Our pals over at GoPetFriendly.com have been running the Pet Blogger Challenge for eight years now. 2019 marks our third year of participation. The goal of the post is to reflect back on 2018 and identify goals for the new year. As you know, 2018 was an incredibly difficult year for us[...]
One of the most frequent questions we are asked is how we have been able to afford to travel for nearly two years. People often assume you have to be a trustafarian or wealthy to travel, and the simple answer is that is not true. Of course you need a job, and yes it helps if you have[...]
A Day in the Life of An Animal Shelter Volunteer Everyone in Colán knows where Sra. Rosemary lives. Located just a few blocks from the beach, Asocicasión Humanitaria San Fransisco de Asis (AHSFA), the animal shelter in northern Peru that Rosemary has run for nearly 30 years, sits down a[...]
Rosemary Gordon was ready to leave Peru, but, as she was leaving after a visit, she spotted a dog suffering from distemper and decided to stay and save him, eventually rescuing more animals and creating an animal shelter. Born in Perú and raised in South Africa, Rosemary would visit a[...]
13% That’s the number according to Gallup of people worldwide that actually like going to work. On the flip side, that means 87% hate their jobs. Nearly 6.4 billion people wake up early, get dressed in something they wouldn’t normally wear, subject themselves to tiresome and stressful[...]
Today marks one year on the road! We can’t believe that we are still on our bikes and traveling from Patagonia to Portland. Europe seems so long ago. We’ve come a long way from plunking down in the Oslo Airport without a map, pedaling off blindly in a new city. After one year on the road[...]
Throughout life and along our journey, we meet inspiring people everywhere we venture. As part of The Ikigai Project, Long Haul Trekkers interviews and shares the stories of individuals who live their life by the passion that drives them. Our most recent interview features Nikki Vargas of[...]
With just nine months to save for our trip, Dave and I quickly realized that if we wanted to travel longterm, we would need to figure out a method of acquiring our gear at discount or for free. My days of working in events and for non-profit organizations meant that the daunting task[...]
Weeks before our trip, we began our countdown to departure and made list after list of things to get done and packed before leaving. Of course, this doesn’t mean that we’ll remember all of those things we need to get done and, inevitably, something will go awry. Below, I tell the[...]
I’ve delayed this post for some time now. Though the idea has brewed in my head for well over six months, I allowed it to ferment, purely out of fear. I recently declared that I would no longer continue to base my decisions out of fear, and so, I present to you the Ikigai Project. Before[...]
Yesterday morning, I attended a tourism industry seminar in Lloyd Center. Rather than driving to work in Oregon City, then back to Portland for the seminar, and back to work within a span of a few hours, I asked to work from home. I felt the best and most energized I’ve felt on a workday[...]
Committing to Travel – Jen’s Story I’ve always been a bit of a nomad in my adult life. Before moving to Oregon in 2010, I had never stayed in the same place for more than three years at a time since leaving my parents house at eighteen. Even during four years of undergrad in[...]
