Updates

Well, still busy!
The house is back on the market - and we're aggressively trying to sell it - mainly to make it so much easier to take off and travel. So, send us best wishes to sell it. Whether we sell it soon or not, we're still pursuing our plans, as shared last entry.

Lots of occupational therapy job opportunities in Hawaii for Andy, and lots more massage therapy jobs for Evan. It was easy for Andy to get an OT licence. Ev will have to apply to take the state boards, and has that application under way. We are looking at Oahu. This is partly because we like being in/near cities; partly because we are not planning to take a car there, but to rely on rental cars and public transport (therefore Oahu is best), and partly because we want to be able to get there and back as easily as possible. One opportunity we are looking into is Andy getting work through the Army (yeah yeah yeah!...) as there are many opportunities world wide ... we'll see. We plan on being there for 6-9 months.

In the mean time, we're also getting ready for our UK and Iceland trip. UK plans include a few days in an old old hotel on the coast of Cornwall with mum and dad, a visit back up to Newcastle, this time with a car with stops on the way to Lincoln and Hull (Andy's old home) and Nottingham and Sherwood Forest on the drive back to London. We have also secured tickets to a summer festival featuring none other than ... Bananarama! Andy IS excited! plus the usual visits with friends and family.

Iceland plans include a lazy half day at the Blue Lagoon hot water springs resort and a morning puffin spotting; we decided to bite the bullet and rent a car (very expensive) to really make the most of our time and see the island.

And crazy though it is, those Alsaka cruises are getting cheaper and cheaper .... oh, maybe!!!

Anyway, hopefully we'll be moving and downsizing some more to make it all a bit easier.
More later.

The Plan

Finally … we can now get some news out there. As we have been posting, there has been some planning and dreaming going on here. We’ve also been enjoying living in Washington in the summer, and have been off and about – last weekend we camped in Leavenworth, Spokane and Winthrop. We thought we should see some more of Washington before we ….

Firstly, we are putting the house back on the market – we have chosen our agent and will be getting all the things finalized to list again in the next couple of days. The reasons are the same as last time – that while we love our house, it makes it much harder to travel and leave for extended periods of time. So, hopefully, we will sell soon and move into a condo locally, from where we can …

So we have a 4 year plan, and this is how is goes – we’re planning an interim move to Hawaii in the not too distant future – time to do something new – and we have both wanted to experience living on a tropical island for a while. We plan on doing this for 6-9 months while keeping our ties and home base in Bellingham. This will give Ev the time to finish his degree (which he has to do in the USA)( … unless Andy gets a job with the army as a therapist then we can go anywhere) as well as giving us the chance to earn our TEFL certificates (teaching English as a foreign language). After our Hawaii and degree completion stint, we are going to move to New Zealand for a year to work and travel. Lots of job opportunities and options for us. Then, year 3 will see us heading to Asia (China?) to teach English for a year; before settling down in the Caribbean to set up our overseas charity project. We plan to keep our USA base in Bellingham, as we love it here so much and have many friends and work prospects, but to be our version of snow-birds !.....

So that’s the plan – it’s taken quite a bit of planning and organizing – wish us luck and stay tuned – we’ll be updating again more regularly.

In the meantime, we’re off to the UK and Iceland next month for a few weeks!!!
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“Life is either nothing or a daring adventure” (Helen Keller)

Not Yet

Sorry to disappoint, but we're still not letting the cat out of the bag regarding the changes mentioned in the last couple of posts. The reason is timeline related. We can't make it known until the timeline is definite, and the timeline is very dependent on a lot of variables... so....

We spent 1/2 the weekend getting the house spruced up for a potential re-visit to the real estate market; up on the roof, touch up painting, cleaning, gardening, etc., etc. Still a bit more to do before we contact an agent, but it looks as though we will attempt to sell again.

The second 1/2 of the weekend consisted of a trip to Seattle yesterday. Coffee at a favorite spot we spent much time at while Ev was in massage school, a trip to volunteer park, then on to the Rhododendron garden, and we finished up with a look around the shops at University Village and a lovely bowl of noodles at Zao.

We realize the posts aren't as exciting as of late, but hang tight, we will be ramping it up in the not too far away future!

"The day you decide to do it is your lucky day." (Japanese Proverb)

Post DR - update

Since we’ve been back from the Dominican Republic we’ve been plotting some more. Can’t say too much at the moment, but we’re getting ready to make some pretty big changes…. Stay tuned – we’ll write about it as soon as we can let the cat out of the bag.
In the meantime we’re getting ready for our next trip to the UK and Iceland this summer. Plans already made or in the making include a summertime festival by a cathedral, a trip to Cornwall with Andy’s mum and dad, and a trip up to northern England to see Aunt Shiela and Uncle Alf, stopping on route in Hull (where Andy used to live) and Nottingham (to visit Nottingham Forest). Iceland plans include visiting some of the un-spoilt wilderness there (maybe skipping the volcanoes), a trip to the world’s oldest parliament and Viking remains, and the highlight, puffin spotting!
We’re also seriously considering another try at selling the house and moving into town and to somewhere smaller, to make life and our future plans a little easier.

That’s all for now. We hope to post some of our Dominican Republic pictures soon.
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“We choose to give up something we want for something we want more” (Unknown)

Las Terrenas

Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic. Sitting on our patio outside our bungalow, listening to the birds singing in the tropical trees as a bright green gecko watches me watch him.... Lovely.

So we have quite fallen in love with Las Terrenas, a local town at the end of a winding and pot-holed filled road on the northern coast. A mixture of locals, expats and the more adventurous tourists. There's plenty of local color that is tempered by, but not overrun by, the fairly minimal presence of westerners - but enough that there are amenities that we would need (such as wifi!), but no huge resorts and throngs of westerners. We have spent the last couple of days walking the long long stretches of beaches, sitting under palm trees and getting a bit silly on the cheap rum and cokes. We like it here so much we actually cancelled the next stop on our tour (Caberete)as we don't think we need to see anymore (and had enough of the driving too).

Today we have been plotting and scheming, and if it all turns out (as it usually does), there are some ch-ch-ch-changes coming down the pipe pretty soon ... not that we're quite ready to set up shop (figurativly and literally), but we are ready to get on now with the next phase in our life-evolution. Time, we say, for some more adventure before we start again. Visiting the Caribbean and experiencing it, we are now finally able to put the final piece into the puzzle and set off to begin the next four years ...

The full details to follow, plus some pictures, once we are home.

Curious What We're Up To?

Well, it's been quite the adventure thus far. The first night we arrived late and drove a rental car in a downpour trying to find our hotel... which we did but couldn't find the exit from the freeway to get there. After alot of trying, we did get there. So glad we sprung for the more expensive hotel near the airport for the first night!

Next we were off to Bayahibe. It was lovely, but didn't seem a good fit for our project. Too mellow, really. The tourist presence is nil except for those in huge entourages from the nearby resort... and they pretty much just parade through town on their way to excursions... no stopping by local vendors. Big adventure here with our tire going flat and loads of ahrgy bargy to get a new car. Ended up having to phone the credit card company to make use of our travel emergency benefit to get an interpreter to help sort it out (yes; our Spanish needs a lot of work if we are to make the project happen!)... ended up putting on the spare and driving to the nearest Europcar office about half an hour away. Got it sorted, though.We did visit a couple of local bars/cafes that gave us some good ideas for what we might do if in the DR.

Today we drove for about 4 hours to reach the beautiful town of Las Terrenas. Looks promising so far, but we've only just arrived. If we do like what we see the next day or so, we may well just finish out our DR time here.... we shall see.

Lots of driving has meant seeing lots of the country in a short amount of time. This gives us a fairly good overview in and of itself. Andy has done all except that first night (Evan was put off with getting lost and all). It is challenging, but not impossible, and it really is letting us see the county more freely.

We'll sign off for now. More later.

Tulips, movies, and DR dreaming

With now only a week to go to our trip to Dominican Republic, we have been busy preparing. We have chosen to focus our research on three main regions – the south coast (includes Boca Chica and Bayahibe); the east coast (Bavaro and Playa Uvero Alta – avoiding the stretches of all-inclusive resorts around Punta Cana); and the north coast (Las Terenas, Cabarete and Santa Barbara). We are staying in local B and B’s with the hope to make connections and build bridges with other small businesses and organizations. Other areas sound great, but we need to focus our energies on tourist areas that have the ‘right kind’ of tourists – i.e. ones who are out and about in the local communities and who are likely to stop and shop at a charity business. Although many tourists go to the Dominican Republic, the majority of them stay on the infamous all-inclusive resorts, rarely straying out of the safety and confines of their created paradise…. So while we are heading of to a Caribbean island, there is not a lot of emphasis on vacationing and sitting around drinking mai-tais (maybe one!)

Life continues in all other areas. This afternoon, when we have completed yet another garden project, we are off to visit the tulip fields of Washington – it is the annual tulip festival where there are acres and acres of tulips being grown across the fields of Skagit County – and now is flowering time – quite a sight!
Our treat has been to buy two more of our favorite movies of all time (used copies of course!) – Big Fish and Up, to add to our small but powerfully inspirational collection, which includes Love Actually, Magnolia, Beautiful Thing and American Beauty!

We have also been getting to know one of bird neighbors very well – a young robin is intent on getting in the house and spends several hours a day tapping on the window or sitting on the sill and looking in. In Native American symbology, the robin is an animal totem that represents springtime and new life. We have tried telling him we’ve got the message, but he’s still there – tapping away as I type!
We’re off next Tuesday early morning, so look for our next post from the Dominican Republic.
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“Following you dreams may be hard, but ignoring them is disastrous” (Ingrid Collins)