Around the World in 717 Days

Posted on Thursday, January 23, 2014

CHANDLER, ARIZONA – When we left the United States in November of 2011 we were in search of an adventure. We didn’t intend on traveling for any finite period of time. There was no big list of countries that we planned to visit, and we definitely didn’t intend to circumnavigate the world. Every day we made decisions regarding which direction to head or where to spend the next week or month and every day we were surprised by what laid around the corner. The constant discovery and unending challenges and lessons are what made our trip worth continuing. Combined, they are why our journey lasted much longer than either of us (or our family and friends, for that matter) imagined.

Starting with Latin America, we traveled by land between Mexico and Read the rest of this entry »

Posted: January 23rd, 2014 | Filed under: Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Japan, Kenya, Kosovo, Macedonia, Mexico, Montenegro, Nepal, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Planning, Poland, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Travel Updates, Turkey, USA, Vietnam | Tags: Arizona, going home, how we've changed, The end, travel changes you, what we've learned, wrapping up | No Comments »

Sailing through San Blas to Colombia

Posted on Friday, May 18, 2012

CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA – When we first began research on how to continue our travels from Central America on to South America we were astounded at how few options we really had transportation-wise. This problem is mostly due to the savage, expansive stretch of land known as the Darién Gap which bridges Panama and Colombia. Characterized by untouched tropical forest, indigenous tribes and many swamps, it is also home to dangerous guerillas and drug traffickers. For many political and geographical reasons, many say that it is unlikely that there will ever be a road that traverses the Darién and connects these two countries. For us, this means we have two travel options: fly over it or sail around it.

We had read of many horror stories written by travelers who sailed between the two countries, siting intoxicated captains, annoying fellow travelers, overpacked sailboats and terrible weather causing Read the rest of this entry »

Posted: May 18th, 2012 | Filed under: Colombia, Panama, Travel Updates | Tags: Buon Vento, Caribbean, Cartagena, Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, Cayo Holandes, Edoardo, islands, Kuna, lobster, plankton, Puerto Lindo, sailing, San Blas, snorkel, Tuna | 2 Comments »

Time Escapes Us in Santa Catalina

Posted on Friday, May 4, 2012

SANTA CATALINA, VERAGUAS, PANAMÁ – We definitely didn’t anticipate staying in Santa Catalina for so long. We came to this tiny village with the intention of helping the owners of one local dive shop for a few weeks and instead found ourselves here for almost three months, assisting several local businesses, making lots of new friends and really loving this little isolated corner of Panama.