Just over a year ago we were sitting on the summit of Gunung Sinabung – a docile, extinct volcano in northern Sumatra. It took us three hours to climb from base to summit – not the hardest volcano we’ve climbed, but well worth the work. Shrouded in mist we celebrated summiting with a photo [...]
If you’d seen me just one minute ago, you would have caught me in a rather telling position. With one hand covering my eyes and one on my keyboard, I was scrolling through our website, peeking through my fingers at our recent posts. How many days have passed since I’ve last made an appearance? My [...]
My sister hated to go to school. She could come up with a million and one excuses why she shouldn’t go. Her throat tickled. She hadn’t slept well. Her stomach hurt. There were bumps in her socks (that was one of her favorites). Just over a week ago, in New York’s Madison Square Garden, [...]
I think food is half the journey. I love trying new things, experiencing new flavors and making mental notes on how I’ll enrich my cooking once I come home. There’s also that element of fear involved: will my stomach be able to handle this stuff? Are deep-fried bamboo worms really safe to eat? Coming back, [...]
Am I a totally new and improved person? No, not exactly. Do I feel different? Yeah, I do. The feeling is a special one: poignant yet incredibly hard to describe. For the last thirteen months we’ve been on the road: living out of our backpacks, finding our ‘happy-places’ on bus rides, bargaining our way into [...]
Traveling Americans have a habit of falling into a number of stereotypes. There’s the loud travelers, the cheap ones, the I’m-an-American-so-F-you crowd, and the people who refuse to eat anything that isn’t served at their local restaurant; the list goes on for longer than your attention span. While I may fall in to some of [...]
We all know that traveling isn’t what it used to be five, ten or fifty years ago. A lot of things have changed, some for the better, and some things are perhaps not the great improvements we once thought they’d be. Good things such as Skype (no more hyper expensive collect calls) and internet research [...]
I love food. It’s as simple as that. Catch me a few hours after a good meal and I’ll most likely be thinking about my next meal. It’s a habit that becomes heightened when traveling. Sure, it’s great to see pretty things, explore soaring mountains or wile away on an island beach. If I were [...]
Traveling as a couple has its ups and downs. For the most part it’s worked out incredibly well for Martin and I but only because we found a system that works for us. I call it Divide and Conquer. I ventured out into guest writing last week for Pam at Spunky Girl Monologues. My post [...]
Eighteen years ago a man and his son were on a road trip, driving toward an Arizona destination that has since been forgotten. They passed a road sign that grabbed the man’s attention. He asked his son to pull off the road, pointing in the direction of a small town off the highway. They [...]
You poured your heart into raising us. You were amazing. You were my mother. You were my hero. Today, because you are still all those things, you are my friend as well. Thank you Mom. I love you. Happy Mothers Day.
Europe has been on the travel agenda for the past month and a half. That means many things. The most important for us is seeing friends and family again. We can’t afford to jump around European hostels/hotels like we could in SE Asia or India. That’s just not in our budget. Our solution is a [...]
As of three days ago we’ve been on the road for one year. One year of bus rides, backpacks, airplanes, amazing adventure and writing – 725 posts, the last time I checked. We’ve been in Stockholm for the last few days visiting friends. We decided to celebrate the one year mark with a little break [...]
Word from San Diego is that my Mother in law made it back to the States, safe and sound. Considering that she was on one of only two aircraft that flew that route during the week of the volcanic cloud, she was insanely lucky to make it. So here’s to hoping that the troublesome [...]
I’m an American. I’m not an Australian when I’m in Indonesia. I’m not a Canadian when I’m in Vietnam. I don’t sew another country’s flag on my backpack in an attempt to conceal my nationality. (Yes, I’ve seen that happen) I’m a traveling American woman and guess what? That’s OK. I don’t have [...]
You know the saying, “to fly by the seat of your pants?” Well, that's been our philosophy for most of our adult lives – before and after meeting, falling in love and marrying. We're now taking that idea on an extended round-the-world trip. Follow us as we share the good, the bad and the downright nasty of life on the road.
