What we do with all this time!
I get the same question whenever I talk with anyone from home… what do you do all day? Without working, commuting, cleaning, running errands, what to do all day? Well, here it goes =) Brace yourself. lol We still get up early. Around 8 am every morning. What?!? We don’t have jobs and we get up at 8am?!? are we crazy? Yeah. Why? Well there’s a lot to do! Time is like money, you never have enough of it. And when you get more, then you find a way to spend it. Traveling takes a lot more time then I expected. There are lots of things to research, to plan, and to decide. We spend a lot of time looking over the internet for interesting / must see things in our current city. Over breakfast we take out maps and plan our assault. Then we pack our day pack (books, umbrella, sunscreen, snacks, notebooks, kindles, camera) and make our way into the city. Traveling on a budget means a lot of walking. We walk around most of the day, trying to find things, discovering simple things along the way (markets, street art, stores, and people). We spend a good chunk of time trying foods in markets, looking for a great place to catch a cheap lunch, and maybe reading / practicing spanish. In the evenings we spend a lot of time planning our route, discussing changes to our plan. I’m beinging to question what a plan really is, if it changes everyday is it a plan? Looking for volunteer organizations, researching and bookings buses, trains, flights, hostels and excursions is time consuming. Then we organize all the pictures we’ve taken throughout the day, and sketch together rough drafts of blogs. I’m working on a new retirement plan. Those of you who’ve worked with me are well aware of my various retirement plan ideas. This next one is good. Without all my energy being spent at the office, I have superflous amounts channeled into retirement plans. So thats about it for our activites. Not all days are exciting, and rainy days could have the potential to be boring. But being with Leah, spending time laughing, playing games, and looking over pictures, every moment is cherished. Life is great. ...
Read MoreVargem Grande
After 10 day of the constant rhythm of Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival, which like NYC, is truly a city that never sleeps or stops partying! Ben and I looked forward to escaping the city to Brazil’s tropical countryside, where we could experience the country’s more rural side and maybe get some sleep! 😉 We were to be received as houseguests by fellow couch surfer, Cecilia, at her home in Vergem Grande, which is a barrio of Rio. This would be our first couch surfing experience of our world adventures and we were very excited to be spending time with another English speaker, there are not many in Rio. Our journey to Vergem Grande gave us our first glimpses into the kindness of the Brazilian people, without them we’d still be stuck in Rio. First we were unsure of our first transfer and after an hour of not see our bus go by we grew suspicious that we had gotten off at the wrong stop but the school kids at our bus stop assured us that our bus would come… eventually. Once on the second bus we asked a young woman in broken Portuguese what stop was Rio Water Planet, she told us and got off at our stop, but once she saw we were walking in the wrong direction, which is very typical of us, her and her friend ran after us politely pointing out the correct path to take. Once we got to the first road we needed we were stopped by a gentleman who said “I think you are missing!” and ran to his car to get his car’s GPS. He insisted in broken English that we use it. He also did an excellent job explaining to us what chicken wings were, charade-style, because he caught us eyeing a restaurant menu. It was definitely entertaining. By this time it was very late and dark, and again some patient locals had to ran after us to point out the correct gate where Cecilia lived because we were walking past it after we had asked them for help. We finally arrived at our host’s house and we were greeted us with open arms. Poor Cecilia worried that we were either lost or died and promptly served us delicious pizza, which we inhaled. We also meet her two very cute and playfully puppies. Nina, the female and the youngest, was mild tempered and content to follow the lead of Freddie, the male, the oldest and the troublemaker! Lol. They were like Cecilia’s shadows, constantly at her feet, bringing her joy and headaches in the same way small children bring to their parents. The last night Ben and I tried out our cocoons, which are like sleeping bags made out of sheets to keep the bugs from biting us. It was very hot and the windows needed to stay open. As you can see they are quite the fashion statement....
Read MoreWhat to pack…
After spending countless hours surfing the net, reading forums and blogs, we are finally ready to pack our bags. “Travel light”… we’ve seen that phrase a million times, but what is light? When you plan on living out of a backpack for at least a year. Here is our best attempt at a packing list. We’ll let you know how it pans out! We picked mostly light weight and quick drying materials. The idea being we can wash things in the evening and they will be dry by morning. No jeans (gasp!)… They are heavy, hot, and slow drying. Ben: 2 pairs of quick-dry running pants 1 pair of swim shorts 6 pairs of socks 6 pairs of underwear 1 long sleeve quick-dry shirt 2 short sleeve quick-dry shirts 1 regular tshirt 1 pull over fleece 1 water resistant/windbraking jacket 1 onesie (for cold nights, hostels and hotels in SA are short on blanets) a leatherman a ultraportable laptop (plus power source) iPod (plus power source) kindle (plus power source) camera (plus power source) universal outlet adapter (shared) international cell phone medical kit (antibiotic cream and wipes, painkillers, antibiotics, hand sanitizer, band aids, vitamins, diarrhea blocker, laxatives, cold medicine) personal hygenie items (shared: shampoo, conditioner, cleaner, toothpaste, cotton swabs) quick drying super absorbing towel sleeping bag liner pillow case (to use as a dirty laundry bag, general sack to carry things, or stuffed with clothes to use as a pillow) toilet paper (because you never know) mini flash light (shared) batteries (shared) calculator (to keep track of what we were spending in US Dollars) flip flops – for hostel showers birkenstocks or sandels with hard soles for walking around in tennis shoes for trekking sun block and chap stick (shared) sunglasses bandanas umbrella (shared) travel guides (shared) pad locks for locking up pack travel laundry soap and laundry line (shared) money belt for passport, credit cards, money notebook and pen for keep track thoughts and money spent Ben packed everything into a 40L travel pack Leah: Same as above minus the leatherman and onesie. With the addition of a couple sundresses, basic makeup kit, and some additional feminine necessities and medication. I also brought more underwear since hey there are small and a head scarf. I have a daypack but have yet to use it since I have a money belt and pockets, but it come in handy when we need to go to cafes to use the internet and will need the pack to carry our laptops in. A great website that helped us out a bunch was: http://www.travelindependent.info/whattopack.htm#Essential%20clothing Travel Suggestions: Put all bottles like shampoo, moisturizer, toothpaste into zip lock baggies incase something explodes. Also pills like vitamins and painkillers take up less room in zip lock baggies verses bottles. It is also wise roll up your clothes, do not fold them, so they take up less space in your pack. Leah packed everything in a 85 L pack, room to spare. We also photo-copied important documents and put them on google docs: Copies of our birth certificates, passports, drivers licenses, social security cards, any travel insurance documents, and personal letters, etc. Important before you leave! Get all your vaccinations, visas to countries that require them in advance (like Brazil), and travelers insurance. Since we are traveling indefinitely we only have a general idea of where we want to visit and booked hostels and had places to stay only 3 weeks out. We plan on booking and planning as we go. And remember if you forgot it!!!! Buy it!!!! It’s probably cheaper to get it on the...
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