Wandering Footsteps: Wandering the World One Step at a Time » A travel journal following a family on their overland trip around the world.

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  • Welcome to Wandering Footsteps, the travel journal of a nomadic family on an overland trip around the world. With thirty years of travel experience, a round-the-world trip already under our belt, a newly-converted bus, and a new baby in tow, this journey is bound to be interesting! Join us in our global wanderings - we've saved an extra seat just for you!

    - Brittany, Bruno, and Phoenix

Posted in North America,The AmericasTags:

Here I am, for only a second time in Mexico, having my senses utterly overwhelmed again by the traffic, dirt, taco stands, street dogs, garbage, potholes, and staccato Spanish of another Mexican town.  After spending over a year in Europe, Canada, and the United States, Mexico has come as a shock – even if it is just Mexico-light, as they call Baja California.

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  • rcs - I remember the dirt in PV but the places you are visiting look quite clean and attractive.
    Happy travels.ReplyCancel

    • Brittany Caumette - It’s funny you remember the dirt in Puerto Vallarta. Was that your first time in a “developing” country, perhaps? You’ll have to revisit Mexico now that you have so much more travel experience – you could do it in your new RV!!ReplyCancel

Posted in Location IndependentTags:

Bruno and I are not the only ones who live their lives on the road: introducing a couple of young Greek overlanders we met three years ago at a little campsite in Kenya, and who have continued their travels in two vehicles, 40+ countries and 100,000km! They’ve just written an e-book about their lifestyle, with tons of practical info on how you, too, can live the traveling life of your dreams!

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Posted in North America,The AmericasTags: ,

This month, Bruno and I have continued working full-time on our bus conversion, but from Baja California, Mexico, rather than Arizona, USA. We’ve gotten a lot of important tasks accomplished – so much so that we’re just about ready to hit the road in our new home-on-wheels!

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  • Steve & Lorena - Hi, Bruno & Brittany,

    We met briefly at the Grand Teton Visitors center the other day and I thought I would check out your website. It made great reading and I enjoyed the post on the renovations to the bus. My wife is from Mexico and we have been down the Baja a number of times. I am sorry I did not pop out to the car park for a look at the finished job. I think you mentioned you were heading to Yellowstone and if you are going to still be there next Thursday let me know and maybe we can meet and share a beer.

    You make us feel like novices as we only have nine years on the road.

    Looking forward to when our paths cross again.

    Steve & LorenaReplyCancel

    • Brittany Caumette - Dear Steve and Lorena,

      Thank you so much for checking out our website and especially for writing to say hi! It’s great to hear from you both, and was especially great to meet you!

      We’ve just left Yellowstone after a WONDERFUL several days there. Special place. We followed your geyser advice, so thanks a bunch for that! Guess we’ll have to take a rain check on the beer, as we’re about to enter Canada… let us know when you both are back in N.A. after Ecuador and New Zealand – we’ll be here awhile!

      Best wishes and happy travels!

      Brittany and BrunoReplyCancel

  • 33Betty - I must say it was hard to find your blog in search results.

    You write awesome articles but you should rank your blog higher in search engines.
    If you don’t know 2017 seo techniues search on youtube:
    how to rank a website Marcel’s wayReplyCancel

  • Auntie Freya - You both are doing a great job. I love reading you blogs. I’m hoping you’ll get a chance to drop down in NY on your way back East. I’m home until the middle of June. I’m still waiting for your answer on my last email! Political as it might be, you did ask. I’d love your input. I’ve been busy cleaning out the house, but I have several trips coming up. That keeps me going. I look forward to hearing from you.
    Much love,
    Auntie FreyaReplyCancel

    • Brittany - I didn’t reply? My goodness, I don’t know where my brain has been… actually, I DO know! It’s been on this DANG bus! Can’t wait until my brain is out on the open road again – I am guessing I have a fair few emails to reply to! Haha!!ReplyCancel

      • Freya Gnerre - Dear Brittany and Bruno, You are really making progress. When you finally hit the road north to visit the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, you will probably go thru Green River and/or Rock Springs, Wyoming. That is my tramping grounds. My Mother was born and raised there and I still have a lot of family there. It’s a great area and full of old western history. Let me know what you think when you travel thru. The bus is looking great – and I love your blogs. Much love, Auntie FreyaReplyCancel

  • Leslie Brown - X – That’s my crossed fingers. Looks like you have some great travels in front of you.
    GrampaReplyCancel

    • Brittany - Thank you for the fingers! We need every single one we can get! Are you sure you don’t want to go out and buy another trailer and come hit the road with us? 🙂ReplyCancel

  • Elizabeth S - Wonderful! So glad you are finished the ‘big stuff’ and are soon to be back on the road. See you at the end of July and meanwhile enjoyReplyCancel

    • Brittany - I may have spoken too soon about being done the big stuff – forgot about windows, awning, kayaks, and the heater/AC system in the driver’s area…. ay yay yay!ReplyCancel

  • rcs - Things are looking up…for both Big Blue and your travels.
    I, too, miss the “wide open roads”.ReplyCancel

    • Brittany - Good thing we have a fun summer RV itinerary planned! 🙂ReplyCancel

Posted in North America,The AmericasTags: ,

An honest take on what it’s like to be a HelpX host – the good and the bad. What it’s like to host strangers, what I’ve learned about being a good host, and whether or not Bruno and I will ever host again.

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  • Tony - We have been a host for 6 years now, and have had 1 ‘bad apple’ the rest have either been good, very good or GREAT and we still communicate with over 50% of them as they continue their lives. I think it is all done to transparency. We are not a business, we are a homestead, looking for some extra help during the busy periods. We tell people via our profile what the work will be, show videos of the accommodation (A fully fitted stand alone guest house) and the type of meals they will get.

    But…..

    We also take the time to tell them in advance (usually via several 2 – 3 page emails) what THEIR experience is going to be, based on the time of the year, our current job list and the predicted weather.

    We also offer several extra activities. Such as beekeeping woodworking, IT, self defense, Jewellery making that the volunteers can join us in (totally optional) in their own time if they wanted to. Again all of this is made clear BEFORE they agree to come and before they book travel.

    Our one bad apple was our first when we had an open pantry policy. And he lived off cakes, cookies and even polished of 3kg of homemade dried figs in a week.

    Now we cook all meals and volunteers can join us or eat in the guest house by themselves, they need privacy too, and we also provide them with their own pantry.

    It works well, very well.

    I loved your blog, I can see several mistakes you made, but you have identified these very well.

    Transparency of the work, living conditions and labour expectations are the key.

    We are fully booked 6-9 months in advance and even have couples booking us 2 years in advance for our busy times.

    Again, a great blog post, thank you for sharingReplyCancel

  • Hwlwn Welsh Star - HI. i have been a helpx host for about one year. I have not had one good experience. I am in the UK. From my experience the people who do helpx are weirdos and drifters who are doing something where they don’t have to take responsibility for their own lives because, they can’t take responsibility. They are not good at forming normal relationships or holding down work, hence they do this. Every single one has totally invaded my space and talked at me for hours on end in an opinionated way. Some have got jobs done and others didn’t. I have been left upset and traumatised. I am a calm and kind person who lives alone iwth my pets. I give them freedom and space, don’t expect them to work any longer than they want to, feed them and am quite laid back. They disrespect my views and wishes and argue and fight with me verbally. I have had four people here only. One left after a day, he clearly had issues and hated my dogs, even though I was clear I had dogs. Two of them used me as a free 24 hour therapist. One said I was the kindest nicest helpx she’d ever been to, so I think that proves something about it’s not me being mean!!! When I say that my space was invaded, I mean to the point they dominated the scene so much I couldn’t even get to feed my dogs or walk them easily as these people would not give me any space and just hijacked my space and attention constantly. Two of them did help me with jobs, though one was a collaboration with me and him, the other did it mainly alone for which I am very grateful but could have done iwthout the abusive controlling behaviour, which scared me so much I had to call a male friend round to make sure he left. Not a good organisation, I’m sorry if volunteers don’t have good experiences bu tthere’s nothing in waht I do that could be considered not volunteer friendly. So, I personally think, don’t do helpx if you are a single woman unless you ask women in only, and even then they will use you as a therapist and not do any work at all.ReplyCancel

  • Lee - I have had a few “Helpers”. Most were beyond useless. The comments above prove what I suspect. Entitled brats who think they are doing us a favour by gracing us with their presence. Work? Oh no. I don’t want to work. I just want a free ride. Fortunately there are mature Helpers on HelpX. In future I will only use older helpers from my own country with good references. Frankly backpackers are a pain in the arse.ReplyCancel

  • John Smith - Another host who wants the butter and the money from the butter. Lots of hosts just dont give a shit about their helper. They want you to work 5 or 6 hours a day and some dont even give you food. You have to buy it yourself. Helpx is just another filthy biznessReplyCancel

  • Ingrid - Hi, I have been a Helpx host now for about 8 years and probably hosted 60 people in total. I am a bit soft-hearted and tend to bend-over backwards for my Helpx guests, taking them to see the night markets or glow worms in the forest, loaning them bikes , taking them to local events like free theatre or music events etc. I do feel that it is quite time-consuming having Helpxers, its like my input almost equals their input, except that I get to do the nicer things (like hosting) while they get to do cleaning, gardening and physical work. I have made a few mistakes with HelpXers and now I try and be much stricter about work requirements so that they don’t take advantage of me. Mistakes I have made: agreeing to host a family with 2 little kids. (What was I thinking!!!) Allowing a totally lazy German guy to stay when I should have kicked him out after the first day. Being too tolerant of two French smokers who drove me crazy as I detest smoking. Hosting a vegan with a big appetite: Soo much work to make him food. On the positive side, we really have met so many interesting people from all over the world and I like hosting people. Also, we have got so much work done on our property that I couldn’t have got done without them. Being a New Zealander, i am very well-travelled, so it was a bit like being a traveller again without having to leave our country. Also, I felt like it was a bit of paying things back for all the good experiences that I had when I was young. The worst thing that happened was a Finnish lady stealing my engagement ring. After that, I never felt comfortable hosting again and we didn’t host much. Now we have the HelpXers staying in accommodation separate from our house, don’t let them in the house if we are not here, and we only have Helpxers a couple of times a year for specific projects that we need doing. So i feel happy once more. At one time, I wrote a long booklet setting out guidelines for helpxers because there were lots of little annoying things that people did and when I added them all up, I had a book of sorts (!) e.g. don’t leave wet towels on beds, clean your room, don’t leave the door shut as we aren’t a hostel, take your outdoor shoes off when inside, take 3 min showers, if you break something on the bike tell me, do not keep the heater on in your room at nighttime, etc. The list goes on. But most of these really just come down to common courtesy and I don’t bother with giving that to people now. I have gotten stricter and last year I kicked a HelpXer out when she rolled her ideas and said “not again” when I told her the days job was gardening. After all, it’s an agreement and if someone doesn’t keep their side of the bargain up, then the agreement can be terminated.ReplyCancel

    • Brittany - Wow, thank you for sharing your HelpX experience. So interesting! You sure do seem like a very experienced host and in it for the right reasons. I guess HelpX hosting is always going to be a mixed bag, and, as with life, we have to learn to take the bad with the good, huh? Thank you again!!ReplyCancel

  • Robert - Hello,
    It seem to me that you only want cheap manpower, even free, and that remember me to slavery. A roof and food in exchange for work? isn´t that abusive??ReplyCancel

    • Brittany - I understand your point, Robert, but perhaps you are not familiar with the organizations like HelpX and Workaway? People who volunteer to work in exchange for room and board do so freely and willingly because they want to learn new skills or travel affordably. They sign up for these organizations and ‘job postings’ because they want to, which means it’s a mutually agreeable situation for both the volunteer and the host. Hope that makes sense! 🙂ReplyCancel

  • Heidi Allen - Hi there, just happened to come across your review of helpx and I could not agree more to what you said about it. We are hosting for helpx for 8 years and there are many times we struggle too.Yes, they are so called volunteers but their payment is food and accomodation so I try to guess to provide the equivalent to their input. In NZ they actually need a WHV because food and accomodation is considered a payment y the inland revenue department so I do not feel bad about providing what I feel is a fair payment.For some this is very little and for some we struggle to provide enough.Some helpers are magnificent, some you forget about as soon as they leave and 3 times I have asked them to leave.It is a big invasion of your privacy and we love the helpers who notice that and are able to give us that privacy when desperately needed.Food can be a big issue and we stopped giving the helpers free range mainly because we are in a very rural place and we shop only once a week and all food is shared.I have all the important parts in writing but it is quite hard to convince most helpers to read it, the debrief at the start is vey important but even then heaps is lost in translation at times so many times our patience is tested.Still overall the positive outweighs the negative but real friendships only develop every now and again.ReplyCancel

  • Fede - Bourgeois like you who think the best part of it is to receive help is what f***** HelpX up. If you want tho get the job done and are not willing to show at least gratitude then submit to your monetary logic and PAY someone to do it. It’s revoltive to see stingy abusers getting advantage of travellers who are VOLUNTEERING (I’m wondering if you have ever fullfilth that other role…I think the anwser is quite obvious). This should be about exchange and helping people who really need it, social organizations, people trying to raise community awareness and spirit, people who actually care about other peolle, not some selfish middle class folks with rentals who only care about themselves and their little projects. Look around lady, the world agonizes and you are still worried about your minutia oranic dietary issues… stop looking at your belly button, for a CHANGE.ReplyCancel

    • Brittany - THank you for taking the time to read and reply to my post, but it seems that your comment is coming from a place of anger. My post was an honest account of my experience as a host, and I admitted to errors we made as well as our point of view as hosts,, which I feel is valid. I don’t take any of it back. HelpX is a great organization that brings people together who need help with projects and those wanted to travel and gain new experiences. We were upfront with our needs and what we provided, so I don’t think we misinterpreted the spirit of HelpX.

      And, for the record, I HAVE been a volunteer. For 14 months, at three different organizations, in Nepal. All of which is archived in this blog.ReplyCancel

  • Kati Brown - Hola, thanks so much for sharing your experience. Im currently volunteering in colombia and i couldnt agree more on setting expectations early on 🙂ReplyCancel

Posted in North America,The AmericasTags:

The most unbelievable thing happened today – Bruno asked me to go for a walk along the nearby beach with him. This post gives an update on the work we have done on our bus conversion in the last few weeks, and explains why Bruno’s request to walk along the beach signifies an important turning point in our project.

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  • Les Brown - Very wise to rest, refresh your plans and enjoy what you have accomplished. A Good project always takes time..Are you heading north for the summer?
    Love, GrampaReplyCancel