Faces of the AT: Meet Deb + Karen. They Ditched Their Husbands to Build Muscle

I set out at 2 o’clock with my camera and a pen and paper just to see what would happen. I left our campsite, crossed the single-lane bridge, and walked toward the coffee shop in Damascus, Virginia.  This is a popular spot in town with a gear shop, coffee shop and Subway all in a row. It's the spot to get everything you need as an Appalachian Trail hiker- rest for the weary legs, gear, caffeine, and cheap food!

As I was opening the door to go inside, two ladies came out. Sporting colorful bandanas, I knew they were hikers. 

“Are you thru hiking?” In an exhausted tone, they answered, "No, section hikers. We just finished."

"You just finished?!? Can we chat?"

Turns out, I crossed paths with these sisters at the perfect timing! Deb, 58.5, and sister Karen, 60, had just finished a 24 day section hike of the Appalachian Trail walking 231.1 miles from Davenport Gap, Tennessee to Damascus, Virginia. Sa-weet! Nice job ladies!

Meet Deb and Karen!

They had time to kill while waiting for their much deserved bed and breakfast to come get them. We all took a seat at the table and they let me have it recounting their entire month together on the trail. We talked for over an hour. 

Here I was sitting with these two powerhouse women during the moment they had finished their goal. I was in heaven listening to their stories. I kept thinking, "I want to be you when I grow up!" 

The most shocking moment in the entire conversation was when Deb said, "My husband didn’t care as long as I wasn’t dragging him along!” Bahaha! These ladies ditched their husbands for a month to set off on their own adventure of what they love to do: backpacking. Go girls! 

The two had hiked together with their husbands for five days on the Ozark Highlands Trail last year. Once it was over, the guys made it known backpacking wasn’t their thing. The sisters, on the other hand, loved it and wanted more! They set a date on-the-spot for May 1, 2016. They wanted to take off on a long hike. It wouldn't be about the miles though. Karen said, "We wanted to find out about ourselves wherever our strength would take us."

Their three main missions:

1. To test their strength as backpackers and see when they’d get their “trail legs” on a long-distance hike; 

2. To get experience being fully self-contained if the either of them ever want to do a solo backpack in the future; 

3. To experience the beauty and variety of the woods. 

Over the 24 days, they accomplished everything they set out to do.

First, they set out to test their strength and see when they’d get their trail legs on a long hike. Did they get their “trail legs?” Deb said ”I don’t think so. I can’t climb 2,000 vertical feet and still not know it. I'm still sucking air.”  But, both agreed they got stronger. They could go longer and weren’t as stiff in the mornings as the month progressed. 

Second, the ladies wanted to test their backpacking skills by being totally self contained. They each carried everything they would need without sharing the load. These ladies have their gear down to a science with Deb’s pack never being more than 25 pounds including the food and water inside. However, when considering if they’d do a solo trip in the future, Deb said, "I don't think so," and Karen chimed in, “It’s just so nice to share the experience and views with someone else."

Look at those tiny packs! Everything they needed for food, water, shelter, and clothing for a full month!

Third, the ladies totally immersed themselves in the wilderness and watched spring unfold on the trail around them. Their timing was perfect. They started on May 1 as planned. The trees were leafing. Before fully emerging, the buds were brown and orange creating the feeling of fall. Then, as the days progressed they were starting to see all the leaves unfold. The wild flowers bloomed showcasing the colors of springs with the greens, whites, and pinks. Karen rattled off  the names of the flowers they'd seen. "We saw trillium, delphinium, geranium, irises, azaleas, magnolia macrophylla..." My fingers couldn't keep up with her extensive list. Can you guess Karen's trail name? Flora! 

In order to really experience the beauty,  the sisters realized they had to be very intentional and protect their main goal: the experience. 

They noticed there are three types of folks on the trail:

1. People who are focused on the beauty and the experience

2. Hikers who are focused on finishing the miles each day

3. Folks focused on the social aspect of the trail

They realized you risk experiencing the beauty around you when you focus on the miles and the numbers. At breakfast, they would hear hikers say, "I'm feeling 27 miles today. I'm gonna do it." The sisters realized when you focus on the numbers, you miss the beauty around you. 

To protect their mission and not be rushed to race through the days, they gave themselves ample time to complete the 231 mile stretch so they could stick to an enjoyable pace. They averaged about ten miles a day finishing several days ahead of schedule. Way to go!

They were happy they gave themselves enough time, because they were amazed by several landscapes guide books didn’t warn them about. The most surprising view on the trail: Laurel Falls in Tennessee.

Then, the conversation moved to Deb's most frenzied “out-of-her-comfort-zone” experience on the trail. I wondered, "Was it with a bear? A snake? A spider?" No, it was with people in the shelter on Mt. Roan!

The shelter is the highest shelter on the entire AT. It sits on top of the mountain and has four walls like a cabin. Most shelters on the AT only have three walls. It was the sisters' only night choosing to stay in a shelter, because the weather was calling for freezing rain over night and it would be even colder since they were on top of a mountain.  The sisters were the first ones there and took the loft area in hopes of having some privacy. As the night progressed, more and more people started showing up and settling in. As more people came in, Deb's discomfort rose. More hikers meant more sleeping bags and less space. It was getting so cramped other hikers were setting up their sleeping bags only a few feet from her pillow! She didn’t know what to do. The panic was setting in. Karen chimed in, "She was so worried she was rocking back and forth." Deb replied, "I know! How could I sleep so close to a stranger and his wife?”

As the older sister, Karen was laughing but tried to comfort her sister. She offered to switch places. She even offered for the two to leave the cabin and set up their tents in the freezing cold outside. Tight quarters didn't bother her from her experience in the Army. Deb was tempted by her sister's offers. She wanted to get out of there and be in the comfort of her own tent. But, she couldn't let her discomfort cause her sister to freeze. So, she overcame the moment and lived through a night in the shelter.

However, one of the other hikers had his last straw with the trail that night. He couldn't handle the freezing cold and cramped shelter, so he called his wife and bailed from his thru-hike under the same circumstances.

Deb's story had me rolling. I was imagining her sitting back reading and relaxed for the night. Then, I could just see her eyes getting wider and wider as strangers starting claiming spots in the loft inching closer and closer to sleeping bag. What should she do? 

I know the claustrophobic, panic stricken feelings of sleeping shoulder to shoulder with complete strangers on both sides. I've spent the night on roach infested overnight Thai ferries and New Zealand backcountry huts. You feel like you have to close your eyes tight, crawl into a ball and collapse within yourself just to get through it. Your worst fear is waking up and staring into an unfamiliar face inches away from your own. Or, realizing you are spooning or being spooned by strangers. Ah! What a nightmare!

I think Deb had the upper hand on this experience. After smelling some of these AT hikers coming off the trail who haven't seen a shower in a week-- Oh! The smell-- it's so sour! Just thinking about so many hikers hunkered down in one small cabin has me gasping for more air. 

So, Deb who chose to walk and live in the woods for a month pushed through what so many people would never do. Most folks would never choose to hike 10 miles for 24 days all while sleeping in a tent in the woods with rain, hail, bugs, bears, spiders, steep mountains and using the bathroom behind a tree. I’m one of those! I think after Day 7 I’d even say, “Okay. I’m good! Where’s the shower?” 

This shows no matter our experience or age, there's always room to push our limits and grow.

Cheers to Deb and Karen! Congratulations! You did it!

Thank you for letting me jump into your big moment of finishing and for sharing your inspiring story. I’m amazed at how intentional you were in setting your goals to push yourselves further, and how you prepared yourselves to do it.  Way to go!

Now, what's the next big adventure?

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I sat across the table amazed at these two. "What do I want to challenge myself in? I wanna work towards my own big adventure!" I know you're feeling the inspiration from these ladies, too. Share Deb and Karen's story with your friends on Facebook or Twitter. And, leave a comment below to let them know your thoughts and cheer them on:)

Peek into our HGTV Tiny House Hunters Experience as Backpackers Go Tiny

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HGTV's Tiny House Hunters filmed us as we searched for our our tiny house on wheels. It was quite a series of #nuventures finding something cozy enough for me and practical for Adam. You can watch our show on Amazon here:

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what was it like being on HGTV's TINY HOUSE HUNTERS?

We’ve been getting heaps of questions about our experience on HGTV’s Tiny House Hunters and some friendly harassment of Adam’s “truck stop” shower solution and “Choose yo battles, Shuga!” And folks have told us, “Ya’ll are crazy! I would’ve picked the other one!”

We wanted to share the experience with you. It was one full of surprises and not what we expected at all. We signed up for a brand spankin’ #nuventure without having a clue what we were really getting ourselves into.

Take a peek into our Tiny House Hunters experience. Here goes!

What was your most embarrassing moment while filming you were hoping wouldn’t make the final cut?

That’s easy! The very first scene. 

The first morning of filming, we met the crew at a campsite. We’ve never been on TV before and had no idea how things go.

For the first scene, our producer placed us in front of the lake. Then she handed us a cast iron skillet, eggs, bacon, and a metal grate. The grate was intended to put the skillet on over the fire.  Then, she said, “Now, build a fire, make breakfast, and talk about New Zealand.”

“Okay! Lights, camera, ACTION.” Then, the crew fell silent, the camera was rolling, and all eyes were on us.

Cricket. Cricket. Blink, blink. We stood there like two deer in headlights. 

What she didn’t realize is asking the Nuberns to make a fire is a tall order, without the breakfast or talking requests.

To understand the complexity of this, you have to first understand how we function as a couple.  First, Adam and I are pretty outdoorsy and camp all the time. We even lived out of a tent for five months together when road tripping the US. However, we each have streaks of competiveness. Over the years, we’ve learned to build campfires in silence.

We approach building fires differently. I start with the teepee. Adam starts with the box. So if the fire being built isn’t successful, the other person always has critiques to give. Did I mention we were competitive? So after years of the fire causing arguments and snapping at each other with “I got it! No- I got it!” silence and giving each other space has become our golden ticket to enjoying the campfire.

So, we were already being tested with the first request.

Second, how were we going to build this fire? There wasn’t a fire pit. We were standing on flat, pine-needle covered ground. Thoughts started racing in our heads. "Where’s the kindling? We don't want to catch the whole forest on fire! How are we logistically going to lay this metal grate over the fire to cook the bacon?” Adam's mom was with the crew motioning to us, "Rocks! Rocks! Make a fire ring!" Well, we didn’t have time to talk it out. The camera was rolling and New Zealand was our topic.  

Oh, New Zealand. Where do we start talking about New Zealand? We were there for five months with so much to say. Where do we begin?

My coping mechanism with the overload of requests was finding the path of least resistance. So I stood there and just started talking. Adam followed suit and started sniffing for some fat lighter to get this fire going.  

What a bomb! The scene failed with patchy conversation of me talking and talking and then asking Adam questions without a reply. He wasn’t hearing me.  He was focused on not looking like an idiot in front of our Colorado friends and getting this fire built right.

Sounds like thrilling entertainment, eh?

First scene: FAIL.

I guess the editors knew how bad it was, so they tossed it! Whew! Thankfully that never saw the light of day! You can only see snippits of the campsite in the very first 20 seconds of the show.

So thankful the camp fire scene is over!

How was it? What was it like?

Exciting! And totally exhausting. 

We had no idea how hard it would be. We were on set filming for five 14-hour days totaling 70 hours of filming. All these hours of filming resulted in an episode of only 21 minutes! That’s mind blowing!

We totally have a new respect for folks working in the television industry. They have to wear so many hats at once. The creativity was constantly flowing on set. They have to think on their feet, constantly communicate their ideas, and collaborate with each other to problem solve and capture each scene just right. Lastly, they had to work with us. Three rookies who smile and shrug, “Uh. We donno what we’re doin’.”

Our producer, Tiff, said, “My friend describes my job as a circus director babysitting kittens while spinning plates on my head.” I see the parallels!

We couldn’t keep up with the crew’s endurance, but their high energy was contagious and kept us going.

What were you most surprised about?

1.     How hard our crew worked.

On the show, everyone always seems so relaxed while looking at the houses. Behind the scenes, the crew is working hard, long hours to get the right angles, making sure the story flows, and is constantly listening for barking dogs and planes overhead. We were amazed by all the hard work that goes into a 21 minute episode. 

2. The waiting game to get perfect audio. 

We had never thought about background noise when watching TV.  We bet a quarter of our time filming was—“Wait, wait. A dog’s barking. Hold on- the motorcycle. Oh, here comes a plane. Oh, wait. Another plane.” For the clips to work smoothly in the editing process, the background noise has to be consistent. This means you have to stop filming to wait for the random fits of barking to stop. We didn’t know this! We’re always a-learnin’.

3.     We didn’t realize how long it takes to film a tiny house.

For example, we spent 4.5 hours filming the outside of this cute shaker-shingle cottage. In reality, it only takes 20 seconds to walk around the whole thing.

However, if you think about watching the show, you're constantly seeing different angles of a scene: A wide angle of all three of us walking up to the house, then a view of our faces as we talk in front of the house, to a close up of Adam’s hand hitting the shingles, then back to a shot of all of us together, then onto one of me listening to my mom. One camera man has to get all of those angles. It’s amazing! 

We got to know Josh the builder! You can find his tiny house designs at urbancottagebuilders.com

4. How many outfits we needed.

This was the most stressful part for us. We came from living out of our backpacks while traveling. Adam only had two t-shirts in his backpack (you can see our packing lists here).  So, we had to be creative to have new outfits for each new scene of the show. I had to re-use my shirts and made a new "outfit" by changing my scarves. We had to get creative, because when living tiny, your wardrobes are tiny!

How did we get on the show?

We applied. We were sitting in our apartment in Thailand dreaming about finding a little camper to live in when we got back to the US. We were ready to return home to the states, but we wanted to keep traveling. Adam dreamed big and thought, “Hey! Maybe Tiny House Hunters can help us research what’s out there.” So, we filled out an application and pitched ourselves as going from “teeny backpacks to a tiny house.” We sent in our application on a Sunday night in Thailand and by Monday morning LA time, we were contacted and started an interview process. Our expectations of getting help with the research didn’t pan out, but we were pumped for a new adventure!

What were the coolest parts of the experience?

1. Working with the production crew.

Everyone from start to finish was so friendly and relaxed, but super on-the-ball and worked their tails off on the details. Their professional experience blew my mind. Our producer, Tiff, had worked on the Amazing Race, the Bachelor and on different Travel Channel series. The camera man, Shawn, had worked on COPS and National Geographic. I was star struck feeling like I was amongst television legends. So cool!

2. My mom’s decorating skills being showcased on HGTV!

My mom's an amazing interior designer and a HGTV fanatic. The first part of the show was in my parent’s house. It was pretty awesome to see her decorating work on HGTV!

3. Sharing the #nuventure with our families.

My mom was our real-estate agent and my dad jumped in with his “Oh, you are planning to have kids?” Baha! Dad, you're still embarrasing me!

Adam’s mom traveled to be on set for the first day with us, too. She was there watching us fail at building a campfire. And, Adam’s extended family threw a party to watch the show together.

After traveling for two years, it's been so special to spend time with our families. 

Wooo! Wooo!

How do we feel after the show aired?

So thankful!

In the moment of crawling into the loft with my butt towards the camera, all I could do was hope for the best. I had no idea what the final product would be like. Yikes!

The editors did an amazing job. We feel like the production team really captured us as us- our imperfect selves.

We hope you have a good laugh at our expense and have fun watching the show! You can get it anytime on Amazon. 

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You can watch it on Amazon here:

Backpackers Go Tiny Buy on Amazon

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We'll continue sharing our adventures of life living out of a 100 sq. foot camper. Stay updated below. 

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We're curious what you think! Were you surprised which tiny house we chose? Which one would you have chosen? Tell us by leaving a comment below!

Faces of the AT: Meet Marty. When He Went to Quit His Job, His Boss Said No.

Adam and I set out on Saturday to hike the piece of the Appalachian Trail (AT) running through Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia. Grazing along the trail are famous feral ponies. We were keen to summit Mount Rogers, but when we ran across a herd of ponies- “Squirrel!” I got distracted and we never made it to the summit. 

Follow the white blaze. 

While we were racing around the ponies and ooing and ahing over the babies, Marty joined in. 

Aw!

We were all amazed how comfortable the ponies were with us. They were working the camera giving me full-on nostril shots. Work it ladies! They were so comfortable, they were even biting at my sleeves!

In a broken conversation between the ponies' fits of shocking behavior - “Ah, the pony just farted on me!”; “Oh, geez! What’s going on there? Ah! It’s not round— it’s flat!”; “He’s biting his butt!” to this thru-hiker jumping in for a quick selfie, we heard a tiny bit of Marty’s story with the AT. His story surprised me and I’ve been itching to share it. 

Fart + burp face? Furp face!

Looks like Adam's never seen one before! Ha!

The new stanky leg!

This was just funny! 

Marty’s from Virginia. He’s always known the AT was out there. It wasn’t until meeting a couple in their 70’s who had hiked the 2,000+ mile trail twice did Marty really get inspired. He started considering doing the AT himself. His considerations turned to “I’m going to do it."

Meet Marty!

He started taking steps to make it happen. To cut down living costs and save more, he moved in with friends. 

He was so serious about hiking the Appalachian Trail, he went in to work one day to quit his job. When he sat down with his boss to give the news, his boss said, “No.” 

"What? Wait. Huh?" I was confused. Marty was the one telling them he was quitting. How could they say no?

Turns out, they saw another option. His boss said they’d give him a leave of absence to hike, but they wanted him back when he was done.

What an awesome surprise! 

I was amazed by this piece of his story. Quitting your job to go out and have a big experience isn’t the only option. Marty’s company proved that when we work hard and our work is valued, companies are willing to value our personal goals. Well, the ones who care about their people will do this. 

You know it’s crazy, because some folks take six months to complete the AT. That doesn’t matter. His company supports his 2,190 mile quest from Georgia to Maine. They just wanted to make sure they got him back whenever he was done. Pretty awesome, eh?

His company’s response shocked me and I forgot all about the farting ponies. He continued to share how amazed he’s been of everyone’s encouragement for him to pursue this big adventure. Great friends are even watching his dog while he hikes. 

We are inspired by Marty’s guts to drop everything for his big dream of hiking the Appalachian Trail. Sometimes we don’t pursue big dreams because we’re afraid of what people will think. He had a big dream and went for it, and everyone’s encouraging response surprised all of us. 

A storm was a-brewin’. We were all reluctant to split from the ponies' free entertainment. 

Marty found a spot to set up camp and hunkered down before the storm hit. Adam and I got caught in the rain running back to the car. 

I imagine Marty’s moments on the trail- when he’s alone laying in his tent listening to the rain patter or during his eighth hour of walking by himself for the day- being filled with so much more comfort than expected because he knows everyone back home- family, friends and his co-workers- are cheering him on but also eagerly awaiting his return.

Adam and I can relate. When you’re so far from home and on a grand adventure, it’s the support from your loved ones you cling to during the hard moments. Their words of encouragement play through your mind over and over and continue to push you forward.

So awesome to meet you Marty! Thanks for sharing your story. You are an inspiration. Keep going! We're back in Virginia cheering you on!

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Marty's story totally inspired me. When I dream big, I always come up with a list of challenges of why it won't happen. But maybe I'm just making them up. He thought he had to quit his job to go, but he didn't.  

I hope Marty's story inspired you. Leave a comment below to share what you think and share the inspiration with your friends on Facebook and Twitter!

Next Destination: Freedom of Choice

So, what the heck are we doin’ out here? We have spent six months in South East Asia and are getting questions like, "Are you ever going to move on?" and "Where to next?"

Well, what we are really doing out here is getting PUMPED! We have big news: We are flying home y’all!

t-minus 10 days from boarding a plane and heading home!

OW OWWW! We couldn’t be more excited!

Our big day is rapidly approaching. Ironically, it also marks one year (to the day) since we hopped on our first flight leaving the Continental US on our #nuventures. We had already been road tripping four months at that point, but it was our first leg flying over sea water and banking out into the world.

We were no longer able to just drive the 24 hours home if we wanted. Terror and excitement had a good ol’ time wrastlin’ inside of me.

One year later on November 2, we will be boarding a flight from Thailand back to the States with  drastically different visions, goals and dreams than what we originally set out with.

Right now, we are at the end of a two month rental agreement in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

What are we doing staying two months in one spot? Shouldn’t we be going balls to the walls seeing every temple,  jungle, monkey and elephant we can in the countries we haven’t set foot in yet? We still have loads to do!

Pai, Thailand

Well, our goals have changed.

After 15 months out in the world, our #nuventures have been stretching, growing and aiming for something new: Sustaining a lifestyle of freedom by working while we travel.

A year ago, I would never have anticipated the story I’m about to share with you. We have been evolving over each season we have found ourselves in.

Come on, sit down. Let’s have a chat and I’ll tell you about it.

SEASON 1: TRAVEL TIL EVERY LAST PENNY IS SPENT

We slid into the front seats of our Honda Accord at 9:16 am on June 26, 2014. We slammed the doors shut and looked at each other. We both took a deep breath. This was it.

Adam started the car and we rolled out. When we turned the corner onto Red Rock Ave, we both glanced in the rear view mirror to look one last time. Leaving our freshly painted hilltop cottage for our renter, we only had one thought in mind. We were embarking on our dream.

Our dream of leaving everything; our jobs, our home, our friends and family, temporarily. We were setting out to travel the world. We intended to be gone for two years (I secretly hoped I could survive six months).

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

We were excited to be free and to let the wind carry us to every corner of the world.

Our motivation came from seeing little, diapered babes on our horizon after a series of events. We both felt the pull from deep down. Our response may shock you, but we bolted in the other direction. Adam and I both felt our hearts yelling “Go, go, go! We gotta travel now or never!”

We only expected to return to the States when every last penny in our “travel fund” had been spent or we were pregnant (no, no baby Nubern, yet). We even planned ahead for when we would return without jobs. We have six months worth of “emergency funds” set aside just in case.

Well, our endurance failed us only a few months in.

SEASON 2: traveling is not our only passion

Let’s sprint ahead to month seven or eight in New Zealand.

We were doing one of two things constantly. We were either driving cross country in our camper/minivan Bernie or humping our packs up the Southern Alps for hours, days and weeks at a time.

Mount Cook National Park, New Zealand

We were mastering new physical feats by kicking our tails into major shape. However, our minds were on vacay and were roaming freely.

On these journeys into New Zealand’s backcountry, we constantly dreamed. We dreamed of the future. We dreamed up new ideas; new business ventures, how to make passive income, how to make more time for family, writing a book, and so many more ideas we were just pocketing away.

With each new idea stuffed away, our pockets started bulging. The seams holding them all in were growing thin. Finally, it became painful. We couldn’t suppress and tuck away any longer. We had to do something about these ideas!

We realized we were starving other pieces of who we are. Our imagination and creativity were getting fidgity and were itching to be used!

It was perfect timing, too. Our feet, calves and tails were exhausted, but our minds and hands were ready to get dirty and work towards something. Anything!

SEASON 3: Dipped our toes in TO TRAVEL & WORK

Whew. This feels so good to say out loud and finally confess. Traveling is not our only passion. We have so many other curiosities we want to question and explore.

Turns out, we can only handle straight travel for a few months. We had too many ideas. We saw so much potential in ourselves. There was so much to do!

Now, let’s take it back a step. Before we even left Colorado Springs, seeds of “another way” had been imprinted on our minds. Every night Adam would sit on the couch and research other bloggers traveling long term to learn their ways. While researching, Adam ran across “digital nomads.” Digital nomads are these crazies traveling the world while they work from their laptops.

At first we were amazed by these people living the real dream and making it happen. However, this concept didn’t fit our mold. We were so focused on the freedom from work, we filed the thought away and kept moving. However, the idea of working while you travel had been planted in our brains and kept nagging us on our tramps in New Zealand. Our dreams and thoughts continually flowed to one question: “How could we make it happen?”

We are on the journey to making it happen. It’s been a slow evolution through dipping our toes in and testing the waters.

FIRST, I started our trip working from the passenger seat

Blessing is the only word that can describe this part of the story. When I decided to leave my job in the Springs, I was invited to work three more months from my laptop on the road while my employer interviewed folks to fill my position. This was my first taste of working and traveling. We had to plan ahead for coffee shop time, but it was totally doable.

SECONd, NUVENTURE CPA was born

While my work was coming to an end, Adam’s was ramping up. He was already working as an accountant for a buddy that had started a new company. While we were in our first month of travel in Maine, a second client called, then a third was knocking on the door and boom: Nuventure CPA was born.

I remember driving through a canyon on our US roadtrip and turned to Adam seeing the dark grey walls flying behind him. “Why are you doing this?” I asked him. I was confused because we had saved up for five years for the freedom to not work and just travel. He was deviating from the plan. He simply replied, “Why not? If I’m going to try my own thing, this is the best time.”

There you have it. I can’t argue with that. Honestly, I have been blown away and admire Adam’s dedication, determination and innovation on his own journey of entrepreneurship.

THIRD, I finally threw myself out there, too

I took a bit longer to want to give the long-term work/travel lifestyle a full go. I foresaw the future of being stressed to the max working and hopefully juggling little ones. While in New Zealand, I was a free bird; no work, no deadlines, no commitments and… nothing to do (except hike). I loved it for the first few months, but like I said I started getting antsy. I was even hanging out in Burger King’s to get solid wifi to watch YouTube videos to learn how to knit. Turns out, I’m not going to be an etsy prodigy banking it from knitting.  Onward ho' to my next curiosity.

That's about as far as I can get! Ha! Purakaunui Bay, New Zealand

I saw potential for a travel company to improve their social media presence. I contemplated connecting with them for over a month. I finally went for it. I emailed them and was hired.

All of a sudden, Adam and I were both working part time and designating more WiFi time at Burger King (our second home in New Zealand). It didn’t take long for our excitement to be channeled into, “How do we make traveling while we work a sustainable lifestyle?”

From just dipping our toes in little by little, we started turning to the digital nomads we knew seeking their advice on how to solve our wifi problems, cloud storage solutions, sim card questions, and other frustrations we hadn’t thought about, yet. These digital nomads became inspiration for us. If they could do it, we had to give it a go, too.

SEASON 4: Revelation

Moving onto to South East Asia: Ubud, Bali to be exact.

Ubud, Bali

We were spending more and more time each day diving into our projects and other curiosities instead of solely exploring our new location.

However, we were maintaining our travel schedule of continuing on to a new place every few days. We just couldn’t throw the internal pressure and mentality of “We have to see everything we can! We are only in South East Asia once!”

We became frantic. We were spending hours and hours researching where to go next, what to do next and how to do it because that is what we were supposed to do: keep traveling, keep seeing. But, with diverting our priorities to different interests, we didn’t have much time to fully explore our current location.

Forking banana pancakes during breakfast one morning it hit me- BAM! Revelation! We were the ones causing our own frantic states.

We had changed our goals and priorities to now invest the time to make this lifestyle sustainable. However, we hadn’t adjusted our timeline to follow suit. What was causing us so much stress was our original two year timeline.

By working hard to build our skills from our laptops, we no longer needed the two year timeline. We were now pursuing a dream of travel being our forever lifestyle by making money as we go.

Now that I really think about it, traveling forever is not our true destination. Freedom of choice is our ultimate destination. Whether we want to travel forever, settle forever or have a constant mix, we have the freedom to make the decision for ourselves.

Ubud, Bali

With all this said, our perspective on returning home had changed. We didn’t see ourselves settling down and needing to find jobs right away. When we head home to the States, we will continue doing what we are doing right now: working from our laptops on our current projects and thinking creatively on how to start new ideas.

SEASON 5: ALL IN

Sitting across from each other with our banana pancakes, we both looked at each other again and took a deep breath. This was it. We officially decided to scrap our “two year timeline.”

We're all in! Koh Tao, Thailand

We were officially giving the “work and travel” lifestyle a full, concentrated effort.

As of today, Adam is working with several clients as a Certified Public Accountant as the owner of Nuventure CPA. I am currently writing a book, travel writing and managing social media communities.

To set these solid foundations, we are hunkered down in Chiang Mai, Thailand investing hard work and time on our projects until we return home.

SEASON 6: THIS IS HARD!

We are going to be honest with you. No, we aren’t covering our expenses, yet. We are on the way, though!

What we have learned along our journey, is why not? Why not give it a go? We have a curiosity in this type of lifestyle, so we have to try. We know we may discover that this is not what we expected or we don’t want this lifestyle or certain aspects that come along with it. That’s okay. For now, we have to explore our curiosity and see for ourselves.

What’s encouraging is Buddha says “It’s better to travel well than to arrive.” Now, we aren’t just traveling to new parts of the globe. We are on a journey seeking a new lifestyle and learning so much about new fields of work, new ideas, and ourselves.

We are in for a big challenge! It has been hard work. Every day we are walking into new scenarios we have never encountered before. Ey! I have never published a book before. How do you even do that? Just wait, soon, I will have some insight to provide.

The first print of the book It's actually a physical thing, not just a digital file in Word!

We have quickly  come to admire and respect all small business owners and entrepreneurs. It’s a whole ‘nother ballgame when you strike out to do things on your own and by yourself. You can’t just swing by a co-workers desk to ask a quick question any more. On a positive, this has given us more incentive to network and reach out to the experts.

It seems like we have more frustrations than success right now. When we take a step back, we find ourselves excited to get up each day and eager to solve these obstacles and unknowns. We are excited to solve our frustrations because we see the bigger goal coming in the future: Freedom. We have a vision and are working toward it. That’s a cool place to be.

The big question: Is this it for #nuventures?

Hang En, Vietnam

No way, Jose! We see returning to the States as another leg of our journey.

What makes this leg so much sweeter is reuniting with our family and friends in real time. It will be so nice to give bear hugs at the door and have conversations without the guaranteed, “Hello? Hello? Are you there? Yeah, I can hear you now. I don’t know what happened to the connection. Oh, no. Hello? Hello? Are you there?”

so, What’s next?

A glamping we will go! It’s camper van time, y’all!

We hope for a proper camper this time. A toilet and shower would be a great addition!

We can’t wait to shout #homeiswhereyouparkit as we honk our horn and swing into your driveway! I can just imagine Betty Joe's annoyed look through her blinds from next door with our grand entrance.

Here is our tentative US road trip schedule:

• 1st stop: Minnesota: Early November
• 2nd stop: Georgia: Mid- November-December
• 3rd stop: Colorado: January-mid February

Starting mid-February through April we are crossing the US on a road trip with our pals KimblesinBits. They left everything in Chicago to travel the world, too!

We are so PUMPED to see you on U.S. soil!

We are really looking forward to shooting the breeze and chatting with you around the kitchen table. We do miss a good ol' kitchen table. It's been a while!

We have no idea what it will be like coming home. We are preparing for a bit of culture shock.

Any words of wisdom as we RETURN to the U.S.?