It has been over 30 days. I can’t believe it. Now I’m concerned that this entire year is just going to fly by! Regardless, I thought I would give a little month in review for those of you curious about what has been happening besides what we post in our blog.
Presenting our first month in review!
- 7 Cities in Mexico/4 Weeks
- One thing we have learned about our travel method is that we are not marathon travelers. I really thought we would be out of Mexico in 4 weeks. Boy was I wrong. I’m thinking closer to… 7 weeks. Yeah, that sounds about right. You can catch up with us on our up to date “Where Are We?” map.
- 75% of our travel time has been spent sick.
- If it wasn’t a nasty stomach bug that plagued us for 2 weeks (while I did lose some weight so I guess there is a plus somewhere in there), it was insane allergies once we got into San Miguel de Allende and made even worse in Mexico City. I think we may be setting a blogging record for fastest ailment. 😛
- 1 Memory Card Trashed
- When writing a Post For My Father the memory card the pictures were on that I took specifically for him, decided to corrupt. All good though. I was crafty and screenshotted the pictures out of Lightroom.
- 2 Couchsurfing Experiences… kinda
- Well, one was with a friend of a friend in San Miguel de Allende (thanks Mario and Jasmine!) and the other was with our awesome official first Couchsurfing host Rey in Puebla, Mexico. Post coming soon.
- We learned that I under budgeted for Mexico.
- For a couple, expect to spend at least $100 a day – even if you are staying in hostels. Food is expensive. Museums are not necessarily cheap. Transportation – be it taxis, in-town buses and long haul buses – stacks up after a while.
- We have met people from two blogs – Federico and Liza from MaiTravelSite and Laura and her fiance Carlos from Go Mexico Guide. The bloggers I meet in Mexico will be summed up in it’s own post. They deserve their own stories. <3
- The things we miss from home:
- Erica: Mashed Potatoes
- Shaun: My dog (even though I miss him too)
- The excessive large format picture blogs have been kicking my ass. I feel as while I am inspired to take pictures, I’m pushing myself to be better. Do you enjoy them? Or do you think they are overkill?
- In one single city – Sayulita – I learned that I HATE ROOSTERS, love Lucha Libre, and SUCK at surfing.
All in all, not a bad month to start out our trip. I’m hoping it gets a bit easier as it goes along but I can say without a doubt that there is quite a learning curve. Here is to 11 more months (or more!)!
Would you guys consider getting around on bicycles to cut down on costs with transportation?
Awesome stuff guys. Can’t wait to see what happens next. I feel you on the sick part. Been there, done that. No fun!
It is amazing to think it has been a month already for you guys, Jaime is at like 2 months and Talon just left about a week or two ago… NUTS, ALL OF YOU!
Congrats on a month on the road, hope you guys feel better!
Love your photos – more, more! 🙂
Congratulations on getting through your first month (despite the illnesses!). In my experience the months do rush by quickly but slower travel helps – as you guys sound like you’re discovering!
Ooooh, sucks about the illness. Crazy how fast time goes by, eh? We’re getting closer to one month mark too. Congrats on staying alive on your first month traveling 🙂 and take care, guys!
Sucks that you’ve been ill…but yay that you’re loving it!! Hopefully you’ll have gotten the sick out of you and the next 11 months will be scot free!! Lookin’ good! Cheers!
So glad that you are on the road having experiences. Weather good or bad they are going to become addictive. Life will never be the same. 11 months from now you’ll be saying to yourself, “Where to next?”.
Lots of love
Sam & Tracy
One month already, congrats you two!! I very much enjoy the photography, often hoping for more :). You’re definitely making me miss Mexico, and I can’t wait to see the Puebla pictures!
Congrats on one month of travel. Trust me it will fly by & all you can do is it enjoy. I cant believe I am nearing on 3 months already. Looks like you had a good 1st month aside from being sick. CHeers to many more months of travel and cant wait to see you tomorrow.
Enjoying reading about your experiences. Alas, I am but an armchair traveler, but I love hearing about your trip and enjoy the photos. I agree that you should include yourselves in the photos, proves you were there. Please take care of yourselves. Thanks Erica for the Mother’s Day greeting.
Great round-up! We have found South America to be a lot more expensive than we thought. Especially in the larger cities. If you’re coming down to Chile and Argentina, the mashed potatoes here are delicious =) Love your photos!
That’s too bad about the illness, and the under budgeting. Hopefully everything else will work out!
p.s. – I love your tattoos :]
Congratulations! $100 a day, huh? wow. Hopefully the further you go south things will be lighter on your wallet!
I dig the the large format posts. If you’re spending more time working on them then experiencing then you might wanna rethink. On the other hand, it’s a great way to aha en your skills and efficiency.
@G: Still too out of shape for that. May consider that later on in the trip though!
@WalkingOnTravels: I think we are getting a bit better. Shaun had a fever while traveling yesterday. Lets hope that part is over for good!
Sorry to hear about the illnesses. And you better get to Guatemala quick before you run out of money!
Congrats on your first month! I also spent much of my first month on our RTW sick. I think that’s totally normal– your bodies are adjusting to the changing food, water and climate. You are getting hardier and you’ll probably find that overall you’ll get sick fewer times on your trip than at home. Trust me!
I’m so jealous. I’m even jealous of you being sick. Your pictures are coming out GREAT! Keep it up!
@Tran: Trying to get to Guatemala ASAP!
@Leslie: Thank you for making us feel a wee bit more normal!
@Evan: Thank you Evan! Hurry up and get your ass there.
@Justin: I know! It seems like it was yesterday that everyone was still preparing for their trips!
@Megan: Thank you! I think we’re looking forward to slowing down just a bit more. City hopping kills us!
@Jill: Better now than later honestly. I would hate to be on an uber adventure and it strike then.
@Gillian: We are determined to love it come hell or high water!
@Sam and Tracy: I really appreciate when you guys check in on us. You’re like family! <3
@Pam: I’ll try to get the Puebla pictures up for you. We actually don’t have that many. 😛
@Jaime: Been having a blast with you. I am so glad that we have been able to meet. <3
@Andrea: Chile and Argentina are going to break our banks!
@Seattle: Thanks! (I like them too!)
The first month has been amazing. We’ve gotten to see so much of a country that we thought we had a pretty good idea what to expect, but we’ve been pleasantly surprised time and time again. We can’t wait to see what the rest of the trip has in store for us. 🙂
Love the recap! and the size of the photos! enjoy even the crappy moments because it’s totally going to fly by… but those moments are still better than being stuck in an office somewhere.
Great sum up guys!! Having a travel blog is a great way to document things especially things that we want to remember. 🙂 Good for is too! We live though your experiences too! Happy second months!!
Can’t believe the two of you have been gone a month already! The fact you under-budgeted for Mexico scares the hell outta me for the US portion of our RTW!
@Jade: I’m trying to enjoy everything – sometimes it is hard.
@Juno: It made me wonder how to turn it into a book for safekeeping later on!
@Kieron: I couldn’t imagine budgeting for the US. Living there is already hard enough. I guess you need to cook a lot!
@ Scott – That’s what we’re counting on. It should hopefully start averaging out soon-ish.
@ Nick – We’ll keep the large format posts coming. The time invested into the posts isn’t cutting into our experiences and she is definitely getting more efficient- when her equipment is cooperating.
Love the recap. We’re so glad we had a chance to meet up with you guys when you came through Mexico City. Happy travels! =)
@Laura: We had such an amazing time. Thank you for making Mexico City awesome.