Ever since we got home to America at the end of May everyone has been asking what we’re doing next.
“Are you going back to China?”
“Are you going back to Bali?”
“Are you going to settle down in America?”
The answer to all of the above is NO! That last question makes me shiver – settle? Ha! No way! These past seven months in the homeland have been nothing short of amazing, but we’re starting to feel antsy. So we’re hitting the road for more extensive travels. We’re finally doing what we’ve always wanted to do but haven’t had the time, resources or money. Improvise your life has been our tagline since we launched three years ago and now we’re truly going to practice what we preach.
Family Time in Charlotte
This was the first time we spent Christmas together in America and we spent it with my family in the south. We’ve been in Charlotte the last few days staying with my uncle’s family and getting them up to speed on our life plans. Playing the age old Christmas game ‘White Elephant’ was one of the highlights of my year as you can tell from this photo:
From here we’re taking a Megabus to……
Bisco NYE Run in Atlanta
It’s no secret we love the Disco Biscuits. If it were’t for their music festival, our relationship may have never happened. We’ve both seen the Biscuits plenty of times but never a NYE run. Not to mention they’re playing at the best indoor venue in the south, The Tabernacle. Sasha has never seen a show there (gasp!) so he’s pretty stoked to cross it off his bucket list. Speaking of bucket list, check out my Facebook post about bands I ticked off my live music bucket list in 2016.
A Visit to the Big Easy
Many people have told us we would love New Orleans. Megabus has a direct route from Atlanta so we’re going to stop and break up our long journey south. Our good friend Will lives there and he’s offered to be our tour guide.
We’re really excited to check out the French Quarter and eat some delicious Creole cuisine. If anyone has any recommendations for places to eat and see live music, be sure to let us know in the comments. We’re hoping to add a video about New Orleans to our Streets, Beats & Eats series.
Live Music and BBQ in Austin, TX
Austin is known to some as the live music capital of the world. We like to think we have some authority on the subject so we’re going to stop on our Megabus route and see if this is true.
Being from the south, I have strong opinions about BBQ. Austin has a reputation for having some of the best BBQ in America. Is this really true? Stay tuned to find out.
Do you have a favorite BBQ joint in Austin? Leave it in the comments!
Now for the big announcement. Drum roll please…….
¡Viva México!
It’s so obvious, right?! Tacos, tequila, Lucha Libre – ay caramba!
Being able to get there overland was a huge deciding factor. Here are our plans so far:
- Monterrey – 3 days
- Mexico City – 7 days
- San Miguel de Allende – 4 days
- Guanjuato – 3 days
- Guadalajara – 7 days
- Puerto Vallarta – 1 month, maybe longer
That brings us up to March 3rd and after that, who knows! Every time we have traveled we’ve had an end date, a plan to live somewhere and find a job. These days we’re both working online so the need to get to a place to work no longer exists. Slow travel is what we prefer and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. We’re going to live with the locals, learn Spanish and eat all the tacos. All of them!
We Follow the Lines Going South
We’re not stopping there either. We’ve got our sights set on all of Central and maybe South America for 2017. When will we come home? We have no idea! For the first time ever we don’t have set plans. It’s not like our SE Asia backpacking trip where we moved every 3-5 days because we had an end date. Quite the contrary.
If a friend mentions they’re going to Peru, we’ll meet them there. If we hear about a cool music festival in Costa Rica, we’ll check that out. If we get to a particular place and really love it, we might put our backpacks down and stay a while. Nothing is set in stone. So if you’re planning to be in the region or know of something there you think we’ll love, leave a comment and we’ll do our best to make it happen!
Be sure and subscribe to our newsletter so you can keep up!
Curious about our online work? We both teach English to Chinese students and Sasha gets paid to blog for Transparent Language. You can head to their website to see the posts he has written about China, Thailand and Indonesia.
If you’re interested in online teaching, don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions. It’s a great job and it has really changed our life by giving us more flexibility. You can also follow this link to apply (I get a referral bonus too!!).
