Jeff Gardner » Travel

The virtues of living out of a bag

Jeff — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:41:08 +0000

It’s been 4 years since I spent any significant chunk of time traveling. I’m back on the road again, with Gina this time, living out of a bag and loving every minute of it. It’s been a wonderful reminder that life becomes more simple when we strip things away. The stuff that we “can’t live without” quickly becomes superfluous and even the small amount that you are carrying with you in your bag seems to become grossly unnecessary. Point in case – I just went rifled through my bag looking for something and found that I hadn’t even worn half the clothes that I brought with me. Half! It’s good to reset your idea of what is necessary every now and then.

If you want to follow along with us on our travels we’ve been keeping posting to Bean on Tour, our travel blog. You can also see photos at my flickr account. But just for good measure – here are a few of my favorites.

Central Park, NYC

Four mile creek state park, Outside of Niagara Falls

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Lower Yellowstone Falls

Summit of Buck Mtn., Tetons

J. Gardner Photography Refresh

Jeff — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:20:50 +0000

I’ve finally updated my two year old photography website design. I’m still working on getting some new photos up but I’d love to hear what people have to say about the design!

On another note, Gina and I are setting out on our road trip (the first month of our six months of traveling) this weekend. We’ve spent the week moving out of our apartment in Blacksburg and sorting through all the stuff that we’ve accumulated over the years. I’ll be happy to be living out of a bag again soon! Keep an eye out here for pictures along the way. You can also follow our adventures at http://beansontour.com

‘Tis the Season

Jeff — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:47:21 +0000

As I sit down to write this, in the aftermath of Christmas and New Years, I feel I may be quite late. By this time of the year, most people have forgotten Christmas, forgotten which gift was from whom, forgotten the family squabbles (of which I’m happy to report, there were none), and forgotten the raging hangover that accompanied New Years. All the same, I am going to write a little bit about it. I had two Christmases this year. I am lucky enough to be blessed with a family that understands that I will probably never spend December 25th at home again. Which, I know, is a sad thought. But Christmas is the one time of year when both Gina and I can get time off to go to Dublin to see the Smyths and all of our friends. Last year we only had five days, into which we jammed far too much. This year we had 11 days (it was supposed to be 12 except that our outbound flight was cancelled), into which we jammed far too much. It was a great trip, as they usually are. We were blessed with beautiful weather and a few hikes. We were also blessed with a wedding while we were there. Which is a great way to see the people that you are over to see. Two people decide they are going to get married and then gather all the people you are dying to hang out with in one place for you. Very nice of them, don’t you think? I’m not going to bore you through the details of the entire trip, I’ll just post a few photos for you to help you waste a little more of your day.

Bell X1: Blue Lights on the Runway

Jeff — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:04:01 +0000

Not to sound too much like a psychotic 13 year old girl but Bell X1 are coming out with a new album! Apparently it’ll be called Blue Lights on the Runway. There is one new song on thier MySpace page. It’s really good. I am excited.

I’m also exicted to be going to Ireland on Monday. Twelve days. Yippee! More 13 year old behavior!

Italy, properly.

Jeff — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:20:45 +0000

Ok, as one of my dear readers pointed out, I have been lax in getting a post with photos out about our trip to Italy. As you may, or may not, know, Gina and myself were in Italy for two weeks at the beginning of August. We had a great time, especially getting to see Gina’s parents and two brothers at the family house in Liguria.

The main reason for the trip though was to scout places that we would conceivably want to live when we move to Europe in the future. We spent the first whole week blasting around up north trying to do way too many things and talk to way too many people in a language in which we can only barely communicate. Great fun.

The quick run-down of where and what.

-Flew into Milan, drove north to Colico (next to Lake Como).
-Checked out Sondrio (too big), Morbegno (too big), Chiavenna (just right) as possible towns to relocate to.
-Hiked in Val di Mello, Val di Codera, Madesimo (ski area above Chiavenna).
-Swam twice per day in Lake Como and Lake Mezzola, very nice but cold.
-Checked out many physio clinics, hospitals, social services, town facilities, bike shops and climbing shops.
-Drove to Zucchello (Gina’s parents place).
-Went swimming in the sea at San Fruttuoso (requires a hike in, only accessible by foot or boat).

So in the end, we were really tired, and had only somewhat figured out what we wanted to do. Isn’t that always the way. Enough words, lets see photos.

Our bags, yes this is it. We carried on everything because of out 3 flights. These contained sleeping bags, a tent and cooking stuff.

The view from our campsite in Colico, that is Lake Como and those are the alps.

Val di Mello, many compare it to Yosemite. There is lots of granite and lots boulders, thankfully there are no cars.

Looking back at Lago di Mezzola and Lago di Como from Val di Codera.

The main piazza in Chiavenna.

Madesimo, Ski area above Chiavenna.

At Zucchello and put straight to work!

San Fruttuoso from the hike in.

So that is the basics. If you want to see more photos definitely go and check out the gallery on my website. Just a note, the gallery is a little hidden so you can only get to it by the link, not by surfing around and looking for it.

Back from Italy

Jeff — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:47:01 +0000

I’m back a full week now. And I promise I am going to write a proper post about the trip, but the details are still settling in my mind — so all 4 of you that read this will just have to wait a little longer.