Our Story

After being set up on a blind date by mutual friends, we met in Boston in June of 2007.  Initially we spoke on the phone and quickly learned that we had gone to the same high school in Manchester, NH and same college in Troy, NY.  That was pretty crazy!  We knew so many of the same people, teachers and hangouts.  It was unreal that we had never met before - but the six year age difference was to blame.  We decided to meet for drinks at Solas Irish Pub on Boylston Street.  Drinks turned into dinner and we quickly found out how much we had in common:  a love for being outdoors, traveling, eating, drinking….the list goes on!  

Our first international trip together was in March 2008 to Costa Rica.  Jake was a full time grad student so we decided to book a last minute trip during his spring break.  We were supposed to fly into San Jose and then take a small plane to Manuel Antonio.  Keywords: supposed to.  Our flight to San Jose had been delayed just enough for us to miss our flight to Manuel Antonio - which of course was the last flight of the day.  We took a taxi into the city center in an effort to find a bus that could get us to our final destination.  It was so hot.  Sweaty, sticky, hot.  Knowing little Spanish didn’t affect us getting to the bus station, but it certainly made it interesting trying to find a bus that could take us to Manuel Antonio.  There were no tourists with roller bags.  There were locals, and then there was us.  And it was hot.  So hot.  Nevertheless, we figured the bus situation out and killed time while enjoying dos Cerveza Imperial y arroz con pollo. :)  The bus was supposed to take three hours.  Again:  supposed to.  Having a car break down on a one line bridge sure will put a damper on that.  The roads between San Jose and Manuel Antonio are scary and the drivers drive like maniacs.  Super narrow roads with no shoulder and no railings.  SCARY.  All of a sudden our bus stops.  Minutes pass and the driver doesn’t say anything.  People start getting off of the bus and sitting on the lawns of shacks that line the street.  We finally figure out that a car had broken down on the one lane bridge ahead so we weren’t going anywhere anytime soon.  Eventually we all get back on the busy and start moving again getting to Manuel Antonio around midnight.  The bus dropped us off at the end of a dirt road and we dragged our roller bags half a mile to...Makanda by the Sea - our villa for the next five days.  Except….we couldn’t get in.  The eight foot tall solid door gate was locked.  After buzzing and knocking for what felt like forever...someone came on the speaker and was saying something over and over again in Spanish, “ONCEYYY?”.... again….”ONCEYYY?”......then I realized that 11 was our villa number…..”Si!!!! Once!!! Si!!!”.....that night, the shower was one of the best showers of my life.  We crashed so hard….we were so tired……….then when we woke up in the morning……..we couldn’t believe the tropical paradise that was our view……….

Costa Rica was where we figured out that we are great travel companions.  It’s probably where we figured out that we were meant for each other.  But that’s another story!  Back to the traveling….

Over the years, our joint international travels have included:

• Banff, Alberta (July 2008)

• Dominican Republic (Winter 2009)

• Fiji (August 2010)

• Ireland (July 2011)

• Portugal (July 2012)

• Caracas and Los Roques, Venezuela followed by Curacao (February 2014)

• Oaxaca, Mexico (May 2014)

Now the big adventure begins.  In 2004, I met Theresa and Ivan in Philadelphia while I was in grad school.  They had just ended their around-the-world trip and shared incredible stories.  The seed was planted:  someday, I was going to travel around the world.  After meeting Jake who also shared the travel bug….it became a dream for both of us.  It was just a matter of when.  The time is now.  On June 24th, 2015 we say goodbye Boston and hello Europe!  After that we’ll tackle Southeast Asia, New Zealand and South America.