2012 – Page 9 – Globitrotter

Car upgrade

Last summer we build two large boxes that can be mounted in our car and used as storage and a sleeping platform. During our holidays in August we slept most nights in the car and it worked out great. Our car is a Toyota FJ Cruiser which is not the longest car ever so we have to push the front seats forward in order to fit while sleeping. After moving the seats we have to extend the sleeping area with an extra board that is stored in one of the boxes while driving the car.

Since this car will soon be our home for a bit more than 4 months we decided to upgrade. Instead of having a separate board we attached it with hinges on the box itself so that is easily folds out. The boards are supported by smaller pieces also attached with hinges on the side of the box.

It works very well and we are happy with the successful upgrade. Why did we not do this from the beginning?? Next step is to mount the boxes in the car again and go for a test trip. 🙂

More 14ers

The other day I took out my Colorado’s Fourteeners book and was going to decide if we should bring the book on the trip or send it home first. As I started to read I got an urge to go hiking. Last August we did 10 14ers in 10 days. It was hard but fun and well worth it. Then we did not have much time since we wanted to go to Utah as well during our 4 week vacation. This time around we can spend more time in Colorado and either do more of them or maybe not so many in just a few days.

We started to discuss which peaks to do this year and the more we looked in the book and talked about it the more we wanted to do. Probably we will do at least another 10 this year. I am hoping to do La Blanca, Mt Sneffels and Longs Peak (in Rocky Mountain National Park). The rest we will see as we go along. All depending on weather I guess. Since we are bringing climbing gear this time we might attempt to climb a peak or two. We both like multi pitch climbing and it would add some variation to the hiking. Maybe we will also do a favourite or two from last year. I wouldn’t mind doing Wetterhorn or Handies Peak.

Hiking the valley up to Handies is beautiful with all the pretty flowers.

Conclusion: we are bringing the book.

Enjoying research

I like to be prepared when I travel. I don’t like fixed plans but I do like knowing what the possibilities are before I get there. For this trip which will be very long and going through several countries I will not be able to read about everything before we go. I will have to do research on the way as well. Good thing though is that we have already been to most countries on the list and know more or less what we want to do. Then it is always exciting to see what really will happen once we are out there. Plans are made to be changed, no?

This time is the best time of year in Phoenix when it is warm but not too hot to be outside. I take advantage of this and enjoy the pool and a fixed place to stay before we are off on our year long camping trip. A better place to do some reading is hard to find.

Getting in shape

While planning for a year long hiking and climbing trip I felt the need to get in the best possible physical shape in the little time we have left before we go. Last year before our 4 week long tour of Colorado and Utah we completed 60 days of Insanity! (very insane interval training) and it turned out it was really worth it. We had no problems hiking 10 14ers (mountains higher than 14000 feet or 4250 m) in 10 days. Maybe we will not do that the first week of our trip but I do think we will benefit from being in shape from the very start.

So, I have worked out a great plan. This time it will be difficult to follow the Insanity schedule, which is 6 days a week, because we also have to do some climbing. Just adding that to Insanity would be too stressy and not very healthy since I am still working full time. Instead, the plan looks something like this:

Monday – indoor climbing

Tuesday – Insanity

Wednesday – indoor climbing

Thursday – Insanity

Friday – rest

Saturday – longer hike (at least half day) or Insanity

Sunday – indoor or outdoor climbing

I am not a professional but I think this could get us ready for what we want to do. Now comes just the problem of actually doing it. Work has a tendency of getting in the way sometimes but I am hoping for the best. At least I have now communicated my plan which makes it harder not to follow it. 🙂

No return – full time travelling, hiking, climbing

I made a decision and now there is no return. I recently quit my job so that Andy and I can live a dream and go travel for a year or so. The main activities will be hiking and climbing. It has always been a dream of mine to do such a trip but it is not easy to find someone who wants to come along for the ride. A few years ago I met Andy who has the same interests and is willing to live cheap and out of a car for a long time. Although it sounds fantastic to not work and just play I realize that it will also be tough not to have a home and always have to live out of a suitcase (or backpack in this case). But what I am looking forward to and what was the main purpose of this kind of trip is to not have any responsibilities except to yourself, no work to go back to, not having to do anything if I don’t want to. Imaging the freedom of doing today what you feel like and not what you have to. Maybe that is not the correct way to express it, I guess we have all chosen our lives and even if it feels like we have to do things we have put ourselves in the situation where we have to do certain things to be able to maintain a lifestyle or care for other people. I did that too in a way. Before I worked a lot for some time to then take time off and go travel, dive and hike. The trips I made were quite expensive and although my job allowed me to take longer holidays on several occasions there was always a time when I had to go back. This time I have chosen to quit my job entirely and live on little money but instead be able to stay on the road for a long time. What will limit our trip is money or if we simply don’t feel like travelling anymore. I think the second one will happen first.

Andy and I have been talking about making a long trip basically since we met but it was never certain exactly when we would do it. Now seemed to be a good time for several reasons. So tickets has been booked and the route is USA-Canada-Hawaii-New Zealand-Australia-Hong Kong-Stockholm. The plan is to return to Sweden in July 2013 and spend the summer in Stockholm. After that we’ll see what happens. We might stay or move to Switzerland which is Andy’s home country. If we have not decided something else on the way that is.

The 23 May we will be returning to Stockholm from Phoenix, were we have lived since Jan 2011, and my last working day will be 31 May. 4 June is the day when it all begins. Then we are going back to Phoenix to pick up our car which we bought here a year ago. It is a Toyota FJ Cruiser which is prepared for camping and will be our home in USA and Canada for the summer.

Our home in Needles, Canyonlands, Utah

You will be able to follow our trip on this blog. I hope you will and that you enjoy it.

Travel magazines

Every time I travel I buy travelmagazines. Often I fall for the glossy ones with luxurious sparesorts on the front page. It looks so wonderful I can not help but buying one or two and dream away for a little while. But because they only write about resortswhere it would cost a small fortune to spend only a weekend I end uprather depressed instead of anxious to go on my next holiday. Every time. I knowthat the length of my holidays does not go together with these hotelsand when I think about it normally not what I like to do on myholidays either.

Recently, during a long lay over atLAX, it was time for a new purchase. This time I think I foundsomething better. A not so glossy front page with a rick shaw bikedriver from Cuba caught my eye. This magazine, Afar, focused more on activitieslike surfing and rock climbing rather than spa and picture perfectbeach resorts. I felt much better. All of a sudden I had an urge to find that little island in the Caribbean that was so hard to getto or go climbing in Cuba. It was refreshing that they focused more on what to do and experience than where to sleep, shop or drink exclusive drinks. These things usually fall into place anyway once you know where you want to go and what to do. I am more looking for inspiration and not a list of hotels and shops when I read about travel and this suited me just perfectly.