Fiji — A vacation from our travels

August 1, 2012 - Filed under General, Scuba Diving

Novotel Suva Lami Bay

We had a rough idea of what we wanted to do in Fiji before we arrived, but apart from our first night’s accommodation we hadn’t actually booked anything when we landed. There are two main modes of transportation between Fiji’s 332 islands – flights & ferries. Mike hates small planes with a passion, and as a general rule, won’t fly in anything less than 16 rows, so that left us with the latter as our only real option for getting around. Unfortunately reliable information about Fiji’s ferry schedules is pretty hard to come by online, so we decided to wait until we arrived before making any solid plans.

We spent our first couple of nights just outside of Suva while we organized and booked our transport up to Taveuni. The hotel staff were quite perplexed when we told them we’d prefer to take the 14 hour overnight ferry, instead of the short 1 hour flight. They had to call around a bit to find out the actual schedule, as they didn’t have that information either. Much to our luck there is a new ferry service between Suva and Taveuni that leaves twice a week, and it was scheduled to leave the next day which meant we only had to spend one extra night in Suva. Read More…

Posted by: Kelly

5 months in Amsterdam/London/Dublin/Croatia and Egypt – The Pictoral Recap

October 27, 2011 - Filed under General, Travel

We initially came to Europe to celebrate Kelly’s 10 year return for Queen’s Day in Amsterdam thinking that we had 6 months to hang around and slowly check everything out. We booked 3 months in a flat in Amsterdam and told ourselves we would spend the first few months making weekend trips to nearby cities and after 3 months, we’d move somewhere further South to check out the rest. Possibly Spain or Portugal.

Shortly, after realizing we were mistaken about the visa requirements and only had 3 months because of the EU Schengen Agreement, I took on a large amount of freelance contract work and costly train tickets kept us from roaming too far.

So we checked out a windmill:

Tried some local beers:

And went to the Heineken ‘Museum’:

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Posted by: Shim

The great blog catch up of 2011

May 4, 2011 - Filed under General

No we haven’t fallen off the face of the earth… and no we haven’t stopped traveling. Things have just been a little uneventful over the last 6 months, and I mean that in the best way possible.

When we last left you we had just returned to Roatan for another 3 months. We’d had a great 4 months in Mexico, but were happy to return to Roatan… to familiar faces, and great diving. Work had become busier than ever for both of us and we just sort of fell into a routine. We spent our days working at home, and then usually wandered down to the dive shop for a couple of after-work beers, followed by happy hour at the local beach bar. From there it was either dinner at home, or dinner out… or often a communal cooking night, or BBQ with friends. On weekends we’d go diving, and hang out at the beach, and spend our evenings much the same way as any other night.

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Posted by: Kelly

Merry Ho Ho everyone!

December 26, 2010 - Filed under General



ps. the blenny is the fish

Posted by: Kelly

The Return to Roatan

October 8, 2010 - Filed under General, Scuba Diving, Travel

When we first came to Roatan, people warned us about the Roatan vortex. Nearly everyone we met told us they had been coming to Roatan for years. Or had come once and never left. And after 3 amazing months on Roatan, it was the first time we were a little reluctant to be moving on. Well, we’re back after 4 months in Belize and Mexico and we’re pretty happy about it. It seems the vortex has sucked us in too.

The first day back, we were just sitting at the dive shop, watching what little traffic there is go by. Adapting back to ‘island time’ hasn’t been hard. It’s nice to be back among the familiar faces in the West End. We made a lot of friends the last time we were here and though many people have come and gone, there’s still a bunch of dive buddies and party pals we’ve reunited with over the last week.


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Posted by: Shim

Living in Playa Del Carmen

August 30, 2010 - Filed under General

We’re rounding out our time in Mexico, preparing to head back to Roatan, so I figured it was about time we got caught up on things around here. First of all, sorry for the lack of posts lately. Mike and I have both been swamped with work, and it can be hard to motivate ourselves to spend even more time online, when instead, we could be enjoying the beach or the pool, with an ice cold cerveza.

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Posted by: Kelly

Friendships and long-term travel

June 15, 2010 - Filed under General

One of the hardest parts of long term travel is being so far away from friends and family. Gone are the long lunches with girl-friends, and Sunday barbecues at the beach. No more long weekend ball tournaments, and no more late night dinners with good wine and good friends.

When you’re constantly moving around, making new friends can be hard. Sure, it’s easy to meet people… traveling has a way of breaking down normal social barriers, making it easy to approach new people and start up a conversation. The problem is, that conversation is often exactly the same:

THEM: “Where are you from?”
US: “Vancouver, Canada”
THEM: “How long are you traveling for?”
US: “We’ve been on the road for almost two years.”
THEM: “Wow, must be nice… how do you afford it?”
US: “We work online…..blah, blah, blah…”

From there, the conversation will progress to where we’ve been, where they’ve been, we’ll compare favorite places and add new ones to the list. We’ll swap travel stories, the good and the bad… and at the end of the day, or evening, or dive trip, we’ll say goodbye. Encounters like this are great, we’ve met so many interesting people. All of whom have helped to make the ferry ride, or the boarder crossing or the night out, all the more memorable. But, at the end of the day you know that most of these people you’ll never see again.

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Posted by: Kelly

It’s a scuba diver’s scene in Roatan, Honduras

April 28, 2010 - Filed under General, Scuba Diving

We arrived in Roatan in early March just as the last of the seasonal storms were coming through. Scouting out a place to stay for a few months we found a large range of options and locations but we quickly focused on 3 areas on the west side of the island due to their proximity to grocery shopping, beaches, entertainment, and dive shops. The island is quite hilly, so a car or scooter would be a necessity in many areas if you don’t want to be taking a taxi 10 times a day.


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Posted by: Shim

Nomadic Professionals – Interviewed by The Professional Hobo

January 18, 2010 - Filed under General


Kelly was interviewed by Nora Dunn from theprofessionalhobo.com not too long ago as part of her ‘A Week-In-The-Life of’ series. People sometimes assume that because we’re living in a tropical destination, we must be semi-retired, or that we’re always hanging out on the beach or diving… Truth be told, it’s been a very busy few months work-wise since we arrived in Costa Rica. For a closer look at what went on in an average week when we arrived in Costa Rica, have a look at Nora’s latest post here: A Week-In-The-Life of Kelly & Mike: Have Internet Will Travel

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Posted by: Shim

Our Nomadic Life — 2009 in Review

January 1, 2010 - Filed under General

2009 was an amazing year for us. It was a year full of travel, new experiences, fantastic memories, and thankfully a lot more ups than downs. It was our first full year without a permanent home and our first full year freelancing from the road. We visited 7 countries in 12 months, took 18 flights, and made a million new memories.

Below are just a few of those memories, as we look back and reminisce over an amazing 2009.

01_jan

We rang in the New Year with some friends at a beach resort in the Philippines. We had some great dives in January, made some new friends, rented a motorbike, and celebrated my 30th birthday. Read More…

Posted by: Kelly