About US D.I.N.K.S.
Let's Get Acquainted
Like anyone who attempts to write a travel blog, I love to travel…innovative, I know.
My first trip out of the country was to study abroad in Cairns, Australia in 2008. While attempting to find myself a hunky Aussie to tie down and move abroad with, I settled for (aka hit the jackpot with) my Minnesotan husband Jon instead. I book trips and he asks the important questions to make sure we don’t get ourselves into trouble. He loves researching gear and I love impulsively buying it. We balance each other out. After long-distance dating and then living in his dad’s basement for a stretch, we cut the cord and moved to Portland, OR in 2010 and never looked back.
We both work fulltime; I’m an engineer for a small Portland based manufacturer and Jon is a Firefighter for the City of Portland. We are D.I.N.K.s because we benefit from two incomes and not the financial burden of having kids. Get it? Dual Income No Kids. No, I did not come up with this but it amuses me.
We’ve both suffered the last decade from a disease called student debt so we’ve never had any real savings of which to speak. We’re not “broke backpackers” or “quit your job” adventurers. We’re more along the lines of “barter for more vacation not higher pay” and “hoard your vacation days”.
Whichever way you like to explore, and even if you have kids, hopefully you’ll find something here that makes your planning a little easier or your trip a little more fun.
Update 2023: Well, Covid hit and ruined our dreams of being travel-bloggers. Also, we're no longer DINKs... twice over now! We had Avery in 2021 and Mackenzie will be making her grand entrance in a few days here. So, if you're wondering what is "SevenSwitchbacks"? Well, that's our non-DINK identity and the beginning of a freeze-dried backpacking food endeavor. What does it mean? Well, it's a long running joke for us that every trail is just 7 switchbacks... just don't mention if a single switchback might be a mile long and a 2 thousand foot climb.