Howdy readers! My name is Clint and I’m on trip around the world with my fiancee, Ashley. We call Denver home but for the next several months “home” will simply be wherever we happen to be at that particular time. Here’s our story…
In early February, as we pulled away from a weekend in Steamboat Springs, Ashley inquired, “If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?” That’s a tough one to answer and something that I didn’t have an immediate response for. So many places to see and so few of the ones I’ve dreamed about have been scratched off the list.
After an extended pause I said, “Buenos Aires for sure. Oh, and Brazil for the World Cup since I’m already planning to go. I’d love to see… I don’t know. There are too many places I want to visit. How about you?”
“Thailand and Bali” Ashley replied without hesitating for a second.
That’s how our discussion began. Within two minutes we had listed well over a dozen countries. We continued to add to our list by thinking of other destinations that are located near the initial locations we threw out. Before making it to Kremmling we had established an itinerary for a trip around the world and Ashley was using her smart phone to check on fares from one city to the next.
In the days that followed we had established a plan to rent our house, make arrangements for our pets, started following blogs of those who have blazed the trail before us and the planning continued.
After a ton of research and countless discussions with various airline customer service agents, we finally booked our tickets.
Santiago, Chile,
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Natal, Manaus and Recife, Brazil (following the US during the FIFA 2014 World Cup of course)
Honolulu, Hawaii
Auckland, New Zealand
Bali, Indonesia
Bangkok, Thailand
We’ve established this as a loose structure with only our airline tickets booked in advance. This will allow us plenty of time in and around each location to ensure we can take interesting detours along the way. Our plan is to veer off the traditional path of travel as we’ve previously known it – there will be very few hotels on the itinerary as we look to stay in apartments and homes with local residents whenever possible to better experience daily life in the communities we visit.
Airline tickets booked, pets taken care of, renters moved into our house… no turning back now!
We’ve fit everything we’re taking with us on this (6 or 7 or 8 month?) adventure into our Mountainsmith packs – a Lookout 50 for Clint, a Juniper 55 for Ashley and a Scream from the Mountainlight line for each of us to serve as carry-on and day packs throughout the journey.
So the journey has begun and we’re looking forward to the adventure of a lifetime. Mae West hit the nail on the head when she said, “You only live life once but if you do it right once is enough.”
Follow along with Ashley and Clint on the road: