We saved the Philippines for our last stop in Asia on “Leg 3” of the trip, and it was worth the wait. However, actually making it to our destination in El Nido, a small town on the northern tip of the island of Palawan, was another story. It took us just about 36 long hours […]
Touring Tokyo & Kyoto
We packed a lot in to the two, quick weeks we spent in Japan. Besides spending a week on Okinawa, we also had five days in Tokyo and three in Kyoto. Japan was fascinating and unlike any other place we have visited on the trip so far. We felt like we got a great chance […]
A Week on Okinawa
World travelers in 2016 are totally spoiled. We have iPhones that we can use to book flights and accommodations, send emails and text messages to stay in touch with everyone back home, read reviews of every activity or restaurant before we visit, and get directions from point A to point B even if we don’t […]
Thailand’s Gentle Giants: Our Week Volun
“Ok guys, today is shit day!” exclaimed Wan, one of the five Thai guides put in charge of managing our volunteer group. There were about 70 total of us there to work for a week at the Elephant Nature Park located in Chiang Mai, Thailand, about one hour north of the city center. On the […]
Country Hopping: 15 Days in Singapore, C...
After having spent about six weeks in Southeast Asia (in Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia), we were starting to feel like we were getting the hang of it. We were recognizing similarities between the countries we had visited and began to think we knew what to expect. Street food on every block. Crazy motorbikes zooming in […]
Slowing Down in Bali
Every day, bright and early, the sound of the roosters crowing in the rice fields outside our villa would wake us up. This was on top of the calls of the geckos, both tiny and surprisingly huge, who loved to sneak inside our bedroom and hang out on the ceiling, sometimes sending little surprises down […]
Eleven Days Down Under
A lot of people asked us why Australia was part of our itinerary. Isn’t it going to be just like back home? Don’t you want to spend time in more exotic places while you have the year off? Isn’t it too expensive for a budget traveler? To be honest, we didn’t know what to expect. […]
New Zealand: A Budget Traveler’s Challen
You can’t go far in New Zealand without seeing backpackers. They’re everywhere – hitchhiking on the side of the road, packed into cafes and coffee shops, biking on mountain paths, or checking in to the some of the many “budget” hostels the country has to offer. We use the term “budget” loosely because we had […]
Updated FAQs
Before we left for the trip in August, we posted a list of frequently asked questions we had been receiving about the planning and trip preparation process. Now that we’ve been on the road for six months, we wanted to share an updated FAQ list. If there’s anything you are curious about, feel free to […]
That Time We Got Sick While Traveling
Well, it finally happened – we got sick. It was inevitable that it would happen at some point along the trip, but that provided little comfort to us as we were holed up in our hotel room, unable to move, get out of bed, or eat anything. We had maybe gotten a little overconfident with […]