Calling all travel junkies, bloggers, writers, or dreamers who will be heading to New York this summer to be a part of the Travel Blog Exchange ‘10 conference! Hop & Jaunt has just opened up our travel-inspired T-shirt store and wanted to share the fun with you!

Here’s the story: We’ve NEVER been to New York!! I know, I know, but it’s the truth. And since we’re headed up for the TBEX 10 we’ve also decided to spend an extra week in N.Y. to explore. This is where you come in. We need some input on what to see and what to do while in the Big Apple. And in exchange you might just pick up some swank gear in exchange.

The Competition:

Show Me Your NY! Top 5 UNIQUE Things To See Or Do In N.Y.

How To Enter:
Enter your top 5 UNIQUE things to see or do while in N.Y. in the comment section below. If you’ve been through our blog you know we are pretty much open to anything, so don’t hold back!

We’ll select the top five entries that we think are the most original and what we’d love to see or do. These top five people will be posted on a poll on our Facebook page where everyone can vote for their favorite! The deadline for posting comments will be June 12th (Aly’s birthday) and then polling will be opened up until to the 15th. This should give us enough time to get the winner’s size and get it shipped.

Though it’s mostly for people interested in TBEX anyone can enter. After all this shirt manages to convey three messages at once, and you might like it for any of the three reasons: I Heart N.Y., I Heart TBEX, or I HEART Hop & Jaunt

Looking forward to seeing what suggestions you have for a unique N.Y. experience!!

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Hi everyone!!

We’ve just launched our travel gear store! It’s been a creative outlet and fun side project for us and we wanted to share what we’ve made with you.

Alien Attack! Be Prepared With A Cool Tee

You will probably notice right off the bat, with the aliens and retro model shots, that this is not a typical travel store. The truth is this is our playground that we want to invite you in. While traveling we were disappointed with both the overall quality and lack of originality in the destination souvenir t-shirts. So while out roaming about, we began sketching ideas for shirts we wished we could have gotten. This site is where we will be showcasing the designs.

The store is a work in progress, we still have a sketchbook full of ideas and designs to put in. But we’re eager to get the feedback from our fellow traveler what they think! We are creating a contest (posted shortly) for our fellow travel bloggers where we will be giving away the TBEX 10 NY shirt. The rules will be quite simple, submit your top 5 unique things to do while in New York and from the entries we will choose the top five we think are the best, then we will have a poll on our facebook page for everyone to vote on the #1 top 5 unique things to do in NY!

TBEX 10 NY Shirt To Rock The City In

We’re working out the details and will post the official contest on our blog today.

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Excerpt from Travelouge April 1st, 2010

We were now somewhere in the middle of the Gulf of Paria. Alyson and I were both uneasy. Neither of us had stopped scanning the horizon since we had entered the “Boca del Serpiente” Channel just before sunrise. The Paria is a small body of water separating the isle of Trinidad from the Venezuelan mainland, and it’s notorious for pirate attacks. Passage through the gulf can only be made through the two separate channels leading in and out of the Paria. Entry from the south via the Mouth of the Serpent and from the north by the Mouth of the Dragon.

“In the mouth of the snake and out the mouth of the dragon.”

A route we would rather have avoided, but weather conditions dictated that we had to sail today…and this was the quickest passage. Sometimes it is hard to decide who to fear more…man or Mother Nature. Hopefully, if all went well we would be passing out of the “Boca del Dragon” Channel in a couple of hours.

The winds had been picking up steadily since day break. A 20 knot breeze out of the southeast kept us on a broad reach making between 6-8 knots. Despite the increasing winds, we carried on under full genoa and main. We were anxious to put the Paria and its rumors of pirates to our stern.

We hadn’t been in the gulf long, but it had already seemed like an eternity. We tried to relax our tensions by joking about swinging over to Trinidad to pick up some rum.

“Maybe some coffee will help to ease our tensions…” Alyson suggested as she made her way below to the galley.

“Shhh! Do you hear that?”

The barely audible buzz of an outboard motor could be heard in the air. I grabbed the binoculars and started scanning the horizon as Alyson scurried back into the cockpit.

“There!” she shouted pointing to off our port bow.

Sure enough, the small silhouette of a pirro boat could be seen thudding over the waves.

“Probably, just a fishing boat” Alyson tried to assure us. Usually, that would be the case. Small fishing boats of locals and islanders was not an uncommon sight. But here… in the infamous Paria…it seemed unlikely.

As they approached closer we got a much better look at them…and unfortunately, they got a much better look at us. They were a swarthy looking group, leering at us with malicious intent as they slowly cruised by. Alyson grabbed my hand. We could spot their automatic weapons lying low in their boat. The sight of two white gringos alone on board sent them into a frenzy. They smiled at such easy victims and shouted taunts at us while waving their machetes in the air.

The rusty outboard of the pirro boat rattled with acceleration. The pirates passed to our stern and began to loop around to our starboard side. Soon we would be boarded, and then…?

We had seconds to act.

I reached to the cockpit locker to grab our handheld VHF radio. Maybe the Trinidadian Coast Guard could get here in time, but it was highly doubtful. As I threw open the lid I was struck by a sour odor. Some of bottles from our stash of beer had busted, and the entire locker was filled with a foul stench of beer, salt water, & gasoline. Then I spotted our one weapon we kept on board…our emergency flare gun. An idea began to quickly develop in my mind.

The pirates were now coming along side. I could hear their sinister voices and the outboard’s rev getting louder. I handed the flare gun to Alyson and took the helm.

“What’s this for?!?” she asked in surprise.

As the pirate vessel came along side, I pulled hard on the tiller. Our little boat “the Jaunt” turned quick on a beam reach ramming the side of the wooden fishing boat. The pirates were pissed. Alyson quickly trimmed in the sails and the Jaunt heeled over dramatically raising our starboard topside. A clever move that shielded us from the pirates momentarily.
The angry pirates fired on the Jaunt putting a few bullet holes in our hull and ripping the main sail before looping around to make another pass on us.

Taking advantage of the situation, I grabbed the gas can and a couple of empty beer bottles from the cockpit locker. “Fill” I told Alyson. The pirates were looping behind us once again. This time making an approach to our port side. The cockpit floor filled with gasoline while Alyson dumped the contents of our gas reserve into the two empty beer bottles.

We were both crouched low in the cockpit now. As we heard the pirates near the boat, I passed her the flare gun. “On my signal, shoot! Got it!”

Just at that moment, one of the pirates peered over into our boat. They were coming aboard. He spotted the flare gun in Alyson’s hands and the makeshift Molotov Cocktails. His eyes widened. He turned to shout something to his comrades in the boat alongside. Before, he could open his mouth I grabbed an oar. With as much force as I could muster I jabbed the oar into his throat, and sent the pirate reeling backwards into the Paria’s waters.

The commotion of a man overboard distracted the pirates. This was the moment. I nodded to Alyson. We both took a deep breath and time seemed to stand still.

“Now!”

We both leaped up from the cockpit floor. I took sight of the pirro and hurled the gasoline-filled beer bottle at the fuel tank of their outboard engine. It shattered into pieces sending glass and gasoline in every direction. The startled pirates looked up to stare at us in disbelief and then…

the small click of the flare gun trigger…

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This is a screen shot from the new design we are working on for our site. The concept is a fusion of our two interests, work, and passion. We will have a home page where you can choose between our featured articles, go to our travel blog, go to our design agency, or browse our travel inspired t-shirt and travel gear store! Here are a few screenshots from what we are working on.

Let us know what you think, we’re still working out some of the kinks so before we say “I Do”. Are there any objections to this union of the new design and Hop & Jaunt? If so,  speak now or forever hold your peace!

Home page with links to the 3 different sections, featured slider, flickr photos

The Blog Home Page

The post page

The main portfolio page with rotating images from different projects

This is the basic lay-out of our indivisual category portfolio page

This is the idea of the design so far, we’ve got a few kinks still to work out but if you have any suggestions let us know we still have a little time to change!

To leave a comment click on the title of this post, and scroll to the bottom of the article.

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The Crew of Hop & Jaunt

When you’re traveling abroad knowing the native tongue is a handy asset (obviously), and since Alyson is well versed in Espanol it saves me alot of  time with complex translations.  However, I do like the challenge of being able to do things myself.  Living in Colombia has definitely helped my Spanish to improve.  Alyson also has been a good tutor and often gives me the opportunity to take the lead in some conversations.  The practice has helped me come a long way from my first failed attempt at trying to rent a computer at a Colombian internet cafe.  As we approached the counter I was so surprised and unprepared when Alyson told me, “You try this time” that the only Spanish word I could muster was “Senor”.  As in ” uhh…I’d like to use a computer…Senor.”  That didn’t really get me anything but a blank stare.

Luckily though I’ve gotten much better.  Now its absolutely no problem for me to go out in the city to do things on my own.  But on occassion I do find myself in conversational situations that exhaust my basic knowledge of the language, and I’m forced to resort to awkward charade-like gestures.  Today it happened again when I attempted to purchase tickets to tour Cartagena’s World Famous Teatro Heredia.

Relaxing on the Balcony

We woke up midmorning today with nothing in particular to do.  The day was warm and the skies were clear.  While enjoying the view from the balcony of our new hostel room we decided it would be a good day to take the cameras around the city and take some photographs.

View from our suite.

Nice warm weather here with cool December breezes.

Hitting the streets in search of coffee.

more doors

Cafe Havana: a cuban club on the corner

While walking along we noticed a long line outside of Teatro Heredia.  This is a beautiful 100 year old theater that we’ve been dying to go inside.  While Alyson was busy taking photographs, I decided to approach the ticket window and buy our admission for the theater tour.  Tickets can be purchased for 11,000 Pesos (roughly $5.50 US) per adult.

Teatro Heredia

I’m not quiet sure where I went wrong in the conversation.  I thought I was doing pretty well, but instead of the tour I accidentaly purchased tickets for a school performance of The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  Its strange that no matter where you are at Christmas you end up going to watch someone’s kids in some type of holiday play.  It wasn’t what we were expecting but it got us into the theater anyhow.

Our box seats

View of the interior

Not a bad place to have a school play

Lights dimming...

the Stage

Indian Princess

Ceiling of the theater

The play was good.  Apparently, Colombian schools are not broken down into Elementary, Junior High and High School.  All ages attend the same school and participated in the performance.  It was very well done, and since it was a familar story the dialogue was easy to follow.  We were surprised that the school performances are held in such an elaborate and historic theater, but I suppose if you’ve got it…use it.  We wanted to post some video from the show, but a slow internet connection is preventing us from uploading any.  So instead here is a little holiday play of our own. 

After the play we spent the rest of the evening playing darts and listening to music in a British pub.  I really love the variety of things to do in this city.  Check our photos page for more images and have a Merry Christmas or uhh Feliz Navidad!

Feliz Navidad

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Cartagena is home to some amazing knockers. Though plastic surgery is almost a national pastime here, we are not talking about the girls today. Sorry boys. Also known as “The Door To The Americas,” Cartagena boasts some of the most beautiful architecture in the Americas. Once you’ve strolled through the romantic streets of the old city you’ll understand why it’s been designated a world heritage site since 1984. We have walked these streets almost everyday since being in Colombia and still never tire of seeing something new in a building or plaza that we missed the last time around. The details that adorn the buildings and streets are what keep it so interesting. So today we will start with some of the details of the city that have fascinated us and from there pan out to the overall city and sights. I hope you find these knockers as fascinating as we did.

I would love to have one of these on my future door but I would need an amazing door to go along with it. Maybe something like this one here?

Of course with a bigger door I would need a bigger house!

I hope you’ve enjoyed these knockers as much as we do, next up we will be panning out for a larger overview and tour of the historic downtown Cargtagena. Happy Holidays everyone!

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Island Tour of Curacao

 

The Fort atvSpanish Water

Hello, Hop&Jaunt fans! As you dedicated readers are well aware, Alyson and I are currently in Curacao (pronounced Curacao). Though we have been here for quite some time, we have been extremely busy. Over the past few weeks, we have had few spare dates available on our social calendar. Our growing network of friends and acquaintances have kept us well entertained and occupied. This has left us with plenty more stories to tell, but unfortunately less and less time to write to you. But to quote Steve Martin…”Hey! What do you think I do? Write letters all day?”

Being anchored in Curacao for so long has definitely been great! If you saw the photos from our last blog post, you can see that the scenery here is very much different from our excursions through Venezuela’s outlying islands. Big colorful buildings, outdoor cafes, and hundreds of restaurants and shops make living here long term much more convenient. Although, without a car of our own, maneuvering about the island requires long periods of waiting at various bus stops. And while we haven’t had any major Jaunts in a while, Hopping from bus to bus has helped keep us true to our name.

As we’ve probably written before, the boat is anchored in a protected little bay known as Spanish Waters. It is located on the southwest side of the island. Basically, it is very much like a large salt water lake with only one narrow channel that leads out to the sea. Large, rocky hills covered with green shrubbery and cactus surround the bay on all sides, and of course interspersed along the landscape sit several water front homes. The anchorages here have been filling up steadily over the past few weeks with transiting sailboats and motor trawlers. Sailors on their voyages west to Central America stop here to wait out the hurricane season and look for decent weather windows before continuing on to Aruba, Columbia or Panama. Naturally, this is our reason for remaining here, as well.

Being in this holding pattern has its benefits. We’ve been able to see much more of the island and meet more of the people; however, with Spanish Waters being remotely located on the southwestern side it can sometimes be difficult to maneuver about. Most businesses, restaurants, bars, cafes, theaters, and public services are located in downtown Wilemstad, which is about a 30 minute bus ride away. Other attractions, beaches and points of interest can be spread across the island and tucked away in hard to reach places. To visit just one beach or plantation house in the north by bus could literally be an all day event. Fortunately for us…we have the time…and friends with cars.In our interest to find work doing freelance graphic design, we have been making an effort to meet the local designers of Curacao. A few internet searches and casual introductory emails to various people were met with quite a positive response. One particularly friendly and hospitable designer named Evert Jan Boon or Ejpeg invited Alyson and I along to an industry wide, social gathering at a hip, upscale bar called Omundo. People in general may be hesitant about driving out of their way to pick up two strangers they’ve only just met on the internet and take them out to a business association meeting; however, Evert is an exceptionally welcoming person. He also told us that he read our blog before hand and we seemed like good, legitimate people. (Having a travel blog has its advantages sometimes!) We were so lucky to have met Evert because in our efforts to meet some designers from around Curacao, he took us right to the one event where they all gather together each year.

New friends we made at the Marketers/Designers meeting.

This was a great opportunity for us and we had a blast. It was refreshing to step away from sailing and travel for a night, and just talk with other graphic designers, marketers, and advertisers over beers and cocktails. It has really opened a lot of new doors for us here in Curacao. We met some many people that night that our networking goals were accomplished within just a few short hours. Plus, we made a ton of new friends which has led to several more nights out and about over the past several weeks. A few friends we met that night, Ervina,  Marijn, and Joost (pronounced yoast…trust us, it took a month for us to get that one right!) have been so kind as to regularly invite us on Friday nights to the popular hangouts at Mambo and Cabana Beach.

Cabana Beach is a large, outdoor beach club and it is the Friday night hotspot for people on the island. Since the public buses stop running at 9:30pm, its definitely a place we never would have been able to visit without a friend with a car. Alyson loves the night life, socializing and dancing. Also I think she enjoys the time spent talking with other girls about…you know…girl stuff (like clothes and ribbons and hand bags?) I’m not a big club or disco person myself, but I have to admit that I was overly impressed by Cabana Beach. I’ve never been any place like it. I wanted to take a ton of pictures, but Alyson convinced me that it wouldn’t be cool, so I’ll try to explain the scene. The club is all outdoors and right on the beach complete with crashing waves and swaying palms. On the center stage sits a baby grand piano where a man and woman duo perform all the popular songs of the 80s, and they are actually really good. Around the stage is the crowded dance floor, and enclosing this area lounge groups of socialites on plush wicker couches, arm chairs, and day beds. Scurrying about the place are waiters and waitress carrying large buckets of iced champagne with lit sparklers spouting from the cork and giant plate glass trays of fresh sushi and sashimi. Its definitely a posh, ritzy place so Alyson and I require a little preparation before going out. The past few months of cruising has left me a little, rough looking. Even our cleanest clothes are stained with traces of boat paint, engine oil, and rust. But, hey! we are sailors now.

On our nights out, Ervina and Marijn have introduced us to several people from around the island. One night at the Cabana we met Michel, a young local guy who had done some extensive backpacking through South America. Since Alyson and I both hope to continue on our travels backpacking, we immediately began questioning him on his experiences. Michel had a lot to tell us about how he backpacked, which places he visited, and where he stayed. We are always trying to gather information about new places by talking with people who have actually been there. We told Michel that we interested in seeing more of the island, but had trouble getting around by bus. He kindly offered to drive us around the island that Sunday as a favor from one traveler to another. Below are the pictures from our private island tour.

Riding around Curacao in Michel's car.

Curacao Landscape Inland. Its very dry here.

St. Christoffel Mountain, the highest point in Curacao.

Aly & Michel

a church on a hill

Michel took us to some of the popular beaches on the northwest side of Curacao.

Dive shop at Playa Grandi

Roses, Rig, & Water

Rig, Tug, & Cliff

Groete Knip Beach

These boys were jumping from the cliffs and into the water below.

We weren't brave enough to try.

Michel & John

Michel took us to a look out point over Santa Marthabay.  It looks a lot like Spanish Waters without the boats and houses.

Santa Martha Bay

Santa Martha Bay

Later that afternoon we headed for the beach at PortoMari.  We had some lunch and did some snorkeling.  We were impressed at how much coral and fish there was.  It reminded us a lot of the waters in Bonaire.

Playa PortoMari

Sunset at Playa PortoMari

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Island Surf

Guess what we did Tuesday morning? We went windsurfing! There is a little windsurf shop on the water here in Spanish Waters and for the past few months we have been sitting on our cockpit watching them zoom by. As you may or may not know already, John and I have started in earnest our graphic design business. While in Curacao we have had time to think about what direction we wanted to head, and being our own boss while doing what we loved seemed an unbeatable option. While on this course we got in contact with Hilde, the manager of Windsurf Curacao, and ended up trading design for lessons.

Windsurf Curacao

With the design heading for the printers we arranged for a lesson at 10am this morning. The shop was just opening up when we pulled onto the beach with our dingy. Windsurf Curacao is situated on the western coast of Spanish Waters. It had a definite surf-islandly atmosphere with driftwood benches and chairs, surfboards propped up by the water, and the obvious fact that is was indeed a surf spot on the islands.

Our instructor for the morning was a young Dutch guy named Manford ( I am so sorry if I am spelling this wrong), who was teaching for the first time in months due to a broken ankle. He did mention it was from windsurfing… hmmm. The first thing he showed us was the “simulator.” This imposing sounding devise is a windsurf board with wheels centered on a platform where you can practice the moves without being on the water. He had us practice our balance and getting the sail up a few times. Having living on boats for the past several months we at least already knew all the names: such as mast, boom, keel, downwind, and upwind.

In no time we were all in the water and after a few more practice tries getting the sail up and learning how to turn we were feeling pretty good. Of course we had the beginner set-up where our boards where huge, the sails were tiny, and we were barley hanging on at first but it was a blast.

Surfer kids

While others watching might have seen two shaky people slowly floating around, from our vantage point we were cutting through the water at break neck speeds! We were told we were doing pretty well and our confidence rose. That is until the instructor threw us the final challenge: a tight figure eight course up and down wind. Unlike what we expected it turns out that windsurfing is actually even more difficult with little wind compared to too much. Thinking this new challenge will be no problem we both hopped on our boards and…just stood there slowly floating backward! After another few minuets of figuring out how to go forward again I was able to start the course. When I looked up to see how John was doing he had floated a pretty good ways downwind and was trying to work his way back. Thus it went on for the last twenty minuets or so of our lesson. By the time the instructor called us back to the beach I had managed a few of the ugliest figure eights and John had just managed to get back on coarse. But once he got on course again he was able to get a couple of figure eights done and we were both pumped and excited by the time we got back on the beach. We had to do this again!

We have a few more lessons planned over the next few weeks so hopefully we will be able to report that we are wind “surfers” in no time. Once we get that accomplishment off the list next on the list is surfing, kite-surfing, diving, and of coarse more sailing that we want to learn and get good at while we are out here.

Here are some shots taken during the a busy afternoon at the windsurfing shop. Enjoy!

Windsurf Sails

Surfer Boy

Windsurfer

Windsurf Boards

Racing By

Spanish Water Windsurfer

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