We are on Day 6 of the governor ordered #StayHomeMN during the COVID-19 pandemic and Day 16 of working from home. Instead of being on spring break vacation in Texas, we’re confined to our house, but we are grateful we are feeling healthy so far. Our children are all home with us now, trying online classes and distance learning. We have no idea what the future holds for this country after the pandemic has run its course. No doubt, it will leave behind the wreckage of closed businesses, laid-off workers and lives lost too soon. It may seem like an odd time to launch a travel blog, but as one of my clients said so well, “Now, more than ever, we need something to be hopeful for and optimistic about.” Hope, optimism, dreams and the future are excellent reasons to start a new adventure anytime! So here we are….
January 2020 - Roxanne and Kevin at Catedral de la Habana, Habana, Cuba
Restless souls
We’re never entirely happy unless we’re traveling, or doing some travel planning for our next trip. It doesn’t matter if it’s a major adventure or a hike to a new local place, we thrive on new experiences. We realized long ago that the experiences we gain from traveling are the things that define us, give us energy and keep us going. We welcome you to share in our experiences as we discuss budget-driven travel near and far, local, regional and international travel, extended travel, travel with kids, friends, parents, avoiding crowds, having fun and learning along the way. .
Travel Style
Okay, we have reached "a certain age" and so we are not your average 20-something travel bloggers whose primary concerns are their Instagram-able travel outfits. We are seasoned travelers with 25 years of experience traveling together in a lot of different situations. We don’t travel for a living but have traveled significantly for our work as architects as well as personal trips. Our travel budget is generally pretty slim, as we try to make our money stretch as far as possible. We research the heck out of places before we go, don’t use travel agents and (so far) haven’t ever gone on a guided trip. We like the adventure of discovering places on our own, close to the ground, in our own way. That means we make mistakes along the way, but often the misadventures make for more interesting stories than the perfectly executed trip.
January 2019- Snaefellsness Peninsula, Iceland
Here is a sampling of the types of things we will be blogging about.
Travel Far:
· Extended travel- We’ve taken 3-month trips, 1-month trips and Kevin lived in Europe as an architectural nomad for an extended time. We will have some travel tips and tricks to making this possible.
· Traveling with young kiddos – We spent a maternity leave traveling in Scotland and feel that young kids are great “good-will ambassadors” that allow you to meet and interact with the locals. It’s like taking a walk with a puppy, everyone wants to meet you.
· Travel with friends – We have traveled with friends quite a bit AND we are still friends with these people!
· Multi-generational travel- Yes, we’ve even done an extended trip with both sets of parents and young kids and it was an amazing, memorable experience for all. Really.
· Extreme budget travel- There was a time in our life that we kept track of every single penny we spent during a day of travel and we became quite obsessive, trying to spend less and less with each day. We’re not in that place anymore but learned some good lessons along that way that still help us stretch our dollars. W still travel on a budget.
· Avoid-the-crowds travel – I’m just gonna put this out there. There are Disney-people and non-Disney people. We are the latter. We would rather poke our eyes out than go to Disney World and stand in line for over-curated experiences. No offense to those that enjoy Disney, but our travel style is just different from that. We strive for authentic experiences in places with fewer tourists.
Travel Near:
· Local hikes and sights- We look for unique things in our own backyard, the Twin Cities, and treat our free time like we are tourists here.
· Regional Travel- We are blessed to be in an area with amazing outdoor natural beauty such as the North Shore along Lake Superior and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). We love the outdoors, camping and spending time in nature.
Our Lives and Love of Travel
We met in an architecture firm, where Kevin was “loaned to” the firm where I worked when his firm got slow. I was enamored with Kevin’s tales of travel. With his previous partner, he had taken the bold step of living abroad, in Italy and London. He had spent the summer before his senior year in college traveling Europe with his fellow classmates. My single biggest regret in life was missing out on a similar European trip with my classmates.
In 1994, Kevin became a finalist for the Rapson Travelling Fellowship, a competition for Minnesota architects licensed less than 10 years, with a cash prize to be used for traveling. In the two weeks he spent preparing for the final presentation, we dreamed about what we would do if he were to win. Given the money would only cover his expenses, I would have to cover my own costs, which would likely mean selling my house, as that was my only asset. We planned a glorious trip around Europe that would last for 3 months. At some point, we became so excited about our travel plans that we decided we would go on this journey whether he won or not.
Well, Kevin did not win the fellowship (runner up), but we did travel for three months. I would have to quit my job (temporarily) and sell my house and car to get the necessary funds. We moved into an apartment close to mass transit that Kevin’s brother would sublet during our travels. About three weeks before our travel was to begin, Kevin asked me to marry him and we decided to have a quick family-only wedding before our trip, which suddenly became our honeymoon.
Our 3-month trip was truly amazing, and we gained stories for a lifetime. Kevin and I made a pledge to travel abroad every year and we kept to that until kids entered the picture. Kids did not stop our travel but definitely altered the way we traveled and slowed down the frequency of trips (plane tickets for 5 can be expensive!) As our kids have grown (they are now 22,20 and 13), we are entering a phase where we will have more freedom to travel again. For now, until this COVID-19 virus is shut down, we will have to settle for dreaming… and planning.
Please stay healthy, be well and dream of your next adventure!
Roxanne and Kevin
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