We don’t usually like to plan, well actually that’s not true; I love to plan but we don’t like being tied to a fixed itinerary. However this year there are three key events we want to attend: the TBEX (Travel Bloggers Exchange) conference in June, a friend’s wedding in July and the Penny Arcade Expo in August.
This means a rough plan for the year has arisen, and as we’ll need to book flights in the next few months we’ll be locked in. Hopefully it will be worth sacrificing a bit of freedom though as we are excited about attending these events and meeting up with some new and old friends.
So where will we be travelling in 2011?
January-February: We have extended our apartment rental in Medellin until 10 February and then we’ll begin our exploration of Colombia. We’ll be focusing on pretty pueblos in the coffee region and around Bogota and then heading to the coast. We are very much looking forward to being on a beach for the first time in nearly a year. Although we have ideas of places we want to visit the plan doesn’t have a timescale attached and is entirely flexible.
March–May: I’m not sure how long we’ll spend travelling around Colombia but it’s likely that sometime in March we’ll take the five day boat trip from Cartagena to Panama (via the gorgeous looking San Blas islands). We’ll travel around Panama, through Costa Rica to Nicaragua. We originally planned to travel through all of Central America but I doubt we’ll get further than this before June.
June: We’ll fly from wherever we end up to Vancouver for the TBEX conference. To get the cheapest fare we’ll probably have to fly through a few places in the US and we may stop off for a few days. Miami looks like a likely stop and if Simon gets his way we may even take a trip to Disney!
We are really looking forward to meeting lots of travel bloggers we know online but have never met at TBEX, and to exploring Vancouver. We’ll probably spend about a week there.
In mid June we’ll fly to the UK to catch up with friends and family (we’ll have been away for 16 months). We’ll stay about 4 weeks to visit various people around the country.
Food like this antipasti in Puglia make us want to return to Italy
July: After the wedding in mid July we are hoping to spend a month or so in Italy. It’s one of our favourite countries and after nearly a year in South America we are craving some good, veggie-friendly food. Italy is expensive so we won’t travel around but are hoping to find a house sitting opportunity. A small village or rural area in some untouristy part of the country would be ideal. I used to speak Italian so I’m looking forward to picking that up again.
August: We need to be in Seattle for the last weekend in August as Simon is hopefully attending the Penny Arcade Expo to indulge his geeky side with his video game programmer brother. I have no interest in video games so will not be attending the conference, and will have to find something to occupy myself in Seattle for a few days.
September-October: San Francisco! We fell in love with the city on our last RTW trip and know some amazing people who live here. We would love to spend a month or two living here if we can afford it. It makes sense to do it then as we’ll be on the West Coast anyway and the weather is beautiful at this time of year.
The view from Greens, our favourite vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco
November – December: Who knows? We’ll probably head back down to Central America to explore the countries we missed earlier in the year, and Mexico is definitely calling us.
I was hesitant about making these plans public as we still aren’t sure if we’ll be able to afford these expensive destinations. But I figured putting them out there will make them more likely to happen.
We spent Monday holed up in Crepes & Waffles doing our annual review. We have some big plans for the Line-In web design business which mainly include making lots more money and releasing a new product for travel bloggers. It’s going to be a lot of work though so we somehow need to fit that in with our travel plans.
Can you help? If anyone knows of any houses that need sitting in Italy, inexpensive apartment rentals in San Francisco, or a cheap way to fly from Central America to Vancouver (or Seattle) then please let us know.
Oh, and if you know anyone who needs a website designed or built or a WordPress plug-in developed then send them to Simon at Line In.
What are your plans for 2011? Leave a comment and tell us.
Sounds like an amazing year guys! Your journey and success as digital nomads inspired us to give it a shot too. Here’s to 2011!
Thanks Brittany that’s good to hear. Good luck on your journey too!
Great plans! It’s going to be a full 2011 for you two. Hope to see you guys in Vancouver. I was in San Francisco visiting my brother last May and I, too, loved it.
Looking forward to meeting you in Vancouver Keith. I was tempted to add the Edinburgh Festival to the list as we’ll be in Europe in August but I think that’ll be pushing the budget a bit too far. I think you are going though so enjoy! We love the Fringe.
In all my time there I’ve failed to be in Scotland during the month of August. Looks likely that I’ll rectify that this year.
The festival is amazing! Overwhelming and exhausting as there’s so much going on but lots of fun. Tip: lots of locals rent out their houses at that time of year. We found a good deal on an apartment through the Fringe festival forums. Enjoy!
Yeah! Back in the UK in 2011! Looking forward to it.
Looking forward to seeing you too.
And when we get there you, me, Paddy and Kev (if he’s around) are going to spend a day in a studio jamming.
Sounds like an awesome plan. Regarding apartment in SF, if you don’t manage to find apts within ur budget there, you might want to check out other cities nearby that’s served by BART . May I suggest Berkeley and Oakland? Cheaper rent, plenty to see/do on its own, and San Francisco is only a subway ride away.
Also, many of my student friends end up renting in South San Francisco for the same reasons above. Closer to SF proper, but I prefer Berkeley/Oakland myself.
Jill´s last post ..Planning A RTW Trip — A Recap
I think we’ll try for central SF as we’ll only be there for a short time, but I am definitely open to Oakland and Berkeley if that doesn’t work out. They sound like cool places in their own right.
I hope we can persuade you to stay a little longer in the UK and we may fly out to the US to see you. We both fancy checking out San Francisco and maybe Seattle too – who knows??
Counting down to June.
All the best for 2011 and love you lots! xxxxxxxxxx
I’m not sure how long we can cope with a British summer! We’ll be back in the UK after Italy for a few days at least before we get our flight to Seattle. Looking forward to seeing you too.
You will love Central America, so wonderful and actually quite veggie friendly. Don’t try to fly straight into Vancouver, either go LA or Toronto as it’s expensive to go straight there.
Wish they had held it in Toronto, so much cheaper to get there.
ayngelina´s last post ..Parades are for suckers- unless you want to change the world
Really looking forward to it. Glad it’s smaller than South America too – hopefully we’ll have less long bus journeys. Or that may be wishful thinking…
Totally go to Disneyland. It is super mega great. Guaranteed to make you happy. You know we loved it when we went to the one in Japan and we’re sure you will too.
Looking forward to seeing you for some serious drinking and dancing at Pamela and Tomela’s wedding x
Travelling Mallorys´s last post ..The end of Australia – Melbourne to Adelaide
Simon is a bit obsessed with Disney as he went loads in his childhood. If the budget allows it we’ll go. Looking forward to seeing you guys too!
If all goes as planned & you head back to San Fran, I would love to meet up with you guys. Heck, you could even stay a few days with us in the Grand Ole’ Sacramento if you wanted.
Wishing you the best as always!
We’d love to meet up with you. Looking forward to it!
your whole year is full!!! have a great new year
It is looking that way, although we still have lots of flexibility except for the June-August period. You have a great new year too.
Exciting plans, guys!! Spending the summer in Italy sounds amazing and is on our list too, but probably not this year. San Fran for a couple of months – AWESOME!! We’re sure you can get a house-sit there, we saw so many for September / October last year. We just decided to do some more traveling in the States this year too, as we have to be there for a family event in October anyway and we won a hotel stay in NYC
November / December is a great time for Guatemala (rainy season is over then) – it’s very warm, but not too hot.
Maybe our paths will cross in Panama or Costa Rica… it’s very likely!
Globetrottergirls´s last post ..Polaroid of the week- Climbing for coconuts on Little Corn Island
Surely our paths should cross as we head up and you guys come down. Let’s make it happen!
Deal!
GlobetrotterGirls´s last post ..Polaroid of the week- Climbing for coconuts on Little Corn Island
Great plans! Happy 2011!
Rebecca´s last post ..Look mum- it’s a lion! Tips for responsible animal encounters
Happy 2011 to you too!
I had no idea they had Crepes and Waffles in Colombia, I thought it was a Chilean only chain.
That sounds like a wonderful year you have planned out, and while I’m sure you’ll end up changing a lot of things as you go, it is nice to have at least a basic outline of where you’re trying to be when.
Apparently it’s a Colombian chain -they are very proud of it.
It is quite nice knowing where we’ll be at least for a few points in the year. The hardest thing about our usual no plan approach is not being able to arrange to meet people.
Like a lot of people, we’re currently putting together our plans for 2011. It’s exciting isn’t it? I’ve got a really good feeling about the year ahead. Wishing you all the best with your travels Erin!
Andrew Murray´s last post ..A Proposed Bimble from KLIA to CNX
I do love planning. Even though we are always travelling, looking ahead to future destinations is exciting. Good luck with your plans and have a great 2011 Andrew!
Busy busy busy – I hope we travel for long enough we can justify going home for a holiday! I miss my friends quite a bit but there are so many more benefits to what we are doing!
Poi´s last post ..Photo From Our Week – 16-01-11
We didn’t plan to go back to the UK but as there’s a wedding we though it’d be a good time. As we are away “forever” now we need to go back and visit people sometimes!
I see Asia is nowhere on this list. Boooo!
I know, I know… 2012 I promise! Just make sure you haven’t left by then!
i’m excited for TBEX. it’ll be my first!
suki´s last post ..Praise the dough hook attachment!
We’ll do that thanks. If we could find a housesit that would be the dream!
It’s our first TBEX too (we only started blogging in February) – it should be lots of fun. Looking forward to meeting you!
So… you plan to go to Italy!! I’m waiting to read your reviwes… I’m so curious!!
Gisella´s last post ..Italians for Dummies Lesson n° 1
We love Italy and can’t wait. Mmm, the food… Just have to get my Italian back up to scratch.
I don’t know about inexpensive short term apt rentals in SF, all I really know about is overly expensive long term rentals
But many people post sublets on Craigslist so you might want to look into that. Let me know if you want any other recommendations for SF or a guide!
Ekua´s last post ..Shuddering on Sudder Street
Yep, we are sort of prepared that it’ll be expensive. We aren’t exactly sure how much to expect though. It’d be great to meet up if you are in SF. The best thing about the city is going to be all the amazing people that live there.
Gosh, I wish that y’all were going to be in Italy a little later because we’ll be there in September. It would be awesome to meet up with fellow vegetarians!
Akila´s last post ..an elephant family
That’s a shame – having a vegetarian eating session in Italy would have been awesome =)
That’s life!
Cheers!
Wow! That’s one heck of an itinerary
I’m sure you’re going to love your stay in Panama. And never miss to drop by Bocas Del Toro, its the closest thing to paradise. Have fun!
Bocas Del Toro´s last post ..Surfers Only – Isla Colon
i want trip with you! ….)
Ciao! A luglio sarete in Italia? Dove vorreste stare?
I write in italian, because you know it, isn’t it?
Mountain? See? ….Historical cities?
A presto!
Claire
Si, vorremmo visitare I’Italia ma no so dove. Forse un paese in montagna. Dipende da soldi!
If you’re in Mexico November-December we’d love to meet up. That’s about where we’ll be on our road trip as we drive from Alaska to Argentina.
Rachel Denning´s last post ..The Knitty-Gritty of Living on the Road – How We Do It
We won’t be in Mexico this year unfortunately as our plans have changed and we are heading to Asia. Have a great trip!
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