Kindness of Strangers

When we began planning this trip, we soon discovered that there are a million websites out there dedicated to ‘round-the-world travel. To enrich our site and our journey, we knew we needed a distinct perspective: we didn’t just want to wander around for eight months and talk about it. This got us thinking deeply about the motivation for our trip. Our desire is to be travelers, not tourists. We are more concerned with experiencing life as it is in a given place than racing around to museums and World Heritage Sites. Although the latter can be an important aspect of understanding a place and its people, we realized that what we were really looking for was a way to connect personally with people and see their country through their eyes.

Our trip came into focus: we would concentrate on exploring locales in which we knew people. What better way to connect with a culture, we thought, than to stay with real people in real places. When in Rome do as the Romans do, right?

We knew people who lived all over the world, but there was only one problem. You’ve probably heard the saying that guests and fish both start to stink after three days. As lovely as we are, we knew that our hosts would probably grow tired of us after a few days. So what would we do on a month-long trip through Chile? Further, while we know people from all over the world, they don’t necessarily live in their home countries right now.

But we were committed to the idea of connecting with real people in real places. Inspiration struck: why don’t we spread the word to all of our family and friends as to where we plan on traveling? And maybe, by relying on the kindness of strangers, we can cobble together a trip that brings us into close contact with the people who know their countries best.

How It Works

Take a look at our itinerary. If you live in any of the places we plan on visiting, we would appreciate learning about your life there. Don’t live in Bali? Spread the word! If your friends or family live in any of the places we plan on visiting and might be interested in hosting an open-minded, professional American couple for a brief time, we would love to meet them! Forward along our website; we trust you won’t put us in harm’s way. Because we’re relying on the kindness of strangers, we don’t require anything fancy. A night on a couch or air mattress suits us just fine. Or, if you, your family, or friends don’t have space in which to accommodate us, a tour of the city from a local’s perspective would be spectacular. The goal of our trip is to see life through the eyes of the people who live there, and we are grateful for any time or guidance you can lend us.

Interested parties can email us through our website. If you live in a place that’s listed on our itinerary and have suggestions of how best to experience life in your city or country, we’d love to hear from you, too.