The kids are all grown up, so the grown ups are flying the coop!
A month ago we bought one-way tickets to London!
But I've got ahead of myself. This all really started about three years ago, with this article http://matadornetwork.com/change/10-volunteer-opportunities-for-free-travel/
I can't remember how or why I found it, but it, or the idea of it, was somehow involved in my five weeks as a volunteer hut warden on Stewart Island (New Zealand) in the summer of 2011. For several hours [often hard] work a day, I was provided with a roof, bed, food and travel around the island. But that amazing trip is another story.
With that experience in mind, Nigel and I started talking about travelling, and with a limited budget but a desire to see and do as much as possible, we decided to investigate the options for helping people in return for accommodation, transport and/or food. We signed up with a couple of house-sitting sites - www.trustedhousesitters.com and www.mindmyhouse.com, but didn't have much success until we joined www.helpx.net.
We leave New Zealand on June 4th 2013 and arrive in London June 5th, where we'll stay with Nigel's sister and her husband, who are living and working on a large property near Reading.
In July we're house-sitting, garden-watering and pool-soaking on an olive farm near Taggia, Italy.
We'll probably return to the UK for August, partially because Nigel wants me to see England during the summer, but also because Italy is busy, expensive and hot in August - and most helpx hosts do not want help or do not have room for help in August.
In latter half of September we're helping at an olive farm in Sabina, Italy.
For October we move a couple of hours further north to Florence and Santa Brigida where we'll help with the olive harvest.
In November and December we're off to Greece, to a small resort in Koroni on the Peloponese peninsula, where we'll also help with the olive harvest and with preparing the villas for the next summer season.
So, that's a little taste of how we got to where we are now. We'll tell you more in further posts!
No comments:
Post a Comment