There’s a sink-hole in front of you. It is bigger than you… in fact, it’s bigger than the house you live in.

This hole is roughly the size of:

• your house
• + your university
• + your car
• + anything unrelated those above items that  you walked by and thought “I have to have that… now”

You know that you need to fill this hole up as fast as you can.

And, you also know that it’s still sinking.

You may think it has stopped, but it hasn’t.  It may have stopped widening, but it’s still sinking.

To fill up this wide and gaping hole in front of you, you have a shovel. Now.

But, for years you’ve had only your hands and feet. You tried to kick and throw in as much dirt as you could to try and fill this hole, but it was widening and sinking faster than you could throw a handful of rocks in.

Now, though, since you’ve found that shovel, you can see that you’re making progress. There’s this bit at the bottom that appears to be filling. Finally.

What is that sink-hole? Debt.

Debt to the tune of: a mortgage, student loans, car loan, and unpaid credit card balances.

What causes it to continue sinking?
Interest on all of those loans.

What caused it to widen?
Your own spending…spending more on credit, or taking out another loan (car, school, etc.).

Nearly everyone has one of these sink-holes.

Jonathan and I do too.

And here’s the good news: We’re paying it off.

Two years ago, Jonathan and I canceled all our credit cards, choosing instead to live a cash-only lifestyle.

This means that if we don’t have the cash to buy something, we have to wait until we do.

We do this by asking ourselves “How can we afford this?”

Then we build businesses and income streams to afford whatever “this” is.

Two years ago, Jonathan and I had the following debt:

• $205,000 Home Mortgage
• $18,000 Car loan
• $40,000 Student loans (darn grad school)
• $22,000 Credit Card balances (from our Kilimanjaro 2006 trip, our wedding, and some from our honeymoon)

That gave us a total of $284,000 that we owed to other people…PLUS interest.

We were paying it, every month, but never felt like we were getting ahead.

So, our first order of business was to cancel our credit cards.

At least that way, we couldn’t spend anything more on them.

Then, we signed up for a program that would work with creditors on our credit card balances.

With their help, our interest rate dropped from an average of 22% to 6%. That’s a huge difference! (Contact us if you’d like to know more about this.)

Next, we took every spare penny we had, and put it towards paying off debt: credit cards first.

I’m proud to say, that after only 2 years, we have less than $6,000 left on our credit card balances.

And we sold the car that had the car payment.

That means that in 2 years, we’ve paid off over $47,000.

We have also had renters in our house for the last year, so for a year, our mortgage payment has been (mostly) paid for by someone else. (We still have some that we pay every month towards it (renters don’t cover the whole mortgage), but what we pay monthly is 1/14th (7% or so) of what we paid when we lived there.)

Still, today, we are putting every spare penny we have towards paying down debt.

In fact, all loans and everything else included we are currently putting 49% of our income towards debt repayment.  Hard to believe, right? (I couldn’t believe it myself until yesterday.)

When we started, about 25% of our income was going to debt repayment, and we weren’t getting ahead of it.

The good news is that in 10 months or less, we will be completely free of consumer debt / credit card balances, which will leave us with student loans and our mortgage.

Then, our sink-hole will start to fill up even faster, because for us, being debt-free (filling that sink-hole) is the most important way to spend our money right now.

So how can we afford to travel?

Hard work.  Really. Most people think we’re on vacation just because we’re traveling.  But the answer to how we afford to travel is that we work really hard.

We’re not working hard in the sense that “working hard” means to many people (being out digging ditches or doing manual labor), but figuring out all the moving pieces and the mental work required takes:

• Time
• Energy
• Willingness to be flexible
• Willingness to learn

Just to reiterate: we’re still working while we’re on our world travel.

That’s why being settled somewhere for a longer amount of time (here in New Zealand) has been so important to us. It allows us more time to work, and get set up to work a bit less for three months… then we’ll settle somewhere again and work really hard.

You may remember that we have about $1,830 / month to spend differently now that we’re traveling than we did when we lived in our home in Colorado. (We save that money on: transportation, phones, and housing.)

That amount is actually less now that we’re living in New Zealand and things here are more expensive than in Central / South America.

As much of that $1,830/month as possibly can is going to paying back our debts.

(Some times it feels like too much is going towards debt repayment. Because we do have to make choices and limit the tourist activities we do, because paying down our debt is more important to us right now.)

And now you know… the rest of the story.

Related posts:

1. How Can You Afford To Travel?
2. How can you afford to travel – Housing
3. Some of Us Have to Work

Why this might be important to you?

The non-geeky explanation is that this will allow us to do more stuff with our web site more easily.

However, there may be some pages or links on our site in the next week or so which might not work as effectively as they should.  If you find things that aren’t working, please drop us a line and let us know.

Also, please be patient as we get things working 100% again.

Growth of WordPress through 2007

Related posts:

1. Ceremony Site Booked

Panama Viejo is the ruins of the original Spanish settlement in Panama City. It was abandoned in 1671 after pirate attacks and fires destroyed it.
They are currently working on restoring the ruins, and there are some pretty amazing places to see.

We saw the ruins of an old convent that was newly built when the city was destroyed. It also looked like they were setting up for a wedding reception. What a cool place!
Then we walked to the tower. But, unlike London, city’s tower was used primarily as a church tower, with the added benefit of serving as a lookout for pirates.
During the restoration process, they put a roof over the tower. But they wanted to make in invisible from the outside. So, the water drains go down through the staircase to the top.

It was really amazing to get to look out the same windows, and see all the ships waiting to go through the canal and pretend they were pirates. Hello Pirates!
From there we realized that Panama Viejo and Casco Viejo were not the same thing. So, we asked a woman who was working at Panama Viejo for a good lunch recommendation.
She suggested Restaurante Jimmy. So, all 3 of us grabbed a taxi together, and we went for lunch (dropping her at her destination along the way).

I am so glad that we asked her where we should go, and that we listed to her!
The food was amazing with lots and lots of options. It was delicious. I highly recommend that you try Restaurante Jimmy in San Francisco district of Panama City, Panama.

Then we caught another taxi and asked to go to Casco Viejo. We stopped outside the National Cathedral. Then we walked along the water.

We saw the ruins of a club that was right on the edge of the ocean. It looked like it was a pretty amazing place (before it was destroyed by the US during the 1989 invasion).
We walked a little further and found a fun path that was covered with vines and flowers. We later learned that this path was built on the remnants of an old city wall.

We did some more walking in the area, and then decided that it was time for ice cream. Panama City is hot. Hot hot hot.

We saw a fun gelato place, so we stopped in there. They didn’t accept cards, and we were out of cash, so Jonathan asked where the nearest ATM was. The woman gave him directions and he was off.
When he came back we enjoyed some lovely ice cream from Granclement. I really liked all the old ice cream scoops on the walls.
Then we decided that we would walk back to our hotel. It didn’t seem too far, so we thought we’d give it a shot.
It turns out that the ATM was further than the hotel! So, we had a nice little walk, even if it was one that I wouldn’t want to do after dark.
They’re really working to get the neighborhood cleaned up. In a few years it is going to be prime tourist area. But right now, it’s a little on the sketchy side.
When we got back to the hotel, we worked in the lobby for a little bit.
We were able to make some new friends that way. We met and chatted quite a bit with Eric Goldschmidt, a pastor from Wisconson, and a Czech couple living in Portland, Or.
Then it was off to bed, since the taxi was coming at 5:30am to take us to the airport.

Related posts:

1. Hotel Santana: A review of Hotel Santana in Santa Ana, Panama City, Panama
2. The Panama Canal at Miraflores
3. Leaving Playa Coronado: Panama City to David, Panama

But it really did have the best view of the canal, which is really what you’re paying for when you go to eat at the visitor’s center.
We got to see a very large cargo ship go through.
It was really fun to see the workers on the ship waving and taking pictures (of us, waving and taking pictures).

It takes about an hour for a ship to go through the canal.
The video below is 1 hour and 15 minutes of our time summed up in 2 minutes.
Press play to see it.

Then we had to basically run through the museum because we waited to long to check out the exhibit.
But, we did get to see some really fun parts. I especially liked the guy dressed in the haz-mat suit. He clearly needed it, what with his hand down at the level of his shin.

Jonathan liked the UPS guy. He decided to shake his hand, but got a little more than he bargained for.

After closing the museum, like we tend to do, we took a taxi out to the Causeway.
The Causeway took dirt from digging the canal and then used it to connect some islands off the cost of the city.

So, we went to the far island and then walked into town. We had dinner at a restaurant that was back on the mainland, and decided that for one of our last meals in Panama, we should try the “Panamanian Touch”.
It was just a collection of local foods, but the name sure was interesting. It wasn’t the best food I’ve ever had, but the experience was really great. It was a fun walk, with plenty to see, and great company.

Related posts:

1. Panama Viejo and Casco Viejo in Panama City, Panama are not the same thing
2. Hotel Santana: A review of Hotel Santana in Santa Ana, Panama City, Panama
3. Halloween With Americans In Panama

Related posts:

1. Merry Christmas
2. Merry Christmas – Warm and Toasted
3. Time for Crazy Christmas Lights

#2. Family
Other than the time I spent living in Germany in 2001, this is the longest I’ve ever gone not seeing my parents or my sister. My brothers I’ve not seen for longer periods of time, as they went away to college and moved different places. However, everyone on my side of the family will be together for Christmas, which will be the first time that’s happened in a few years, so that’s very exciting.

#3. Christmas
Snow: I suppose that I could get used to warm, sunny Christmases if necessary, but this is the first time in my life I’ve not seen snow in the months leading up to Christmas. I’m looking forward to making snowpeople (though my sister Deanna (my usual co-conspirator in the process of making snowpeople) won’t be able to help me make them since she broke her arm). I’m also looking forward to throwing snowballs and drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows – not just because it tastes good, but because it’s nice (and a little necessary) in order to warm up.

Decorations: My mom and dad and family always put up lots of Christmas decorations. I’m looking forward to the Gemuetlichkeit of being at home.

Food: Christmastime foods are delicious in the United States.

Woodstove: My parents designed and built a passive solar home. This is the home I grew up in. In the winter, the house stays warm in the evenings with heat from a woodstove which has a glass front. I love sitting in front of the woodstove and watching the logs slowly give up their structure and become ash in the process of giving off heat. There’s a deepness that I feel, like I’m connecting to something very ancient, when sitting and watching a fire. Watching that fire in the woodstove feels like re-connection with something much older than me.

#4. Quiet time and places
Though we have had places and moments of quiet in the past 2 ½ months, mostly we’ve been experiencing loud cities, hotel life, and lots of moving around. Carrie and I tend to be relatively quiet people, so we’re more sensitive to atmospheric noise than the average person. Also, I don’t know if it’s just in November/December, but Central America is REALLY loud. People talk louder, there are parades and fireworks and loudspeakers attached to cars and trucks, dogs, chickens, pigs, cows, etc. I’m looking forward to being in a few places where I know for sure I will find quiet. I’m looking forward to making time to just enjoy the quietness for an hour or two.

#5. Healing
Bug bites take longer to heal in the tropics. This is probably due to humidity, heat, and ferocity of the bugs and their bites. Colorado’s colder and drier winter weather should give our bites a chance to heal before we head back to housesit in Panama and head to South America in 2010.

Related posts:

1. In Colorado For 5 Days Only
2. Merry Christmas!
3. Climbing Colorado trails and Colorado Mountains

“How Many Videos Did You Submit?”

This was a question I was recently asked.
In total, 5 videos.
Two videos were submitted using Carrie’s two email addresses, two using my email addresses, and one using our support email address for GreenJoyment.
I know this may have increased their workload a bit at Queensland Tourism’s offices (reviewing 5 minutes of video instead of 1 minute), but I read/heard in an interview on the Indie Travel Podcast, that they would accept all applications, even multiples from the same person, as long as they came from different email addresses.
I took that as an open invitation… hopefully that was a good opinion to arrive at.
We’ll find out soon enough!
So over the course of the past few weeks, we’ve made 5 videos, each approaching us, the island reef job, and the reef from a different perspective.
Here are the videos, in the order we submitted them…

Our Original
Reef Job application

Outtakes
From our original reef job application, sharing more of our qualities (via the outtakes)

“The Best Mashup In The World”
A mashed up collection of video clips that Queensland Tourism put together to promote “The Best Job In The World”, as well as some other clips you’re likely to recognize, stating our qualities in the words of Australians.

“Challenges Facing The Great Barrier Reef”
More of my thoughts on this subject are in this post about the caretaker and I thought this video would also work well for our GreenJoyment web site.

Breakfast With Koalas
Highlights from an interview Carrie and I did with Bec, an animal caretaker at the Koala Gallery Wildlife Experience on Hamilton Island

For anyone else reading this post… Did you submit more than one video?
And, if you haven’t visited our application on the official site yet, we’d sure appreciate you heading over there and giving us a 5 (assuming you like our video).
You can do so by clicking below.
IslandReefWork.com

Related posts:

1. Island Reef Job – Outtakes and Additions
2. Kilimanjaro Trip videos are live
3. Rangitoto Island: Taking the Ferry to Rangitoto Volcano

No related posts.

Related posts:

1. Kevin’s Climbing Everest!
2. Questions about climbing Kilimanjaro
3. Kilimanjaro Climbing and Camping days 1 and 2

Jonathan and Carrie,
We are home safe and sound (even with all the London Terror that held us up). Thanks for your info on the hiking poles. We found some that we rented and were very thankful for them (especially on the way down, my knees were killing me and we were sliding everywhere in the mud in the rainforest). We were sooo sore for a few days afterwards too! We did make it to the summit just at sunrise and it was absolutely breathtaking. We took about 600 photos and video too. Actually we took more photos but somehow managed to lose one of our digital cameras on the mountain We had pretty good weather although we did see rain, snow and hail. We both loved to see the clouds roll into camp! It all just seemed like a whole different world (besides the coca cola that was everywhere!) We took the Rongai route (known as the Coca Cola route) up and came down the Marangu route. Thanks again for all your help! We were very prepared and thankful for your packing tips!
Britten and Chris =)

Britten and Chris,
Congratulations on making it safely down the mountain and more importantly, on reaching the summit! VERY sorry to hear about your camera. There must be a bunch of cameras somewhere on that mountain… Someone in our group lost one too. Do you have a picture of you both at the summit that we could post here?

Related posts:

1. Do we need hiking or trekking poles?
2. How to pack for Kilimanjaro and clothing to wear
3. Kevin’s climbing Everest – right now!