Countdown to Departure

This photo was taken by Sarah in 2013 at an outdoor market located in Ishka, Italy.

Our Countdown to Departure post will be changing just a little from here on out. Turns out that we will not be putting wheels to the road until around January 2016. One of the reasons being is that my weekend job gave me a pretty sizable Christmas bonus, so we want to wait for the bonus next year to put toward our funding toward our adventure. We've also been unable, due to some unforeseen expenses, to save money as quickly as we thought and need to take a little more time. We will still continue to post on Friday sharing with you what we've done to prepare for that week.

Sarah and I are still really pumped about hitting the road, but just want to begin our adventure the right way. We can't wait to get out there next year and see all the amazing things that are waiting for us. There hasn't been a whole lot happening in the last couple of weeks due to Christmas and New Years, but we have been getting our plans together for a two week trip to Europe around June. Along with our progress on our RV adventure we will be also keeping you up to date on our Europe trip.

We plan on flying from New York into Sweden, and then from Sweden taking a train through Germany into Italy where we will be spending most of our trip. You can expect a lot of social media and blog post during those two weeks for sure. Sarah has family that lives over there so we will be spending a good deal of time with them. I haven't gotten to meet them yet so I'm really looking forward to that. We'll be hitting on the main hot spots like Rome and Naples, and maybe even Venice if we have the time. Either way, this will be a trip to remember for us.

Well, that's it for this week. Hope you all have had a good one, and hope you have a great weekend as well. Please feel free to leave any comments below, especially if you have any recommendations for what we should do while in Europe. Thanks for reading and talk to you soon!

This is another pic taken by Sarah during her 2013 trip of Gesualdo, Italy where her relatives live.

This pic was taken on a very narrow street in Gesualdo. Each door you see in this pic leads into a different home.

Countdown to Departure: Week 45

Better late than never, I always say. It's a common phrase for me because I am an intense procrastinator. Oh well... Rory asked me to write the countdown post this week because I am in love. *Cue tweeting birds and little hearts above my head.* I'm in love with my new Nikon D7100.

This photo was clearly NOT shot with the Nikon D7100.

Why am I totally excited about this? Because the upgrade from a Nikon 3100 to a D7100 is huge. It will be so much easier to take awesome photos. The D7100 has in internal focusing motor, two SD card slots, better ISO performance, better image quality and many more focus points. It is weather sealed so I don't have to freak out over a little drizzling rain. The D7100 was the best choice for me within my price range. It is on sale now at B & H Photo for $896.

Honest moment: I really wanted the Nikon D810 but it's $3000. I haven't quite made enough money through my photography to justify that expense and the Nikon D7100 is good enough to last me a really long time.

Why should you be totally excited about this too? My photography game has just been upped, so this will mean better and more photos for you to enjoy. Many of the photos on our Instagram account, @youmeandanrv, were shot with an iPhone 5s, but I am going to start sharing more of my DSLR photos now. They will all be #latergram, but you don't mind as long as they are pretty, right?

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P.S. This post is completely un-sponsored. I am just in love and wanted to share. 

Countdown to Departure: Week 46

We picked these up at Barnes and Nobles, but I'm sure you can find them where most books are sold.

This week Sarah and I have added a couple of books to our traveling arsenal for when we put wheels to the road, National Geographic's Guide to State Parks of the United States and Canadian Province Parks and Guide to Scenic Highways & Byways. When we're out on the road we intend on seeing all we can. Scenic routes intrigue the both of us. Seeing the country side and scenic America is something that is important to us, and I think National Geographic are just the folks to help us do that.

Guide to State Parks of the United States and Canadian Province Parks is a great addition to our travel library. One reason being that it includes Canadian parks which will be very helpful once we cross the border. Canada has a beautiful landscape, and I have some great friends that live there that I'm really looking forward to seeing. They'll be joining us on some of our experiences while visiting.

Scenic Highways & Byways features 275 of the best drives in the U.S. that offer amazing views and some great americana experiences. I really want to get to know the country in which I was lucky enough to be born. I can't wait to see the places in person that I've always been mesmerized by in photos and on tv. The Statue of Liberty, the Seattle Space Needle, and Mount Rushmore are just some of the places that I want to visit while on the road.

If you're looking for some great material for when your out on the road, than I highly recommend these two titles. You can follow National Geographic on twitter by clicking here, and on Instagram by clicking here. Hope you'll check these books out at some point and maybe add them to your travel gear.

Countdown to Departure: Week 47

My beautiful wife, Sarah. She's not to happy about drinking Theraflu.

Well, this week for Countdown to Departure I'm happy to share that Sarah is feeling much better versus last week when she was dealing with that severe cold. If you didn't read my last post when I spoke about that, than you can read about here. However, she has passed her cold cooties on to me. I have been sick since Wednesday, and as I type this post, I am still sick. I will be going into work tonight at my security job though despite my being sick because bills still have to be paid.

With that said, not much in the way of preparation for wheels to the road have been made. We have continued to work on our social media and our blog as much as possible, but have not obtained more supplies or gear for our future adventure. For our faithful followers and friends we hope that you will be patient with us as we get past our cootie epidemic, and get ourselves back on track.

You can expect some cool stuff from me on Sunday though. Despite my cold, I have great upper deck front row seats for the upcoming New York Giants at Tennessee Titans game. I will be taking pics for Instagram and Twitter so be looking for that on Sunday while a I'm there. You can probably count on a post next week about my experience at the game too. This will be my first time attending a  NFL game and I'm very much looking forward to it. My good buddy Brian and I will be attending it together.

I hope all is well with all of you, and I hope that you have gotten all your Christmas shopping out of the way. Please feel free to comment on today's post and let us know how you are doing, and we hope you have managed to get this far without getting sick. Thanks for reading and talk to you soon!

Countdown to Departure: Week 49

This past week Sarah and I have been getting ready for next week's Black Friday. You can read about some of that here. We've been putting together a list of things that we will need and want to use while out on the road. Turns out that some of the things we want will be on sale for Black Friday, and we are going to be able save some money. Saving money is a big deal for us since we are saving money month to month for the purchase of an RV and everything else we will need.

Other than that, its been a pretty quiet week for us. I worked some extra shifts this week, and Sarah prepared last week and Monday for a big event that she had for work on Tuesday. We've also been getting ready for Thanksgiving next week, and trying to get that Christmas shopping finished. Thanksgiving and Christmas are my favorite times of the year and am getting more and more excited about getting the things I want for Christmas and getting closer to our goal of putting wheels to the road!

What are some things that you are hoping to purchase and save money on Black Friday? Also, what are you doing to prepare better for your dreams? Let us know below in the comments section, we love to here from you guys!

Countdown to Departure: Week 50

For this week's Countdown to Departure there isn't a whole lot to share. This week was a little slow for Sarah and I with work and all. Sarah was feeling a little bit under the weather for a couple of days this week, and I had to pick up an extra shift at work on Thursday. We were able to save a little more money this week, and get some more research out of the way to help get us better prepared.

We also made some new friends this week on twitter who call themselves YOLO RV Travelers. They are also a husband and wife team with the same dream of traveling in an RV full time. They are a little ahead of us though in that they have already acquired an RV, decorated it very nicely, and just came back from a three week trip. They just haven't been able to go full time just yet, but are well on their way.

I did figure that some weeks would not be as productive as others, but either way you have to keep on pushing forward to your goal. All that matters is the end result, and all the hard work and patience is totally worth it once you reach that goal. Sarah and I are very excited to see what each week brings as we get closer and closer to November 1, 2015. With each piece of gear or any supplies that we buy gets us more and more pumped and motivated for our departure.

Countdown to Departure: Week 51

One of the things that we are doing to get prepared for traveling is getting fit. It would be disappointing for us if we traveled to these amazing places, and were not able to experience them due to our health and physical condition. So, Sarah and I are joining a gym where Sarah will be taking up Turbo Kick and Body Combat classes (very proud of her by the way), and I will be doing swimming, a little weight training, and some basketball. We are also taking advantage of our free workout facility at our apartment complex, and I'll be biking more. Sarah has also been using DailyBurn.com in the mornings for a little extra calorie burn.

EMeals.com has been a great tool in staying healthy and eating right. We're using the Paleo plan with a few small exceptions. We eat beans on occasion and allow a cheat day every couple of weeks or so. The Paleo diet also works well for us because Sarah and I both have gluten allergies, and I battle with IBS. The plan is very easy to use. You just print the recipes and get cooking, or download the app to your phone or tablet.

We have 51 weeks to get ourselves prepared for hiking, swimming, rock climbing, and any other physical activities that we might encounter on the road.

Some goals that we have set are:

• Sarah - lose 55 pounds.
• Me - lose 25 pounds.
• Me - Get my IT Band Syndrome under control.
• Me - Get rid of this gut that I've been carrying around since 2010.
• Sarah - Hike 10 miles without throwing up.

We would love to hear from you on what you're doing to stay healthy, and any suggestions you might have for us! So please leave a comment. Thanks!

Countdown to Departure: Week 52

This week was all about YOU! Sarah and I spent the week building our website and creating our social media so that you can follow along in our journey. We are excited to meet and talk with all of you as we progress and get closer to putting wheels to the road. Every Friday from here on out will be about what we accomplished, learned, and did to prepare for our adventure.

Be sure to check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest to join in on the adventure! On Instagram, we will continue to share the beautiful photos of places and things we experience plus behind the scenes along with personal photos. Twitter will be all things travel both of ours and others. Our feed will be informative and useful with bits of us thrown in. Pinterest is where you will see the desires of our heart. We are curating information for our use on the road and we hope you will find it useful as well. Of course, we will let you know when we post on our website through social media, but to ensure you don't miss a thing then follow us on Bloglovin' or Feedly.

We view our preparations as part of the journey and adventure. Don't miss a moment!