Big Big Intro!

Greetings and welcome to our Big Big Blog for our Big Big Trip. If you are here and reading this then there is a pretty good chance that you already know what's up. For those who don't, and also to offer some sort of introduction to set up the continuity of this tale, I will tell you what's up.

(This is Chris writing, by the way. I will probably be doing most of these entries, because my fingers are often full of hot air, while most of the accompanying photos will be courtesy of Krissy and her snappy trigger fingers).

Anyway, basically what we have planned is that on the 1st of May we are venturing out on an odyssey of sorts, the Big Trip To End All Big Trips (or, better yet, the Big Trip To Set The Bar For All Future Trips). This odyssey will take us through New England, Canada's Maritime provinces, and, most significantly, Newfoundland and Labrador. This adventure will last the better part of five months and will feature all sorts of shenanigans.

The basic breakdown of what we will be up to:

May: Leave home on the 1st and spend a few days with Krissy's family in CT. Visit with Vicki Hughes for a few days in Ipswich MA, two nights in a cabin in White Mountain National Forest in NH, and a few days camping in Acadia National Park in ME. One night in a hotel in Saint John NB followed by a week working on a goat farm in Blockhouse, Nova Scotia. A night in a hotel in Halifax and then four days of camping on the NS coast, in Fox Island. Ferry from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland and one night camping on the southwest coast of NL followed by a week or so camping in Gros Morne National Park.

June: Ferry to Labrador for three days in a coastal B&B before heading back to Newfoundland. Two weeks camping in various spots along the northern coast, including Twillingate, Springdale, (the unfortunately named) Dildo Run Provincial Park, and Terra Nova National Park. The remainder of the month will be spent on the Bonavista Peninsula, living and working at the Skerwink Hostel in Trinity NL.

July: We will spend the entirety of July in St. John's NL, living and working at the HI City Hostel on Gower Street. I am looking very, very forward to spending so much time here. Signal Hill, Cape Spear, the pubs on George Street, the St. John's Regatta, Dropkick Murphys headlining the George Street Festival, Bell Island, and the possibility of chancing upon the filming of Republic Of Doyle are just a few of the many reasons why I am psyched for this leg of the trip.

August: The first half of August will either be spent continuing to live and work on Gower Street or will be spent about 30 minutes south of St. John's, living and working at the Irish Loop Coffeehouse & Hostel, in Witless Bay NL. This time will all be spent exploring the Avalon Peninsula and will possibly feature a quick jaunt to the French islands of St. Pierre et Miquelon, off the southern coast of Newfoundland. The second half of the month will begin the trek home, with a trip back across the island and the ferry back to Nova Scotia and a week camping in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

September: While technially this part of the trip is still somewhat up in the air and can change at any time, the basic idea is to spend this month camping in various locations in New Brunswick including Kouchibouguac National Park, Mactaquac Provincial Park (near Fredericton), Fundy National Park, and the Anchorage Provincial Park, on Grand Manan Island, as well as some r&r stays in Moncton and perhaps Miramichi, before making our way back into the States and a few days camping in Camden Hills State Park in Maine and a night or two in Portland. A couple days of recovery with Krissy's folks in CT and then we head home. Whew!

A little background:

Our original idea for the Big Big Trip was to save up and take a one-year, around-the-world trip in 2017. After working on that plan for a little while it turned out to be a bit lofty, plus five years is a very long time to live frugally and take no vacations. Later on, after a bit of research, Krissy happened upon a website called HelpX which is a service that matches folks who want to travel on the cheap with other folks who are willing to provide room and board in exchange for a few hours of work each day. Some of the places are farms, some are hostels, some are homesteads, some are museums, and all other sorts of situations. This is a worldwide site with thousands of users and you can find helpers and hosts in just about any corner of the world, from the Netherlands to Namibia, from Austria to Australia, from the Bahamas to Belarus, and all points between.

When Krissy first mentioned this, I was dubious. It was a strange reversal of roles, as I am usually the one with grand ideas and Krissy is the more practical one. She spent a few days trying to work me over and then she uttered a magic phrase that changed it all: "They have lots of hosts in Newfoundland". That was all it took to get me on board.

Our fascination with Canada's Atlantic provinces is no secret. Ever since I was a kid I'd wanted to go there and, having grown up in New England, Krissy also appreciates the quaintness of early colonial towns and breathtaking scenery. We finally got our chance to visit the area in 2006, when we spent a week camping along the two coasts of New Brunswick. We had always wanted to go back and, in my research on the area, I also fell in love with Newfoundland, as it reminded me so much of the Ireland I visited so many times as a child, and it became a dream of ours to go there. The greatest obstacle was cost - to fly there is just about as pricey as to fly to Europe, and about three times as much as to fly to the Caribbean, so we went there instead, a few times. An opportunity like HelpX makes this trip feasible. We decided off the bat that we would take our time and we would drive Attila II up there. As a test run of sorts, last August we drove up to Prince Edward Island and spent a week camping on the northern coast and, really, had the time of our lives, mosquitoes aside.

To answer a few questions in advance:

What about your jobs?
I am quitting my job. My job as a banker is merely a job to me, it is not a career, and my reputation makes me very elegible for rehire, should I decide to come back when we return. Ideally, however, I would use this experience, and time off, as a chance to completely change direction. Krissy, fortunately, was granted an extended leave of absence from her company, and a slight shift in her career path when we return. Which means that we are not totally screwed when we come back. All will be well.

What about your apartment?
We are moving out of our apartment. We've been there for ten years and it's time for a change. It's a pretty crappy apartment but it is cheap and allows us to live the way we want to so it's been hard to let go but this trip will surely help tear off that band aid, once and for all. All of our stuff will be going into storage (a storage unit for the furniture and stuff like that, and my guitars & music stuff will be entrusted to family) and there may be a big ol' yard sale before we leave, to help downsize our clutter. We will start looking for new places sometime during the last month or so of our trip.

What about your cats?
Our cats will be staying with friends. Meredith and Dean will be looking after Frankie and Bananas, in Rockville. Krissy wanted to take them with us but I think they would lose their minds spending all that time in the car and would probably run off and get eaten by foxes the first time we look away. We are going to miss them a lot and hope that they don't turn into jerks when we get back.

Are you going to settle up there?
We WILL be coming back to this area. I mean, unless some kind of opportunity strikes us that is so freaking awesome that Krissy is willing to quit her job, but that would have to be something on par with Clive Davis having the campsite next to us and signing me on the spot after hearing me sing by the fire. So, basically, you haven't seen the last of us. Unless, of course, we get eaten by bears. Which we won't, because...

Aren't you scared of getting lost/injured/eaten by a bear?
We will be well prepared. We have lots of experience camping and we have all the necessary tools and devices that we need to survive. Also, we will not be doing any back-country camping or off-trail hiking so our chances of getting lost are pretty slim. For those who worry about it even more than I do, there have been zero bear fatalities and very few reported bear attacks in Newfoundland. So even though we all know that the bears of the world have their collective sights set on me, we actually stand a better chance of getting stomped by an angry moose which is why we have no intent to make them angry. In short, we will be alright.

What about health care?
No, our health coverage will not carry over while we are in Canada so we are currently researching travel insurance so that if we get sick or hurt while we are up there, we'll be covered. Hopefully it will not be necessary.

Will you have cell phones? Is there even coverage up there?
We will have cell phones but will most likely not have the same phone numbers. Once we get all that sorted, we will post the necessary info here so we can be reached in case of emergency. Cell phone coverage can be spotty in the wilderness but service is pretty solid in the more populated areas. Wi-fi, however, seems to be very common, including many of the parks and campgrounds where we will be staying. Close family will also receive a detailed, day-to-day itinerary with locations and contact info as soon as it's finalized. We will have Skype on our iPhones and tablets and whatnot so we can face-time through that with you guys without the costs of international calls, and we will be on Facebook as well as updating this blog daily. So no, we won't be off the grid.

Are you bringing a guitar up there?
Of course I am! And I am hoping to do a lot of jamming while I am up there, especially with all the Celtic folk in St. John's. And hopefully I will be inspired to do at least a spot of writing while on the road. This trip has already inspired two dozen new songs, without even having seen the place yet. Needless to say, FDM music will forever be changed. Or, at least, for a while.

That place sounds awesome! Can we visit you guys while you're up there?
Of course we want you to visit! Atlantic Canada is a beautiful, wonderful corner of the world, one of the last unspoiled regions there is, and we would love to share the experience with anyone who wants to join us. Let us know where you want to go and we'll tell you when we'll be there.

What made you decide to do this?
Many reasons, the biggest one being that we are simply burnt out in our daily routines and we need something enriching to shake it up a bit. We have said, oh so many times, that our biggest reason for not having kids was so that we could have the freedom to do something like this. It's just taken us until now to be bold enough to pull it off. Also, with me turning 40 this year, the two of us celebrating 10 years together, and Krissy finally getting her counseling license in VA, it seemed a good time to take a breather. In one of the tourism ads for Newfoundland and Labrador, there is a quote that says something to the effect of, "When you write your autobiography, make sure there is at least one extraordinary chapter". This shall be ours.

Are you guys crazy?!?!?!
Yer damn right we are!

Anyway, that's about all there is to say right now on the subject, by means of introduction. I doubt future entries shall be this long but you never know. I will update this sporadically in the weeks and days leading up to the trip and will try and update it every day while we are on the road. This trip is perhaps the boldest move either of us will ever make in our lives and we could not be more excited.

And perhaps a little terrified as well...