Archive | April, 2014

8 Favorite Destinations, Year 4

Hike to Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii

Four years ago we set out to travel the country fulltime in an R.V. When people asked us how long we planned to live in a motor home, the best answer we could give them was “until we’re done.” We didn’t know how long it would take for us to see everything we wanted to see or how long we’d enjoy (or tolerate) living in what amounts to a fancy truck. We now know.

It took us just shy of four years to zigzag across the country from Maine to San Diego and make the roughly 250 other stops we wanted in between. Year four took us along the West Coast, out to Hawaii and up to Alaska, where we completed our westward migration.

With our domestic travels largely completed, we traded in our motor home for a couple of backpacks and set off to see the wider world.

If you ask us now how long we plan to travel this way, lugging all our worldly possessions on our backs, the best we can tell you is “until we’re done.” We may not know the path ahead, but we do have pretty clear recollections of the year we’re leaving behind.

With that in mind, here’s a list of our favorite destinations from our fourth full year of fulltime travel. As always with these posts, the destination header links to the original blog post on the topic. 

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Travelers are the Reason Air Travel Sucks

Alaska by Air

Great view, but still the worst seat in the house.

We have a secret to share. We actually hate traveling. Don’t get us wrong, we love destinations. It’s the getting there that sucks. That’s especially true when our travel plans involve boarding a commercial aircraft.

This isn’t news to anyone who has flown anywhere in the last decade or two. But a recent article at the travel hacking blog The Points Guy reminded me just how awful we all think air travel really is.

In an industry comparison, airlines ranked near the bottom at a score of 69/100, just ahead of internet service providers, social media and subscription TV services – so way to go airlines, you have cable companies beat!”

The article then goes on to make five suggestions for how airlines could improve customer satisfaction. Unfortunately, his suggestions all miss the biggest reason air travel is so terrible: travelers.

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Do You Have What it Takes to Unlock The X Door?

The X Door, Puzzle Game, Valencia, Spain

00:40 . . . 00:39 . . . 00:38 . . . 

“Look, if you put those two things together it gives us the code for that lock. I think this is it. Hurry, we’re going to make it!”

35:13 . . . 35:12 . . . 35:11 . . .

“I can’t believe we missed that. We must have walked past it a dozen times.”

“Well, thankfully you saw it now and it looks like that’s how we open the door. Does that mean we’re out?”

“I don’t think so. Check this out.”

60:00

The door closes behind us with an audible click. Somewhere within this room is the key to unlocking the door and gaining our escape.

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US Capitol, Washington DC

Washington Capitol

Strange Things We Wouldn’t Travel Without

Shannon with Backpack

Living out of two carry-on sized bags requires making some tough choices about what to bring. We can’t possibly carry everything. In fact, we can’t carry most things. But hard experience has taught us to make room for these often overlooked items.

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