Kicking Out Windows

You're stuck and afraid...

Maybe you’re like me: you think that life isn’t meant to be happy all of the time and that life is mostly a struggle from day-to-day. If you’re like me, you hang on to a job, relationship or situation you don’t love because you’re supposed to stick it out until it gets better.

We quietly accept fewer and fewer happy times so we can keep all of the moving parts of our lives moving– albeit moving…

My Island Paradise: Siargao, Philippines

Some of you may be wondering where we’ve been for the past two months. Detained in a prison in Thailand? Lost at sea somewhere off the coast of Vietnam? Hiding out on a tropical island full of coconut trees and surfers?

Our last month of travel (Yes, the last – for now! Sadly, I write this from New Jersey.) was spent on one of the 7,107 islands in the Philippines. Siargao (pronounced Shar-gow) is…

We've met and become friends with so many people on the road - really these people have made our trip so special. Today's blog post shares a story of our best Thai friend, Vit. We spent the weekend with him and his family in the country about two hours north of Chiang Mai. It was one of the best weekends we've had on the road and we met amazing people who treated us like family. It was an honor to be their guests. Thank you, Vit!

We just got back from spending two days with our best Thai friend Vit, his family and friends. Vit invited us to his hometown for a festival at the Buddhist temple to celebrate the completion of a new building. Town festivals like this one only happen once every five years, so it was going to be a big event. How could we decline the invitation?

Within the first hour of being in Vit’s hometown, we…

We've been in Thailand for over 6 weeks...here's a quick little blog about it. Keep following our Facebook page for the most up to date happenings with us!!

Well, it’s been radio silence here at KickingOutWindows.com but if you’ve been following us on Facebook (as you should, tsk tsk!), you already know we’ve been in Thailand for a while.

Actually, we’ve been in Thailand for over six weeks and four of those weeks were spent with Todd’s son Jake. He came to visit us for his winter break from college. Having the band back together after six months…

Many people come to Sri Lanka just for a beach holiday, but they are missing out on the best this country has to offer. We are just finishing up thirty days in Sri Lanka and found the country and people beautiful and welcoming while the ancient historical sites are truly amazing.  Getting around the island by bus and train may be slow, but it’s easy, cheap and convenient.

From the airport or the…

Writing a blog certainly can be a full time job and at my speed, I'd be unemployed! So here's a quick catch-up of our 5 weeks in Italy from September 15 - October 23. Better late than never!! And it's Saturday so you have all weekend to read it! Here's a little tip: Like our Facebook page for real-time updates!

Oh, I’ve been very bad! Here I am in the heat and rain of Sri Lanka’s jungle forests finally writing a post about our 5 weeks in Italy and Sicily!

Meglio tardi che mai (better late than never)!

So, where did we leave off? After a week of picking grapes in the tranquility of the Slovenian vineyard, Todd and I met my parents in Poggibonsi, Italy – a small, nondescript town in the Tuscan hills. The…

On a rather dreary, rainy spring day last year, I decided I was going to say “yes” to everything presented to me for 30 days.

The idea came to me at the hair salon. I had arrived a few minutes early for my appointment and was greeted and checked in by a nice young man. As I sat down on the couch to leaf trough a magazine, he asked me if I wanted a glass of water or cup of tea. Without hesitation…

If you’re following our Kicking Out Windows page on Facebook, you already know we spent one month, from mid-August to mid-September, in central Europe: specifically Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovenia. Visiting these former communist countries was both eye-opening and refreshing: we thought that they’d be cold and grey, but they were surprisingly lively and friendly.

Even in…

The Facebook and blog reels show sunny photos of cool places, big smiles and delicious food. But let’s be honest: traveling long-term is not always roses and rainbows.

I’m still Rachel, just in different cities and countries. I still get stressed and worried. Sometimes I take for granted where I am and what I’m doing. Travel is not the fairy godmother that grants wishes and I’m not Bobo the Clown…

Another highlight in Ecuador is hiking the Quilotoa Loop. It’s a multiday trek through mountainous farmlands and valleys from one remote village to another including the turquoise Quilotoa crater lake. Some people hike through six towns, but we chose to hike through three (Insilivi – Chugchilan – Quilotoa).

The landscape was breathtakingly beautiful and walking through the indigenous people’s…

Experiencing Expat Life in Ecuador

Call it a rookie traveler mistake, but we foolishly booked a flight from Ecuador to Spain three months in advance. Even before leaving New Jersey, we had broken our first agreement that we’d leave our itinerary open. Now, wherever the wind blew us in South America, we’d have to be at the airport in Quito on August 11 at 8:35am to catch a flight to Madrid. We had six weeks to spend in Ecuador – a…

Photo Gallery: Feria Libre Market

Shots from the Feria Libra market in Cuenca, Ecuador.  Click on the photos below to see them full-sized and captions.

Many hours have been spent in deep conversation with fellow long-term travelers and expats who’ve traded life in their home countries for new lives elsewhere.

I always come away from those conversations thinking “I am not alone.”

It feels amazing to be with like-minded folks who understand the motivation for quitting our jobs to travel the world. Like me, most are highly educated, lead great…

Cusco, Peru: Parades, Festivals and Baby Llamas

It’s been four weeks since we left our comfortable lives in New Jersey to wander the world. It’s been somewhat strange to be without a schedule, without a job and without all of the creature comforts we’ve grown accustomed to. Yet, we have felt so normal and comfortable on the road and have sort of built temporary tribes with the other travelers we’ve met.

  Although no longer in Cusco, Peru (as…

Check out my latest blog post about hiking the Inca Trail and visiting Machu Picchu!

It’s 3:50pm on Friday, June 19, 2015 and I’m sitting on the rooftop balcony of Hostel Piuray: our home for the next week in Cusco. We first arrived in Cusco on June 11 (I had to check my calendar because I’m beginning to lose track of time!) but spent 4 of those days hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

The day before the trek, I felt anxious and panicked about being physically able to complete…

Peru…what can I say? It’s not at all what I expected, though to be honest, I don’t even know what I expected.

It’s an oxymoron of a country. Organized chaos at it’s finest. A cacophony of honking horns at all hours and car exhaust that fills your lungs with a heavy burn that makes it hard to breathe. Stop signs are merely a way to advise the right of way rather than a hard and fast rule to stop.…

Almost every person who’s heard we quit our jobs to travel the world replies with, “I wish I could do that.”  I usually grab my pompoms and suggest that they do it too.

But to be honest, this has been the most difficult challenge of my life and right now, I’m scared to death.

During all those years spent daydreaming about traveling the world, I never once considered that it would be so hard.  In…