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Best of the Rest – The Weekly Roundup

by Meg · 7 comments

The Redwood Treehouse Restaurant in New Zealand

Tony and I are well into our first week of our RTW trip in Santiago, Chile and loving it! It is so exciting (yet bizzaire) to be in a foreign country with no return ticket back home to reality in XX amount of days. It is even more crazy to have no real plans beyond today. After living the nomad lifestyle for only 4 days, I already have a new respect for all the travel bloggers that I have been following for the past year. Here were some of this week’s favorites:

  • Tony and I have been waiting for the past 1.5 years for our RTW to begin and we are finally into our first week of our grand adventure. I know how it feels to be counting down the days till takeoff, so I imagine that Devon from Answering Oliver is incredibly pumped for her journey to begin in less than a month. Let’s all wish her good luck on her upcoming adventures!
  • Our bank account is hurting a little bit after paying roughly $1500 for two one-way tickets to Santiago. I certainly don’t think that our budget will allow for Tony and I to always fly from country to country during our RTW.  Luckily, The Professional Hobo reminds us that there are economic alternatives to flying. She also linked to Nora’s detailed article on Alternatives to Flying: Other Ways to Get From Here to There.
  • Even though flying can be costly, in these situations it may be worth it!
  • Vagabondish shares with us an eye-opening photo gallery of the 7 Creepiest Abandoned Brothels on Earth via Environmental Graffiti … So disturbing, yet I couldn’t resist reading it. Can you?
  • After only a few days in Santiago, I have observed that most of the cuisine here is centered around meat and seafood. Tony and I eat everything under the sun but we try to stick to a mostly veggie diet. However, we know that may be difficult to follow in some places we travel to. Fortunately, if we ever venture to Ethiopia, we know that this will not be an issue. Thanks for sharing the scoop on the amazing Ethiopian cuisine Jack and Jill!
  • Tony and I are two gringos travelling South America on a crazy tight budget… and oh yeah, our Spanish blows! Luckily, Tim provides some excellent tips on Learning to Speak a Language on the Cheap.
  • Tony is currently obsessed with his new SeV Travel Pants from Scottevest, but these Pick-Pocket Proof Pants look pretty sick!
  • The thing I love most about travelling to new places is exploring the local food scene. After reading Runaway Jane’s list of 10 Unusual Restaurants From Around The World, it is my new goal to check at least one of these places out during my RTW trip this year… So cool!

About Meg
Exhausted from traveling every week as a Business Management Consultant early in my career, I took a year off in 2012 to travel at my own pace. I am a high-energy girl that loves being active, eating food, drinking wine, and exploring the world with my partner-in-crime (and husband), Tony! I now reside in Portland, Oregon and continue to write about travel, food, wine, and the awesome adventures we have in the Pacific NW!

Nora - The Professional Hobo January 9, 2012 at 9:38 am

Thanks for the mention of my Alternatives to Flying article! I think you’ll find that overland travel will end up being not only cheaper, but oh so rewarding. I personally am a bit of a train travel evangelist (having racked up over 50,000kms through about 2 dozen countries); it’s such a lovely way to go. And don’t forget boat travel either (I’m currently bobbing on a sailboat in St Martin, and meeting lots of people who are getting free passage – some are even getting paid – for volunteering on boats, from mega-yachts to small sailboats).

Meg January 9, 2012 at 1:21 pm

Great points Nora. My mom and sister took a train through the Swiss Alps a few years back and said it was the best trip they have ever taken. Also, my husband and I honeymooned in the BVI’s and absolutely love it there, so I am incredibly jealous that you are currently boating down in St. Martin! We haven’t tried sailing down there yet, but it looks like the way to do it! I would love to learn more from people who have done it for free or who have gotten paid on the boats.

Mike January 9, 2012 at 3:44 pm

the ORIGINAL directory of The Most Unusual Restaurants around the World – http://unusual-restaurants.com with Google map. ALL OF THE ABOVE and hundreds more except that Hospitalis is closed long ago!

Mom R January 10, 2012 at 11:18 am

I think that should be the tag line of your blog. Two gringos travelling South America on a crazy tight budget…and our spanish blows. Great line.
xoxoxoxo

Meg January 10, 2012 at 2:21 pm

hahah glad you appreciate my slang Momma Rulz! I have never felt so foreign as I do down here. I have a new respect for foreigners in the states!

Tim L. January 11, 2012 at 11:35 am

Thanks for linking to the language learning post on my blog, which was a guest appearance from Benny who runs Fluentin3months.com – a great resource.

I think that you’ll find Chile to be the most expensive place you visit apart from Brazil. So it gets better on the wallet after this. Not any easier for a veggie diet though, especially in Argentina!

Meg January 14, 2012 at 4:33 pm

You’re welcome Tim. We are trying to learn Spanish now and it is a challenge, but we have been having a really fun time conversing with the locals in order to learn. Chile definitely doesn’t seem as cheap as the rest of South America – but we love it so much! Our next countries are Peru and Argentina, so hopefully it will all even out in our wallets! And yes, I hear Argentina has excellent meat, although WAY too much of it. I will be sure to get in my veggie fix now!

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