{"id":52,"date":"2017-10-24T03:49:57","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T03:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/?p=52"},"modified":"2017-11-13T01:23:33","modified_gmt":"2017-11-13T01:23:33","slug":"travel-bug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/2017\/10\/24\/travel-bug\/","title":{"rendered":"Catching the Travel Bug"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s hard to pinpoint exactly what excited the urge to travel within us.\u00a0 A journey to experience Italy\u2019s history, food and coastline is a strong contender.\u00a0 Getting scuba certified in 2009 opened our eyes to a whole new world underwater and triggered a curiosity to see more.\u00a0 But one trip to a small island off the Venezuelan coast is an embodiment of what got us so excited about seeing new countries.<\/p>\n

Neither of us were raised in small towns.\u00a0 Nico annually flew to Germany to visit family and Brittany had taken a high school trip to Europe and studied abroad in Sevilla, Spain.\u00a0 We both enjoyed seeing new places and learning about history, but it wasn\u2019t a priority.\u00a0 Our idea of a vacation consisted of a week in an all-inclusive resort near Cancun, drinking tequila and lounging on the beach.\u00a0 While we certainly still enjoy relaxation and the occasional late night, our travel style has changed significantly.<\/p>\n

The trip that we\u2019ve established as the beginning of Brico Adventures started with a spontaneous flight to the island of Curacao in December 2012.\u00a0 With an itch to try something different and some spare vacation time, we scoured the internet for a new dive destination and landed on a great travel deal (on Travelzoo) that took us to the small island.\u00a0 We were excited to try diving outside of Mexico and experience the food and culture in the Dutch Caribbean.<\/p>\n

Staying in a hotel that was not all-inclusive forced us to get into town or walk the beachfront looking for food and drinks, and we discovered fresh fish and interesting colonial history.\u00a0 The colorful town of Willemstad features a floating bridge that regularly opens up for passing vessels and a floating market where Venezuelan merchants dock to sell their fresh fish, produce and spices.\u00a0 The town, previously divided into the poor half of the indigenous people (Punda) and the wealthier Otrobanda district, is now a lively city in which most people speak 3 languages (Dutch, English and the local Papiamento).\u00a0 We enjoyed shore diving, took a catamaran trip to the island of Klein Curacao with gorgeous turquoise water and white sand beaches, and Nico went spearfishing for the invasive lion fish (that was later enjoyed grilled).<\/p>\n

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Our lunch!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Klein Curacao Selfie<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The most memorable part of the trip was renting a car to drive around the island\u2019s circumference.\u00a0 We almost got lost on narrow jungle roads trying to find a trail head, scrambled over rocks to get to the top of the island\u2019s highest peak (Mount Cristoffel at a towering 1220 ft), tasted the local specialty \u2013 iguana soup, discovered hidden beaches, and found a \u201cflamboyance\u201d of flamingos.<\/p>\n

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Driving Around the Island<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Views Atop Mount Cristoffel<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since returning from that trip, we\u2019ve set a goal of experiencing 2-3 new places per year.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been successful at maximizing our 15 annual vacation days to see as much of this planet as we can, and the urge to travel has shown no signs of slowing down.\u00a0 We aim to share our experiences, and the planning to make them happen, to inspire you to travel, too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s hard to pinpoint exactly what excited the urge to travel within us.\u00a0 A journey to experience Italy\u2019s history, food and coastline is a strong contender.\u00a0 Getting scuba certified in 2009 opened our eyes to a whole new world underwater and triggered a curiosity to see more.\u00a0 But one trip to a small island off […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,14,15],"tags":[7,8,6,11,9,10],"class_list":["post-52","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventures","category-mountains","category-ocean","tag-curacao","tag-klein-curacao","tag-lionfish","tag-new-adventures","tag-sailing","tag-scuba-diving"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123,"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions\/123"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}