Blake's Journey Travel Blog

Blake Video Diary #2

Blake — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:00:51 +0000

My thoughts on a worst case senario situation… Behold!

Lindsey: Video Diary #2

Blake — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:23:45 +0000

After our trip, we’re planning on teaching English in some foreign country- which? We don’t know!

First video diaries!

Blake — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:20:10 +0000

To start off the video diaries, Linds and I answer some generic questions about our trip…

If you have any other questions, email us and we’ll answer it on a video blog. We promise!

Sincerely,
Blake and Linds.
happycannibal@yahoo.com

Traveler’s Birthday List

Blake — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:00:04 +0000

I’m turning 28 at the end of the month. Usually when my wife or I have a birthday, we really try to do it up and celebrate with a party and presents etc…(my personal favorite part is the decadent birthday cake from our local bakery, Cakes by Darcy) This year is a bit different given our ultra-sacrifice/trip-prep lifestyle (party like a folkstar?).

Lately Linds and my mom have been requesting my birthday list (yes, I’m a 27 year old that still makes a birthday list and yes there are magic cards and video games on the list- I like silly stuff!). Usually my list is chaulk full of silly toys and indulgences that I would like to have but just never could bring myself to actually buy. This year, my mindset is different. Its amazing how living with even a little more humility will change your outlook.

1. Quantity Over Quality: As I’ve mentioned before, I love simple pleasures in life, Starbucks, whiskey, chinese takeout, Eurobrews etc… Things I haven’t really had much of lately; hey let’s be honest- it adds up! So for my 28th, I’ve asked for one (or more) of those HUGE Sam’s Club bags of Starbucks beans. Also, I asked for a huge jug of some cheap whiskey, you know- something that will last until December, then I can just ask for another for Christmas!

2. Trip Prep Items: We’re leaving for a year (or more) long trip in 6/2010 and still have to buy a bunch of stuff like little netbook laptops and a quality camera to document our trip and continue to add rich content for all of you to read. So, I’ve asked for some cash to get me closer to buying these things so that I won’t have to spend other funds on them.

Travelers: What other items should I ask for to help me on my journey to the world trip? Any suggestions or comments? As far as books, we have many of the materials we will need. Perhaps we’ll update when we get closer to the launch date, we’ll see.

As far as a party/dinner goes, the merry making will likely be reduced to coffee in the morning with a breakfast bagel, chinese lunch special, then a nice greasy pizza at my favorite local pizza place, Diesel. No party. Who needs it anyways.

Free Donuts, Coffee, and Connections

Blake — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:24:51 +0000

Americans are freaking nice people. There are many ugly things you can say about us, but we always have a smile on our face and are EAGER to offer advice and help to our fellow man. I find this is frequently true. Of course there are exceptions and I’m speaking in wide generalizations; let’s just say I’m no anthropologist, I just observe.

Why am I struck with this feeling? Well, I’m glad you asked! err… well I guess you didn’t… Anyways, Linds and I were indulging in some Starbucks coffee at our local cafe (yes, I broke down a bit and indulged. I’ve been working a lot of extra hours doing this and that, so I thought it would be fine) and our friendly barista, Frank, who we used to see a lot more often than we do now was cycling out the old donuts, he saw us and offered them. “YES! HELL YES! Are you serious?!,” I exclaimed. Starbucks alone is a great indulgence for us right now, I didn’t even remotely think of getting a pastry; this represented like 4$ worth of merchandise. I was super thrilled.

So, we stood there for a minute waiting for the coffee to brew and got to talking with Frank. I explained the source of my excitement (we’re saving for our RTW trip), and he asked where we’re thinking about going. We listed a bunch of places, S. America being one of them. He began telling us all about a SA trip that he was thinking about too; one where he’d visit all the people he knew there and virtually travel free. We replied that we didn’t have many contacts there. He offered to hook us up with some friends and family in Peru.

Just like that.

Wow. To him, we’re completely unknown. The same thing happened with one of Linds’ work friends a couple weeks ago; a woman from India (Kerala, to be exact. A place we LONG to visit.) offered us her beachside condo should we find ourselves overthere.

We sipped our coffee, gobbled down our free cakey donuts, and left with the feeling that we’d made a contact in Peru. So, I guess the indulgence in some pricey 4-bucks coffee (as my friend, Chris says), may have paid off afterall. We’ll just have to see.

Chinese Take Out or Andean Air?

Blake — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:11:08 +0000

Linds and I are really ramping up our efforts to save and generate funds. We just got back from 4 hours of extra work for my uncle’s therapy company (giving kids at a Boys and Girls Club temporary tatoos and candy) and made 100$… CASH! aww yeah. Last weekend we babysat and made some cash as well.

We haven’t gone out a single time since the beginning of September; even Starbucks (which admittedly, I absolutely love!), is a spurge. I felt so guilty this week playing Magic (yes, Magic: The Gathering… I’m a geek) with my buddies. They gave me a good deal for the cards and we had fun, but it was still a splurge of around 22$. I can’t start a habit of that.

One of the weekly things that Linds and I used to do before all this saving/trip nonsense was get take out Chinese food. Oh, that slimy, sugary general Tso’s chicken was to indulgent! Divine! And even more… No dishes afterwards. It was great. I love Chinese take out and we haven’t had it in a while… a long while (since before I left for Spain in June).

My birthday is coming up and maybe for dinner I’ll get a huge plate of general Tso’s and wash it down with a veinte coffee from Starbucks. Mmmm!

I’d hate for this blog to turn into a rant about how much I miss frivolously spending (or hemorahaging, as my friend, Chris says) money, but this sacrifice-based lifestyle is tough to get used to. Do I sound like a spoiled teenage girl? I just have to keep reminding myself how fresh and nourishing the Andean air atop Machu-Pichu will be. I take a great gulp and be at peace!

Episode One: Chase-ing Free Money

Blake — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:41:04 +0000

Being Sick on a Budget

Blake — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 15:52:09 +0000

As you know, Linds and I are both teachers. She’s middle school and I teach high school. During flu season, we’re sick. This is our 5th year and it seems awfully inevitable. My big problem is that I’m always chewing on things- fingers, pens etc… It’s really bad habit and I try to be consious of it every cold season, but I can’t resist.

This season has been no different. We once again, find ourselves under the proverbial weather. This time its different, we’re on a serious budget saving for our trip this summer. Usually when one of us is sick, we pull out all the stops- Brand name NyQuil, Tropicana fresh orange juice, and brand name medication. This time it seems that with our monthly budget we can’t afford such top of the line symptom reducers, so we’ll have to improvise.

1. Rest, the greatest and free’est (FREE 99, baby!) cure for any cold. What I’ve noticed is that when you go to the doctor, unless you have some crazy distinguishing symptom (rash or bleeding etc…) they tell you always the same thing: “Go home. Rest. Come back in 3 days if symptoms worsen. Thanks for the co-pay! Next patient!!”

2. Half portions of NyQuil that we have left over from last season. I figure this will get us to sleep and keep us that way… hopefully.

3. Generic brand OJ. Tropicana is like 4-5$, our local grocery store, Kroger, has a generic brand for like 3$/gallon. It’s from concentrate, but it still has over 100% vitamin C, so that’s cool.

This weekend we’ve got a 3 day weekend so that means we can get plenty of rest. However we do have two babysitting jobs, today and tomorrow that we’ve commited to. Hopefully we’ll make another 100$ between the two of them. That’s another thing that sucks about being sick- it inhibits your energy and extra work is a bit harder. I don’t want to be sick and work a lot and get sicker. Just have to take it easy.

Planning and saving

Blake — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:45:53 +0000

So many variables it’s staggering. Linds and I decided to take next year and travel to the world a bit and we’re now in the saving mode. We’ve cut all the fat from our budget and are trying to squeeze every possible penny into our savings account. We’re going to need it. We probably won’t be able to sell our condo or rent it out for what we pay on it each month. So we’ll need some extra cash to back it up and keep travelling.

To meet our savings goals (around 18K each), we’ll have to really work and sacrifice. We’ve already taken the following measures:

1. Limit eating out. We pretty much cook every night. We get groceries twice a month (100$ per trip) and a few times between to replenish perishables like veggies and fruits.

2. Quit the gym membership. Our gym, Lifetime Fitness, cost us 100$ a month. Between now and the departure date, June 15th, that would be like 900$. Not bad.

3. Shave the mobile plan. We’ll be limiting our plan to just talk minutes. This means no more Bberry internet and frivolous texts. Savings: 25$/month.

4. Random bank offers. We just took advantage of two Chase bank coupons for 100 and 125 dollars. Hopefully we can get some other free monies before we go.

5. Odd jobs. We sometimes paint and babysit to supplement our income. So far we’ve gotten 3 jobs for a total of around 200$. Keep ‘em coming!

To meet the savings goals we each have to put 1100$ into our piggy bank every month (as GA teachers, we get paid 2600 per month and spend around 1400 each on living expenses) from now until we stop getting paid and generate some thousands of additional dollars each. Also, we’ll both be selling our cars in the summer before we go.

That’s a lot of noodles and beans. Yum!