Ten Things to Know Before Traveling to Ubud
1. Ubud has been discovered The world has found Ubud. In the last twenty-five years, Ubud has gone from a quiet mountain town to an international destination. Where once there were only humble shops, local warungs and traditional accommodations, now these exist...
Feasting on Heavenly Ramen Noodles in Tokyo, Japan
While our six month house sit in Australia led to some unexpected southeast Asia travel, we never imagined we would get to spend six days visiting Tokyo, Japan! The time consuming search for a cheap airfare to get us from Bangkok to Boston was well worth the effort....
Visiting La Paz Waterfall Gardens, Costa Rica
La Paz Waterfall Gardens is a 70 acre wonderland located in Vara Blanca, Alajuela, Costa Rica. It has over 3.5 kilometers of walking trails and 10 animal exhibit areas to enjoy. We visited on an overcast day in November 2014. La paz waterfall Costa Rica map The...
Unique Costa Rican Tour at El Toledo Coffee Farm
The El Toledo Permaculture Coffee Farm tour was one of the highlights of our visit to Atenas, Costa Rica. Gabriel, one of the owners, gave us a great coffee education, showed us their operation, and explained to us about their farming practices. He used a wooden tray...
Exotic Costa Rica Wildlife on Sierpe River Boat Tour
The Sierpe Terraba mangroves wetland area is a protected national wetland reserve of 66,850 acres. It protects the river mouths of the Terraba and Sierpe Rivers, and a vast network of canals, mangrove forests, and estuaries in between. Kayaking, boating, hiking and...
Protecting Costa Rica’s Sea Turtles at Playa Tortuga
December 2014 found us house sitting in Ojochal, on the southern pacific coast of Costa Rica. One of the great things about house sitting is that the homeowners often introduce us to their friends and community. With new friends to chat with we learn about all sorts...
Chihuly Glass Spectacle in the Desert Garden
For more than 70 years, the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix Arizona has been teaching and inspiring visitors from the local community and around the world, providing research, exhibits and holding events designed to help us understand, protect and preserve the...
Close Encounter with the Elephants at Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai Thailand
What is it about the elephant? These enormous and majestic creatures captivated our imaginations as children with their long, agile trunks and big flapping ears. For us, they continued to be in our thoughts as we traveled to South East Asia. So, of course, one of the...
A Trip to the White Temple in Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle
During our two weeks in Chiang Mai it was suggested that we must not miss the Chiang Rai area. So we hired Mr. Dee, a driver recommended by our host family, and headed out for a full day of touring that he planned for us. Mr Dee was a charming man with pretty good...
Visiting the Umbrella Factory in Borsang, Thailand
The entire village of Borsang, Thailand revolves around the making of umbrellas. We had seen umbrellas like these in import stores in America, but never understood how much time and effort goes into their assembly. The crafting of each umbrella takes many people...
Bali Inspired Art in a Beautiful Setting at the Neka Art Museum
Neka Art Museum, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia We recently spent an afternoon viewing the art and lovely buildings and grounds at the Neka Art Museum. Both of us agreed that it has been a long time since we felt so engaged with so many works of art as we did here. The local...
A Few Purchases To Feel At Home While House sitting
I read a lot of other people’s travel blogs. Many are youngish backpackers and a few have cleverly posted lists and photos of the things they pack, like Dan and Alissa at thisworldrocks. As long term house sitters in Australia, we had to pack for three seasons...
Feeding the Little Joeys at Uralla Wildlife Sanctuary
Shortly after we arrived in Kendenup, we learned that there was a wildlife sanctuary in the area. At a community market, we met some of the volunteers who were walking around with little joeys in pouches made of soft fabric and old T-shirts. We attempted to attend...
Ubud the Expat Way: 5 Awesome Experiences Without a Tour Bus
This article from This World Rocks presents the many reasons that Ubud is the cultural capital of Bali and highlights activities that visitors can enjoy on their own. It provides tips on the best places to learn yoga, eat organic, and much more. Read the entire...
Trials On The Art Trails- in Western Australia
It has been fun attending the Plantagenet Pottery Group, here in the local shire. (Shire is like a county, American folks). I was fortunate to arrive in time to catch the tail end of people making sculptures for the annual art trails exhibition and was encouraged to...
Australia Wild: The Untimely Death of a Bobtail Lizard
When Laurie heard Chienne barking and went to investigate she came upon a frightening sight. The little terrier was face to face with a lizard that belonged in the reptile house of some zoo. At least sixteen inches long with a fat, heavy body and a purple mouth, the...
Learning to Speak Australian
One of our decisions regarding house sitting was to start with English speaking countries until we were more comfortable with the process of moving about the world. We did want to see the world though, so Australia was a great choice for a house sit. Now that we are...
Long Road to Oz
We have had a busy month full of changes and too much for one post, but I will do a recap of our travels for those who want to read a lot. Then get more into what it is like here, in Kendenup, in the next post. We left Boston, after a quick visit to Portland, Maine,...
Tourist or Resident? Housesitter…uh huh, uh huh!
I took a break from writing while playing tourist, using our City Pass to visit sites in and around Toronto. The pass is good for 9 days, so we had to cram it all in, even with our leasurely two months of time here! As we visited the big ciy, at first I was pretty...About Us
Laurie and Neil gave away or sold 99% of their possessions for a new life as international travelers. They share the secrets of how they turn limited resources into a life of unlimited fun and adventure. Read more
