We won’t deny or parlay the fact that this is anything other than a travel blog; one of many, many, many travel blogs.  Just as there were sections of travel books in bygone Border’s and Barnes and Noble’s, there are countless search results for travel blogs.  When we first started organizing ( and I use the term organizing lightly) this trip, days would be spent reading, skimming and scrolling some of our favorite and most popular travel blogs, so as not to miss out on something that we absolutely must see; says the world travel elite.    

There was a scene in the movie “The Big Short” where Margot Robbie; while covered in one kind of bubbles and sipping the other,  proceeded to explain how the mortgage backed security market was built up on individuals making bets; and on the outcome of those bet’s other bets were made, and on those outcomes others were placed.  Much like that, a few weeks into the universe of travel blog research had us ready to sit in a bubble bath with with glass of champagne in search of a simpler explanation of how planning a trip of this magnitude should be managed.  Nomadic Matt’s travel insights and tips were a fantastic jumping off point, but didn’t also feel synced always to what we were trying to do.  Maybe because we didn’t actually completely know yet.  TwoMonkeys blog was full of great information and opinions but was also full of just that, too much; being contributed to by 20+ writers.  Almost every travel blog has a itinerary of where to go, what see, where to stay depending on your budget, and things to do while you’re there. 

For those seeking some time out in nature, it is the nature of this blogging age to have far too much information available to you to adequately go enjoy a world outside of your own without feeling the FOMO of not sticking to a bloggers pre-ordained itinerary, or buckling under information overload before any eagerly awaited trip of “enlightenment” has even begun.  Tack on Yelp, Trip Advisor, Lonely Planet and Fodors, and no experience is left to chance, for better or worse.  At least The Frugal Traveler, in The Turk Who Loved Apples, would be brave enough to suggest that we throw out the guide books and the unread, but bookmarked for later blog posts pre-selecting our every movement and must do, for a more vintage style of winging it.  Sadly, our Margot Robbie bath and champagne method didn’t exactly bubble to the surface all the answers we were looking for. 

The purpose of the contents of this blog are not to help you plan an itinerary, or find all the best restaurants to dine in a particular town, or to tell you where to stay, or how to prepare; although from time to time we will certainly share our favorites.  There are plenty of blogs and resources we love that have done this for you already.  Our hope, and mission, is that we can impart at least a little of the sensation and emotion that these places so far from home exude upon their visitors.  And when, or if, you reach any of these places we hope that the expectations we may have set for you here in this blog are shattered; that whatever this new place was supposed to deliver isn’t what our, or someone else’s post, said it was to be; but instead is entirely your own equally wonderful and exhilarating experience.