We recently heard though the grapevine that Ireland is one of the most expensive countries in Europe. This is good and bad. Good, because we are getting the most expensive country out of the way first. Bad, because we have learned the hard way about being strict with our budget. 36 Euros a day goes FAST. In just a week we have come up with a list of ways to save money and still have fun.

Purchase tickets online (ahead of time): Most trains, buses, amusements offer a discount if you book your tickets online ahead of time.
*The Guinness Storehouse offers a 10% discount online
*Irish Rail is ½ the price if you purchase your ticket online in advance. Keyword: Advance!

Don’t buy books, borrow them. If there is a book you want to buy:
Plop into a bookstore with an attached café and read the book there. It may take all day but it ends up being a nice relaxing day and you don’t have to pay for the book. This works especially well on rainy days.

Couch Surfing: There is a great website out there that allows you to crash at someone’s place, or have them stay at yours. It’s traveling without traveling, or a place to save some money if you are on the road.

Help X: Another great website. This offers free accommodation and food in exchange for a few hours of work a day. Can’t beat that. This just goes to show ANYONE can travel. Just do it!

Local Shopping/Cooking In: Whether you are staying in a hostel or couch surfing it’s helpful to take advantage of the local supermarkets and cook in. The food is much cheaper and will go a lot further. Get creative and get in the kitchen!

Hitchhike/ Make New Friends: believe it or not hitch hiking is very common in Europe. It’s also a great way to save money on transportation.

Ryan Air: Europe’s cheapest airline. You may get dropped off 30 minutes outside of a main city but you will get there for the cost of a draft of beer.

*Ireland to Spain- 24 Euro for two people!! ($31.20)

2 drink maximum: this may be the hardest one for some people. I know it was hard or us in Ireland as the Guinness is pouring from the sidewalk cracks. Alcohol can easily become your biggest expense if you let it. Be strict, skip the drinks one night or keep it at a minimum.

Share a meal: it would not be realistic to say you are never going to eat out. It just doesn’t happen. If you eat out, share a meal. Most of the portions are large anyhow. Maybe order a small appetizer or a side of bread if you are really hungry but if you have someone to share with, try it out.

Skip the tourist traps: Every big city will have loads of FREE stuff to do. You don’t have to hit all the attractions that have price tags attached. Before going to a city see your options. Pick one attraction that you really want to see and make that your “special treat” day. I promise you the wax museum in France is not going to be any better than the one in the US.

Snack Frequently: It’s easy to get carried away at eating bug meals at every meal, your probably more hungry then you ever remember because you are walking around ALL day. Stop at a local quicky mart and pick up some cheap snacks to tie you over. You will notice your eyes won’t be bigger than your stomach at every meal.

We are loving Ireland, but we are ready to remove the scarfs and sweaters and head south to warmer weather. We’ve booked our ticket and we’re headed to Barcelona, Spain.

Hasta Prontisimo!

Meg and David

We will be filming our journey as we travel the world. We hope that this gives our friends and family an all access pass to our travels around the world. The videos will be posted as they are created and you can find them here, on Facebook or youtube.

 
Chicago to Dublin

Journey in Dublin

Travel with us!

Meg and David

We arrived at the Dublin, Ireland at 7:52 am. ( 1:52am Chicago time ) Whoof! Luckily, the customs side of it was easy. We got our stamp, hurried through the brisk cold weather and we were off on the local bus that would lead us to O’Connell Street.

The hostel needed to be the first stop since we were huffing around with our packs. David’s bag weighed in at 25.5 lbs and mine was 31 lbs. Not bad for a year. However, best case scenario would be to drop off the load so we could hit up the streets of Dublin.

Abraham House, the hostel we will be staying at before we take advantage of Couch Surfing was just a quick 5 minute walk from the city center. Great Location. We dropped off our bags and headed to a local pub for our first pint of Guinness. Of course, of all the locations O’Neill’s seemed most fitting.

We arrived to O’Neill’s and to our dismay the pub was not open at 9:30 in the morning. Who would of thought? I guess a pint of beer at the wee hours was a but ambitious of us. Breakfast would prove to be the best option at that hour, although Guinness was still on the mind.

The rain began to come down even harder and our once dry clothes were becoming quite damp. We decided to head back to the hostel. As we were puddle jumping we saw a lit up Guinness sign. A pub that was actually open. Hot dog! We wandered into the local pub and finally had our pint with some of the Irish locals. Quite fitting.

Dublin is a great place for us to be, a great place to start. We are able to communicate with the locals, and understand them while trying to figure out the correct change in Euros. Had we have picked a different city where the language became a barrier, we may have struggled more. I think Ireland was a great transition place for us and a perfect place to begin our adventure.

Cheers!

Meg and Dave

We both have been working A LOT! It was time for a break and a great way to start our goodbyes to Vero Beach, Florida. David made the sandwiches as I loaded the backpack with some paints and brushes. The plan…. we didn’t have one. All we needed was a park, some shade, and a place to lay our blanket.

Despite the gusty winds, we managed to keep some paint on the paper. I managed to get a fair amount of paint on my hands, but that’s just my part of my attempts at creativity. Florida has been a welcomed detour on our travels, and a great opportunity to make extra cash. Somehow we’ve managed to lock in a lot of hours and even see the bank accounts swell a bit. Of course, with all that work we have to spoil ourselves with picnics and painting days.

Our first one-way ticket is booked and we are headed out of Vero Beach. First stop is a convenient and less expensive layover in Chicago. Lucky enough, it will be an opportunity to say our goodbyes to David’s family.  Next stop…. Dublin, Ireland. If Ireland is as lucky as they say, we should both have a Guinness in our hands in no time. There is no plan. The plan is only to wander and see where the opportunity takes us.

An Irish toast in honor of our next destination:

My friends are the best friends
Loyal, willing and able.
Now let’s get to drinking!
All glasses off the table!

David and Meg

Here in Florida, turtles are an animal that are not uncommon to see. The drive to yoga is normally a very peaceful one. This day, it was a lifesaving one. Oslo, which would soon be the name of our newest pet, was crossing the road. Cars were paying no attention to the 5lb creature and his life looked as though it was going to end. It was time to be a hero. (a turtle hero) I pulled over, ran into the middle of the street and picked up the turtle to help him to the other side of the street. I got back into my car and headed to yoga. It wasn’t enough. I kept thinking about the little guy and how much better his life would be in our backyard pond.

This was not a *small* turtle that you would find in a turtle tank, he was at least medium sized, softshell turtle, and for all I knew could have been a snapping turtle. I needed backup. At the nest light I turned around and headed back to the house. I picked up David and told him I had a surprise for him. I assumed he had never seen a turtle walking down the road. I was excited to show him my discovery.

I pulled over where I thought the rescue happened. I looked at David and said “I saved a turtles life and I want to bring him home.” So we searched, and searched and after I had stepped barefoot into a red ant pile, the search had to end. The turtle was gone.

We began to drive home and David yelled, “There he is!”.  We jumped out of the car, I still can’t remember if I even put the car in park and found our big friend. David, being the brave one, picked him up and we drove home with him. It felt like a huge spider was sitting next to me. I was so afraid he was going to bite David’s finger or scratch his skin off. Oslo just sat there, peering his head out the window.

As soon as we got home we headed to the backyard to let Oslo swim, he moved as fast as the hare, straight into the water. We still see him from time to time. His head peeking out of the water to say hi. We don’t know if his life is any better here, but we like to think he is happy now.

I didn’t make it to yoga that day, but it was certainly worth the interruption to save a turtles life.

Learning to adapt to a new environment can always be challenging, but when you have people around you that care about you it makes life much easier.

* Oslo was the road he was rescued on. We seemed it fitting.

** The very next day, we rescued another turtle. This time it was a box turtle that we named mellow yellow since it peed all over David’s leg on the ride home.

Meg and David

6,659 Miles

18 States

108 hours of driving

Beautiful Vero Beach

Its been a week since we’ve arrived to the sunshine state, our new temporary home. No commitments, no plans, no people to see and no mandatory things to do.

It took Meg less than a few days of wandering the town of Vero Beach, Florida to end up with a job. A very fine, hip little wine bar where she’s encouraged to drink on the clock. We went there the other night and the packed atmosphere, a live jazz band, and plenty of good drinks made us feel right at home.

Meg drinking at her new job

We were able to land a very nice and spacious house on a lake where the company of Meg’s Dad, Step Mom, and Grandma keeps us laughing and sharing stories over a Yuengling or glass of cabernet.  There has even been one on one fishing lessons that will come in handy when David hits the fishing boat.

David learning to throw a cast net

Life with no plans can be a bit challenging to those that prefer a schedule, but with plenty of wine and time to relax, it sure makes it a lot easier.

Meg and David

6,047 Miles

15 States

99 hours of driving

Two years ago we made a pact that we would travel the world. Our adventure now begins with the help of a local tarot card reader in the heart of New Orleans. After finishing off a crawfish po-boy and cajun spiced shrimp we wandered into Jackson Square. The voodoo and witchcraft surrounds the cathedral which enticed us to explore the light hearted, dark side of the city. Janessa’s celestial set-up and travel channel nods drew us near. Twelve cards were pulled as our life roadmap unfolded before us. Each card played an important role in our traveling future. The very last card placed and the most important card was the “World Card” (how fitting).

Jackson Square marked the start of our adventure and our love for the city of New Orleans. Maybe it was the ambiance of jazz music, european architecture, Abita beer or street scene culture but we like to believe the cards are aligned in our favor. As we walked the streets of New Orleans it was a consensus that we might add it to our list of addresses one day.

Meg and David

All our bags are packed and we’re ready to go.

And so it starts and the whole reason we met in the first place. Two years ago, a few cubicles away, and two dreams of traveling come together. This first post of ours reminds us of the loved ones that support us and the good souls that excite us. This poem, rather this gift was composed by the man we love and admire known as Uncle Mike.

Two for Travel

It’s two for travel
All points southwest,
Our reverse pioneers
Forge into the not so known
Stretching their presence across the states
A respit in Florida
Then onward across the ocean
Our ancestors travelled
Back to the roots
Terra firma in the continent 
Of Alexander the great,
Chaucer, shakespeare, 
Napoleon, hitler, 
mozart, darwin, 
Cesar, and of course
Christ…
From Europe
Perhaps more travel
Tibet? Japan? Borneo? ( as a dare!)
Let me just say this
Our hearts are with you
Help us cure the mundane
With your tales 
From many cities, 
Countries, and the beautiful.
You two have flown for years
Now you are ready to soar.
We all give up you a part of our hearts
Take them with you
Use them when you need solace
And P.S. If really stuck for money
Tell us.
And for thoughts regarding emails
“What about us?” 

He reminds us to travel safe, travel happy and drink lots of beer.

On the road again…..

David and Meg

Well here it is! Boheme Love!!