Tuesday, January 26, 2016

So many choices!


What to do, what to do?

Choosing a direction on the road, or in life, can be one of the toughest things you do.

This road or that one? This country, city, apartment...or that one?

I thought that traveling for a year would give me a clearer direction in life but that doesn't seem true.

                                    (photo: Abel-Tasman on New Zealand's South Island)

Here are some current possibilities, in no particular order.

Future travel short term:

Definitely going to Cocoa Beach for the long weekend in February.
Definitely going back to Boca for a long weekend in March for the art show.
Definitely going to Austin Texas and Los Angeles California to visit the kids in May or July.
Definitely going to New Orleans again because NEW ORLEANS!
Definitely going to Key West again because KEY WEST!
Driving a Harley down through the Florida Keys is one of my favorite things ever.
Usually I am not one for repeating trips but in those two cases...nuff said.


Future travel long term:
This is trickier because it means time off work for LuAnn, at least some of which depends on my job situation as well and our income generation efforts going forward.

Nevertheless, some places on the list we want to see soon are: National Parks USA, including
Everglades, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Mt Rushmore, Shenandoah, & Zion. We are hoping to see the California ones while visiting the kids (maybe).

Central and South America are on the list. We've been to Brazil & Costa Rica, but I hear good things about Belize & Panama. Still want to visit Ecuador but preferably near the coast.



I still really want to tour Scandinavia and see St Petersburg Russia.
Germany is a big place with lots to see also, especially the Rhine river.
There is some amazing stuff to see in Canada but all those Northern latitudes are summer trips.

One thing travel did not cure me of is my aversion to cold weather. I like it hot.
Another thing travel didn't cure me of is my aversion to high elevations. I like sea level.
I realize this is severely limiting but f*ck it. I'm not going to be miserable just so I can satisfy someone else's idea of a cool itinerary.

Speaking of decisions, we have been pondering whether to buy a house again or continue to rent?

While we're at it, do we want a house or a condo? There are some great condos with boat slips here that are very affordable, and someone else does the yard work. On the other hand I'm not much for neighbors right on top of me. I'm not crazy about buying at all, but if we can get a place we can rent out and get some income from that would help fund more traveling for sure.

Meanwhile I have been having some success with music here in florida playing bass with blues and soul with Back Alley Cadillac, doing my solo thing and starting up another guitar trio so that's good.

LuAnn is having some success selling her paintings at The Cool Moose, the local coffee shop.

Jacksonville Hot Rods has been put on the back burner until I can raise some more capital to work with. Mostly it's a collection of photos of all the cool cars I see around here!

So as you can see the travel aspect of We Trot About has been hindered by LuAnn's broken leg but we are thriving pretty well here in Jax for the time being. Thank you all for following along. Be sure to follow on Instagram for up to the minute pix of Andy & LuAnn's adventures :-)

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Full Time Travel VS Gap Year Part 2 of 3


     In today’s blog, full time nomads Chuck and Lori of www.chuckandlori.com interview us about our travels and we talk a bit about how it all came about. We hope the conversation helps shed some light on the full time versus sabbatical decision. 



Q. First off Andy and LuAnn, tell us a little about yourselves, and tell our readers how we met you guys.
LuAnn is an interior designer and watercolorist at www.LuAnnDunkinson.com, and Andy is a software quality assurance guru, plus a photographer and musician at www.AndyToomey.com. Most people are a something-slash-something else nowadays, aren’t they?

TO READ THE REST CLICK HERE


Monday, January 11, 2016

Full Time Travel VS Gap Year Pt 1 of 3 with Chuck and Lori!

Today we're featuring (and being featured by) our pals, fellow travelers Chuck and Lori.


Here is a link to the article on blog, the first in a 3 part series where we talk about Full Time Travel VS taking a Gap Year.

Quoting Chuck:
Wanderlust is a serious affliction. It can incite otherwise sane, mature people to sell everything they own and hit the road or to tell their employers they’re taking a year off so they can travel the world. If you have an acute case of wanderlust, you might be asking yourself some life-changing questions. Can I just run away and travel the world for rest of my life? What if I just take a year or so off and do a round-the-world trip?

We hope you follow along! 

Cheers!

Andy & LuAnn