by Katie | Mar 19, 2015 | New Zealand
Dustin and I spent our second week in New Zealand wwoofing on Waiheke island. For the uninitiated newbies (because clearly Dustin and I are experts), wwoof stands for willing workers on organic farms or worldwide opportunities on organic farms. The gist is that you volunteer three to five hours per day, in exchange for room and board, and some friendly conversation. It’s a good situation for the person or farmer who needs a hand, and a nice way to experience someplace new for travelers and volunteers.
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by Katie | Mar 13, 2015 | New Zealand
We spent a couple days in Auckland and had really amazing luck with things working out well (except for the baggage fiasco). The Volvo Ocean Race was in town, it’s the Auckland Arts Festival, we took a walking tour and our guide had some great suggestions that we followed up on (a night market and a great fish and chips place, to name two). We also tried our first AirBnB, which was a real highlight – Sarah’s place was lovely, but even more she was an excellent host. The photos below are a whirlwind snapshot of what we’ve been up to. (more…)
by Katie | Mar 13, 2015 | New Zealand
Day 1: On Sunday March 1, we set off for our trip! Mom, Dad, and Jeff kindly drove us to Newark airport in a snowstorm (once again – it may be a sign from the universe that Dustin and I shouldn’t travel in the winter) and we dashed through security to catch our flight to San Francisco, and would then leave from there to Auckland. Instead of flying, this is how we spent Sunday evening:
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by Dustin Kudler | Mar 13, 2015 | Reflections
When do you choose risk over stability? That was the question I had to answer when deciding whether or not I should leave my job to live out of a backpack while traversing across three continents for several months to eventually return to my point of departure (Upstate New York).
To some of the readers the dilemma of going on the trip of a lifetime or stay at home doesn’t seem like much of a dilemma at all. Life is short, so you should go on the trip. To others who value stability in their lives, the choice seems equally as obvious. I have it good now, don’t throw it away.
Because you’re reading our travel blog it’s obvious what choice I made. After several long talks with Katie discussing the logistics of how we could make our trip possible, I had one internal hurdle that got me to the point where I said yes. I asked myself, what would Pop Pop do? (more…)
by Katie | Mar 6, 2015 | Reflections
Before we dive in to the good stuff – what we do, where we go, what we eat – I wanted to give some background on why we’re doing this crazy thing, and highlight some of the emotional evolution that’s been happening.
Long term travel has always been a dream for me, and was cemented each time I took a trip to somewhere new. Packing my belongings in a backapack and setting out for a year-long adventure to explore exotic and far-flung locales was the romantic ideal. It also gave me a place to tuck away new daydreams or moments I’d like to experience, that I could later page through like photo highlight reel: soaking in an onsen in Japan, wandering the souks in Marrakesh, or sailing on the crystal blue waters in Thailand. Each idea tucked into the dream was a snapshot that I wanted to string together in an epic adventure. (more…)
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