Typhoon in Taiwan

​After work today, M and I are off to Taiwan (via Osaka) for two weeks! I cannot claim that my job is stressful enough to need a vacation, but I am certainly excited to get out and explore a new country, eat some yummy food and enjoy experiencing a new culture.  Plus, there is always the added bonus of a new stamp in my passport! ;-) I We are heading straight out of Taipei onto a train to Hualien to explore Tarako Gorge.   The plan was to spend a few days in  Hualien, the rent some bicycles from Giant Bicycles and cycle down the east coast for 2-3 days.  The path seems to be pretty popular, and we are hoping our very basic email to Giant was received and reserved bikes for us!  I guess we will wait and see!  As we both have no Chinese language skills, it should be interesting to see how we do!  

​The weather in Taiwan is usually hot, humid and sunny in summer, except if there is a typhoon.   And lucky us, Typhoon  Saola is headed right for Taiwan and it looks like rain, rain and more rain for the next 3-4 days.  We have booked a room at Sunrise Hostel for the first night and then we are hoping to CouchSurf for the next few nights.  Hopefully the heavy wind and rain wont hold us back for too long and we can enjoy  the sights of Tarako and H​u​alien for a few days.  The we are off for three days of cycling Highway 11 and Highway 9 down the east coast and camping in between. The plan is to spend a night in Taitung and then catch a ferry to Green Island and Lanyu to enjoy the beach, diving and snorkeling! 

​The plan after Green Island is a bit open, so who knows what we will do or where we will go before heading back to Taipei for a few nights at the end of our two weeks.  

Pan-American Planning Excitement!

It was always our plan to spend two-ish years in Japan to save oodles and oodles of money to drive the Americas.  At first, I had a hard time getting Matt on board (with driving, not travelling!) , but now that he is, I feel that we are unstoppable!  The hardest part is really the saving.  We are happy to go where the trail takes us, with basic plans and thoughts about where to go.  But as we have learned in the past, it is easier to get a feel for where you are going once you are there.  So, we are moving slowly forward, thinking about what we have to do, how much money we need to save and how we can possibly earn income while we are travelling.
Saving and Earning Money

Planning for a driving trip across North, Central and South America is no small feat.  We have to think about buying and customizing a truck and insuring it. We also must think about visa fees, shipping the car, tolls, gas, etc.  We have estimated, based on amazing blogs such as www.drivetheamericas.com and www.homeonethehighway.com, that we will need about $1500 a month.  That's if we cant earn while we travel, which I am earnestly trying to figure out.  We have also been approached with another way to support our favorite charity and fund our travels, but more to come on that soon!


Working while we go

Since I have recently finished with my masters, I have realized that I should probably put it to good use.  I have been looking for online teaching jobs through places like www.higheredjobs.com and www.tefl.com but there are plenty of people like me who want to sit on their behind and earn loads of money.  So I am searching for other options for us to earn money while we go.  I know there isn't much money (if any) in blogging, so we are thinking of setting up an online business of some kind to keep us running.  In addition to blogging about our adventures, of course!  I have vowed to myself to keep this page running as well as setting up a professional page for our trip, but we are experiencing a bit of writers block on a good name for our site.  So, if I start to slack on posts, do let me know.  Again,　if anyone can think of clever or innovative ways for us to earn money while we travel, all thoughts and ideas are welcome! 

Thanks! 

K