Our Leap Year

Category: Travel Tips

  • 14Jan14

    14Jan14

    This week’s Travel Tip Tuesday: water bottle economics.

    We’ve already written about the importance of bringing a water bottle when packing for a trip. It seems obvious, but we see people with disposable water bottles all the time. Now we’ll go a little deeper and offer some extra tips and advice. (Even if you’re going somewhere with safe tap water, like here in Chile.)

    When You Can’t Drink the Tap Water
    If you’re someplace where tap water isn’t safe to drink, you’ll have three options:

    1. Buy bottled water (easy, but expensive)
    2. Boil tap water (time consuming and impractical without a stove)
    3. Filter/sterilize tap water (not easy, or unhealthy for more than a couple days)

    We actually brought a water filter with us. While it’s great for camping, the volume and speed make it impractical for day-to-day use. Same with boiling, even though we have a stove. You drink more water than you think, and you don’t want to be boiling and filtering during your free time. Plus, boiling and filtering may make water safe, but often the taste is no bueno.

    However, forking money over to bottled water mega-corporations can also leave a bad taste in your mouth, both because of their business practices and the cost. See everyone walking around with those small, 12-16 oz. water bottles? Let’s assume they cost an average of USD$2 — less at a store or street vendor, more at a restaurant. That’s anywhere from $8-10 per day, per person! Or $100 for a five-day trip for two people. That’s just loco.

    What We Recommend
    Whether you’re traveling for a weekend or several months, stop by a local convenience store and pick up a large bottle — say, six liters or so, or more if possible! — to keep in your hotel room, hostel or apartment.

    Those will run you $3-5 and last you a couple days at least. Then, you can just refill the water bottle you brought. Cheaper, better for the world, and more convenient than boiling or filtering.

    Important Tips and Tricks

    • Let’s say you do want to boil or filter, or you’re in a place where tap water is safe…but tastes awful. (We miss you, San Francisco tap water.) Pick up a lemon or cucumber at a nearby store and add a slice or two to your water bottle.
    • If you’re short on carrying space, consider bringing collapsible water bottles that can fold up very small when you’re done with them. 

     

  • 07Jan14

    07Jan14

    This installment of Travel Tip Tuesday is about technology and what to bring with you when you are traveling. One of the questions we hear often is, “Oh, did you bring iPads?”

    We thought carefully about what technology we really needed, so here’s a little about our thought process. Ultimately, we went with our laptops and iPhones to cover all our needs. We have a small digital camera that we bring when we’re going somewhere really picturesque. But the iPhone can still take pretty good photos, like this one of the Virgin Mary overlooking Santiago.

     

    20140107-173201.jpg

     

    Questions to Ask Yourself

    • How long am I traveling? Is this a short- or long-term solution?
    • Am I primarily consuming media, or will I be doing productivity-related things, like word processing or video editing?
    • Which one or two devices take care of all my needs? How can I ditch duplicative devices?

    Laptop or Tablet?
    We’ve gone on trips where we only brought a tablet, and it was fine for checking the occasional email, looking up information, or watching a movie. The upside, of course, is that even with a keyboard, a tablet is much more compact and lightweight than a laptop.

    For our purposes, we couldn’t imagine only having tablets for a year. We knew we’d be working on projects where it would be easier to use a laptop, such as the videos I created for my Skillshare class. And while a laptop is bigger, a tablet is still too big to keep in your pocket, so it doesn’t make it easier to transport on a daily basis. Also, some mobile apps, such as the WordPress mobile interface, lack a lot of the functionality of the desktop version. Believe me, we tried it.

    Lastly, some mobile apps only allow you to access things while connected to the internet. That’s fine if you’re someplace with wifi, but if you don’t have cellular data — which you won’t if you’re abroad and don’t have an unlocked device — then it’s super annoying. For example, want to remove photos from your memory card to make room? You could upload them to the cloud…if you have good wifi. Better to have the flexibility to transfer them to your laptop using a cable while offline.

    Bring the Smartphone?
    Even if you have a dumbphone and love it, I’d recommend getting an unlocked smartphone. We have iPhone 5’s, which serve as phones, GPS, e-readers, MP3 players, cameras, video recorders… Why am I saying this? You already know that these can do everything. Best of all, you can grab a cheap SIM card and get prepaid minutes and, if you like, cellular data.

    The SIM cards we’ve gotten are less than USD$10 and come preloaded with some minutes, texts and data. It takes 15 minutes at a store to buy, install and activate. And then you have something you can keep in your pocket day-to-day rather than carrying a bag. Going for a run? It’s got your music. Lost? It’s got maps and GPS. Find a nice park? Grab a bench and read your book. At a coffee shop? Do a Skype video call over wifi.

    Moral of the Story
    Don’t bother with a tablet unless you’ll only be gone for a long weekend. We sold our iPad and it paid for some plane tickets.

  • 31Dec13

    31Dec13

    Announcing: Travel Tip Tuesdays!

    We thought we’d start a new tradition for the new year with a new travel tip every Tuesday. Now that we’re pros at being full-time travelers, we wanted to share the love and hopefully inspire you to do some traveling yourself!

    This week’s tip: what to do with your passport and other important documentation while traveling.

    Why does this matter? Because your passport proves your citizenship, shows when you entered a country, and is required for going home. If you lose your passport, it’s not the end of the world, but it’s a costly and bureaucratic process to get your passport replaced while abroad. It’s also a hassle if you lose other important documents, like vaccination records if you’re entering countries requiring you show proof of vaccination, or visa-related documents provided on entry.

    How do we protect our documents?

    1. Take photos. We took color photos of our passport data pages and other important documents before we left. You could scan them or use a copy machine — whatever. I recommend making one paper copy of each document.

    2. Don’t carry originals with you unless you’re actually using them that day. There are two schools of thought on this. Some say you should keep your passport on your person at all times, preferably in something secure under your clothes. I think that’s absolutely ridiculous, and don’t even get me started on things like money belts.

    While the odds of getting robbed are low, pickpocketing isn’t unheard of — as is stuff falling out of pockets or backpacks. Instead, keep the photocopy of your passport data page with you and leave the original where you’re staying. If you’re worried about staff entering your room and taking your stuff, don’t be — most people are honest. I left cash sitting out before. You can use a safe in your room if you want, but we just keep them somewhere out of sight.

    3. Save a copy in your email. We emailed copies of our documents to ourselves. That way, we’ll have copies in the cloud that we can access from anywhere if needed. You can also email a copy to relatives just in case. (We didn’t do that, though.)

    4. Pack a USB stick. Lastly, since we’ll be gone a while and really want to play it safe, we saved electronic copies of everything on a tiny USB stick. You can easily keep it on your person, or keep it tucked somewhere in your luggage like we do. That way, we can hit up an internet cafe or something to print copies if we’ve lost everything.

    Of course, all of these methods (except saving a copy in your email) are useless if you keep everything packed together! For example, Chris and I keep our originals on us while we’re flying and keep the copies in our backpacks that we check in.

    This is not a veiled warning about theft; it’s more likely that these would get misplaced than stolen. And if someone was going to steal something, it’s more likely to be the iPhone you’re messing around with on the metro! These methods will help you make sure you have backups of your passport or other important documentation if you need them.

    HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope it’s filled with travel adventures.

  • 16Dec13

    16Dec13

    One might ask, how do you afford a leap year? We talk about this broadly in our FAQ, but I thought I’d dig a little deeper.

    While cost of living has been less expensive on the whole, things can get wildly expensive if we’re not careful. Cocktails are still ~$8-10 USD a pop and a pound of chicken at the grocery store is ~$5-7 USD. Other things, like dog grooming, are wildly inexpensive at only $10-15 USD!

    Also, there are other costs that you need to plan for, like drinking water.

     

    mexico city drinking water

     

    These empty bottles held 52 liters of water, and we just opened another 10-liter bottle yesterday that we’re about a quarter of the way through. I don’t remember the exact cost, but they’re approximately $30 MXN, or around $2.50 USD. So that’s around $15 for 12 days of drinking water for the three of us. Not outrageous, and definitely cheaper than buying single bottles of water. That’s why water bottles were on our long-term travel packing list. But I digress.

    For the average person, your biggest recurring costs will be housing and food, so I’ll focus on those two for now. Plus, if you keep these two in check, you have money left for other fun stuff!

    Housing
    Laura Vanderkam says that the key to financial happiness is less house, and I couldn’t agree with her more. The same rule applies while traveling. Think about what’s really important to you. We were able to find something really cheap, but it had a cockroach problem and the running water was spotty so we had to upgrade. But otherwise, it would have been perfect: bed, sofa and coffee table, wi-fi, kitchen with a basic set of cookware, bathroom with a shower, a closet, and a central/walkable location. We’re not traveling to stay in fancy accommodations; we’re traveling to see the places the accommodations are located in!

    We have a set housing budget, and we do our best to stay at or below it by staying places longer so we can pay weekly/monthly rates. Paying hotel rates of $90-190 USD/night is only for emergencies. Laura Vanderkam also talks about how, though housing is one of your biggest expenses, it also only requires a single moment of willpower versus daily discipline. And because it’s your biggest expense, that single moment of willpower can have a disproportionate impact on your budget. So the takeaway here: take the time to shop around for places to stay and be disciplined about sticking to your budget; it’ll enable day-to-day splurging.

    Food
    Oh, we remember the days of dropping $12 USD on a tiny, unsatisfying salad for lunch in San Francisco. Gone are those days, and we’re eating much, much better. You can get great quality food very cheap. A typical day of food looks like this:

    • Breakfast, at home: Coffee, oatmeal, yogurt/fruit
    • Lunch, out: Street food, comida corrida (see photo above), or an inexpensive cafe
    • Snacks, out: Espresso drink/limonada/fresh-squeezed juice from a street vendor, cookie/slice of cake
    • Dinner, at home: Something homemade that will last a couple days, e.g. sauteed meat and veggies with tortillas
    • Booze: Wine if at home, beer if out

    Now, we don’t always stick to this because a) that would be super boring and b) sometimes other activities dictate where you eat. Sometimes it’s nice to splurge on a big brunch, but then eat leftovers at home later. Sometimes you just want a PBJ for lunch, and then go out for your weight in tacos and beer for dinner. We’ve been eating really good so far and aren’t wanting for anything. The takeaways here are: pricey doesn’t necessarily mean good quality or a better time, and try to make at least one meal a day at home.

    Hope these tips are interesting and useful! Still here? Here’s a Holly photobomb.

     

    Agua photobomb

  • 02Dec13

    02Dec13

    Here is the set of the video production yesterday, taken from the upstairs terrace. You can’t quite tell, but the guy in the black shirt at six o’clock is spraying “sweat” on the “icy cold” bottle of soda. Beautiful courtyard, huh?

    Today we walked more than eight kilometers, checking out different neighborhoods in Mexico City. We think we’ve found a place to live, so fingers crossed! It’s not as easy to find a short-term rental (longer-term is a different story, apparently) just by walking around. Airbnb, Home Away and Vivanuncios are the best ways to search that we’ve found, although I’m sure there are other ways.

    But here is my all-time favorite yet oh-so-simple travel tip: caching Google Maps on your iPhone. We have a pay-as-you-go phone plan, so we only get internet on our phones unless there’s wifi — or if we want to pay a crazy amount. The article I linked to has instructions on how to save different views on Google Maps so you can review them while you’re on the go. #lifesaver

    Finally, here are a couple shots from our walk: a very conical Christmas tree in the Zocalo and the Museo de Bellas Artes.

     

    Mexico City zocalo

     

    Mexico City Bellas Artes

     

  • 29Nov13

    29Nov13

    Here are our La Paz travel tips! As our two months here come to a close, we wanted to give a shout-out to some of the places we like and would recommend if anyone is visiting. It’s hard to keep the list short, but we tried.

    / ACTIVITIES & CULTURE /

    • Roz in La Paz: Roz maintains a very comprehensive calendar of cultural events in La Paz, like festivals, art shows, cultural talks and music shows. Check her website for listings and information on venues, like el Teatro de La Ciudad.
    • Malecón: This waterfront walk takes you all the way through downtown. There are restaurants and bars along it, along with places where you can hire a boat. There are lots of benches or places on the beach to sit and do awesome people-watching or sunset-viewing. On the northeast end there are a bunch of stands where you can eat fresh pineapple or coconut. Get it “loco” if you want to eat like the Mexicans do.
    • Playa Balandra: Absolutely gorgeous beach that’s in a protected little cove. You can rent kayaks or swim (or walk — the water is very shallow in some places) to some of the other beaches that surround the cove.
    • Playa Tecolote: Great view of Isla Espiritu Santo and a shorter boat trip to get there. Bigger beach than Balandra, with restaurants and more rentals.
    • Art in Todos Santos: There’s a gallery walk — and lots of other art galleries — worth checking out. There are a lot of tourists there that come up from Cabo, but it’s a nice day trip.
    • Harker Board Co: They offer stand up paddle board rentals for good prices. They have a patio area out front where you can have food and a drink, but don’t settle just yet! Go upstairs to their rooftop bar for great views. On Alvaro Obregon at Constitucion.
    • FANLAP: Fundación Ayuda Niños La Paz does great work to support underprivileged children in La Paz. They have lots of ways to get involved and volunteer. It’s very worth your while.

    / FOOD & DRINK /

    • The Bagel Shop: A hangout among tourists and locals alike. Fabrizio and Patty make a delicious bagel, are very friendly and have a great story. Make sure to try the Churrasco bagel sandwich, inspired by Fabrizio’s favorite sandwich at home in Chile. On Belizario Dominguez between 5 de Mayo and Constitucion.
    • La Miserable: Across from The Bagel Shop, this bar specializes in mezcal. Carmen co-owns it with her boyfriend and will happily tell you all about mezcal. Drink it straight or get a cocktail with jalapeño in it. On Belizario Dominguez between 5 de Mayo and Constitucion.
    • Pan d’Les: European-style bakery with fresh baguettes and baked goods. Love the carrot muffins. On Madero between 5 de Mayo and Constitucion.
    • Taco ‘n’ Madre: Delicious al pastor and carne asada tacos on house-made corn tortillas with lots of good salsas. Javier, one of the servers there, loves to hang out and chat and is probably the closest friend we made here. On Madero at Constitucion.
    • Tacos de Pedro: Very tasty, juicy pork tacos with a spicy red onion salsa. Stand is on Belizario Dominguez between 16 de Septiembre and Independencia.
    • Carnitas Don Abraham: More pork tacos! There are always lots of people here. On Revolucion between Constitucion and Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, next to the post office.
    • Fish taco stand: I don’t know the name, but this place has excellent fish and shrimp tacos with a wide variety of fixings. On Guillermo Prieto between 5 de Mayo and Independencia.
    • Cafe 5ta Avenida: Trusty coffee shop with multiple locations in La Paz. There are lots of great coffee shops, but we went to these often because they had consistently reliable internet access. On 5 de Mayo at Revolucion.
    • Cafe Olimpia: My dad’s favorite lunch spot. For 60 pesos you get soup, an entree and rice and beans. The menu changes almost every day and the food is delicious. They also have a great breakfast. On Marquez de Leon between Madero and Revolucion.
    • Cocina Yanedy: Similar to Cafe Olimpia, this cocina economica serves big breakfasts and lunches. We like their tortas! On Constitucion between Revolucion and Aquiles Serdan.
    • Big Joe’s Restaurant: Big Joe makes some mean BBQ. Seriously. We didn’t get a chance to try his grits breakfast, but I’m sure that’s delicious too. On Madero between Jalisco and Colima.
    • The Dock Cafe: An interesting mix of locals and gringos hangs out at this restaurant in Marina de La Paz. They have both Mexican food and American food, and they make a great breakfast. Order the small nachos but share them with a friend if you have any hope of finishing them. On Topete and Legaspy.
    • Churros: Our favorite stand is on Revolucion and Ocampo by Mercado Madero.
    • Cafe El Triunfo: Great food in an old mining town. They also have a bakery. In El Triunfo, south of La Paz.

    / ACCOMMODATIONS, SERVICES & SHOPPING /

    • Baja Bed & Breakfast: They have regular rooms as well as an apartment with a kitchen for rent. Cecilia and Antonio are the owners and always have good recommendations. Two blocks from the water and very central. On Madero between 5 de Mayo and Constitucion. They also have apartments for rent on the other side of town.
    • Posada LunaSol: This is where we’ve stayed every other time we’ve been in La Paz. Quiet little hotel that is affiliated with Mar y Aventuras tours. On 5 de Febrero between Abasolo and Topete.
    • El Nopal Academia de Español: We didn’t take any Spanish classes here, but they offer monthly cooking classes that we tried. On Legaspy between Padre Kino and Yucatan.
    • Lavanderia Vijando: Same-day wash and fold laundry service. They never lost anything and the people are very friendly. On Aquiles Serdan between 5 de Mayo and Constitucion.
    • Mi Mascota: Great grooming services, basic pet supplies and a very friendly and efficient vet clinic. On Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla between Madero and Revolucion.
    • Cafe Batalla: Great place to buy freshly ground coffee for a good value with good flavor. They sell cups of coffee or you can buy beans/grounds. On the corner of 5 de Mayo and Belizario Dominguez.
    • Organic farmer’s market: On Tuesdays and Saturdays from 9am-noon, there’s a farmer’s market selling fresh produce, smoked meat/fish, baked goods and local art items. Be sure to try the cinnamon rolls. On Madero between 5 de Mayo and Constitucion.
    • Supermercado Aramburo tamales: There’s a guy who sells tamales outside of Aramburo for only 15 pesos each and they are super tasty. Puerco or pollo con salsa verde, queso con rajas or carne. On Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla at Madero.
  • 10Nov13

    10Nov13

    You may be wondering just what we’re doing with our time while we’re traveling full time. So here is a peek behind the curtain.

    / GENERAL LIFE STUFF / Some things don’t change. We do our laundry once a week, walk the dog three times a day, do the dishes, make our bed. Our rent includes cleaning service once a week, so that’s nice.

    / WALKS / La Paz is known for its Malecón, so we go on lots of walks. Chris is better about it than me. I haven’t been running since I was sick, so I should probably get back into that. Last night there was tons of stuff going on on the Malecón: telescopes and a planetarium-style presentation, a cooking contest, teens selling cupcakes to fundraise, and just lots of people walking around.

    / EATING & COOKING / While this is technically “general life stuff,” I include it separately because a) we love to eat, and b) it’s our biggest expense besides housing. We budgeted an average of $30 USD/day for food, which has proven to be plenty. We’ve certainly exceeded it on some days, but are typically at or below that. Taco stands are a great source of filling and delicious food. I’ve also learned that many of them don’t expect you to pay until you’re done eating, just like at a restaurant. We also hang out at coffee shops often, usually with my dad. We also intentionally rented an apartment with a kitchen so we could cook.

    / LEARNING / Chris took an online internship about blogging, SEO and building websites, and the work from that is continuing. I’m taking a Skillshare class on photo editing which is going well so far. (My free online photo editor of choice is Pixlr, in case you’re interested.) We’re also both working on improving our Spanish by talking to as many people as possible and practicing using online quizzes.

    / TEACHING / As I’ve mentioned, Chris and I are volunteering as English teachers at a local library. It’s been a good experience so far and we’ve learned a lot. It’s been an interesting challenge trying to figure out the skill level of the students and coming up with lessons that are dynamic. We only have a few more weeks, and I’m considering offering to be an email pen pal if any of the students want to continue practicing once we’re gone. There’s another woman who will be here through end of December from Denver who is also teaching. We’ll need to find some new volunteer positions for when we get to Mexico City.

    / SIGHTSEEING / We haven’t done a ton of sightseeing because we’ve  been to La Paz several times before and have seen a lot of it. I think the amount of time sightseeing will go up in subsequent cities. But we’ve gone on a couple day trips with my dad, checked out local festivals, visited the local cultural center a few times, have gone to the movies a bunch, took a cooking class, etc. The only thing we still need to do is some kind of boat trip. (Bust out the Dramamine.)

    / WATCHING FOOTBALL / Chris and I usually don’t watch football, but my dad is a big football fan — his team is the 49ers — so we will typically watch a game a week with him at The Dock, the restaurant at his marina.

    / THINKING / It’s really, really nice to have time to think. One thing I’m thinking about is what kind of project I want to take on. Part of the reason I’m taking the Skillshare photo editing class is because I’m thinking I may want to teach one and I want to see what it’s like from the student perspective.

    / READING / Both Chris and I spend a lot of time reading the news or different articles online. Same stuff we did before. It’s important to us to stay up-to-date on what’s going on and read different thought pieces. Gotta stay sharp! In addition, we’re doing a lot of reading for fun. Chris has been reading sci-fi, while I’m of course reading LOTS of young adult paranormal/dystopian romance. So to close this out, and for all you YA readers out there, here are the books I’ve read so far:

    Legend by Marie Lu
    Prodigy by Marie Lu
    Champion by Marie Lu (in progress!)
    The Selection by Kiera Cass
    The Elite by Kiera Cass
    The Prince by Kiera Cass
    Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
    Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi
    Roar and Liv by Veronica Rossi
    A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies
    A Fractured Light by Jocelyn Davies
    A Radiant Sky by Jocelyn Davies
    Teardrop by Lauren Kate
    Divergent by Veronica Roth (a re-read in preparation for Allegiant)
    Insurgent by Veronica Roth (a re-read in preparation for Allegiant)
    Allegiant by Veronica Roth
    After Dead by Charlaine Harris
    Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
    Frost Bite by Richelle Mead
    Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead
    Blood Promise by Richelle Mead
    Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead
    Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead
    Bloodlines by Richelle Mead
    The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead
    The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead

  • 27Oct13

    27Oct13

    Sorry for the silence. Have been sick the past few days. The one good thing about this was seeing how great Mexican health care is. (more…)

  • 24Oct13

    24Oct13

    Today is one of those days. For some reason, there are mosquitoes EVERYWHERE. (more…)

  • 17Oct13

    17Oct13

    Today, Chris and I went with my dad to El Triunfo. It’s about an hour south and an old mining town, hence the big smoke stack. My dad was kind enough to buy us lunch porque no tenemos dinero! (more…)