Over Thanksgiving, we had a family Skype with the entire McSchmidt (McCorquodale/Schmidt) clan, with three generations represented. No one gives you grief quite like family, so we were taking heat and tough questions when someone said... "I just want to know what you do everyday." Fair enough.

The truth is that our days are pretty filled with the activities we post about. Intentionally or not, we tend to put a lot into each day and often find ourselves back at our hostel/hotel/guest house exhausted and asking each other what the heck just happened. But, there are times when our energy, budgets or productivity need a little boost, or when we just need a break from being tourists. On those days, life is a little less exciting but still nothing close to reality, because we get to do whatever we want (feel free to hate us, I know we sound like assholes).

Sometimes mother nature has her own plans for us. In this case, she left us stranded in a deluge of rain under an awning in the middle of Chiang Rai. The family who owned the business felt bad and brought us some bananas to eat.

There actually are things we "have" to do. We spend a lot of time working on the blog. We love doing it, even though we can never seem to keep up with it. Brendan is always sitting on a pile of 300+ photographs and there is always new content to be written. Ideally, we'd be ahead so we can do more anecdotal / daily thought posts, but so far, we're just trying to catch up!

We also have to keep track of our budget. I am super lucky on this front as Brendan is a rock star and does most of the heavy lifting (it's almost like he doesn't trust me to manage our money ;). We set up a pretty comprehensive budget sheet when we were planning the trip and since the money we have set aside is all we have, we make sure we know how much of it we've spent, how much we have left and how that tracks over time. It's not usually a fun exercise - we're about 18 days over budget right now thanks to some SE Asia splurges (whoops!).

We also have to research our destinations. We're planning as we go, which means we always have to figure out where we're going next, how we are getting there and if there is anything special we have to do before we get there (visa applications, pre-booked activities, etc.). It's fun work, but takes up a lot of time. There is so much out there, it's easy to get lost in travel guides, blogs, Trip Advisor reviews, Travel Fish articles and conversations with other travelers.

And, we spend a LOT of time in transit. Getting from point A to point B takes a long time when you're traveling in less developed countries on a budget. We have flown a few times, but for the most part, we are on buses, trains, matatus, dolla dollas, mini buses, songtauws or some other form of shared taxi that every country has. We have a love / hate relationship with these modes of transportation. It's definitely a great way to see the country and something we'd highly recommend, at least in moderation. We've had many moments when we're sitting on a bus, listening to Beach House or Dr. Dog through our headphones and looking out the window at the landscape and people, feeling pretty good about life. Then, in the same moment, we realize that I'm covered in the dust that's been flying through the open windows for the last 6 hours, Brendan's sitting in a puddle of his own sweat and our bodies are getting beat up and bruised by the combination of unpaved roads and seriously deteriorated shocks, wheels, seats and crazy driving on whatever public transport we happen to be on. Comfortable and fast, it is not, but it's an experience that still makes us smile. Especially when, as is the case more often than not, we're the only tourists bouncing down the road with the locals. It's such a real experience that sticks with you (not just in the form of soreness).

In our "free" time, we rest. We pass out. We watch TV series on the computer (we finished Rome in Africa and are on season two of the Wire). We go to the movies. We spend slow mornings at coffee shops. We read books. We catch up with friends, family and the world. We wander around neighborhoods and get lost (purposefully and accidentally). We get held up by bad weather. We eat our way through the day. We take naps. We talk.

We've been at this for five and a half months now, and are really starting to appreciate the down days. Especially on days like today that are cold, windy and just make you want to curl up in front of a good book or movie with your honey. Too bad we had to check out of our room at noon :(.