Michael

& Emily

Travel information

We are currently

Description

We are Michael and Emily, and we have been together for 13 years! We met building trails in southwest Colorado and have been together ever since. Emily has been building hiking trails and managing projects for the last 15 years for many different organizations. In addition to working on trails for 3 years, Michael has worked as a cook (6 years) and more recently since 2020 doing outdoor construction for local parks and trails.

We've spent time working, living and traveling in the outdoors, and we love to hike, camp and see new places. We've lived all over the United States in many different climates, in small towns and big cities alike. In addition to camping and hiking, we we like to paddle/boat, cook, write, read and watch movies in our free-time. (We also really enjoy watching and spending time with animals!) We are currently in Durres, Albania after a 3-week trip through Europe.

Interests

Cooking & food

Carpentry

Vegetarian or vegan

Winter sports

Writing

Sustainability

Sailing / Boating

Politics / Social justice

Pets

Plant care

Outdoor activities

Nature

Movies & TV

Hiking

Gardening

Farming

Camping

Books

Animals

Languages

Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Beginner

More details about my language interests
Interested in learning Albanian!

Find a language buddy

Skills and knowledge we'd like to share or learn

We're interested in:  

House sitting

Languages

Charity Work

Hospitality/Tourism

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Some knowledge of:  

Helping around the house

Life at a Farmstay

Animal Care

DIY and building projects

Gardening

Eco Projects

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Able to teach about:  

Helping with Computers/ Internet

General Maintenance

Creating/ Cooking family meals

More details about your skills

Michael has 9 years' experience in outdoors/recreation, working on trail-building crews, fuels-mitigation, summer ski-slope work and maintaining parking lots, fences, signs and other things on public land. He has worked with stone building, heavy equipment, chainsaws and other tools. In many of his jobs, he has led and managed work-crews and projects, including volunteers and youth. He spent 6 years cooking in a variety of establishments, including a ramen restaurant and a farm-to-table restaurant. He also has experience cooking for outdoor groups in a wilderness setting (including vegetarian cooking) and has a passion for it!

Emily has been working in recreation for 15 years, with a focus on building and maintaining hiking trails. She has also led crews, managed projects and programs. Her experience includes dry-stone masonry/walling, timber, basic carpentry, trail lay-out and design, and wheelchair accessible trails. She has experience and certifications in Wilderness First Aid, operating heavy equipment, chainsaws, grip-hoists, cross-cut saws and a variety of other tools. Her off-season jobs have included working the ticket-office at a ski-area and doing live-time captioning. She has a degree in creative writing.

As a teenager, Michael traveled in Italy, France, Slovenia, Germany, Switzerland and Mexico. He and Emily spent a month together in Belize in 2014, and this year have visited the UK, France, Switzerland, Italy and Albania as well.

Emily studied abroad in New Zealand as a college student in 2007, has visited Ireland, and volunteered for 8 weeks building hiking trails in south Iceland in 2018. It was an awesome opportunity to live minimalistically with volunteers from all over Europe.

Age

38 & 38

What else ...

We're excited to be travelling and learning about other people's cultures. We're often quiet and easy-going, but always curious and looking for ways to be useful. We're especially excited to learn and practice languages (especially Albanian), and learn more about ongoing agriculture and sustainability projects.

Some more information

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  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies

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  Special dietary requirements
  Emily is vegetarian.