Days not Homeless: 5 Years, 8 Days ...and loving every second of this alpine adventure!
South America borders are not the cheapest places for Americans due to Visas and reciprocity fees and without prior planning they are also not the easiest to cross. We've already been hit with $160 for a Brazilian Visa, $160 reciprocity fee for Argentina, and more...
After our extended stint in Bonito we once again headed to the Pantanal, only this time in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. I missed out on driving the Transpantaneira road in the north and didn’t want the same to happen with the Estrada Parque in the southern...
Now that I've signed up for La Ruta, the 3 day mountain bike race from the Pacific to the Caribbean in Costa Rica, I have to start learning how to ride a bike again and gain some level of fitness! Most of the tourism places in Bonito rent mountain bikes and after...
It’s hard to travel because you always feel like you’re on vacation and with that mentality you tend to eat and drink more than normal and are lax about working out. Well, this has finally caught up to both of us – Wayne is losing weight and I’m finding it! We are...
When you think of animals and wildlife in South America, specifically Brazil, you automatically think of the Amazon. We thought so too until we looked deeper into Brazilian attractions and found an area called the Pantanal. We would have really missed out if we had...
Andrea and I slept as best we could at the Montevideo airport on Thursday night, a first for both of us. Our flight to Porto Alegre, Brazil was scheduled for a 7am departure, arriving at 8:45am. We both fell asleep as soon as we took off and when we woke up we...
Up until this point we were a bit disappointed with Uruguary. Colonia was awesome, but Punta del Este and Montevideo had both been disappointing for us. This is when it all started to change! We rented a '”toy” car from Montevideo and started our drive to La Paloma...
Wednesday night, February 27th, we took the bus from Ipanema to the Rio International Airport with 3 hours until our flight. However, the bus made numerous stops causing us to arrive with little time to spare. We were fortunate that we had some assistance from the GOL...
We headed to Paraty on February 17th by rental car since we were with friends from Virginia, Jeff and Colleen for the week. Paraty has become a popular tourist area in recent years, renowned for the historic town and the coast and mountains in the region. It’s an...
Sugarloaf Mountain (Pão de Açúcar) We headed to Sugarloaf on the 511 bus from Ipanema around 8am. I had to be back for work at 11am and Jeff and Colleen were arriving from DC at 10:30 so it needed to be a quick trip! We were concerned that we may not have enough time...
Another “must do” on our list was to visit Rio de Janeiro, Brazil during Carnaval. The city and its suburbs are crawling with locals and foreigners. The buses are packed with people traveling from bloco to bloco (a bloco is a block party – some with just a few people...
No idea why it had taken us so long to make it to Egypt but we're already raring to go back! This occasion was just a week long vacation to get us away from the cold of the Alps and for me to enjoy (if there is any enjoyment!) recovering from hip replacement surgery....
After what felt like an eternity it was a random email from a good friend in the US that prompted a plan of attack for the remaining 8 state highpoints. Unfortunately they were spread far and wide and included four that required some level of technique and multiple...
Our Route des Grandes Alpes map from Cluses to MentonCol d'Izoard DescentCol de Turini DescentSt Martin VésubieValbergArvieuxRoute des Grandes Alpes Day 1: Cluses to Le Grand-Bornand to Beaufort-sur-Doron Col de Romme, Col de la Colombiere, Col des Aravis, Col des...
With the forecast calling for rain to fall for multiple days on Chamonix yet again it was time to search out another European city. Having recently got back from Nimes in the south of France it was the turn of Italy. We toyed with a return to Venice, then thought that...
With the forecast calling for rain to fall for multiple days on Chamonix yet again it was time to search out another European city. Having recently got back from Nimes in the south of France it was the turn of Italy. We toyed with a return to Venice, then thought that...
Unable to take a rental car into Albania on a prior roadtrip through Europe we made it a mission to discover what would turn out to be a gem, and not one of those expensive gems! EasyJet supplied the direct flight from Geneva to Tirana, public transport was dirt...
Unable to take a rental car into Albania on a prior roadtrip through Europe we made it a mission to discover what would turn out to be a gem, and not one of those expensive gems! EasyJet supplied the direct flight from Geneva to Tirana, public transport was dirt...
Not quite what we had planned regarding a big Swedish adventure, our 3 week Kungsleden hike turning into a city break in Stockholm. Oh well, it was still fun, and we got to explore another scenic European city. With EasyJet flying the dirt cheap route directly from...
The thought of travelling for two days to visit family in New Zealand without adding on a South Pacific island trip was now only a thought! After spending a little over a week in Niue on our previous trip where would we go this time? Whilst my mum had already been to...
With a few hundred Euros in TAP Portugal credit and no real idea of where to go that didn't involve connections and long flights we decided to just head somewhere warm and that we'd never been to before. The Algarve sounded like that destination. Unfortunately the...
Approaching Greenland ice shelf from the air was humbling, the size of the glaciers tumbling into the sea, the iceberg’s with their turquoise underwater colours, the sheer expanse… and we were barely north of Greenland's narrowest point - there was a hell of a lot...
So here it is, time for another fairly long bike-packing adventure following the length of the mighty Rhine river. The other getaways I was toying with were either a north south traverse of Iceland on foot or a photography shoot in the Faroe Islands - for both it was...
Over eighty days of skiing under my belt, it was time for Andrea and I to head to warmer climates. We had spent some time in the French island of Corsica a couple of years ago and now it was time for the Italian island of Sardinia. We had zero plans; just the desire...
Not what we had initially planned but more than happy that crap high mountain reports ruined our early spring 4000m peak bagging adventure! What was a loosely organised Monte Rosa trip, overnight turned into a well oiled Haute Route ski tour (thanks for demanding a...
Andrea heading home to visit family for a little over 3 weeks made the perfect excuse to make my third trip to Nepal. This time would be kind of strange as it wouldn't involve the Icefall, the Lhotse Face, nor the summit of Everest! I had to find something different...
Not entirely hopeful that we would have time to attempt a second Dolomites high route we hadn't planned or reserved anything for Alta Via 1. Having a copy of the GPX route downloaded to Gaia and a list of the more popular refuges was the extent of it. Whilst winging...
Planning a long hike during Covid was not as easy as we anticipated. Our, or at least my first option of the Arctic Circle Trail in Greenland was pretty much closed - we needed a plan B. We had never really thought too much about the Dolomites but after reading...
Outside of Cape Epic in South Africa the Swiss Epic in Graubünden, Switzerland, is probably the big destination mountain bike race of the Epic series. Being one of the qualifiers for the Cape Epic, the two-person-team five day event is hugely competitive, packed with...
With the forecast calling for rain to fall for multiple days on Chamonix yet again it was time to search out another European city. Having recently got back from Nimes in the south of France it was the turn of Italy. We toyed with a return to Venice, then thought that...
Whilst Mont Blanc comes in at the highest mountain in western Europe its normal "Goûter" route is one of the easiest in the Alps. The 4810m snow covered summit looms over Chamonix, the lower glaciers of Bossons and Taconnaz winding their way down from the upper...
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