Fell Tops and Dales and Tarns! Oh My!!

After completing our hiking adventures in Ireland, we continued them in England. Having heard of the famous and beautiful Lake District, we were eager to get up those fells of northwestern England and see the views. This blog will be a bit different than the usual narrative with pictures. Today I’m presenting a history lesson …

We Hatched an Escape Plan

Our Return to International Travel We did it. After a nearly two-year hiatus from international travel, we ventured outside of North America. As you might guess, it took some planning beyond the normal where are we going to stay? and what are we going to do? We wanted to be responsible travelers, as well as …

Let’s Make Lemonade

When last we met, nearly a year ago, Mark and I had interrupted our expat journeys due to Covid. We had just hunkered down in Oregon, leaving behind at least two months of planned adventures. No picturesque English countryside. No hiking the Fells. No meeting new friends. It was a heart wrenching decision. But, it …

“How I Spent My Covid Vacation”

“My goodness, Ms Susan! Your writing assignment is three months overdue!” “I’m so sorry, Professor Blogreader. But I have a note from home explaining why. Here…” “Dear Professor Blogreader. Please excuse Susan’s late assignment. You see, the world is ill and Susan has been otherwise occupied. She’s only now been able to give her full …

Down Under & Far East

With over a month of wonderful memories made in New Zealand, we headed west to continue our international adventures. We had originally planned on tucking a three week visit to Australia in between New Zealand and Portugal. But, after watching the fires in Australia grow in area and intensity, we cancelled our Australia plans altogether. …

Little Susan in a Big World

Small country, great big nature. That’s what we discovered as we finished up our excursion on the South Island. We had three big goals left, all on the west coast: Milford Sound, the Routeburn Track and Aoraki/Mt Cook. Back to the Rain There was no avoiding it now. We had hut reservations with the Department …

South Island Adventures

When last we met, our North Island travels were coming to a close and South Island adventures lay before us. We had turned in our smaller campervan in Auckland, hopped on a flight to Christchurch and picked up our next campervan. The South Island proved to be as lush and full of spring as the …

Go With Me, Kiddos

Welcome to the special edition of Go With Me. This one is for those little adventurers who went with me to discover the Kiwi bird. When I last visited with you I had expressed interest in knowing more about this national bird of New Zealand. At that point, I had not seen one yet. But …

Packing in a Bucket Load of Bucket List

It feels like we’ve been on our journey for months now. We’ve seen so many new and interesting things. Often when time feels longer than it is, it’s because people are doing boring or loathsome tasks. For us, that is not the case. I’m pretty sure the sheer volume of adventures makes this feel like …

Let The Adventure Begin!

And it has! After a brief visit with friends, family and favorite places, we boarded a plane in LA and headed off the continent and hemisphere. We left on a Thursday morning and arrived in Auckland on Friday evening, 10pm New Zealand time. This meant that our Friday was only 2 hours long! An easy …