Back in 2017, I participated in an event called PechaKucha (pronounced peh-chuh-ka-chuh). For those who don’t know what that is (I certainly did not), these events are held around the world, a central theme is chosen, and speakers are allowed to share 20 slides with 20 seconds each. The theme for ours was Open Season […]
I’d always planned to take a few months off between graduating from university and starting my career. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that I had full-time employment to jump into and with a great company to boot, but that niggling wanderlust wasn’t going away. In October 2013, I bit the bullet and asked my […]
I’ve done the whole 60L backpack thing before. It wasn’t fun. I don’t doubt that there are many fabulous people who actually pack appropriately and use everything that they bring… I’m just not one of them. And I know many challenged packers like myself. I was always incredibly jealous of those who managed long-term travel […]
This time last year, David and I were on the glorious Thai island of Koh Chang. Let’s just say that it wasn’t an easy journey to get there from Battambang, Cambodia (think car, tuk tuk, bus, ferry, mini-van and taxi all in one day), but when we finally arrived at our little hut near the […]
For a lot of reasons, 2015 was a tough year for me. Really tough. For ages I was calling it my “annus horribilis” (horrible year) as a nod to the Queen’s Christmas speech of 1992. Then again, as I’ve sat down to write this (in pieces throughout the year so my baby brain didn’t forget), […]
Tomorrow marks one year since David and I packed our bags (carry-on only!) for three months of adventure in Southeast Asia. It marks the start of a leave of absence to travel, something that many of my friends and family said would be impossible to do. People take leaves of absence to study, or time […]
I think every traveler has that nightmare that they’ll be stuck in a foreign country without money, or no access to their money. I lived this experience and let me tell you, it sucks. Learn from my mistakes and help yourself to avoid or resolve issues with money on the road. Incident One: The Darn […]
The proverbial ‘they’ or ‘people’ think that if you’re constantly traveling you’re constantly engaged. That your mind is running a mile a minute and that you can’t possibly get tired of seeing new things and experiencing new places. Well… my friends, I’m here to tell you that travel burn out is a real thing and […]
I’d discovered the Samoeng Loop… you guessed it… from a blog! Given that my husband is a long time motorcyclist and that he had to sell his beloved bike before moving to Canada, I knew that motorbike trips needed to be part of our trip to Southeast Asia. We’re writing this particular post together, where […]
As I wrap up a month of travel costs for each Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, I think it’s important for anyone planning a leave of absence to realize that there are other costs. I’m going to lay out the TOTAL costs for three months on the road. No hidden pennies to be found. Why are […]