What a long, strange year it's been.

Dear 2016,
Remember that time in July when Patrick and I got the call that the Subaru's engine needed to be completely rebuilt (also known as the icing on the craptastic cake that was the first half of you), and I shook my fist at the sky and shouted, "What else ya got for us, 2016?!"

Man, did you ever deliver...

There's not much to say about you that hasn't already been said, 2016. But between your numerous punches, you gave us here at Slowly Global some wonderful gifts too.

Like that month on Orcas Island, and our subsequent road trip down the coast where we relived fond memories from April 2013 and got to explore Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park. That was pretty great.

Turtleback Mountain - Orcas Island

Hoh Rain Forest Hall of Moss - Olympic National Park

Olympic National Forest (day one-zero-four-four)

Cape Disappointment State Park - WA

The 2016 farm internship you gave us didn't exactly go as planned, but we still learned a lot about farming, the Rogue Valley, and ourselves during those 10 weeks. (We even got a weekend on the Eastern Rogue-Umpqua Scenic Byway - new territory to both of us.)

most important lesson: no onions on our future farm!
 

iconic Toketee Falls - check!

Besides, if that farm internship had worked out, we wouldn't have been able to help our parents relocate and settle into their new homes, enjoy extended time with family and friends on both coasts, spend a week on Steens Mountain and in the surrounding areas, and take a quick trip to Portland to see the man who started it all five years ago. So thanks for all of that.

Rocky Mount, NC

Eugene, OR

Kiger Gorge - Steens Mountain

Clear Lake - Sisters, OR

Frank Turner's mosh pit at the Oregon Zoo

Your latest gift of this extended Coos Bay housesit has turned out better than we expected. We're appreciative of our jobs and the new friends we've made. We're also enjoying the natural beauty of Coos County and the quirky little pockets of culture we run across from time to time.

our backyard for the winter

And let's not forget the beer, 2016. Good job on the beer.

the northwest is the best

Between your punches and your gifts, 2016, you've really given us a lot to think about. We've gone around and around about where we go from here, and it's still anyone's guess... But as a wise man once said, as long as we've got a place to sleep, clothes on our backs, and some food to eat, we can't ask for anything more.

Onward,
J&P

"Professional housesitting," part two - helpful tips.

Our first "professional housesitting" blog featured FAQs and pros/cons of housesitting while traveling. Many of the "cons" I mentioned are not really "cons" in the grand scheme of things - and they are easily addressed by the tips below...

Once you've signed up for a housesitting web site, when responding to potential hosts the most obvious tip is to put yourself in the host's position. What characteristics would you want to see in a potential housesitter? How would you want your housesitter to treat your animals and possessions while you were gone?

That said, here are some specific tips...

Treat every opportunity like a job application. Your profile is your "resume"; your introductory email is your "cover letter." When reaching out to potential hosts, definitely be yourself, but also be professional and courteous. Include your phone number in your email. Respond to any of their follow-up emails as soon as possible. (Seriously! We lost out on a housesit gig because another couple sent a follow-up reply ONE HOUR before we did. It can get pretty cut-throat in the more desirable locations.)

And show the hosts that you've read their ad! Include their names in your greeting, mention their pets by name, comment or ask a question about something random in their photo gallery or posting. Attention to detail will go a long way.

Finally (and this is mostly for longer housesits), request an in-person visit, a Skype video conference, or at least a phone call - whatever is convenient for them and you. Many hosts will suggest this before signing you on, but if they don't, something as simple as a Skype video tour of their home could give pretty good insight into how they live and how you'd be living during your stay. And a phone call could indicate how high- or low-maintenance your hosts will be while they are gone (either of which are fine, as long as you are fine with it too).

We ended up not doing remote "interviews" for our last two housesits, mainly because we knew they were our last two housesits but also because we trusted our gut instinct by this point, and things worked out totally fine. But it's always a good practice.

Know yourself. Are you a neat freak, a cooking fanatic, an avid bicyclist, a digital nomad who needs reliable strong wifi? Do you love the city or the country? Can you spend days on end without getting out of your pajamas, or does the thought of that make you absolutely crazy?

It doesn't matter so much for 1-2 week stays, but if you're considering a longer housesit, make sure the experience will meet your needs. You might think you can go without {whatever routine or habit} for 6-8 weeks... Trust me, you'll regret it.

Be flexible on timing and location whenever possible. Look for opportunities along your general route or in your general geographic area of interest. Secure those housesits and plan around them. Long-term travelers should have no problem with this approach.

Related, if a host isn't sure about the end date, be sure you're flexible enough to accommodate this before applying. Few things are more stressful than having to scramble to find backup petsitters while you're out of town! Our Portland host ended up extending our housesit, but she made it clear from the start that this would be a possibility; we made it similarly clear that we were completely flexible in September and checked in with her periodically over the summer until she was able to confirm her return date. It worked out great all around.

Clarify expectations upon arrival. Some of our hosts have sent short novellas of instructions ahead of time, others have shot off three-sentence emails from the airport on their way out of town. Either way, it's great to have an hour or evening with your hosts to walk through their day-to-day routine. This is especially true when animals are involved, as it helps to get the animals acquainted with you while Mom and/or Dad are still there.

Also, some hosts are particular about what pots and pans they want you to use, or which dried goods are up for grabs, or how often to clean the cat litter, or whether you can use their local library card (which we highly recommend requesting!). Sometimes long distance is free; sometimes it's not and you'll need to track calls. Sometimes they want you to use a specific Netflix account. These are all good things to clarify before the hosts go out of town.

Send regular updates to your host. This is my own personal tip, which probably comes from years of IT project management... Our hosts felt guilty leaving their pets behind. To reassure them while they were gone, I would send a picture and quick update every few days. (The only exceptions were my Honolulu friends whose cat wouldn't come out of the closet the whole time we were there, and one of our hosts who had limited, expensive internet while they were gone.)

We also sent regular email updates to one host whose dog had a few leg issues (after calling her to get guidance, of course), and another host who had a pricey maintenance issue while they were out of town (just to let them know that the contractor's fix seemed to be working fine).

Daisy, a particularly shy kitty -

her owner was quite happy to get this photo update

~~~~~~~~~~

So that's our $1.75 on housesitting. If you've tried housesitting while traveling, what other tips do you have? If you're interested in trying housesitting, what other questions do you have?

"Professional housesitting," part one - FAQs and pros/cons.

Regular readers know that we got a small taste of housesitting in Melbourne and Honolulu back in 2014, and we recently spent the last eight months as "professional (unpaid) housesitters" around the Pacific Northwest. We got to explore new towns (Corvallis and Orcas Island here in the States, Sundre and Vernon up in Canada) as well as catch up on our previous hometown of Portland. Our housesits averaged 4-5 weeks, except Portland where we were able to stay for three months last summer.

It's only June but we're already starting to think about what to do post-November, and housesitting has come up as an opportunity once again. Over the months we've heard many questions about how this whole housesitting thing works so we thought we'd answer a few FAQs, share our perspective on housesitting pros and cons, and (for those who are interested) offer some tips to get started.

That's a lot for just one blog post, so here's part one - FAQs and pros/cons...

~~~~~ FAQs ~~~~~

How did you find opportunities? Our Honolulu and Sundre housesits were at friends' places. We found all of the others through Housecarers.com. For a small annual fee, you post your profile, housesitting preferences (length of stay, animal care experience, etc), a few references, and some pictures.

At that point you can search listings and message potential hosts who have posted ads describing their housesit opportunity. Hosts can also review profiles and reach out to you before they even post a listing - this is how we got our Portland gig.

awww... miss that sweet boy Rusty

Housecarers.com also allows you to set up notifications for postings in your geographic area of interest or general time frame, which is great because the sooner you reply to a posting, the better your chances.

(Trusted Housesitters is the other web site we're sort of familiar with... I honestly can't remember why we chose Housecarers over Trusted Housesitters at the time.)

Where are the opportunities? It seemed that most of the opportunities under Housecarers.com were in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States, which was perfect for us. A quick scan of Trusted Housesitters indicates that they might have a slightly wider geographic area. Definitely do your research on this before signing up for one site or the other - or just cover your bases and sign up for both. The membership costs are pretty minuscule compared to the money you'll save in the long run.

How long are the opportunities? Durations range anywhere from a single weekend to 6 months or more, with many other options in between. Sometimes hosts indicate that they don't know when they'll be back - lucky them!

What were the general responsibilities? All responsibilities should be clearly laid out in the host's posting. Feeding pets, walking dogs, watering plants/gardens, putting out the trash and recycling... Not burning the house down... Enjoying local hikes, supporting neighborhood cafes, taking advantage of the host's ample reading library or music collection or home fitness center... Those simple tasks were common across all our housesits.

Other tasks vary by your experience or ability. Because of our previous farm experience, we cared for chickens during two housesits and helped with farm chores during another housesit. Some opportunities we've seen don't involve pets at all. Others we've seen require more significant garden or home care.

with chickens come eggs... so there's that!

Did you get paid? Nope. (See "cons" below.) One host gave us a few ample gift cards to local stores, and another host who required a bit more animal care offered to pay us a small stipend but given their enormous vegetable garden that we had full access to, we declined.

As an aside, there are paid housesitting gigs out there... if you know where to find them, please let us know!

~~~~~ Pros ~~~~~

You'll see more off-the-beaten-path places. Sure, we stayed in a thriving little neighborhood in Melbourne and a familiar neighborhood in Portland. But we also stayed in a quiet farmhouse in Corvallis and a quiet farmhouse in Sundre. And Vernon, British Columbia? Have you heard of this place?

Getting to and from successive housesits also took us through Montana, Calgary, Vancouver, Bellingham - places we've never been able to spend much time in the past.

Kootenai Falls suspension bridge - Libby, Montana

(But, that's something to consider - do you have transportation to get you places? Hosts may not be willing to pick you up, and once you get there, can you get around?)

You really live like the locals. We volunteered throughout the summer in Portland. We attended the annual Ukrainian Christmas party and junior league hockey games along with our neighbors in Vernon. We hiked almost all 38 miles of trails in Moran State Park on Orcas Island.

the west really IS the best

We shopped at thrift stores and farmer's markets, and sought out free events and good beer, everywhere we went. Basically, we transplanted how we lived in Portland for five years into each housesitting opportunity. It was awesome.

You can find longer-term opportunities, making leftovers a possibility. After living meal-to-meal for so long, believe me - this was HUGE. We froze pesto and berries in Portland. We dried heaps of tomatoes, apples, and pears in Corvallis. We made a surplus of wontons in Vernon. We enjoyed waffles for days and days on Orcas. HUGE.

wonton soup for you!

You get your pet fix without the long-term time and expense commitments of having a pet. We loved all our "temporary pets" - they all had their quirks, but they were all pretty sweet and we have fond memories of all of them. And? We were happy to have our freedom back when we left the housesit. (But we'd go back to each housesit in a heartbeat!)

You get to travel and settle down at the same time. Generally speaking, medium-term housesitting was a great way for us to take a breather and regroup after two years of international travel. It also gave us the dual benefit of roaming around and settling in for a few weeks, so it was a gentler transition back to a more sedentary lifestyle.

~~~~~ Cons ~~~~~

You still spend money. We got by on about $13/person/day while housesitting. (It doesn't sound like much on a day-to-day basis, but eight months equated to just under $6000, which is quite a bit when you are living off a travel budget with no income to replenish it!) We have no regrets about the money we've spent while housesitting but we definitely see that doing this long-term would be a much better arrangement for travelers who work from the road.

Locations can be isolating. This could be great if you're traveling solo while writing the next great American novel, but not-so-great if you crave social regular interaction. (Groceries and gas are also more expensive in the remote areas... just something to consider.)

It may not be as flexible as it sounds. Depending on the pet, you may not be able to get away for day or overnight trips - dogs have to be walked and fed, sometimes cats are on schedules too. And farm animals are definitely on a schedule!

We missed out on a few very intriguing hiking and sightseeing opportunities due to pet schedule limitations, but that's okay - they would've cost additional money, and now we have a reason to go back to those places someday.

It can be dreadfully boring at times. And I repeat: "Let's housesit in the mountains for the holidays!" "Seeing that part of Canada in the winter will be great!" "Getting snowed in, watching movies and reading books all day, hanging out in the hot tub - it'll be fun!" ... said no sane person ever.

I suppose it sounds awesome if you work 40+ hours a week, 50 weeks out of the year, but after one week of our five-week Vernon stay, I was done.

Your hosts' priorities may not match yours. Cleanliness, energy efficiency, recycling, how the hosts have equipped their kitchen... These have all been minor issues as we've gone from home to home.

For me, the cookware was the biggest challenge. We ended up traveling with multiple coffee pots and basic kitchen supplies, which took up more car space than one would expect!

~~~~~ Up Next ~~~~~

So there's some food for thought... Our next post will feature some tips for those of you considering this as a way to extend travel or just to see another part of your home state or country for a little while. If you've tried housesitting and have anything to add, please leave a comment!

Friday five: things we've learned over the past 880 days.

Yes, yes - we've learned that people are generally good, and that the world is much smaller than one might think, and that we are capable of handling more (physically and mentally) than we ever imagined. And we've learned a heck of a lot of world history and geography.

Here are five other things we've learned since April 21, 2013, in no particular order...

1. Goats. Are. Awesome.

Wakefield, Quebec

June 2013

2. "Suggested routes" are usually easier, but "alternate routes" are always more interesting - and always have fewer people.

Uzumlu, Turkey

December 2013

3. Eating where the locals eat is always a good idea, no matter where in the world you are.

Hanoi, Vietnam
April 2014

4. You really can survive 19 months with one pair of jeans, four t-shirts, a few layers, and a week's worth of underwear. Really. You can.

Luang Prabang, Lao

May 2014

(We've since learned that it's possible to survive in general with about twice that much clothing.)

5. Bill Murray was right. Nothing teaches you more about your partner than 24/7 togetherness during countless stressful situations, endless months of decision-making, and numerous bus stations where no one except you speaks English.

Portland, Oregon
July 2015

Well, he was probably right. We didn't actually land at JFK so we didn't take his final piece of advice, haha. (But if and when that will happen is definitely a very frequently asked question... and when we have an answer, we'll be sure to let you know.)

Friday five: not-so-frequently-asked questions.

We've talked about how it feels to "be back" and we've answered some other FAQs. Now it's time for the questions we've only been asked once or twice, but we've really enjoyed answering... (We did mention that we'll be injecting travel talk into every conversation for the foreseeable future, whether you want to hear it or not, didn't we?)

1. What was your happiest moment? We both agree that there are many! Using a general gauge of # of photos taken and/or smiles remembered per place, the following moments rank pretty highly: hanging out with Nubian goat kids in Quebec, our Cares Gorge hike in Spain, building a Habitat for Humanity house in Cambodia, the night dive with manta rays in Hawaii, and of course hitting Day 365 in Vietnam and realizing we were only halfway through our one-year travel fund.

the Cares Gorge in Picos de Europa National Park - go there

I'd also have to say that after 20 years of dreaming with absolutely no expectation of it actually happening, the day in September 2013 when I finally crossed Krakow off the list made me pretty darned happy.

dziękuję

2. What was your proudest moment? I thought it was interesting that we both named physical achievements when answering this question. Patrick says his proudest moment was the first time we dove together on Koh Tao...

awesome tan lines brought to you by SE Asia

And I'd agree that one of my proudest moments is getting my diving certification. Patrick, being a man of few words, summed it up nicely above. Good for him. Now please allow me to expound on this a bit.

Getting this dive certification took a lot of swimming, a lot of carrying around really heavy equipment, and a lot of bouncing and sliding around dive boats in choppy water. But I survived, physically.

Mentally it was a whole other story. Yes, I have done crazy things like river raft in class 5 rapids, jump out of airplanes, swing 250 meters over canyons, and climb mountains. I'm not claustrophobic but the mere idea of being 18 or 30 meters underwater for an extended period of time Freaked. Me. Out. The dive shop wasn't the most professional (equipment didn't fit or seemed to keep breaking and the instructors were all ADD twenty-somethings), which didn't help with my unease...

But I did it, and those last two dives with Patrick were magical. Sorry to be cliché, but they really were.

My other proudest physical achievement was reaching the top of Thorong La Pass on the Annapurna Circuit. The night before we summited the pass, Patrick was loving the adrenaline rush while I was having some sort of bizarre freak out. We attempted an early sleep for our 5am wake up but all I could do was "what if" and try not to cry. "What if we have a heart attack, how will they get us off this mountain?" "What if our lack of sleep causes us to fall off a mile high cliff?" "What if we are hit with hypothermia or frostbite?"

We didn't have heart attacks. We didn't fall off cliffs. We were plenty warm the whole time (even while it was snowing that morning at 5am). We climbed to the pass without issue and took celebratory photos.

we {heart} Nepal

It was awesome.

There are volunteer moments that we're really proud of too - but those were more about giving back than patting ourselves on the backs.

3. What was your biggest insight? This one we definitely agree on - we now have a much better understanding of how the rest of the world lives. Everything from what people eat on a daily basis to what they prioritize, how their politics work, how they build their homes... Details vary greatly but in general, there are more similarities worldwide to life in the US than you'd probably imagine.

We also learned a lot about how the rest of the world views America. Almost everyone with whom we talked politics was thrilled that Obama got two terms, and some folks were a bit concerned about the 2016 elections. (Just the other day we were talking about how happy we were to be back in the US when Trump announced his presidency. If we were still overseas we'd be hiding our heads in shame even more than we're doing now.)

And no one we spoke to outside of the US understands why Americans love their guns so much. Then again, neither do we. Many of these conversations happened in Canada and Australia, but we also happened to be in Phnom Penh at the time of the Ferguson shooting and ensuing riots. The Khmer hotel staff seemed quite fascinated with this story playing on the lobby's TV - this happens in America, land of the free and home of the brave? - and the story was in heavy rotation in world media (which typically covered US news far less than any other country's news).

We followed BBC news and other world news web sites before our trip and we continue to follow them now. We encourage everyone to do the same - US news is entirely too insular and does nothing but fear-monger and dramatize.

4. Did you make a lot of friends in your travels? Yes! But very few of these friends were travelers we met along our route. Sure, once in a while we hit it off with someone well enough to share a meal, but most of our fellow travelers were half our age and we really couldn't relate to them. (Or they were people we met online who we wouldn't actually "meet" until we got back to Portland.)

Most of the friends we made along our journey were the farmers and their families who welcomed us into their homes and taught us so much about their daily life, their challenges and successes along the way, and what they loved (and didn't love so much) about their country as well as ours. We also made some great WWOOF friends, half our age but very wise for their years. These are most definitely "our people" and we are so happy to have shared 10+ days with them, and to still keep in touch with them today.

5. What surprised you the most? We really had to think about this one. Patrick says his most surprising moment was when our Thai hilltribe village host pulled an eel out of the rice paddy and said, "Breakfast!" I think my most surprising moment overseas was landing in Perth, Australia after being in SE Asia and Nepal for seven months. The Western culture shock and extreme excess kind of blew me away. We were also pretty surprised at the poverty in Portugal - we had this image of a lush, exotic, thriving Western European country... not exactly.

These days, we're surprised at how long ago this whole trip feels, and how easy it is to forget that we actually rode camels in Morocco and went to the coffee capital of Vietnam and bottle-fed joeys in Australia...

So keep asking questions - it helps us to remember. We'll keep talking travel whether you like it or not, so you might as well help direct the conversation!

Housesitting: two months in the life.

We've been housesitting for our Portland, Oregon host for over two months. (Over two months! How did that happen?) Many people have asked what we've been doing all summer, so we thought we'd add another answer to the growing list of FAQs...

First things first. "FUNemployment" does not equal "vacation." Although we have actively resisted any kind of temporary office work, we have done a few odd jobs here and there for cash (thank you, you know who you are) but generally speaking, we are still living off our travel fund - such a challenge in the city known for its great food and amazing music! As housesitters we don't pay rent, but we still have costs of groceries, gas and other miscellany, and we've allowed ourselves a (pretty small) entertainment budget. It all adds up and at this point our average living costs run around $32/day. Money is always on our mind and is often a determining factor in how we spend our time.

"FUNemployment" also does not always equal 100% fun. Our first few weeks here were pretty stressful and we continue to struggle with staying positive while basically remaining stagnant for the first time in over two years. Some days we've been so weighed down with the enormous question of what we're going to do for the rest of our lives (or just in 2016) that it's hard to motivate ourselves to do anything productive. Those days have sucked.

But most days have been pretty good and we've actually done quite a bit over the last few months...

As far as the housesitting responsibilities go, twice a day we feed and walk two silly, adorable dogs.

goofball Ruby

big brother Rusty (also a goofball)

(As an aside... When you apply for a housesit, you're able to see pictures of the house and pets, and you should definitely talk to the host(s) before accepting, but obviously you can't Skype with the pets so it's impossible to know exactly what you're in for. Luckily, we had a wonderful feline experience in Melbourne, and here in Portland we have fallen in love with these two goofball canines who provide hours of entertainment each week. We are really going to miss them.)

We also feed the chickens each morning and let them out for an afternoon romp while the dogs nap inside.

afternoon freedom

And we water the small raised bed gardens. They need a lot less watering now that it's not 100°F and almost fall (how did that happen?), but we've enjoyed many pounds of tomatoes, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, basil, arugula, green beans and lettuce this summer.

early July

late July

early August

late August

early September (just one day's harvest)

And that's all we're required to do each day. Yep, housesitting is HARD!

I kid... sort of. I've honestly been rather challenged by two months of (fairly selfish) down time. I appreciated the first few weeks for catching up on our US National Parks blog-o-rama, and then I read a handful of books, watched a handful of movies, and caught up with some friends. And then I got bored.

To combat this idle purposelessness, I've been volunteering once a week at the Oregon Food Bank's Learning Garden - so much fun! You just sign up, show up, pick your project(s) for the morning, and go to it.

earlier this summer I spent lots of time with the tomatoes

now I spend lots of time weeding

It really is a learning opportunity; I've harvested fruits and vegetables I never knew how to harvest and I've learned a lot more about the growing season here in Portland (in spite of the oddness of this particularly warm season!). As an added bonus, volunteers can take home a piece of the day's harvest so I've been able to try new recipes and regularly supply Patrick with jalapeno peppers for his homemade salsa.

Most importantly, though, produce harvested at OFB's Learning Garden is distributed to local hunger-relief agencies. A few weeks ago I got to see the other end of the cycle by spending an afternoon at the Northeast Emergency Food Program. The food on the NEFP's pantry shelves is free (families get up to three visits every six months) and a lot of it comes from the Oregon Food Bank. Whereas many food pantries pre-bag food for families in need, NEFP allows families to browse shelves and "shop" for food based on the size of their household.

That afternoon I helped six families - ranging in size from 1-10 family members and varying in backgrounds, ethnicities and food choices - select produce, canned goods and frozen meals. Several of the clients were Vietnamese and I struggled to remember basic words from our time there so that I could better connect with them; another US war veteran client had spent time on a farm in Vancouver and I enjoyed talking with him about nutrition while he shopped. It was a good experience that I hope to repeat soon.

Anyway! Patrick has enjoyed his down time by plowing through a dozen books and catching up on movies. He's also helped out at the Oregon Food Bank, he volunteered at two brew fests and a hops harvest, and he helped a friend with some home brewing.

service with a smile -
Oregon Brewers Festival

a straight shooter with upper management written all over him -

North American Organic Brewers Festival

sip, sip, pick -
Hopworks Urban Brewery hops harvest

To facilitate building our local farm network we've gone to Friends of Family Farmers events and a few "classes" at the Urban Farm Collective... I use the quotes because the UFC classes have been more like volunteer opportunities where they get free labor in exchange for teaching us how to do things - pretty smart of them and pretty fun for us.

fruit tree pruning class

pickling class

It's been really nice to have a kitchen for an extended period of time. We've been able to continue the pickling and fermentation experiments throughout the summer, and we've enjoyed cooking meals that don't require a campfire.

sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha

We're both running again (another perk of being stable for a few months) and to keep active I've also been doing some landscaping around our host's yard and helping a neighbor with her yardwork. We may also be helping several friends with landscaping projects during September.

We've spent time with friends and family, and we've been able to get away for solo adventures too - Patrick went camping on the coast with a friend and he's been helping his mom with some house projects down in Eugene. I also went to Oakland to help a friend with her house project.

And yes, in between all of this I've been thinking about writing that book... But that's about as far as I've gotten with that little project.

Long story short, we are definitely keeping busy and the days are flying by. (We've actually been here long enough to see the days start to get shorter. It's weird.) The hours in each day are starting to fly too - we're usually going by 7am, and some days we look at the clock and can't believe it's already 3pm. Really not sure how all you people with jobs ever get anything done...!

As our time in the Rose City winds down, we're realizing that we've done almost everything on our Portland wish list and we've seen almost everyone we want to see. We've learned some cool things, met some neat people, and helped some worthwhile organizations. We know where we're going next, and after that, and after that. And probably most exciting, we have a plan for 2016! More to come on that...

Pretty soon it will be October 5th and after we wonder how that happened, we'll say goodbye to the puppies, go camping for a bit, and then start this housesitting process over again in a brand-new-to-us Oregon town. Only instead of three months there, we'll have just five weeks.

Yeesh! Thinking it's time to just enjoy these last four weeks of Portlandia and see what happens from here...

taken at 2pm on a Wednesday -

to FUNemployment!

Friday five: more frequently asked questions.

We've already answered the most common question we've been asked as we re-acclimate to life on the mainland and start to catch up with friends and family. Here are five other common questions and their answers, in no particular order...

1. "What was your favorite place?" The long-term traveler's least favorite question - you want us to choose one place out of 800+ days and 17 countries? Impossible!

In short, it's definitely fair to say, we really enjoyed places we knew very little about before visiting.

such as Brasov, Romania

and Cappadocia, Turkey

It's also fair to say that the places we stayed the longest were some of our favorites.

7 days in Porto, Portugal

10 days in Sapa, Vietnam

And finally, it may not be the most exotic answer but all of our farmstays were amazing.

not many people can say they made friends with 80 Nubian goats in Wakefield, Quebec...

... or stomped grapes at an organic winery in Nemcicky, Czech Republic

(The subquestion here is usually, "Was there anywhere you didn't like?" Just a few places. We were really uncomfortable visiting Marrakech and Essaouira in Morocco. These two particular cities drained our patience and trust, and it took us a while to regroup. For very different reasons, we also hope to not spend more than an hour in Bucharest ever again.)

2. "Where would you go back?" We'd love to go back to Transylvania and hike those Carpathian Mountains! We'd also like to visit the countryside of Hungary (but not go back to Budapest). Given the right volunteer opportunity we'd go back to Poland or Cambodia for an extended stay. And there will be more diving in Thailand at some point!

We found something - and often many things - to love about every place we went, and we would absolutely recommend many other specific places for curious travelers, but there are new countries we'd like to visit before returning to most of the other places we've already been.

3. "What's the weirdest thing you ate?" Curse you, Anthony Bourdain, for making this such a common question. Why does no one ask about the tastiest food we ate, or the best home-cooked meals we enjoyed, or the food we really want to find (or figure out how to make ourselves) here in the States?

Okay, fine. Patrick tried a fried tarantula in Phnom Penh and we both ate sautéed whole baby frogs and cow skin salad at our hilltribe village homestay in Thailand. Patrick also tried duck brains at the homestay.

reportedly, the tarantula was "chewy"

While the tarantula was consumed with our Habitat Global Village friends on a bit of a dare, in general we approached all food opportunities with open minds and we absolutely did not want to be those tourists wrinkling their noses at unusual food (especially not when that food was made by our gracious hosts). We also didn't take photos of unusual foods while wandering the streets - fried bug vendors at the night markets had signs requesting $1/photo; many gawking tourists ignored the signs and snapped photos anyway. It was infuriating.

4. "Did you ever get sick?" Sure. Patrick had a few eye infections early on; he eventually stopped wearing his contacts to prevent future issues. I was briefly ill in Saigon (never did figure out what caused that). We both had a "tourist row" pancake in Luang Prabang and spent the next four days laid up with food poisoning in Nong Khiaw.

there are worse places to have to lay around all day

I guess I understand why this is such a common question, and such a fear for some people when they consider international travel. But we didn't really think about it. We ate at food stalls in alleys where dishes were washed in buckets; we drank tap water if hotel staff said it was okay to drink; we usually forgot to wash fruit we bought at the markets. Aside from the few exceptions I mentioned, we were fine... (Although there's a decent chance we contracted something that won't show symptoms for another six months or so. Haha.)

Besides, we were overseas for 19 months. Who doesn't come down with some sort of illness over the course of 19 months?

5. "How did you make money along the way?" We didn't. Before we left we worked, we scrimped, we saved. We lived off our savings on the road, and we continue to live off our savings now. Lots of travelers manage to make a living working on the road. These folks typically have internet-friendly professions (web designers, writers, photographers, etc.) - but quite honestly, I don't know how they work and still manage to enjoy traveling. Keeping up with this blog over the last two years was hard enough!

Any other questions? We're happy to answer them!