August, 2015 - This week was difficult.

One might predict a certain amount of stress while anticipating a two-year, self-funded expedition world-wide.

We feel the weight of our mission in our desire to help others.

​We know we will be missing our friends and relations while away, and strive to see as many loved ones as can be managed before next week. We are consolidating possessions into carry-on luggage and prepping twelve months out.

Yet all of these things were expected. These stressors were all a part of the expected planning process.

But tragedy is no respecter of circumstance, and because of that, we lost something more valuable than any possession or acquirable commodity.

Please take time to look at our gallery and Instagram. If you love what you see, please take time to visit the store!

​Photo credits to Daniel Heintz

As was so eloquently stated by our close, personal friend Walt, we are taking this opportunity to announce the publicity of our cause! We (should) have created and linked FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, the donation site: Indiegogo Life (click to donate!)

We take this opportunity to request pardon for failed website codes, bad links, typos, and excessive alliteration. We are hoping to build this as we go, to make improvement and changes along the way. Feel free to help us do that! 

Let's explore the world. Let's make it better!

The clock is ticking...

09012015

We've come up with a name!!! We have decided to call the journey ahead “Global Expedition 2015-2017,” aka GE1517. We all know the US is totes cray about the abbrevs. The name refers to this multi-purpose, world-traveling endeavor, which revolves around two axes: 

The first is simply a hope to help others, and really all boils down to one basic idea of improving lives here, there, and everywhere.

When all is said and done, once we’ve gathered our stories, made new friends, and explored diverse cultures, we intend to have amassed an extensive collection of cultural information, world photography, global experiences, and helpful data. It’s our hope to donate this media menagerie to the non-profit organization Catalyze Labs (more specifically, their program titled “My Global Village”) for development into an education and empowerment mobile app.

This app would exist behind the idea that humans want to see good things happen, but not everyone feels empowered to act, knows where to start, or whether their efforts will have any kind of sizable impact.

In response to the inaction, we propose a means and an incentive, to activate this enormous pool of latent but well-intentioned capital, enabling people to take their money, time, or ideas and channel them into something powerful that can do the good work they believe in.

If our work is accepted, this app will be a tool to educate children and families about the diversities and cultural colors of the world at large, to let them explore the planet from their own backyards by use of technology. It will contain personal profiles from specific nations across the globe, each one answering questions like, “What is it like to have been born somewhere else?” “What do they eat?” “What do they do for fun?” “What does education look like? “How are birthdays celebrated?”

Learners using the app can see the similarities we share with our international family and note the differences that enrich our populations. They can witness how wonderful life can be everywhere, and how simultaneously difficult day-to-day challenges can become, for so many reasons and for so many people. When a learner discovers a part of the world he thinks can be made better, the app will connect directly with preexisting non-profits already engaged in good work in the field, where ideas, donations, or time can be contributed. If there aren’t projects on file that target a learner’s concerns, Catalyze Labs will embark to expand their network of non-profit friends and help the cause to grow.

From this process of activation through education, we feel we can show people how they can explore the world, and make it better.

But we need help to do this... We need accommodations that allow access to local culture. We need funding, to pay for travel costs. We need support, because despite arguments to the contrary, we are all in this together.

Visit our How to page to see what helping hands can do, or consider our donations website, for direct giving.

Now, the second axis to our adventure is personal: pure wanderlust. Which leads to profiles for each nomad.

Coming next week: Who are these wacky, world-touring hooligans who venture forth into the unknown? Why do they do this? What's in it for them? 

Find out next week on "#classicNOMADS!"

Until then: Explore the world. Make it better.

The clock is ticking...

09012015

Well, we are officially couch-surfing... And one month before departure, nonetheless.

To save rent money (and to force ourselves to streamline our packing) we've given-up our apartment and about 50% of our material possessions for the next two years. I'll continue to work my finance job until August 25th, and Daniel will ready things on the Olympic Peninsula, near our launch site, until we rendezvous to blast off at the end of the month.

First stop: Canada. A water taxi-ride away from Port Angeles, WA, USA. 

To bring things  up to speed, we've carved out an itinerary from North to Central then South America, across the Atlantic and into Europe, along the Mediterranean and down the Middle East into Africa. From Africa, we fly to China, navigating Southeast Asia and Oceania before finishing in New Zealand.

Daniel has contacted and secured lodging in the homes of over forty different local families, and continues to establish new relationships and touch base with existing comrades willing to open doors and hearts for two strangers. We've booked airline flights, trains tickets, relocation cruises, and bus fare for the first year. Once reaching Egypt, we may wind up pitching in to buy a car in Sudan or Ethiopia then sell it in South Africa before flying to Hong Kong through Dubai. We will even hitchhike, where it's opportunistic to do so.

Our greatest anxiety lies in not finishing, our greatest fear that something will stop us from completing the task, or sabotage our efforts before fruition. Daniel is well aware of and I’ve read much about the potential dangers of travel (the disease, the crime, the frightening public transportation and terrifying food choices). For us, it’s just worth it to go and face it.

Explore the world. Make it better.

The clock is ticking...

09012015