Have You Seen Us Lately? Dot Org

Where Have We Been Lately?

We would like to apologize for the lack of posts during the last few months. Photos and stories detailing the final months of our adventures in Argentina, Brazil, and Peru will be posted ASAP. As for further travel? We’ve got a trip in August that will take us to Seattle and British Columbia. September will find us in the South of France, Barcelona, and San Sebastian. And last but not least a trip to Columbia in November is LONG overdue.

Besides planning more adventures we’ve been spending quite a bit of time organizing and further developing our business, with the hope that it will enable us to have even more flexability. Although, the Summer hasn’t been all work and no play. We’ve been putting in our fair share of time in the sun…

A heated game of flip cup

Catching some Z's

Admiring the view

My very own corona commerical

Hot tub time

Authored by: Jay on July 13, 2009.
Filed under: North America,United States | No Comments »

A Weekend In Cali

After 3 months of trekking through Europe we unexpectedly found ourselves in Los Angeles (5 months early) last weekend. In true “Mastercard” fashion, I’ve eloquently summed up the outcome of flying from Berlin, to L.A., to Hong Kong, in the span of less than 4 days.

An extra 13,000 miles of air travel = $2,500

Lack of sleep for 96 hours = Sick with the Flu

29 hours of combined flying = Extreme jet lag

Seeing friends after 90 days of travel = PRICELESS

What were we thinking???

Flip Cup at On the Rocks

Jason and Alex instructing Mangum to buck-up.

Jay and Tina

Authored by: Jay on October 27, 2008.
Filed under: North America,Travel,United States | No Comments »

Drastic Travel Changes

While in Thessaloniki we received some bad news while attempting to buy passes for the sleeper train to Bulgaria. Turns out our EuRail passes are only valid in 20 European countries. With time running low and Bulgaria and Serbia not free to travel, yet clearly on the way to Budapest, we had some tough decisions to make. Pay for the train tickets out of pocket at last minute prices? Fly somewhere else (that takes our passes) and resume the train travel there? Or stay in Greece and eat Gyros for another month?

Also, while in Thessaloniki we received a phone call from a huge media giant, urging us to come back to LA for an interview. Back to LA? We already had a lot of planning and rearranging to do. Could we really just fly back to LA for a weekend? What about the rest of Europe? How much would it cost? Here’s what we decided upon!

Original Plan

New Plan

As you can see we removed quite a few destinations from the original schedule. This is upsetting, yet at the same time we were trying to see too much in too little time. As insane as it is to fly 13 hours back to LA, it was even crazier to think we could travel to 13 cities, through 9 countries, in only 28 days.  Just to put that in perspective, we would have gone from the southernmost point in Europe to about as far North as one can go within the same continent; and 80% of the 3,000km would have been traveled by slow moving trains (thanks communism).

Instead we get to slow our pace and have more days in the cities we do see. We also added Vienna which rates as the #2 most liveable city in the world. Last but not least, we get to see some friends who thought they wouldn’t see us for at least another 4 months!

So who’s in charge of our homecoming party?

Authored by: Jay on October 4, 2008.
Filed under: Travel | 2 Comments »

The Infamous Travel Suit: Functionality, Beauty, And Good Luck

Being that we only have a handful of wardrobe options it’s quite possible that you’ve seen us in the same outfits on several different occasions. That being said, one outfit in particular is getting a lot of usage. I call it my “travel suit” and you can see it pictured below on our first flight from Los Angeles to London. Since then, the “travel suit” has been worn on planes, trains, buses, and even boats. Anytime we engage in a significant travel day (4 hours +) I throw on this trusty costume. So why did a pick this exact outfit from the numerous (sarcasm) other combinations?

Functionality:

Cargo Shorts. The staple of the travel suit are the only pair of cargo shorts I own. The shorts keep me cool and the cargo pockets make it ideal to easily and securely hold passports, tickets, money, and other travel related items. The lightweight and light colored short sleeved shirt. I carry two backpacks, often in hot weather, for long periods of time on un-air-conditioned (that should be a word) modes of transport. The t-shirt helps keep me cool and dry while lugging my life around. Adidas Samoa Shoes: Travel days usually involve a lot of walking on uneven surfaces while carrying heavy backpacks. The last thing you want is an uncomfortable shoe. Thus, I always pair the rest of my clothes with my brown Adidas Samoa’s. I’ve been wearing retro Samoa’s since they were re-released in the early 2000’s. They are by far the most comfortable pair of casual shoes I’ve ever owned. Pair them with cool mesh walking company socks, and the famous hiking insoles “green feet” and it feels like you’re walking on air!

Mere mortals lack to functionality of the "the suit" and thus are forced to sit on dirty floors while I can stand for hours!

Good luck:

30+ flights, 20+ trains, and countless buses and boats will likely result in something going wrong. This is a long trip; we need all the good luck we can get! 2 months in and we’ve yet miss a flight, sleep in a train station, have a bus break down, get marooned on an island, etc. Football players have lucky jock straps, baseball players hats, guitar players picks, and world travelers have lucky travel suits.

Stuck on an island? Almost, but thanks to the "suit" I'm sleeping like a baby after making this boat by less then 30 sec!Â

Style:

Just because I’m traveling the world with one bag of clothes, doesn’t mean I have look like an unfashionable scrub. Brown shoes, brown shorts, and khaki shirt all go nicely together. What’s even more important is they match the brown and coffee colored backpacks that are attached to my body 24/7. Function and style. The travel suit is a thing of beauty!

Quite sexy wouldn't you say?

Authored by: Jay on October 3, 2008.
Filed under: Travel | 1 Comment »

A Night Out In Soho

We decided last minute that we had better experience a night out in London for our first and only Saturday evening. We knew the drinks were going to be expensive so we began pre-fading at the house. After a few hours of that we were ready to head out on the town around 11pm.

After leaving Sheppards Bush “The Bush” as it’s known to locals, we hopped on a quick 25 min tube ride
to Covent Garden which is a very popular area for shopping, restaurants, and nightlife. On the tube ride we met some friendly locals who were also partaking in a bit of drinking on the tube (recently banned). After they heard we were from California they though it would be a good idea to serenade us with the theme song from the OC “California” at the top of their lungs!

After we reached Covent Gardens we walked around a bit and then found a nice restaurant bar to hit up before heading over to Soho for the clubs. We ordered 3 grey goose and soda doubles which came to 48GBP or $100. Now we were really feeling the effects of the drop in value of the dollar coupled with the notoriously expensive London nightlife. We thought it was best to head over to Soho before we were completely broke. On the way we spotted a traditional English phone booth and climbed in!

Once we finished playing around in the phone booth a 5 min walk led us to some of the most popular clubs in London. We settled near the entrance of one and asked what the cover was. We were told $140. We figured that was ridiculous until another spot was $120…and finally a deal at $50. At this point it was after midnight and with less then two hours left we opted to remain on the street and people watch. We did find some $8 hot dogs which at the point felt like quite a bargain!

Authored by: Jay on July 26, 2008.
Filed under: England,Europe,Travel | No Comments »