When, why and how did you start your travel blog, Monkeys and Mountains?
I started my blog almost 3 years ago when I first moved to Germany from Canada. I knew that I wanted a career change. Going from a Program Director at a university to a travel blogger wasn’t the most logical choice but I haven’t regretted it for a second.

Laurel enjoying the rewards of a hard hike in the Canadian Rockies, courtesy Monkeys and Mountains

That’s a great name. How did you get it and what does the name mean to you?
Thank you! The name comes from two things that I love. I have a degree in primatology (the study of primates) and am in the mountains every weekend. I wanted something that was personal and memorable.

What is the thing that keeps you the most jazzed about blogging?
The connections I have made with my readers, both online and sometimes even in person. I love to inspire someone to travel to a place they hadn’t considered before, or try a new activity while traveling. Equally I am inspired and grateful to my readers who frequently tell me where I should go, or what to see.

What excites you about travel?
The unknown.  I’m very curious and love not knowing what will unfold next.

Are you a solo traveler or do you like to travel with others?
I used to do mostly solo travel, but now I do a combination. I enjoy traveling with someone, preferably my husband. My experience is enhanced when I can share it and relive it with someone that I love.

Laurel and her husband meeting a new friend in the Galapagos, photo/courtesy Monkeys and Mountains

Are you a part-time or fulltime traveler?
I have a permanent base in Munich, and travel frequently – anywhere from 1-4 trips a month.  I guess that would qualify as part-time+. I used to teach online courses for a couple of universities in Canada, but recently I have launched my own online social media training company. It’s important to me that I can work from the road wherever I am.  As I type this I’m in a hotel room in Rotterdam with an incredible view of the harbor.

What kind of traveler are you?
I’m more on the luxury end, but I don’t mind trading a bit of luxury for an incredible experience. Two summers ago my husband and I did a three day sea kayaking trip with whales which required us to sleep in a tent. The whales made it completely worth while, but three nights of sleeping in a tent was enough for me! We stayed in luxury hotels for the rest of our trip.

Laurel diving with Oceanic white tip sharks in South Africa, photo/ courtesy Monkeys and Mountains

On the road, do you seek out some experiences more than others?
Definitely! I love anything to do with animals or adventure. A few of my favorites include shark diving without a cage (numerous occasions), trekking with gorillas, safaris in South Africa and hiking tours.

Is being in your comfort zone important to you?
Sometimes.  I function best when I can go back and forth from being in my comfort zone and out of it. For example, I’m happy to try local food (within reason), but don’t make me get up and try and learn a local dance. The most out of my comfort zone was when I lived in rural Thailand. I loved and hated it, both at the same time. Sometimes the culture and language got to be too much and I would be seeking out the nearest Pizza Hut in an attempt to find something familiar. But at the same time, my fondest memories are time spent chatting with Thai friends.

Laurel celebrating with her gorilla tracking guides in Rwanda, photo/courtesy Monkeys and Mountains

What’s your most memorable travel experience or favorite trip?
It happened earlier this month. I was in Rwanda on a primate safari and saw an incredible seven species of primates in seven days, including Mountain gorillas. I had worked with Western Lowland gorillas in a zoo before, but nothing compares to seeing gorillas in the wild. One mother with a baby on her back gently brushed my leg to indicate that I was in her way. I was THIS CLOSE to the baby and it took every ounce of willpower not to reach and touch him. This was my dream trip and one that I will never forget.

What’s your favorite place on earth?
Probably at home with my husband and our two cats. I know it’s a really boring answer, but I find my favorite experiences are ones that I can share with him.

In terms of a location it would be Waterton National Park in Canada. I’ve seen more grizzly bears than anywhere else in the Canadian Rockies (that’s a huge plus point in my books) and it’s close to my home town, so it feels like home.

Laurel Robbins abseiling in Rotterdam recently, photo/courtesy Monkeys and Mountains

Where are you off to next?
I’m just left Rotterdam heading to Zurich, then Istanbul, which I’m really excited for and a couple of trips to Italy in the summer. But something else could come up, you never know – that’s the great thing about being a travel blogger!

What’s the biggest fantasy on your bucket list?
Up until last week it would have been trekking with gorillas, but now that that’s been checked off, I would replace it with diving with Tiger sharks. They’re known to be the most dangerous sharks to people (even more so than Great Whites), but it’s all relative. Vending machines kill more people that sharks do. I dove with Oceanic black tip sharks in South Africa last year and will never forget what the dive master said, “If you think the Oceanics are big, wait until you see a Tiger, they make the Oceanics seem like guppies.” I’m very intrigued and will take any chance I get to show people that sharks are not the dangerous killers seeking out humans that the media makes them out to be.

Laurel Robbins is an award winning travel blogger and social media expert based in Munich, Germany. When not traveling, you will likely find her in the mountains, on a bike or doing yoga.  Read her blog Monkeys and Mountains. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Meet the Travel Bloggers: Monkeys and Mountains is a post from: Santa Fe Travelers

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When, why and how did you start Caroline in the City?
In March 2009, I was a junior in college, bored one afternoon. I started a Blogger site to document my old travel journals and different adventures around Charleston, where I lived at the time. Eventually I took notice of other travel blogs and it became more about my trips to Europe and elsewhere.

Caroline at the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, photo/courtesy Caroline in the City

How did you get that name and what does the name mean to you?
It was the name of a television show in the 90s. Some elementary school boys called me that and since I am more of a city gal than nature gal, I decided to use it as a blog name. And I’m not the only one! There is at least three other Caroline in the City blogs, but mine is the only travel blog.

What is the thing that keeps you the most jazzed about blogging?
Meeting people is the best part about blogging. I love talking travel with anyone, so if they read my blog, that’s even better.

You call yourself a member of the “generation in limbo; highly educated college graduates who are working jobs well below or outside of their skill sets.” How did that affect you?
I think I had to change my perception about what was expected out of me as a college graduate. For a while I felt pretty useless because I didn’t have a “real” job, but instead was bartending and waiting tables. But I have always known that 9-5 jobs weren’t for me, so once I figured out that I could work towards making a living from blogging and writing, my attitude changed. I’m now proud of the fact that I don’t have a grown-up job because the flexibility of freelance and temporary jobs has allowed me to travel like I do.

Caroline at Oktoberfest, courtesy/Caroline in the City

You spent a year on a work visa in Australia. What was your most memorable travel experience in Oz?
It’s hard to pick just one. I loved working at a bar with other foreigners, who became my close friends. But I think bungee jumping in Cairns is what sticks out the most. I don’t love heights, but I knew I had to do it, especially as the platform overlooks a rainforest. It was so fun I did it twice!

You’re based in Atlanta. How often do you travel now?
This year I’ve been traveling at least a week out of every month, sometimes more, but mostly around the south. Most of my travels are around the southern USA partially to visit friends and family and partially to create content for my other blog, This Is My South, which is a travel guide to the southern USA. Atlanta is a great hub for other trips. In past years I’ve only taken one big three-week trip per year.

Do you travel solo or with others?
Ninety per cent of my travels are solo because most of my friends have “real” jobs, but I occasionally travel with my family.

Caorline at a glacier outside Innsbruck, Austria,photo/courtesy Caroline in the City

What excites you most about travel?
I think it’s all about seeing something different. I love my hometown, but different landscapes fascinate me, like the rainforests and outback in Australia.

On the road, do you seek out some experiences more than others?
For some reason I end up purposely doing things that scare me, like the bungee jumping in Australia and paragliding in Austria. I think I seek out things that will make for a funny story. I also like more offbeat experiences, like street art and abandoned buildings.

What’s your most memorable travel experience or favorite trip ever?
I could talk about Australia all day, but in the middle of my year there, I flew to Hawaii to meet my mom and sisters for a trip. It was disastrous at times (like when we got scammed by a hotel and drove around in the dark with no place to stay) and dramatic at others (four women, after all), but Hawaii really surprised me. The food was amazing and cheap and there was no shortage of waterfalls, volcanoes and forests.

Caroline SCUBA diving in the Florida Keys, photo/courtesy Caroline in the City

What’s your favorite place on earth?
Charleston, South Carolina has very fond memories for me. I lived there for four years during college and still visit a couple of times per year. Every time I go, I walk to my old house, grab a cold drink from the Palestinian deli across the street and reminisce.

Where are you off to next?
I’m embarking on a crazy long Megabus trip from Atlanta to Toronto for TBEX {Travel Bloggers Exchange}. I will be tweeting all along the way, stopping in Charlotte and Washington DC before finally rolling into Canada. I will take a breather for a few months to work, but then in September I’m off to Turkey!

What’s the biggest fantasy on your bucket list?
India fascinates me and terrifies me at the same time. It’s big and loud and pungent and overwhelming. I think it would be the biggest accomplishment in my travel life.

Caroline Eubanks is a freelance writer and travel blogger originally from Atlanta, Georgia. After graduating from college, she went to Australia for a yearlong working holiday. Follow along with her adventures at Caroline in the City, This Is My South, and on Twitter.

Meet the Travel Bloggers: Caroline in the City is a post from: Santa Fe Travelers

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At last, after so many years of wishing and hoping, New Mexicans who love the Big Apple can get there nonstop! On April 22, JetBlue began daily nonstop service from Albuquerque to JFK, and even if the flight times are a bit of a challenge, the fares are enticing.

jetBlue on Day One in Albuquerque, photo Judith Moir

We took the inaugural flight out of the Albuquerque International Sunport, and JetBlue really pulled out the stops to make us feel welcome. Gift bags for the lot of us, cake and champagne, free movies and a very welcoming staff all contributed to the excitement of getting to New York on a four-hour flight. Yes, if you live in Santa Fe you still have to add the hour or so for driving to Albuquerque and parking the car, but compare that to changing planes and using up a whole day to fly east, and it seems like a winner!

Full Service, photo Judith Moir

The flight from Albuquerque to New York is a red-eye – our flight left at 11:10pm (they may still be tweaking the times). But what’s not to love about having a whole extra day in the city. We arrived at 5:30am; no commuter traffic into the city? As long as your hotel will stash your luggage and you plan ahead, the only downside is an early-to-bed that evening, but Chinese food delivery and a big flat-screen compensate nicely. Judging from the passenger load, it’s a reasonable conjecture to think that if this catches on, better flight times may very well materialize.

Gifts for passengers on the inaugural flight, photo/Judith Moir

The return flight is a similar test of will. It leaves JFK at 8:25pm and arrives in Albuquerque a little after 11pm. Still, with 100 channels of Sirius XM radio and the 36 channels of free Direct TV to keep me occupied with all the programs I never have time to see, I was content.  I am always happy when the first checked bag is free, especially since I knew my half-empty bag would be a lot fuller after a few days of NYC shopping.  The pay-per-view movies are recent releases, and according to JetBlue press releases, Wi-Fi via satellite is coming soon.

Our fare was very reasonable, and since I have been getting regular emails about sale fares, it seems obvious that JetBlue wants to build a base of New Mexico travelers. If you want to trade the horizontal sights of New Mexico for the verticality of New York, check it out for yourself:

With JetBlue offering direct flights from NYC to Albuquerque (and vice-versa), it’s a great time to take that trip!

Will you fly JetBlue ABQ to JFK?

A set of genes colliding with a set of circumstances touching down in New Mexico, that’s Judith Moir, aka Santa Fe Red! Formerly Communications Director at Santa Fe’s Inn on the Alameda, Red is totally and irrevocably in love with all things Santa Fe and never misses an opportunity to share her insider’s tips for enjoying the music and art, cuisine and culture, and overall magic of travel to the City Different. Her romance with the written word combines with an art school education to paint the story of New Mexico in living color.You can find her on LinkedIn.

Feeling Blue? Perk Up with a JetBlue Nonstop from ABQ to JFK! is a post from: Santa Fe Travelers

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When, why and how did you start Turkish Travel Blog?
I started it in June of 2010. I had previous experiences of setting up blogs so it was quite easy to do. It was born from my decision to become a freelancer who was location independent. I knew I needed a portfolio for my work and my passion is learning about the country of Turkey so I based the theme on that.

Sitting in the blue cave of Meis, photo/Turkish Travel Blog

How did you get that name and what does the name mean to you?
I really wanted to use Turkey Travel but many other people were already using that theme and I wanted to stand out so I went for the next best thing. For me, the name is my online journal about my travels around Turkey. The people I have met, the food I have tried, the places I have seen and I try to emphasize the culture and traditions because I have married into a Turkish family.

What is the thing that keeps you the most jazzed about blogging?
When random strangers tell me how much they enjoy my blog and my articles have influenced their travel plans. It is nice to know that my work is not just being washed up in among all the other articles on the internet.

You’re a UK expat based in Turkey. What year did you move there and why did you choose to live there?
I first arrived in Turkey on a holiday in 2001 and fell in love with it, so went back to the UK, handed my resignation in and got a job as a holiday rep. This involved working in many different holiday resorts but I think my future in the country was sealed when I married a Turkish man.

How long do you expect to remain in Turkey?
Forever. I will die in Turkey. It is my home and my adopted country. While it does have some faults, I generally have a better life here than I ever did in the UK. There is no reason for me to ever give it up.

Admiring the view in Savsat National Park, photo/Turkish Travel Blog

Is there an expat community that you interact with?
I live in a small resort on the Aegean coast of Turkey called Didim. It has a large British expat community. I don’t get involved with community expat projects but I do have a small, select group of friends to socialize with. Most of the time we meet up for a drink or go out on the daily boat trips that leave from the harbor. We also sometimes organize a bus and just head off to the nearest attraction or site to see.

Are you travels exclusively around Turkey?
Yes, they are purely about Turkey. In the last ten years, I have only left the country once and that was to head back to the UK for two weeks. My travel plans this year are a painting holiday on the Bodrum peninsula. This region is a haven for Turkish artists and photographers because of the Mediterranean vibe and laidback lifestyle.

I will then be volunteering for a month at a turtle rehabilitation center. They help turtles that have been injured by fishing boat rudders or fishing line hooks. They also help to preserve the nesting grounds in nearby beaches.

After that, I will be sticking to the Aegean coastal resorts for some easy travel experiences. I went to a lot of places last year that were off the beaten track and the schedule did take a toll on my energy levels.

Attempting traditional pottery in Avanos, photo/Turkish Travel Blog

What is the best thing about living in Turkey? What is the most difficult thing about living there?
Most of Turkey does not have a materialistic attitude towards life, like the UK did.  We don’t replace cars because they are out of date or spend double on a pair of sports shoes because of the brand name. We focus on the practicality of the object and whether it works. When you don’t need to focus on appearance and latest trends, it makes life a lot easier.

The most difficult aspect is the language. I am not fluent and don’t think I ever will be. With hindsight, I would have learned Turkish when I was younger because now it is hard to grasp and retain the skill of being bi-lingual.

What excites you most about travel?
Anything that makes me go wow, whether it is a gorgeous landscape, delicious food or meeting someone new. I am a relaxed traveler and flexible in my itinerary so a lot of the time, there are unexpected surprises where ever I go.  These are pleasant experiences that form a majority of my memories.

On the road, do you seek out some experiences more than others?
I love exploring historical sites and museums. Photography is also important to me. I am not an expert but love practicing on people and landscapes. I would love to do a photography tour workshop through Turkey but unfortunately these are too expensive for my style of travel.

Panoramic view point in Cappadocia, photo/ Turkish Travel Blog

Is being in your comfort zone important to you?
I did sea kayaking once which was completely out of my comfort zone. It was of no surprise that I failed miserably. I also went to the top of a mountain in Kas to paraglide off it but backed out. I have also backed out of a hot air balloon trip twice!

My comfort zone is important to me but I still like to be given the choice whether I should stay in it or attempt something daring. The hot air balloon trip is still on my bucket list and I am hoping it will be third time lucky!

What’s your most memorable travel experience or favorite trip ever and why?
I have so many but one that always comes to mind is the camel wrestling event. Camels normally wrestle each other in the wild for the affection of a female so the Turks took the concept, put the camels in a ring and bet on them. It is a great honor for the owner of the winning camel.

We arrived for the finals of the tournament and were the only foreigners. Everyone was looking at us. The only toilet was a hole in the ground. We didn’t understand the rules of the camel wrestling so could not bet.

Within an hour, we were sat with local Turks drinking Raki (the National alcoholic drink) as well as fully understanding and cheering on the camels. By the end of the day, I somehow ended up playing in a local village band! To this day, I am not sure how that happened.

Playing in a Turkish village band, photo/Turkish Travel Blog

What’s the biggest fantasy on your bucket list?
Win a lot of money, buy a campervan and hit the road. I would explore all of Turkey from the east to the west. At the moment, I am working then traveling then back to work when money runs out. It feels like I am constantly stopping and starting my life. I estimate this road trip would take about five years to complete. After that my bucket list would be complete and I would need a new list!

Natalie Sayin runs the Turkish Travel Blog and is committed to exploring every town, village and city in Turkey. As a traveler, she is completely hopeless because she cannot read maps and loses her way, even in a one street village! This doesn’t stop her though and she invites you to follow her on Facebook or Pinterest.

Meet the Travel Bloggers: Turkish Travel Blog is a post from: Santa Fe Travelers

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When did you start your travel blog, Suitcase Stories?
We started the blog just over 2 months ago. We had been on the road for almost a year at that time so we had accumulated a few stories, lessons learned, about 6000 photos, so thought it was time to share our adventures with the world!

Nicole and Michael at Cancun Mexico, courtesy Suitcase Stories

How did you get the name and what does the name mean to you?
We wanted a name that was catchy but to also represents what we want to do, which is share stories of our travel life. We also share travel tips, destination guides and lots of photos but I wanted the stories to be the focus of the blog.

How did you two meet?
We lived in the same suburb in Perth, Australia and met through a mutual friend. We have been together for 14 years.

What are the best and worst things about traveling and blogging as a couple?
The blog is a joint project. I do most of the writing while Michael does most of the design and upkeep side of things.  The best AND worst thing about traveling as a couple – we are always together! The best thing about blogging together is that we get to share this new found passion with each other. We haven’t discovered what the worst thing about blogging together is… yet!

What keeps you the most jazzed about blogging?
Our goal for the blog is to inspire others to travel as we were inspired by other bloggers. I never even thought this lifestyle was possible until I read about others who were doing it. It is because of their stories that we are here today! So I want to pay it forward, inspire others to get out of their comfort zone and see how beautiful the world really is.

Yellowstone National Park,, courtesy Suitcase Stories

You travel the world house-sitting. How and when did you start doing that?
We started house sitting 13 years ago when we were building out first home – we couldn’t afford to pay rent and a mortgage so house sitting cut out the rent. Then we house sat again a couple of years back while traveling in Australia. Our full time house sitting started 13 months ago when we left Australia to travel the world indefinitely.

Do you have a Plan B if a house-sit doesn’t come through on time?
We use the times we don’t have a house sit to ‘travel’. Although of course we are constantly traveling, we do not go far when we are house sitting. When we are without a sit, we use that time to see more than we would if we were sitting. We quite like having a balance between sitting and traveling. While we are ‘traveling’ we rent short term apartments or stay in hotels.

What are you usually asked to do by homeowners?
Their main concern is usually their pets. If their pets are cared for they are happy! And luckily for them we adore animals and the pet care is our favorite part of house sitting. Of course there can be other chores asked of you such as cleaning the house, mowing the lawns or pulling out some weeds but generally, it’s not much more than that! And let’s face it; we have a lot of spare time on our hands so we don’t mind doing those kinds of things for them!

House sitting has allowed us to live in luxurious homes such as beach houses, courtesy Suitcase Stories

How long is the minimum you’ll accept a house-sit for? What’s the longest?
It depends if it’s in an area we already are in or if we have to fly there. For example, we were in Florida with two sits already booked.  A third one asked us to sit for a week. We wouldn’t normally take it but of course we were in the area anyway so it worked out.

On the flip side, we had to recently turn down one of our favorite home owners because it was for a week and it was when we were nowhere near her area. If we are going to a country specifically for a sit we would go for no less than 2 weeks and fit in some travel time there too.

The longest sit we have done is six weeks. We have two months in Barbados coming up. At the moment we have a 3 month cut off but that will probably change once we are ready to slow things down.

Do you have minimum requirements for a home you’ll take on?
We absolutely must have WIFI! And we also don’t usually take a sit unless they can provide us with their car. Of course we would reconsider this condition for somewhere like NYC where a car is not needed. Other than that, we are pretty open to look at anything! It’s all about the experience.

One of the five waterfalls found at La Paz Waterfall Gardens in Costa Rica, courtesy Suitcase Stories

What are the benefits and downside of this lifestyle?
There are too many benefits to list but the main ones are saving money, ‘living’ in a place instead of just passing through, meeting new people (home owners and the neighbors), having a full sized kitchen and laundry; quite often we have luxuries like a pool, hot tub or a fancy car!

The downsides? Well there aren’t many, that’s for sure. I guess the main one is that you are responsible for someone else’s home and pets. Another downside is it means less ‘traveling’ because you need to be at the home looking after the pets.  But for us we don’t mind that because it gives us time to recoup before getting back on the road.

What’s the most unusual house-sit you’ve had?
We haven’t had anything too unusual yet but we did look after a farm house in Spain which was way out of our comfort zone. It was a very basic house, in the middle of nowhere and dogs that were, shall we say, a little energetic! We do not speak Spanish and no one in the village spoke a word of English. However, it is one we remember most fondly because we were out of our comfort zone and we not only survived but thrived! It was something we were really proud of.

How, if at all, does your house-sitting lifestyle impact your travel style?
It’s made a huge difference to our travel style.  We do not need to go down the road of ‘budget travel’ because when we house sit we do not spend a lot of money so therefore have more to spend when we are not house sitting.  So while we are not ‘lux’ travelers we also are not budget travelers. This would be a very different scenario if we did not house sit and therefore spend less money.

You get free accommodations, but how do you finance the balance of your lifestyle?
Michael and I used to work a 60 – 70 hour week so we were both on decent incomes. We managed to save all of my income and live solely off Michael’s for 12 months. We also sold most of our possessions (including our car and furniture) and I had a small business which I sold. So we were lucky to leave with a decent bank balance. Of course money doesn’t last forever so one day we will need to find a way to replenish the bank balance if we want to enjoy this lifestyle for years on end!

Sunset at Venice Beach in California, courtesy Suitcase Stories

What excites you the most about travel?
Where to begin! We love experiencing new cultures, new customs. Seeing the beauty in this world from lakes to forest, volcanoes, beaches, mountains, rivers and waterfalls just to name a few! We love meeting new people and hearing their travel stories.

We are HUGE animal/wildlife lovers and have been fortunate enough to see so many amazing species of wildlife! I would say that the wildlife is one of the biggest things that excites us about travel. It’s also one of the main reasons we love house sitting so much – we get to have pets in our lives again, something we miss dearly from home.

What’s your most memorable travel experience or favorite trip ever?
Our first international trip together was to Fiji in 2004. Not a bad place to start, right!  Fiji had a profound effect on Nicole – It was when her dreams of full time travel started. Fiji was beautiful and so different to Australia and she realized how much of this huge world she was missing out on. That was the start of our new life! Every year after Fiji we traveled, sometimes twice, overseas. And every year we became more and more determined to see as much of this world as we could.  So even though it physically didn’t start right then, we have Fiji to thank for the path we are on today.

Michael Standing in from of the one of the El Rey Mayan ruins in Cancun, courtesy Suitcase Stories

What’s your favorite place on earth?
For me it’s NYC!  The energy and vibe in that city is unlike anything else in this world!  If she had to settle down somewhere, it would be NYC.

For Michael it’s Barcelona. He loved the architecture, the food, the people, everything! It’s a beautiful city and one we really want to explore again.

Where are you now and where are are you off to next?
We are currently house sitting in Costa Rica!  We have monkeys and sloths in our back yard, which over overlooks a beautiful valley and out to the ocean. Does it get any better than that?

After our 5 weeks in Costa Rica we have 2 weeks ‘travel time’ in NYC (yay for Nicole!) and Toronto/Montreal. After that, we go to Barbados for an 8 week house sit. At the moment the plan is after Barbados we will head to Europe for a few months and then off to explore SE Asia. Of course our plans change frequently so who knows!

What’s the biggest fantasy on your bucket list?
It’s always hard to answer this question because we have SO many items on our Bucket List! One of my fantasy locations is Bora Bora! I’m an ocean girl and the pictures always look so beautiful. For Michael, it’s Italy. Italy has so much to do and see all in one small country and looks amazing in photos! We should be crossing this item off the BL in August!

Nicole and Michael are an Australian couple in who gave up their careers, sold their possessions, and left their ‘conventional’ life behind for a life of travel. They have been living a nomadic life for 13 months and see no end in sight. They recently launched Suitcase Stories, a website where they share their stories, travel tips and destination guides. Their main goal for this website is to inspire others to travel and to show people how long term travel is not only possible but affordable. You can follow their journey on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Meet the Travel Bloggers: Suitcase Stories is a post from: Santa Fe Travelers

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When, why and how did you start your travel blog, HikeBikeTravel?
I started off in 2009 thinking that I’d write my own adventure travel guides and sell them online. (I have 21 free guides on my website now.) Somehow – that turned into blogging when I began to understand the difficulties in finding buyers let alone readers. I knew NOTHING when I started and didn’t have any idea about what I was getting into. It wasn’t until sometime in 2010 when I got some better computer help – and got onto Twitter that I made any real progress. Early on I made so many mistakes that it’s taken me much longer to get where I am then it has for many of the social media savvy twenty and thirty somethings. If I started up another blog I would do it very differently.

How did you get that name and what does the name mean to you?
I put zero thought into the name and in hindsight that wasn’t the right approach. The first fellow that helped build my website thought of it so I ran with the idea.

John and Leigh in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, photo/courtesy HikeBikeTravel

What is the thing that keeps you the most jazzed about blogging?
It depends what day of the week you ask me. By Friday I’m good and sick of being in front of a computer screen but if it’s Monday I’m always excited to see what opportunities show up out of the blue. There’s the unpredictability of who sees your blog and what happens as a result. Last week the PR people representing Ford Canada asked if I had any road trips planned. I do – to Vancouver and Victoria in late April – and now I’m driving one of their vehicles rather than my own for a week.

Do you prefer outdoor adventure travel or a mix?
I love the emotional and physical high I get from outdoor adventures. They don’t have to take the full day or be difficult but there’s something about being surrounded by nature wherever I go that really appeals. I find it’s a great way to discover a country – and see a side of it that many tourists miss. But there’s another part of me that loves the good life that cities offer. I appreciate great food, art, architecture and love to visit galleries. Over the years as I’ve come to understand what makes me tick, I know that it’s best to do city things for only a few days a time rather than for a whole vacation.

Kayaking on calm waters in Lake Superior,photo/courtesy HikeBikeTravel

Do you mostly travel with your husband or are you also a solo traveler?
I do both. John gets six weeks of vacation a year so we always travel together for major holidays. And we do loads of weekend adventures but in an average year I probably travel at least another six weeks. That’s a combination of visiting family and friends, and the odd tourism junket. This year is an exceptional year and I’ll be traveling solo for about eight weeks researching adventures across Canada for my book, 100 Quintessential Canadian Outdoor Adventures.

What excites you about travel?
I’ve always been fascinated with maps and I love filling in the blanks. The people I meet traveling lend richness to my life too.

What kind of traveler are you?
I call myself a five star or no star traveler though that’s still not quite right. I don’t like pretentious hotels; I do love small, boutique hotels where the owners/managers have a personal interest in your visit. I love B&B’s that attract an eclectic cross section of travelers and I still love the solitude of camping in remote spots. Unless every other room in town has been taken, you will never see me in a cheap chain hotel. I don’t like camping right beside people either. That’s not my idea of a wilderness experience. A few years ago I cycled through Africa for three weeks, camping the whole way. At the end of it all I flew into a tented camp in Botswana and treated myself to a fantastic luxury lodge experience. I think I appreciate the soft bed and the hot shower a whole lot more after camping.

Enjoying a glass of wine on our boat in the Galapagos with good
friend Jo, photo/courtesy Hike BikeTravel

On the road, do you seek out some experiences more than others?
I try to see the sights in a way that others don’t. On my recent trip to Bogota we did a five hour bike tour of the city. It sure beat getting on and off a tourist bus; it was fun, informative, easy, and cheap and a great way to connect with like-minded travelers. I try hard to visit areas that aren’t on the main tourist routes. In Colombia it was hiking in the remote Sierra Nevada del Cocuy range, in Spain it was cycling through small villages in Andalusia and here in Canada it’s looking for adventures in places people have never heard of. Anything with a nature orientation is also a bonus. I’d like to start doing photography tours – even day tours in a new city.

Is being in your comfort zone important to you?
I’m not afraid of much and always ask myself the question – what’s the worst that can happen? Sometimes it could in fact be death. A case in point is trying to cycle safely in Ireland with narrow roads and wannabe racing car drivers. Or climbing mountains where in fact there are dangers, but all manageable in my mind. Certainly I wish I had more language skills in some countries but somehow everything works out.

On top of 18, 645 foot Volcano Toco in northern Chile, photo/courtesy HikeBikeTravel

What’s your most memorable travel experience?
A few years ago we traveled with friends to northern Chile and Argentina for close to three weeks. The scenery was exceptional, our accommodations – except for a night on the bus – were memorable, and it was loads of fun. We laughed; we drank great wine and Pisco sours, ate amazing inspired meals, climbed big peaks and lounged in hot springs, rode bikes and took a private guided three day tour from Salta to Tucuuman in Argentina through country few westerners ever see. From start to finish it was a superb trip.

What’s your favorite place on earth?
My favourite place on earth is the southwest US. I love the opportunities for hiking and biking in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. I love the silence, the solitude, the night skies, the stark beauty, the lack of people (& bugs) and the endless possibilities for photography when you get away from the cities. I never get tired of the desert landscape. But I hate the killer summer heat.

At Maligne Lake, Jasper National Park, photo/courtesy HikeBikeTravel

Where are you off to next?
Starting in May I am off for the better part of four months to eastern and northern Canada. I’ll start in Ontario in May kayaking the Thousand Islands, head to Nova Scotia for two weeks in June, backpack through a remote national park on Baffin Island in July, head for Quebec and New Brunswick in August and finish with a five day arduous hike on the northern shores of Lake Superior in September. It’s going to be a crazy time but the difference will be that I’ll be out of WiFi range for weeks at a time. I’m looking forward to being unplugged but hoping my blog numbers don’t dive too much.

What’s the biggest fantasy on your bucket list and why? My bucket list is huge and ever growing. I guess my biggest fantasy is that my husband sells his company in the next few years so we can take off for a 4-6 month biking trip starting in Norway and ending in Turkey. I’d love the freedom of going where the wind blows you for that length of time. I’d take the route down through Eastern Europe rather than countries like France and Germany – what I consider mainstream Europe, to experience cultures that I have only ever read about.

Leigh McAdam is a passionate world traveler and adventure seeker.She blogs at HikeBikeTravel. Her next big project is a book – 100 Quintessential Outdoor Adventures in Canada. Her goal is to have fun while doing all 100 adventures over the next 16 months. Her book is scheduled to be published in the fall of 2014. You will find her on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

Meet the Travel Bloggers: HikeBikeTravel is a post from: Santa Fe Travelers

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When, why and how did you start your travel blog?
We were about to begin a year-long round-the-world (RTW) trip and wanted to share our experiences and inspire others. We had a personal blog for about a year prior, mostly to get familiar with how to use the program. In advance of our trip we set up Changes in Longitude.

A sleepy Michael emerging from a cave at a Bedouin camp in Jordan, photo/courtesy Changes in Longitude

How did you get that name and what does the name mean to you?
Changes in Longitude indicates travel around the world, since we would be crossing every line of longitude to do so. Our RTW journey was the beginning of a new stage in our life, and we wanted the title to reflect the changes happening for us personally as well. It is also a take-off on the Jimmy Buffett song Changes in Latitudes.

How do you break up the blog duties?
Michael does the bulk of the blogging and writing. Larissa often develops story ideas and timing for our series in the Philadelphia Inquirer, but we both work together on the articles. Larissa handles a lot of the social networking promoting the posts.

What is the thing that keeps you the most jazzed about blogging?
We love being able to share an experience during travel that is different to anything we’ve read, yet something readers will find interesting or useful. It’s great to get feedback from readers, and to learn that people we’ve never met are following our adventures.

What did you do before taking off RTW?
Before our trip Michael was in commercial real estate and Larissa was self-employed as a consultant in the biotechnology field.

Larissa learns how to make fresh pasta in Bologna, Italy, photo/courtesy Changes in Longitude

How did you finance these travels?
We financed our journey by selling the home we had lived in for 20 years. Currently, we are burning through more of the home equity and earning a bit from writing assignments. But without a house our overhead is so much lower than before and we can maintain this lifestyle for a fairly long time.  We have also done some house sitting assignments which provides free housing to keep overhead down even more.

When on the road, do you or stay in one place for a while or keep on the move?
Ideally we like to rent a place for 2 weeks, enabling us to absorb the culture and feel the rhythm of a city or region. Sometimes this is easier said than done, because once we’re in a new area it’s tempting to explore all the other things nearby!

Where did you stay the longest?
We spent 4 weeks in Sydney, Australia. This was the second month of our trip, after a traveling through China and North Korea. We knew we’d really be in sensory overload and need to slow things down after a month of Asian language, alphabet, food, and atmosphere, and that English-speaking Sydney would be comparatively easy. Our objective was to live like locals and absorb the city at a slow pace.

Visiting the Mutianyu, on the Great Wall of China, photo/courtesy Changes in Longitude

What’s the best thing about traveling as a couple? What’s the worst?
You always have a traveling companion when traveling as a couple, someone to talk to at dinner, etc. Because you’re together constantly, it’s important that you know you get along; otherwise things can get pretty tense. The challenge is that you have to make more of an effort to meet others, since it can be easy to just stick to yourselves, which will limit the experiences you have while traveling.

What excites you most about travel?
Having an experience that goes well beyond any guidebook. Some people call this “getting close to the ground”. For example, in Vietnam we got lost one night and stumbled into a Buddhist convent during Tet, the most important holiday of the year. We were the only westerners there, yet were warmly welcomed by the nuns. They allowed us to join them in prayer, then fed us a simple meal and treated us like guests of honor. We probably couldn’t find that temple again if we tried; yet it was one of the most memorable experiences of our trip.

Praying with Buddhist nuns on the Tet holiday in Vietnam, courtesy Changes in Longitude

What kind of travelers are you?
We consider ourselves value comfort travelers. We’re in our early 50s and we enjoy simple creature comforts such as our own bathroom and sleeping in a bed. One of the reasons we like staying in short term rentals is because we’ve found we can get a small apartment for the same price as a private en-suite room in a hostel. Plus we love to cook, so visiting markets and picking up local ingredients is a way for us to further immerse ourselves in the culture. We don’t travel with backpacks; we use wheeled suitcases—too late to teach our old spines new tricks!

On the road, do you seek out some experiences more than others?
The key word in that question is “experiences”. To us it’s more worthwhile to have a good experience in a place than to check off a list of “must see” sights that are recommended in a guidebook. That might mean sitting at a sidewalk café in Paris just watching the world go by instead of going to a cathedral. We pursue our personal interests of food and cooking, history and architecture. Larissa often takes cooking classes or market tours; Michael likes to visit sights related to military history.

Is being in your comfort zone important to you?
It is when you get out of your comfort zone that the most interesting and memorable things happen. We’re not looking to flirt with danger, but we do like to find the “authentic”. Going to North Korea was pretty out-there. We were on a tour (required to visit there), and the accommodations were fine, but there was always an edge in the atmosphere. Sleeping in a Bedouin cave in Jordan was definitely outside our comfort zone.

Extreme close-up of a suddenly awakened lion in Namibia, photo/courtesy Changes in Longitude

We also did a self-drive safari in Namibia where we literally woke up a sleeping lion. Michael had his window rolled down and backed up the truck to take some pictures. As he was doing this a lion jumped and roared right next to him. They’d rolled over a culvert where lions sleep during the day. He was torn between rolling up the window and taking a picture of the lion.

What’s your most memorable travel experience or favorite trip ever?
Larissa: my family took a vacation to Miami when I was 8 years old. It was my first time in a plane and staying at a resort hotel. I was traveling, and I loved it!

Michael: visiting My Lai in Vietnam during our RTW. The site of the American massacre was haunting, but my warm encounter with a Vietnamese family taught me the power of reconciliation.

What’s your favorite place on earth?
We have no one favorite place. We prefer to remember the experiences we had. If you’re observant you’ll see the good and the bad everywhere

You’re currently exploring North America. What are your travel plans?
We just finished living in a rented house in the country near the Chesapeake Bay for 3 months to work on our book proposal. That’s the longest we’ve stayed anywhere since we first left on our RTW in Mid 2011. (We were there long enough to invest in a bottle of ketchup!) Now we’re gradually working our way northward, heading to Toronto in June for the TBEX conference. We’ll be exploring along the way. At this point we don’t envision ever stopping.

We’re staying a week here, a month there, absorbing local color. . . and always writing, writing, writing! We like taking road trips, and have done so on several continents. We just got ourselves a car—we tried long term rentals but in the US they are not a convenient or cost-effective option. Michael has been hankering for some good ol’ American Barbecue, so a trip to the Carolinas might be in the cards.

Do you have a sense of how long you’ll travel NA and what the next step is?
No we haven’t finalized anything.  A lot will depend on how long it takes to finish the book.

What is the book about?
The book is a travel narrative about chucking it all in mid-life and pursuing your dreams. Why wait until retirement?

Posing in one of the many squares in Pyongyang, North Korea, courtesy Changes in Longitude

Is there an official end to your trip?
About midway through our RTW we determined that we were making a major life change and from here on would spend our time traveling and inspiring others to pursue their dreams of long-term travel. So we may be back from our RTW, but our journey has just begun.

What’s the biggest fantasy on your bucket list and why?
Our biggest fantasy was to travel around the world for a year and we’ve done that. We learned during the trip that there are fascinating people and places everywhere, so we have decided to “kick the bucket list”—it’s too tempting to rush through items just to get to the next one on the list.  Instead we’re going to focus on collecting experiences through our travels. Then we’ll be rich indeed.

When Larissa and Michael Milne turned 50 they quit their jobs, sold their house and gave away most of their belongings to travel around the world for a year. They now travel full time and have made blogging and writing their profession. Read more about their adventures at Changes in Longitude. You can find them on Twitter and Pinterest and Facebook.

Meet the Travel Bloggers: Changes in Longtitude is a post from: Santa Fe Travelers

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When, why and how did you start your travel blog?
It was back in 2011 when Cez felt an urge to set up his own website and create a travel community where people could share their travel thoughts and experiences, and I wanted to start blogging about my life and work in China. One day, we came up with an idea of combining these two desires and start working together. Cez built the website from scratch and I was responsible for content writing. Together, we complemented each other and slowly, but surely, started building eTramping.com that we are so proud of at the moment!

Agness and Cez in Thailand, photo/courtesy eTramping

How did you get the name and what does the name mean to you?
Our blog’s name might seem to be very odd and incomprehensible especially to those who don’t know the story. In order to get a full meaning of it you need to understand its morpheme. Let us explain then what we mean by “eTramping” and how this name relates to our travel style. The word itself consists of three morphemes:

• Prefix “e” meaning electronic or internet as we are digital nomads going online and sharing our travel experiences with people.
• The word “Tramp” meaning a homeless person – we are homeless, by choice!
• Suffix “ing” emphasizing the continuity of the state of being a tramp. This is also a very active state, like jumping, trekking, doing, etc.

We first came cross the word “tramp” when watching an inspiring movie called Into the Wild, directed by Sean Penn, telling a story of a top law student and athlete Christopher McCandless, who after his graduation abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity, hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness and calls himself Alexander Supertramp. Since that day, we started calling ourselves “tramps” because we left our comfort zones behind, gave away our possessions and travel without permanent home for under 25 bucks a day.

Riding an elephant in Sri Lanka, photo/courtesy eTramping

You’re an unusual blogging and traveling partnership in that you’re friends. How did you decide to join together to blog and travel?
We met at the university five year ago and quickly became soul mates developing a special relationship based on trust, partnership and understanding. We were both expats living and working in England so we both felt kind of homesick which made us even closer. I always had a travel bug, but Cez didn’t like travelling that much. One day, 6 months after we met, I took him to London for a week and he absolutely loved it. When we got back home, the first question he asked was “When are we going next?” We have gone for trips abroad and tried different ways to travel. After 3 years of studying it was time to make a serious decision – “what’s next?” – getting a 9 to 5 job or carrying on travelling? For me (Agness), the choice was obvious, so I set off for my one year adventure in China. Cez quit his job six months later, went to Vietnam and we met in China later on. Right now, we can’t imagine travelling separately after so many adventures we’ve had together.

On the Great Wall of China, photo/courtesy eTramping

What is your favorite thing about traveling and blogging together? What is the worst?
Agness:The best thing for me is having someone by my side who cares about me, who I can trust, rely on and talk to, not only when travelling but also when working. The worst is the fact we often argue and make everything so competitive.

Cez: For me the best thing about travelling and blogging together is Agness. She’s really pushing it all forward and motivates me to do more! The worst thing is that she wants everything right NOW!

Cez in Sri Lanka, photo/ courtesy eTramping

Do you have a specific division of blog duties and if so, what is it?
Yes, we do. I am mostly responsible for writing guest posts and managing our social media channels while Cez is the webmaster taking care of all technical stuff. Cez also helps people with their blogs on bloginstallations.com to support our travels. We both interact with our readers and fellow travel bloggers and blog about our adventures.

You’re currently based in China, how long do you plan to be there and where to next?
Although we are working full-time in Dongguan as English teachers we have not stopped travelling. During our stay in China (minimum of 12 months) we are planning to explore the rest of Asia, which we have not yet managed to go to, such as Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Malaysia, India, etc. We are also saving some money for a long journey across all South American countries.

Agness with an elephant in Sri Lanka,photo/courtesy eTramping

How often are you travelling at the moment?
We travel around China, Hong Kong and the Macau area nearly every weekend, but these are only short trips. The next long journey is probably going to be between March and May when we are planning to go to Japan and Philippines.

What keeps you the most jazzed about blogging?
The urge to help other travelers to realize their dreams by giving them budget travel tips. It’s also the desire to share our adventures and encourage others to travel.

Agness charminjg a cobra in Sri Lanka,photo/courtesy eTramping

What excites you the most about travel?
Agness: Unexpectedness – you never know where you wake up the next day, where you will go, what food you will eat and what people you will meet.

Cez: Possibilities – in short: impossible is nothing. Apart from death nothing can stop us from doing what we want to (I’m not saying it’s always easy, it’s just possible).

What kind of travel do you tend to do?
Tramp-style of course = less than $25 each a day. We like to travel surely, slowly and extremely cheaply.

What are the most important things to you on a trip?
We are both food lovers. Some people even make fun of us saying we should launch a separate food blog. Most of our journeys focus on discovering new flavors and trying new food. However, we love meeting new people on the road therefore interactions with locals and fellow backpackers are crucial for us. What we don’t usually do is party.

Is being in your comfort zone important to you?
Comfort zone? We don’t know what it is anymore. We love to face our fears and do it whenever there’s an opportunity. We both quit our jobs to travel the world and have had no permanent home since 2011. We’ve  cycled Vietnamese roads at night, survived with no money left, and hugged tigers. Cez nearly fell off a few hundred meters high cliff (he’s afraid of heights) and my heart stopped beating for 42 seconds. I think don’t we perceive risk the way normal people do anymore.

What’s your most memorable travel experience or favorite trip ever?
Agness: Undoubtedly, my last visit in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet. I learned how to be a humble person and respect others by talking to locals suffering the worst period of repression by China. It was definitely touching and inspiring.

Cez: It’s without a doubt my visit in Zhangjiajie. The scenery is beautiful beyond reason. If you watched the famous blockbuster movie Avatar you should remember the floating Hallelujah Mountains on Pandora. They are real and were filmed in Zhangjiajie (no, they are not floating above the ground, but if it’s a misty day, they seem to). That’s also the place where I nearly fell off a cliff.

Cez photographing Hong Kong, photo/courtesy eTramping

What’s your favorite place on earth?
Agness: Definitely China. It all started here: first travel tears, first travel sweat, my first long-term solo backpacking trips, my first Asian country to live and work in. In some way I feel so attached to China and a piece of my heart is always here.

Cez: For me it’s Gdynia, in Poland, my hometown. I think it’s the sound of Baltic Sea and that special atmosphere of this place, or just the many memories I have from there. Either way, part of me is always there, although I have not lived there for nearly eight years now (visited only four times during this time). If I get to choose a place to end my life (naturally), it will be there.

Agness on a beach on Hong Kong Island, photo/courtesy eTramping

What’s the biggest fantasy on your bucket list?
Agness: To head to Peru and dance to the Moves like Jagger, song in front of Machu Picchu.

Cez: I have two. I want to go to Antarctica and North Korea. I think they fascinate me because they feel out of reach.

Agness is a Polish vagabond who, after graduation, left her comfort zone and set off for a journey of her lifetime to China in 2011. She has been constantly travelling the world since then (slowly, but surely as she says), living like a local for less than $25 a day. She became a passionate photographer and adventure blogger sharing her life enthusiasm and travel experience with everyone around.

Cez is now a happy world traveler with a host of experiences and limitless energy to gather more. After leaving his comfort zone in 2011 he joined Agness – his best friend; together they have a mission to discover all amazing places on this planet. 

You can follow their adventures on their blog, eTramping. You can find them on Twitter and Facebook.

Meet the Travel Bloggers: eTramping is a post from: Santa Fe Travelers

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When and why did you start your blog, Hole In The Donut Cultural Travel?
After years of building successful careers that paid the bills but brought no joy, I was consumed with a spiritual emptiness that made me question the purpose of life. I felt like the proverbial donut – solid on the outside but empty on the inside. In 2006, at the age of 54, I walked away from corporate life, strapped on a backpack and traveled around the world solo for six months. At the time, I had no idea what to do with the rest of my life; I only knew that I was driven to travel and write. I started my blog so that friends and family could follow me around the world but before long, more than a thousand people were reading it. By the time I returned to the States, I was hooked not only on travel but also on blogging, and the rest is history.

What does the blog’s name mean to you?
It is a daily reminder that I must follow my passions, rather than doing what others expect me to do.

At Machu Picchu, photo/Hole In The Donut Cultural Travels

What is the thing that keeps you the most jazzed about blogging?
There are a lot of things I love about blogging but I think what moves me most is when people write to say I have given them hope or changed their lives. I fully believe that people should do what makes them happy, and my story is proof that it is never too late to pursue your passions. Though most would consider Hole in the Donut to be a travel blog, I believe it is more about inspiration; travel is just my personal path to happiness.

What inspired you to travel solo when you started to travel in 2007?
There was no inspiration involved in that decision. I had been single for many years and found I enjoyed solo travel. I like the freedom it affords me to go where I want, when I want. Let’s face it, most travel companions would balk at the idea of waiting around for a couple of hours for the light to be right for photography, but since I’m a photographer as well as a writer, that’s something I often do. As a solo traveler, that’s never an issue. Finally, when I travel solo I have more interaction with the locals, while when I am with a companion; I am more focused on that person.

Babinda Boulders Cairns Australia, photo/Hole In The Donut Cultural Travel

You’ve been on the road traveling solo without a permanent base since 2009. What’s that like?
There are days when I get very tired, but for the most part I really like being a nomad and traveling around world without a concrete itinerary. It’s very freeing not to have to worry about mortgages, insurance, taxes and maintenance of a house. My lifestyle required some hard decisions and the courage to forge ahead in the face of family and friends who clearly did not approve of my choices. I lost my home and much more but I now know that material things never made me happy and that lesson is priceless.

What excites you most about travel?
Hands down, it’s the opportunity to stay in places long term in order to immerse in the culture. I am fascinated by the idea that we may eat different foods, wear different clothes, speak different languages and practice different religions, but at our core we are more alike than different; we al want the same things: a roof over our heads, food on the table, a safe place to live, and opportunity for our children. This is shown to me over and over as I learn about each new culture, and it reinforces my belief that there is no need to fear others who we see as different.

In Nepal with the Himalayas in the background, photo/Hole In The Donut Cultural Travel

You’re a woman Boomer backpacker traveling solo. Some might say that’s very brave. What do you say about it?
I get that comment all the time but I don’t consider myself to be brave. Curious, yes. And adventurous, without a doubt. But not brave. Unfortunately, there is a common belief among U.S. residents that international travel is dangerous. Yet in all my years of traveling I have had only one incident in which I was truly in danger and that happened right here in the U.S. I understand that fear because even I have it on occasion when I travel to a new country where I don’t speak the language, but in absolutely every case I have found my fears to be unfounded and unnecessary. Most people are good and I’ve never lacked for assistance.

Do you mostly stay in hostels, camp or rent your own quarters with kitchen when on the road?
Because I travel on a very tight budget, I tend to stay in hostels (mostly in dorms) and inexpensive guest houses, however I am occasionally offered the opportunity to stay in upscale hotels or vacation rental properties in return for reviewing the property.

On the road, do you seek out some experiences more than others?
I love to hike, so I do that a lot. I also love Yoga, meditation, and am a practicing Buddhist, so those often figure into my planning and the places I choose to travel. But in general, I am always looking for experiential travel, where I can get to know the locals and learn about their culture.

Marseille’s Quartier du Panier Cafe, photo/Hole In The Donut Cultural Travel

Is being in your comfort zone important to you?
This one made me laugh. I’d have to say that I prefer experiences that take me out of my comfort zone. I don’t really know why. Maybe it is the challenge, the need to prove to myself that I can do it, but I always feel really good about myself when I’ve met the challenge. The benefit, most of the time, is that I get to do things that most people in the world will never have the opportunity to do. Now, don’t get the wrong idea; at 60 years old, with a hip and knee that give me more than a little trouble, I’m not going to be climbing Mount Everest, but there are other kinds of challenges. Finding my way around China was definitely the most challenging travel experience I’ve ever had. I spoke not one word of Mandarin and no one spoke English. I managed to do it, but it was exceptionally frustrating. I still look back at that and wonder how I got through it, but believe it or not, I’m thinking of going back.

What’s your most memorable travel experience or favorite trip ever and why?
From the moment I first set foot in Nepal it became my favorite country in the world. I arrived there exhausted and suffering from severe hip pain. From Kathmandu I took the bus to Pokhara, where I hoped to find a Yoga guru who would work with me. I did find my guru and he was an incredible help; he changed my Yoga forever and healed my body. In the process, I grew very close to his family and they basically adopted me. I was invited to the brother-sister Tika ceremony that is always performed on the last day of Tihar, one of the most holy Hindu holidays of the year. After the ceremony, I thanked them for allowing me to be a part of their family for the day. They corrected me, explaining that I misunderstood; having participated in this ritual, I was a member of their family forever. I return each year and live with them two to three months. They’ve completely adopted me and I am so blessed to have found them.

Taking a Cooking class in Vientiane, Laos, photo/Hole In The Donut Cultural Travel

Where are you off to next?
I’m off to the UK at the end of April (London, Bristol, Wales, the Guernsey Islands, etc.), after which I fly to Morocco for the World Spiritual Music Festival, after which I’ll be traveling around the country for a few weeks. Then I return to Eastern Europe (Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Istanbul. After that I’m off to India, followed by Nepal, Thailand and (maybe) Myanmar. Of course, my plans are always fluid, so that will change as I travel – it always does.

What’s the biggest fantasy on your bucket list?
Two things: Seeing the Northern Lights and visiting Tibet. The latter is sort of a holy grail, since I practice Tibetan Buddhism. I’m not sure why the Northern Lights are so important to me, though I suspect it has something to do with the fact that they seem to me to be the closest thing to the unifying force of the universe (I have a fascination with quantum physics).

Do you think you’ll ever retire your backpack and settle down?
Maybe someday but I hope not too soon. I am very fortunate that my Dad loves for me to come home and stay with him whenever I need a rest and I also have dear friends in Atlanta who are happy to put me up. With those kinds of fallbacks, it’s not so scary to be a digital nomad. I can imagine a time when I might want to have a base of sorts, though I can’t ever imagine staying in one place year round; I’m have way too much wanderlust for that. The problem for me is where that would be, but I keep looking.

After years of working 70-80 hours per week at jobs that paid the bills but brought no joy, a serious illness made Barbara Weibel realize she felt like the proverbial “hole in the donut” – solid on the outside but empty on the inside. After recovering her health, she walked away from her successful but unfulfilling career, sold or gave away most of her material possessions, strapped on a backpack and began traveling around the world in pursuit of her true passions: travel, photography and writing. These days she travels perpetually, bouncing from country to country, discovering the world one culture at a time. Stories about her adventures are published on her blog, Hole In The Donut Cultural Travel. You can follow her on Twitter, like her Facebook page and see her travel photos on Pinterest.

Meet the Travel Bloggers: Hole In The Donut is a post from: Santa Fe Travelers

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It was the day. It comes in every parent’s life. A day when she suddenly realizes the tides have turned. When children grow up and parents grow weak. When we, so strong and capable for so many years; find ourselves on the other side of the equation and relying upon the strength and wisdom of our children.

I knew all along that day would come, but I never expected it would be while cycling from Alaska to Argentina. For some reason, I figured my kids would remain innocent little kids for the duration of our journey and, at some point way off in the future, that shift would happen. Needless to say, that’s not what happened.

Panama, along with the rest of Central America, was very hot and humid. Dehydration was a very real risk we faced every day, photo/courtesy Family On Bikes

The inkling I had that the change would happen sooner rather than later came in Panama, when my sons were only eleven years old. That day I was sick, and we were riding through a very hilly area in the highest temperatures we had experienced so far. My gut periodically cramped up, feeling like someone had stabbed me with a sharp knife and was slowly rotating it inside. But what really worried me was my dizziness. I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t pass out on the side of the road.

My son, riding his own fully-loaded bicycle, stayed on my tail all day, guiding me, escorting me, protecting me. I remember looking in my rear-view mirror and seeing that tall, handsome young man on a bike behind me, and I remember very clearly the feeling comfort it gave me. I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Davy would know what to do if/when I collapsed. My babies were growing up.

The unending green jungle landscape, although beautiful, got tedious after hundreds of miles, courtesy Family On Bikes

A few months later, we were in Ecuador. Grandma had given my sons a Nintendo DS for Christmas, and it was their most prized possession. And then one day, the card got corrupted. The data was gone. The Nintendo no longer worked.

Davy and I hopped on a series of buses and taxis to get to the mall in Quito, over two hours away, to see if we could get it fixed, but the shop was closed on Sunday. We went back to rejoin our family disappointed in our lack of success.

The following morning, I looked up from my morning coffee to see both my sons standing in front of me. “Can we go to Quito, Mom?” they asked.

“On your own?” I replied. “Are you crazy?”

“I know how to get there,” Davy begged. “I went with you yesterday. We’ll be fine. Really, we will.”

Daryl, enjoying the Nintendo Grandma gave the boys for Christmas, courtesy Family On Bikes

I knew I would have to cut the apron strings someday. I knew my babies would sprout wings and head off on their own. I knew that, at some point, I would have to buck it up and give them their freedom. That day was then.

We went over the plan, made backup plans, and sent the boys on their way. My husband and I hung out all day, fretting and stewing over all the things that could go wrong. Our sons – barely twelve years old – were navigating around Ecuador and the massive city of Quito on their own. Would they be okay? Could they handle it?

Amazingly – or, perhaps, predictably – our boys arrived back at our hotel that night triumphant. They had succeeded in every single thing they set out to do. The got the first bus up and over the pass, then waited for a second bus to take them into the city. They managed to find a taxi driver to take them to the mall where they got their Nintendo fixed, and reversed the process on the way back to the small village where John and I waited. They even stopped for pizza and brought some back for us!

I know there is a lesson here somewhere. I know I could get all philosophical and all, but really – all that matters is that kids can do more than we think they can do. If we let them.

Leaving Quito, we climbed over a 13,000-foot pass before dropping down into the Amazon basin. It was this pass the kids had to traverse on their own to get back into Quito to fix their Nintendo, courtesy Family On Bikes

Nancy Sathre-Vogel is a 21-year classroom veteran who made the decision to leave her teaching career behind to travel the world on a bicycle. Together with her husband and twin sons, she cycled 27,000 miles throughout the Americas, including traveling from Alaska to Argentina. Now she lives in Idaho, pursuing her passions of writing and beadwork. She is the author of the just released book, Changing Gears about the family’s epic bike journey cycling the PanAm.

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