Chishinau, the wine seller in Chischinau who explained us a lot about wine from Moldova, the monch who invited us to visit the old monastery in Orheiul Vechi, the woman who changed money to Moldovan lei for us and helped us to get on the bus, the guy in Orheiul Vechi, who offered us to camp there till eight, Peter, who took us to Orheiul Vechi even though we could hardly communicate, Nelu, who drove us straight into Moldova and invited us for lunch, the nuns who showed us the monastery close to Dracula’s castle, Dracula, who scared the hell out of us, Maia and her family for taking us with and offering us to stay at their beautiful place, the truck driver who took us with to Bistritia, the guy who drove with his sun jumping around in the car to Cluj, the forest worker, who drove us from Rachitele to Huedin, the friendly guy in who invited us for beer in Huedin, the ladies, who offered us to take a photo with them in Huedin, the volunteers in Rachtitele for having a great time with them, Roger and Zsuszie for teaching us about gardening and construction, Abraham, who showed us how to milk a cow, the couple on a “brain-vacation” who took us on a day trip from Calata to Rachitele, the plumber-priest, and his girlfriend who drove us straight up the wrong mountain in Rachitele, the three friendly guys, who took us to the intersection in Calata, the truck driver, who on a non-stop journey from Romania to Holland and only equipped with a 1,5 l bottle of coffee, brought us to Huedin, Krisztian, who despite having to babysit ten cats, offered us a place to sleep and showed us Cluj, Nelu, who actually asked US whether we wanted to ride with him to Cluj and then insisted on inviting us for coffee, Adi, who against his principles decided to take us with to Oradea (don’t tell his girlfriend),Roman, who freed us from our desperate position on the Slovakian-Hungarian border and even drove into the wrong direction to get us to a better hitchhiking spot, the friendly guy from Hostel Madrid, who introduced us to the hidden underground bar life of Kosice, Misa and his family, Basia, for great tunes, Marcin, Karolina and Marta for a wonderful stay in Koniec swiata, the fridge deliverer, Tomek, for the best Pizza in the East, Lydia, for taking us through the beautiful mountains, Justyna, for being a wonderful host and for telling us so many stories about Poland, the guy who took us from Balice to Krakow, the two girls, who squeezed us into their car, Kajetan, Agniezka and Macek in Wroclaw, Woitek and his son, who took us to Wroclaw,the couple who took us to Forst, Waldemar and his flatshare in Cottbus, the social worker from Haselünne, the family from Kosovo, the couple who felt sorry for us, the two guys who took us all the way home, Stefan and good luck with his garden, the girl who wants to work as an Au Pair in New Zealand, the super friendly guy Noah who walked 200m to offer us a lift and took us to Thekla, Thekla for a wonderful evening and a travel medicine kit, Johannes for letting us stay at his place, Alex, Julia, Nicole, Isabel and Lisa, Lukas and Marius for helping us move, Johannes and Laura for making great music, Kirsten, for being a helpful neighbour, our grandparents, parents and siblings, our sisters in law, aunts and uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews, friends and everyone else who helped us!