Chronicles of Suz

At the end of January our group traveled to Córdoba riding a Buenos Aires high. We had a bunch of new friends and newfound knowledge of pesos, asados, empanadas, very basic Spanish (dos cervezas por favor), and "Argentina time" (everything is so. so. slow. and late.). We felt confident, even cocky, equipped with our Remote Year posse and Argentinian cultural insights. We were simply moving to another Argentinian city, NBD. Buenos Aires was outstanding, now we knew a lot of Argentina things we didn't know before, which meant Córdoba was going to be even more awesome. I even gushed in my "Saying Goodbye to Buenos Aires" blog post that I felt like I was going to love Córdoba. Remote Year Month 2 challenged many of us in a variety of ways. From the moment we arrived in Córdoba, we dealt with broken elevators, broken refrigerators, daily temps of 100ºF plus (and some group members have no air conditioning), and all the ATMs in the city running out of cash (an...

#sidetrip número dos is in the books. Last week, I boarded a flybondi flight con trés of my Remote Year amigos to visit Argentina's wine country in Mendoza. Who cares about which airline I took, why did I mention that detail, right? As a very frequent flyer I was fascinated by this airline for several reasons:  Flybondi is a brand new Argentinian airline offering flights to locations like Mendoza at a much lower cost than other airlines, and it's obviously a  more convenient option than taking a bus. During our flights to and from Mendoza, many of the passengers were taking a million photos, to the point where we assumed it was most people's first time on a plane or something. Turns out, it was! Flybondi is the first ever budget airline in Argentina, so people who were previously unable to afford flying are now able to plan flights to new destinations. On our trip back, the Argentinian I was sitting next to explained that the whole country is so excited because flybond...

In what feels like no time at all, I had to say goodbye to my first Remote Year city: Buenos Aires. I arrived in Argentina a month ago with minimal expectations and honestly not a whole lot of interest in the country, relative to my excitement about some of the other locations I'll be living in throughout the year (lookin at you @Croatia @Portugal @South Africa!!!). Happy hour during our first week of RY which simultaneously feels like it was a million years ago and also 5 seconds ago And WOW did Buenos Aires change that for me. I fell in love with the city almost immediately and I fell hard. From the murals on every street corner, to the vibrant, super friendly locals, to the extremely laid back pace of life (yes, even slower than San Diego), I jived with Buenos Aires on every level. Toward the end of the month, I began reflecting on what aspects of the city stood out to me the most, and here are some of the highlights: The people: I'll also lump "the...

A very popular topic of conversation on Remote Year is Side Tripping. Beyond the 12 cities in 10 countries in 3 continents we live and work in throughout the year, this group of travel addicts plans a wide variety of shorter trips (think one to five-ish days) to other destinations because you know, #yolo. Here's what's on the docket of trips currently being discussed: Machu Picchu, Patagonia, Iguazu Falls (prob spelled that wrong), Mendoza (Argentina's wine country), Galapagos, Rio Carnival in Brazil, Lollapalooza in Chile, and the list keeps growing. I physically, not to mention financially, cannot participate in every trip, and you better believe I want to. Yes of course this is a great problem to have, but a problem nonetheless. So far, I have been doing a nice job of actively enjoying Buenos Aires, my home for this month, and I have been resisting most temptations to book trips, BUT I haven't gone full cold turkey. One of one billion cool murals in Buenos A...

I've been putting off writing this because I have sooo many thoughts and I do not know where to begin, and probably could never end.  I guess I will start with: I've been touched by friends/fam who have already reached out to ask how things are going so far and I generally respond with something along the lines of "SOOOOO GOOOOOD!!!!" Sorry I can't be more articulate, but it's the truth!  I am definitely in some sort of honeymoon phase... whether it's with Buenos Aires or Remote Year or 2018... I don't know but it's fantastic. I've been as giddy as a kid on Christmas for the last 7 days and I seem to not require sleep and not get hungover despite excessive alcohol consumption. The constant warmth and sunshine also don't hurt (sorry East Coasters)! Everything about this experience so far has exceeded expectations. Every day is packed to the brim with new sights, tastes, words (no hablo español but I need to learn stat), stories,...