4 feet 2 mouths

Carmen: Hey, why don’t we start a blog? That way we won’t have to write all those emails to family and friends letting them know what we are up to.
Nathan: OK (with approving shoulder shrug)

What began as an easy method to update loved ones quickly morphed into a full on photo and text journalist exercise.  Neither of us realized the amount of work we would end up putting into the blog, but as we put pen to paper we became enthusiastic to share our stories.  With over 100,000 words and 1,300 images the blog has become a medium for us to relive, share and promote our exploration of the world.  Our efforts felt particularly recognized when our blog was featured on the WordPress Freshly Pressed site, which highlights top blog posts..

4feet2mouths is Freshly Pressed!

Beyond journaling, the blog has even become a way to connect with other travelers and travel fantasizers.  The feedback we received through your comments is much appreciated. (A special shout out to our most frequent commenter, Manish!) On our 100th post, we would like to simply say thank you to all our readers for joining this exciting journey with us.

Machu Picchu friends

Looking back at the past 10 months it’s hard to believe the incredible journey we’ve had.  As we reviewed pictures for this post we kept thinking,”Wow, did we really get to do all that? Did that really taste as good as I remember?” People often ask us what our favorite places have been but honestly we’ve enjoyed pretty much all of it.  Perhaps we can describe a few favorite moments, though.

• Chowing down on onion and cheese fugazzeta pizza at a crowded restaurant in Buenos Aires
• Enjoying the soft sand beneath our toes on Rio beaches
• Drinking wine in Mendoza, Cafayate, Napa and Rioja
  
• Breathing in the crisp mountain air in the Bolivian highlands
• Commiserating with friends about our aching legs climbing on the Inca Trail towards Macchu Pichu
• Hearing the wonderful stories of Nathan’s 93 year old Aunt Bea
• La Super Rica
• Staring at the Cathedral of Santiago under a full moon after walking 500 miles to get there
• Eating huge slabs of feta on the waterfronts of Greek islands
• Smelling spices and sweets in Istanbul markets
• Admiring the mystical ruins amid lush surroundings in Hampi, India
• Slurping dirty noodles with good friends Nalat and Tim in Thailand

And that is truly just a handful.  We are incredibly excited for what is to come – more great memories and mouth-watering food.  Our journey continues through Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand as we make a counter-clockwise loop through southeast Asia. From Bangkok we fly to China where we will spend the last part of our trip.

Two hikers

The next biggest question we receive is how we can afford to travel for over a year. This is a challenging to answer simply and we will be writing a series of blog articles to encourage and mobilize the average traveler into the world.  The key reality is that vacation and long-term budget travel are very different activities.  Negotiating with a taxi driver to save $1 or finding a $6 room because it is without air conditioning, hot water or windows or eating food from street carts are daily activities for us.  There is an art to traveling the world, it is a frugal expression, but it is possible.  We have no bills, no mortgage, no car and only one mobile phone.  Simple world travel is cheaper than when we lived in Berkeley!  Most of all we had friends and family that supported us.  We had the great fortune to gain college degrees with stable salary.  After saving for several years, we took a leap of faith to sell everything and travel the world.

Buenos Aires Food

“Why are you not fat?” Well, our families tell us in amazement that we are looking thin.  We eat a light breakfast and simple lunches and dinners.  We search out great food and when it is good, we photograph it and put it on the blog.  When it is bad, you don’t hear about it.   Ten months of eating is a large number of meals, and we only have the best for you.  Tasting the world is part of our journey and our passions, so if you are hungry when you finish reading- good.  We also only choose the most slimming of photos of course!

Thank you for hopping on our Rickshaw Roller Coaster to see Camino Miracles and Carved Canyons.  We hope you will be able to join us for the next few months as we trek across Southern Asia, return to the U.S. and search for jobs in Europe.  Cheers to more great adventures!

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