• Home
  • About
  • Contact

Passions and Places

A travel + outdoors blog

  • Destinations
    • Africa
      • Zambia
    • Asia
      • Cambodia
      • India
      • Indonesia
      • Laos
      • Malaysia
      • Singapore
      • Thailand
      • Vietnam
    • Europe
      • Iceland
      • Portugal
    • North America
      • Canada
      • Alabama
      • Arizona
      • Connecticut
      • Louisiana
      • Maine
      • Massachusetts
      • Mississippi
      • Montana
      • New Hampshire
      • Rhode Island
      • Vermont
      • Wyoming
  • Activities
    • Camping
    • Cycling
    • Hiking
    • Kayaking
    • Motorcycling
    • Scuba Diving
    • Skiing
    • Yoga
  • Planning
    • Accommodations
    • Budgeting
    • Gear and Packing
  • Travel Styles
    • Active and Healthy
    • Couples Travel
    • Educational and Experiential
    • Foodie Travel
    • Long-Term Travel
    • Nature and Outdoors
    • Off the Beaten Path
    • Road Trips
  • Responsible Travel

How We’ve Funded A Year of Full-Time Travel

March 7, 2018 By Jen Ambrose 30 Comments

Full-time travel costs less than you think, especially in regions like Southeast Asia. After a year of traveling and working as digital nomads, this is how we’re funding our lifestyle. We saved up before we left, and remote work in freelance writing offsets some of our travel costs. But traveling on a budget and visiting affordable countries like Thailand and Vietnam keeps our expenses low, and work exchange and housesitting positions cut them even further.

After one full year on the road, here’s everything we’re doing to afford full-time travel and make this lifestyle work.

Filed Under: Budgeting, Long-Term Travel Tagged With: budget travel, featured, housesitting, remote work, Southeast Asia, travel planning, Travel Styles, work exchange, yoga

A Year on the Road: Reflecting on the Highs and Lows

February 11, 2018 By Jen Ambrose 12 Comments

We’ve officially been on the road for a whole year! Today, we’re looking back on the highs and lows of the past twelve months, including our most exciting adventures and the biggest challenges of working while traveling.

Filed Under: Long-Term Travel, Reflections Tagged With: digital nomad, featured, full-time travel, Southeast Asia, Travel Styles

Exploring the Quiet Thai Island of Koh Kood

October 14, 2017 By Jen Ambrose Leave a Comment

Koh Kood is one of the most accessible islands near Bangkok, but it's still a relatively undeveloped travel destination. But with beautiful beaches, stunning vistas, and few crowds, it's the perfect place to relax and get off the beaten path. If you want to visit one of the quiet islands in Thailand, Koh Kood is the place to go.

We visited Koh Kood hoping for a quiet, laid-back Thai island without too many crowds. It delivered just that.

Filed Under: Asia, Off the Beaten Path, Thailand Tagged With: destinations, featured, Koh Kood, Travel Styles

Reflections on a Yoga Retreat in Thailand

September 18, 2017 By Jen Ambrose 20 Comments

The Whole & Happy Yoga Retreat in Thailand was an amazing week of self-exploration, adventure, and relaxation all in one. Attending a yoga and meditation retreat while you travel is a truly unique experience, and you can find affordable yoga retreats all over Thailand and throughout Southeast Asia.

If you’re an avid yogi, or even just a curious beginner, maybe you’ve thought about doing a yoga retreat. Jen’s reliving her time at the Whole & Happy Retreat in southeastern Thailand, a magical week full of yoga classes, relaxation, introspection, and wonderful community.

Filed Under: Active and Healthy, Asia, Thailand, Yoga Tagged With: activities, chanthaburi, destinations, featured, meditation, Travel Styles, yoga retreat

Looking Back on Three Months of Travel in Southeast Asia

June 26, 2017 By Jen Ambrose 12 Comments

You could spend years traveling around Southeast Asia, but this post covers slow travel as digital nomads over three months. We’ve traveled to destinations in Thailand, Cambodia, and Malaysia, including Bangkok, Krabi, Kampot, and Georgetown, Penang. Some highlights so far? Scuba diving, housesitting, a yoga retreat, and lots of delicious food!

After our first three months of traveling in Southeast Asia and working from the road, we’re looking back on our experiences so far. Our travels have taken us to Thailand, Cambodia, and Malaysia, with highlights like housesitting, a yoga retreat, and a little-visited Thai island.

Filed Under: Asia, Cambodia, Long-Term Travel, Malaysia, Reflections, Thailand Tagged With: Ao Nang, Bangkok, destinations, featured, housesitting, Kampot, Koh Kood, Koh Lanta, Penang, Southeast Asia, Travel Styles, yoga

15 Long-Haul Travel Essentials: What to Pack for In-Flight Comfort

May 27, 2017 By Jen Ambrose 14 Comments

For many people, long plane rides are the worst part of travel, especially when you’re in economy class or have a red-eye flight. This packing list has all the airplane essentials you need for surviving long-haul flights. Stay healthy, rested, and entertained on your next trip!

It’s no secret that flying can be pretty miserable, but if you want to travel to distant destinations, there’s no way around it. Fortunately, you can make your next flight at least a little bit more comfortable by packing these items in your carry-on.

Filed Under: Gear and Packing Tagged With: featured, flights, travel planning

Getting Beyond Bourbon Street in New Orleans

May 6, 2017 By Jen Ambrose 7 Comments

New Orleans, Louisiana, is largely known for Mardi Gras parades and year-round parties on Bourbon Street and elsewhere in the French Quarter - but it has so much more to offer. It’s also a place visitors can learn about history, ecology, climate change, slavery, voodoo, and more. NOLA makes a great stop on a historical road trip through the Deep South with a focus on human rights and social justice issues.

During our human rights and social justice-themed road trip through the American South, we weren’t too sure how New Orleans would fit in. The Big Easy not only gave us a great time, it also turned out to be a really interesting place to explore history, culture, and ecology – a few of the things we’d come to the South to learn about.

Filed Under: Educational and Experiential, Louisiana, North America, U.S. Tagged With: American South, destinations, featured, New Orleans, Travel Styles

A Human Rights + Social Justice Road Trip in the American South

April 25, 2017 By Jen Ambrose 18 Comments

Road trips just might be the best way to travel in the American South. Our trip through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama was focused on history, civil rights, human rights, social justice, and the environment. The route included New Orleans, Natchez, Birmingham, Selma, and more, with stops at some of the region’s best museums and monuments. See our full road trip itinerary, and get our best tips to plan your own visit to the South.

The South might not be too touristed, but it’s full of sites all Americans should see. Our Southern road trip taught us so much about this country’s past and about human rights and social justice, both historically and today. Relive the journey with us, and get some tips for planning a trip of your own.

Filed Under: Alabama, Educational and Experiential, Louisiana, Mississippi, North America, Off the Beaten Path, Road Trips, U.S. Tagged With: American South, civil rights, destinations, featured, human rights, New Orleans, Travel Styles

A Traveler Celebrates Earth Day: The Top Reads on Sustainable Travel

April 22, 2017 By Jen Ambrose 6 Comments

Whether you call it eco-travel, sustainable travel, green travel, or something else, this link round-up includes some of the best resources on travel, sustainability, and the environment - just in time for Earth Day 2017. This reading list has tips on vacation planning, destinations, animal welfare, and plenty of information on why we should care about how travel affects the planet.

Celebrate Earth Day 2017 with some of our favorite articles on sustainability and eco-friendly travel! Learn how travel impacts the environment, why it matters, and how to do your part to care for Mother Earth from the road.

Filed Under: Responsible Travel Tagged With: Earth Day, featured, sustainability

Becoming “Digital Nomads:” Why We Quit Our Jobs to Travel

March 25, 2017 By Jen Ambrose 14 Comments

We finally quit our jobs in Boston to travel the world as digital nomads! Now we're in Thailand, engaging in long-term travel and working online for ourselves as travel bloggers and freelance writers. This is the story of our lifestyle design choices and why we're planning to travel in Southeast Asia.

We finally took the leap and left our jobs, apartment, and life in the U.S. to travel abroad and work as freelancers. Here’s the story of why we made this lifestyle change and how we’re starting our new lives as digital nomads in Thailand.

Filed Under: Long-Term Travel, Reflections Tagged With: digital nomad, Southeast Asia, Travel Styles

« Previous Page
Next Page »
Close-up of a white man and woman both wearing black with trees in the background, and an overlaying green banner that says "Welcome!"

Hi! We're Jen and Ryan, an American couple on a journey to travel the world while working from the road. We're passionate about outdoors adventure, ethical travel, and healthy living. Passions and Places is a space for us to share our stories and tips with you, but most importantly, we hope to inspire you to seek your own adventure.

Get our monthly updates!

Top Posts

  • 41 Couples Travel Quotes to Inspire Love and Adventure
  • Bisbee, Arizona: The Funkiest Town You’ve Never Heard Of
  • Exploring the Best and Quirkiest Attractions in Jerome, AZ

Search

Where are we now?

Our Favorite Travel Medical Insurance

Teal square with a cartoon owl dressed in a suit and holding a book, and text reading “Travel Medical Insurance for Digital Nomads with Covid-19 coverage included. Starts at $40/4 weeks. Nomad Insurance by Safety Wing.”

Privacy · Disclaimer · Terms of Use
Copyright © 2021 · Lifestyle Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress