The year is more than half over. As of this writing, we’ve got four months left to go. The proverbial glass now stands half-empty. Or half full, if you prefer. What have we accomplished this year? Where have we been? Where are we going? Let’s sip a cold one and reflect…
As we began 2009, our glasses were brimming with potential.
For me, this year has special significance because it’s the last of my thirties. I was one of those Christmastime babies (December 1969 — I’m a child of the 60s, yeah!). Having a birthday at Christmas time has its downsides, but for me it was always a joy. Presents, a feast, more presents, and birthday cake. Being born at the end of the decade also has its accounting advantages. Quick, how old was Sean in 1989? 19! 1999? 29! And so forth…
From a travel standpoint, we’ve enjoyed some unique experiences in 2009. The most ambitious that come to mind are Argentina and Uruguay, where we visited in February. It was our first visit to South America, and we thoroughly enjoyed Buenos Aires. I’ve often said that we travel to gain perspective; in Argentina we learned to better appreciate the RV / camping scene here in the United States. I know “infrastructure” isn’t exactly a sexy topic, but I’m oh so thankful we have it.
From an RV camping standpoint, highlights of this year include Maine (Bar Harbor and Acadia were fantastic!) and Quebec (this place really exists in North America?). We managed to time things just right, escaping the South just as a brutal heat wave descended. While it was 100 degrees back home, we were bundling up in jackets and hiking Cadillac Mountain. By the time we returned home, the brunt of summer’s heat had passed.
Our first sips of 2009 were as smooth as a seven-dollar beer.
How about here on our website? I’d like to think that it has gotten better. We were named the #5 RV blog on the Internet by Tripbase, so we must be doing something right.
Earlier this year we migrated our domain to LongLongHoneymoon.com (dropping “THE” from the brand). This was one of those small but profound changes that I felt would be in our best long term interest. In the short term, it was a bit annoying, as we are continually eliminating “the” from archived posts and videos. I’m sure that “the” deletion will remain a hobby of mine for some time to come.
We designed Long Long Honeymoon “Get hitched” t-shirts – thanks to those of you who placed orders. Although we have a few sponsors on the site who help keep the blog going, we don’t junk up the place with a lot of tacky advertisements. I’d rather generate cash flow by creating cool products, and the t-shirts have been well received. We’ll have some more fun stuff this autumn.
We added a lot of fresh video content this year. If you watch the past dozen videos together, they constitute a little documentary film. I know that some of the longer videos require an investment of time, and the average attention span of an Internet user has been described as a “ferret on amphetamines.” So I really appreciate those who have taken the time to check out our stuff. There’s so much great content available these days; I’m flattered when viewers complement what I’ve been able to cobble together using a few cameras, a laptop, and bits of string. 🙂
To paraphrase Mark Twain, it's easy to quit drinking beer. I've done it several times.
At the moment, we are working on some new video projects. I plan to have something ready for an announcement by October. Suffice to say that in the future, you may be able to watch Long Long Honeymoon content on something besides the Internet. But alas, know that we haven’t inked that big TV contract just yet. Who do you think I am, Jon Gosselin? 😉
The glass half-empty. It's time to reflect...and charge forward!
What about future travels? We’ll be taking our Airstream to some ball games this autumn, tailgating in style. We also may jaunt down to Disney World, Kristy’s happiest place on earth. In October we are slated to visit Jamaica for a wedding. (Anyone ever stayed at one of those “all-inclusive” resorts? Any advice?)
I suspect we’ll take one more ambitious trip before I turn 40. Where? I don’t yet know. It may be Europe (I have a brother living in Germany) or another completely new destination. New Zealand? South Africa? Tahiti? Turkey? I sincerely don’t know. But our 2009 glass is getting low, so we’d better decide soon.
These final months will go down so quickly they chill your throat.
So there we have it. That’s the year so far, and what’s coming next. As always, thanks for checking out LongLongHoneymoon.com. If you like our website, please feel free to follow us on Facebook and Twitter. (Just click the banner ads on this site.)
When your 2009 glass has been drained dry, and the year is in our rear view mirror -- will you be satisfied?
I’ll close this blog post by challenging YOU, faithful visitor, to seize the day.
How has 2009 treated you so far?
Better yet, how have YOU treated 2009? Have you accomplished everything you wanted this year?
The glass is more than half empty, and time is fleeting.
Get hitched!
We did our daughter’s wedding a few years ago at one of the all-inclusive resorts in Jamaica and loved everything except the hangover. My only advice is don’t stay only at the resort. Get out and see the island, take tours, get a driver. The resorts are nice and comfortable but not the real Jamaica. Have fun.
Thanks Jim, this will be a new experience for us. I’m sure the all-inclusive resort will be luxurious, but it’s a major departure from our typical style of travel. I mean, even when we stay in hotels we usually bargain shop. For the cost of these few days in Jamaica, we could wander the streets of Europe for weeks.
I appreciate your advice about getting out to see the real Jamaica. Quite honestly, several people have told me to stay on the resort, so it’s refreshing to hear a different take. When we travel overseas I like to experience “the real country” and not just well manicured resorts. Simply hanging out in the resort cocoon would seem a little dull to me…
Nice depth of field!
I just added up our mileage for our summer roadtrip 4,000 and counting and added links to places we’ve been on our blog – http://3totango.wordpress.com/places-weve-been/
We are thinking of heading down to Baja in November/December. Banditos be damned. You guys should come on down. First fish taco and cerveza is on me.
Thanks Scott! Wow, your site is looking great — awesome photography. Now I’ve gotta get a zoom lens! You’ve chosen a spectacular travel itinerary, too — that’s sort of a dream RV route, in my opinion.
We’d love to visit Baja. Fish tacos and cerveza always hit the spot! Who knows, we’ll kick around the idea. We met a guy last summer in Phoenix who actually keeps an RV in storage in Mexico. He said he keeps it at a great little beach town where RV storage is dirt cheap. They even prepare his rig for him when he comes down for a visit, so it’s ready when he arrives.
Well, that was a bit of an ordeal, since it seems I forgot my password. Ahem..
Where was I ? Right.
The all inclusive is a pretty good gig. Did it both in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. Big contrast between the resort and out on the economy, but you are well served to get out at least once to a local restaurant or perhaps golf course. We did “playa grande” in the Dominican (golf)….and man! It was pretty darned nice. One of the last courses designed by Robert Trent Jones.
At each of the resorts we had pretty nice digs, with our own chef and wait staff. They looked after us…and well, they were well looked after.
In Jamaica you will of course be approached to purchase any number of “tings”, whether we would consider them legal or not. Try not to be freaked out. Just keep an eye out is all. Oh, and know your geograhy, ’cause if someone offers to take you on a “tour”, it could be half way across the island….and the roads are not the best! Just say no, and be nice.
I hear what you’re saying about the expense though, the one in Jamaica was like, 10Gs for the week. Oy. Dominican was about the same. Thankfully we were “splitting the bill”..
Best advise. Don’t fry. Seriously, it can mess up a perfectly good holiday.
Have fun. Best to you.
Bob.
Great entry and great year for you guys! Have really enjoyed your blog and videos.
2009, the start of our Airstream journey, has been even more amazing than I imagined and I look forward to the remaining months with visits to Colorado and Utah planned and then back home to the Southeast for the holidays. And, who knows, maybe we’ll start this journey all over again in 2010!
Enjoy your future travels, wherever they may be. I know we look forward to hearing about it!
Holy smokes… one would think your going to start crying and hitting the sack next…
Ya done good… and I know you can do better… so whats this remorse and historical review???
When they take your drivers license away from ya… or you get to having kids… and they drain you dry… then you can sit down with the glass of beer (shot chaiser to boot) and start saying remember when… and what next…
The road is in front of you… so twist the key and get that smoke pot a cranking… Seemore should be out on the road and not parked in the driveway… geeezzzz don’t you know its bad for diesels to sit…
Here we give you all this great shooting advise and … this is what we get… if that be the case ya best start investing in 3 of them rocking things for the porch.. one for you… one for Kristie and one for your right gas foot… and dig a hole and lay seemore to rest… with a tomb stone saying… here is… was…
Winter is coming… and now is your time to start getting ready for the next big adventure of camping in winter time…with your AS… what works and what doesn’t… if you think nature things are million dollar views in the summer.. wait till you see ’em in the winter..after the people go home….sooooo….
Just because summer is about over doesn’t mean we stop shooting or working…on the new vid’s.
So where are we going next… how about college… or football… cross paths with the Sunday/monday night football folks… and get some interviews… etc…
If ya want to get out of the snow and twisters…. then west is best…
But, now is not the time to stop …. like everything else… ya gota keep up the pace and keep going or you will find it hard to start again… like a writer.. they write every day… just to keep in practice if nothing else… thus if you have hopes of that big break and TV slot… ya gota keep it in their face kinda thing…
By the way octoberfest in germany is going to be great this year… right after the Greek fest stuff… Hic!…
Mexico… great place to visit during the winter months… south through tucson to Playa del carmen… (pushhhh topless beach down the way with good cheap beer…but we didn’t say that) ) or if you don’t want to get that far south… then puerto vallarta… nice place.. or if not that far.. then where the americans all stay during the summer in travel trailers.. Puerto Vallarta… its all good… and beer.. oh my… beer beer… give the kid a dollar and he goes and gets it for you…doesn’t get any better than that… well maybe the dancing at night… but then again… its a X thing… ouch that hurt…
Hi Bob! Sorry for the delayed reply, we’ve been away and offline attending a funeral (tragic situation that I may address in a future blog post).
Anyway, JAMAICA… After recovering from initial sticker shock, I am looking forward to the visit. We will be staying in Negril. I’ve read a few online reviews of the resort and they have been overwhelmingly positive…so I guess all that moula is going somewhere.
At first I was thinking this would be a pure vacation, but now I’ve decided to bring along some gear and shoot video! I always lug around a camera anyway. It won’t be RV camping, but maybe some people will find it of interest. A lot of people, sooner or later, end up at an all-inclusive. This will be our first such trip.
I’m thinking we might eventually set up a separate section of the blog for international travel. We’ve done a fair amount of stuff overseas; I haven’t posted it here because I wasn’t sure if people would be interested. But why not?
Anyway, sound advice about the sun and the “tings” – lol We will be wary of both. 🙂
Sean
Lani, congrats to you guys and best of luck on your ongoing travels.
I am enjoying your blog as well… you are true road warriors! I can empathize with Chris working from the road. It’s a challenge, and inspiring to see you pulling it off with humor and grace. I’m sure that other “location independent professionals” will benefit from your example.
Good luck (but not TOO much luck) on the Bama / VA Tech game tonight. May the best team win! (And may that best team be ‘Bama, ha ha)…
Cheers,
Sean
GMAs, LOL… I’m not crying in my beer just yet. I just thought that this blog could use a little more… blogging? As Henry David Thoreau once said, I wouldn’t write about myself so much if I knew anyone else as well. 😉
I find it helpful sometimes to take stock of where matters stand, what we’ve accomplished and where we’re going. How many times have you reached the end of a year, looked back, and wondered where the time went? This is sort of like the coach’s big halftime speech (err, delivered in the third quarter).
When I think about what “Long Long Honeymoon” means, I suppose it could mean different things… But I’d like it to serve as inspiration to “follow your bliss” and chase dreams wherever they may take you.
We will definitely be doing some road tripping and camping this autumn — my favorite season! I’m also confident we’ll return to Hollywood. Maybe we’ll have a Los Angeles meetup? Stay tuned…
Indeed. Been their and done that. Normally for guys the first alarm goes off when MOM/DAD passes away. It cause one to reflect and see how they are doing in life… The other alarms (devorce, kids, school) all start to weigh in.. nothing like kids to tell you how fast time gets away… one day they are babes the next they are having ’em…
Its nice to look back to see where one has come from and how far one has traveled… but one should not dwell their too long.. for it taints one into wanting revisit for the old days and not look to the future…
Indeed if you see where the awards come in.. its a recap of the prior year…
that being said.. one should not stop writing or developing video abilities. Always something new to try and learn. And thus we plow through the thoughts of the past and steam into the future… Remember the past is history.. the future is taking shape and form… you are in it .. weather you want to be or not.
As to the elders… best to live to where you have no regrets and explore all the history they have as once they are gone… so is it. I remember we got the X’s dad out of the senior center… and took him with us… ya it was slow paced but he enjoyed being out and doing things… right up to the end. … when he called and said Thanks… it was a good ride.. which had purpose to life. That is all one can hope for… each day a new adventure… to keep ya active and looking forward to the next. .. as to time at the end of the year… na… I am working on end of the day… which seems to get shorter and shorter…as you get older…so little time and so much to do… don’t waist it sitting around…
As to the LLH it means what you want it to mean… but, like when we do a movie… each have their own idea of what they are seeing.. so is LLH. I think you have achived your goals (as we have seen) of it inspiring others to explore and go forth… but, even if they didn’t .. they got to ride along with your and what you showed them adds to their dreams or adventure. Even when you thought it was a failuer… failures are fun too… (example are out takes… which do you enjoy more the scriped or unscriped adlib… of course you want to see the goof ups.. to see if the actor is human too.. like the rest of us)
Of course we should ask you what your dreams are for the coming year…
Yep hopefully we can… but right now we’re working on a new movie about the hayday of flying… should be finished soon… but its a hard movie to get the actions shots and weather to work togeather… by the way they can’d the spy movie we blew the AS up in… dang.. I thought it was pretty good too… oh well .. next…
What we need is a good romace story about a guy who follows his dreams of being a RV weekly show star.. his meeting the woman of his dreams, marrage and adventures they both have going down the road to becoming famious… know any script writers who just might have such a story to make a movie about??? I sure hope Kristie is taking notes … and keeping a diary…
Oh and VA tech.. lost big time… however, USC is the team to beat… if you can… 😀