Can you believe it has been almost 2 1/2 years since I got home from the last long-term trip? As sad as it is to say, it has been almost 900 days since I cut my trip around the world short and stepped on the plane from Singapore to come home, marry Angie, and start our new life together.In that time we've done a number of pretty amazing things that were not necessarily travel related that we have not shared on this blog. But after almost five years of travel blogging, now seems like a great time to let you know some more background into us and the things we do between travels while at home. Travel writing and eating are only a small portion of who we are, so let us take you into a journey in the non-travel life of Angie and Jeremy!
Gain Weight...Lose Weight...Gain it Again
Lets start out this post with way to much information, shall we? When I left for my Asian adventure in 2010 I weighed a robust 160(+/-) pounds. Nothing too crazy for someone my size, but definitely a bit heavier than I would like. After 5 months on the road I was down to around 145 in part thanks to the wonderful country of China, new water sources, and the insane amount of walking one does when traveling for 150 days straight.
Then I came home and immediately put that back on because Angie is one of the best amateur chefs on the planet. My days of being in shape were over, until we got motivated in 2012 to work out and I was down to a more respectable 150 pounds and less overall flab. Then winter came, and back to 160 I went and have been fighting rather unsuccessfully to push it off.
Traveling as a diet is something that you just don't get to enjoy all too often.
Go to Graduate School...Finish School with a PhD
Angie on the other hand was in graduate school when I left for my last trip and was chugging along on her 5-year PhD program so hard that she barely noticed that I was gone. But those years are now finally at the end, and Angie is giving her dissertation defense three days from now; thus completing graduate school and earning herself a new nickname in the process:
Dr. Jones - You Crazy Lady!
I think someone has earned herself a vacation, perhaps with Crystal Holidays or even just few weeks on a secluded beach, don't you? No matter what, it is time to relax!
Plan a Wedding...Get Married
Of course, the whole reason I am not a permanent nomad at this time is Angie, and I cut my last long-term trip short because of her. As consolation we decided to get married and in May 2012 we were hitched, booked our honeymoon on Expedia, and enjoyed two awesome weeks in Spain. Angie got rid of her last name, picked up a travel buddy who pushes her to do crazy things, and I got someone to share the world with who has never seen it before. A fair trade off, when I can get her out the door.
Conveniently, Angie's graduation is on our 1-year wedding anniversary, and is probably the best present she ever gave me.
Build a Website Empire
For those of you who have been following our site for a while, you've been seeing posts about our network expanding with the addition of new travel related sites. We've just recently wrapped up the site builds and redesigns of our existing sites, making Living the Dream the flagship site of a wide network we are calling "The Living the Dream Network." Included in our network are the following:
- Living the Dream - Our main website where we share stories from our personal travel adventures around the world.
- International Food Project - Finding the world's best dishes when traveling and recreating them at home in search of true authenticity.
- Free Travel Contests - A continually updating directory of current free-to-enter travel contests around the world.
- The Travel Atlas - A directory of the world's official tourism boards with planning resources, blogger submissions, and more.
- Trust a Traveler - A travel blogger profile database where you can connect with bloggers and plan your trip with someone who has been to the destinations you are looking to visit.
As if building a vast network of websites isn't time consuming enough, I also wrote a 200+ page book to help assist anyone looking to plan a long-term trip around the world. The Long-Term Traveler's Guide was released in early 2012 and contains every aspect about long-term travel and how to plan for every little thing that pops up along the way. The guide is available in a number of editions including print, Kindle, Nook, and iPad. We'd love it if you checked it out and gave the pages some love on social media to help us reach a publisher!
Get a Job...Save a Lot of Money...Quit a Job
Finally, the important one.
As you may know Angie is not the only engineer in the family, and one of the downsides of returning home from traveling is that you have to get a job. I had no issue finding a job in the city where Angie was going to school after returning home and for the last two years I've been working as a water engineer designing cool treatment systems for industrial markets. But with Angie being almost done with school I too am almost finished with my work, and my month's notice went in last week.
The time has come. Our days in Pittsburgh are at an end. We want to travel...
...and we're leaving on June 10th.
A major announcement comes tomorrow.
