When I was a child, my mother always commented on how hard her life was. She walked to school uphill both ways in the snow. There was no TV, microwave ovens, cell phones or the internet. There was radio and party lines.

We as children had it easy, she always said.

Dirk and I are travelling with electronics. We have turned off my cell phone until we returning from Asia, using just Dirks. We both have our laptops, plus an iPad. These help us stay in contact with family, letting them know we are okay. Plus I can post witty blogs about our adventures.

We are now ending our month in California and I am amazed at the overuse of technology. We are sitting on a bus tour at the San Diego zoo, the boy in front of me is playing a game on his iPad, the girl beside me is texting nonstop. But at least their not annoying their parents with questions about the animals.

No one can walk without looking at their phones. I don’t think anyone is going to miss anything in life while walking from the car and into the shopping mall. Wouldn’t you want to cross the street and not get hit by a car? Or would you rather ensure your friends know you got their text? Most people prefer the latter.

What about dining? When did we stop caring about the art of conversation? Did you really come to the restaurant to meet friends just to play on your phones? I look around the restaurant, parents and children not talking. All intently looking at their phones as whatever is on them is much more important then asking their child how their days was.

I had lots of rules to follow. No TV until your homework was done. No going to see your friends until your chores were done. We had to be home for dinner. Not just to eat, but to help prepare the meal, set the table, and clean up afterwards. If the phone rang, no one was to answer. There was no answering machine, people had to call back. The TV was turned off, the only entertainment was the stories we told of our day.

Dirk and I are trying to go back to those days. We have cancelled cable. We are trying to leave the cell phone alone at the restaurant. We still have a few steps to go before we are not always linked to our devices, but while sight seeing, we are actually looking at the sights.

Click here for more funny phone addiction cartoons.

Travel Tip:

When traveling abroad (outside of Canada and the US) have your cell phone carrier unlock your phone. When you arrive at each country, purchase a SIM card. This works best if you are staying in a country for longer then one week. Phones that are not being taken can be put on ‘hibernate’ while you travel for a small fee. Better than paying your full bill while you are gone.

Since we have a year off, we have no excuse but to get in shape. We have the time.

I wrote a blog a while back about getting old, it sucks. Dirk and I are now experiencing aches and pains, mostly in our backs. There are nights we can’t sleep due to the pain and wake up not so refreshed. His has a surprising amount of arthritis in his spine, mine an old soccer injury that is raising its ugly head again.

I decided to tried running to get back in shape. It is an easy work out without having to buying a expensive membership that, in the end, I would probably not use. Running is something you can do anywhere in the world and, since we are travelling, I decided it was a great choice. I started by taking it very slow at the beginning and only going short distances until I could build up to a 5 km run. After about of month, I was ready to do the 5 km run again. It did not end well. After only me second 5 km run, I didn’t walk without pain for two days as my knees were so sore.

That’s when I decided to start doing yoga with Dirk. He had found an app called ‘Yoga Studio‘ and was very excited about it. Yoga is also great for travelling. All you need is small clothing and about an hour. Ever city has yoga. Do it by the pool, in the hotel room, on the beach or in a park.

Being new to yoga, I had no idea about the moves so hearing camel, rabbit, fish, cobra, pigeon had me wondering why they are all named after animals. What was I getting myself into?

I also realized I am as flexible as a tree trunk. So forward bends that have you reaching for your toes and placing your chest to your thighs was not happening. I was merely waving my hands in the air above my toes. After the first few sessions, my hamstrings were in pain. Walking was very difficult.

A month passes and things are looking up. I no longer think it strange to be told to move into King Dancer. Gone are the aches and pains after practicing. I am starting to feel great about my progress. Then Dirk insists we need to move out of the beginner sessions and onto the intermediate.

Now, the new aches and pains begin. I had only gotten my larger muscles use to the daily stretching and bending, but the little guys were still not included in my progress. Within a few days, it is not the stiffness that returns, but old aches of injuries past. I can’t sit back on my tail bone, it is too painful. Even going the bathroom hurts. How can yoga be good for you if you can’t shit without pain?

During the second month, I start to get use to these constant aches, even welcoming them as progress. I am seeing a different in my body. Muscles are forming. I no longer fear the dreaded yoga push-up but welcome it as a sign of my improvement.

Unfortunately, on the third month, things start to slow down and we don’t practice as often. We are moving city to city faster. Leaving early in the morning when we would have been doing yoga. Rooms are also smaller so there is no room to practice. Going outside is not an option, in the 42C heat, both of us would pass out in the first 5 minutes.

Month four begins and we have not practiced in a week. I am sick so the thought of any bending makes my already hurting head worse. As I slowly heal, I am able to return to our daily yoga regime, but I seemed to have taken a step back. I guess that is why they call it ‘practice’ as if you don’t keep it up, you may lose what you worked so hard to gain.

In the end, I no longer feel like a tree trunk, my flexibly has improved to what I fondly called ‘a green stick’.

Here are a few pictures of my progress – as you can see – month four has taken a step back.

Travel Tip:

Staying in shape is hard at the best of times. Staying is shape on vacation is exponentially harder when all you do is eat and drink. After the first month, we had gain about 4 kg each. This spurred on a few changes to our travel life. Drinking was only at night and not every night. Yoga is a great travel workout. You can do it in your hotel room or if your lucky, the hotel has a fitness centre. Adding cardio is key. Walk as much as you can each day. Try to avoid snacking during the day, but if you do grab a piece fruit.

When you decide to travel the world, or part of it for 8 months, getting around is a major question.

While the sale of the restaurants were underway, Dirk and I decided to travel. He was adamant that I needed to take a year off, something I have never done before in my life. I have to admit, it caused me stress. I have been working since I was 12 years old, my first job was a paper route.

Once the planning of our travels started and all the possible places to go were discussed, traveling the world far outweighed the idea of working. Dates were discussed as to when this adventure would begin and April 1st was set as the estimated departure date.

Our decision to travel through California started with Dirk’s youngest sister as she had planned her stagette in Disneyland at the end of April. There was no question in my mind that I wanted to attend, and as his sisters say, ‘Dirk is one of the girls’, so he was also invited. Knowing these facts we began planning visits with friends in California we have not seen in years.

But how to get around? First thought, fly to San Francisco and rent a car for the month. That amounted to about $2000. More googling and investigating. That is where I first saw the California Rail Pass. So why not the train, on second thought, fly to San Francisco and rail travel until the end of April. This cost about $700. That is how we decided on the train.

In the end, we took a ferry to Seattle and road the train right down the coast, making several stops along the way. On our first leg, we did have some excitement. The train actually had to slam on the brakes. Yeah!! Crazy!! A car had decided to proceed over the rails as the arm came down. The driver failed to consider the fact that the cars in front of him were not moving. This gave him no room to fully pull off the tracks. The train just missed the car, but the slamming of the breaks had us stopped for a period of time.

Our longest trek was from Portland to Chico, 14 hours. We decided to upgrade at the Portland station to a sleeping car. It was pricey, but really worth it. We were treated to a wine tasting, free movies in the theatre, three course meals, and of course our own private sleeping car with access to a shower. Beds were turned down for us upon returning from the movie. The attendant was fully aware of our stop, waking us in plenty of time to get ready before we disembarked.

I came across several people that thought taking the train was an odd method of transportation in North America. Something they have never done or even thought about. It is a slower method then driving. There are many stops along the way. But, I really enjoyed it. It was relaxing and allowed both Dirk and I time to take in the scenery.

Trains, Planes and Automobiles have lead us to Asia, we even threw in a boat to mix it up. I am excited about our new adventure and what our next mode of transportation maybe.

Check out our photo’s of California.

Travel Tip:

Train travel in most countries, except probably Canada, is an economical way to travel. Over the years, trains have improved and offer comfortable reclining chairs, viewing lounges, dinning and parlour cars. I would recommend that if you are on a tight budget bring your own food and beverages. The food is okay but over priced, sharing a sandwich with two waters was $16US ($20CAD) . If you would like to surf the internet, the trains offers WiFi free of charge.