History and Facts About Argentina

Sep 16, 2008 by Melanie Van Orden 

The flag of Argentina, blue and white stripes with a yellow sun in the middle.My awesome sister-in-law, Amara, posted a comment on this blog asking for more information about Argentina’s history. I am all to happy to oblige; I love to answer readers’ questions! (Note: You don’t have to be a family member of mine to get a question answered on this blog!)

Jason and I visited Argentina for a few months from February to May of 2008. We loved our time there and want to go back to visit in the future. Some of our favorite parts of our visit were the architecture of Buenos Aires, the fabulous steaks and ice cream, the passionate and sophisticated culture and the low prices! Read more…

Filed Under Argentina, Locations, Misc. | 3 Comments

San Telmo at nightPhoto: San Telmo at night by Libertinus

This post is the second installment of the story of our arrival in Argentina in February of this year. When I left off in the story, I told you about our international plane ride.

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Filed Under Misc. | 3 Comments

Beautiful old building on Defensa Avenue, Buenos Aires, ArgentinaOur Jet Set life began when we left our tiny Manhattan apartment in February of this year to head to JFK International Airport for our flight to Argentina.

We’d been planning this day for months, but we couldn’t believe we were leaving our New York life behind to try and learn Spanish and soak up a little porteño culture. (Porteño is another word for residents of Buenos Aires; Argentina’s largest port city.)

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Filed Under Argentina, Misc. | 5 Comments

Mel Columbia River Vista, Portland Oregon

As some of you may already know, Jason and I embarked on our latest traveling adventure in Portland, Oregon a little under three weeks ago. We have wanted to live in this place since our garage band days in college.

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Filed Under Locations | 3 Comments

Where Did the Time Go | An Update On Our Travels

Jul 20, 2008 by Jason Van Orden 

Harlem MuralGasp! It’s been a couple months since either of us has posted to the blog here. I guess we’re still learning how to manage our freedom, ambitions and other demands on our time. When last we posted, we had just returned to NYC for our favorite time of year — spring.
Here’s a quick update on our travels since.

May 2008 - Harlem

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Filed Under New York City | 3 Comments

Melanie Eating SteakJason and I have been in NYC for four days, and I’ve been reviewing our stay in Buenos Aires. Pictures and videos of our trip are coming soon! In the meantime, I thought I’d share a little list of my favorite and not so favorite things about Bs.As.

Things I Will Miss About Buenos Aires

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Filed Under Argentina, Locations | 4 Comments

Surprise! We’re Back in NYC!

May 15, 2008 by Melanie Van Orden 

I Heart New York LogoSo, it’s no secret that Jason and I were starting to feel pretty homesick for New York during our stay in Buenos Aires. We blogged about it, posted about it on Twitter and told every friend who emailed us lately.

Well, one of the benefits of a jet set lifestyle is that you can change your location plans at any time. We decided that there was no reason to stay in Buenos Aires and wait for winter to hit us if we would rather be in New York enjoying the spring and summer!

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Filed Under Misc., New York City | 13 Comments

Jet Set Freedom: Blessing or Curse?

May 05, 2008 by Melanie Van Orden 

Ball and Chain OpenedOK, so you may be wondering why I would EVER suggest that the freedom of a jet set lifestyle could be a curse. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a blessing. It’s a big, big blessing that I sometimes wonder at the fact that it came to be in my life. I love my jet set lifestyle and I wouldn’t give it up.

But what I’m talking about it something that comes with the territory of having a lot of freedom when it comes to how you spend your time. (Which is something that happens to a lot of us who work for ourselves.) What I’m talking about is a tendency I have to loose my focus on what I need to do in order to keep my jet set lifestyle running!

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Filed Under Internet Business, Misc., Money | 5 Comments

Homesick for NYC

May 03, 2008 by Melanie Van Orden 

Spring in Central Park in New York CityJason and I have been struggling with a bit of homesickness for the first time since leaving NYC for Argentina a few months ago. It is currently spring in our beloved city, which is our favorite time of year to be there. Boy, do we miss it. We LOVED being New Yorkers and have always looked forward to visiting or living there again someday, but it is beginning to be painful that we can’t see our family and friends and enjoy Manhattan right now.

Don’t get me wrong, we love Buenos Aires! We couldn’t be happier that we embarked on this new jet set lifestyle that will take us to a new country every few months. We’re enjoying learning Spanish and soaking up the local culture. It’s just that our friends and our city are doing things without us, and we feel like we are missing out.

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Filed Under Argentina, Misc. | 6 Comments

Jet Set Families | Longterm Travel with Kids

May 01, 2008 by Melanie Van Orden 

Three Little Sisters on the BeachSeveral years ago, Jason and I had a rock band that we were attempting to turn into a viable career. We poured all of our extra time and money into the endeavor, and spent three solid years pursuing that goal. Eventually, we realized that we would probably have to spend at least another seven years touring and building our fan base in order to begin making a real living as an independent band. (Ten years seemed to be the magic number for independent music biz success.)

When that realization came to us, we decided that being full-time band members wasn’t for us. We wanted to start having kids sometime in the next tens years, and constant touring, smoky bars, and living off Ramen Noodles didn’t seem to be the best environment for raising a family.

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Filed Under Jet Set Families, Misc. | 20 Comments

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