I’ve worn them all over the world – while speaking at conventions and book events, touring cities, rambling on ruins, having cocktails and dinners at a fancy resorts, on trains, planes, and buses, volunteering in Africa, eating my way through Italy, taking in theater in NYC…
Now that’s putting them through the true GypsyNester paces and, at the end of it all… CONTINUE READING >>
Bluff Works sent me a couple of pairs of their pants to put them through the GypsyNester travel ringer (I beat the crap outta these pants!). What follows is how it turned out.As always, all opinions are our own.
Use the promo code TFC10 for a 10% discount on your entire purchase at Bluff Works.
I’m a blue jeans kind of guy. When we go gallivanting around the world, the old dungarees always make the trip with me. Seriously, what other pants can you wear for five days straight without washing?
Whether rambling through Mayan ruins in the Yucatan, or on safari in Africa, these lightweight yet durable duds have served me well.
No scrapes or sunburn on the legs, and good looking enough to saunter into a decent establishment for drinks or dinner at the end of the day.
In one three-day span in Mexico, I beat the crap outta these pants!
I wore them while speaking at a convention in Cancun, to cocktails and dinner at a fancy resort, on a hike through the ruins and heat of Chichen Itza, dinner at a funky little joint in Piste, and finished up in colonial Valladolid. All while taking buses to each destination.
Now that’s putting them through the true GypsyNester paces and, at the end of it all, they still looked like I had just put them on.
I always carry lots of stuff on me when we’re traveling, so I love plenty of pockets. These trousers fit everything I need, passport, wallet, phone, and even camera easily.
And I don’t need to worry about the important items, because zippers keep them from falling out while we’re traipsing through the wild and thwart pickpockets when exploring crowded cities.
Recently, Bluffworks asked if I‘d like to try their new Chinos and of course I jumped at the chance.
I haven’t had the opportunity to put them to the test in the far corners of the globe yet, but they were the right combination of comfort and style, with just enough cool factor, for a recent visit to Woodstock, and a night on the town in the Big Apple.
With all of that in their favor, I think that the best thing about both styles is their uncanny ability to come out of the suitcase in great shape.
Believe me, I am not the most precise packer and these babies answer the call wrinkle-free every time I pull them out, even after days of being shoved under shoes, wadded around wine bottles, crammed in amongst crap shop collectables – or whatever else ends up in my bag.
Because we pack the same for a week as we do for a month. For a week I can get by fine, but over a month everything is going to end up getting washed in the sink at some point.
Try that with blue jeans and either you’re packin’, or worse yet, wearin’ wet denim.
I realize that I have been gushing and bragging about my Bluff Works pants, and this sounds like one big commercial, but I really do mean it. There has not been a single time that I have packed my suitcase since I got them that they were not inside.
That puts them right up there with my toothbrush in the must-have department!
Put on your big boy pants too! Click below to check out all the colors and styles! Bluffworks Travel Pants
Bluff Works sent me a couple of pairs of their pants to put them through the GypsyNester travel ringer (I beat the crap outta these pants!). What you just read is how it turned out.As always, all opinions are our own.
A big thank you to Discover Corps for providing this wild adventure so we can share their good work.As always, all opinions are our own.
Ngorongoro Crater is a funny name no doubt, but it just might be the best place on the planet to see exotic animals up close in the wild.
The crater formed a few million years ago when a massive volcano collapsed onto itself leaving the largest intact caldera in the world.
The collapse also created a unique combination of elevations and ecosystems that have become home to over 25,000 of the most famous species of African wildlife.
The one-hundred square mile floor is surrounded by a mountainous rim that encloses a concentration of critters that is world renowned.
The entire crater- and much of the surrounding land – has been protected as the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
Putting some tourism in our voluntourism visit to Tanzania, we spent the previous afternoon in the nearby Tarangire National Park, where elephants are the undisputed stars, then stayed the night in the small town of Karatu just outside of the crater.
WATCH: Watch as a mischievous baby elephant gets in trouble – and how the herd responds!
The rim of Ngorongoro Crater.
We woke before the first rooster crow and took off in our pop-top Toyota Land Cruiser.
Ngorongoro is known for its high concentration of lions, and early in the morning is often when they are on the hunt.
Sure enough, just as a foggy dawn was breaking near the top of the rim, we spotted a lioness in the brush along the side of the red dirt road.
We watched in awed silence as another appeared behind her, and then another.
The trio walked through the bush not ten yards away from us, and then popped out onto the road directly behind the safari wagon and slowly sauntered away.
Seemed like this sighting would be tough to beat, but descending into the crater we soon realized that there would be many more moments to rival it as the day progressed.
First we passed several large herds of cape buffalo, along with many zebras grazing comfortably, seemingly without a care in the world about the many predators nearby.
In fact, several times we saw hyenas walking very close to zebras, gazelles, wildebeests, and birds, with the prey paying no mind to the hunter whatsoever.
We wanted to shout out to them – head’s up!, or behind you!, but our guide, Alan, said that they can tell when the hyenas are hungry and in hunting mode.
Next we came upon something unexpected, an ostrich. For some reason we didn’t think about the big birds as something that we would see here, but there are a few.
This particular male, Alan identified him as such because of his black feathers as opposed to the grey of the females, had a very red neck.
This showed that he was ready to rock mate, and as if on cue, up came a female doing her come-hither dance.
The two did their thing – very quickly we might add – and then strutted off on their separate ways.
But their time apart is only temporary, as we learned when we saw a mommy ostrich sitting on her nest.
Alan explained that the mates share nest duty, with the mother sitting on the egg all day, then it is dad’s turn at night.
Just beyond the ostrich lovefest we came to a hippopotamus pool and, as if that was not cool enough, there were five lions hanging out.
After a few minutes one of the hippos decided that three of the lions were too close, so he lumbered out of the water – no easy task for the big boy – and frightened them off.
They retreated about a hundred yards in the typical we meant to leave anyway manner that cats have, then laid back down – acting like it was their idea in the first place.
This was great for us because they decided to plop down right next to the road within a few feet of us!
The lions kept watch, then decided, “We’ll show those hippos who’s the boss around here.” and sauntered over to their original spot.
The hippos pretended not to notice.
We finally had to tear ourselves away from the scene, confident that something equally exciting would be waiting up ahead, and were not disappointed. Alan spotted a rare black rhino, there are only about five thousand left in existence, off in the distance.
Even though the endangered creature was too far away to photograph, we did get a pretty good look at him through the binoculars.
The kori bustard, however, was not so shy. As the largest bird in the world that can fly, we suppose he wouldn’t have to be!
We noticed a group of safari vans up ahead and hurried to check out what they were up to.
More hippos!
Way more, we found a herd, or bloat, of around twenty or thirty hippopotamuses lounging in a swampy pond.
The hippopotami were doing what they always do when the sun is out – soaking in the water.
Their skin is very sensitive, so they stand (they can’t swim) in the pool all day and come out to feed on grass at night.
This behavior made us think that we were not going to see the group walking on land, but for some unknown reason one big guy decided to climb out and walk over to another nearby pool. Next thing we knew the entire bloat of bulbous blimps was parading across.
We were amazed as we watched the three-thousand pound beasts waddle across. It was somewhat like watching whales, which happen to be a close relative, take to the land.
Often birds, looking for bugs to snacks on, hang out near, or sometimes on, the bigger animals.
This pond was a good example of that behavior, with egrets and ibis all around.
We also found a new feathered friend, the yellow-billed stork.
Their humorous walking style had us humming Puttin’ on the Ritz, all they were missing was a little top hat jauntily perched on their heads.
Ngorongoro’s awash with zebras.
We saw them almost everywhere, and our close proximity gave us the opportunity to observe many of their behaviors.
As a herd crossed in front of us – in their usual single-file lineup – we watched one after another roll around in the dirt for a good scratching, and to get rid of annoying fleas and ticks.
A couple of questions popped into our heads upon being so near to them:
Are they more like horses or donkeys?
Are they black with white stripes or white with black stripes?
We decided on donkeys and, upon viewing them from behind where the black strips don’t quite meet up, black on white. Mystery solved.
Later we observed a mother nursing her foal only a few yards away from our vehicle. Our host for our Tanzanian adventure, Mama Simba, was riding with us and explained that in the scores of safaris she has been on she had never before seen this.
WATCH: Cutest thing ever! This baby, fuzzy zebra has lunch and a romp!
We chose a spot by the water for an outdoor lunch, and couldn’t help but notice a great deal of elephant dung scattered around.
From that clue we probably should have expected the ginormous guest that walked right through the area just as we finished eating.
With an absolutely amazing morning behind us, we loaded back into the safari wagons and begin to make way for the climb back up the crater rim.
As we drove we got an incredible bonus, a big male lion completely laid out in the shade of a small tree.
Proving that it is good to be at the top of the food chain, this guy obviously had absolutely no fear from any predators, so he could sleep peacefully out in the open.
At the base of the rim the habitat changed and the forest thickened until it became more like jungle.
Mad balancing skills!
A large troop of olive baboons found this to be a perfect place to do a little snacking, picking at the trees for a bit of sap.
This merry band of primates would be the animals to bid us farewell to this phenomenal wildlife sanctuary.
Shut up! we thought. This seriously can’t be happening. We freaking LOVE Next Avenue.
We first came across Next Avenue when we clicked on their fabulous tagline, Where Grown-ups Keep Growing.
This is a statement that we can most definitely relate to – we strongly feel that if we are not growing in wisdom, growing closer to our significant others, growing in our relationships with our adult kids and aging parents, growing in our outlook in the world, and growing ourselves – we are simply growing older.
Life changes. But rather than fight it, we choose to embrace it. But there’s no reason to run headlong into it unarmed!
PBS has never steered us wrong.
Our kids grew up with Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers, quality programming that we enjoyed watching too (and no junk food commercials!).
Now that we travel full time, PBS is there for us – many times the only station we can pick up from BAMF the RV.
See why we’re so honored?
Be sure to check out the other honorees – we know many of these folks and they are making a difference around the web. Boomer Cafe, Grown and Flown, My Itchy Travel Feet, Midlife Boulevard, Vibrant Nation… click in to see them all.
We are proud to be among them – look at us go grow!
There was a crazy power we felt when visiting the Saltstraumen – the noise of so much rushing water, the massive whirlpools, and the sheer beauty of the surroundings ran a dynamic current through our veins.
Incredibly, more than 100 billion gallons of water flows through the two-mile long by five-hundred-foot wide channel in about six hours, at speeds up to 25 miles an hour, forming the world’s strongest… CONTINUE READING >>
A big thank you to Visit Norway and Visit Bodø for this exhilarating adventure! As always, all opinions are our own.
There was a crazy power we felt when visiting the Saltstraumen – the noise of so much rushing water, the massive whirlpools, and the sheer beauty of the surroundings ran a dynamic current through our veins.
In order to see this natural wonder in the daylight, we dragged ourselves out of bed just before sunrise, which happens around eleven AM in December (hey – the crack of dawn is a different animal in above-the-Arctic-Circle Norway), and we hopped on bus to the Saltstraumen from Bodø.
When we arrived, we slowly crossed the bridge so we could watch the swirling designs of the wild tide waters rushing through the narrow channel between the Skjerstad and Salten Fjordsfrom from above.
And from the safety of our coach.
Right before our eyes, the force of the bottlenecked seawater formed incredible, massive whirlpools and eddies as the levels desperately seek to equalize.
Incredibly, more than 100 billion gallons of water flows through the two-mile long by five-hundred-foot wide channel in about six hours, at speeds up to 25 miles an hour, forming the world’s strongest maelstrom.
Named “Nature’s Own Bubble Bath,” Saltstraumen’s whirlpools (the locals call them cauldrons) can grow up to over thirty feet in diameter.
WATCH: You’ve got to see the video to get the full idea of the insane speed!
After seeing the power from above, we were a bit intimidated to go in for a closer look – is this even safe?
Our driver pulled the bus off under the bridge and we hiked over the sponge-like terrain to the water’s edge. Clinging to the rocky shore, we could feel the water rushing by as the tide was rising.
When the tide turns and heads back out to sea, there will be a brief time that the straights will be calm as the levels are equal, but quickly the process reverses itself and the water rushes just as fast in the other direction.
The process repeats itself four times a day – a phenomenon we would sadly have to miss as wintertime in the north of Norway only allowed us a four-hour window of daylight.
A flicker of imagining a lazy, full picnic day in the summertime passed through our heads as we scampered over the rocks to get glimpses of everything we could in the cool, blue-silver light.
All of this crazy churning makes the water’s edge a prime feeding spot for fish, and the local fishermen and seagulls know it.
It was quite a show to watch as lines were thrown out into the rushing current and coalfish and cod were reeled in.
Judging from how we were feeling from where we stood, those fish had to be pretty dizzy by the time they made it to the surface!
Taking in the Ancient Greek Theater in Syracuse, Sicily, Italy
Digging the history of Chichen Itza
Relaxing in Valladolid
Rockin’ it in Woodstock!
