Where in the World are Travis and Trisha?

Friday: From Trisha…

You may be wondering what our future plans are now that we’ve left Spain and have traveled some of its surrounding countries. Well, the last 3 days we have been hanging out in London, resting and gathering our bearings a little as we prepared to leave the European Union. Why do we need to leave the EU? Well, because we are American citizens, we cannot stay in the EU as tourists for over a period of 90 days. Not only that, but once you’ve been in the EU for 90 days, you must exit and stay out of the EU for 90 more days before returning. So going to Africa and coming back to Europe doesn’t make it okay to start the 90 days and stay again… these days are marked on our passports and must be counted according to the laws (As to how strictly they adhere to these laws, we aren’t sure. Everything I’ve read insists that they’re followed stringently, but some of the ‘expat’ people we’ve met in Europe have lived here for years without being deported). This system is different of course if you have a work visa, a student visa, a close relative in the EU, or if you are married to someone from the EU. Before we left for Europe, we did all the research and tried a variety of ways to find jobs or take enough classes to qualify for a visa. However, we discovered this is almost an impossible process for a young couple like us, so we switched up our plans and decided this would be a year with multiple stops all over the world, rather than just in Europe.

So, where does this leave us? Where are we traveling to next? Well, several more factors influenced our decision. Number one: the weather. Europe is getting colder by the day… London was dreary, damp and very chilly (but isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?). We had hoped to discover some countries in Eastern Europe this year, but those are far too cold for what clothes we have in our bags. We packed knowing we probably wouldn’t be living in a winter climate for long, so our layers of clothing are limited. The other warmer countries like Greece and Italy would be great options, but again, they are in the EU so are not a possibility.

The good thing in making this decision was our second factor: Regardless of where we go, we have to return this year to Europe for our return flight to the U.S. Because we flew to Europe on frequent flyer mile tickets, the ticket requires that our return trip departure be made from the same continent in which we landed. Knowing this, we aren’t too disappointed to be leaving Europe after just 3 months, because we’ll have to return eventually (after 90 days) to fly home. So, hopefully once it’s warmer and “legal,” and if we have money left over based on the volunteering programs and work we do in the next few months, we’ll be able to explore more of Europe after all.

From Trav…

So how did we choose our next destination? In the initial planning of our year, we had specific goals in mind: to improve our Spanish language skills, to live for longer periods of time in one place rather than constant travel, and to work or volunteer wherever we were living. We feel we have accomplished this successfully so far in the last three months. As we began thinking of our destination after Europe, we used these criteria to determine our next journey. The result was not exactly logical as far a cross Atlantic travel was concerned, but we feel will met our criteria. Our choice is Central America, and in particular Nicaragua.

Why did we choose Nicaragua from the other Central American countries, such as Costa Rica? There are four main reasons. First, Nicaragua is praised by many sources as being less touristy, less expensive, and equally beautiful to countries such as Costa Rica. Second, it gives Trisha and I an excellent opportunity to keep working on our Spanish, as there are numerous language schools in Nicaragua. Third, the Nicaraguan people are supposed to be very warm and friendly, and the country itself is considered the safest in all of Central America. And fourth, Nicaragua provides an ideal location to make visits to other Central American countries if we choose to do so.

Our plan is live for the month of December in the town of Granada, Nicaragua, which is about an hour away from the capital, Managua. The town of Granada is the heart of Nicaraguan tourism, with Spanish colonial style buildings and other historic sites throughout the city. Granada is also located next to Lake Nicaragua, which is one of the largest fresh-water lakes in the world. The area is situated next to a volcano and has abundant rainforests and outside activities nearby.

We will be taking Spanish in Granada throughout December with an organization called Casa Xalteva. This organization will also provide us with volunteer opportunities during our stay, which will give us a chance to work with the local population. On top of that, we will be staying with a Nicaraguan family for the first two weeks of our visit (maybe longer if we are enjoying it). Home-stays are common in Granada and Trisha and I will have accommodations along with three meals a day for a very nice price. Casa Xalteva also organizes many excursion trips, as do other organizations within the city. (www.casaxalteva.com)

We will be arriving in Managua on Friday night, after a flight from Houston, Texas (Houston is only a short layover for us from London). Our plan is to stay in Managua on Friday night, and then head out to Granada on Saturday. We will be staying in Granada on Saturday night at a hotel, and should begin our home-stay on Sunday if all works out. Although we are a little nervous not knowing exactly what to expect from this new destination, Nicaragua should be another interesting adventure!

Saturday: Again from Trish…

We had a lucky and surprising change of plans last night. After our 1-hour stop in the USA, we were preparing to board our second flight from Houston to Managua when we heard the flight attendant announce the flight was overbooked and they were looking for 2 volunteers who were willing to be bumped and instead fly to Nicaragua tomorrow morning. Travis and I looked at each other with a questioning, “should we?” and for the first time in both of our traveling memories, we were actually in a place where we had the flexibility in our plans to give up our seats. Being that Trav and I were feeling totally exhausted from our 10-hour flight from London and our whole travel day… our emotions were elevated leading us to feel overly anxious and uncertain about landing in Nicaragua, an unknown and developing country... this seemed like an unusual little gift of grace being offered to us.

The best part of the situation though was the fact that they were also offering us each $300 travel vouchers (hooray, more free travel for us!), first-class tickets for the new flight, and a hotel and food vouchers for the evening. I raced to the counter and was shocked to see that we made it up there in time to be the 1st volunteers. The flight attendant took our information, but said there was still a slight chance the flight might not fill up and they wouldn’t need us after all. So, we kept our expectations low and told ourselves that either plan would be fine for us. But of course inside I think we were both really hoping for the travel vouchers and a bed tonight, sooner rather than later. At the last minute, he told us they wouldn’t need us after all. We were a little disappointed, but dutifully followed him down the alleyway to the door of the plane to board. But, just before we stepped on, he received a call that those last 2 passengers had arrived. Just like that, we were ushered from the plane back up to the gate, the last passengers switched places with us, and they shut the door behind us. Random!

Now we had an unexpected night ahead in the US! Although it was of course an inconvenience for us to wait through the whole 1 ½ hour process of them issuing us our new documents and vouchers, going through customs again (3rd time that day) to release our baggage (which they pulled off the flight for us when we volunteered), shuttling to the hotel, and quickly canceling our Managua hotel reservations, it was totally worth our time being that we would have just been sitting on a plane anyway. Now we’d get a good meal, a good night’s sleep, and more plane tickets to travel around more of Central America. We’d still land in Managua on Saturday afternoon, so instead of staying overnight in the busy city, we’ll just take a bus directly to Granada when we arrive. We felt pretty blessed.

However, I must say it was pretty strange to be in America again after three full months abroad. We weren’t totally looking forward to this little stop over because we’re not quite ready to come back yet to our homeland amidst this year of traveling. In fact, we kind of felt like we were “cheating” a little bit being in our country of origin, even for just a night, because it didn’t feel true to our blog motto “viajando el mundo.” That aside, it’s amazing the things you notice about the USA when you’ve been away from it for a time.

From Travis…

Yes our night in Houston was a little surreal. While eating my burger and fries at the hotel bar with Trisha, I was reminded of those little and big differences between the U.S. and the countries we have visited. Of course we were in Texas. Here are a few things that showed us we weren’t in Europe anymore: Large cars (mostly pick-ups), NBA basketball with commentary in English on the T.V., water glasses with ice, very casually dressed people everywhere, more people with abundant girth, being able to overhear conversations and understand everything, and super friendly service professionals. Although our overnight was short, it was a welcomed break to be in familiar surroundings, if only for a brief time. On to Nicaragua!