Hello World! (Here is what we are up to...)

If Netflix and Chill were an Olympic sport, it would be a pretty safe bet that Bing and I would be gold medal contenders.  Our evenings consist mainly of coming home from work, getting in to our sweats and letting Skeeter and Jameson out of the crate they’ve been stuck in for most of the day. We have to crate them, or else who knows what kind of mess we would come home to, they are definitely not the most disciplined dogs.

I mean look at them, how could anyone yell at them and actually mean it?  We feel bad about doing it, and I often think about how bad it must suck for the dogs to be stuck in a crate for most of the day, but then also think about how bad it sucks for us humans to be stuck in a metaphorical crate for most of the day (our jobs).

Anyways, I digress. After a little walk to let the dogs stretch out and relieve themselves, it’s back to the apartment to figure out what’s for dinner and flipping on whatever series we are binging that evening (most recently we re-watched the entire series of Game of Thrones in preparation for season 8).  After several episodes, it’s off to bed we go, where we put on more TV until we fall asleep. Usually The Office or How I Met Your Mother. Seriously, we have seen each one of these series far more times than we will admit.

Our weekends tend to be a bit more exciting, usually consisting of shopping, dinners and drinks at new spots around town, hanging with friends and family, or attending some sort of event or party.  Weekends are actually pretty busy for the most part, for us humans at least. If we have to leave the dogs behind, it’s in to the crate they go. I know, it sucks.

So, all of that brings us here...

to why we have decided to give this travel blog thing a shot.  We want to get out of our comfort zones and start exploring. We want Skeeter and Jameson to see that there is much more than just walks around our block, their crate and cuddling up on the couch while we stare at the box with moving pictures.  I also have an intense case of FOMO, so have a strong urge to see and experience everything.

This all kicked off back in early February when we sold our house in the burbs after just two and a half years of living there.  We were at a point in life where we had nothing on our radar. We are both well in to our careers, we had no wedding to plan, no big purchase to worry about, no kids on the way and we felt stuck in that mundane, daily routine mentioned above. We decided we needed a change.  So, the plan was in motion to sell our house in the burbs and move downtown to make life a bit more exciting.

We made out pretty decent with the sell of the house and I wanted to use that money + some/most of our savings to quit our jobs and travel to 12 states over 12 months; spending one month in each state and blogging about the experience. I put together a full on PowerPoint presentation and pitched it to Bing (email us and I’ll send you the presentation, I’m very proud of it).  It wasn’t immediately shot down, which surprised me, and Bing actually wrestled around with the idea for a few days. But eventually, she decided that it would be too irresponsible and that the money from the house would be better used paying off some debt and adding to our savings (she is clearly the adult in this relationship - see the “Meet Us” section).

Instead of quitting our jobs, buying a used van, throwing a queen size mattress in the back and setting off on a year long road trip, we opted to fill up a U-haul, travel 30 minutes south and rent an apartment in the heart of downtown Indianapolis.  This was a big change for us, we went from a 3,600 sq ft home in the burbs, surrounded by nothing but other homes and neighbors giving us the occasional neighborly wave while doing their obligatory yard work to an 1,100 sq ft apartment in the middle of the city surrounded by young professionals, hipsters and the homeless. It’s quite amazing how in just 25 miles, you can be in essentially an entirely different world.

And thus, sparked our idea of traveling around our own backyard.  What else is out there? What else is going on just 50, 150 or 300 miles down the road?

Since quitting our jobs and traveling as digital nomads is not in the cards for us right now (someday maybe) we are starting small, looking for 8-10 unique spots in or around Indiana to visit over the weekends throughout the summer (with a few surprise, international trips in the works as well, so you’ll definitely want to stay tuned for those).  For the local travel, we are hoping to bring Skeeter and Jameson along when accommodations allow.

We are looking for new and unique experiences.  Seeking what makes each town, small and big alike, one of a kind. We want to meet locals, drink at their favorite coffee spots and townie bars, eat their unique takes on food, visit their mom and pop shops, and take away a little something special from each place we visit.

Our first weekend trip is booked and we are extremely excited to get this new, continued adventure underway.

Thanks for reading our innagural post, and we hope you will follow along in our journey.  We are always open to suggestions on places to visit and what we should do when we visit. If we happen to be in your town, hit us up via the social channels and let us know the must do’s and see’s or meet us for a drink and share some history of your town.  Or, if you see us and two barking chihuahuas wandering about and disturbing your peace, please pardon our travel.

Cheers,

Spike, Bing, Skeeter and Jameson