Life

Man oh man, have I been busy! The last couple weeks have been jam packed as I’ve been trying to develop my very first business: Alexis Rose Photography! I’m super close to launching my website (hopefully today!!) and from there I’ll be able to start booking clients for real. I’ve never been someone who’s interested in the business…in fact, I remember in college saying that being a business major would probably be my LAST choice, but now…

Up until about a month ago, I had never really even thought about Bulgaria. Sure, I knew it existed, but it’s not a political powerhouse or tourist hotspot, so it just…slipped by me. But then we were forced to make a quick change of plans, and ended up in Bulgaria for a few reasons: Bulgaria has free visa access for Americans and it is not part of the Schengen Agreement (which limits how much time…

By Alexis May 30 is a big day for us Roses. It was the day we got engaged in Switzerland in 2013. It was the day we got married in Hawaii in 2014. And this year, May 30 is our first wedding anniversary AND our first full day in Europe after living in Asia for a year! Big day :) We actually cheated and celebrated our anniversary two days early this year so that we could take advantage of…

By Alexis Konichiwa from Japan! David and I made it to Sendai last night and are loving it here so far! It’s so refreshing to be in a place with clean, stink-free, stray dog-free, streets again. And there are rules here! Rules! It feels like the complete opposite of Thailand, and to be honest, that’s been amazing. Here are a few of my first impressions…. Things I Noticed Right Away… It’s so developed. Everything runs smoothly. The…

By Alexis Starting in just a few short days (eep!), David and I will begin a new adventure, where we will be moving to one new country every month. A lot of people have asked us how we can afford to travel like this, so I figured we should do a quick post outlining our budget. Until the end of 2015, here’s what our monthly budget will look like……

By David Our Monthly Country itinerary is set! We’ve mentioned this a few times over the past couple months, but now we’ve made the adventure official: We have paid for our monthly homes for the rest of 2015! Just for fun, here’s a little visual tour of where we’ll be traveling, displayed in weather……

By David I’m over the hill; I turned the ripe old age of 26 on Friday. The celebratory activities added up to the best non-honeymoon day I’ve had in Thailand. Brunch at Blue Diamond Blue Diamond Breakfast Club (located here) is one of our favorite breakfast/brunch spots in Chiang Mai. The menu consists of a wide range of American breakfast options as well as Thai food. We both got pancakes — chocolate banana for me…

By David Barclaycard sent me my 2014 spending summary yesterday and I found it very illuminating. 41% of everything we spent on that card in 2014 was for travel. That includes flights, hotels, apartment rentals, airport shuttle buses, etc. Now, this is only one credit card of many so it’s not like 40% of everything we spent in 2014 was on travel, but still, this card is pretty representative of our spending and reveals our not-so-secret strategy for…

By Alexis I have been using Clean & Clear facewash for nearly a decade, but when we moved to Thailand I knew that I’d run out of it eventually. When that day finally came recently, I was desperate for a replacement. I couldn’t find my exact wash anywhere in Chiang Mai, and decided to look for a different brand at this random beauty shop that’s on my way home from work. Since I am completely indecisive, I went…

By Alexis In 2014, we lived in England, Hawaii, and Thailand, and we visited Switzerland, Malaysia, Laos, and Indonesia. For 2015, we’ve got even bigger travel plans. We have just officially BOOKED the first 5 months of travel! Eep! :D So here’s where the first half of 2015 will take us……

By Alexis Traveling around the world is definitely glamorous on paper, but it ain’t so glamorous in person. And I mean that in the literal sense of the word…it’s hard to look chic and beautiful when you’ve been living out a backpack, wearing the same worn out jeans, and stomping around dirty southeast Asian streets in a pair of old Nikes for weeks on end. But here’s my secret to feeling pretty while living on the road……

Alexis wrote about her whopping 23 homes here. As part of Urban Compass’ Starter Stories, this post will zero in on one of them: The very first home Roses on the Road shared together. February 22, 2010. That was the day I met Alexis. March 4, 2010. Our first date. The result of a loser-buys-dinner bet I conveniently lost. August 19, 2010. Less than six months later, we’re moving into our first apartment together. Sounds crazy, right?!…