Welcome!
We’re Melissa and Chris
In 2008, we embraced our dream of being vagabonds and began our wandering life. This website is a noncommercial labor of love. It records our impressions of the places we visit in words and photos—to inspire fellow travelers and to open a window on the world for loved ones at home.
About Us
We’ve been partners in life and travel since 2003. We lived for many years near Washington, D.C., working as editors but longing to travel for more than our few weeks of annual vacation.
In 2008, we sold our house and most of our possessions, quit our jobs, and set off to see the world. For the next year and a half, we traveled around Western Europe and Central America.
After a five-year stay back in Washington, we resumed our travels in 2014 as full-time vagabonds, house sitters, and freelance editors working from the road. Since then we’ve explored Southeast Asia, New Zealand, parts of South America, and new places in Europe and North America.
Melissa is the photographer and web designer of the pair. This site and almost all of its pictures are her creations. Chris is Melissa’s photo editor and the author of virtually all of the posts on this site.
More About Chris
Chris Howlett grew up in Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. After earning degrees in environmental studies and ancient Greek, she (naturally?) became a journalist, working for several newspapers and for a magazine about African rural development.
For the past three decades, Chris has worked as an editor at the U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO), helping government economists write in regular English so other people can understand them.
Chris is happiest when traveling, visiting museums, hiking in beautiful places, watching wildlife, doing puzzles, reading, singing, and savoring good food. In her spare time, she takes part in 18th-century historical reenactments.
More About Melissa
Born and raised near Cincinnati, Ohio, Melissa Kuhnell has university degrees in biology, linguistics, and science journalism, which makes her perfectly qualified to interview bilingual bacteria.
For the past 15 years, she has been working as a freelance editor, focusing on scientific papers written by non-native English speakers. She also sells her travel photographs through the Robert Harding agency in the United Kingdom.
Melissa loves to sketch, paint, cook, take photos, snorkel, read, and lounge in hammocks. Her favorite places include snow-topped mountains, coral reefs, and anywhere with abundant markets full of fresh produce.
Capturing the World Through Art
Melissa’s Photography & Urban Sketching
There are so many ways to see the world. For nearly 20 years, I’ve been striving to express my experiences through the lens of my camera. Eventually, I also began to experiment with drawing and watercolor.
When I stumbled upon the Penang, Malaysia, chapter of Urban Sketchers in 2016, I was introduced to a worldwide community of fellow artists who shared my loved of on-location sketching of the places we live and travel.
I was hooked and try to sketch as often as possible on our trips and meet up with local Urban Sketchers chapters whenever I can!
When we’re not traveling …
When we’re not traveling, we live with our wonderful chosen family in Herndon, Virginia.
. . . we live with our wonderful chosen family in Herndon, Virginia.
AJ and Nick Ferraro and their daughters, Francesca and Naomi, provide us with a warm family environment and a home base when we’re not traveling. We feel like we have the best of both worlds: spending half our time exploring the globe and the other half enjoying domestic life with our friends and our dear surrogate children.
