Best Travel Advice? Keep A Journal!

2007 We started our travel adventure in March of 2007, writing down our thoughts and feelings on the brand-new Travelpod site to keep our own travel journal we could share. Some of our first thoughts were hectic and scared… Cheryl “I just left my job of 16 years to prepare for this adventure! Tampa will be where it all starts. We are just planning right now – although we are trying not to plan it too much. I want the experience to be great without so many pre-conceived notions of the where’s and when’s!” Lisa “I woke up from a dream so real my heart was still pounding — I [ ... ]

Our New e-Book is Now Available!

Have you ever dreamed of seeing the world but thought it was way out of reach?  Maybe too expensive? Learn about the newest and hottest travel trend of House Sitting in Lisa and Cheryl’s latest book –   NOW AVAILABLE in e-book format!                    Lisa and Cheryl have been house sitting all over the world and now share with you some of their best practices and helpful hints to get you started as well!  Whether you want to explore your nearby cities and towns or you are ready to take on the world, this book provides practical information from finding the best house [ ... ]

Photo of the Day – Slope Point, NZ

As far South as you can get on the South Island of New Zealand. Due south from Slope Point it is 4,803 kilometers to the South Pole – we’re really that close to Antarctica! Slope Point is only accessible by a 20 minute walk through some of the most beautiful sheep pastures you could ever imagine – luckily we made it before September when the path is closed for lambing season!

What’s in your Camera Bag?

While we aren’t professional photographers by any means, we do like to take interesting videos and stills to share with friends and family while we’re on the road. The decisions of what camera and video equipment to take on long term travel are the most time-consuming of anything we pack. For us, it’s got to be the perfect combination of features, quality, price, reliability and weight. The delicious Canon DSLR system with its lenses, flashes and drives stays home in favor of a Fujifilm Finepix HS20 24mm-720mm Superzoom. Bouncing around in the back of a safari truck in Africa has shown [ ... ]

Photo of the Day – Tui Bird

The Tui Bird! Quite the singer, the Tui is a member of the honeyeater family and can only be found on the islands of New Zealand. With vocalizations that sound as though a small symphony orchestra is tuning up for a performance, listening to the Tui is a unique experience. Considered to be highly intelligent, these birds have the capacity to exactly mimic human speech. This can be quite unnerving when walking alone in a quiet forest! This colorful character kept us company for several kilometers as we tramped along the track at Bluff, singing us a new song every time [ ... ]

10,000 Bulas – A Fijian Language Lesson

From the moment we stepped onto the airplane bound for Fiji, we were greeted with BULA! their universal word of welcome. And the Bulas haven’t stopped since! Fijians definitely live up to their reputation as the Friendliest People on Earth! BULA is Hello, To Your Health, Welcome; a smile and a nod on the street, a shout from the window from a small child, a chorus from a cluster of teenagers in the park, a lilting melody from a smiling Fijian woman. “Bula! Bula!” says the man walking down the road with a machete in his hand and fresh bananas slung over [ ... ]

Buying a Car in New Zealand

Buying a car is a pretty big deal.  It is your primary source of transport and one of the highest priced items you will typically own after your home.  Considering a source to buy or repair a car while traveling abroad is a whole new experience though!  We did careful cost comparisons and estimates before deciding to buy a car – because that is what we do!  On the top of our considerations is the flexibility a car would offer because that is important to us when we travel.  I won’t even go into the fact that we seem to [ ... ]

XCom Global – Keeping Connected on the Road

One of the biggest challenges on the road is finding a good (and low cost) internet connection so we can continue to keep up with our blogs and stay in contact with family and friends.  Sometimes we would find free internet spots, but more often than not there were charges.  When we arrived in New Zealand, we were also hit with pretty stiff limits on internet usage.  Many places would offer “free” internet but it was limited to 50mb.  Just turning on our MacBook Pro used a majority of that MB limit!  The standard costs were approximately 200MB for $20 [ ... ]

Staying Healthy on the Road

It’s never ideal to fall ill or get injured while traveling, regardless of the duration of your trip. While taking precautionary measures can help mitigate risks, unexpected health issues can still arise. Therefore, it’s essential to be prepared for the unknown, particularly if you’re traveling to a foreign country. One useful resource to have on hand is https://www.mydocurgentcare.com/, which can provide medical assistance and guidance in the event of an emergency. When it comes to health tourism there are folks that would also opt for a professional korean plastic surgery in order to alter their looks so they can gain some confidence [ ... ]

Life on a Dairy Farm

This post is part of our Will Work 4 Travel adventure where this month we lived with a wonderful New Zealand couple on a working DAIRY FARM! It’s all about being about to duck out of the way quickly when something unpleasant starts coming your way! – Cheryl and Lisa DAIRY LIFE We left the little town of Edendale in New Zealand with a new found respect for those who make their living on a dairy farm! Days start early here. By 5am everyone is up chasing after the seemingly never-ending batch of chores to be done with all sorts of equipment including tractors and [ ... ]