We agreed to participate and even though we don t have a lot of extra money, we thought we were bles

We travel on even a smaller budget. Our lives have changed drastically over the last 4 years, but that s a choice we ve made. Together, we ve become comfortable with living with less, living frugal and the best part, working less. Our quality of life has gone up drastically, but our bank balance has gone down. Drastically.
So, when Miro and I were asked to present our story about life-learning, world-schooling and travel at the Life Rocks Conference rent car san francisco cheap in New Hampshire, we were so excited and honored! Finally we d have the opportunity to meet a community of unschoolers in person, share stories rent car san francisco cheap and truly connect with other like minded folks. Needless to say, both Miro and I were so excited about the prospect of attending the conference, let alone share our story with hundreds of other unschoolers, in the hopes we can provide some inspiration.
We agreed to participate and even though we don t have a lot of extra money, we thought we were blessed to be asked early enough that we could have time to save, plan, put aside some extra money and purchase our travels bit by bit ..
Miro and I are not ashamed to share that we can live happily off a modest $750 1000 income per month, in Central and South America. What I used to earn in the United States in one month, is the same amount Miro and I now live off of in one year. Think about that. That s two people rent car san francisco cheap living on what equates to way below the poverty line, in the United States. But that s what we earn so that s what we spend.
We are often asked, how we earn money? We earn a little money from our blog(s) and sometimes I do a little freelance consulting or design work. And, every now and then, I ll be asked to contribute to a magazine article and receive payment for that. And we receive a little support in sponsorships as well.
On the flip side, it s unfortunate we don t receive rent car san francisco cheap help from Miro s dad. He s unable to provide any consistent support, and we accept that. But what I do get from him, is permission to continue our travels indefinitely and that is more valuable than any dollar amount, in my book. So for that, I m grateful.
We choose to live frugally and actually have time together traveling, rent car san francisco cheap and experiencing rent car san francisco cheap cultures that inspire us. Unlike those who are from impoverished communities we ve travel to, live in and volunteer at, we know we have the opportunity to return to the US and pursue the American dream, if that s what we want.
So, when we were asked to speak at the conference in the United States, we had to start saving and cutting back a little rent car san francisco cheap from our already frugal lifestyle to be able to afford this trip. We are going to be in the States for 3 weeks, rent car san francisco cheap visiting Boston, New Hampshire, New York and California. Then we ll rest for a week in Panama before returning to Peru, where we ll prepare for the unschooling retreat we re hosting in June.
Then, of course we couldn t travel to the States without seeing our family. First, Miro s dad purchased a roundtrip rent car san francisco cheap ticket for Miro to fly from Boston to Ohio so he could spend time with his dad for 5 days. And then my parents wanted to take advantage of our time in the States as well, so they purchased rent car san francisco cheap a one-way ticket for us to fly from Boston to California, where we ll spend a week visiting our family.
Then we will take the bus from Boston to New Hampshire for $40 per person, likely each way each equalling $160. We will also travel by bus or train to New York then back to Boston, which we estimate maybe another $100.
But it s a trade off and we ve been able to save and pay for a trip little by little. But we really wanted to make this happen and I remember every day, we ve made the choice to live this lifestyle, so it s not a complaint.
We left Cusco, took an overnight bus ride cutting through the Andes mountains en route to Peru s capital city, Lima. A little scary to say the least. Traveling through windy mountain roads in the pitch black darkness created less than ideal surroundings for sound sleeping. Still, we were able to rest a bit and arrived in Lima almost 24 hours later.
rent car san francisco cheap There we were greeted by an amazing couchsurfing host Ivan, a professional surf photographer. We stayed with Ivan and his 80+ year old father who insisted we call him "Tio". We were immediately made to feel at home and loved learning about their lives. Miro and I settled rent car san francisco cheap into a comfortable soft mattress, likely older than Miro s age and mine and I put together. The room was decorated with memorabilia from Ivan s parents long life together, honoring his mother who had passed on a few years before. rent car san francisco cheap As I floated off to sleep, I thought this is such an honor to be welcomed into this loving family, even just for a night.
The next morning Ivan took us to his family friend s beach house, just south of Lima. Ivan s childhood friend accompanied rent car san francisco cheap us, who happens to be an archeologist at one of Lima s universities. Needless to say, our conversations surrounded some of my favorite things, big rocks , ancient cultures and the people of Peru .
The beach house was beyond lovely. For two days and one night, we enjoyed the beautiful surf, sunsets, waves and sand. Ivan and friends surfed and Miro tried to boogie board. I enjoyed the warmth of the sand, and fell asleep being bathed by the sun. Later, Miro tried his hand at skateboarding, but unfortunately fell off the board and bruised his shoulder.
We returned to Lima and packed up for our impending 50+ hours of air travel and subsequent airport visits. We repacked and waited for our taxi, which picked us up at 2:30 am. Miro and I decided not to sleep for fear we d miss our first flight and figured we d have plenty of time to sleep on the plane and in the airports.
Our flight out of Lima departed at 5:00 am. We landed rent car san francisco cheap in Colombia just two hours later, to wait out our seven hours layover until we boarded our flight to Panama. After an overly rent car san francisco cheap expensive hamburger and salad, we napped for a bit, then we were off again.
Miro and I landed in Panama City, collected our luggage, cleared customs and went through immigration. Then we headed to the check in desk to drop off our luggage for our next morning s flight to the States. Our thought was, we d proceed to the gate, sleep a bit there, rent car san francisco cheap as we had our sleeping bags and pillow then get continue rent car san francisco cheap with our journey. Only it didn t exactly happen like that.
You see, I didn t know you can t check into a flight one calendar day before the flight itself. At least that s was the policy of Copa Airlines. rent car san francisco cheap So, without a boarding rent car san francisco cheap pass, Miro and I were forced to spend the night outside of gates. Less secure and certainly less comfortable. But we managed to find a set of benches that Miro could spread out on, while I sat up, watched our bags, and made sure he was safe. That s just what a mother does and I thought, "one more night, ok..I can do this ."
The next morning, we boarded our flight to the States and I did get some sleep on the plane. But clearly not enough sleep. rent car san francisco cheap We arrived in Washington DC, exhausted. Time to collect our bags, clear customs, go through immigration. We did just that in under two hours. Unfortunately, rent car san francisco cheap we were only allotted an hour and a half to catch our flight from DC to Boston.
rent car san francisco cheap When Miro and I approached United s the check in desk to recheck our bags, we were told we missed our flight. What??? How could that be? We moved through the line as quickly rent car san francisco cheap as humanly possible. There were also hundreds of other people attempting to move through the same lines as well.
It was the beginning of Spring break and all flights were booked. Then United rent car san francisco cheap told us we were actually the responsibility of Copa Airlines that we needed to deal with them, perhaps they could get us on a flight sooner.
I heard the sounds of uncontrollable sobs release from my body. I lost it. I started to shake from exhaustion, tears springing from my eyes, words were simply not audible from my mouth. The United representative looked at me with horror and I m certain with a sense of pity. I was not lashing out at her, but I did appear to be somewhat pathetic. I could not think. rent car san francisco cheap I could not formulate a plan. I was exhausted and my bones ached. I just wanted to sleep. Miro handed me a tissue and told me to get ahold of myself.
rent car san francisco cheap She said with as much compassion as she could muster, "United Airlines was not responsible for us." She advised us to check with Copa, they should take care of us. She also said we needed to deal with Copa Airlines within the next few hours that if we didn t, Copa would would not be liable. rent car san francisco cheap She also suggested we contact Expedia, whom we booked our tickets through. They might be able to help.
We arrived at the Copa Airlines counter, only it wasn t the Copa Airlines counter in that moment. The glowing sign above said Copa, but the handsome Virgin Air counter crew populated it s desks. I thought I was in a David Lynch movie as everything felt so surreal. As I approached the counter, a handsome black man wearing the royal blue and red jacket smiled at me, asked me how he could help.
Luggage in tow, we pushed our bags along downstairs to the payphones. "Copa Airlines, how can I help you?" the voice on the other end of the line said. I started to tell the woman with the thick Panamanian accent on the other end of the phone what happened.
My voice strained as I swallowed back the tears. "We are in Washington DC. We missed our connection. We moved as quickly as humanly rent car san francisco cheap possible rent car san francisco cheap through customs and immigration but we didn t have enough time to catch our connection to Boston. We are now stranded. The soonest connection won t leave for two days. We were tired. We need sleep. rent car san francisco cheap I am traveling with my son. Could you please help us?" I asked.
She was talking rent car san francisco cheap to us from Panama City and although the sympathized with our our ordeal, there was nothing she could, she politely rent car san francisco cheap informed us. She couldn t arrange rent car san francisco cheap a hotel for us, only the Copa representative at the airport could do that.
11:00 pm came and went and we waited patiently in front of the now closed Copa Airlines / Virgin Air counter. The check