Week 56: Costa Rica and our “Casa del Surf”

September 29, 2009 - Filed under Weekly Report

After a great month back in Canada visiting family and friends we were both anxious to get back to what’s become “normal life” for us. We arrived in Costa Rica Saturday night and breezed through customs. The airport in Liberia is super small, basically a converted airplane hanger, and makes arriving in the Costa Rica really easy. Plus, flying into Liberia meant we were only about an hours drive from Tamarindo, instead of the 4-5 hours it would take from San Jose.

I had been to Tamarindo about 6 years ago, and have great memories of it being a sleepy little surf town so convinced Mike it would make a good first stop in our quest for a place to live.

Tamarindo, Costa Rica
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Posted by: Kelly

The Long Term Travel Gear List

September 27, 2009 - Filed under Planning, Travel

Frequent moves are a part of life when you’re a nomadic freelancer and when we move from country to country we try to settle into a location for at least a month at a time, often staying for a few months in one spot. But sometimes we’ll move from place to place every couple weeks. Over time, I had hoped that we would turn into an elite team of baggage packing ninjas, but truth be told it still comes down to muscle and bullheadedness whenever we move our 70-80kg of gear. I’m still amazed that we have so much stuff, but there’s a fine balance between packing light, living comfortably, and being work efficient. I thought it would be interesting, or maybe even helpful for a few people to see what we haul along to live like we do.

Goodbye Vancouver
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Posted by: Shim

Malaysia and Canada travel budgets

September 27, 2009 - Filed under Planning, Travel

Continuing our series of travel budget posts, here’s the numbers from the last 3 months. We spent 2 months in Malaysia with 1 month spent in Penang and 1 month in Malaysian Borneo. Since this was the end of the Asian leg of our journey, we traveled around a lot more and took part in a few more costly activities like diving at Sipadan and a motorcycle tour near Kota Kinabalu. I also had to buy a new laptop in Kuala Lumpur to replace my busted computer. Then there’s the clothes budget. We had to prepare for upcoming Canadian weather and business meetings. Overall, it was a big hit to the wallet.

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Posted by: Shim

Interviewed by JetSetCitizen.com

September 27, 2009 - Filed under General, Travel

jetsetcitizen

So a while back, John from JetSetCitizen.com asked us if we’d like to do an interview with him about our nomadic travel lifestyle. We took him up on it and the resulting interview was just posted.

Have a look here: Interview with Nomadic Couple, Kelly Hale and Mike Schimanowsky

Thanks John! It really made us think about our lifestyle, traveling as a couple and how that impacts our journey and relationship.

Posted by: Shim

Week 53, 54, and 55: Another year on the road begins

September 22, 2009 - Filed under Eats, Weekly Report

Happy September 1st! This marks the 1 year anniversary of Kelly and I becoming homeless wanderers.

There’s been a lack of posts from us for a few weeks. I suppose that’s because not much has really changed back home since we left a year ago. The same old haunts are still there. Our friends are pretty much as we left them. Just a few of them got married, or popped out babies, or got a little heavier. ;)

We headed back to Kelowna after visiting Kelly’s family in Edmonton, and it was my turn to see my parents. My folks are based on Vancouver Island, but just bought a place in Kelowna and took possession this week. It would be really convenient for us if we ever came home. No more choosing who’s parents we spend Xmas with, but this year we’ll have to ask them to come visit us instead. Read More…

Posted by: Shim

Week 52: Road Trippin’

September 4, 2009 - Filed under Weekly Report

Roger's Pass, BC

This week was all about the family! We rented a car in Vancouver and headed to Kelowna. First stop was my mom and Bryan’s place where we spent four days eating and chatting and chatting and eating. It was super nice to see the folks, sleep in a comfy bed, play with the dogs and eat lots of good food. Read More…

Posted by: Kelly

Week 51: Hello Vancouver

September 4, 2009 - Filed under Weekly Report

Vancouver is cold! We stepped off the plane Saturday, looked at each other and thought “Holy crap, why are we back?”. But seriously it’s sooo good to be home! The first thing I did after checking into the hotel was brush my teeth without having to use bottled water… it may sound like a little thing, but drinkable tap water is so nice!

Next up was Caesars! Oh, how we missed caesars! I know those of you who aren’t Canadian don’t really understand this, but it’s one of the few truly Canadian things we have. That first one was so good, we just had to have another…
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Posted by: Kelly

Week 50: Goodbye Asia!

September 4, 2009 - Filed under Weekly Report

Wow, our last week in Asia! I can’t believe it’s been a year already, (ok, so we’re short by two weeks, but close enough). We’ve been busy making plans for our next couple of moves, and generally just getting organized. We’ll spend just over a month back in Canada visiting friends & family, and making a few work connections before we head off to Costa Rica to continue this crazy lifestyle of ours.

In preparation for our return to North America, we spent this week shopping. We’ve been wearing pretty much the same clothes for the last year and they’ve definitely seen better days, so it was time to stock up on some new threads. We needed not only replacements of all the board-shorts/beach-clothes we’ve been wearing, but also a few client friendly outfits, as we both have a couple of meetings while we’re back in Vancouver. Read More…

Posted by: Kelly