Pre-trip: This is really happening!
Hello all, and welcome to my 2nd attempt at a travel blog. Many of you may be familiar with "Sailing Away" (http://epiccatsail.blogspot.com/). That was my first travel blog. It had an abrupt ending because, well, my trip ended quite abruptly. I would have posted a final post but I wasn't in the right state of mind and didn't want to write anything I might regret (possibly like that sentence right there.) After some deliberation, my Mom and I departed the boat in Newport, OR and my Dad solo'd the boat down to San Diego where Mom rejoined him and they participated in the Baja Haha cruiser rally to get the boat into the Sea of Cortez where it is today. I got married and have been down to the boat in Mexico twice now, once to Loreto, and once to Zihuatanejo. You could call it a happy ending.
Anyways, here's to hoping this blog and trip doesn't end as abruptly as the last! I (Sam) will be responsible for the blog during the trip, but I'll try to talk Tawnie into a guest post here and there. My goal is to post weekly, which should be attainable as so far it looks as if everywhere we're going has wi-fi.
Rational
Travel is good. Right? That seems to be the sentiment. You don't hear people say, "I travelled too much." Rather, you hear people say that they wish they had travelled more. But do they mean it? Do they wish they had travelled when they just got that job that could turn into a good career? Or, how about when they helped babysit their nieces and nephews so their brothers and sisters could get out and hold onto some shred of sanity? Or, maybe it was a good time to travel when their friends and family were having their first children and could use all the support they could get. Was that the right time to run away and travel?
Ultimately, I am very excited to travel, but there are many things that I'm going to miss out on that I wish I was around for. There never seems to truly be a 'good time' to travel. If you really want to travel you just have to do it. Tawnie and I feel a strong pull to travel, so we're really just trying to stick the right balance between being around family and being abroad. Hopefully when we get back we will be fully charged with life and vitality and can give our 100% to our lives and relationships back home.
We also strive to be good role models for our nieces, nephews, and possible future kids. If they all grow up seeing one blueprint for how a life is to be lived, then they will follow that blueprint and it may not be the blueprint that's right for them. Variety is good, and if any of the young people we know get the travel bug, I hope they will be inspired to act on it. I personally have been inspired by my own parents who built and live on a sailboat for half the year. I took their blueprint, but opted to travel now rather than after retirement as health is never something to take for granted.
Why France?
Tawnie, being the linguist she is, has taken an interest in the culture and language of France. She has taken four quarters of French at The Evergreen State College, and she is excelling. While in France she will be earning 16 college credits in French through curriculum she created and got approved through her college. She will be writing weekly logs in French about what we're doing. She's also going to make two videos in French. This should add a fun aspect to the trip. I'll try to post the videos so you can see her speaking and creating cool things in French.
I personally don't speak French, but word is that most people speak English anyways. I know some basics so I should be able to show some kind of effort to any sticklers we run into. We are only going to stay with hosts that speak both French and English, so I'm not really worried about it. I am going to make some effort to get better though. I found when I went to Mexico my Spanish was just enough to get by decently, and it would be great if I could get my French there as well.
I'm most looking forward to the culture of the French countryside. I've got it worked out in my head that they all just live off their land and walk/bike to the store to grab fresh baguettes and maybe a couple other things. We'll see how accurate my perception is. I hope it's true. I would love to help my hosts be as self sufficient as possible. I'm also looking forward to the pace. I'm expecting more time to smell the roses while bumbling about life. It'll be fun to reflect on these hypotheses later.
We'll definitely stay in France long enough for Tawnie to take care of her Evergreen responsibilities. After that, we're pretty flexible, although we will be limited by the Schengen Agreement. A bunch of countries are apart of this Schengen area, which only allows visitors to be there 90 days within a 180 day period. Luckily, the UK isn't apart of the agreement, so we can always escape there and stay up to 6 months. Since that's the case, if we're having fun, we'll probably just about max out our 90 day Schengen area limit then get into the UK. If we're not having fun we can just head home anytime.
If you want to keep up with the blog, make sure to subscribe. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions or any requests or for specific subject matter you'd like to see me write about. Au revoir!
Anyways, here's to hoping this blog and trip doesn't end as abruptly as the last! I (Sam) will be responsible for the blog during the trip, but I'll try to talk Tawnie into a guest post here and there. My goal is to post weekly, which should be attainable as so far it looks as if everywhere we're going has wi-fi.
Rational
Travel is good. Right? That seems to be the sentiment. You don't hear people say, "I travelled too much." Rather, you hear people say that they wish they had travelled more. But do they mean it? Do they wish they had travelled when they just got that job that could turn into a good career? Or, how about when they helped babysit their nieces and nephews so their brothers and sisters could get out and hold onto some shred of sanity? Or, maybe it was a good time to travel when their friends and family were having their first children and could use all the support they could get. Was that the right time to run away and travel?
Ultimately, I am very excited to travel, but there are many things that I'm going to miss out on that I wish I was around for. There never seems to truly be a 'good time' to travel. If you really want to travel you just have to do it. Tawnie and I feel a strong pull to travel, so we're really just trying to stick the right balance between being around family and being abroad. Hopefully when we get back we will be fully charged with life and vitality and can give our 100% to our lives and relationships back home.
We also strive to be good role models for our nieces, nephews, and possible future kids. If they all grow up seeing one blueprint for how a life is to be lived, then they will follow that blueprint and it may not be the blueprint that's right for them. Variety is good, and if any of the young people we know get the travel bug, I hope they will be inspired to act on it. I personally have been inspired by my own parents who built and live on a sailboat for half the year. I took their blueprint, but opted to travel now rather than after retirement as health is never something to take for granted.
Why France?
Tawnie, being the linguist she is, has taken an interest in the culture and language of France. She has taken four quarters of French at The Evergreen State College, and she is excelling. While in France she will be earning 16 college credits in French through curriculum she created and got approved through her college. She will be writing weekly logs in French about what we're doing. She's also going to make two videos in French. This should add a fun aspect to the trip. I'll try to post the videos so you can see her speaking and creating cool things in French.
I personally don't speak French, but word is that most people speak English anyways. I know some basics so I should be able to show some kind of effort to any sticklers we run into. We are only going to stay with hosts that speak both French and English, so I'm not really worried about it. I am going to make some effort to get better though. I found when I went to Mexico my Spanish was just enough to get by decently, and it would be great if I could get my French there as well.
I'm most looking forward to the culture of the French countryside. I've got it worked out in my head that they all just live off their land and walk/bike to the store to grab fresh baguettes and maybe a couple other things. We'll see how accurate my perception is. I hope it's true. I would love to help my hosts be as self sufficient as possible. I'm also looking forward to the pace. I'm expecting more time to smell the roses while bumbling about life. It'll be fun to reflect on these hypotheses later.
Trip Logistics
9/19/2018 - SeaTac to London Gatwick for one night in a hostel
9/21/2018 - London to Vernusse, France. Stay with first hosts
10/15/2018 - Vernusse to Pyrenees. Stay with 2nd hosts
Then find more hosts in France or go somewhere else!
We'll definitely stay in France long enough for Tawnie to take care of her Evergreen responsibilities. After that, we're pretty flexible, although we will be limited by the Schengen Agreement. A bunch of countries are apart of this Schengen area, which only allows visitors to be there 90 days within a 180 day period. Luckily, the UK isn't apart of the agreement, so we can always escape there and stay up to 6 months. Since that's the case, if we're having fun, we'll probably just about max out our 90 day Schengen area limit then get into the UK. If we're not having fun we can just head home anytime.
If you want to keep up with the blog, make sure to subscribe. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions or any requests or for specific subject matter you'd like to see me write about. Au revoir!
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