Planning an African Safari? What Matters Most
Ep.218 Planning your first African safari can feel overwhelming, especially when every camp looks incredible and the prices can climb fast. After five nights and six days at Kicheche Valley in Kenya’s Naboisho Conservancy (adjacent to the Maasai Mara National Reserve), we came away convinced that one choice matters far more than most first-time safari travelers realize. We’re sharing what we learned, what surprised us, what the experience really cost, and what we’d want to know before booking a first safari.
First Time on Safari: Expectation vs Reality
Ep.217 What is a Kenya safari really like when you stop looking for animals and start watching how they live? On our first safari at Mara Naboisho Conservancy (near Kenya's Maasai Mara), we realized every drive brought a new story—from lions and hippos to wildebeest, giraffes, hyenas, and a surprisingly resourceful leopard.
9 Affordable Cities Worth Staying a Month
Ep.216 After nearly four years of full-time travel and staying in more than 90 places, we’ve learned that affordable doesn’t mean much if you don’t actually want to stay. In this episode, we’re sharing 9 affordable cities worth staying in for a month—places where everyday life was comfortable, there was plenty to see and do, and our money went surprisingly far. We’ll share what we actually paid for accommodations, why each place made our list, and what you should know before choosing one yourself. Some we stayed in for a full month or longer. Others left us wishing we had. If you’re planning retirement travel, extended travel, or simply want to spend more time in fewer places, we hope this gives you a few new ideas for your list.
How to Travel Together Without One Person Doing Everything
Ep.215 Traveling together for a week or two is one thing. But when you travel for months at a time, someone still has to manage the planning, transportation, money, meals, laundry—and all the responsibilities of everyday life. After more than 3½ years of full-time travel, we’ve figured out some principles that make the workload easier to manage. We’re sharing what works for us, how our system evolved, the mistakes we’ve made along the way, and the lessons that can help you figure out what might work for you. Whether you’re considering a month away, several months of slow travel, retirement travel, or traveling full time, the goal isn’t to copy our system. It’s to find a way to travel together without either person feeling like they’re carrying the whole load.
What Tallinn Reveals When You Go Beyond Old Town
Ep.211 Old Town is the Tallinn everyone photographs. Its pastel rooftops, cobblestone lanes, and spires poking into the sky are only part of the story. We share its neighborhoods, what it’s like to celebrate with its locals on the longest day of the year, spent time understanding its maritime history, its waterfront, monuments, and more. We also tell you what it cost us to live, work, and play here for 15 days.
Riga: Prague-Level Beauty Without the Crowds
Ep.207 Riga is one of the European cities people are just starting to discover. It has Prague-level beauty, fewer crowds, and more depth than we expected. After 17 days in Riga, Latvia, we found a Baltic capital that was easy to love, easy to walk, and hard to reduce to just pretty buildings. We also share exactly what our 17 days in Latvia’s capital cost us, so you can decide whether Riga belongs on your own Europe list.
Ljubljana Is Not the City You Think It Is
Ep.206 Ljubljana, Slovenia is not the city we thought it was — and that’s exactly why this trip surprised us. In this episode, we explore its pedestrian and bike friendly historic center, the dragons, the coffee culture, the layers of Roman and Plečnik history, and why Ljubljana may change how you plan a Central Europe trip. We also take an easy day trip to Lake Bled without a car, and at the end we share exactly what we spent during our stay.
Before You Give Up Your Home to Travel, Watch This
Ep.204 What if you give up your home to travel full time and regret it? What if you do, and you're priced out of the market when you want to come back? We've been living without a home base for 3.5 years and more than 50 countries. In this video we share our honest thought process, including who should absolutely keep their home and helping you figure out what's right for your situation. We cover the stuff you think you'll miss, the community fear, the housing market question, what your friends and family will say, and what this life actually looks like from the inside long after the honeymoon stage.
What 16 Days in Penang Revealed That 4 Days Can't
Ep.201 We thought 16 days in George Town, Penang would be plenty. It wasn't. Most people come for the street art and food, and those are genuinely worth it. But the longer we stayed, the more Penang started to reveal something deeper. One unexpected experience that started with a cup of gelato probably captures it best. This is what 16 days revealed that a quick visit can't. At the end, we share our full cost breakdown.
Is Singapore Actually Worth It?
Ep.200 Singapore has a reputation. Too expensive. Too controlled. Only worth a layover. We decided to test that for ourselves, so we stayed nine days in Singapore to see what it’s really like beyond the skyline and Marina Bay. We explored neighborhoods like Tiong Bahru, hawker markets, historic parks, and Gardens by the Bay to answer one question: Who is Singapore really for? Is it just a quick stopover city? A hub for young expats? Or is it worth a longer stay?
Budapest Hides Things. We Spent 17 Days Finding Them.
Ep.199 We'd heard Budapest was special. We wanted to see for ourselves. What we found was one of the most layered, surprising, and thought-provoking cities we've ever visited. After 17 days living a short walk from the Hungarian Parliament, we found things most visitors never see: tiny bronze sculptures hiding in plain sight, a protest memorial that keeps coming back no matter how many times it's removed, a cafe that communism tried to erase, iron shoes at the river's edge, and on one particular night, we saw history happening right outside our front door. Budapest rewards anyone willing to look twice. This is what we found.
16 Days in Bangkok. What We’d Do Differently
Ep.198 We spent 16 days in Bangkok, Thailand, and we're sharing everything we'd do differently, including why where you stay matters more than you think, how to navigate Bangkok's historic temples without the crowds and heat working against you, and how to avoid the most common tourist scam near Wat Pho, which we personally encountered. We also found one of the coolest neighborhoods in Bangkok that most travelers completely skip.
Mekong Slow Boat: Laos to Thailand…Was It Worth It?
Ep.197 We took the Shompoo Cruise upstream from Luang Prabang, Laos to Houay Xay at the Thai border, and we're giving you our honest verdict. Was it worth two days offline? We cover everything: the Pak Ou Caves, our overnight stay at Sanctuary Pakbeng Lodge, logistics on our Laos to Thailand border crossing, and our full cost breakdown.
We Don’t Revisit Cities. This One Changed That.
Ep.196 In three and a half years of full-time travel, we don’t go back to the same cities. We move forward. Until we visited Laos and Luang Prabang made us question that. This is the story of a place that stayed with us from the very first morning, a river journey that may not exist much longer, and the quiet realization that 16 days was never going to be enough.
Queenstown at Its Busiest? Here’s the Truth
Ep.195 Queenstown, New Zealand is famous for adrenaline, epic scenery, and bucket list experiences. We arrived during peak summer season and made some choices that surprised even us. We found a slower, more meaningful version of the city than we ever expected, including a discovery in nearby Arrowtown that made the region's gold rush story feel completely different.
How We Decide What’s Actually Worth It When We Travel
Ep.193 Every 'yes' in travel is actually a 'no' to something else. Some tradeoffs look simple, but after years of full-time travel, we’ve learned that the most famous experiences aren't always the right ones. In this video, we’re sharing the internal process we use to decide what’s actually worth it. It’s impossible to see everything. So how do you choose what matters?
I’ve been wrong for 63 years
Ep.192 They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. After 63 years, Kevin was convinced that was true. Then we went to Nelson, New Zealand. We didn't go for the epic views or the famous peaks. We went to see what it felt like to actually slow down for 15 days. What followed was a series of unexpected moments, from a discovery in a local factory to finding a community that held us through a difficult loss.
Is Rotorua, New Zealand Just a Stop for Hobbiton?
Ep.191 Most travelers treat Rotorua as a quick stop on the way to Hobbiton, but is that a mistake? We slowed down to experience the geothermal landscapes, Māori culture, and the town’s deeper history as the birthplace of tourism in New Zealand. Instead of zip lining or spa hopping, we chose meaningful moments to see what staying actually feels like.
Why Auckland Deserves More Than a Stopover
Ep.190 Most travelers rush through Auckland, but we discovered there’s far more here than meets the eye. During our nine days in the city, we found wild coastlines, meaningful cultural experiences, and small everyday moments that completely reshaped how we saw New Zealand’s biggest city. If you’re considering a trip here (and we hope you do!), we share what we spent at the end.
Why We Changed Our 2026 Travel Plans
Ep.189 When we started planning 2026, everything worked on paper. But the more we looked at it, the more we realized we were about to travel in a way that didn’t feel like us anymore. In this video, we share WHY we changed our 2026 travel plans, where we slowed down, where we went big, and what we deliberately chose not to do. This isn’t a list of destinations; it’s how we think about time, movement, and meaning as full-time travelers. If you’re planning a long trip or trying to travel with more intention, we hope this gives you a new way to think about shaping your own year.
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