The title of this post is pretty clear about what is going on for me, Lisa. Also, if you’ve been following our Instagram, you know I am in Thailand and Will is still in the States. So what exactly are we doing? Are we separated? Getting divorced? No. Not at all. As the primary instigator…
Athens & Beyond
After our time in Rome, we visited Greece for an entire week. We were very much looking forward to Greek food & a little bit more of a relaxing time. And although our relaxing did not go as planned in Athens- an apartment stay gone awry- we had a great time eating and seeing ancient…
Rome is Humid
One of our stops on our big European vacation was Rome. We had never been to Italy and we were really looking forward to amazing pasta and some pretty historic sites. But there were two unexpected things we found in Rome. The first one was how friendly everyone was. It’s not that we expected rudeness…
Paris on a Budget
Paris is one of our favorite cities. In fact, every time we visit Europe, we seem (or at least I seem) to plan a stop in the City of Light. Between boulangeries, picnics along the Seine, patisseries, and hanging out in the city’s numerous beautiful parks, what’s not love? This year was no different. After…
Finishing the Raad Ny Foillan
Where are my hiking people at? If you’re an avid hiker, explaining how satisfying it is to finish a multi-day hike is probably unnecessary. But if you’ve never gone on a multi-day hiking or walking trip, maybe you wonder if it’s worth it. Why would anyone want to just walk along a trail for 3,…
Hiking the Isle of Man
One of the main goals of our trip to Europe included hiking around the Isle of Man. This goal often prompts the question of where? Or why? Where is an island in the Irish Sea between Ireland, Scotland, and England. And honestly, the night before we started the hike, I found myself revisiting the question…
Bageri & Burgers in Copenhagen
Our next stop on our European trip was a long layover in Copenhagen. We booked a room at the Marriott Moxy with points and planned nothing except food. I knew I wanted to go to Hart Bageri and try the cardamom croissants and Will and I watched the Copenhagen episode of Somebody Feed Phil before…
Our European Travels Begin
Hello from Europe! We’ve left the U.S. for our big European adventure, in fact, we just finished our big hike. But let me get you caught up first. On May 9th we left Sea-Tac to fly to Reykjavik. We had a big journey ahead of us as our free (using miles) flights had gone from…
Preparing for a Long Journey
I know it’s been a minute since we updated the blog. Winter got to us both. Winter in the Pacific Northwest is definitely a challenge: shorter days, darker days, colder days. But spring is here and we are 5 weeks away from our next adventure. We are going on a 35-day, 7-country trip to Europe….
Mid-life Adventures Begin: 50 Things to do Before 50
This fall, I started my 50 X 50 list. I started with solo backpacking because I wanted to do it before the weather changed. I planned my trip to be in the same location that WIll and I had backpacked before, so I was already familiar with it. It also has well-marked hike campsites at…
Our Next Adventure
by Lisa After a bit of van travel after the Camino, we’ve settled here in Northwest Washington for the fall and winter. So far, September has been beautiful up here. Over the last two winters, I’ve talked a lot to anyone who will listen about how difficult the winters are in Washington for someone from…
We Walked Across Spain on the Camino de Santiago
We did it! I know this post is seriously delayed. But I am coming back to the blog to revisit our experience. On May 15 we made our way into Santiago. And despite being an exciting moment, the walk that day was hard. It started out pleasant and we had a lovely coffee at a…
Camino de Santiago Stories: The First 100 Miles
Hey, long time no post. We’ve been here on the Camino for 2 weeks now. And, well, it’s been a journey so far. I wish I could say in these two weeks we walked every day and have done really well. But, well the truth is, it’s been an adjustment. You can catch up on…
Countdown to the Camino de Santiago: 2 weeks to go
Where has all of the time gone? First, I should say that I meant to publish this post 2 other times before. I kept starting it and never finishing it. I just haven’t gotten around to it between the training, the packing, the planning, work, and starting to freak out just a bit about leaving….
How to Train for the Camino de Santiago in 12 Weeks
We had this great idea, winter in Washington so that we can work, save $$, and train for the Camino. Enter atmospheric rivers and snow. The last two months here have felt like the least productive two months. Maybe it’s because we spent the year prior to it planning and buying a van, building it…
Dealing with the Unexpected & Preparing for the Camino de Santiago
The Loneliest Road This past week, we published 2 Vlogs highlighting our time crossing Nevada on Highway 50, also known as the loneliest road in America. You can watch the first one here. On that drive, we really had a good time, but we also kept running into the problem that everything was closed. Most…
2022 Plans: Where in the World is Next?
Hint: A Long Walk One thing that Will and I do a lot is walk. We walk our dog, we hike, and we like exploring cities on foot. A lot of people have asked us what our favorite parts of being in the van have been and I think a lot of what we liked…
Out of the Van and Living in Luxury
Obviously living and traveling in a van makes you think about your resources. You have to make sure you’re getting enough sun for power. You have to find a place to dump gray water and get more drinking water. You are constantly assessing your resources and figuring out how and when you’ll get more. Do…
Dealing with Cold Weather in the Van
With Fall comes colder weather. And that means if we want to keep traveling, we need a few strategies. Our plan for October and November is traveling towards warmer places but also having some necessary cold weather upgrades. When we left, it was summer, everything was on fire, on we were dealing with managing 100…
Visiting Yellowstone in 2 Days
One of the places we wanted to visit, that prompted the eastbound direction of travel in our second month, was to visit Yellowstone National Park. We didn’t know much about Yellowstone other than what you see a lot of people share: Old Faithful and Bison. For example, we did not know that Yellowstone is 4…
Where to Sleep on the Road
We are in month two of life on the road so we thought we’d share more about what we’ve learned about places to park at night while on the road. We’ve done almost every place vanlifers have done except for Walmart or Cracker Barrel. It seems pretty common for vanlife folks to stay in Walmart…
Star Gazing in the Dark Sky Reserve
Idaho isn’t exactly a place on most people’s bucket lists. In fact, when we tell people we are in Idaho, some of the comments we get include jokes about potatoes. But Idaho is on the way east towards Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, and more. We knew we were going to drive through the state. So…
Vanlife in the Northern Cascades National Park
One thing that is different between me and my husband is that I am not an extrovert. But it doesn’t mean that I don’t like talking to people. I do. But usually like 2 at a time and about big ideas and serious topics. I don’t like small talk and I don’t like big groups…
West Coast Best Coast?
We are back in Washington this week for work (specifically Will’s work). But we just wrapped up driving 3000 miles on the west coast through California, Oregon, and back to Washington. And some of the spots we camped were amazing and some we don’t want to go back to (I am thinking of you Southern…
Week 3 of Vanlife: Was this a bad idea?
We are on week 3 of living in a van and we are starting to get the hang of some parts of it. But vanlife is for sure an adjustment. This week, we headed into Oregon but changed our plans because of wildfires and smoke inland. We decided to stick to the coast. We also…
Gratitude
Have you ever noticed how much time you imagine you will have in the future? When I have an upcoming vacation, I imagine I’ll have time for everything. I always think I will have time to sleep in, work out, read books and go sightseeing. And then when I am actually on vacation, I don’t…
Life on the Road: First Impressions
Last week, we headed South in our newly finished campervan conversion. It was a bit of a grueling journey because the first leg of our trip was going to California to help our youngest move. In one week, we’ve slept in almost every possible way you can. We camped by the ocean, official campground, stealth…
How About a Van Tour?
Finished! We finished the van build. It’s been four months of work and we are so excited to be done. We started this project knowing that it was a big project and we weren’t always sure that our skills could meet the task. We watched a lot of van build videos. For every step, we…