Well guys, big news. We decided to take a HUGE step in our relationship and… combine our blogs! We want to still be able to pack in as much world-seeing and adventure seeking as possible, and trying to capture it all on two separate blogs was proving to be quite the time sink. Plus, with Alan’s impeccable detail and trip-planning tid-bits and Jenni’s colorful anecdotes of how she is massively afraid of everything, we thought that the whole might be greater than the sum of its parts. Hence the birth of our new baby: champagne&backpacks. 

All the content from our old blogs has been ported over here, so you can access each of our views on prior destinations by visiting our respective pre-merger posts.  Going forward we’ll do one combined post for each destination. Some posts may be spearheaded by one of us, but always with the flavor, passion and enthusiasm we both share for this adventure. We hope the end-product is more enjoyable and helpful to our dear readers.  Our goals are to document our experiences, to keep our friends and families updated and entertained, and to provide useful information for those planning long-term or more typical travel.

Jenni picked such a great name for our combined blog, and it’s kind of self-explanatory, so you’re probably not wondering why…but just in case.  While this remains a work in progress and perhaps always will, after some months we’ve been able to reflect and gain perspective on our travels and writing.  There are many blogs devoted to stretching one’s budget in every way imaginable to afford long-term travel.  Others focus purely on the luxury segment.  We fall somewhere in between.  Saving money is always on our mind, but so is maximizing our convenience and enjoyment.  We tend to pay up for location and time saved, so we’d rather spend $100 more and cut out a day of uncomfortable travel.  At the same time, we’re happy to spend $100 less to stay across the street from a fancy hotel and suffer the indignities of low thread count sheets. We like to splurge every now and again, but we’re not above pairing our Moët with some In-N-Out Burger. 

By the way, you will be automatically re-directed to the new site if you visit the url’s of either of our old blogs, and if you signed up to receive e-mails when we post new entries, you should still receive those, only now from the new and improved champagne&backpacks!

We hope you enjoy!