minimalism

Microadventures

~ Kat ~ 2 Comments

Lately, I’ve been contemplating ways to integrate adventure into our everyday lives.  It has been sixteen months since we have returned from our year away and I am realising how important it is to me to explore, discover, learn and grow.  At the same time, I really appreciate the stability of our life here in Ptown.  
More and more, we are hearing about and discovering new ways to build adventure into our lives without having to wait for the next trip overseas.  A few months ago I came across the idea of microadventures, coined by Alaistair Humphreys. 
The idea is also referenced by many others, including Annie Raser-Rowland who has written a book called Frugal Hedonism.  I haven’t read the book yet, but I heard an interview with Annie on The Slow Home Podcast by Brooke McAlary just this week, which was full of aha moments for me.
Basically, the premise behind all of this is that adventure is a state of mind.  We are conditioned to believe we need to seek what is new and novel, and we are frequently told that the way to get there is by spending, consuming and escaping our everyday lives.
But what if we could feel that way simply by taking a moment, looking around, being present and appreciating the opportunities we have to be adventurous everyday.
Mr B and I have had a crazy few months – busy during our work days and on the weekends too.  This is something that would usually send me spinning and spiralling and into “I’m exhausted” thoughts.  But for some reason, I have found this busy period far more manageable that I have in the past.  I think it is because I am seeing some of the activities we have been doing differently.  I have been embracing these activities as opportunities for “microadventures” – mini breaks full of discovery, fun and joy. 
A microadventure can be anything that breaks the circuit of your routine – it could be taking an extra day off and going camping for the weekend, finding a new local hike, choosing a different restaurant for a weekend breakfast or even driving a different way to work and stopping somewhere for a coffee. 
We have been down south a few weekends in the last couple of months and I have posted a few pics below.  There’s nothing super crazy special about this stuff. Just quiet time with friends and loved ones, enjoying the beautiful landscape in WA.  Now that’s my kind of adventure. 

​

​​​

What day is today?

~ Kat ~ Leave a comment

Since my last post we have visited San Diego, Santa Monica, Las Vegas and Brooklyn. We are in Manhattan at the moment and leave for Boston tomorrow.

We have hit the half way mark of our trip, which is totally crazy. The time we have been away has flown and gone slowly at the same time. We have found that we are doing so many exciting things and making so many decisions each day that we are feeling like we need a weekend of doing nothing. Today we headed to the New York Library for some much needed quiet time. We spent three hours there and both left feeling recharged.

We are both learning so much as we travel – about ourselves, our relationship and the world. It has been awesome. It has also made us appreciate so many things about home.

There have been so many highlights from the last few weeks – visiting San Clemente and having a vegan feast as we drove from San Diego to Santa Monica, spending quality time with our friends from Australia in Las Vegas, Cirque du Soleil “O” at Bellagio, the incredible Wanderlust Festival in Brooklyn, Sleep No More at The McKittrick Hotel, seeing Matilda on Broadway and of course – Daybreaker in Manhattan. 

Daybreaker is an event like no other. On a Wednesday morning from 6am until 9am, New York locals turn up to a nightclub in their best gym get up to have a dance party before work. We stumbled upon the event after I read about the founder in the Wanderlust journal. We booked our tickets to Daybreaker the day before. 

In concept it sounds completely crazy, but it is one of the best events we have been to. We arrived, bleary eyed at 6:45am and entered the darkened club at 7:00am. We were greeted by music, lights, friendly faces, coffee, protein shakes and breakfast snacks (as well as a fully stocked schwag station sponsored by Six:02 and Puma). 

The DJs played for two hours (dem feelz!), accompanied by an MC and a live brass quintet. The dance floor was packed for the whole time we were there. Towards the end of the event, we were encouraged to welcome the day in and the club’s blinds were raised. There was an incredible feeling in the room – people dancing, smiling, laughing and hugging. It was an awesome way go out to a nightclub without having a late night, meet some new people and get 10,000 steps in before breakfast. Perfection. We will definitely go again in another city.

In minimalism news, I bought a new suitcase in Vegas which has helped me out a lot. It is the same size (possibly smaller) and a lot more sturdy. If I had a dollar for the number of times we have said to each other “imagine if we had large suitcases” as we have travelled on planes, buses and the New York subway, I would have enough money to buy another suitcase. Ha. The small suitcases have seriously helped us get around easily and avoid any back injuries. 

Here are some pics from our last few destinations…

   
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
 

Soft grunge love rap

~ Kat ~ Leave a comment

We left Portland on Wednesday and flew to Colorado.

We spent five days in Denver, based out of Capitol Hill which was perfect for us. We wandered through the city, checked out the Money Museum and stumbled on the University’s open day.

Another highlight was seeing The Book of Mormon Musical at The Ellie Theatre. We entered a lottery for $25 tickets but didn’t win the grand prize. We were very happy to be offered A reserve tickets for $45! We also met some lovely local college students in the line who gave us a few tips on Denver.

On our last day in town we rented bikes and ventured out to Cherry Creek. Despite a thunderstorm half way through the day, it was a great day out.


  
  
  
  
  
  

We caught a bus from Denver to Boulder a few days ago. Boulder has been awesome – our fave US city so far. Being a college town, it has a young vibe about it. School went back this week so there is a lot happening around the town. We are also staying right near the colleges – it is really easy to imagine ourselves in a teen movie 😂

Today we explored the Flatirons and I am so stoked to say I hiked to the top of the first and second Flatiron and to the base of three and four. This was THE most challenging hike we have done so far on our trip. Yay!


  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
Tomorrow we venture to Los Angeles for a few days. We are looking forward to catching up with a few friends whilst we are there.

A note on our carry on packing: we are still going strong! We are getting better each day we repack our cases. It has made us both realise how much of our travelling involves shopping – when you don’t have the ‘luxury’ of space in your case, every purchase has to replace something else. So we have needed to ask ourselves whether something new will add value or cause us more trouble than it is worth. It has meant our spending has mostly been on food and experiences, which is pretty cool.

In for the long haul

~ Kat ~ Leave a comment

The flight over was long. Perth to Sydney was far more hectic than Sydney to Vancouver. The flight from Perth was completely full and there were SO MANY sick people! It was a tiny plane and we were flying the red-eye, which is never enjoyable. Anyway, in the scheme of things it wasn’t so bad.

Air Canada took us from Sydney to Vancouver and we were so impressed with their service. We were seated separately from each other initially and when we arrived in Sydney they were happy to reseat us together – we were even moved closer to the front of the plane, which was awesome. After the Perth to Sydney flight, the plane seemed luxurious. Although I was seated in the middle of Courtney and another lady (shout out to Sharon, we hope you’re having an amazing time in Alaska!), I felt like I had so much room to move around and stretch. The air temperature was comfortable and the flight crew were super helpful and friendly. The food was good too, although we didn’t eat all of it. We both opted for special meals (vego is always a better option) and packed carrots, celery, fruit, nuts, protein bars and our own tea bags so we weren’t at the mercy of the in flight catering. It is definitely worth doing as you feel SO much better afterwards! I also tried the 1Above drink: although I can’t 100% say it was because of the drink, I stayed a lot more hydrated during the flight and I experienced A LOT less swelling.

As for only having carry on – we were stoked when we were able to get off the flight in Vancouver and walk straight out of the airport. We got some weird looks from customs in Canada when we said we were travelling for four months and she saw how much stuff we brought with us.  But other than that, it was great.

Send us packing: an update on our minimalist holiday packing list

~ Kat ~ Leave a comment

Our cases 

The packing (and unpacking, and repacking) started about three weeks before we left Perth. I managed to get everything to fit into the Osprey bag, but I found that I had too much stuff to fit into the bag comfortably. I decided instead to bring a normal carry on case with wheels – in fact it is an el cheapo one that I bought in London last year because I had bought too much stuff whilst we were there.

I read a few blogs on minimalist travel to understand the best items to pack. One of the best tips I found was to make sure everything you pack is in one colour theme (so everything matches and can be layered) and to opt for styles that are timeless and suit your personality, rather than ‘on trend’. With this in mind, I packed:

  • Two cotton dresses
  • Five sleeveless tops
  • Three button shirts/blouses
  • Two long sleeve ‘warm’ layers
  • One wool jumper
  • One ‘shell’ jacket
  • One exercise jacket
  • One pair of jeans
  • One pair of black pants
  • One pair of shorts
  • Two pairs of leggings (one ¾ and one full length)
  • Sneakers
  • Canvas slip on shoes
  • Bathers
  • Underwear & socks

This (along with my other travel items) weighed in at 10kgs total all up, including the case.

We bought a whole bunch of travel space bags to help us fit everything in (shout out to Lisa for suggesting them) – I ended up bringing them with me but not using them for the flight here, as everything fitted into the case pretty comfortably. They will definitely come in handy.

Buying our suitcases

~ Kat ~ Leave a comment

We are almost one month away from our departure date, which is very exciting!

Last week we purchased our carry on cases.  We have opted for the Osprey Meridian 22″/60L case.

The reason we opted for this case is because we wanted something that would convert from a wheeled option to a backpack option – for those times when a backpack is more suitable (we are doing ground as well as air travel).

We are yet to receive our cases but we both look forward to seeing how our 15 clothing items fit into the case… stay tuned.