Archives for February 2009

Farewell D.C.

February 28, 2009 By Jillian

I know we were supposed to give you Part 2 about how we made this trip a reality, but somewhere between our last day of work, packing up and moving, and saying good bye, Part 2 got pushed back a few days. We promise, part 2 is on its way.

We’re finally off! Last night was our official going away party in DC. I’m not really sure how to describe how it felt to have so many people help send us off. It was incredible to have everyone (ok our DC people) there and I will admit their enthusiasm was contageous. As the night grew on, the feeling, at least for me, became more somber as one friend after another said good bye. Over the next few months and potentially years, we are going to miss celebrating weddings, engagements, new jobs, new homes, new babies, not to mention birthdays and holidays. Some of the people that came to say good bye are new friends, some very old friends, but for both groups saying good bye was just as hard. I’m not much of a crier, but if someone else gets going I can’t stop. At least we did it all at once!

As if a big party wasn’t enough to get us excited and admittedly a little anxious about becoming unemployed and homeless (my favorite phrase from last night’s party!) , we packed up our final belongings today and hit the road. Well…. that’s not entirely true; a great number of our belongings were forcefully dumped on others or trashed. It is amazing what two people can cram, hide, and stuff into 575 sq. feet! My apologies to Jamie, Brian, Becka, Drew, Alicia, Falcon, Andrea, Alexis and Aaron who I refused to let leave empty handed. “Take this lamp to remember us by!” All jokes aside, today was a long, long day. Our feet hurt, our backs are achy and if I see another black trash bag I’m going to scream.

I’ll admit, I cried after everyone left our empty apartment this afternoon. As Oprah says, it was ugly cry. [Author’s Note: Danny confirms…ugly cry] Trying to calm me down, Danny offered to reverse our course and give up on the trip…he knew what my answer would be. After enumerating the reasons to stay: no job, no apartment, no dream, no travel (wow there are just so many reasons to stay!) I had to turn down his tempting offer. We’re off, next stop family roadtrip.

The Decision

February 26, 2009 By Danny

Part 1 in a three part series on how we’ve made this a reality!

Junior year of college I studied abroad in Cost Rica and Guatemala. In Guatemala, I joined with a travel group that consisted of volunteerism, Spanish instruction, and a few other activities. Due to unfortunate circumstances, one night I found myself on a bus in the middle of the night leaving the group behind- off to Guatemala City I went. At that point in time I didn’t know what I was going to do once I stepped off the bus. I didn’t know where I would go. I didn’t know what would happen. At that point in time, I was a traveler for the first time in my life.

It was then, when things became totally unscripted, that I found myself on wholly unfamiliar territory. Travelling is not about the destination, it is about the journey. It’s what happens to you when you don’t have a script, don’t have an itinerary, and maybe are a little bit scared. It isn’t about relaxation, but rather about finding something new…both about the world and within oneself.

I ended up spending another 6 weeks or so travelling through Central America, but mostly Guatemala. It wasn’t an immense amount of time but it wasn’t a little nothing either. In those 6 weeks I believe I grew more as a person than in following 6 years combined. I came back home, relaxed, and reintegrated. My first semester back was my only 4.0 semester of all of college. I had changed, but I didn’t entirely realize it at the time.

It was later that year, amidst countless job applications that I realized I needed a goal. I wanted to travel again, just like I had in Guatemala when things went awry. Sitting with my roommates (two of whom have joined the peace corps) and looking a map of the world on the wall I started developing a plan to travel on my own RTW trip, before I had ever even seen the acronym. I started running numbers in my head on how much money I’d have to earn, and save. Studying the map I thought about a basic itinerary. (Americas first, I know that landscape….then east around the globe.)

Reality though, had something else for me…a serious relationship. I knew from my time alone in Guatemala that while I loved the idea of travel, the parts that made it special were the parts I spent with people. Being lonely and on the road just wasn’t fun. When I told my girlfriend (who I already expected would one day be my wife) of these plans they quickly became hers as well. Men often joke of their wedding day as the day they lose their independence and learn only to say ‘yes dear’…but this was not that, this was something different. My trip had become our trip nearly as soon as I opened my mouth. Not only was this a function of our relationship, but this trip probably wouldn’t even be happening if it wasn’t happening as a partnership, as a team. This trip is not the sum of our efforts and our desires, but those efforts and desires multiplied.

In two weeks, we’re off!

Part 2 in this series will discuss how we’ve saved money for this trip. Part 3 will be about how we plan to make that money last a long, long time.

The first goodbyes….

February 24, 2009 By Jillian

Parting is such sweet sorrow… perhaps for Romeo and Juliet, for us, I’m not quite sure. Almost nothing is harder than saying good bye to people you care about, even if you are about to take the most exciting trip of your life, even if its something you are 100% sure you want to do. Maybe the first goodbye is the worst, but emotionally, I feel like I’m at the edge of a waterfall about to go over. I am overwhelmed by the idea of saying goodbye to everyone we know – to our colleagues, our friends and our family – literally everyone we know. Everyone is an overwhelming word. Of course we’ll be back to the States and I sincerely hope others will come visit us, but its likely that over the natural course of life, some of these people we may never see again.

February 16th was technically our first goodbye. Long time friends from NYC, Chester and Catherine, came to visit in honor of Danny’s birthday and after we dropped them off at the train station it was hard to ignore the momentum this trip has taken on. No matter what, we are going. We have quit our jobs, we have sold our apartment….We have begun to say goodbye. We are closing in on that waterfall.

Admittedly I may be reading too much into this and acting all “emotional”. I mean its not like we’re moving to Siberia or Antarctica. Hopefully most everyone we will see again, but there is such an element of unknown this time that I’ve never felt before. Going away to college was difficult, but I knew what was in store for me there. Going away to Italy was difficult, but I knew when I would be home. Going away this time, well its just completely unknown. No return date, no expectations of the journey to come. Le Saut d´Acomat I begin to think like this, and well I get teary and next thing I know I’m on the verge of a major tear fest.

Our second goodbye came this weekend, and perhaps because it was family it was more difficult than the first. After dropping our cousin Sharone off at the bus, we held each others hand and I said, “Its here, we are really doing this.” One squeeze of reassurance in my right hand and the tears faded away to a smile. “Its here! We are really doing this!”

I can see the edge of the waterfall now. We leave our home in a few days and while I admit to being terrified, I am equally excited and happy that we are following our dream. Friday we jump.

Men’s Performance Underwear (Review)

February 20, 2009 By Danny

We all wear wicking t-shirts and gym shorts yet many of us still use cotton underwear simply because it is more comfortable and that is what we know. With long-term travel, cotton is simply not an option. For the trip, I have been testing three different types of performance boxer briefs: ExOfficio’s Give-N-Go, REI’s Midweight MTS, and the EMS Techwick.

ExOfficio’s Give-N-Go is a marvel of modern apparel. Not only does it dry quickly and wick moisture away, but it is also anti-bacterial, making it the best option for all day sweating under a hot sun or multi-day ‘wash in the sink’ use. While this material is technically superior to just about anything I’ve ever worn on my body, it is far from the most comfortable. [ad#ad-3]I have found that the tendency of these to ‘ride up’ coupled with the extremely synthetic feel make these the least comfortable of those profiled on this page. Despite this, these are my go-to briefs when heavy sweating—or even swimming—is on the schedule. The best thing about these is that no matter what you do to them, they simply won’t ever smell. Darker colors can run over time, however.

REI Midweight MTS Boxer Briefs dry just as quickly as the ExOfficio but make no claims about an anti-bacterial finish. Additionally, the material is surprisingly thin for something classified as ‘midweight.’ While these are far more comfortable than the ExOfficio, with regard to both the feel and the fit, the durability of the fabric is just not there. These will wear out after heavy use and the smell is omnipresent from the time they go on.

EMS Techwick Boxer Briefs claim to be lightweight but really feels more of a midweight, the opposite of the REI brand. As a result these feel the closest to cotton of the three but are still able to wick moisture without a problem. Due to the thickness of the fabric they are much more durable than the REI brand but don’t come close to odor stopping abilities of the ExOfficio. Just like with the REI, these make no anti-bacterial claims.

Let’s get one thing straight; every one of these wick away moisture and dry real quick. The ExOfficio is probably the only one I’d ever use for swimming, but for normal use the other two are just fine. With regard to fit, I do have problems with the ExOfficio that I do not have with the other two varieties, but I believe this is more a function of my body type and not the underwear themselves. As for durability the ExOfficio wins hands down, followed by the EMS and the then the REI.

Bottom Line: If you are only going to purchase one pair of performance underwear for long term use, make sure it’s made by ExOfficio, there really is not a question about that…the performance is superior to everything else, hands down. If you’re going to purchase two pairs, then you should probably make them both ExOfficio. The only reason you’d really ever want to stray is if you’re looking to not wear the ExOfficio daily on account of the synthetic feel of the fabric. For that reason, I’ll be using the EMS as my “feels like cotton” option.

Disclaimer: All of our reviews are unpaid and based on personal experience. You may have different opinions or experiences with these products.

Purging our worldly possessions…

February 17, 2009 By Jillian

After a long night of drinking and trying to give away remaining paperbacks, wine glasses and other assorted items, we drove to Philly Monday with another load of stuff. While moving out in stages has its advantages- mainly that we have time to go through our stuff- I am definitely sick and tired of packing boxes and loading the car. At this point whatever doesn’t fit in our caravan on the 28th is being donated and/or sold.

Now that we’re less than 2 weeks away, we’ve begun to make the final purchases for the trip. More towels, packcovers and some nifty no-water soap and we’re almost done. I’m interested to see what we’ll get rid of by month 3 on the trip.

Here’s what the official to do list still looks like:

Official Website Roll-Out (yay!)
Sell furniture (dining room, shelving unit, couch, bed, dresser)
Finish packing
Pray that the computer arrives before Feb.28th (we ordered the new Asus EEE 1000HE!)
Change of address forms
Website updates (yes, we are still working on it!)
Return duplicate gear/buy the remaining items on our list
Say good bye and hit the road!

Farewell D.C.

The Decision

The first goodbyes….

Men’s Performance Underwear (Review)

Purging our worldly possessions…

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