All Blog Posts Tagged 'Freelance' (33)

Start: December 27, Campeche

Finish: January 3, 2012, Merida

Mayan Ruins Visited: 3

Spider DEFCON Level: Eleventy-Million

Gallons of Soup Made by Kobus: 2

Nights Spent in Crappy Campgrounds: 2

Nights Spent in Hostels: 6

This week took us from Campeche to Merida, the largest city on the Yucatan Peninsula. All told we've covered about a third of the peninsula, most of that heading north across flat, sparsely-populated jungle.…

In Mexico, we setup two types of prepaid data connections via cell phone network. In the US we bought an unlocked 3G Android phone and an…

General Availability: Very High

Quality of Bandwidth: Like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get. Quality and reliability is higher in internet cafes than in hotels.

Frequency of internet in hotels: Medium most places. High in touristy areas.

Frequency of internet in campgrounds: Zero in campgrounds. Medium in RV parks. High if there is a hotel associated with the camping/RV area.

Average cost to connect: Usually free. Places with fee…

Start: December 13, Cholula

Finish: December 19, San Cristobal de las Casas

Oaxacan Recipes Learned: 6

Types of Tortillas Made: 2

Crickets Eaten: A few

Ancient Ruins Explored: 1

World's Stoutest Trees Seen: 1

For the pronunciation-impaired, Oaxaca sounds like 'wah-ha-kah' not 'oh-axe-ah-ka'. It's a state in southern Mexico, with a capital city bearing the same name. There are more indigenous cultures and peoples in this area than anywhere else…

To get from Baja to mainland Mexico you have two choices, drive back up the way you came or fork over a couple hundred bucks to take a ferry across the Sea of Cortez. We chose to take the ferry. It was expensive, but we had no desire to drive an extra two thousand miles.

This article details our sixteen hour ferry adventure. We went into it not really knowing what to expect aside from the ferry schedule and ticket costs. That information is available online on the…

Start: November 24, Cabo San Lucas

Finish: December 4, Pichilingue

Days Spent in Fancy Resort: 7

Songs Performed by Mariachis: 2

Forbidden Fish Caught and Eaten: 1

Number of Tents Replaced: 1

We broke the mold this week. Instead of camping on sand, cooking on tiny backpacking stoves and living out of our car we enjoyed a sunny week at Club Cascadas de Baja in sunny Cabo San…

Start: Tuesday November 8, Guerrero Negro

Finish: Friday November 11, Santa Rosalia

Fish Caught and Eaten: 1

Seagulls Caught and Released: 1

Street Tacos Consumed: 6

Routine Military Checkpoints Crossed: 3

Rainy Days: 0!!!

After a long day of driving we've crossed into Baja California Sur, the southern half of the Baja peninsula. Rumors of white sandy beaches, good fishing and beautiful weather has convinced us to move south as quickly as…

This is part one of a series of articles that aim to provide fellow travelers with an overview of our expenses as we continue our journey through the Americas. This article covers the 30 days we spent along the west coast and southwestern states of the U.S.

Why go to all this trouble, you my ask? And why should you care? First, if we had more resources such as this as we planned our trip it would have taken us a lot less time to come up with a budget had faith in. And second, if you…

Start: Tuesday October 30, Lake Havasu, AZ

Finish: Monday November 7, Ensenada, Mexico

Borders Crossed: 1

Rainy Days: 3

Street Tacos Consumed: 3

Cameras Broken & Repaired: 2

Most Spent in One Day: $325.81



Since our whirlwind tour of the Grand Canyon we've survived a night camping in sand with 40 mile per hour wind, a beer brewery tour, two broken cameras and the world's busiest land border crossing.

We're currently driving down the Baja…

One of the most common questions we are asked is, "How can you afford to spend so much time traveling?" People tend to confuse what we are doing with what most Americans do two or three weeks a year - go on vacation. Long-term travel is more like daily life than a vacation. It can even be cheaper than living at home.

We spent a year and a half planning and saving for this 16-month adventure. There's no magic involved, just a lot of research, spreadsheets and number…

After five nights of freezing cold in Moab, we are ready for some warmth. Good thing I checked the weather at the Grand Canyon...overnight low of 18 frigid degrees. Our consensus: screw that. The result? Cut two days from our tour of the canyon, spend one expensive night in a hotel room, and move on to warm, sunny Lake Havasu as soon as humanly possible.

Did I mention we spent the night in a hotel room? That's the third night we've spent indoors since our trip began and the…

Canyonlands is the second national park we planned to visit from our base camp in Moab. Little did we know, mother nature would have a few nasty surprises in store for us following our near-miss while hiking in Arches National Park.

Regardless of the rainy, frigid weather, we were able to visit the northern part of Canyonlands, named Island in the Sky. Our third day in Moab brought rain, more rain, and cold. Luckily the sky cleared around noon and after warming up in…

Start: Sunday October 23, Zion National Park,  UT

Finish: Tuesday October 25, Moab, UT

Days on the Road: 21

Miles Driven: 1870

Miles Hiked: 13.2

The drive from Zion to Moab took us about five hours, three or four Spanish lessons, a couple scenic viewpoints and a stop for lunch on the side of the freeway after missing the last turnoff for 40 miles.

We've been camped in Moab for the past six days, the longest we've spent in one place since our…

Start: Thursday October 20, Death Valley, UT

Finish: Sunday October 23, Zion National Park, UT

Days on the Road: 15

Days for wet boots to dry: 3

Three days in Zion National Park brought a never-ending highway of tourists, not-so-emerald pools, six wet boots and one amazing hike in a canyon.

If you're headed to Zion, The Narrows is not to be missed. Don't get me wrong, the rest of the park is spectacular, but hiking in a river through a slot canyon that…

I love the desert. I love everything about it. Some can’t stand it, these God-forsaken places. I worship them, like a lizard worships hot asphalt. We spent less than 24 hours in Death Valley National Park. It was barely long enough to remember what I love so much about the desert. READ…

After a long day of driving we made it to San Francisco by dinner time. The plan was to meet up with Marcell, a friend of Jessica and Kobus' from back in the cruise ship days, and crash on his floor for a couple nights. The weather was amazing, 80 degrees and sunny both days, we couldn't have picked a better time to visit San Francisco. READ…

Start: October 10 - Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park

End: October 13 - San Francisco

Miles Driven: 362

Number of Salmon Not Caught: All of them

Days of Rain: 0!

Gigantic Trees: Lots

Week two brought us better weather and some awesome scenery. We spent three nights camping in Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park on the Smith River. King salmon were running and Kobus and I spent most of our time flailing about on the water.…

How do you pack fishing gear for a trip spanning 15 months and 14 countries? According to Jessica, you don't. According to me, you cram as much stuff into the biggest bag you can convince Jessica to let you bring.

I may have overdone it, but it fits (mostly) and it should provide Kobus and I with plenty of fishing stories to tell once we get home. Most of the fly fishing gear we bought for this trip was ordered from Orvis.…

Start: October 6 - University Place, Washington

Finish: October 10 - Crescent City, California

Miles Driven: 506

Number of Fish Caught and Eaten: 3

Days Camping: 6

Days of Rain: 6



It has begun. Six days down, 450ish to go. In that time we've traveled from our home state of Washington to northern California. It hasn't stopped raining since we arrived in Oregon, Jessica and Kobus spent last night sleeping in a pond now known as Lake LifeRemotely. Our gear…