Seeing how we share every bit of our current lives with you, we thought we should rewind a bit and tell you where the heck Arbours Abroad came from.
For our friends and family that have been around from the beginning, this will be a trip down memory lane. To all you new readers, we hope this gives you a better idea of the two behind Arbours Abroad!
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Just A Girl and A Boy
Jason grew up as an only child running around the woods playing “cowboys and Indians” by himself. Outside of his mom and dad, he didn’t have much other family around.
Heather grew up in a completely opposite environment… She’s one of eight children and has a huge extended family.
Our family backgrounds are as different as black is from white, however, one thing we had in common was always being outdoors.
Both of us grew up camping, hiking, driving through the mountains, rafting the beautiful Rogue River… you get the idea.
We met in high school through mutual friends at youth group. Attending different high schools meant that we really only saw each other when our mutual friends would get together. It was the typical high school friendship that turned into married life years down the road.
And by typical, we mean… Heather was crazy about Jason, but Jason wanted nothing to do with her for six months until he finally came to his senses and realized Heather was a great catch… 😉
Passion for Travel
We can’t really put a finger on where our traveling passion came from. We could attribute it to the outdoorsy lives we both grew up living, mission trips we went on throughout high school or family vacations… who knows… but that desire turned into a burning flame we couldn’t put out, which eventually led to Arbours Abroad!
We finished out our last years of university, and by December 2012, we were engaged and planning a mountain top wedding.
Then Two Became One | We Got Married
July 18, 2013, we gathered with our friends and family (and a few random strangers) on top of Mt. Ashland in Ashland, Oregon and said our “I do’s”.
Don’t worry guys… if you’re sad you weren’t there… Hapa Productions did a killer job at capturing our perfect day. You can watch our wedding video here, it will be like you were celebrating with us.
First Year as Husband + Wife
People say the first year of marriage is the hardest. Frankly, we have no idea what they’re talking about. Our first year was radical! We moved back to our hometown of Grants Pass, Oregon where Heather taught kindergarten and Jason was a physical therapy aide.
Jason applied for graduate school on the East Coast of the United States, and we decided if he didn’t get in, we were going to spend a year traveling. Whether we were moving across the United States or traveling for a year, we knew we needed some major cash, so we both grabbed a few extra side jobs.
We worked our butts off for that year. Between the two of us, we were holding seven different jobs. How the heck we managed to have dinner together every night, explore on the weekends, and visit with our friends and family during the week that year is still a mystery.
But we did it… and the hard work paid off!
No PT School = Road Trip!
Multiple interviews, and waitlists later, Jason was told he didn’t get into graduate school, so we were off traveling!
Our plan was to go to SE Asia, but the Lord had a different idea. Repeatedly, the Lord was showing us that South America was where we were supposed to go.
So, we bought one-way tickets to South America, gave ourselves two months to road trip in the United States to visit friends and family, and left having no idea when we would be back.
The Beginning of Arbours Abroad
We wanted to journal about our experiences and have a place to share our travel photos and stories with folks back home.
However, social media platforms like Instagram only allow you to share so much, so a blog seemed the most logical. Driving to our going away party, Jason was frantically searching for a website to host our blog. Somehow, the name Arbours Abroad came up, and we went with it.
After all, we are the Arbours, and we were heading abroad!
Driving Across the United States
August 30, 2014, we left.
We road tripped from Oregon to Washington DC, down to Florida, and all the way back to California in two months.
Talk about a trip of a lifetime!! If you’ve never road tripped before… do it!!
We can guarantee it will be life-changing! Check out how to road trip through the US on a budget here.
Before taking off for South America, Jason submitted a new application to physiotherapy (UK’s physical therapy) school. This time we decided, “Why stay in the States when we can attend school abroad?”
Putting all our eggs in one basket, Jay submitted his application in October for school in Scotland.
One Way Tickets Abroad
October 26th, 2014 we started the abroad part of Arbours Abroad by jumping on our one-way flight to Peru to begin backpacking through South America. Little did we know, we would spend the next six months venturing through Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay.
In February 2015, just after finishing our Torres del Paine trek, Jay was offered an interview, which would be held April 20th in Toronto, Canada.
By June, we were told he was accepted.
Road-Tripping the United States Again
We spent June and July road tripping, yet again, in the United States.
Knowing we were going to move to Scotland for at least two years, we wanted to see as much of the states as possible and visit family and friends one more time.
We spent the month of August cycling from Seattle to San Francisco, became Uncle Jay and Auntie Heather in September, and stayed close to our immediate family for the last couple months in the States.
Moving to Scotland
In January 2016, we moved to Scotland. Leaving our friends and family was harder than expected, but we were so stoked for this next step in our lives.
Jay had six different five to six-week placements scattered around Scotland with plenty of holiday (vacation) time in between.
This is when we began jumping on flights any chance we could, and lived out a dream of working in city parks and squares.
The Intro to Full Time Van Life
With Jay’s schedule being all over the country, and the public transportation in Scotland not being the greatest, we decided to buy a van.
We bought it towards the end of our six month lease, thinking, we would move our belongings into it while we traveled to Thailand for the summer.
However, that turned into us loving being in the van and living in it full time!
His schedule, accompanied with our van purchase, has enabled us to travel to so much of Scotland and get away on many quick trips to other places in the UK/Europe.
Moving Back to the United States
In November 2018, our visas were expired in Europe, so we sold the van and moved back to the United States for a business opportunity.
That business opportunity fell through and Jay got extremely ill from his Crohn’s Disease.
It was a extremely difficult time for us. We were both very depressed and truly felt like our dream life was being ripped away from us.
Fast Forward to 2021
After nearly three years of the worst time in our lives, Jay’s health began to get better and we knew we both mentally needed a change.
We bought and built out a van to be able to get out and travel.
Oh yes, this is also the time in our lives that sweet Georgie Girl showed up inside our home.
In March of 2022, we gave our notice to move out of our rental, and moved into our new van full time, yes, even with our cat!
2023 Skin Cancer Diagnosis
After being in the van full time for nearly a year, we returned to Southern Oregon for some routine doctors appointments.
Heather never goes to the doctor, but since Jay needed to get established with a new Primary Care Physician, Heather did too.
And thankfully she did.
There was a spot on Heather’s chest that we though was just a zit that wouldn’t heal, but it turned out to be skin cancer.
The doctor found another spot of concern as well, and that too was deemed to be skin cancer.
Life from March through June was a blur. And this diagnosis was another reminder of the why behind us traveling.
A not so gentle reminder that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. There is no later. And we should live for the now.
Camp Hosting in Oregon
Heather’s skin cancer diagnosis brings us to where we are now.
Summer of 2023, we knew we needed to be in Oregon for Heather’s treatment and appointments, so we took on a job camp hosting.
It honestly fell into our laps and kept popping up time and time again. And when that happens, we know it’s from the Lord, and we jump all in.
We thought it would be a one summer and done kind of deal, but we absolutely loved it, and will be returning again for summer of 2024.
So, for now.. the three of us, Jay, Heather, and Georgie will continue full time in the van. Working on this website and going where the Lord leads.
You can follow our latest adventures on Instagram, @ArboursAbroad and @Vantrails.