ADVENTURE ON A BUDGET | TRAVEL BLOG
It’s no secret that France is the most visited country in the world. And, like many dreamy teenagers, it positively beckoned me. That shimmering iconic tower…that sexy intonation…Audrey Hepburn’s influence and of course….the possibility of amour. All this is pretty much why I naively decided to take French in high school. (A decision I sometimes regret!) But it certainly wasn’t my first…
Annecy: the "Venice of the Alps" The area surrounding Thonon-les-Bains, where we stayed for our May housesit is simply loaded with day trip opportunities. Annecy, pronounced Ahn-see, is a petit alpine city located near the border of Switzerland, and commonly tagged as the “Venice of the Alps.” However, it seems significantly calmer, tidier and quieter without that overrated Italian label.…
Evansville>>Chicago>>Dublin In May 2026, we were off again and this time, with new and improved matching dork shirts, enhanced by AI thanks to our dear friends, Megan and Gordon, who we got the chance of visiting with on their journey by camper van through Indiana. (Because why else would you be in Indiana, but passing through?!) Anyhow, we'll soon be…
Ahh….Par-ee!!! Mandy couldn’t have been happier to finally be “dragging” her husband to the City of Lights. Like so many young dreamers, icons of Paris had bedecked her walls from an early age and held a perpetual vision of romance and passion. Although she got most of that dreaminess (and quite frankly, over expectation) out of her system in 2008…
We loved living in Mur-de-Barrez for two weeks because it allowed us the opportunity to explore one of France’s wild corners…the lesser explored, but still discovery-packed Aveyron and Auvergne regions. We were also incredibly fortunate because we had fabulous guide in our hostess, Laura, who arguably has an explorer gene that rivals ours. She even liked seeking out weird rocks…
We are 100% convinced that the true beauty, the true essence of France is far from its cities, far from its historical sites, and far from its beaches… The pulsing heart of it instead lies in its provincial villages where the well kept heritage remains. We were grateful to get to spend four weeks in such villages, and even more…
Little town, little quiet village. ? Far off the international tourist trail, this is what we chose to represent most of our time in France. This first took us to a 13-day housesit in Le Dorat, in Nouvelle Aquitaine, aka “Little Britain” thanks to the heavy influence of British expats, who in large part moved down to France to escape…
From Andorra, we hopped into a rideshare through BlaBla Car with two French girls to traverse into our next country. Greg had used BlaBla back in the “olden days” when rideshares were posted on hostal message boards and it took 10 minutes to write a text message. Today, of course, there is a easy-to-use app which matches drivers and riders…