


Everything you need to know about house sitting
Most people leave their homes empty while they travel, while also renting a place to stay at their destination. Paying for housing twice is part of what makes traveling so expensive (and why home swaps are so popular). Traveling gets even more expensive if you have...
Gated communities and the legacy of the kollektivhus
I grew up as the kind of person who scoffed at country clubs and gated communities. Scoffing is actually a generously polite description of my feelings on the matter. I viewed the type of people who are members of country clubs as part of the problem. When I thought...
Destination resolutions
People make a lot of fuss about New Years resolutions, but as a traveler, I enter each temporary home with a new resolution. The world is eager to remind me that I can’t escape myself by traveling, but they seem to have little understanding of just how much a...
A year of house sitting
People keep asking me what the heck I’m doing with my life. Here’s what I’ve been up to in a year of house sitting.

Do you share your parents (home) values?
The earlier this summer I chatted with Nora, of the Professional Hobo, about how my nomadic lifestyle was inspired by my parents. While most of my values come directly from my parents, there are a few areas where my views are the exact opposite of theirs. I’m...
You don’t need to quit your job to travel
And you probably shouldn’t. Every few days someone is breathless with excitement to tell me that they’ve quit their job to travel the world. So what now, they ask me. How do they become a pro blogger? Hearing this gets the same reaction as when someone...
Everything you need to know about CouchSurfing
When I decided to go on a solo backpacking trip of Western Europe, I figured I’d CouchSurf for a few nights to take a break from hostels and save a little cash. It didn’t quite work out as planned. Instead, it ended up taking over my life. I ended up CouchSurfing (CS...
My time with Jesus People, USA
My experience with JPUSA (Juhpoozah) started with a search on CouchSurfing. Jane had so many references, wrote a bunch of books, has gone on epic bike trips, and lives in an intentional community. Obviously, I wanted to stay with her. Sure, I may be traveling in my...