The Chamborres Expedition

We both caught the travel bug early in life.  No, not the bug you get while traveling that makes you hug the toilet for days on end…although we’ve had that too…the travel bug that creates an insatiable feeling of needing to go new places, see new things, experience new cultures, meet new people, try new food.  After studying abroad during college (Mike in Chile and Amy in Denmark), we both realized the need to see the world.  And thus a dream was born, to travel the world for an extended period of time.  Setting a goal is easy enough, but sticking with it can be a challenge.  How do you stay motivated to reach your dreams?

We created a picture wall in our living room to remind us of our love for travel and keep us motivated to reaching our goal of traveling the world.  Well, ok, let’s be real, the picture wall really evolved because we needed a cheap way to decorate the stark white walls in our apartment.  Not bad, huh?

Our Picture Wall

In addition to being a fun piece of art and conversation piece, the picture wall truly has served as a motivator for our travels.  We can look at a photo of one of our past trips and remember the people we met, the lessons we learned, the new thing or food we tried.  All 26 of these photos represent something different, but together they make up the story of how The Chamborres Expedition was born.

Here are a few stories of the photos on our picture wall…We can’t even imagine the pictures and tales we’ll have a year from now.

Billy @ the Blue Hole, St. Ann, Jamaica

During our honeymoon in Jamaica, we met an awesome rasta named Billy who showed us around for a day.  The Blue Hole was one of our many stops that day.  Good people. Rope swinging into beautiful water. Everyting irie.

Von Frelser Kirke, Copenhagen, Denmark

We went to Denmark in June 2011 for Amy’s host parents’ silver anniversary party.  We highly recommend attending such an event if you have the opportunity – the Danes know how to party!  While sightseeing in Copenhagen, we climbed to the top of Von Frelser Kirke, overcoming our uneasiness with heights to see the amazing views of Copenhagen and the Øresund Bridge to Sweden.

Hot Air Balloon, Napa, California

While Mike was living in San Jose, CA for a year in 2008, we took a week long vacation to Sonoma/Napa, where we actually ended up getting engaged:)  We were feeling a little queasy on the drive to the hot air balloon launch site from celebrating a little too much the night before, but once we were in the air, all other feelings subsided and we were left in awe.  What a peaceful and mesmerizing sport.

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Do you like your birthday?

Some people really dislike the idea of growing older; others treat their birthday like it’s a world-wide holiday.  Either way the fact remains that another year has gone by.   We fall somewhere in the middle, but November is always a fun month for us because we both get to celebrate our birthdays and then head right into the holiday season.  But this year, having our “special days” amidst the final stages of our pre-trip preparations definitely brought a unique feeling.

We have so much going on that our upcoming trip has found its way into every part of our life.  Instead of spending on birthday gifts and big parties, we limited gifts to gear needed for the trip and had small dinners with friends.  We still had a great time, but it’s ironic because a major goal of our trip is to live in the moment. Right now we seem to be living very much in the future.  This brings us back to the fact that every birthday simply marks another year, giving you the chance to reflect upon the last year of your life and ask yourself, “what am I going to do with the year in front of me?”

However you answer that question when your birthday comes around, we hope the answer is doing something that makes you happy with people you really love.

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With only a month left in Denver, there is a lot going through our heads, a lot of anticipation, and a ton of excitement!  Each of us have different feelings about our impending trip around the world, different apprehensions, various things that we’re looking forward to, so here is a taste of what is going on in the brains of Mike and Amy. We wrote them separately so you will be just as surprised to read them as we were each others.

Amy

Most looking forward to…

• Doing something I’ve never done
• Asia
• Trying new foods, even if they are weird and freaky
• Spending a whole entire year with Mike!

Most anxious about….

• No homebase to call my own
• Not seeing the family for a year
• Leaving my hairdryer behind

Luxury items that I’m going to sneak in my pack…

• A pair of jeans
• Qtips
• An eyelash curler

Mike

What am I most excited about? Almost a ridiculous question considering the journey in front of us, but I’ll give it a shot….

• Istanbul, where East meets West.
• Spain (I love all things pig) and Spain is the homeland.
• South Asian beach, stoked for some intense relaxation
• Returning to Chile where I studied abroad in 2005

I couldn’t be more excited for this trip, but there are for sure a few anxieties:

• I  only speak 2 languages.  There are hundreds if not thousands spoken in this world.
• There might be such a thing as too much free time.  Filling it on a budget could be a challenge.
• Safety is always a concern when exploring the unknown.

Tourist Traps I Definitely Want to Fall Into:

• The Great Wall of China
• Iguazu Falls
• The Great Barrier Reef

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