Coming to America: Sharing Our Journey at Home
Filed Under: United States by Daniel Noll and Audrey ScottOnly two days ago, we were learning about biodynamic Chilean wines and ziplining through vineyards in the hills outside Santiago, Chile.
Just yesterday, en route from Santiago to New York City, we took advantage of a long layover to peek into and poke around the colonial streets of Bogota, Columbia.
Today we arrived in New York. (We are writing this on a bus from New York City to Washington, DC.)
As we catch our collective breath from a rapid change in context (it took almost 15 months to go the opposite direction), we thought it might make sense to bring you up to speed as to what’s going on. After all, some of you might be wondering: “Is this the end?”
For better or for worse (depends on your point of view), our journey continues. The reason for our six-week interlude spread across Washington DC, Asheville, Scranton, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco: to visit family, re-connect with friends, attend a conference and re-up our gear. We are certain a few other tasks and venues will reveal themselves along the way.
We are also taking the opportunity to share our journey with friends, readers and community in our hometowns, in the flesh. We’ll be delivering a few slideshow presentations that feature some select images, tales of inspiring people, and lessons we’ve learned about ourselves and the world through our shared experience. More importantly, we are looking forward to meeting some of our readers and members of our online community in person.
Upcoming Events
If you live near one of the locations below, we hope you can come out. We’d love to see you.
Washington, DC
When: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 — 6:30PM
Where: Recessions bar (1823 L Street NW, Washington DC)
The Scoop: Happy hour begins at 5:30PM . We will begin speaking at 6:30PM. A big thanks to the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Washington, DC (and especially Kristina) for their help in organizing this event.
Asheville, North Carolina
When: Thursday, May 27, 2010 — 7:00PM
Where: Black Mountain Presbyterian Church, 117 Montreat Road, Black Mountain (just outside Asheville)
The Scoop: This is the church Audrey’s father and grandparents attend; they have kindly offered use of their facilities for the event. Our presentation will take place in the community hall.
Scranton, Pennsylvania
When: Thursday, June 10, 2010 — 7:00PM
Where: Anthology Books, 515 Center St., 2nd Floor
The Scoop: We bring our story to Dan’s hometown. A big thanks to Andrea Talarico for organizing this event.
New York City
Dates: Saturday and Sunday, June 26-27
Location: Travel Blog Exchange, TBEX ’10
The Scoop: We look forward to meeting in person some of the travel blogging personalities we’ve come to know online. If you are headed to TBEX, please let us know!
If other events arise, we’ll post them here and announce them on Twitter and our Facebook page.
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Writing and Travel to Come — Argentina, Uruguay, Chile
Although we are in the United States at the moment, we will continue to write and share images, particularly those from our most recent travels in Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile. The last two months have been rewarding and chock-full of memorable experiences. We look forward to sharing these with you in the coming weeks in an effort to do it all justice.
May 14th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
When will you guys be in LA? I am headed there in a week-ish and will be in Cali until TBEX. Would love to meet up for a coffee and stories if you’ll be there for a bit!
May 14th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
I am sure that on your overland travels across the States to the west coast, you will be making a short stop in Southwest Montana to visit your old friends. Just sayin’.
May 14th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Just to add to the SW Montana allure…I’m sure we could get you a speaking gig somewhere. Paid? I don’t know, but we would pay you in soft beds and nice food.
May 14th, 2010 at 4:48 pm
I am so sad that we aren’t going to be able to see y’all in DC b/c we get there the day after you give the presentation.
Hopefully, we’ll meet you somewhere in the world.
May 14th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Welcome (sort of) home! I can’t believe your epic journey is (sort of) over…
I’m thrilled that I’ll finally be meeting you at TBEX; channeling the UM lifestyle, I’ll be NYC-bound on the heels of a 9-day trip in western Costa Rica! Then, I hope to show you around in L.A. when you finally make it here.
For now, say hello to D.C. (my hometown) and I’ll look forward to reading about Uruguay…
May 14th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
I like the Scranton leg of this journey! Can’t wait to see you guys!
May 15th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Will a video of one of these speaking engagements be available? BTW, we are in Vietnam in 7 days; will be going to Quan An Ngon as per your suggestion. Glad we are not in Bangkok. . .
May 15th, 2010 at 11:45 am
Thrilled to have made the pleasure of your ziplining acquaintance, and wish you well on your US journey. See you in New York! I’ve got some people around Black Mountain, and will spread the word, not that you’ll have any trouble filling the place!
May 15th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
@Shannon: It looks like our times in LA are flipflopped! We’ll be going there right after TBEX. Hopefully we’ll have time to get that coffee in NYC around TBEX. When will you be arriving in NYC?
@Chip & Nicole: If we were traveling overland, we would definitely stop in Montana!! We’ve never been and it’s been way too long since we’ve seen you both. Would be fun to speak there, too. Unfortunately, we’re flying west this time so it won’t work out. Hopefully, next trip to the States.
@Akila: Oh, too bad on the timing!! The world is a small place, so hopefully our paths will cross again somewhere else.
@Melanie: I had forgotten you were from DC! We’re very glad to finally meet you! We’ll be in LA for a few days after TBEX, so would be fun to hang out there as well.
Sometimes it feels like we’ve been on the road for a long time, and other times it feels like there’s so much more to explore. We’re working on finding new projects now, so hopefully we’ll be in Africa & Middle East starting this fall.
@Zoe: And you can add Ithaca to the end of the Scranton part. We’re looking forward to see you all as well!
@Bill: We’re not sure how the light will be, but we will try to get someone to film one (or more) of the presentations. If it looks and sounds OK, we’ll upload it to the site.
Hope you enjoy Quan An Ngon – we had several good meals at both locations (Hanoi and Saigon). Hope Bangkok’s unrest will soon be over.
@Eileen: I didn’t know you had a Black Mountain connection! My grandparents have lived there for moons, so it feels like one of our “homes” at this point. Thanks so much for passing on this information to your friends there. See you in New York next month!
May 16th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
I look forward to possibly meeting you both in NYC..I’m back in the US myself and at the moment, I don’t know exactly how long I’ll be here before the next adventure. But I’ll be in NYC at some point…
Enjoy the re-grouping and all of the visits with your family and friends!
May 17th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
Sweet! Looking forward to seeing you guys in June!
May 17th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
@Earl: Really hope our paths will cross in NYC before you take off on your next adventure. We’ll be arriving a couple days before TBEX and leaving the Monday afterwards – let me know how that works with your schedule!
@Lola: Look forward to meeting you in person in June as well!
May 17th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
That’s excellent to know and as soon as I figure out my plans I’ll be in touch! I’m going to try and work it out as best I can so that I’ll still be around at the end of June. It would be an absolute highlight to meet you both right before my next adventure!
May 18th, 2010 at 11:34 pm
TBEX is shaping up to be full of great connections and just a good ol’ time.
Sorry to miss it! Alas, it’s time to get my journey jump started. Good luck on all your speaking engagements. I’m curious what kind of live response you’ll receive.
May 19th, 2010 at 8:57 am
@Earl: I know how finalizing plans can get gnarly, but hope it works out to meet in NYC next month!
@Nomadic Chick: When you’re out on the road, I don’t think you’ll be missing TBEX one bit! We had the first of our speaking engagements last night to a good crowd and it went pretty well. It was really great to meet people I’ve “known” online through Twitter/blogs and also catch up with old friends. We’re looking forward to the remaining talks!
May 20th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
Sounds unlikely that you’ll pass through Boise, but if you do you’ve got a place to stay!
May 20th, 2010 at 9:36 pm
Darn! You’ll be in NC, when I’m in Wyoming. I’d have loved to attend your event. Maybe next time… Hope you enjoy your time back in the States.
May 20th, 2010 at 11:43 pm
@Alonna: Boise isn’t on the itinerary this time around, but we do hope to do a cross-country road trip at some point in the future! I’d love to take you up on your offer – Boise is an unknown place to me.
@Theresa: Oh, too bad the timing didn’t work out better! It would have been really great to meet you. We’re having a good time in the States so far – it’s been so nice to see family and friends in person! Have fun in Wyoming!
May 21st, 2010 at 12:38 pm
Oh no, why aren’t you coming to Portland?
May 21st, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Fantastic! Have a great run with the slideshow this summer and see you at the TBEX! We won’t be there until the Sunday, but we will be sure to keep an eye out for ya!
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:00 pm
@Jess: Not enough time this go around in the States to hit everywhere, unfortunately! But, we don’t know Portland at all so we’d like to explore on a future visit. Our visit to the West Coast (LA and San Francisco) is to visit friends and also to renew Dan’s driver’s license. He can’t renew anymore by mail/internet, so he has to show up in person this time around.
@Dave and Deb: Glad we’ll have a chance to see you at TBEX this summer! Safe travels in Europe!
June 9th, 2010 at 9:10 am
I had no idea you were from Scranton! Me too.
I went to the U for one semester, and finished up my coursework as an undergrad at Wilkes.
Actually wondering if Andrea Talarico might be related to Donna Talarico, who’s a blogger and social media strategist out of Scranton–also someone I went to school with for PR.
I’m based out of Philly right now, and really wish I could make it up to Scranton tomorrow night to meet you guys; however, myself, Colin Wright from Exile Lifestyle and Andi Norris from Instigationology will be headed out on our Status Quo Smackdown Roadtrip 2010–a tour across the US to promote entrepreneurialism, world travel & unconventional thinking–and we’re having our launch party in NYC on June 24th. Maybe we’ll catch you up that way! I see that you have an event a day or two later.
Anyway, rock on, Scranton!
June 15th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
Sadly I’ll be missing your speaking engagement in Scranton by five days. Please post if you ever make it down into Florida near Tampa or Orlando.
June 16th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
@Ash: It really is a small world and we find Scranton connections everywhere! I asked Andrea about Donna and it turns out they aren’t related, but do know each other. If you don’t know Anthology Books, you should check it out next time you visit – it’s a really nice space and Andrea is doing a great job organizing community and cultural events there.
We hope to meet up with you in NYC on June 24th. Keep us posted on the details of your shindig!
@Kristen: Too bad on the timing for the Scranton visit! We won’t make it down to Florida during this visit, but we may in future US visits since Dan’s mother lives outside of Orlando. We’ll be sure to post something here and let you know.
January 14th, 2011 at 2:45 am
Looks like a great trip and it is really nice to share your adventures later on, right? You inspire me in a way to follow my dream of traveling the world. I hope I can be able to open myself up to everything you have experienced and make the most of it. Thank you.
January 16th, 2011 at 9:59 am
@Alicia: It’s satisfying not only to share the adventures, but more importantly, what we learned on and through them. Glad we could be of inspiration.