We joined other Electronic music fans in a 3 day event at one of the biggest events in Orlando this year with over 80,000 people attending the first night of the event. EDC Orlando 2021 was an amazing event and we felt safe even with covid still going around. Electric Daisy Carnival was held at Tinker field and had 4 stages with artists starting on Friday night and playing till midnight for the next 3 evenings. It was surreal to see large groups of people congregating again, letting your mind imagine that we are already living in the post covid world. 

It was a Friday and our friends had received the tickets in the mail for EDC and we paced excitedly all day, unable to contain our excitement. Once Michael punched the clock for the day, we were more than ready to go! The plan was for us to stay at their place for the weekend because they lived closer to the event and would give us a basecamp for an after party each evening. Tim and Jessica picked us up as planned and as we headed back to their place to drop off our stuff and get ready for the night ahead, we all chatted excitedly in the car like kids heading for a slumber party. We also discussed how we were a little concerned with the tickets as we had ordered them online and got an extraordinarily good deal, but we were protected by the FB market policy, so we were feeling safe. Once we arrived at their place, we unloaded our stuff, made some drinks, put our wristbands on, and put on these flashing earing’s. Feeling groovy and looking like a million bucks, we were ready to go.

Our first night at the carnival, we hopped into an Uber and were whisked away without any difficulty, arriving around 8pm. Michael charged through security, like a kid in a candy store he got all the way inside before turning around to make sure he did not totally lose the party. The festival had attracted thousands of people to the grounds but with the venue being as large as it was, you never felt cramped or unable to move. We decided to stay together, but had our emergency meet up location since phone service was spotty at best with the network being overloaded with all the people there. Is this what a microwave dinner feels like? We were able to get texts out to each other throughout the night, but when you are in the cellular sea it oftens feels like you’re casting out a message in a bottle, never knowing if it will reach shore. Luckily, we never got separated so we didn’t have to use the meeting point, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry, especially when journeying into another dimension.

We were off and it was fairly easy to navigate around, we found there was always someone carrying a large pole around the party, if you fell in behind this individual you could ride the wake and cut through the sea of people without trouble. First stop, and clearly the most important one, was the bar. There was no line to be seen, the bar was extremely well provisioned, and the prices and drinks were clearly marked. But those prices were crazy high at 18 bucks for a small mixed drink, Michael hit the h20 hard that night. There were of course people sneaking in their own drinks but that’s not our style, so we stayed hydrated and indulged here and there. Closer to the end of the night some of the bars did run out of drinks, showing how impressive the attendance for this event was. 

Drinks in hand we began to roam through the event, taking in the displays and checking out all of the beautifully dressed people. Our flashing earrings were a hit, so many people complimented us on them and wanted to know where to get a pair, it was fun to be noticed in the sea of people. While each DJ has their own sound and style it was difficult to tell one artist from the other for the uneducated ear. We spent our time walking from stage to stage enjoying every minute of it, stopping to check out a specific sound or take pictures or a video. For an event of this size the lines were reasonable at every bar and most importantly at every porta-pottie. If waiting in line for the toilet isn’t your thing though, you could pay $100 to have VIP bathroom access, aka a trailer port-a-potty, we opted not to pay that, so not sure if they were any better. We recommend bringing hand sanitizer and your own tissues, though we always felt safe and sterile at this event, it is a good idea to be self sufficient and responsible.

Our crew mobbed around together for the entire evening, taking in djs across the festival who all started pettering out around midnight, we took that as our queue to depart and made our way home. This is where a glaringly obvious problem in the event showed up, the public transportation system in Orlando is nonexistent and suddenly the outpouring of people from the event are outside with insufficient cabs and ubers to get them home. We planned to walk to downtown Orlando from the event to minimize the surge charge on rideshares. 

Day 2

We realized that we were not going to walk downtown again; the distance was just too far. We also did not want to be stuck there all-night waiting for a ride after it closed, forced to pay the super surge charges. Pro Tip we scheduled our uber to pick us up 30 minutes before the event closed down avoiding surge pricing and a long wait for a ride. We took another uber to the event, the second uber Onalea reserved and not being from around the area had the incorrect address.  This was close to the event and while we do not expect an uber driver to know every event and location, the driver should have known we were headed to the wrong location seeing how he had dropped people off at that event and it was the main thing going on in town that weekend. When your brain is on autopilot, you end up in some unfamiliar destinations. We did get to the event about 15 minutes later than planned so not a big deal.  Tonight we decided to spend some time together and also to spread out on our own to explore the event and get some me time in. We set a rendezvous point for later and headed off into the night beneath the lights.  

When we all came back together, we asked a security guard where the rideshare pickup area was, they stated we had to go to the other side of the park. We decided it would be quicker for us to leave the event and walk around outside than to try and weave our way through the crowd once more. Once there we asked another person working the park and she said we had to go back to a different place that we had already passed by. There seemed to be very little foresight put into transportation for this event, both by the event planners and the city of Orlando. Having a few shuttle busses heading to and from the downtown area to the event would have gone a long way. Instead they left everyone to be beholden to the ride sharing apps, jockeying for lifts hither thither and yon. Didn’t wreck the event for us but certainly showcases one major area for improvement. 

Day 3

We did not go back. We did really want to spend another night dancing and to check out the rest of the stages but the difficulty of travelling back and forth each day, paired with the prohibitive cost it comes with, really curbed our enthusiasm. So we decided to skip the final night, which was probably for the best as each of us began to feel very ill in the subsequent days. Michael was hit the hardest and ended up completely wiped out, so we decided to order a rapid covid test off Amazon just in case. Back in the real world and Covid is once again on our minds, so Michael sucked it up and went through the uncomfortable process of swabbing himself. We anxiously waited for the testing time to be up and fortunately received a negative result.

About where we stayed 

When we set our sights on Anchorage Alaska we decided to look into some accommodations downtown so we could really explore the city and get the local feel. Michael met a realtor through one of the short-term stay websites that we frequent and rented the condo directly from her at Herrington & Company. Though the process is simple and straightforward which makes it quite appealing, there are a couple of downsides. First off you have to pay a $500 deposit, which they could not refund electronically and turned into a little bit of a pain in the butt to get back. They also needed a general credit/background check, which as you may know, can wreak havoc on your credit rating. Michael worked with them to make sure they didn’t have to run a full credit report, to avoid getting his credit score dinged. They also requested that we make the place available for showings to prospective buyers during our tenancy there. We agreed to this request though it is less than ideal. Luckily this only happened once, and we were already planning on being gone that day, so no harm no foul. Overall, we were happy with the space, we had a balcony, a comfortable bed, and rooftop access where we could grill our dinner and look out at the city. 

Seeing Friends

When you connect with friends and acquaintances like this it creates such an abundance of opportunity, that simply being a tourist in town doesn’t afford. No one knows the lay of the land like the locals and it ends up being mutually beneficial, as we often forget the best aspects of our communities and no longer frequent them. There is no better way to fall in love with your home again than being a tourist in your own city. Their thoughtful advice had us dining at the city’s best restaurants and getting around in a car that they loaned us for most of our time in the city. Coby and Jennie were the most amazing hosts we could ask for and our gratitude for all of their kindness and support is everlasting.

One of our fondest memories with them is getting locked in a room together for an hour. While held captive in this place we were forced to attempt to solve puzzles to regain our freedom. No it wasn’t an episode of star trek, we were checking out the Ravens Eye Escape room. At that time they only had a single room in operation and even though we weren’t able to escape before the timer went off we had a great time playing with our friends and scratching our noodles together.

Michael’s Birthday Celebration

Let’s get this party started!  Our Journey to becoming Digital Nomads. 

The Idea of becoming Nomads

The thought first came to mind after Michael had been working from home for close to a year and Onalea’s heart finally had stabilized enough that the thought of having a normal life was becoming a reality. Michael loved reading online articles about how people were bouncing all around the world with work from home jobs, using the luxury of remote work to be able to explore the world in their off hours. Some places are even incentivizing remote workers to live/work in their town for an extended period of time. These incentives ranged from specialized infrastructure, Wi-Fi, discounts on extended stays, tax breaks and even up to 10K to move into their town and to help stimulate the local economy. We had daydreamed about living a nomadic lifestyle, moving to wherever the weather was warm and spending more time living our dreams in the same way we would idly chat about the things we’d buy if we ever won the lottery. We would text each other crazy blog posts about how other people spent 3 months in Thailand, working from hammocks with Mai Tais in hand and a sunset over the ocean just a stone’s throw away. We both “knew ” that we could not afford such crazy plans, those ideas were for big shots, adventurers, not folks like us.  We would probably still be sitting around and dreaming of our current life, if we hadn’t had a jump start to set us off down the road.

We were fully Digital we just needed a push, 

This was a monumental act of kindness as it involved folding at least two loads of laundry, but we firmly believe that family comes first. The timing of our trip to Davids was perfect for us as we didn’t have anything on the burner at the moment, so we decided to make a trip out of it, staying with the family and working from the basement for a couple of weeks.

This was in February of 2021, we stayed for a short time and then returned home, unaware of how formative a trip this would turn out to be. The experience was really lovely, it felt so good to be able to share so much time with family in such a comfortable and non disruptive way. We began to muse about doing trips like this more often, of reconnecting with distant friends and relatives and taking advantage of our working arrangements. Yet the idea still resided in the someday parts of our minds and didn’t really settle into the reality we were building.

The Shove

We called Michael’s parents and asked if we could come back to Illinois and pick things up where we left off. We didn’t really have any idea of when we would be returning home and something about that felt really good, so we packed up our things and headed back to rejoin our family. 

The Plan to actually become a digital nomad

And that is when the plan really started coming together. We were going to dip into our savings and launch a blog, no longer just watching other people living out our dreams, but actively seeking them out and sharing them with others. This journey has been one full of new experiences and continual adaptation, so we plan on helping others by sharing what we’ve learned along the way. We hope you find our tips useful no matter if you’re taking a short 1-month vacation or doing a longer 3 month stay. Where we work no longer determines where we live. Though everyone’s story is different, we hope that joining us will help to inspire you to start thinking about what your dreams are, where are the places you want to see, who are the people you’ve been dreaming of spending time with? There is an entire world of adventure and excitement out there, so come and join us as we head on down the highway.

Immersive Van Gogh, Denver

We went to two art exhibits in Denver Colorado, Meow Wolf and Van Gogh. Both exhibits warrant their own post so in this article we will be talking about the Vincent Van Gogh experience. Be on the lookout for the Meow Wolf article, it is a one-of-a-kind art exhibit!

Michael saw a Facebook advertisement about a local hotel, Regency Hotel, that was being remodeled to show an art exhibit, Immersive Van Gogh. The last week we were going to be in Denver, happened to be the launch for the exhibit and we took this amazing opportunity with open arms. When we purchased the tickets, we paid a little extra to get the VIP treatment which turns out you get a cushion, free poster and jump to the front of the infamous, non existent line. In our humble opinion, it wasn’t worth the extra $10.00 a ticket but as the demand grows and the event goes on, this may change.

We walked into the building and the first thing we saw was an advertisement for an app. We quickly downloaded it, only to find it was not updated to include the Denver location yet. If you decide to go to any of the Van Gogh exhibits, make sure to download the app first to listen to the story of this amazing artist. It allows the patron to be accompanied through the exhibit by a skilled narrator that guides you through each of the installments, feeding you a story of the artist and the impact of their work.  

After discovering that the app we installed wasn’t set up for this event, we lamented our luck and continued on through a black curtain gateway which opened into a giant auditorium.Through the curtain we were greeted by light projecting the art upon the wall, it was dim lighting, there were many black marble sculptures, mirrored half walls, and white benches placed sporadically around the room. We were not sure if this was due to covid and social distancing or they thought it was artsy, but we questioned why there were so few places to rest.

We walked around the first room and it felt like we were the assholes that showed up 20 minutes late to a movie and had to sneak around to not get in the way.  The art was being shown on every surface creating an obstacle course of bystanders and lookiloos to constantly be avoided. As we wandered deeper into the building, the art moved from walls to ceilings and floors, keeping our heads on a swivel as we tried to take everything in. We circled the auditorium and found a room where the art was shifting and changing upon the floor and walls and we decided to settle in to watch a while.  Assuming it was a continuous showing of his work and people just moved around as they wanted and left when they were done.

Finding a spot on the floor to sit on our cushions, we settled in uncomfortably to take in the show for a while. While watching the art transition between scenes, we also were eyeing down the 5 couples lucky enough to have snagged a small bench up off of the ground. With hawk-like vigilance Michael watched for his opening, a couple was preparing to depart. Across the room another group of floor dwellers was watching with hungry eyes, Michael and the fellow locked eyes with each other and the game was afoot. The departing couple rose, Michael grabbed Onalea’s hand, they both turned and snatched up their ¼ inch foam cushions, showcasing their auspicious VIP status.  Michael lunged at the bench planting his cushion down like a flag upon the moon, one small dash across the room, one giant improvement for our backsides!!  ……. Alas, our victory was short lived though as less than a minute later the lights turned on, movie credits began to roll and every other person sitting on a bench or on the floor made their way to the exit. As it turns out they play the show on a loop, and they encourage you to view it from different parts of the room to enjoy the experience and leave whenever you are ready.

Now that we had prime seating and the luxurious comfort of our ¼ inch cheap foam cushions beneath us, we had the chance to enjoy the show fully and it was truly breathtaking. This full 360-degree wall and floor immersion art was transcendent.  You truly felt like you were in the painting of the Starry Night, wandering beneath the oil brush cosmos and drinking in the universe.  The Sunflowers painting made Michael home sick; bringing back visions of strolling through the expansive fields of his Kansas childhood. We really wished that the app would have worked so we could have heard more information about the artwork on our aftershokz, to bring not just the sensory experience but also the educational one into unity. The Archway museum in Nebraska, provides its patrons with a mobile device to use while in the building, and this system is very convenient and reliable, another spot worth checking out for sure.

The venue, Lighthouse Denver, plans to host other art exhibits once Immersive Van Gogh has run its course. One such event will be celebrating local Denver artists; the space is huge and will be able to showcase these works of art in an inspiring way. If you are in Denver while this is going on we highly recommend attending but pass on the seat cushion and wait for a bench!”