Welcome to our Sabbatical Round 2

We are off on an adventure! Nearly 10 years ago, we took our first sabbatical. We travelled mostly overseas, exploring South Africa and Oceania, Thailand, and the US Southwest. We flew our paragliders, scuba dived in the Great Barrier Reef, and hiked, backpacked and kayaked all over. We spent time with friends and family, and really enjoyed ourselves.

This sabbatical we plan to mostly be in the USA, at least for the first year. Over the last two years, we have been hard at work converting a 4WD Sprinter van into a camper van, complete with all the essentials and some luxuries too. 

Here’s our rough itinerary:

• November/December 2023:  mostly California, including Santa Barbara, the Bay Area, Joshua Tree, Death Valley, eastern Sierras, and Redding.
• January 2024: Josh paragliding in Thailand; Michelle birding in Arizona; some time in Seattle.
• February - mid-March 2024: Argentina, Chile, Patagonia backpacking, hiking, and more. (Traveling by airplane, not campervan)
• Mid-March thru early Fall 2024: driving the van to Arizona; rafting the Grand Canyon; exploring the Southwest, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, up into Banff and Jasper National Parks; drive to Alaska and adventure galore. With short trips away from the van to go rafting with Josh’s family, attend Michelle’s college girls reunion, and take in the Watershed Country Music Festival at the Gorge.
• Beyond Fall: TBD.

Along the way, we hope to spent time with friends and family. We welcome company and would love to share adventures with you. 

Michelle endeavors to keep this blog roughly up to date, and plans to share recaps of our adventures and also refinements of our itinerary. We will gladly accept your tips for places to visit and restaurants to dine at, and we hope to see you out on the road!

Cheers,

Michelle & Josh

Are we there yet?

Josh and I started our travels nearly 10 months and I figured it was time to update our itinerary page. There you can find a listing of where we've been and where we might be headed. We are hoping our travels extend far into 2015, but the winds may shift and bring us back to Seattle sooner rather than later. Everyday is a new adventure in our world!

 

Farewell South Africa

Today we are leaving South Africa, so here's a quick recap of the last 37 days:

Day 1: Arrive Jo'burg, drive to Centurion
Day 2: Centurion (Josh works, Michelle relaxes)
Day 3: Fly to Hoedspruit, drive to Kruger
Days 4-8: Kruger National Park (self-drive safari)
Day 9: Drive to Kapama Game Reserve
Day 10: Kapama (fancy safari)
Day 11: Fly to Jo'berg, drive to Centurion
Days 12-13: Centurion (Josh works, Michelle does chores and relaxes)
Day 14: Fly to George, drive to Wilderness
Days 15-20: Wilderness (paragliding, sight-seeing, relaxing)
Day 21: Drive to Porterville
Days 22-26: Porterville (paragliding)
Day 27: Drive to and tour Cape Town (penguins, swimming, sunset drive, shopping)
Day 28: Fly to Jo'berg, drive to Centurion
Days 29-30: Centurion (Josh works, Michelle does laundry and gets a massage)
Day 31: Drive to Hartebeespoort (vulture restaurant, relaxing)
Day 32: Drive Bulwer
Days 33-34: Bulwer (relaxing, paragliding, hiking)
Day 35: Drive to Pretoria
Day 36: Pretoria (Josh works, Michelle relaxes)
Day 37: Fly to Thailand via Mumbai

Safari, here we come!

Woohoo! We are officially booked for 6 nights in Kruger National Park, plus 2 more nights in the lux Kapama Game Reserve in northeastern South Africa. In less than a month, we'll be driving a tiny rental car amidst elephants, zebra, rhino, lions and whatever else lets us get close in sunny (perhaps sweltering!) paradise. And we'll have AC -- both in our lodging and our rental car! I'm so excited, it feels like Christmas. Oh wait, it is! And I'm a Jew.... anywho, hooray for travel!