Meet the  Barfield’s
Kathy & Mike:

We are the “2B’s”, Kathy and Mike Barfield, a happily retired couple living in Austin Texas, by way of Atlanta, Georgia; indulging our love of exploring new places and people as “roving retirees”.

Kathy recently retired with decade long stints as a certified project manager at a software company, a technology trainer, and another decade in the television business. Mike is a retired 34 year executive the US Postal Service.

This site started because friends and family loved seeing and hearing about out trips on Facebook, but they wanted more. They asked us about planning, wanted more pictures and stories, choosing itineraries, and our favorite travel tips. So this is the end result. The purpose of this site is to encourage, share and inspire. If we can do it, you can do it. ?

Now that we are each no longer tied to corporate vacation schedules, we welcome the opportunity of extended immersion in foreign countries. We appreciate the unique experience offered by Airbnb to “live like a local”. We enjoy staying in non-touristy areas and seeing firsthand how local’s live & work and play. Having the opportunity to go to a neighborhood grocery store, pub, music café or restaurant is a wonderful and precious reward for traveling.

We both enjoy history, culture, and food & wine among other things. As such, we share a passion and curiosity for most local cuisine. We make it a point to take cooking classes in each foreign country to which we travel, and truly relish the encounter it brings being connected to people through food, wine, and cooking. One of the memorable highlights for us of travelling to smaller towns is discovering unique specialties and recommendations from the local folks. We do not let language become a barrier, we work it out and enjoy the cultural interchange even when there is not a common language. ?

In addition to a love of travel, we also love Dogs! Having had many dogs over the years, Mike is a dog magnet wherever we go, and we both say “hello” to dogs along the way. It’s funny to me how many dogs make it into our travel photos. We understand dogs being members of the family, and how dogs enrich our lives. As volunteers over the years, Kathy has worked for Dog Rescue & Therapy Organizations. Mike was certified as a Service Dog Trainer and volunteer and makes friends with dogs all over the world! So it made sense for us to work our love of dogs into how we travel. Thus, we completed a couple of housesitting assignments from www.TrustedHouseSitters.com in 2019. The first assignment was for two large Labradors for a lovely couple in rural England and the second, in Southwestern England, near Wales for a delightful couple and their wonderful dog Morty! There is a small fee to join the site, and we trade dog sitter services for a place to stay. A tidy way to manage extending our stay. See our blog post on “Must Love Dogs – Trusted Housesitters”.

Italy holds a special and treasured place in our lives as we were married in Tuscany in 2004 and honeymooned in Greece. We returned for our 3rd trip to Italy in 2018 for our 14th anniversary See the blog post on this “Non-traditional trip to Italy”. We both embrace Italy’s uniqueness: the warmth of the people, the relaxed pace, the breathtaking environment, the history and archeology, and the unique opportunities for cooking, the arts and sharing culture.

Greece has captured my heart and imagination since before my first visit in 2004. See the blog post about “On and Off the path in Greece”. We explore the must see’s in Athens as well as time in the Ionian Islands.

Where is your imagination taking you? What trips have captured your fancy? Utilize some the of tips and suggestions you will find here as well as inspiration if some of our favorite places are locations you would also like to visit. Will some straightforward planning you can be on your way sooner than you think.

Bon Voyage

La Dolce Vita
Kathy & Mike Barfield