Hi! We're Catherine and Steve
Catherine is the words person
So when you see I, that’s me. My love of travel began when I went to Europe by myself the summer after college. I ended up staying for six months. I also lived there for a few years, in England and Finland.
Steve is the pictures person
He’s responsible for most of the photos you see on this site. And a lot that you don’t see; we do a lot of culling. Yay digital photography! Before we met Steve did a lot of US road trips, often by motorcycle.
Our one street over philosophy began on our first real road trip together, in San Francisco’s Chinatown. We walked through the Dragon Gate and up the main street. And noticed that everyone kind of looked like us, and all the businesses were for tourists, like us.
So we said, “Why don’t we go one street over and see what it looks like?” And there it was. Ducks hanging in windows. Live fish swimming in buckets. Fewer people who looked like us.
We’ve been following that one street over philosophy for over 20 years, stretching ourselves just a little more each time.
Steve conveniently had siblings living in Arizona, Florida, and California, so our first joint travel experiences were to visit them and see some of the country while we were there.
We stayed at all-inclusives in Mexico and the Dominican Republic. Foreign countries, yet designed for easy access, especially if you get a package that includes travel to and from the resort. Apple Vacations offers these.
Our native language, sort of. And I lived there for a few years so I’m familiar with the culture.
We don’t speak the language but I’ve been there a few times. It’s still my favorite place to travel and I wanted to share it with Steve.
More places where we speak the language, sort of.
And each trip we try new experiences.
- I’d never done much hiking before I met Steve. Now we hike on most trips.
- We tried snorkeling on our honeymoon in Mexico and liked it so much we bought gear and look for new places to snorkel.
- Ziplining was invented in Costa Rica so we had to try it while we were there, right? (That was fun but not something we need to repeat.)
- We flew via seaplane in the Virgin Islands just because we could.
How we travel
We’re frugal travelers. We try to save where it makes sense and spend on things we value.
- Timing: We try to travel during the shoulder season. Fewer crowds and less money, yet still decent weather. Most of our travel has been constrained to two-week vacations, though now that we’re semi-retired we can get away more often, and for more time.
- Getting there and getting around: We fly coach, and try to avoid renting a car whenever possible, using public transport instead.
- Sleeping: Having our own bathroom is essential. A TV? Not so much. If it’s safe, comfortable, and everything works, we’re good. We prefer a location that’s walkable to bars and restaurants, ideally with someplace outside to sit, since our idea of nightlife is a quiet drink (or few!) while we reminisce about the day.
- Eating: Trying local food – and local beer – is part of the experience for us and it’s often less expensive than tourist-focused restaurants. We save money by sourcing breakfast and lunch from the grocery store and eating dinner out, or having a late lunch/early dinner (linner?) when lower lunch prices are available.
- Playing: We enjoy walking and hiking, nature and wildlife, architecture and culture. We’re more about absorbing the local atmosphere, less about thrill-seeking.
What you’ll see on this website
We created this site to share our travel experiences. So you’ll see pages, posts, and photos related to our past trips. Lots of photos!
You’ll also see information about planning future trips. We enjoy researching and planning trips ALMOST as much as we enjoy taking them. We’ll share our planning process and planning for actual trips through blog posts and trip pages, and because we learn something new each time we travel, we’ll share how our plans compared to reality. We’ll also share packing tips and resources and products we use.
We started with our trip to Australia and New Zealand in 2019, and we’re working forward and backward from there.
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Our one street over philosophy began on our first real road trip together, in San Francisco’s Chinatown. We walked through the Dragon Gate and up the main street. And noticed that everyone kind of looked like us, and all the businesses were for tourists, like us.
So we said, “Why don’t we go one street over and see what it looks like?” And there it was. Ducks hanging in windows. Live fish swimming in buckets. Fewer people who looked like us.
We’ve been following that one street over philosophy for over 20 years, stretching ourselves just a little more each time. Our first international travel experiences were all-inclusive resorts. (Foreign country, yet designed for easy access.) Then we went to England and Scotland. (Our native language, sort of.) Then to Greece. (Don’t speak the language, but one of us had been there before. And it’s still Catherine’s favorite place to travel.) Then other places where we know the language. (Costa Rica, Puerto Rico) And each trip we try new experiences – snorkeling in Mexico, ziplining in Costa Rica, flying via seaplane in the Virgin Islands. And new foods.
We’re budget travelers, though we don’t set ourselves a budget. Rather, we try to save where it makes sense to us and spend on things we value.
- Timing: We try to travel during the shoulder season. Less crowds and less money, yet still decent weather. Most of our travel has been within the constraints of a two week vacation, though we are sometimes able to get away for more time, and as we get closer to retirement, we hope that happens more often!
- Getting there and getting around: We fly coach, and try to avoid renting a car whenever possible, using public transport instead.
- Sleeping: Having our own bathroom is essential. A TV? Not so much. If it’s safe, comfortable, and everything works, we’re good. We prefer a location that’s walkable to bars and restaurants, ideally with someplace outside to sit, since our idea of nightlife is a quiet drink (or few!) while we reminisce about the day.
- Eating: Trying local food – and local beer – is part of the experience for us. We save money by sourcing breakfast and lunch from the grocery store and eating dinner out, or having a late lunch or early dinner when lower lunch prices are available.
- Playing: We enjoy walking and hiking, taking in nature and wildlife, or architecture and culture. Travel for us is more about taking in the local atmosphere, less about thrill seeking.
What you’ll see on this website
We created this site to share our travel experiences. So you’ll see pages, posts, and photos related to our past trips. Lots of photos!
You’ll also see information about planning future trips. We enjoy researching and planning trips ALMOST as much as we enjoy taking them. We’ll share our planning process and planning for actual trips through blog posts and trip pages, and because we learn something new each time we travel, we’ll share how our plans compared to reality. We’ll also share resources and products we use.
We started with our trip to Australia and New Zealand in 2019, and we’re working forward and backward from there.