Two Women Wandering the World
I (Melissa) realized on this trip that it has been a whopping 22 years since I first visited France, on the first of my two solo backpacking trips around Europe. From a traveler’s perspective, a lot has changed in France since then. As in most places, those changes are more evident in cities than in … Read more
As someone who’s trying to see the world, I was initially a bit sheepish about coming back to France for the second autumn in a row. There are so many countries I haven’t visited yet! But Melissa and I keep seeing openings for housesits in France that are too good not to apply for. And … Read more
When we were trying to figure out where to go on Vancouver Island, we read dozens of websites and travel blogs with suggestions. This 280-mile-long island has so many interesting-sounding places that it can be hard to narrow them down. In case it helps you plan your own visit, here are the places we liked … Read more
One of my favorite authors is Susan Vreeland, who wrote historical fiction that focused on actual artists. Years ago, Melissa and I both read one of her books, The Forest Lover, about a painter from British Columbia, Canada, named Emily Carr. Carr studied in Europe in the early 1900s, learned about impressionism, and then returned … Read more
Twice last week we took tours to see some of Vancouver Island’s most emblematic creatures in the wild. Both tours were on small zodiac boats, which gave us a welcome chance to get out on the water we’d been seeing while driving around the island. The first tour was a sunset whale-watching trip with Ocean … Read more
Victoria, British Columbia, the site of our second housesit this summer, is a 19th-century port city at the southeastern tip of Vancouver Island. Victoria’s nickname is the Garden City, and flowers and trees do seem to grow well here. In the summer, yards and planters and hanging baskets all around the downtown and the harbor … Read more
Last year, we spent the summer housesitting in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. This summer, our first housesit took us even farther north and west—to Point Roberts, an improbable 5-square-mile piece of Washington State at the western end of the U.S. border with Canada. Point Roberts feels like the answer to a trivia question: “What part … Read more
(Melissa takes the pen on this post) Everyone I’ve talked to about Mexico City has raved about it. Random travelers we meet recommend it. Everyone online—tourists, digital nomads like us, and the huge influx of people working remotely because of covid—apparently adores the place. Sure, it’s a bit loud, they say, but the food is … Read more
Puerto Escondido was very nearly another Cancun. In the 1960s, the Mexican government was eager to boost mass tourism by finding places that could become the next Acapulco. The government sent out officials to scour the country’s coasts and recommend beaches that seemed ripe for resort development. They suggested several places, including Cancun on the … Read more
Barcelona, a city of 2 million people on the northeast coast of Spain, is one of the most visited cities in Europe. In 2019, it received 12 million tourists, many of them day-trippers off cruise ships or European long-weekend travelers seeking sun, sandy beaches, and late-night partying. This year, thanks to Covid-related restrictions on cruise … Read more
Before we leave our housesit in St. Racho tomorrow, I just want to say how much I’ve fallen in love with this little out-of- the-way corner of France. I love the landscape of forested hills and green fields dotted with big white beef cattle and old stone farmhouses. The fortified houses and chateaus. The little … Read more
The big stone farmhouse we’re looking after in rural France may be the oldest building we’ve ever lived in. The earliest part, originally a combination of living spaces and barn, dates back to the 1500s. That’s according to the owners, a British couple who have lived here for many years. They delighted in informing us … Read more