Brief Return to the Divided States of America
Chicago & Northern California: September 15 – 29, 2016 It’s been almost exactly 2 months since the day we stepped foot back in the US after the first 5.5 months of our nomadic adventure. For a variety of reasons, it’s taken me this long to simply collect my thoughts regarding our initial experience of what’s usually called, “reverse culture shock.” Our shock was a bit lessened given that we’d spent the previous 7 weeks in Montreal, Quebec, which in many ways felt like being back in the States – except that we were exempt from the political divisiveness and media […]
Mid-summer Moments in Montreal
Montreal, Quebec: July 22 – September 15, 2016 After 105 days in Europe, including stays in 4 countries and trips to 20 cities, a return to the “Americas” for a few weeks was much needed break in our travels. I’ve been used to working and traveling since I began my location independent adventures back in 2011. Yet, this time in Europe was different. It was a lifetime of fun packed into 3.5 months, but it was also tiring and the heat/humidity of the European summer was surely adding to the discomfort. So as we departed Madrid and headed back across […]
Pura Vida in the Mountains of Costa Rica
San José, Costa Rica: August 30 – September 9, 2016 Costa Rica was never part of our original itinerary. Well, at least not in the first six months. We had no intention of venturing through Central and South America until we already had made the decision to work our way back home to the States after our time in Asia. That was supposed to be next year. But after a few months of researching options for a minor elective medical procedure, my wife decided that a doctor and place of respite in Costa Rica were her best options. So at the […]
A Tale of Two Italys
Italy: June 22 – July 20, 2016 As I was peering outside my window of the Italo high-speed train from Rome to Napoli, enjoying the southern Italian landscape, I was flooded with memories of how this country has both inspired me and challenged me over the years. My initial Italian experience was one of my most difficult (linguistically) back in 2006. I’d studied the language on my own for the previous 6 years and took a trip to Tuscany and Liguria to test myself and expand my skills. Yet, within two days, I had completely shut down and returned home […]
Two Weeks Outside Schengen – Coastal Croatia
Split, Croatia: June 7 – 22, 2016 Red roofs atop white stone buildings, pristine sunlit gravel beaches, and sharply rising mountain landscapes are some of the first thoughts that come to mind when thinking of Croatia. Prior to visiting the country, I didn’t even have that much in mind. Croatia had been one of my wife’s long-held dream destinations for many of the reasons mentioned prior. For me, as a 20th century history enthusiast, I had visions of a war torn country with limited economic prosperity – a former member of Yugoslavia beset with a personality rough around the edges. […]
One Last Iberian Peninsula Getaway
Albufeira, Portugal: June 3-4, 2016 There’s just something about the beach that draws you in and keeps you coming back for more. We sipped our first taste of the beach during our weekend trip to Valencia in mid-May, and just 6 days later, after returning to the dry lands of Sevilla, we took an impromptu trip to Cadiz to dip our toes in the sand once again. Yet, with only one weekend left in Southern Spain, we debated whether to finally pull the trigger and endure the 3-hour bus ride to the Algarve region of Southern Portugal. Should We Stay […]
60 Days of Springtime in Spain
Spain: April 8 – June 7, 2016 It’s 5 months to the day, we set out on our adventure and here I sit in a place that wasn’t even on the original list of destinations. But this post isn’t about my current state of awesomeness, sitting in a recliner next to a warm fire in a cabin in a tropical paradise. Nope, instead, somehow I’ll try to retell the adventures in our first destination, Andalucía, Spain. It’s fairly challenging to summon the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings of a place experienced more than 150 days ago – even more challenging […]
Soul Food, Slave Marts, and Symbolic Sun-scapes
Charleston, SC: April 3 – 7, 2016 Not many folks heading out on a world tour would place Charleston, SC as their first destination. Yet after a 10:30pm Saturday night flight from San Francisco (SFO), we arrived dazed and groggy in Charlotte, NC just as the sun rose on the first day of our new adventure. We were so exhausted from our last week in Cali and the red-eye flight that I barely remember anything from the 30-minute wheels up to wheels down flight to Charleston. Why Charleston? We chose Charleston for a couple of reasons. First, I have a […]
Tales from the Nomadic Adventure: The Back Story
It was the evening of February 27, 2011, while sitting on the sandy, rocky, sunlit shores in Pacific Grove, CA that I looked up to the sky and saw a sign that would forever change my life. I’d been working in the corporate world for about a decade and at my last “employer” for the previous 7 years. When I joined them back in 2004, I had every intention to stay 5 years and eventually leave to start my own thing. But starting your own thing back in 2004 was considerably different than doing so in 2011. In that brief […]
