We need your help deciding our next excursion! Europe has been nice so far. We have really enjoyed the 2 months we have been in Portugal and Spain, but we are looking for something else.We are kind of sick of “visiting cities”. Resturants trying to sway you to dine with them, cathedrals, and vast amounts of tourists. We are kind of sick of staying in a city for longer than a week too. Doing one thing a day is nice sometimes, but after a while we start thinking to ourselves, this “long term travel” is pointless if we aren’t going to do too much. I wrote a lot more about this, which I will post soon, but you get the point. It feels more like we are on vacation instead of an adventure. Maybe we are searching too much.
So what to do next? We are in Barcelona for a break week and midway point to get some planning done before we ride The Camino. We are definitely pumped about being on bike for more than two weeks and riding more than 500 miles. After that we will meet up with Katie’s parents in Croatia and spend around a month there. After Croatia in October we were thinking of originally going to Turkey and finding a volunteer program to get involved with but we are mulling over the ideas of doing something different. We didn’t have much luck finding volunteer programs in turkey and have started questioning why we want to do volunteer “programs” in the first place.
These are the options we are considering so far.
1. Head to Africa for a month or longer camping trip with a tour company
2. Find an useful non profit to work with in Turkey. (If you know of one that doesn’t involve organic farming or teaching rich parents kids English please let us know)
3. Find a longer term non profit to work with for a longer duration (6ish months)
4. Find another outdoor biking/hiking/boating pilgrimage to embark upon
5. Head somewhere completely different away from the big cities like the Faroe Islands or Papua New Guinea and disregard the budget a bit
6. Whatever or wherever you suggest
Help us out and let us know!
It Began In a Balloon 
16 thoughts on “Where to go next?”
Peke
Pekepapa new guinea
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It Began In a Balloon
Haha, I think all 4 of us need to go there now
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Caitlin
Volunteer in Jordan at refugee camps?
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Kyle
This is the eternal question with long-term travel. We have been at it for a year and after next month we have no clue what to do or where to go next. And it turns out that’s OK – it’s happened before, and we’ve always figured it out. Just always remember to think about why you did the trip in the first place (pro tip: “to see cool things” and “enjoy ourselves” are perfectly acceptable answers) and adjust accordingly. We burned out in Bolivia and ended up making a list of places we *wanted* to go that weren’t just on the way – it was the best thing we ever did.
Personally, I’d recommend trying a trip that hits some less mainstream countries, and staying in one place for less time, until you need it. For example, Croatia. We found it very touristy and sanitized – a lot of what you were describing Portugal and Spain to be like. So instead, we changed plans and went to Bosnia, Montenegro (and would have continued to Albania if we had time) – it turned out to be one of our fav trips. Same with places like Lithuania, Laos, and Yunnan province in China – they aren’t dumps, just a bit more out of the way, and without the tourist crowds. If you get sick of those kind of places, you can always go rest for a bit somewhere more comfortable. Just my 2c.
P.S. I have some pretty particular views about “voluntourism” – this sums it up pretty well: http://pippabiddle.com/2014/02/18/the-problem-with-little-white-girls-and-boys/.
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It Began In a Balloon
Kyle, thanks for the reply and article as it definitely helps out. I think we are close to making the list that you guys did in Bolivia pretty soon and seeing the less mainstream countries. It seems that it might be a little tougher on the budget to do that, but like you said, reverting back to the reasons why we are doing this trip and adjusting accordingly is the most important. I also agree with the article and probably your views on volunteerism as well. Originally we had it in our minds to help others out, but that is a pretty broad idea. We do not want to pay money for a week long or even month long “volunteer trip”, but on the flip side I think her failure as a volunteer led her to see what was needed and now she has some direction and purpose. We would like to try and help in a way that could spark a thought later about what would really help the situation we are in, and possibly act on that thought. Unfortunately that might take one or two poor volunteering gigs to find out. Thanks again.
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kylegifford
Depending on where you go, the day-to-day costs (lodging, food) make it much cheaper despite it being a bit more expensive to get there + transiting between cities. If you guys go central/eastern Europe or southeast Asia let us know, we can give you some tips.
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Foster Tidwell
Alli and I just booked a honeymoon in Thailand… there’s an idea!
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Arnoldy, Dick
Katie and Wes,
My suggestion is the same as before you left. Go to Masaka, Uganda. Katie can use her nursing skills helping women who are having surgery to repair fistula problems, and Wes can help farmers prepare their land for their cow, or help Fr. Peter with the administration of the cow project. Or there are probably many other jobs that Wes could help out with at Carritas MADDO, the dioceseâs charity arm.
Sr. Toni and I could help you arrange this.
Dick
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It Began In a Balloon
Thanks Dick, we will send you an email today
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Suzy
Great options! Do something adventurous! You could also check out goabroad.com (or .org) to see what study, volunteer, etc options are out there! I wasn’t a huge fan of the big cities in Turkey (except Istanbul) but you could see what is available in more rural areas. Good luck!
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It Began In a Balloon
Thanks Suzy!
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Carey Carter
Ooo! I love choose your own adventure! 😉
I know it’s cliche` but why not go rent a Tuscan villa to rest for a while? You are so close and no tourists! Then you can go volunteer for long stint. That sounds amazing. What a great opportunity to give back and share God’s love over seas.
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Mohammed
What’s up Wes, I’ve been in Croatia for the past week so thought I’d give you some insight. We took a ferry from Italy down to Split and since then we’ve rented a car for a home and have been driving it down the Dalmatian Coast. Croatia has a beautiful coasline and the ravines, valleys, and mountains that line it are beautiful. Croatia is definitely a bit more touristic but there’s always off the beaten paths that we take and we’ve found some pretty majestic beaches that are quieter and less touristy. The food here is great. It’s pricier than we expected but we’ll head to Bosnia soon, which doesn’t have a coastline but Mostar and Sarajevo are supposed to be pretty beautiful cities and extremely cheap. I would also recommend going through Montenegro, which has beaches very similar to Croatia, but much cheaper. Slovenia is a country not often mentioned but it is easily one of the most beautiful in Europe. Look into it. I’ll be in Egypt on Sept. 9th so if you decide you want an African adventure I can help arrange things for you guys and I’ll be there with Pipo, my brother, and a friend from back home.
Hope you guys are enjoying your travels!
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It Began In a Balloon
Thanks for the heads up Mo. We were thinking about heading to Bosnia or further inland for a while after Croatia. I’ll send you a message soon.
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Mohammed
Mostar is a cool city, was there yesterday but headed out after a storm came through and was supposed to cause rain for few days. I’m phoneless so if you need to get a hold of me message me on FB
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Martha Stewart
Dear Wes and Kate,
Sorry I am so late with this measage.
We have a friend (Bob Bland) in our church who created an organization to help the poor of the world. The organization is called “Conejo Compasion Coalition and has a website called conejocompasion.org.
You might see something of interest on the site that applies to your search. We will both be back in town by 11 Sept. If you would like to pursue this further, let us know if we can be of help.
Much Love: Grandma & Grandma
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