Making New Friends

For the last year Skyler and I had been planning our trip, and in doing so, were doing a lot of research online. One of the blogs I had stumbled upon was Our Take on Freedom: Escaping the 9-5 Before We're 25. I’m one of those people that can’t start anything in the middle, so I found their very first entry, and read their blog from the begging to their most recent entry. Yair and Ayo, the writers of the blog, just recently turned 25, and have been traveling around the US in their RV for over a year. I found a lot of good tips in their blog, as well as a good dose of inspiration.  In December I had written them an email to let them know that A, I had been online stocking their blog for a while now, and B, that we would love to meet up with them. It turned out that they would be in Austin the same time we were, so we made plans to get together.

After several emails and phone calls we finally met up at the Whole Foods Market in downtown Austin. Being the friendly folks that they are, we had no trouble making conversation. We picked out some appetizers and wine and made our way to their RV. They were parked in the driveway of a local Couch-Surfing host named Taylor. 

Yair and Ayo's RV

Couch Surfing would take a whole separate entry to explain, but the down and dirty is that it’s a website where you create a profile, and you can host or be a traveler, all for free. We swapped traveling tips and shared stories (our whole 2 weeks’ worth..woo hoo!). We finished the night by going to a free SXSW event at a local bar, and it was nice to have someone to goof off with.

Yair and Ayo, in the rear portion of their RV

The front portion of the RV

I expect we’ll keep in touch going forward, exchange information on where to boondock, share our friend network and swap travel stories.

Happy Friend Making,

M.