What’s it like to live out of a backpack? The answer depends on when you ask the question. Some days it is the most liberating thing to only have what you can carry and be free to wander where ever you want. But there are days when all you want are things that are at home in a storage unit, most often your bed but also clothes because wearing the same thing for over 4 months gets a little old. Luckily the days of wanting your bed are few and far between. Most of the time I am simply amazed that this is actually my life – that Rob and I really are just roaming around living it up and experiencing whatever comes our way.
I was worried before we left that I would be bored and not know what to do with all my spare time but of course that has not been the case. The extra time has allowed me the chance to explore more things and remember what it is I enjoy. Before I never knew what to write under the “other interests” section of a resume because I felt like all I had time for was school and then work (and also because I think that has no place in a resume but that is not really the point of this post). But now my list of “other interests” (for me – not a resume) goes on and on – yoga, meditating, learning about new cultures, reading, camping, writing, photography, hiking, nature, swimming, good food, singing cheesy songs on road trips, craft beer, music, dancing, pedal biking, snorkeling, and the list keeps growing. I’m excited to see what else gets added to the list as our journey continues. And I’m also really excited to make a stop back to the U.S. in October so my parents can bring me new clothes from storage!
Tags: Backpacking, Beyond The Trail, Flashpacker, Gap Year, RTW, Travel Blog, Vagabond
Tags: Backpacking, Beyond The Trail, Flashpacker, Maori culture, New Zealand, Paihia, RTW, Travel Blog, Vagabond, Waitangi treaty grounds, Wanderlust
Yesterday we hiked Mt Eden, a dormant volcano that is the highest natural point in Auckland. The last volcano erupted in Auckland 600 years ago. As Rob said, that was around the time America was “discovered’ in 1492 when Columbus sailed the ocean blue. You can see the whole city from up there, including the rugby stadium!
Then we took a bus up to Paihia where we will be spending the next week. We took Naked Bus (does not mean clothing optional) up the coast and even got door-to-door service thanks to the nice bus driver. Paihia is in the Bay of Islands on the northeast coast of the north island. On the ride up here it struck me that we knew nothing about where we were going and what we are going to do once we got there. And the randomness of it all made me smile. Guess we’re getting pretty good at this wandering nomad thing after all 
Tags: Backpacking, Beyond The Trail, Mount Eden, New Zealand, Paihia, Vagabond
Thursday was our last day on Waiheke chilling with Dave and Sue at the Crescent Valley Eco Lodge. The Island was a blast and gave us a great opportunity to interact with the locals. Dave and Sue invited us into their home and even made us Sunday dinners, which were great. We met their friends and had a great time chatting about just about everything under the sun. Below are a couple shots of the place we called home for two weeks on the island.
That night we made our way back to Auckland for The Get Up Kids show. The venue was an old Castle called Windsor Castle / Juice Bar. With only about 40 people at the show, Debra I were standing front row about 2 feet from the band. By far one of the coolest shows I have ever been too. At the end of the show one of the guys handed me the printed play list from the show, a proverbial greatest hits from all their albums. The next day, we caught the bus south to Rotorua for the weekend.
Tags: Ackland, Backpacking, Beyond The Trail, Round The World, RTW, The Get Up Kids, Travel Blog, Vagabond, Wanderlust
This is our 100th blog post (so WordPress tells me) so I thought it fitting to recap what we’ve been up to since we started this little adventure. Our first post was the day we sold our condo and quit our jobs. Now we’ve been on the road for 111 days, visited 3 countries, walked 240 miles, drove 11,000 kilometers and seen 3 wonders of the world. We’ve hung out with some awesome people from all over the world and enjoyed countless delicious meals and local brews. We’ve stumbled upon everything from a hip-hop festival in the streets of Beijing to the Dali Lama in a park in Brisbane. We’ve snorkeled in the Great Barrier Reef and climbed the Great Wall of China.
Along the way there has been lots of singing, laughing and dancing as well as a few tears and even a fight or two. We are definitely getting the hang of life on the road and what it is we want from this experience. Sometimes I get a bit overwhelmed with the idea that this is it – the trip of a lifetime and what if I waste it? But then I breathe and “just cruise” as they say on Waiheke. And I think back to all we have done and what more there is ahead and realize this is it and it is even more amazing than I ever dreamed it could be. Cheers to 100 more posts and all the experiences we will have on our way there!
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Tags: 100th Post, Backpacking, Beyond The Trail, Beyond The Trail.org, Blogging, Ex-pat, RTW, Travel Blog, Vagabond, Wanderlust
Hey Kids! Today is our last day on Waiheke Island before we venture back to mainland New Zealand. We started the day with a vineyard / olive oil / avocado oil tasting at the Kennedy Point Vineyard. Never tried avocado oil – its awesome. The oil has only a slight avocado taste, but is a very smooth. We sampled a wine what won the 2007 International Wine Challenge in London. It was their Syrah and was one of the best wines I have ever tasted. Let’s just say we picked up a bottle for the road. Now we are chilling out at Charlie Farley’s for some fun in the sun.
P.S. Debra found a preying mantas on the deck and had some fun playing with it as well.
Tags: Backpacking, Beyond The Trail, Charlie Farley's, Kennedy Point Vineyard, RTW, Vagabond, Waiheke Island, Wanderlust
The rumors are true…Rob and I are going to hike Everest! We are planning a 13-day trip to Tibet and Everest at the end of September that includes trekking to Everest Base Camp. And we need 2 more people to join us.
Cost is USD 1300 per person and includes 5 days of trekking in the Himalayas and seeing many of the sites in Tibet. Email us if you want more details. It is going to be an adventure of a lifetime!!!!
Tags: Backpacking, Beyond The Trail, Everest, Kathmandu, Lhasa, Life Change, Nepal, Tibet, Travel Blog, Trekking
We survived our first weekend on Waiheke Island! Yesterday our hosts, Dave and Sue, invited us over for a Sunday roast with their friends Ben and Kim. It was a great afternoon playing cards with Zion and Kai (Dave and Sue’s kids), eating lots of good food, trying out mulled wine and Dave’s home brews (both of which are quite good), and chatting it up about everything from music to traveling to politics. And yes, Bobby even threw in a little singing and dancing to some punk music to show the Kiwis and Brits how we roll in the States. Definitely a night to remember. And so cool to receive such a warm welcome from Dave, Sue, Zion, Kai and their friends. Cheers!
Tags: Adventure, Backpack, Backpacking, Beyond, Beyond The Trail, Blogging, Explore, Food, Fun, Gap Year, Global, Home brew, Life Change, Mulled wine, New Zealand, Party, Round The World, RTW, Sunday roast, Trail, Waiheke, Waiheke Island, Wanderlust
Sorry everyone, We are just getting to a steady internet connection since we have been in New Zealand. Yup, we are in New Zealand now! Without getting into too many details of Melbourne, which is one of the coolest cities we have seen in Australia, I will attempt to outline the last couple days.
One suggestion for Melbourne was to look out for back alleys and if they look cool, jump in. That was the best advice we could have gotten. The city is chalked full of cool back alleys with awesome cafes, shops and bars. Cool atmosphere, chill people and even cooler specials. Melbourne is the city of low key / chilled out restaurants. Period. We’re a big a fan.
On Sunday we met with Garry and Ruth (Ernie’s sister’s family in Woodend, Australia). The family welcomed us with open arms and showed us around. It was great to see where Ernie grew up and the outer city area. We were also invited to Lloyd and Pat’s daughters birthday party. It was awesome to meet the family and talk with everyone.
Our first day in Auckland, New Zealand was Tuesday. The area around the city was much greener than Australia. As we took the bus form the airport to city, the hills and rural area was more “euro’esk”, with a warmer / cozier feel. The city itself is something to see in a day, no need for 2-3 days, unless you want to do the crazy adventure tours.
********************************Bobby is handing over to Debra to complete the entry**************************
We wandered around Auckland for a couple days exploring the city. We checked out a few good restaurants (and a few blah ones too), the harbor and the NZ Film Festival. We saw The Guard, which was hilarious…go Irish humor. It is a bit of a strange city in that it hasn’t decided if it is a big city or not (hence the nickname the big little city). There is a ton of construction as the place gets ready for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in October. Should be interesting to see how it ends up and whether it graduates into a little big city.
Today we took the ferry to Waiheke Island where we are volunteering at an eco-lodge for a few weeks. The island seems pretty chill with some great scenery. And there are yoga and zumba classes so I’m a happy girl!
Tags: Adventure, Auckland, Aucland, Australia, Backpack, Backpacking, Beyond, Beyond The Trail, Blogging, Don Cheadle, Eadon, Ernie Eadon, Ex-pat, Expat, Experience, Flashpacker, Food, Fun, Gap Year, Garry and Ruth Eadon, Global, Life Change, Melbourne, New Zealand, New Zealand Film Festival, NZ, Packer, Path, Round The World, RTW, Second Career, Sight Seeing, Sun, The Guard, Trail, Travel, Travel Blog, Traveler, Tree Changer, Vagabond, Waiheke, Waiheke Island, Wanderlust, World
So we’ve been enjoying this beer in Australia brewed by Coopers. It’s their pale ale and is pretty good. Finding really hoppy beer in Australia is like finding a locksmith in Canada. It’s a thinker kids. Apparently Australians like light beers, whatever. Well we found out the Coopers is made in Adelaide and they have tours, well you can image what I said. Yippy skippy, or something like that.
At $22.00 a person, we were kind of weary, but then found out that ‘almost’ all of it goes to charity. I say almost as the brewery takes the money and you all know how much trickles out at the end. Well, let me allow negative Bobby to take over. The tour was one of the worst tours I have every been on, to date in life.
The guy picked to do the tour, Frank, spoke about the brewery / beer making processes as if he were the micro-machine commercial from the 80′s talking about the new tax code being implemented in 2012. He started the tour with this ground rule and I quote, “don’t ask me questions about the process before we get to that part of the tour. I don’t have time to answer things out of order”. Really? As if everyone on a brewery tour understands the brewing process to wait?
As he raced us through the factory, which more resembled a Miller beer lab, the co-workers watching us all seemed to have smiles on their faces. Not sure what that was about. After the tour he lined us up and we took a shot of each beer, I’m not kidding. There were 10 beers and we slammed a shot of each in a matter of 15 minutes. At this point Debra and I can’t hold our laugher in as he continues to refuse questions. My favorite was; “hey Frank, how many kegs vs. can / bottles does Coopers sell in a year?” Answer, “I don’t know, that’s not a question I care about, so why would I know that answer”. Yup, that about sums up Coopers. We have decided to boycott the brewery moving forward Cheers, Kids
Tags: Adelaide Brewery Tours, Adventure, Australia, Backpack, Backpacking, Beyond, Beyond The Trail, Blogging, Brewery Tour, Coopers, Coopers Beer, Coopers Brewery Tour, Ex-pat, Expat, Explore, Flashpacker, Gap Year, Global, Life Change, Path, Round The World, RTW, Tour, Trail, Travel, Travel Blog, Wanderlust, World
Debra
Rob
