Who We Are:
Hello! We are Eric and Kathleen. A couple of 28 year olds from Portland, Oregon. We are setting off on an unstructured, unplanned, unexpected trip through South America. We met in late 2013 and have been dating, traveling, and eating our way through various cities ever since.
Kathleen is a high school science teacher who has a passion for science literacy, making school an enjoyable experience, with a fierce desire to protect the environment, and loves spending her time with teenagers. Outside of the classroom you can find her buried in a book (she averages 1-2 a week), on a river, in the kitchen trying a new recipe, or out for a hike.
Eric is a outdoor enthusiast who moonlights as a mechanical engineer. After earning his degree he has had a few jobs in the aerospace industry punctuated with lots of time spent outside. When he is not making sure airplanes are correctly constructed, you can find him hundreds of feet in the air climbing a trad route, snowboarding down black diamond runs, hiking the tallest mountain he can find, or mountain biking through dusty trails.
Fun fact! We grew up just across the river from one another in Portland and even went to college together at Oregon State University but never actually met until a few years after we graduated! Since meeting we have traveled all across our home state of Oregon, been on trips through California, Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, and British Columbia. We also spent a summer backpacking across Europe in 2015. Over the past three years we have been to 7 states and 11 countries on 2 continents. You could say we have the travel bug. We are extremely fortunate that we are able to partake in these types of adventures and thankful every day for this opportunity. |
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FAQ:
Why are you doing this? Why the hell not? We are both 28 years old. If not now, when? Also now was the perfect time to do this as we talked about relocating to a new city anyways after Kathleen finished her third year teaching. It was a natural time (for us) to take this kind of adventure.
How do you afford to travel like this? We are both pretty good at saving money and live a frugal lifestyle. This was born out of being broke college kids, but we carried a lot of those habits with us into our working adult lives. We plan all of our meals, make coffee at home daily, shop only when there is an item that we truly need, and spend a lot of our time doing free things outside. Doing this we were able to save a fair amount of money relatively quickly. We are also very fortunate to have had jobs that were stable and came with well paying salaries.
Why aren't you married/have kids yet/own a house? Because we are not ready. The name of this blog came from the overwhelming feeling that we were doing something wrong. As almost 30 year olds (gulp) who have well paying jobs, advanced degrees, and a long term relationship we felt a societal pressure to settle down and have/want all of those things. Do we want them? Sure...maybe...eventually. The world is a big place full of possibilities. Why do we need to limit ourselves to what is expected of us and what is dictated by society?
Aren't you scared/nervous/worried? Of course we are! But what kind of adventure would it be if we were safe, knew everything that we were about to encounter, and were not nervous? You have to take some risks in life to grow and learn. As I tell my students, if you are not challenging yourself, you are not really learning.
How do you afford to travel like this? We are both pretty good at saving money and live a frugal lifestyle. This was born out of being broke college kids, but we carried a lot of those habits with us into our working adult lives. We plan all of our meals, make coffee at home daily, shop only when there is an item that we truly need, and spend a lot of our time doing free things outside. Doing this we were able to save a fair amount of money relatively quickly. We are also very fortunate to have had jobs that were stable and came with well paying salaries.
Why aren't you married/have kids yet/own a house? Because we are not ready. The name of this blog came from the overwhelming feeling that we were doing something wrong. As almost 30 year olds (gulp) who have well paying jobs, advanced degrees, and a long term relationship we felt a societal pressure to settle down and have/want all of those things. Do we want them? Sure...maybe...eventually. The world is a big place full of possibilities. Why do we need to limit ourselves to what is expected of us and what is dictated by society?
Aren't you scared/nervous/worried? Of course we are! But what kind of adventure would it be if we were safe, knew everything that we were about to encounter, and were not nervous? You have to take some risks in life to grow and learn. As I tell my students, if you are not challenging yourself, you are not really learning.