Roaming About

A Life Less Ordinary

Category: Travel (page 26 of 28)

Blogging Break & On the Road

August 5, 2018 / / 53 Comments

Hello everyone,

For the first time in eleven years of blogging (eight years on my sailing blog It’s Irie and almost three years on Roaming About), I am taking a break from all things blogging, until September 5th, 2018, when another IWSG writing update is due.

The first half of 2018 was tough, hectic and tiring for Mark and me, what with a string of bad luck, business intricacies, house sitting, camper projects, health provider problems, writing my memoir, translation work, travels by trains, cars, and planes, and relatively draining visits to both of our families. When we returned to our camper, rats had chewed up some parts under the hood of our vehicle. We are pretty exhausted, to say the least.

As of July 26th, we have moved into our camper van Zesty for the foreseeable future. We plan to intersperse camping with house sitting when we see fit. The rest of this summer is devoted to visiting national forests in Colorado, national parks like Grand Teton, Yellowstone and Glacier NP, and an extended stay on Vancouver Island, if we don’t run out of warm weather by then. I’m looking forward to gaze at rushing rivers, smell pine trees, marvel at sunsets, and watch chipmunks chase each other. We plan to hike, sight see, photograph, and fully explore our upcoming destinations.

For the next month, our limited data and internet time will go to researching free campsites and attractive places. I might post a few photos on Facebook, but my focus will be on our travels, reading, meeting friends, and hopefully some memoir progress.

See you in September and have a lovely rest of the summer,

Liesbet xox

Sunset over Antero Reservoir, Colorado last week

PS: Our current location will be updated in the right column, as always.

Two-week RV Trip, Part 2 – Indian Pueblos and Culture

June 21, 2018 / / 57 Comments

After less than one week on the road in Zesty, Mark and I returned to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in case an urgent health matter had us drive back to the East Coast in our van. Juan, the “window guy” at Extreme Twist, added an extra layer of silicone to the inside of our windshield, in the hopes it would finally be fixed. We couldn’t water test it until later. Mark’s health scare proved less urgent than we thought, but it kept weighing on us the rest of our time in the van. Today, I’m happy to report that it was false alarm.

Instead of retracing our steps yet again, back to Arizona, Zesty took us north, to Chaco Canyon. The idea was to spend the afternoon in Chaco Culture National Historical Park and see some of the most spectacular ruins of the Chaco Indians. But, by the time we reached the area after a 4-hour drive, and conquered the 14-mile long washboard gravel road to get to the park (which took another 2 hours instead of ½ hour because we are heavy and extremely careful), it was too late and hot in the day to stick to plan. We decided to camp for the night at the only (pay) campground in the park and split the excursion over two days.

Bonito Pueblo

Continue reading

Two-week RV Trip, Part 1 – Rocks and Petrified Wood

June 13, 2018 / / 69 Comments

After Mark and I finished our two-month house sit in Santa Fe, the end of May, we had no other assignments lined up. Partly because the 2.5-week gap before our train journey east was tight to find a “perfect” house sit; partly because we wanted to give full-time RV living a chance. We planned to make a loop from Santa Fe west into Arizona, north to the Four Corners region, east through Southern Colorado, and then back south into New Mexico. Memorial Day weekend would offer us a little break away from the computer, and since our business partner was on holiday for ten days early June, Mark’s job would be more relaxed then as well.  During those once-a-year periods, he only deals with customers over email, and postpones phone calls until “vacation time” is over.

The southern part of Petrified Forest National Park

Our trip was off to a rocky start, since our windshield was still leaking. We’d come back earlier, after two weeks, and deal with it then. First stop: El Malpais National Monument, where we’d briefly stopped for a free night of camping after picking Zesty up in Arkansas, almost a year ago.

El Malpais National Monument

Already on day one, our bikes came in handy. We explored the eastern part of the park at our own pace, and photographed rocky outcrops, peddled through Indian Reservations, and discovered a natural arch.

Zesty and the bikes in the Joe Skeen campground of El Malpais
The black patches are lava rock
Sandstone Bluffs
La Ventana natural arch

Continue reading

Highlights in Southern New Mexico – A Long Weekend Away

May 9, 2018 / / 64 Comments

Mark and I finally did it! After months of frustration, stress, and dealing with atrocities out of our control – from having both our websites hacked, to rude Wirie customers, to issues with Blue Host, to incapable Mass Health employees messing up our health plans six times – we pulled ourselves away for a long weekend. Our destination: White Sands National Monument and Carlsbad Caverns National Park into warm weather. Both New Mexican highlights had been on the mental list since last summer, when we first house sat in Santa Fe for four weeks, but remained in the area.

So, we packed up Zesty, filled the water and diesel tanks, and drove south for about four hours. Lake Holloman became our free campsite for two nights, merely 3 miles away from the National Monument.

Free camping at Lake Holloman Military Base

White Sands National Monument

The scenic drive brought us smack in the middle of dunes, created by the brightest, whitest of sand. Where is the ocean? Continue reading

IWSG Writing Update April 2018 – Revising Draft One

April 4, 2018 / / 57 Comments

Every first Wednesday of the month, the IWSG (Insecure Writer’s Support Group) engages writers to share their fears, thoughts, progress, struggles, excitement, encouragement or anything really about their writing. A different question is posed each month, as a writing prompt for IWSG members. Answering it is optional. For April, the question is “When your writing life is a bit cloudy or filled with rain, what do you do to dig down and keep on writing?”

This amazing, supportive group of writers was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. Today, the co-hosts are  Olga Godim, Chemist Ken, Renee Scattergood, and Tamara Narayan. Feel free to swing by their sites and see what they’re up to.

My answer to the question (“When your writing life is a bit cloudy or filled with rain, what do you do to dig down and keep on writing?”)

Unlike many other IWSG members, writing is not my career. One could argue I write full-time (when not traveling), but only if you add blog posts, translations, emails, blog comments, interviews, articles and diary entries to working on my first non-fiction book. Because of the other commitments in my life (mostly related to our business, jobs and house sits), I look forward to every block of time I can commit to my memoir and therefore I’m rarely stuck. This doesn’t mean I know what I’m doing.

I enjoy the writing and editing process and have no problem to “keep on writing,” since my brain (and life) is filled with stories and adventures. Where I do get stuck is deciding which parts/sections/themes/stories to keep in the book, and how to delete half of my first draft. It seems impossible, and creating a two-part memoir is probably not a good solution. (Has this ever been done?) When despair sets in, it is helpful to talk about my book to my husband or best friend, read up on the writing craft, or go for a walk in nature to air my brain.

Hike in Eldorado Hills, close to our current home in Santa Fe

My book progress

The year 2018 keeps progressing in its determined fast fashion. This is how my March looked like: Continue reading

Truth or Consequences – A 5-Day Road Trip

March 21, 2018 / / 50 Comments

No Plans

Up until our last week of house and pet sitting in San Diego, Mark and I had no concrete idea of what was next. Because the unpredictable condition of my mother-in-law in New England earlier this year, we had not booked another sit, in case we’d have to fly back. Flexibility has been an important part of our lifestyle. Luckily, the situation back east was stable, mid-February, so we could remain “out west”. Since we had no house sit to get to, and we own this amazing little camper van, our plan was to bridge the seven-week gap between sits in the desert, being warm. Baja California in Mexico was dismissed, after we discovered our favorite beach spot there has no cell service, so we mentally aimed for four different boondocking areas in Arizona to split our time and work from the van. It would be tricky.

Free camping in the Sonoran Desert

A New Plan

Continue reading

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – The Open House Sunday Interview – Freelance travel writer and photographer Liesbet Collaert

March 18, 2018 / / 10 Comments

via Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – The Open House Sunday Interview – Freelance travel writer and photographer Liesbet Collaert

This weekend, I am honored to be a guest on Sally Cronin’s blog Smorgasbord – Variety is the Spice of Life. 

Please, have a look at my interview, and leave a comment there, if you’d like!

My guest today is Liesbet Collaert who has a lifestyle that is very different to those of us who rarely stir from our comfort zones, except for the odd couple of weeks holiday.

Let’s find out more about Liesbet before finding out Belgium, her favourite leisure pastimes, the impact of modern technology and the five experiences we should all tick off our bucket list. Liesbet also shares some of her photographs from her travels which will certainly create wanderlust in most of us.

Continue reading here.

 

IWSG Writing Update March 2018 – Chapter by Chapter

March 7, 2018 / / 48 Comments

Every first Wednesday of the month, the IWSG (Insecure Writer’s Support Group) engages writers to share their fears, thoughts, progress, struggles, excitement, encouragement or anything really about their writing. A different question is posed each month, as a writing prompt for IWSG members. Answering it is optional. For March, the question is “How do you celebrate when you achieve a writing goal / finish a story?”

This amazing, supportive group of writers was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. Today, the co-hosts are  Mary Aalgaard, Bish Denham, Jennifer Hawes, Diane Burton, and Gwen Gardner. Feel free to swing by their sites.

My answer to the question (“How do you celebrate when you achieve a writing goal / finish a story?”)

I’m not a big celebrator.  My husband and I celebrate birthdays. And Thanksgiving, based on our location. Oh, we did toast to Neptune when we crossed the equator on our sailboat Irie in 2013, with rum and coke and Belgian chocolate. R&C for Mark, a shot of rum for Neptune, and just coke for me, since I was on watch. That being said, whenever I achieve a milestone in my writing (as in: finish my memoir), I’ll be sure to celebrate!

Crossing the equator on the way to the Galapagos Islands
Mark and Liesbet on the equator
Celebratory drinks and chocolates (truffles)

My book progress

I have no idea what is happening in 2018, but a giant creature from outer space must have descended upon earth and devoured January and February, because, all of a sudden, those months are gone.  This is how my February looked like: Continue reading

House Sitting: A Healthy Mix of Comfort and Discovery – Guest Post on Retirement Reflections

March 4, 2018 / / 2 Comments

This weekend, I am a guest of Donna at Retirement Reflections, where I explain a bit more about the house sitting process and lifestyle. Would it be something you consider?

Thank you, Donna, for inviting me back to the stage of Retirement Reflections. I enjoyed my performance last time, and today is no different.

Far from retired

My husband, Mark, and I are not settled and not retired. And, we never will be. At least not in the conventional way of owning a house debt-free, concluding a 40+ year career, having a home full of stuff, and receiving a reliable social security check. Why? Well, for starters, we are ‘only’ in our forties. Also, we don’t have a house, haven’t held a ‘normal’ job for 15 years (me) and 13 years (Mark), have no rooms, closets, attics or basements to store anything, and, even though we file taxes in the US (Mark and I) and Belgium (me), we barely make more than minimum wage. We do put some money aside for the future, but expect we will have to keep generating an income, creatively, for many years to come.

Sailing adventure with Darwin and Kali in Annapolis, MD

Part of the retirement environment

All that being said, we have found ourselves surrounded by 60-plussers everywhere we roamed, no matter the lifestyle we adopted this past decade. Retirees are becoming more adventurous. They enjoy being mobile and switching up their surroundings. Some full-time, once the house is sold or rented out, others in stints. We met many matured RVers when we lived in a truck camper and traveled throughout North and Central America, made plenty of retired friends during our eight years of cruising aboard Irie, our 35’catamaran, in the Caribbean and South Pacific, and are in touch with retirees who house and pet sit just like us. The only difference between them and us is that we differentiate between workdays and weekends.

Liesbet and Mark San Blas Islands, Panama

Ever considered house sitting?

While my first two examples might be a tad too adventurous and risky of a lifestyle for many, the idea of house and pet sitting does have a lot of sensible merits. Continue reading here…

(If you would like to leave a comment, please do so at Donna’s site. Thank you!)

Wordless Wednesday – Mystery of the Flip Flops

February 14, 2018 / / 62 Comments

The last time I published a Wordless Wednesday post, two weeks ago, Suzanne from Global HousesitterX2 suggested in the comment section to call this feature “Worth a Word Wednesday”. I’m all for that, since I have a hard time keeping things wordless (and sticking to rules). Thanks, Suz! The theme of this week’s Daily Post photo challenge, which I like to integrate in my WW posts if possible, is “sweet”.

A devastating discovery!

My flip flops pictured above, were sweet to me. They were comfortable, robust, and my go-to footwear wherever and whenever possible.  They have been my reliable friends for over two years and had a lot of life left. Then, “this” happened…

Mark and I went to bed in Zesty, being boondocked in the Arizona desert, and left our “shoes” outside as usual. When waking up in the morning, yesterday, three of the four flip flops were gone! A quick search in the area revealed these sad-looking flip flops. We never located Mark’s second shoe.

This is where it happened…

Can you solve this mystery?

(Next week, I’ll share our theory of what we think might have happened.)

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