Well, it finally happened. We got a Sprinter van. Six months ago, my car got stolen from right in front of our house. It was a totally bummer, but it made us start seriously thinking about putting the money we'd spend to buy a replacement vehicle towards buying a used Sprinter van instead. We'd been contemplating getting a Sprinter for a long time, with plans to renovate it into a small home - Instagram has a way of convincing you that you can do anything.
Read moreYou Know You're a Budget Traveler When...
Heating up lunch left overs in our hotel room with a blow dryer, to avoid paying for dinner.
You Know You're a Budget Traveler When...
- An included breakfast at your accommodations is the best news ever, because if you eat enough at breakfast then you can skip buying lunch and maybe even dinner!
- You refuse to pay for a hotel on long layovers. Stuck in Heathrow for 18 hours? Tough luck. As long as you can find a row of seats without arm rests you'll be okay. And if you can't find that even a patch of carpeted floor will do. You're a veteran of sleeping in public.
- You do your laundry by hand unless you're somewhere you can get it done for a couple of dollars or less.
Traveling Without Regrets
All we want to do is read...
Have you ever gotten back from a trip and realized you could have made more of it? That you could have had a richer experience? I hate that and sadly it's happened to us more than once. A few months ago we traveled to Mexico and stayed in the beach town of Playa Del Carmen. It's super close to Cozumel so we were going to go over there to dive. We didn't end up going. Instead, we pretty much just sat in our hostel reading books and eating cheap food from the mini mart down the road. We're still filled with shame just thinking about it!
Read moreAdventure Misery: Is It Worth It?
Justin's toes rubbed raw after hiking the Narrows
Ever wonder why we do this kind of stuff? Why you do this kind of stuff? Seriously. We could just drive somewhere epic, but we choose to walk for days. We could be at home going out for a nice dinner and coming home to a hot shower, but instead we cook some ramen at the end of a long day and crawl into our sleeping bags caked in sweat. There's blisters, rain, intense heat, unexpected snow storms, and usually some serious B.O. I've lost toe nails, hoisted a pack onto bruised hips day after day, woken up to find ice sheets on the inside of our tent from our condensation, and nearly cried a few times. I don't know about you guys, but we do it because we can't imagine how boring our lives would be if we always did things the easy way - only focused on living a comfortable life.
Read moreThoughts On Airplane Food
You've been flying for ten hours and you're bored and hungry. You're stoked when you notice the flight crew getting the service carts ready to serve a meal. Finally. Better yet, since you're vegetarian they bring you your food first. You eagerly tear off the tin foil and are greeted by something tan and pureed. Beside it are some wilted spinach leaves. And these aren't the good old days where you got the full can of your beverage of choice. Instead you get a small glass with mostly ice. Your neighbor's "regular" food doesn't look much better, but at least he gets a bread roll. You're filled with jealousy and what's even worse is that he doesn't even eat it! You think about asking him for it before the trays get picked up, but no - that's too desperate.
Read moreFlying Smart
I am less than a year old in my first passport photo. You can see a parent's hands holding me up. I was on my fifth passport by the time I was twenty-three. Needless to say, I've been a frequent flyer for a long time. While I won't say that I'm the ultimate flight expert, I have picked up a number of tricks along the way to make a long flight go smoother. Here are my strategies that have helped me endure many a 14-16 hr flight.
Read morePassport Photos: The Real Story
One of the first concrete steps in planning an international trip is obtaining a passport. That is assuming you want to avoid time spent in a cramped cell somewhere. Filling out the form and paying a small fortune are the easy two steps of the trifecta needed to be successful in obtaining your passport. The third step, providing a passport photo, seems easy enough at first but upon further investigation becomes a challenge like unto stepping foot on the moon. When you've mastered it you'll feel as if a giant leap for mankind has just occurred.
Read moreTen Reasons to Travel More
Everyone should travel more. Easy to say but not always convincing, because let's face it - there are also lots of reasons why people decide not to travel. Money, kids, risk of getting sick in a foreign country and so forth. However, there are numerous benefits to travel that are difficult to gain anywhere else and make it extremely worth it. Here are my top ten.
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