The Allure of Homestays...and Chiang Mai

Today I saw a great Twitter post about 10 Tips For Doing a Homestay
(https://twitter.com/Gadling/statuses/161843555902554112) from @Gadling (http://www.gadling.com/).

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

My husband and I have talked about various options for finding alternative places to stay while we're on our RTW adventure and the homestay has always been especially intriguing for me.  I would love to stay with someone who lives in and truly knows the place we are visiting.  Not only would we get to experience a location with all of the insider knowledge of a local, ideally we could get to know a great person or family and create a lasting relationship, which let's face it, is one of the ultimate perks of travel that sticks with you forever.homestay be better than a hostel?  How long does a typical homestay last?  How much do homestays cost? 

I can't emphasize enough that I want our RTW adventure to be so much more than just a long vacation.  I thrive off of new experiences and challenges, and absolutely love feeling like I have really "gotten to know" a place I visit.  There are few things more meaningful and lasting in my mind when I remember past trips. 

That doesn't mean we have to stay in one place for months.  While in Chiang Mai, Thailand, for only four days, we became a part of the small area of the city that we explored daily.  We found a comfort in the routines we encountered, whether it be seeing vendors unpacking their goods at the nearby market in the morning, the afternoon smiles we exchanged with our "neighbor" who freshened up our laundry, or the setting up of tables for the dinnertime rush at one of the vendors on the street.  We knew where we were going, while still pushing our limits and exploring further, we recognized faces and exchanged hellos while also being aware and open to new experiences.  Ultimately, we found a bit of comfort in experiencing something that is so commonplace and sometimes frustrating at home:  routine.

And so my love of Chiang Mai presents itself to you :)

Now, back to the subject of homestays.

Where do I begin?  Google "find homestays" and many websites present themselves, but which ones are reputable?  Where/when would a

So many questions...looks like more research on the horizon!

If you have any suggestions, please, please share in the comments or on my Twitter - @atwexplorer

Thanks!

A To Do List...

Yesterday hubby and I hung a large map of the world on the wall in our guest room.  It looks awesome, is a nice reminder of our dream, and is obviously very useful in plotting out where we want to go!

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

So that brings me to an update of our planning.

A few of our basic To Do's right now include:

• More research on destinations, where to go, when to go, how to get there.
• Looking into RTW flights - there are many options and companies that do this, so it's a big task!
• Also looking into Trans-Siberian, Trans-Mongolian Railway
• After these things are more narrowed down...visas, immunizations, etc
• Looking into various volunteer/work abroad opportunities.  We don't want long-term commitments, but would love to help where we can or make a little money along the way/save on room and board costs, etc.
• Figuring out what our monthly cost will be if we keep our house, cars (one lease, one own).
• This is a big one for us.  With only planning to be gone about six months it seems crazy to go through the hassle of selling our house.   Plus it's very comforting to know what we will come back to.  It's also a bit intimidating knowing that if we go this route, we will still have to pay all our costs while we're gone, with no income being generated, and with having to pay for our adventures.
• Our ideal situation would be that we could rent our house out (to a friend or acquaintance) while we are gone.  We would charge enough to cover our expenses and then we would just have to hope nothing crazy happened to our house while we're gone.  I'm just not sure who we could rent to - most of our friends own houses or don't live in the area.  Plus six months is a short time for someone to be there and then have to move again.  However, it would be fully furnished, so it could be a nice option for someone who's just kind of "in between."
• Further, we don't know what the future holds.  Maybe on our trip we'll find out that we want to move somewhere else or find a way that we can continue to travel more.  Then if we need to sell our house we have to worry about it then and we could've already had it taken care of and not been continuously paying on it.  I also don't like the idea that if something goes wrong while we are away, that we'll have to be thinking about it and it could affect our trip because it might prevent us from fully getting away. 

So, these are our immediate tasks, concerns, and thoughts right now.  Among all of the things going on in our everyday life!  We are headed to Colorado this weekend to visit one of my best friends and her husband.  It will be nice to get away, ski in some REAL mountains, and enjoy their company.  I just can't help but feel a little guilty for spending money when we have this larger goal we are working towards.  But we're travelers by nature...to not go away at all until our big trip would be torturous!

How Much is Too Much?

Naturally one of the most exciting, yet most intimidating aspects of planning this trip is deciding where we are going.  We are not planning every stop or every detail, we really want to leave room for following whim, or visiting a place at the recommendation of a new friend discovered halfway around the world.  For me, that is a huge part of what this trip is about...having this time in our lives where we aren't dictated by schedules and deadlines and "have-to's".

We are starting out conservatively, planning on six months.  Though we want to go everywhere, we know that not only would that be extremely expensive, but we wouldn't get much out of it and we would have to be on a strict schedule to make it to every continent. 

If you asked us a month ago, I believe we both would have said we are going to go to Africa, up to Eastern Europe, take the Trans-Siberian and Trans-Mongolian Railways to Beijing, and then explore Asia.  A few days ago I started to think about scaling back.  So many things that I've read confirm what I know - I would like to truly "get to know" some of the places we are visiting.  I want to stay somewhere until I don't want to anymore.  Will six months be enough time to go to all these places and get that experience?  Will we end up feeling rushed or like we aren't really getting the most out of our journey? 

Not to mention...we could probably save a decent amount of money by taking this stop out of the trip.  Therefore, I started to think about taking Africa off of the list (for THIS trip). 

I genuinely want to go to Africa, specifically Madagascar, Victoria Falls, Mount Kilimanjaro, and most importantly, go on a true safari and see some animals!  I'm a huge animal-lover, I even volunteer at my local zoo.  To see elephants, lions, zebras, giraffes and more out in the wild would be an absolute dream come true.

But it's time to really think about this trip, our budget, and our future.  When it comes down to it, the things that are most important to me (as far as sightseeing goes) in Africa are things that we could essentially do in a two or three week trip in the future.  Although we can do more research and see what kind of costs we would be looking at, I decided I needed to talk to my husband about my thoughts.

I was somewhat hesitant to approach my partner in crime on this matter, even though he's extremely practical and understanding.  Luckily, when I brought it up he was quite easygoing about the whole thing.  His main focus at the moment is getting to Russia.  Cool!  So...I think we have our decision made and destinations more narrowed down.

However...the other day I was thinking about Australia (I've been there twice now - once for Study Abroad, and once with my husband this past year for 3 weeks).  We both love the country, but it was there that my real passion for international travel surfaced.  It was there that I stayed in my first hostel, lived with my first non-American roommates (a Thai man and a Japanese woman), and took my first solo trip - to the Whitsundays where I earned my Open Water SCUBA certification.  It was there that I first dreamt of stuffing a backpack and disappearing for a while. 

And then my thoughts drifted to Aussie's neighbor, New Zealand.  I've been to the South Island during my time studying abroad, and absolutely loved it.  My husband has only dreamt of going.  It would be the perfect place to rent an RV and drive around for a month or two! 

And now you can get an idea of how my mind works...I'm such a dreamer, and I LOVE that the possibilities are endless, however, I'm also a terrible decision maker, so it only complicates things.

As I ponder the options, it seems clear that the two of us really need to sit down, take a look at our budget and timeline, and start doing more research.  We can begin by pricing out flights.  We can sit with a map and talk about our "must-sees" for this trip, and "would be nice to sees", as well as those things that we are ok with pushing to another adventure in the future. 

It's quite an overwhelming journey we are planning, and there are times where I feel like we haven't made any progress and we need to come up with an actual list.  I guess part of me really likes having a plan (I mean, we have to have something for a trip this big!) and I like to be able to cross things off my to-do list, put pieces of the puzzle together, and see that I am making progress towards my dream.

Otherwise, it remains a dream.

And hopefully by next year at this time (or not too long after), the trip will be a reality and I will be across the world with my best friend, experiencing the life I've been wanting to live.  The life of a wanderer, a vagabond, a nomad...an explorer.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Your true traveler...seeking "boredom"

“Your true traveler finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty-his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure.” – Aldous Huxley

Here I am, Thursday morning at work.  The quote above that I found by googling "travel quotes" (http://matadornetwork.com/bnt/50-most-inspiring-travel-quotes-of-all-time/) spoke to my current mindset.

I'm trying hard to focus on the things that I "need" to do today, but I'm having a very tough time.  I'm thinking about being somewhere else.  Anywhere else.  Anywhere (even just at home, on a wide-open Saturday) where I have the freedom of boredom.  And I don't mean boredom in a negative way...I rarely find myself truly bored.  It is more, like Huxley says above, a pleasure of freedom of time where I find myself really experiencing life. 

The ultimate high of this feeling is felt while traveling...on those days when I have nothing planned, a whole day wide open for discovery...those are some of the most memorable days of past adventures.  I cannot wait for six or more months of that.

It's so frustrating, how "normal" it is to not be in true control of your time.  I am sick of life being full of the "have-to's".  I want more time for my "want to's," or "let's see what happens," or "let's go that way.  Why?  Because it feels right."

That's how I want to live my life-as a traveler.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Swim Outside the Tank

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Last year for Christmas, one of the gifts I received was from my mother,  The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo.  It's a sort of inspirational book with a short story or message assigned to each day of the year.  The musings are about life, love, friendship, loss, and other human experiences.  Last night, January 9, I read the passage before going to sleep and it felt so applicable that I had to share the message.

The message, entitled "Life in the Tank," starts with a quote from St. Augustine:  "Love, and do what thou wilt."

The author tells the story of a man who needs to clean his fish tank.  In preparation, he relocates his fish temporarily to his large bathtub, and proceeds to scrub his tank.  When he's finished cleaning, he returns to retrieve the fish, and surprisingly, finds the entire group huddled in a small area just the size of their tank, even though they have so much more room available to them.

It is a powerful metaphor and the author goes on to compare these fish to himself and us all as humans.  "In what ways do we go nowhere but into ourselves?  In what ways do we shrink our world so as not to feel the press of our own self-imposed captivity?"

It's so relatable.  I think everyone imposes limits on themselves in some way, whether they realize it or not.  The message brought to mind my upcoming adventure and made me proud of myself for pushing the limits of my own fish tank.  But I have to wonder, are there other ways that I am "turning on myself, swimming safely in the middle of the tub?"

Are you?  What can you do to swim outside the tank?

Our first purchase...the backpack

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We've been talking about our trip for a while now, but decided that we needed a tangible symbol of our upcoming adventure.  It was time to make our first true monetary commitment to this trip, purchase something that we would need and that could serve as a constant reminder of our goal.  The most logical purchase?  The one thing that would hold our life while we are away.  Backpacks!
I did a little research on choosing a pack and stumbled upon Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.  I found his advice helpful, and I gained a little bit of confidence in this impending decision that could ultimately affect my comfort and organization while traveling around the world.  I made some mental notes, and with that, hubby and I were on our way to our local EMS.

We walked in and found the store's backpack guru.  The selection of backpacks wasn't overly impressive, especially for me as I was looking for a women's fit.  Once we weeded out the ones that would work for our type of use and the ones they had in my size, an entire wall of backpacks was diminished to three options that might work for me.  Backpack guru guy loaded them up with some weights and had me try them on for size. 

This was a frustrating experience because he kept asking me how whichever pack I was wearing felt and if one was more comfortable than another.  Comfortable?  You want me to tell you which awkward load on my back feels good?  I don't typically enjoy this sort of thing.  I'm sure I will love the freedom of having everything I need in one spot on my back while I am gallivanting around the globe, but walking through your store with this thing on my back just makes me feel dumb. 

Also, I've never worn a pack like this for an extended period of time. OK, except when my husband took me to the Adirondacks for Memorial Day Weekend and I borrowed his old external frame pack that hung over my head threatening to topple me over into the mountain the entire time I wore it.  The internal frames of these packs are much less intimidating as there isn't a constant shadow looming over my head, but I still wouldn't call them comfy.  Anyway, despite the fact that I really liked the look of a red Gregory bag, I decided (with the help of backpack guru) that the Gregory Z55 Backpack fit the best and was my best option. 

I wasn't necessarily convinced of my decision, but hubby had fallen in love with a (kind of gross-looking, IMO) rust-colored Osprey Atmos 50 Backpack that fit him like a glove and I couldn't go home empty-handed!  I needed a toy to play with too.  I needed a tangible symbol of my dream to stuff full of junk and wander up and down our stairs or around our neighborhood with while it clings to my back.  (Also, the salesman assured us we could take the packs home, pack them up, try them out, and return them if we end up not liking them.)  So, we decided to get them both and try them out.

We used our packs this past weekend for an overnight stay at my parents'.  I was surprised how big my pack seems.  Of course I was only going for an overnight...but there was room to spare! 

After testing it out, I'm still not completely sold.  I like pockets and this doesn't seem to have enough.  I just really don't know how to tell if the pack is right for me or not...I don't have much to compare it to.  I didn't put it on and get excited at how amazing it fit like my husband.  Somehow I can't imagine any pack being comfortable.  A backpack loaded down with my life is supposed to be comfy?  We will see.

I'm looking for advice.  Suggestions.  Anything that might help me know for sure about this bag.  I don't like making uninformed decisions...I like to weigh all my options and then feel confident in my choices.  But with only three choices how can I be sure it's THE one?

I mean, come on, when I was getting married I went to at least three different bridal shops and tried on, probably over 50 (AT LEAST!) gowns until I found the one that made me feel like I didn't need to look anymore. 

Online sites, including Matt's, suggest REI as a good place to shop for a pack, but we don't have any locally; EMS was really our best choice.  There's the online option, but I'm not sure how I feel about purchasing such a personal, fit-crucial item online.  Although...would it really make a difference to me since I can't tell what I like anyway?!

Those We're "Leaving Behind"

Leaving behind sounds a bit too dramatic for me, but you get the idea.

We haven't told too many people about our upcoming adventure, we are slowly opening up our "circle of trust" so to speak, but so far it mostly includes immediate family, a few select friends, and...you who is reading this blog post.

There are several reasons we aren't telling everyone we know about this trip. A. We don't want to risk losing our jobs prematurely, and B.  We don't know how people will react, but history has told us that most people will either be indifferent, judgmental, or discouraging.

I don't need everyone to be rooting us on and wanting to know every detail of our trip, but I don't think it's unreasonable for people who care about us to be genuinely excited for us, although I know not to expect that.  It's frustrating because I had a realization a couple of years ago that now helps all of this make sense to me.  My husband and I do not want kids right now (if ever), for many reasons, but for the most obvious - we're selfish and OK with it and just want to spend our money on ourselves and our adventures!  At least we know this about ourselves and aren't having babies just because all of our friends are. 

So that is where my realization comes in.  Many of our friends started getting pregnant about two years ago.  They kept asking us if we were going to be next, etc.  We didn't understand their choice to have kids at that point because it wasn't something we were interested in.  Then one day it struck me - this is directly parallel to our travels and the way people often react to us when we take trips.  It doesn't matter what your dreams, goals, and passions are in life, it just matters that you reach out for them.  If you want to be a mom or dad and that is your dream right now, I can see the joy and satisfaction this brings you, and I feel genuine excitement and happiness for you.  I can share in these amazing emotions because I care about you and I want you to be happy and fulfilled.  I may not "get it" just yet, because I don't want that, but it doesn't matter because I love you and your joy brings me joy. 

I just hope my friends and family will be genuinely happy for us in this way.  I know some are, and I greatly appreciate those who have been supportive.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Around the World in ___ Days

What does it take to plan a trip (for two) around the world?  I'm not completely sure, but I'm about to find out.  And if you're reading this, then hey, I guess you're coming with me.



Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I hope that I can share information with others who are looking to plan an extended vacation, or any vacation at that.  I would also appreciate any information or helpful sites that you have found in your research.  If you're currently on a journey of this nature, or have returned from one, or are also planning for one, I would be grateful for your advice and findings!

A little background...

Ever since I studied abroad in Australia during my sophomore year of collge, I've longed to take another extended trip.  However, I wanted one without classes, without a typical job that would tie me down, and without too many plans so that I could move along to where I wanted, when I wanted.

Despite wanting a trip "without plans," here I am, writing about planning this trip.

But I digress.  It's been a longstanding dream, and now, in my mid/late (what constitutes late?) twenties, after two years of marriage, the purchase of a house, and a stable (seemingly) job, I've managed to convince my husband and myself that we can drop it all for six months to a year (depending on how long our money holds out) and pursue this dream that is grabbing each of us stronger each day.

I'm not thrilled about putting a set timeline on our trip, but it seems necessary, and helps make everyone else feel more comfortable with the idea.  So...(minimum) six months is a satisfactory statement.

That brings me to another issue/point/means of frustration (at times):  Everyone else.
That will be my next post...the people in our lives that we will be "leaving behind" and may or may not "get it."