Green Month Update: Weeks 2 and 3!

Wow it is already the 4th week of Green Month! Here is an update on our riding:

Week 2 seemed to fly by and the weather was perfect! Conveniently that bee farm I discussed in the last posting disappeared so we no longer had to worry about being stung or swallowing a bee (hey I have done it before and it is not fun!) Neither of us seemed too exhausted from traveling around by bike. More and more people were wondering why Zak and I were riding our bikes everywhere and I had a few people say they saw me biking around, most people's jaws drop when we tell them that we commute to and from our house on our bikes but in all honesty it isn't much of a bike ride at all and is faster than taking the bus and about 10 minutes longer than taking the car. 

For the past year or so of riding my bike I have had to carry it up and over the train tracks on the other side of our apartment complex. It is about 4 sets of fairly vertical stairs but I always looked at it as a good upper body work out! Although I have found myself saying "I wish they would have a bike assist on these stairs" and bam what do you know:

Yay!!! 

Now on to week 3: This week has good news and bad news. Good news is that Zak is still riding bad news is that I had to give up riding due to a stomach bug that I had picked up somewhere during the week. I normally would have just stayed home and avoided driving while recovering but unfortunately I had to attend a mandatory "mock evacuation" on the base. I am still currently battling whatever this foreign microbe is that I picked up and it sucks to have had to quit. I am still rooting for Zak and proud that he has made it into the final week, looks like good weather for the rest of the week as well. 

Here is his week three wrap up:

No gasoline/ Bike Month

Still riding... 
349 Miles
17536 calories 
36h:23m:6s of travel

Zak is also planning his third bike trip from Seoul to Pyeongtaek which is approximately 60 miles. He has a few friends joining him this time and they are riding for the American Diabetes Association! Here is their page: 60 Miles For The Cure. 

I will check back in next week to wrap up Green Month!! Thanks for reading xx

Green Month: Week 1 Wrap Up!

So we did it, we survived the first week of Green Month ! We had great weather this past week so luckily we didn't have to do any extreme weather riding! The highlight of the week goes to Zak and his ingenious way to fulfill his plans of golfing that he made prior to us starting green month:

No big deal, just riding a bicycle with golf clubs... ha ha!

We had a Cinco De Mayo party to attend over the weekend which I had agreed to bring Corona to without actually considering how we would get a case of Corona from the store to my friends house, our solution:

One six pack at a time! 

So it is not that we are limited on our every day life because of not using the car or other means of transportation we just have to find different ways to do it! 

Our usual commuting path from our home to the base has become such an easy and effortless ride now, I honestly went into a zone today riding home and 30 minutes felt like 5! The only time I dislike that bike ride is the section that we have to ride through which happens to be a bee farm. I pull up my mask, drop down my sunglasses and go into full on crazy peddling mode to push through the cloud of bees fast enough so they don't land on me.  Zak said he got hit in the ear by one this week but thankfully we haven't been stung... yet. 

I am looking forward to seeing what challenges we can overcome this week!! Until the next update here are some more photos we took during our first week being petrol free!

Yes that is a pineapple in my back pack :o)

Oh an here is a cute picture of Pip because she feels left out of the blog lately..

Well that is it for week one, and according to Zak's estimation of mileage/gas prices/car mpg we have saved a little over $20 in fuel this week and have burned about 10,000 combined calories of our own fuel! 

Thanks for reading

xxx

Fussen, Germany

The last stop on my Euro-family visit was Fussen, Germany! This was the first time I had ever been to Germany and the city my uncle lives in is so picturesque. We only stayed for a few days but I would have loved to stay longer. The Alps were magnificent to see and we also drove through part of Austria (which is just around the corner). These photos are taken just down the street from my uncle's home: 

My mom and her brother 

Mom and my cousins :)

Ah, nothing better than a good German beer after the lack of good draft beer in Korea.

My cousin Wolfgang! 

The street my uncle lives on, pretty unbelievable how beautiful it is. 

Fussen, Germany is a very touristy area because it is home of the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles of King Ludwig. The Neushwanstein Castle was being renovated but it was still breath taking to see in person. 

Here I am with my Uncle Ian and his wife Katarina at the base of the mountain my uncle jumps off of with a paraglide just about every day for a living:

That concludes my travels through Europe, I cannot wait to go back and see everyone again! It is truly an awesome feeling to know that I have family all over the world. But just as I have time to wind down again Zak, Pip and I are escaping Korea's monsoon season and heading across the Atlantic to begin a 2 month long journey through the states to see all of our stateside family and friends! 

I am looking forward to sharing the fun times we have ahead, thank you so much for reading!

xx

Sidetrack from Travels: Green Month!

     Ok readers, Zak and I have started a challenge. Call us crazy but we have decided to not use our car, taxis, or petrol powered trains for the month of May. This leaves us with walking, biking, using electric trains and ONLY if there are storms out, taking the public bus...that is unless you would find humor in us documenting what it was like to ride our bikes in 20mph winds and pouring rain. (we shall see).

     We have decided to do this not only to achieve a really awesome goal but also in an effort to be in the best shape of our lives by the time we go home for vacation next month. (home=beach in case you didn't know... beach=bikini, you see where I am going with this) We have both been working very hard on getting our bodies in shape since the beginning of the year and we are feeling really good about our accomplishments thus far but we want to push it just that one step further. 

     Another reason we are doing this challenge is to better the environment where we can. Living in Korea has given myself and Zak a whole new respect for recycling. This is such a small country and it is their way of life to recycle pretty much everything (and I mean everything, excluding egg shells and bones!) So we decided to make one month of our life a little inconvenient to give back to Korea!  

     The challenge started yesterday, and while we usually commute on our bikes 1-2 times a week we have never had to depend solely on them for transportation and running errands... hmm guess we should have stocked up on toilet paper before we started this challenge. 

     Yesterday wasn't too bad for me, I took it easy on the way to the gym (which is about a 45 minute casual paced bike ride each way) worked out with my trainer and then rode back. Here is what Zak had to say about his first day: 

May 1st, Day One of "No Petrol Month"

21.23 miles ridden on bike

981 calories burned

19 city mpg for Accord EX-L V6

$3.809 per/gal US National Average

$4.26 saved today

Exhaustion Level 7/10

     We shall see what the next month has in store for us, we will be sure to document with pictures and check in every week!

     Wish us luck and thanks for reading!

xxx

              

To The Motherland...Wales.

Ah Wales, where to start? It is such a beautiful and quiet country that is filled with so much of my family's history. To be able to experience where my mother and all of her siblings, aunts, uncles, mother and father grew up has filled a hole in my life and for that I will always cherish this trip. Walking through the rolling hills and seeing all the little lambs and the smile on my mother's face to see her youngest daughter living this moment is unforgettable. I hope I can share how much these moments meant to me through the pictures I have taken:

Entering Wales! 

Mom and I shopping in Cardiff

Aunty Jane, my cousin Kayleigh and Mom in Cardiff

Driving through Brecon Beacons

The following pictures are in Llandrindod Wells, a small town in Wales where some of my mom's siblings and my cousins grew up. 

My Nan used to live in here above the optician

Now we are on our way to where my mother, one of her sisters, and brother grew up. 

The house in the next photos has SO much history in my mom's family. Her father and his siblings as well as my mom and some of her siblings grew up in this house called "Tynant". We originally planned to walk up the lane and take a few photos with it but the current owner actually invited us in. As soon as we entered you could just feel the emotions in the room and all of the memories it brought back to my mother. It was such a bittersweet thing to witness. So after having some tea and chatting with the owners my mother and my Aunty Elaine said their goodbye's to Tynant.

That concludes our trip to Wales, a country where I was thankful to breath the fresh air and understand where I come from. I am proud to say that I am Welsh! Iechyd da!

Thanks for reading!!
xx