East Coast Living with a West Coast State of Mind

The leaves are changing and it’s starting to get COLD! We didn’t think we would be here long enough to feel the fall weather, but part of me loves throwing a hoodie on and feeling the chill. Let me stress: part of me.

A few things have been decided since we made our west coast road trip and cross-country drive back east. Most importantly where we will be settling down; Vegas, Baby! Woo! With the locations we visited, nothing compared to the feeling we felt while in Vegas. Not only is it a great travel hub, but the outdoor lifestyle you can live while there can be year round. Hiking, mountain biking, paddle boarding, and all things outdoors can be easily done 12 months a year, which is perfect for us.

We particularly loved Summerlin and the surrounding areas near Red Rock. Our hope is to rent a house somewhere around there which would make us 20 to 30 minutes from the strip. The common misconception about Vegas is that it’s all about the strip, which is unfortunate. Las Vegas has so much to offer and the strip is such a tiny part of what it’s all about.  We are excited to make this move and can’t WAIT to finally put our feet down somewhere we can call home.

Now, WHEN are we moving? That is still up in the air. It is proving to be extremely hard to job hunt from across the country, but moving out there with nothing lined up is terrifying to me. Do we spend our time on the east coast where family and friends are [and living is free] while looking for jobs remotely OR do we head to Vegas fingers crossed in hopes of landing a job quick and being available for immediate interviews. There are pros and cons to both options right now, which is making just about EVERY decision difficult.

You think I would be better at just going with the flow after doing so while out of the country, but this is totally different to me. Employment and the employer are both extremely important to me. I love to work, and I would love to find a job that I enjoy going to every day. I don’t want to just settle for a position to have a job, but would rather find something I’m passionate about… and that’s HARD when you don’t know the area or companies to look in to. It’s the main goal I’m sure for everyone to love what he or she does, but it’s hard to find that something when you are across the country. The struggle and the STRESS are real.

Woosa…

It’s funny how certain things can hit you different ways. I find myself extremely stressed about what is going to happen not remembering how lucky I am to be healthy and living with a roof over my head while trying to figure it all out. I should not be consumed by stress related to the job hunt, but thankful I am healthy and able to go to work. 

If this Ellen episode doesn’t make you tear up and be thankful… I don’t know what will.

Now wipe your eyes and be thankful. Hug your loved ones and know that even people going through the worst things imaginable still have the strength to smile. And this is where I tell myself to ‘MAN UP’.

Let’s bring it back up with two words: TED TALK!

Boo-ya! This little lady sent in an application with some Q’s and A’s and got picked to attend the Tedx Buffalo [independently organized TED event] event on October 14. Never heard of TED Talks? Do yourself a favor and visit: www.ted.com or better yet, watch my favorite and one of the first Ted Talks Below.  

Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity 

I love listening to this talk. You may agree, you may not- but it will get you thinking. This is the point. One of my favorite parts is “Frank sent this.” HAHA It makes me laugh every time.

I am so excited to attend this event and feel very lucky I was picked to be one of the 200 who will be in attendance. This has a little something to do with staying on the east coast as well. Once I got the email that I was picked, I REALLY didn’t want to miss out!

Keeping the motivational vibe rolling… here’s another good speech.

Alan Watts- What if Money Was No Object 

So. Good. Here’s a snip:

What would you like to do if money were no object? How would you really enjoy spending your life? Well, it’s so amazing as a result of our kind of educational system, crowds of students say well, we’d like to be painters, we’d like to be poets, we’d like to be writers, but as everybody knows you can’t earn any money that way. Or another person says well, I’d like to live an out-of-doors life and ride horses. I said you want to teach in a riding school? Let’s go through with it. What do you want to do? When we finally got down to something, which the individual says he really wants to do, I will say to him, you do that and forget the money, because, if you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you will spend your life completely wasting your time. You’ll be doing things you don’t like doing in order to go on living, that is to go on doing things you don’t like doing, which is stupid.

Give it a listen. It’s a shorter one but also gets you thinking. I love the message.

So as this was more of a blog rambling post than a photo update happy post, I always feel better when I write and can analyze WHY I’m feeing a certain way. This may not be as exciting, but writing this did exactly what I needed it to and for that I am thankful.

In short: Don’t Worry, Be Happy.

Las Vegas, Nevada

Coming Home, Road Tripping on the West Coast, and Riding the Emotional Roller Coaster Called Life

WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING

I can’t believe this is the first blog I’m sitting down to write since we landed back in the US. Emotions and plans start snowballing and you lose track of time and all the things you are “going to do tomorrow”. But as I sit here in Ashland, Oregon- I finally have a moment to breath. Woosaaaa…

Once we arrived in Buffalo after a long 19 hours of flights, we were greeted with balloons and hugs from my parents- much needed! Spending two weeks in Buffalo turned in to almost a month with some time spent in Fredonia to see our good friends Chuckie and Kari. We went boating, fishing, four wheeling and target shooting, all in one weekend. It was a BLAST.

After a month we were finally off to the west coast, as planned. Two checked bags each and a one-way ticket to Sacramento; we were ready to figure life out! 

Side note- check out that handsome man below with a face you can see!! Bye bye beard...for now. 

Our plans west had a lot to do with our mutual friend Brad. Adam has known Brad since he was 15 years old and I met Brad when I purchased the house next to him in 2009. As you could probably guess, Brad is how we met so we owe a lot to him for that. :)

Brad wanted his vehicle moved from Sacramento back to where he was residing in Oregon. Seeing that we had no real plans, we agreed to fly into Sacramento and do this for him, as it would also provide us a vehicle- perfect! 

Once we arrived in Sacramento, plans changed again. I think I have gotten PRETTY GOOD at going with the flow as I used to get SO incredibly stressed out with planning things and dealing with changes. Brad’s mom needed help moving her things out of a storage unit that was located in Carlsbad California, near San Diego. SO guess where we were headed.

We drove from Sacramento to Carlsbad [about an 8 to 9 hour drive] and helped his mother for the next two days organizing and cleaning out her storage unit.

We then were going to make our way back up to Oregon to bring Brad’s vehicle home. With all of the wild fires happening and the earthquake hitting Northern California, we made the decision to detour to Las Vegas and make our way up to Oregon through Reno.

We spent two nights in Vegas catching up with friends and exploring around areas we may want to live. We spent the second day hiking around Red Rock Canyon and had an AMAZING dinner at India Palace- discounted thanks to Restaurant.com. Ha!

It was a FAST two days but we will be back to Vegas and it may be possibly to live.

We left Vegas and made our way to Ashland, Oregon [13.5 hour drive] where we are now. Saw wild donkeys, rams, and incredible views along the way. 

The plan is to explore around here and the Portland area to see if this may be where we want to settle down.

EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER

So bringing us from when we arrived back in the US to now, I couldn’t even begin to explain the emotions that have taken over. In a way, it was just as much of a culture shock coming back home as it was entering a country I have never been to before. During the 6+ months of traveling, I have seen so much and experienced so many different things it’s hard to keep track. But the hardest thing that I have to remember and continue to tell myself is: no one cares about what you just did as much as you do.

Why doesn’t everyone want to go through all 5,000 photos with us? I mean, that answer may be a little obvious but its something you can’t let yourself forget. This was MY journey. I decided to travel for MYSELF because I needed something more. I needed to figure things out. People always talk about leaving, but what about coming home?

There was an article written about this and I couldn’t have said it better myself. It was posted the week we were coming home and it made so much sense. Read it here: The Hardest Part of Traveling No One Talks About.

Here’s a small excerpt:

“…Part of you is screaming don’t you understand how much I have changed? The way your dreams have changed, the way you perceive people differently, the habits you’re happy you lost, the new things that are important to you. You want everyone to recognize this and you want to share and discuss it, but there’s no way to describe the way your spirit evolves when you leave everything you know behind and force yourself to use your brain in a real capacity, not on a written test in school. You know you’re thinking differently because you experience it every second of every day inside your head, but how do you communicate that to others?

You feel angry. You feel lost. You have moments where you feel like it wasn’t worth it because nothing has changed but then you feel like it’s the only thing you’ve done that is important because it changed everything. What is the solution to this side of traveling? It’s like learning a foreign language that no one around you speaks so there is no way to communicate to them how you really feel.” 

It just makes so much sense. You experience so much and just can’t seem to put words to it. But internally, you know what you did, what you saw, and the countless of things you have learned along the way…and to me, that’s enough.

Adding to the emotional roller coaster is the constant reminder from my bank account that I need to GET A JOB. Quite obvious, but it isn’t that easy. With spending hours critiquing my resume and searching for opportunities all around the west coast, I have to remember that although it may take some time, I will not settle for something I’m not excited about.

Being gone for so long you learn to cherish each day and realize that staying stuck in something that makes you unhappy is only the fault of your own- job, life, anything. I will continue to search for opportunities but will not just settle for the reason only to have a job. I want to find something that motivates me. Something that drives me to wake up every morning with the excitement to go to work.

HAVING SAID THAT- for someone who has worked since the age of 14 and almost ALWAYS had 2 jobs at a time, I feel like I’m slightly going crazy. What I said above is true, but not having work is not in my DNA. Before we left in January, I had a full time job Monday-Friday and worked in a fine dining restaurant on Saturdays. I love it. I love to be busy and keeping the restaurant job took me away from sitting behind a desk and allowed face-to-face interaction. There also is nothing like working in a restaurant. You aren’t co-workers, you are a family. I believe that you work 10x harder when the environment you work in is a positive one and the team you work with is a cohesive one.

I hope once I do find the job that settles me somewhere on the west coast that it is a place where positive communication and unity is important. I am eager as I see all different opportunities on the west coast and have faith I will find the perfect fit.

That’s all for now from sunny Oregon. I will be working to update the content and photos on HauserBautz.com with new goodies from the trip.

Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. 

Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines: 6 months down. USA- We’re Coming Home.

It is definitely bittersweet to be writing this. How can 6 months possibly have gone by so quickly? I remember sitting in our newly purchased campervan [Sherman] in New Zealand crying my eyes out because I missed home- 2 weeks felt like forever to be away. I knew I would get stronger and it wasn’t just about being away or taking the longest vacation EVER [I think of it as a quarter life break], it was about learning new cultures, growing, and finding more about myself than I knew when I left. I have powered through the tears and found strength in knowing the journey was more than I even could comprehend at that time.

We have slept in campervans, cars, overnight trains, and airports; we have found ourselves staying in hostels, homestays, tents, hotels, and new friend’s homes; we have indulged in street food, picked fresh fruit that we have never heard of and tried it [in the jungle of Thailand, might I add!], grocery shopped and ate out of a cooler for weeks, and cooked endless amounts of meals on the gas stove that was bolted inside of our campervan.

What an incredible journey we have been on and through the ups and downs, we are landing back in the United States changed. Changed completely. It has been a frequent topic of conversation Adam and I have lately, “How do you think we have changed since we left?” It seems like a simple question but it’s truly hard to comprehend when you sit down and think about it.

I don’t feel like I’ve changed but more so grown in so many ways I didn’t know possible. I guess they can work hand in hand but it’s inevitable that once you start learning new things, the way you look at others will change with the new knowledge. Before leaving the US- I can admit now that I was close minded. Before this trip, have I ever been out of the country? Of course, we live so close to Canada. Oh, and I took that family vacation to Mexico way back when. Yes, maybe we can sometimes say we have been out of the country- but did you learn about where you went or was your mind in strict vacation/beach/cocktail mode? Mine was in strict vacation mode when I went and I was too young to appreciate it anyways.

We knew leaving on this trip we wanted all that traveling to foreign countries has to offer and then some. Giving ourselves about a month in each location we were able to settle in and learn about the country.

We successfully bought and sold a vehicle, made amazing life-long friends, stayed with locals, hiked around a volcano, hiked in the jungle, rode elephants, kayaked, scuba dove, covered ourselves in neon paint to attend a full moon party on the beach, got tattoos, white water rafted, and completed a Tough Mudder. Just typing this- I can’t believe that’s all true. How fortunate we are to see so many parts of the world and meet so many incredible people.

There are people that you meet who leave a lasting impression. We find ourselves lucky to come across these people in life and specifically in our 6 month journey. If you remember a previous post from our time in Australia and the amazing couple that invited us into their home, Harvey & Jane, to this day we still talk about how wonderful they are. The conversations you have and memories you make shape the way you grow and can be linked to how you may “change” along the way. We have handed our card out to many people we converse with along the way and we love the amount of emails we receive back. It’s not always easy to exchange information on the go but when you have it all written down on a card it’s much easier to hand over.

We met some amazing people through AirBnb as well- John Money in New Zealand for starters! John took us to the local bar and even made us a delicious pasta dinner and cake the night before we were heading out. We enjoyed a few beers and meals while talking about our families and how we got to where we were today. John also makes the most amazing cakes that Adam and I LOVE!! Yum. I don’t think John realized how nice it was to have a home cooked meal and how much we appreciated everything he did for us. Would we have met someone like John if we stayed in a hotel over an AirBnb location? My guess is no…and we would have missed out big time.

As I reflect on all of the great times we have had- you know some struggle came with it! Can you imagine being with your significant other for 6 months straight, every minute of every day? Can you imagine being with ANYONE for that length of time? You get real close, real quick and at times you want to get REAL FAR real quick. Haha. The best part is- we are closer than ever and on top of experiencing all the things we have, we are both absolutely confident we have found our soul mate- and how lucky is THAT!

I don’t think we can count the amount of times I said- I JUST WANT TO DO MY HAIR! I WANT TO BE PRETTY AGAIN. I WANT TO FEEL GIRLY. When you are backpacking all over- you have a small bag of clothes and that’s what you wear. EVERY. DAY. Maybe you trade some things out and buy others, but rarely because if you can’t carry it in your pack- you can’t have it. I made it to Australia until I made a very girly purchase- I bought a BRA. OMG you mean you can wear a sports bra EVERY DAY and you don’t want to? Girls- go 2 months in a sports bra and tell me you still like it. Life got much perkier after that purchase J. Yes we may be backpacking, but I realized I can’t give everything up. I still haven’t worn an ounce of make-up and absolutely love it. I am excited, however, to style my hair. I don’t know what I’m going to do with it since it’s grown so much and it really has no style- but it will be nice to not rock a braid or messy bun.

I don’t even know where to begin with all of the ANIMALS we have seen! Penguins, seals, hedgehogs, kangaroos, wombats, koalas, monkeys, elephants, crocodiles, turtles, sharks, TONS of fish and so much more. Almost all of these we have seen in the wild and in their natural habitat. We hugged elephants, took selfies with turtles and spent an entire day hanging around kangaroos. These are the types of things I thought only existed in movies and on TV…until now.

The thought of a zoo becomes sad in a sense when you see these animals in their own world- they all should be free. We saw the most beautiful birds in Australia and while in Thailand, those same birds were in cages at a pet shop. It’s so sad and hard to not get caught up in emotions when you see animals like this. And the stray dogs and cats- OMG. I could tear up just thinking about all of the stray sick looking dogs we have seen during this trip. I want to just scoop all of these puppies up and save them. BUT when it comes to the treatment of animals around the world, we have to remember that other countries don’t have rules and regulations that the USA does and we can’t expect people to act the way we think they should as they don’t know better. They don’t know to STOP letting these dogs breed… if you can’t take care of one with food, love, and attention- you definitely can’t take care of one plus all of its babies. They don’t have vets sprinkled all over like we do in the US. On Gili Trawangan Island in Indonesia, only cats are allowed, no dogs. And one of our friends told us a vet comes to the island once a month for free to service the cats. A step in the right direction to say the least.


During this journey we have seen so much and lately Adam continues to say to me- “You would have NEVER done that 6 months ago!” Looking back, almost every time he has been right. You learn to appreciate things so much more when you take a step back and look at the big picture. You stop stressing about the little things and you learn to take more chances. Life is precious, everyone’s dream may not be the same but at least we’re all dreaming!

I took a chance and pulled a 180 on my life. I’m not sure how I gathered the courage to do this but I wasn’t happy with where I was and I knew I had to make a change. It was a BIT DRASTIC- but this trip has completely changed my life. I am so thankful to all of the people we have met, landmarks we have seen, things we have learned, and millions of memories I have made with the love of my life and my best friend. And an even bigger THANK YOU to everyone who has followed along with us and enjoyed a view into a few countries through our eyes. The support from our friends and family means the world to us. Just because we are coming home doesn’t mean the blogging will stop. We plan to take a little bit of time [before settling down] to travel around the United States and explore as much as we have in other countries back in our homeland. Hopefully then we will find a place we love and want to make “home”.

Life isn’t always about your job, your house, your car, and what you are doing Saturday night. Trust me, I know firsthand- I left my job, I sold my house AND my car, and I turned every day into Saturday. I saw the world and I may have taken 6 months off and away from everything but I found more happiness in these 6 months than I have in a very long time. I learned the importance of small things, learned that having a lot of material things can have the power to hold you back, and that if for once you find the courage and strength to do what truly makes you happy- you will finally feel free.

Our Last Stop- The Beautiful Philippines.

We arrived in the Philippines and started by spending the first few days in an area right outside of Manila called Makati. We stayed in a very convenient hotel called 24h- here, you can check in at any time you arrive and your hotel stay is for 24 hours from that time. This was great for us as we arrived at 6am and were able to check right in and SLEEP- perfect. We stumbled on a restaurant right across the street called Goto Monster- AMAZING.

The owners are so friendly and helped us pick out what to order. This included Lambanog, a Philippine alcoholic beverage most commonly described as coconut wine or coconut vodka. The drink is distilled from the sap of the unopened coconut flower, and is known for its potency and high alcohol content (80 and 90 proof). SIGN us UP! We are all about getting to know the culture.

After some discussion, we learned the places to go and see while in Makati- we made our way around the town and to check out the Sunday market.  We tried some delightful ice cream from Adam’s Ice Cream [Adam is actually from the US and his ice cream is to DIE FOR] and other local dishes.

While in Manila, we decided where we wanted to head next- El Nido, Palawan. It was hard to pick where to go as there are so many islands in the Philippines. The area of El Nido sounded a bit remote and quiet- which was exactly what we were looking for. We made our plans to fly into the closest location, Puerto Princesa, and from there we would have to take a 6 hour bus ride to reach El Nido.

Speaking of getting around, our prefereed mode of transportation here has been the tricycle/motorbike.

Not all are as sweet at THIS ONE, but we like to ride in STYLE! There are speakers and a little TV in the dash of this bad boy and we rocked OUT while cruising around.

Here we are with Ron our driver! Ron was our bartender the night prior and once he offered to show us around town the following day in his own tricycle- we couldn't say no!

One of the places he took us to was the Crocodile Farm.

 

 

 

We had lots of fun hanging with Ron and he even gave us a lift to the bus terminal to catch a ride to El Nido!

 

Also to note- it is rainy season. Look these things up prior to when you arrive, as we were in for some surprises.

There are some funky things to mention about El Nido that were firsts in our travels so far. To start, there are no ATM’s, so take out enough cash to last you while you are there as the closest ATM is in Puerto Princesa [6 hours away, by bus]. Also, there is only power from 2pm to 6am every day in the whole town. It’s like someone flips a switch and the power goes on and off for everyone- crazy. So we took our money out and made our way to the bus terminal where we immediately hopped on and handed the appropriate peso amount once we were on our way.
Once we arrived in EL Nido and made our way to where we were staying, we were in for a few more uncomfortable surprises: no flushing toilet [or toilet seat] or hot water. We are used to the no hot water part as we have gotten quite used to taking cold showers every day, but the no flushing toilet? There are some things you just wish you didn’t have to experience when traveling and this probably was one of them for me. You fill a bucket up after using the toilet, and pour the water in to manually flush it and hope gravity does its job... That’s about all I’m going to say about it. Once we get home, I request separate bathrooms for both Adam and myself as there are some things that should stay foreign between couples- LOL. You can also see the showerhead right to the left of the toilet... and you thought YOUR bathroom was small.

 

Let's talk about those walls... WOW. I love green and all but CALM DOWN.
Digressing...one of the best parts about this place is the landscape. Three days in a row we rented kayaks and explored around. We found secret places and took some incredible shots.

 

 

 

We are so fortunate that we are able to take these pictures but you must remember- they don’t always come out great. Here’s a funny video that shows the outcome of one of our brilliant ideas: Nicole to do a handstand on the kayak. Now, I thought it would be moderately difficult. I made one wrong step into the waterproof cubby and it was all over. This has to be the best fail to date.

 

The OTHER best part is the people we have met. The restaurant we ate at the first night we were here had live music- and these two singers [Chris & Mike] were AMAZING. As soon as their set was finished we started talking with them and their personalities were as awesome as their singing.

So incredibly friendly and we kept going back to hear them sing. After making friends with the two of them- we learned Chris' grandmother rents out a place nearby so we decided to check it out. Next thing you know, we moved our things over there and Mike & Chris were our neighbors. These two guys are the type of people you WISH you met while traveling. And it doesn’t even stop there- their wives and babies are just as awesome as they are. Mike’s wife Meg and adorable daughter Kai and Chris’ wife Dorie and adorable daughter Mayo.

Clockwise: Chris [in blue and white], Dorie, Mayo, Kai, Meg & Mike



Chris & The Girls

It was interesting to talk to Chris about the area since he was born and raised here. There are tons of homes, schools and buildings around his grandma's house now but he still remembers when it was surrounded by rice fields and nature. You look around and can’t even picture what that would look like and wild to think that just a few decades ago all of these surroundings didn’t exist. We are so fortunate to have met these two families as they have made our time in El Nido more than we hoped for. We will miss our friendly neighbors when we have to leave!!!

We spend so much time at the spot Chris & Mike sing at, the owner invited us to her son Alon's 4th Birthday party! We got to try tons of local food and it was so nice to be invited to such an event where we saw only friends and family. We felt the love :)

As some may have read or seen on the news- the northern Philippines experienced another major typhoon- Glenda. Glenda is a bitch. While we were in Makati- Jean, our friend from Goto Monster, was telling us that they were already aware that it was coming. They experience about 20 of these a year and have a good idea of how to prepare for them as much as possible. There is only so much you can do and when you live in an area that is prone to natural disasters, you just do what you can. Being in El Nido- we only experienced HEAVY rain and wind from the typhoon since we are south of the path Glenda took. Two days of on and off down pouring and strong winds that would wake you up in the middle of the night- but luckily nothing damaging and after talking to Chris and Mike- it wasn’t even that bad. I guess we just aren’t used to it Haha. Thankfully, we are safe but that isn’t the case for some of those in the Manila and northern areas. Keep them in your thoughts because although you may be able to try and prepare for something like a typhoon- you can never predict the power it has.

On a lighter note- you can get super legit bags like this one for CHEAP.

We will spend a few more days in El Nido then back to Puerto Princesa we go. We spend a few days there, and a few days back in Manila, then we FLY BACK TO THE UNITED STATES. Holy MOLEY I can’t believe this time has come. I have already started writing my reflection of this trip and it’s taking longer than expected...also proving to be more emotional as well. But it will be posted soon.

I was asked a few good questions from a friend of mine and after I respond to her may decide to post them on here. We have learned a lot of good things through our travels and if they can help anyone else in theirs- why not share them!