Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Move is Complete


We're done! Packed, moved and recuperating now for a few days at our parents' houses. Our send off from Charleston was great, and we'll miss you all so very much! Thanks for a wonderful send off~

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

We're doing what?!

Plans have firmed up, and it's time to share! Chris and I are heading out on our 6-9month tour of Europe starting April 3rd. We have quit our jobs and packed up much of our things. (Thank you parents and sister!!) We are leaving the beautiful and familiar Charleston to dig into something totally new and a new way of life.

After our first four days in London, we'll head out and get to work. Our first host, who we found through helpx.net, is in Wimborne, near Bournemouth, England. It's about 2 hrs southwest of London. We will be staying for about a month, during which we'll take on a cottage garden project. It needs to be sorted out and replanted for the next season, and we are very ready to get started. After working about 6 or 7 hours a day, we'll be able to walk into town or cozy up in the cottage with a book. On weekends, we are hoping to get out to Stonehenge and explore the local port of Poole- from which we might be able to catch a glimpse of France!

After Wimborne, we will head west to a host in Penzance. For our two weeks there, we will be gathering local naturally-available food to sell to restaurants and helping in the garden. Avoid pirates will be the hard part...

After Penzance, we'll head north to Barnacre, outside of Liverpool. During our month there, we will help out with a big project- learning about and how to use green materials including oak framing, lime plastering, rendering and lime washing, insulation, water harvesting, reed beds, heat pumps, wind turbines as well as general construction skills of joinery etc. And that puts us up to June 26th... Scotland, you're next!

Nearly everywhere we go, there will be wi-fi access. Even the coaches (buses) have it! We'll upload our pictures and link them here! We are discovering how to travel on the cheap, including 1pound fares to and from London through National Express. With our budget, we'll need it! Shoot us an email if you'd like to meet up with us somewhere!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

London!

We've booked three nights in London for a steal of $210 total. And that's in a hotel! Loving the internet right about now....Here's easyHotel's website. From Heathrow airport we'll take the tube to Earl's Court or Gloucester Road. 
View Project Europe in a larger map

Doing some browsing online for where to eat on the cheap in South Kensington, near Hyde Park and our easyHotel. There's Bosphorus Turkish kebabs on Old Brompton,  a Milk Bar on Bateman, and Benito's Hat on Goodge. Google's StreetViewand TripAdvisor are helping immensely!

Meanwhile, our last day at work is tomorrow. Chris is being treated to tasty Mexican food from Santi's and buttermilk pie from Sugar!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Camping!

Been reading up on camping, campgrounds and all things camp! This website is a great resource: http://www.eurocampings.co.uk/en/europe/great-britain/

Most camps have internet access and a restaurant attached. How sweet is that! We can expect to pay about 11Euro for the both of us to stay each night. Looks like we might not be back for a very long time!