Ask Me Anything!

Bof, and you guys thought I forgot about the AMA questions that I asked you to submit in November but never answered. But I never. Here are some of the questions about life in general that I still have on my list, and stay tuned, as there are some long lost bikepacking questions that I still have to wrap up! You can find other Q&As here. Also, to my US friends, I hope you are enjoying your day off! Yay. Here in Europe, it is cold and people are at work. But the good news is, I will be staying with a friend for the next week, so we will be trying to stay warm together. 

Basilica de Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon

Stephany asked: 

How long do you plan on doing your bike trip and do you have any idea of what comes afterward? Well, this is a great question. As you know the bike trip ended "officially" in December, but stay tuned, because my feet are itchy and I think there is some exploring to do in this neck of the woods. TBD. 

What is the #1 piece of advice you'd give to someone else planning to quit their job and travel the world? I could get really long winded here, but first I would say that you need to save some money and also track your spending so that you know roughly how much a year of living costs you. 

If you have already done that and are financially prepared, I would say, don't wait. It is so easy to stay in the comfortable and to not branch out, but the worst that can happen is that you do it and you don't love it and you go back to what you were doing before. You have to give it a try. 

And then more practically, I would say that you can take a lot of the stress out if it is your first time by doing a group trip, or daily group tours and excursions, or if you are more adventurous, it does help to plan some things ahead of time so that you are not scrambling when you are in the new place. I prefer to have extra time to sit around because I planned ahead, than to be scrambling later on. However, I also think it is good to factor in some downtime and "nothing" time, so that if something fun comes up that you were not aware of, you can do it without being super rigid. 

What is something you wish you had done differently (and this could be about anything - relationships, schooling, the bike trip, etc.)? I am not really big into regrets, as in, there were things that I did not do efficiently, but they shaped who I am so I feel okay with those things. However, if you made me answer...I would say that I could have been more efficient with my college years. I transferred schools and did not prep well so had to retake certain classes that did not transfer. I went to France and was going to go and live there permanently and so did not register for the next semester and then the France thing fell through and I just kind of went "meh" and didn't try to get into the fall semester. I then spent a year goofing off (well, working) before finally deciding to shape up and go back to school. I could have definitely been done with school faster but I was not very motivated. 

Melissa asked: 

You mentioned your next adventure will be slow travel. What destination would you most like to spend a month in and why? Oh Melissa, this internet is not big enough to list all of the places I would like to spend a month. I would like to go back to several places where I have already been and spend a month there. Some that come to mind are South Africa, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam, Argentina, Columbia (oh the list goes on). And then there are still over 100 countries that I have never been to and I am not a huge "box checker" and would like to spend some quality time checking them out too! And then every time you post a travel recap, I want to do that (Camino, back to Paris etc.) so...um...1,000 places to go before I die, I guess! 

What's your favourite US National Park and why? Is there one that you would like to visit and haven't? This answer is very similar to the last. I love Yosemite and Kings Canyon and the high Sierra in California A LOT. I suggest everyone go there. However, I think out of the 63(?) NPs in the US, I maybe have only been to about 20 of them, so I have a long way to go! I would like to visit Glacier, and I have never been to Yellowstone! 

When flying roller-case or backpack? Backpack 100%, no hesitation. I like being able to walk or run or climb stairs. I like to be able to squeeze it in the overhead. And I hate dragging something behind me, and I hate the sound the roller bags make when they are headed your way; I feel like running away sometimes! 

Diane asked: 

What are your "go to" things you do when you visit a new place?  (Or even when you re-visit a familiar place) I have a checklist for things to check before I go; here is a list of some of them: 

How to get from the airport/train station?
Is there an app for public transit?
Can I use tap to pay to get on bus/metro?
Did I / can I buy my airport transport ticket in advance?
Is it worth buying a weekly/monthly pass?
What is the exchange rate/currency?
Do I have the currency loaded on my calculator app?
How to say: Do you speak English? Please/Thank You. Hello/Goodbye.
Do I have the language downloaded on Google Translate?
Do I have the offline map downloaded on Google Maps?
Do I have my list of possible things to do done?
Do I have ideas for restaurants or foods I want to try?
Have I booked any critical things in advance?
Have I booked walking tour(s) or excursion(s)?
Do I have lodging and walking tour locations saved on map? 
Where are the walking/running routes?
Is there an expat or meetup group?
Is there a running club? 

For each of these things I have a column with Y/N and if applicable, the information (like foods I want to try). So I guess to answer your question, yes, whether I have been there before or not, I want to try new foods, walk around or maybe run around, see attractions and meet people!  

Do you have any scars or broken bones? I have only broken one bone and it was my pinky finger. I have a few scars, mostly from skinned knees, but also I once cut my thumb-pit pretty badly with a knife, and I once fell and hit my chin on a doorframe. The latter was my ONLY time I have ever had stitches (and I was in my 20s). 

Who was your favorite elementary school teacher?  This is a trick question, because I went to a one room schoolhouse, so we did not get a new teacher every year. In the years of K-6, I only had three, and they were all wonderful. BUT, the Kindergarten teacher used to strum her guitar and we would sing (it was the 80s, I remember a lot of Yellow Submarine and Anne Murray) and I loved that! 

Ernie asked:

I guess I could scroll back, but I wonder what you did for work before this trip and when/if you are done traveling will you start back to a job and if so will you work in the same field, or try something new? I used to work in Finance and it was lovely, but I don't anticipate going back. However, we do have licenses that we have to keep current, and I am contemplating whether I should keep renewing them. Re going back to a job, I am working on becoming a free agent, so we shall see how that goes. 

Bugsy asked: 

As I am staring at my jury summons...what, if anything, do you need to deal with something like jury duty? If you are traveling, you can try to make a case that you are not in the country and they will often postpone it. If you are living outside the country, you would need to show that you are no longer a resident of the state that you are registered in and give them your new address and then I think you would be excused for good. However, just a side note, even if you are not living in the US, even permanently, you CAN VOTE. So, go and vote, people! 

Have you considered (or have already) considered changing your residency to a non-state income state? I've seen people on YouTube talk about South Dakota, "America's Mailbox." I am guessing that you watched this episode. To this I would say that you should do your homework. I believe that some of the states where there is no income tax may not have a very good affordable care act healthcare program. So, if that is something that is important to you, you may want to read the fine print. Also, CA and NY are notorious for making people jump through more hoops than states like TX or GA when you want to "prove" that you are no longer a resident of their fine state. So, do your homework and if it works for you, have at it. I am going to hold off for now. 

Okay, well that is a lot of things to digest. Now it's your turn! 

Did any of my answers surprise you? I would love to hear if you guys have a "go to" list or any kind of checklist that you use when you are going on a trip or vacation. Also, backpack or roller bag? Let's discuss! 

F.I.G. FOMO

I took a few days off of reading blogs and I came back and had instant FIG FOMO! Elisabeth encouraged everyone to talk about their FIGs (Finding Joy in Gratitude; I am not sure what happened to the J 😊) in February and the response was enormous! I have been collecting FIGs but did not realize that people were going to post them weekly and now I want to do that too! So you get an extra post this week from me. 

I actually started a little early, because, why not!? It is always good to look at the bright side! So here we go! 

January:

 

29. Went skiing. What a beautiful day. First time skiing in the Alps! Also, to top it off, it had been raining a lot, but this meant that there was fresh snow, AND it cleared up just for me! I had a great time skiing, then eating pizza and drinking wine to celebrate my day. 

Valmorel

30. Took a trip to Annecy, and got to take an actual hike! It's nice to be in a place with mountains. I miss the dirt. Plus the views were very nice too. Celebrated my spurt of activity with fondue, and wine! 

Lake Annecy hike

31. Rode a bike around Lake Annecy. It's nice to be on a bike again! Although it rained on me a bit, the views were nice and it was good to feel the fresh air on my face. Once done, I had a great time wandering around the old part of town. 

Château de Duingt

February: 

1. Went for a run in Annecy along the lake, walked along the river, ate a baguette. I love having legs and eating bread! 

Lake Annecy

2. Had a lovely walk, went to the Sunday market. I could look at fresh fruit and veggies all day long. Also the area I am in has tons of murals and art and it is so fun to find new little nooks and crannies each day. 

The FIG mantra?

3. I made some new friends and started a project that has me very excited. 

4. Had a nice day of resting and catching up on admin things. I even started my taxes! Joy! 

5. Found a fun hike in the woods! Great catch up with a friend. 

Hiking in the city

6. Great catch up with a friend. Coffee out with French friends! Gave someone directions, in French! Knew where the place was and told him where to go! Video call with the family. 

7. A two baguette day, no regrets! Had someone reach out to me with a question and it felt good to be an authority on something! 

Yes, that is TWO baguettes!

8. Early morning run and a rainbow! Lovely coffee and conversation x 2. Bit of rain during the day, but that just meant that I finally got some travel planned that I have been putting off! 

9. Great run along the Rhone, nice weather, finished a good book. 

The Confluence (Saone and Rhone)

What have you found joy in lately? Are you part of the FIG collective? 

What is Happening in France? And Other Randoms Around the World.

I have been watching the French news lately. In the place where I am, there are only a few channels; usually one with kids cartoons, one with some sort of CSI type show on it, and the news. I obviously only understand about three percent of everything that is being discussed, but I can tell you this. Firstly, French news anchors do not worry as much about what their teeth look like as those from the U.S. do. Second, they all talk over each other all the time, so if I could only understand three percent normally, at that point I understand about 0.02%. 

I also know that they are talking about Trump and Putin, but when they say the latter, it sounds like poutine, and so every time they start talking about Russia, I get hungry. Also there is another French word that sounds very similar that is a bad word, putain, which translates to whore but kind of means "shit" or "damn." Putin, poutine, putain! 

The other thing that was big news yesterday is that Macron went to an AI summit and so made a deepfake video about himself where he has his face on a bunch of 80s band members. You can see it here if you want to. I also did not realize, or maybe forgot, that he was so young. He is only 47! It feels like he has been around forever, but I just checked and he became president in 2017. So he was 39 when he got elected the first time! 

Also speaking of Trump, when they do the voiceover for him on the French news, they have a young guy doing it and I don't think it has the same effect when you have this youthful young French voice saying bad things about Canada. Speaking of Canada, a friend I met in France is from Halifax and she mentioned that Trudeau announced his resignation, which I did not realize. I knew that this year was an election year, and after talking to people last year while I was riding through, it appeared that Trudeau was starting to lose favor. 

I also watched a game show called N'oubliez pas les paroles! which is basically "don't forget the lyrics" where they have to sing along with a song and then the music cuts out and they have to keep singing. This was very fun for me, as I found some probably obvious French songs to add to my new playlist, the Euro version! This one is very catchy, and I have pasted a few other examples below. 

The other thing I have noticed here is that all of the younger ladies have wide leg pants again. Dang it; I should have kept those when I got rid of all of my stuff! Just kidding; I am not sure I will be able to pull it off anymore. I did wear some wide legged pants in my days though! Remember the 90s and the grunge era? I used to wear some big pants back then! 

The good thing is that, although people still smoke more than I am used to, it is not nearly as bad as it was the last time I was here. Maybe more people are just using vape pens, but the streets are definitely less smoky! Also there are so many bike lanes and bikes and people biking to work etc. I really wish that the US would get more on board with that in more places. For example, when I lived in Oakland, although San Francisco was not that far away, there was a bridge between us and half of that bridge did not have a bike lane, so there was no possible way I could bike to work. Even the mail carrier bikes in France! 

Mail carrier

The other thing I love is that the eggs come in packs of four, six, ten or twelve. If you are just here for one day but still want eggs, you got it! Also, of course, they don't refrigerate them. Do you know why that this is different than the US? Well, I will tell you! The US eggs are washed, which removes the protective layer on the egg, causing the need for refrigeration, whereas the French eggs are not washed and so they still have the protective layer. Plus their "normal" eggs are basically what we would call free range (and would charge up the wazoo for). Average egg price in France currently is about $2.75 - $4.00 per dozen. 

Four pack! Isn't it cute?

Also if you are at a restaurant by yourself and you want a glass of wine, you can instead get a carafe and feel like you are really treating yourself. My tip for that is that you should always order the carafe of house wine; don't get the bottle! You can get just as good of wine in the carafe and it is cheaper and you have various size options. Usually it is 25 cl, 46 cl or a liter. What does this mean to those not on the metric? This is basically a glass and a half, three glasses, or about six glasses, depending on how big you pour them! 

25 cl

And last but not least, I will leave you with this picture, which I believe needs no words. 

CHEESE!!! <3

Your turn! Do you have any European music that you suggest I add to my playlist? What is your favorite kind of cheese? What kind of pants are the teenagers wearing in your neck of the woods? 

What I Learned & Looking Back & Forward: A Journey Through 2025

Mais, oui! Of course I would like a pastry!

It's February already! You thought I was going to give you yet another what I learned list, but I am not! I had many comments on my What I Learned look back and I thought it would be fun to do a group effort here this year. In the way of Elisabeth and her chapters! Also, I liked the chapters idea too, but Elisabeth said she may not do that again on her blog (E - if this is not true, I can cede the project back to you!), so I plan on doing a monthly chapter and a statement of what I learned in the last month. I would love it if you would join me! Also, since I guess I AM doing a list after all, please join me in answering these questions. 

JANUARY:
1. What is the name of your last month's chapter or the theme of your last month if you prefer that? 
2. What did you learn last month? 
3. What was the weather like where you are? 
4. What event last month was your favorite?
5. What was the best thing you listened to or watched last month?  
6. Tell us one funny recent story. 

FEBRUARY: 
7. What are you looking forward to this month? 

1. What is the name of your last month's chapter or the theme of your last month if you prefer that? 

January: Baguettes and Many Steps

2. What did you learn last month? 

I learned a lot about the silk workers in Lyon, and about the poor Alsatians who got caught in the wars fighting against their brethren, and about how Dijon mustard used to be made with wine but is now generally made with vinegar. 

3. What was the weather like where you are? 

It was very cold at first, in the 20s, with snow and rain, and then at the end of the month, the wind direction changed or something, because now it is in the 50s (and raining). 

4. What event last month was your favorite?

I went to a meetup with a random person and we spent about five hours just chatting, talking about travel and shooting the breeze. It reminds me that even though I hate reaching out to strangers, when I do, I usually have a good time! 

5. What was the best thing you listened to or watched last month?  

I have been watching Jeopardy! I actually am enjoying Ken Jennings and I always have fun trying to guess the clues! It makes me feel so smart when I get one that the contestants don't get! This one was hard for them: As individuals, only Santa Claus & this public service ad icon introduced in 1944 have their own ZIP codes. Do you know the answer!? Also, I just found out that there is a fan based site where you can look up all of the questions and answers! Down the rabbit hole I go! 

6. Tell us one funny recent story. 

I currently have a lot of language barrier stories. Here is one of many. I went to the grocery store and bought my first bottle of wine in France the other day. As I am waiting to be rung up, I see a sign that says something about needing to be 18 to buy liquor. I get to the front, the cashier starts ringing me up, and then she swipes the wine and asks me (in French, of course) for my card. I was thinking in my mind, "WOW, I have not been carded in years, and now I am getting carded in France, where they can drink at 18, and most likely drink wine well before that? This is a first!" So I get out my ID and I hand it to her but in my mind, I am thinking, "she is never going to know where to look for my birthday on my CA drivers license!"

She peers at my card, gives me a quizzical look and says (still in French), "non, I meant your store card!" and she shows me the loyalty card of the store. I say, "no, I don't have one yet" and take the application she hands me. Oops! 

7. What are you looking forward to this month?

I am not really "looking forward" to this, but I booked my admission to Auschwitz and I have wanted to go and see it for so many years and I am glad that I am finally going to go. 

Your turn! Answer the questions if you want and also tell me, have you been to Auschwitz? 

Side Hustles, Bonuses, and Credit Card Hacking

I know I have talked about this before, but last week Birchie did a round up of her bank bonus and credit card hacking side gigs, and it sparked a fire in me. If you know me, you will know that I already had all of this info handy; I just had to put it in a cohesive post. So let's get started. If this stuff makes your eyes glaze over, skip to the end, where I give you two suggestions for beginners and/or the non-financial people of the group! 

I started my credit card hacking journey in 2005. I signed up for the Chase United Visa and the Chase Marriott Visa and I got roughly 60,000 points for each of them as bonuses. Both cards had roughly a $100 fee. After that, I used only those two cards for the years I was traveling for work and through this, I sent my parents to Scotland on first class, sent myself to the Philippines, and supplemented my hotels for my 2008 South America and my 2010 Round The World trips. Bottom line is that from 2005 to 2023, these cards probably got me thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars worth of "free" flights and hotels. Of course, the best part about this, is that much of the money I put on those cards was for work expenses, so, thank you unnamed company that I used to work for! I think they have since gone to corporate cards, but at the time I was there, you could put everything on your own credit card. This also got me Premier status on United for years (no longer though!) and lifetime Titanium Elite with Marriott. 

I also just finally used up the rest of my United points on our flights to Germany, so now I have basically none left. Because of this, and the $95 fee, I downgraded my United card to a zero fee card, mostly so I could keep the twenty year relationship stat, as that does help when you are applying to new credit cards (they look for your longest relationship). 

I am not telling you all this to brag; my point is that sometimes credit card hacking is an excellent way to get "free" money. The best way is to get the sign up bonus and use that for free travel. Like Birchie said, if you don't travel, this may not be that exciting, and you should also make sure that you can pay off the credit card(s) every month or it is not worth the interest you have to pay on it. 

But let's get to the fun stuff. Over the last 14 months, I have received some bonuses, not just from credit card hacking, but also from moving money into a brokerage account. This worked out great for me, as I had to move my accounts after I quit my job, so at that point I searched to find out which firms had the best bonus, and I moved my funds to them. I actually ended up going with more than one, as that was the best bang for my buck. Is this a little hard to keep track of? Not for me, especially with the apps that we have now, where you can just pop in and look at them whenever you want. Also, before this year, I opened two different high yield savings account for the same reason, but I will not get into that in this post. 

What odd "side hustles" did I have last year? 

#1. Selling crap stuff on the internet! Like I mentioned in this post, I sold a lot of stuff on the internet in 2024 and did make some money but I am not sure that the time involved is really worth it! I would estimate that I got about $3,500 but the hours involved were plentiful and this is of course on things that I probably spent five times that much on. That is a complete ballpark, and maybe if you depreciated everything it would not be that much, but my point is that obviously something is better than nothing, but I did not "make money" from this gig! Net income = negative! I also sold my car, which I paid about $10,000 for in 2016, for $4,000 after using it for 8 years. So, it cost me about $750 per year to "rent" it (or $2.08 per day, not under the $1 per use rule!). 

Selling camera gear. Sob. 

#2. Brokerage Bonuses. I will not get into actual dollars here, but currently Merrill Lynch, Charles Schwab, JP Morgan and E-Trade all have bonuses if you transfer a certain amount of money to them and keep it there for a certain amount of time. You can usually find updated information on this at the Bankrate website. Like Birchie said, you can also find bonuses for checking accounts, but I did not go down that road. 

#3. Credit Card Hacking. Although the cost of the cards I opened is around $700/year, the bonuses that I got ended up netting me about 500,000 points, which if you value them at $0.01 per point just to make it easy (it can range from $0.005 to $0.025, but generally if you get "cash back" for them, it is at around $0.01), would be about $5,000 worth of points. Now, obviously if I let them sit and do nothing, at some point in the future, my cost per year will catch up to my bonus amount. However, I do not plan on doing that! 

In the last year, aside from the United flight, I have also booked three hotels using points and the value for the rooms was around $1,000 in total. I also booked my flight from Canada back home using a credit and so that flight also saved me about $250. So basically, I have already utilized enough points to make the $700/year fees worth it for this year. 

However, let's get to the dark side. As Birchie mentioned, the talking heads on YouTube often talk about "all the perks" and how "you basically are getting this card for free," etc. Also the credit cards themselves will say the same thing. However, you really do need to look at the fine print and see if they do actually make sense for you, based on where the best point value is, and whether or not you will use the credits etc. 

Dark Side #1. The portal. Sometimes the card will give you more points if you use the portal to book something, or they say that you get it cheaper, or you may be able to use your points to book in the portal, but this is not always a better deal. Sometimes the deal is much better on Booking or on the hotel website for example. Also, you can use points to pay off your credit card at $0.01 per point, which is not maxing out the value. You could possibly transfer points to a hotel or air partner and get a value of $0.015 - $0.025 cents of value per point instead. 

Dark Side #2. The "credits." Many times the card will give you credits for dining or travel but there are usually caveats. For example, the AMEX Gold says that they will give you $100 in Resy, $120 in UberEats, $120 in GrubHub and $87 in Dunkin Donuts credits each year. If you add that up, you would get $427 in credits for a card that cost $325. Nothing wrong with that, right? Well, they issue the credits only if you use the service and usually only on a monthly basis. For example, UberEats is a $10 monthly credit, only credited if you spend more than $10 in that particular month at UberEats. The Resy credits are only once per half year. So you can't just go and spend $120 at UberEats in one go and get credited. For me, the credits are worth maybe $100 if that, as I don't really use these platforms. 

Dark Side #3. Other perks. Many of these cards come with additional perks. It may be TSA Pre, travel insurance, car insurance, extended warranties on purchases or even free returns on some products. They also may have lounge access or food credits in airports. Some of these items are worth it to me and some are questionable. For example, lounge access. I have a card with this and last year I barely flew, so did not really get to use it. However I did fly, once from Canada to Portland and back, once from Halifax to Vancouver, and once from San Francisco to Frankfurt. In all of these cases, the terminal I was in did not have a lounge. So basically for now, I am 0 for 3 as far as getting any value out of my "free lounge access." However, I did rent a car for two days, and the insurance would have cost me about $60, but it was covered by my card. So that one is worth it to me. <---- by the way, remind me to tell you about the time I got scammed by the rental car company and my AMEX saved me! 

The verdict? I guess I will give the classic answer on this, and the verdict is that doing any of these things depends on your situation, so some of them may be worth it and some, not so much. If you have all the time in the world, putting something on FBMP and letting it sit until someone wants it may makes sense. If you are trying to offload a lot of stuff in a short time, it may be better to put it on the curb. Brokerage bonuses do require possible account or cash transfers, and more paperwork at the end of the year. Credit cards can offer good perks if you use them right! I guess the bottom line is that I will probably quit my selling stuff online side job and stick to the credit card hacking. 

I also plan to do a review of my cards at the end of this year and see which ones were actually worth it and which were not, and will then cancel one or two of them depending on what I find out. 

Where can you find out more? You can see what cards I currently have on my Tips and Hacks page. Other resources: The Points Guy, NerdWallet, or Bankrate. Happy hacking! 

If you want two suggestions here they are: If you rent your house, you can pay with the Bilt credit card, which has no fee, no bonus, but gives you 1 point per dollar spent on rent and 2-4x points on other things. To put this in context, if you pay $2,000 a month, you will get at least 24,000 points, which can be transferred to American for basically a round trip flight, or to Hyatt for about 2 nights in a hotel. I don't have this card, but here is an article on Nerdwallet about it. 

The second one is the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which does cost $95, but if you spend $4,000 in the first three months, it has a bonus of 60,000 as of this writing, which is valued at about $750 (put in context, a US RT flight can be found for about 25,000 points, so you would get about two of these), and it also gives 3x points on dining and 2x points on travel. You get free DoorDash too, which is worth nothing to me, but may be worth something to you! I don't have this card, but I have other cards that use the Chase Travel Portal and am happy with them so far. 

What is your favorite life hack? Do you have any side hustles? Do you know if any of your credit card have any perks? 

2024: A Year in Twelve Chapters

We don't exist in a vacuum, and other people's great ideas can be our best fodder sometimes. A year ago, Elisabeth started asking us what our monthly chapter names would be, and she kept it up for twelve months. Then Stephany did a post celebrating her chapters, and I love the idea, so I am totally copying it! Thanks ladies! 

PS Happy MLK day to the US folks reading this!

Chapter One – January: Everything Must Go!

As most of you know, in 2024 I decided to quit my job and pursue a life of full time travel. After giving it some thought and looking into renting out my house long term or on Airbnb, I ultimately decided that selling was the best option for me. I had lived in my house for nearly 10 years and it was time to go. Also, I felt that I could invest the proceeds and make more than I would getting a monthly income from renting AND I would have to do less work. 

After deciding that, I also decided that instead of putting things in storage and paying hundreds of dollars a month for an undefined amount of time, the best thing financially and emotionally would be to get rid of everything. Of course, this comes with its own emotional toll, but in the end, I am glad I decided what I did, as I feel like a lot of things I owned were owning me (name that movie!) and I really did not need (OR USE!) them (I am looking at you Nordstrom shoe closet). It was very freeing. 

I also took advantage of still living in the Bay Area and went on a run to the Golden Gate bridge, a walk with a friend around San Francisco and a trip to Big Sur with the girls. 

Selling crap, SF walks & runs, Monterey

Chapter Two – February: The Life Changing Event

Although I had been planning on quitting my job for a bit, I did not actually announce it until the last week of February, where I gave three weeks notice. I contemplated giving more, but in the end, I am glad that I didn't, as the last few days of work were a little slow, and I can't imagine what I would have done if I had to sit there for yet another week. Also, I did not announce anything to the Blogosphere for fear of being jinxed. 

I also spent more time walking around San Francisco, had my weekly time with the girls taking them back and forth to soccer, cooking dinner and playing with the Jelly-monster (the dog). I tried to squeeze in as much family time as possible, and went to Santa Barbara with the family for the long weekend and had a good mid-week ski with Dad. 

More walks around SF, Santa Barbara with the folks,
skiing with Dad & trying to drink all the sparkling wine in my fridge!

Chapter Three – March: A New Beginning

March was a dichotomy. The first thing I did was to finally tell you all about my plans! The first half consisted of wrapping things up at work, going away lunches and hikes and runs coupled with the frenetic pace of trying to sell or get rid of the last few things and trying to eat everything in my fridge, which culminated in some odd and not-so-healthy meals. I barely read any books because my mind was whirling with all of the things I needed to do and all of the things I wanted to do and all of the things I could do. It was a whirwind of stuff. 

Got the rack on the bike, emptied the house, took a run to the dump
and took one last hike in the redwoods

Then March 15th came, I had my last day at work, and my last trip to Goodwill and then my Dad came to get me and the two bikes and a few boxes and take them to their new home, my parent's basement. Yes, I am my meagre amount of stuff is basically "living" in my parent's basement. Just give me a gaming console and I will be good to go. Seriously though, a few books and a lot of backpacking and sports gear is apparently all that I need in life. I spent a week with the folks and had a great time wandering around, getting ready and playing games and then I was off! But only a week later, I was picked up by the girls and we headed to Oregon for some R&R. 

Sold the car, packed the bike, got on the road. 
Learned how to use my gear, hiked with the girls in OR.

Chapter Four – April: An Unquenched Hunger

After getting dropped back off in California by the girls, I started riding again, this time in earnest. Of course, the snow held me back a little at first and I had to figure out new routes a couple of times, and it was very cold. However, I made it through Califoria, Oregon and Washington and I even crossed the 1,000 mile mark and made it to Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast. I did take a break in Porland with a friend, but otherwise, I had a few times where I had ridden over two weeks in a row without breaks, and the result of this was a hunger that I could not quench! I ate and ate and ate, and even tried eating an entire half gallon of ice cream several times but I still was hungry! I found some new snacks, although sadly the TJ's mochi bites are seasonal and only can be found in April/May. If you are near a TJs during that time, you must try them! 

Riding in the snow, snacks, OR, CA, WA and Canada!

Chapter Five – May: The Next Province

I was in BC for a total of 32 days and I love it. It reminds me of home, of green trees and mountains and fresh pine air. It has oceans and bays and islands; it is just so peaceful and I could totally see myself living there. In May, my Dad came up to Vancouver to meet me, and I closed on my house, and set off through the moutains of BC. The great part is that finally I was out in the moutains again, although still there was snow in the high reaches and some passes could not be conquered. Note to self, start further south next time? However, at the end of May, I finally crossed over into my 2nd Canadian province, Alberta, and it was wonderful. Once again, I tried to go over the mountains, and once again, I was turned away by snow. But that did not stop me from having fun, riding on roads that were still closed to cars, and waving at no less than half a dozen bears as we passed each other! 

Peter Lougheed PP, Banff NP, Bear Spray, Ice Cream

Chapter Six – June: From Freezing Snow to Burning Sunshine in Three Days

I rode the Icefields Parkway, and spent some time in Banff before the girls came to meet up with me in Canmore and we had a great time hiking, eating and hanging out. Then it was off to the races, and I started riding the Tour Divide, heading towards Mexico. I went through the provinces of Alberta and BC and the states of Montana, Idaho and into the state of Wyoming by the end of this month. 

I also ate a shitton of food, got massacred by mosquitoes in Wyoming, had my tent break in a thunderstorm and windstorm in Montana, and had a recurring flat tire issue. I sent my Mom a postcard from the Tetons, and even got to camp in the National Park, despite it being very close to a holiday weekend. It was also at this point when I was having breakfast with a racer who was going the opposite way, that I realized that the fun was just beginning, as he told me that NM was the hardest state. I had thought it was going to be the northern ones, or maybe CO, but nope! Yay. I also made some cycling friends! 

Icefields Parkway, Banff, Peter Lougheed PP, Idaho/MT line, grizzly

People I met on the road

Chapter Seven – July: The Path Less Taken

It was hot, I was tired. Haha! Actually at the very beginning of the month, I crossed the Great Basin of WY, which was a 100 mile stretch with no water, cars, or people. It was very dry and windy and dusty and it was quite the adventure. Afterward, I could barely talk, and had to eat a pint of ice cream and drink a Snapple to recover. Then I crossed into Colorado, and even went through Steamboat Springs on Independence Day weekend. I would not recommend it. After that, I got to climb Boreas Pass, which is over 11,000 feet, which was actually not too bad, and then I had to knock on the door of a firehouse and ask them if I could stay the night! It was an adventure. For the fourth of July, I was with a buddy, and we crashed a small town party and they gave us cold watermelon and ice cream! Thanks Savery, WY! After CO, there was hell NM, and then the Tour Divide was over. Yay. 

Hot, rainy, cloudy..but beautiful.

The second half of the month was a flurry of riding and visiting. I got to meet up with a few lovely ladies and even used Lisa's house as a home base to get some errands done before setting off again. Oh, did I mention that July was hot? No? Well it was over 100 and with one million percent humidity as I rode through Wisconsin, and I think I lost about 800 pounds of water weight. It also rained a lot, which is not my favorite combination. The Midwest: Love the People, Hate the Weather. 

Birchie was in September, but I am too lazy to edit this collage.

Chapter Eight – August: The Great Expanse

I left Lisa's house and I headed towards the Great Lakes. I had only ever been to Lake Michigan before and had actually never been there in the summer time, so had not touched it. In July, I did touch it, and in August, I touched Lake Superior, Lake Huron and Lake Erie. Now I was four down, one to go! 

Lakes Huron & Superior, a mouse,
the forest of Michigan and the town of Kincardine

Chapter Nine – September: Taking A Step Back

After popping over to Buffalo to meet up with Birchie and try to figure out who has the best Buffalo wings (or ice cream), I rode to Toronto and spent some time with some friends, put my toes in my last lake (Ontario) and then headed to Portland for a week of petsitting and time visiting friends. It was a nice rest, and it was not boiling hot and humid, so it was nice to be back on the west coast again, let me tell you! I went back to Ontario from Oregon and set off again towards the east, or namely, Montreal, where I would spend two weeks petsitting before heading to Nova Scotia. 

Toronto, Lake Ontario, Portland & Buffalo

Chapter Ten – October: Unwinding

I had a great time petsitting in Montreal, getting in my 10 minutes of walking every day and getting some more downtime. By this time, I was getting a little decision fatigue from riding and I was kind of ready to have a break from that. My time in Montreal was the perfect opporunity to get into a bit of a routine, take a few runs, explore a new place, and spend time with a couple of buddies (furry ones). Then it was off again, through Quebec, for a visit to QC before heading to Nova Scotia on the train. Once I arrived, I took a few days to cycle around before meeting up with Elisabeth and hanging out with her and her family for a few days. Too soon, it was time to go, and I hopped on a plane for Bob's first plane ride. He was quite nervous, but I was totally calm. Luckily I had Elisabeth and her neighbor there, as her taking me to the airport was priceless and the neighbor had the perfect tools to take apart my bike (I actually ended up having the right ones too, but it was still nice to have his support!)

Then I was in Vancouver, on the last long ride of the month, to Burlington Washington! Halloween was in full force and it was nice to wander around the PNW again in the fall. 

Ice cream, Bellingham, Quebec City, Montreal
Last camping of the fall, Burlington WA Halloween

Chapter Eleven – November: Tides, Tasks and Trails in the Emerald City

After Burlington, I went to Seattle and spent the majority of the month of November there. I got to stay in two different neighborhoods, and I liked both of them (NE and SW). I also met up with my cousin a few times for lunch and for a Seahawks game, and he took me on a tour of his Navy ship. I walked the dog a lot, and spent a lot of time exploring. I even took at 10 mile run, my longest run for the year! 

Frankie, the Navy ship, Seattle, Fremont Brewery
Seahawks game, US Customs

Chapter Twelve – December: West Coast Whirlwind

I ate, I visited, I scanned photos, I took hikes! I left Seattle and took the Amtrak to Oakland, where I met up with G-money for lunch. Then I stayed with K for a few days, spent some time hiking and eating with friends, and then headed to my parent's house for Christmas. That time went very fast, but we had a great time playing games, taking hikes (my brother even walked in the rain with me, and our hike went longer than planned; oops!) and cooking and eating! We went to a Christmas market, and I got to see several family memebers and friends before getting everything packed up again (but first, unpacked!) and getting back in the car and heading to the airport! Then it was NYE in Germany and the year was over. PS the Germans all set off fireworks and it is loud, but in typical German fashion, there must be a curfew, as the noise basically stopped abruptly around 1 am! It was great. 

Seattle, home, Germany

And...that is a wrap! Just like I thought when I read everyone else's wraps, when you lay it all out, it does seem like a lot of stuff, even though sometimes when you are in it, you don't realize all that is going on. 

Did you participate in the Chapter a Month this year? If not, what would a few of your monhtly chapter names be, or what would your 2024 book be titled? 

Where's Waldo?

I still have some more wrap up and list type posts, but I am sure you are all getting bored of those! So today, I will talk a little about where I am and what's happening, since I feel like I have been pretty lax in doing that over the last couple of months.

First of all, can you find me in this photo? I will try to make it big enough that you can try! 

Mur de Canuts (photo credit: Bugsy)

In case you are wondering, this is the Mur de Canuts in Lyon, which is a mural depicting the silk workers. The history of this is facinating, and it began in 1466, when King Louis XI set up a national silk working industry in Lyon, consisting mostly of Italian workers, who were known for their silk making skills. However, it gets even better, as in 1834 the workers revolted against their employers, starting one of the first general strikes in an industry anywhere in the world. There was a whole life around this industry for years, and you can still see the remnants of this today, both physically and politically. 

But I won't bore you with too much history! Let me give you a quick update on where else I have been besides Lyon!

Coming Home. In December, I went home from Seattle and spent some days seeing friends before heading up to my parent's house for Christmas. Despite me thinking that a week would be plenty of time to be with the family, I felt like it went fast, probably because in between playing games and visiting, I worked on packing, getting some photos scanned, and seeing a friend whose Dad is quite ill. 

Ornament made by my Mom

Beginning to Travel Again. On Christmas day, my brother and I drove back to the Bay Area, where I stayed with my friend K for the night. On Boxing Day, we flew out of SFO to Frankfurt Germany! We ended up getting a place in Wiesbaden, which was perfect, as we could easily get into Frankfurt, Mainz or other outlying towns from there. We visited Heidelberg, Koblenz, Wurzburg and Rothenburg and had a lovely time wandering and eating and showing the kids how taking the train is fun! 

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

We saw tons of castles, took a train on the Rhine river, and had a great time. The only downside was that it was freezing, literally! The weather was in the 20s while we were there, and it even snowed a little. That did not stop us, it just meant more hot chocolate was needed! I also kicked off my running season on January 1st with an early morning run with L, my friend's 10 year old daughter. She and I were up early every day and usually we would hang out in the warm kitchen, but she was game to take a run on one of the freezing days, so we went and it was great! 

My early morning running buddy

Marzipan piggy

Flying Solo. After the girls left, I headed to Strasbourg, France, where I had a great time buying pastries and wandering around. If you have not been here, I highly recommend it! However, once again, it was in the teens and twenties and snowed, so maybe if you go, go in April, May or October! I continued my running game, and am trying to go a few times a week, and I did that, even in the rain! It is nice to be in a place where I can go back and get warm, which was not always the case when cycling. However, I kind of am jealous of the folks with bikes, as there are tons of canals and bike lanes to enjoy! I may need to get a bike at some point. 

Petit France, Strasbourg

After Strasbourg I went to Dijon. It is a nice little town that I would also recommend. I started to get in a groove, found a good bakery where I could get my daily baguette, and found a nice running path on the Burgundy canals, where I even did my longest run in a LONG TIME, 11 miles! I love being able to pair running with exploring a new place; it really makes the miles go by so much faster. 

Dijon + Notre Dame Church

Lunch Buddies. After Dijon, I went to Lyon. I had a couple of friends meet up with me in Lyon and what did we do? EAT! Lyon is known as the gastronomic capital of France and it currently has five two Michelin starred and twelve one Michelin starred restaurants! The ones we went to were called Bouchons, which are the typcial working class restaurants of the silk workers, and the food was very good! We also did a walking tour, looked at lots of old building, ruins and churches, climbed lots of stairs, found plenty of pastry shops and had a great time wandering around Les Halles (the food market). 

Oeuf mayonaise

So many treats!

Praline tart

Now my friends are gone again, and I am on my own. I have been enjoying trying out the local bike share, getting my bearings a little, wandering around the Croix Rousse neighborhood and checking out the views from the top of the hill (my apartment is near the river). 

Basilica de Notre Dame du Fourvière 

Roman Theater

Plans include lots more wandering and a Saturday market (or three). I am also trying to get at least 10,000 steps (about 5 miles) a day, stretching for 10 minutes a la Nicole, doing daily pushups and getting back into my running routine! I am also doing at least 10 minutes a day of language lessons and I may also go to a weekly French conversation meet up if I can get my act together! It is still cold, in the 20s and 30s, but at least it's not raining! 

À bientôt! Bonne journée!

Have you been to Wiesbaden, Strasboug, Dijon or Lyon? Have you ever been to a Michelin starred restaurant? Do you like marzipan? What daily routines are you doing this year?