reflections - i should log off

Photo: Reflections of the Taj Mahal

January 20, 2012 By Danny

Everyone takes photos of the Taj Mahal. Once you arrive it is probably the very first thing to do. As we entered the gate it seemed like all of Agra was right there with us trying to snap the exact same photo we were trying for. So few images of the Taj however seem to really encompass the reflecting pool that sits beneath it.

For this photo we got a lot closer to the Taj Mahal and then took the picture with all the water we could include. Most photos of the Taj Mahal focus on the Taj Mahal, and indeed with good reason….This one stands out for me though because of the reflection in the water and it stands as one of my favorites from the entire day. What’s really remarkable is how peaceful this photo feels in comparison to the parking lot just a few hundred meters away. 🙂

IF YOU GO: We based ourselves in Delhi and made the Taj Mahal a day trip. For us this worked great but we missed out on seeing the Agra Fort. If you have more time, we’d recommend going and spending at least a night or two in Agra and then continuing onto Jaipur to complete the the triangle with Delhi.

To see more of our favorite photos from around the world check out our travel photo page. Let us know your favorites and we’ll include them in our photo of the day series.

Seven Links to Know More

July 26, 2011 By Jillian

Admittedly we have a lot of content on this blog, that’s why when we were invited to participate in the seven links project, we jumped at the opportunity. The seven links project asks travel bloggers to name seven superlative posts. Reading over the submissions of other bloggers really opened a door into their world, I hope our links do the same for you!

Your most beautiful post

I think we captured the “why” of travel with our post on travel as a political act. Politics aside, I think most people travel to explore new places and cultures and to meet new people. Our readers responded well and it helped me express how important I think cultural exchange can be. Click here to read the article.

Your most popular post
This is surprising to me, but our most popular post has nothing to do with travel- it’s on barefoot running. I guess we have a lot of readers who are runners and/or interested in barefoot running. Click here to read our most popular post on barefoot running.

Your most controversial post
None of our posts are controversial per se, but I think our Hunger Porn series really opened our readers eyes into the world of non-profits. It generated a good discussion among our friends and family and we’ve had several people tell us they never thought about aid like that before. Hunger Porn #1 – Stop Donating. Hunger Porn #2 – Engage and Help.

Your most helpful post

I think posts on the logistics of travel are the most helpful to other travelers. We chose to be completely transparent about our spending on the trip. Although we updated our spending chart per country and posted a per-continent budget reflection, I think our overall spending post is the most helpful. Real numbers and a breakdown of our spending.

A post whose success surprised you

We were really surprised by the popularity of our six months back post. We didn’t realize so many people who had been following all along were still closely following our blog. I guess everyone was interested in a where are they now update!

A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved

We wrote in depth about our decision to take anti-malarial drugs and which drug we chose. At the time, it was hard to find first hand information on people taking Lariam (or mefloquine), all we read about were the bad effects. Although some people thought we were crazy to take Lariam, we were happy to lay out our reasoning and our results. In the end, I hope the information helped provide others with food for thought to help them make their own decisions.

The post that you are most proud of

We wrote a post on the effects of travel on our marriage. It’s probably the most genuine and raw post that I’ve ever written. It captures, in an honest way, the true ups and down of traveling on the road.

Traveler Talk Back: Leaving

July 19, 2011 By Jillian

A travel bug, when caught, is hard to ignore. It gnaws away at you. You find yourself looking at National Geographic magazines thinking, I could go there, or a Travel & Leisure magazine thinking I want to go there. But making the jump between those dreams and reality can be hard. We’ve been transparent about our own feelings here at IShouldLogOff, on the highs and lows of long-term travel, but a few weeks ago we introduced you to our traveler talk back series. This is the first of that series, which will deal with traveling from a perspective other than our own, the decision to leave, the decision to return, and living out the dream. One of the aspects of blogging we love the most, is the community we have. We highly encourage your participation in this series (and in general!), so if you have a question, comment or experience you’d like to share join our discussion either in the comments below or on facebook.

When and how much.

There are a lot of things to think about before leaving on an RTW, but the question we get asked most often is about money.

We asked Jill from JackandJillTravel, who left on an RTW in April, about her biggest concern before leaving on her RTW. She sums it up in one word – money. “Money. It’s all about money – how much should we save, how much should we have for re-entry, what are we going to do when the money runs out, wallah wallah…”

Where and When.

Jack and Jill, who blog under pseudonyms, started their RTW in South America in April. A long time in planning, the couple chose Colombia as their first destination. Like many long-term travelers, the couple left without a set itinerary. “We don’t really have any plan other than a vague idea of an itinerary (South America – Africa – Europe – Asia) – basically we’re going to travel until either money/motivation runs out. Whichever comes first,” said Jill.

Adam Seper, who runs World Travel for Couples, spent 51 weeks traveling the world in 2008-2009. He and his wife had an open ended itinerary. “We had always planned on coming home in about a year, but we left it open. We didn’t buy a RTW ticket, and we were open to finding a job somewhere or making this somewhat permanent. After a while on the road, though, we realized that being permanent nomads simply wasn’t for us.”

Ayngelina Brogan, editor of Bacon is Magic, started her RTW trip with a one-way ticket one-way ticket to Mexico. “When I arrived in Mexico I did not speak any Spanish so it has been an adventure for me,” she said. After traveling through Latin America for 14 months, Ayngelina has recently returned to Canada for a short break before heading out on her next adventure.

Leaving travel time and itinerary flexible and open is a common theme among long-term or RTW travelers. Having a vague itinerary leaves travelers open to take advantage of in-country opportunities, like volunteering or working. Jack and Jill spent nearly a month in Banos, Ecuador volunteering with an animal rescue group started by other travelers.

You are not alone.

When we left on our RTW, the first backpackers we met surprised us. They were people traveling for months, just like us, some traversing the Americas, others aiming to traverse the world, each on their own time frame, with their own path.

“There are a lot more of people doing these long term travel thingy than we have first expected,” said Jill of JackandJillTravel. “And some of them are doing some incredible things: like biking gazillion miles across continents and things like that. It’s been quite inspirational, really.”

The idea of a career break, or an “adult gap year” as some suggest, has grown in popularity over the last five years. According to the British Confederation of Industry survey in 2005, 75% of the British workforce is currently considering a career break. Of course this is probably highly over representing the people who are actually preparing and planning for a career break, but you get the drift.

Erin Davies and Pete Schaefer spent nine months traveling around the world and blogging about the adventure at The Scenic Route. The couple, who returned to the U.S. in May, decided to take off one school year, returning home in time for Pete, a high school teacher to find a job for the following school year.

“I wish…”

We hate superlatives (they’re too hard to answer!), but we love “wish” questions. We asked Jack and Jill some hypothetical questions four months into their trip.

I wish someone had told us….
“To double and triple check our departure date. We arrived at the airport in LA only to find out that for all of those months we had had our ticket, we’d gotten the date wrong.” (You can read about Jack and Jill’s auspicious start here.)

I wish I had left behind…
“Three days ago I would’ve said our climbing shoes and harness. But then we had an awesome day of climbing here in Baños which made it all worth it.”

I wish I had brought…
“Extra ATM card. We only have one and we lose it – we’re screwed,” said Jack. “More underwear. I only brought a pair of everything and at the current rate of losing stuff, it’s inevitable I’ll have to replace them. And I’m very, very, very picky about underwear,” said Jill.

How would you answer the “I wish questions?” What’s on your mind about long-term or RTW travel? About these Travelers:

Jack and Jill Travel left on their RTW trip in April 2011. They’re currently exploring South America. You can read about their (mis)adventures on their travel blog, find them on Facebook or Twitter.

Adam Seper and his wife, Megan traveled around the world for 51 weeks. Adam currently edits World Travel for Couples, a website with destination guides, travel information and great tips geared at travel with a partner. You can find him on Facebook or Twitter.

Ayngelina left a great job, boyfriend, friends and apartment to find inspiration in Latin America. You can read about her adventures on her travel blog, find her on Facebook or Twitter.

Erin Davies and Pete Schaefer are busy settling back into life in Ohio. They spent 9 months traveling around the world in 2010, covering every continent except antarctica. You can read about their scenic route from DC to home on their travel blog. You can also check out some of their great travel pictures on flickr.

Flashback: The Road Thru Mexico

May 6, 2011 By Danny

Heading south and out of Northern Mexico we stopped in the colonial town of Zacatecas. It was an old silver town and we went because we’d read in a magazine that you could buy some kind of cool home made shoe there but when we got there we couldn’t find any of the frigging shoes. We toured the sites ranging from the old silver mine to the historic bull ring that had been recently transformed into the fanciest hotel in the city. Looking back on it, we did all the things that by the end of the trip we tried to avoid because they simply bore us.

On the other hand, this was also a region that helped to shape how we would travel long into the future. With a group from the hostel we set off on our own to hike in the nearby mountains and check out the random street festivals we happened upon in the lead-up to Semana Santa. We started to shop for our meals in the actual markets rather than in tourist centers and we enjoyed cooking with ‘authentic’ ingredients; one night we enjoyed a cactus salad at our hostel with some other travelers. (Just for the record, it was kinda weird.) Mostly though, we started to get into the rhythm of passing our days by enjoying the city parks and public spaces and watching as local life passed by right in front of us.

Those were the good parts.

This was also the time where we really started to appreciate just how difficult our lives were about to become. We spent an entire day trying to contact an outfitter that we’d be able to go kayaking with and then working to figure out the rest of our time in Mexico so that we could book our start date for our Spanish classes in Guatemala…we needed to choose a start date to make a reservation. If that sounds like a run-on sentence its because that’s how we felt…we weren’t used to dealing with all these planning factors and stressors all at once yet and it wasn’t so easy. Oh, and Semana Santa was due to start in a week…no bus tickets available then….

Things weren’t all bad though, once we worked it all out and left Zacatecas we were with two other traveling souls who wound up in kayaks going over a few waterfalls with us, an incredibly fun day and one of the best of the entire trip and had the added benefit of introducing us to another region’s cuisine. After the ride down the falls we visited the strange yet beautiful site of Xilitla before continuing onto the urban feel of Jalapa where we did some more kayaking and exploring of archaeological sites. These parts of Mexico are some of the reasons we loved the country so much, one day in a kayak (Jill got destroyed on a some pretty large rocks) and the next day touring an archaeological site. Jalapa itself was a university town and we enjoyed a meal of falafel and shwarma for dinner one night….quite a change from the Mexico we’d come to know so far and a world away from the one portrayed on the nightly news back in the USA.

One of those two with us at the waterfalls was the same Swiss girl was who had been with us in the Copper Canyon and had been with us ever since we left Baja. She was our first ‘backpacking’ friend, most of whom we’ve completely lost touch with. We stayed in our first two hostels with her and shared a great many laughs and memories. Suddenly, just as soon as we’d met, it was time to part ways. Like I said, we’d only been hanging out a few weeks but as we said our goodbyes the road suddenly seemed so much more lonely. Sure Jill and I were still together but the realities of the road really started to settle with us and began to make us very uncomfortable. We knew we’d meet people along the way, but suddenly I felt far more lonely and homesick than I did even on that first day of the trip….but stay tuned, it wasn’t long before we found our mojo.

Two Years Ago

March 14, 2011 By Danny

Two years ago….

Barack Obama had been president for 2 months. There was a lot of snow on the ground over the prior weeks as we said goodbye to friends and family. You had never heard of Justin Bieber and Snookie was not someone you watched on TV.

On Friday, March 13, 2009, we set foot into Mexico with no itinerary and only a vague idea what we would do. The border was the busiest in the world and we nearly missed getting our passports stamped. We knew we were at the start of an adventure, but were really quite unsure as to what exactly it would be.

Over the ensuing weeks we survived a 7.1 earthquake and missed a coup d’etat in Honduras by 3 weeks. Local events, overtime, led way to bigger events like the earthquake in Haiti (and now Japan) and a near revolution in Iran. Sudan was one country when we were there, now it is two.

Two years ago it was time for us to begin making lots of decisions. Lebron had not yet made his. We made lots of mistakes, who doesn’t, and with time got better at the whole travel thing. Now we look back and realize how much we did and how little we actually even wrote about. I have 5 handwritten journals and 7 days a week I wrote more there than in any blog post.

For the next two years we’re going to re-live the last two. We aim to flashback to where we were two years ago about once per week and focus on what we remember now, what stood out in our mind. Looking back on our posts it is sometimes shocking to us to read about how we viewed an experience then as opposed to how we view it now. We’ve changed and so has our perspective.

Now it is time to retell our story.

Photo: Reflections of the Taj Mahal

Seven Links to Know More

Traveler Talk Back: Leaving

Flashback: The Road Thru Mexico

Two Years Ago

Two years ago….

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Banking on the Road

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