Kyle + Jackie Road Trip America | Georgia

Fourth state traveled together out of Fifty

Total states that Kyle has traveled to on his own: 50

Total states that Jackie has traveled to on her own: 27

Kyle and I spent an amazing weekend traveling around Georgia this past week. We left Thursday evening after work, packed up and headed south towards Savannah. We arrived at our campsite at almost 2 am and then woke up around six hours later shedding clothing because the back of the truck was overheating! Let me explain ...

Most of our nights spent traveling around the U.S. are done camping, but you will never actually find us pitching a tent! Kyle has a cab on the bed of his truck that we lay a futon mattress in, which when equipped with a sheet and some pillows is actually quite comfortable! I like to think that we do this for the convenience, but we actually do this to save ourselves quite a bit of money! 

We started off our trip by taking in the colonial architecture and yummy food of Savannah before making our way to St. Simons island to see a historical lighthouse. We snapped a few photos and then drove 30 minutes to another location, one which Kyle refused to divulge before hand (he's our trip planner, and this stop I was told was my "surprise"). 

No matter how hard I tried to pry it out of him, Kyle wouldn't give the slightest hint as to where we were going. I kept guessing, but he kept telling me that I would never figure it out. "Nope. You're not even close. Just give up. I'm not telling you." he said. Finally we arrived at our destination, Jekyll Island. We pulled off on the side of the road and headed towards the beach. The path ended and we walked out onto a beach that was covered in giant trees! The area is famously known as Driftwood beach and apparently it's a photographers dream location because, well, it's just so dreamy! I have never seen a place like this before. Giant trees laying all about the beach. It was quiet and breathtaking and I probably took 100 pictures.... and cried a little because I was just dreaming the perfect couple would appear so I could photograph them! I could see it ... a flowy ruby red gown and a well dressed man in a suit. Ugh.

After catching the sunset on Driftwood Beach we went to a super fancy dinner a mile away at the Jekyll Island Club Resort. We had an incredible meal in a private room overlooking the water. Although it was dark outside, we could still see the Savannah moss swaying in the wind beneath the sidewalk lights. After eating until our hearts content, we changed into comfy clothes and drove 2.5 hours to our next stop on the trip. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to us, that destination had literally been on fire for a whole month (Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge). So after (accidentally) illegally driving about 40 miles across a fire line and avoiding a $500 ticket (Call us the Black Bandits .. we'll explain that another time), AND not being able to turn around, we ended up unexpectedly crossing the FL-GA line to spend the night. 

We got back on track the next day and made it to our planned stops in Macon and Stone Mountain, stopping at peach and peanut stands along the way (definitely recommend stopping if you're traveling on I-95 - Exit 85!). Finally, we ended our day in Atlanta where we were fortunate enough to crash at a friends apartment (shout out to Wilson!!!). After showering and catching some much needed sleep, we went out and met up with one of my girlfriends, Courtney, who took us out to a bar called Marcel that apparently Drake had rented out (and probably snapped some shots for his next album cover at, NBD). 

Before leaving Atlanta the next day we looked up the best BBQ in town and stopped at Fat Matt's Rib Shack, a BBQ joint so infamous that it literally had a line out the door after only being open for 30 minutes! We stuffed our faces and then hit the road towards Northern GA. There we found Kyle's family plantation (1832-1980's) that was still in amazing condition, with the current owner making much effort to maintain the house in its original interior design. We were lucky enough to be greeted by the caretakers passing by, who welcomed us inside and gave us a tour around the home. A picture of his relatives from the turn of the century was even hanging on the wall!

From there, we spent our last day hiking several trails near the Chatahoochie Natural Forest. One of them being 6 miles round trip and another leading us to the most beautiful waterfall I have ever seen! 

Another state road trip in the books for us. See you soon Wisconsin and Massachusetts! 

- Jackie + Kyle 

Kyle + Jackie Road Trip The World | Costa Rica

December 08, 2016

Day One - Garabito, Bowies Point and Villa Mymosa

Alright, let me catch you up on the last four days. So last Tuesday night Kyle and I STARTED packing for our trip. We booked our trip with Under30Experiences back in May. We have had well over five months to plan and pack for this trip and of course we wait til last minute because we never have any free time anymore. Last weekend was the second weekend in the last six months that we had absolutely nothing planned. We are always on the go - working, visiting or traveling but hey, we can't complain.

So Tuesday night I packed my entire bag (and unpack it three or four times) until I could fit my entire life's belongings on my back. Kyle is a little more experienced when it comes to stuffing a duffel bag and going - for him it's usually a hunt though. Normally he packs just one set of clothes, so packing for two weeks was a little stressful but we got it. I'll write a post on how we efficiently packed our bags for our two week trip later.

Our trip is going to last about two weeks and if you think packing for two weeks in one bag is an easy task, I dare you to try it!

We had a connecting flight from Miami to San Jose, Costa Rica. We made it through immigration in five minutes (adding another stamp to the passport!!!!) and picked up my bag from the luggage carousel (that's a story for later..) and headed towards customs. We were out of the airport in 10 minutes where we were greeted by our smiling tour guide Marion, waving an Under30Experiences white and green flag. She took us to a cafe that was connected to the airport. We were greeted by ten other strangers who were also along for the trip. We eventually met up with our driver Ronaldo who kindly transferred our luggage to the back of the bus so we could be on our way.

Leaving the airport, we headed towards the busy highway which eventually lead to the pacific coast. We weaved around narrow mountain roads passing three tractor trailers at one time, all while motor bikes were passing on the right shoulder. We passed gas stations, outdoor bars and corner shops. We saw lots of food stands and women holding dead fish right on the side of the road.

The humidity is so unreal here, instead of paying ridiculous amounts in electric bills, everything is just open. No walls dividing each store, no windows and no doors.

About an hour into our drive we stopped at this iconic crocodile feeding spot. (I don't remember the name) There was a long bridge that overlooked a river where these MASSIVE crocs were just huddled below. People were selling scraps of meat so the tourists could feed them - it was seriously the craziest thing to see.

We then drove another thirty minutes to Bowies Point restaurant and bar. The owner of the place took a break at sunset to head out to the ocean and catch some waves. Right after dusk, he served us dinner. Although it was raining when we arrived, we walked out to the black sand beaches where we saw surfers and people riding horses.

We left Bowies point on a new bus (which had AC this time - thank the lord cuz the sweat is REAL here) and traveled another hour to the city of Quepos. It was around 7pm when we got into town. The night life was pretty exciting to see. People would cross in front of the bus without looking - not a care in the world. Our hotel, Villa Mymosa is located at the top of a steep hill. We had to meet up with an off-road bus that could take us up to the top. We switched buses and drove up a 60 degree angle drive, scraping our bumper on the way up.

We hopped out of our bus and were greeted by a man passing out room keys. Kyle and I had room 5 located on the bottom floor. We walked around the pool that is in the center of the hotel, unlocked our door and were completely shocked at how beautiful our room was. We are staying in a mini condo! The floors are a clay colored tile and the walls are all white. There was a full kitchen to our right and a cute coffee table with a built in, wrap around sitting area. Straight ahead was a queen sized bad. On the other side of the bed was a railing which overlooked another bed which overlooked the patio. (Of course we chose the bed below because we wanted to wake up to a beautiful view).

Tomorrow we're heading to Manuel Antonio park, I promise my posts from here on out won't be boring and will be filled with lots and lots of (cell phone) pictures (for now)! 

Kyle + Jackie Road Trip The World | First Blog Post

Hey friends!

I cannot believe I am here, typing this out.  I have been dying to start a blog to collect mine and Kyle's travels for some time now and it feels so surreal and yet so wonderful to be sitting here spilling my words and thoughts to you.  I want to keep this short and sweet because I do not want to bore you with a lengthy first post, but I just wanted to say hi and get a feel for this whole blogging thing.. so bare with me!

In just one week, Kyle and I will be catching a flight out of DC and heading South towards Costa Rica!!  For those of you who know us, and for those who do not, our love for traveling goes much further than we could ever explain.  Kyle has been to all 50 states and the one thing that really impressed me most when meeting him for the first time (sorry, I have to brag a little..) was that he spent three years living in Alaska right after graduating college. Since meeting, I have now been to 21 (I think)!   Kyle has also been to Canada, Fiji, Argentina, New Zealand and Antarctica (TWICE) and for now, my only trip out of the country has been to Honduras.

We decided this year that we are going to travel to three states and one country/continent each year, for the next seven years.  Our plan is to visit all fifty states together (Yes, we are starting over) in that time.  This year we managed to squeeze Mississippi, Iowa and Connecticut into what seems like, our forever jam-packed schedules. (I don't think we have had a weekend off since the summer).

In our upcoming posts, we plan to do a little Q&A introduction explaining more about us and our lives at home, how we are able to travel so much and some secrets on how we navigate and customize each trip to be sure we are getting the most out of our travels!  Oh, and of course lots of pictures of our lazy bluetick coonhound too.  If you are interested in how we plan to "do this thing", follow and subscribe to our blog so we can keep you updated on our latest ventures.

If you have made it this far, I applaud you.  I promise we will be sharing an endless amount of pictures and experiences in our next blog post - but for now, you are just stuck with these words.

Until next time.  Cheers!

-Jackie & Kyle