T-minus 144 hours!

Hello again!

Us on roadtrip 2 in the great state of Texas

Us now in our nation's capitol of D.C 

For those unfamiliar, we are Kelly and Kassie and this was our blog from a couple of cross-USA roadtrips we took between 2011 and 2012. The first trip started when Kelly graduated college and was bound for the small town of Gallup, New Mexico to start a year of teaching with the AmeriCorps program Teach for America. During her time with the kids, Kelly learned that the classroom is a tough place, not only because of pre-pubescent youth but also because of America's atrocious education system that does very little to support students and teachers in their endeavors to succeed. (sorry for the strong words, but it's true.. we're struggling, folks). Since this experience, Kelly has worked predominately in the nonprofit field to secure funding for both environmental and social organizations. Kassie has been popping around, working for the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps in the western U.S. and learning what it takes to build a sustainable food culture while volunteering on various farms.

Here we are now, after a summer of working in the hot sun to maintain manicured gardens for the good people of Minneapolis, about to set off on a three month tour of Eastern and Northern Europe! We are excited to share our journey with you as often as internet access, time, and energy allow!

We depart from Minnesota next Wednesday, the 9th of September, and land in Munich, Germany the following day. We plan to explore Bavaria for a couple of weeks while volunteering at a refugee hotel, which should be very interesting seeing as Germany plans to have adopted nearly 800,000 Syrian refugees (read more here) by the end of this year. From there, we will explore Vienna, Budapest, and Prague before heading to Southern Poland for work on a farm that is home to a Mangalica pig that might look something like this:

Kassie has never been so excited.

After the farm, we will take some time to journey around Poland and Northern/Eastern Germany until reaching Saxony and spending a couple of weeks volunteering at a guesthouse with plenty of garden space and animals! We will spend the later part of our trip visiting friends in Amsterdam, eating some French cheese below the Eiffel Tower, and making our way to London where we fly out destined for a two week stay in Iceland before heading home to celebrate the holidays with our families.

We're very fortunate to have saved enough money and found the time in our lives to take a trip like this and we are excited to share our experiences with friends and family through this blog. Thank you for reading and stay tuned! xoxo, K+K