FAQ

What does Ephemerratic mean?
It's an idea we're still developing around the concepts of belonging (as in "the sense of") and belongings (as in "you don't need as many as you think"); Emphemerratic also literally - as both a website and as an art project - will be a mish-mash of collaboration, community art and collage. We will bring together ephemera, ideas and things of no lasting significance that were originally meant to be discarded, all the while being erratic, not following a fixed course or rules.

How long will you be gone?
About a year, give or take a country or two.

Where are you going?
We're starting and ending in San Francisco. In between, we're going to circumnavigate the globe, going eastward. For our planned stops on the way, see our route.

Whaaaa? You're not going to Africa / South and Central America / Eastern Europe / Australia and New Zealand?
We're not going to Antarctica either but no one ever asks about that. We're traveling slow, we're trying to minimize long flights and backtracking, and what is on our route has been on top of our must-see list for a long time. As far as Africa and the Americas go, it was easier and more practical to excise entire continents when paring down the list of places to go. We figure Eastern Europe and New Zealand will be great destinations during our Golden Girl years.

I've been having loads of fun reading your site! What kewl art!! What can I do to repay you?
Aw shucks. First, remember to come back! Sign up for the RSS feed, or subscribe for emails when we post something new. Then, spread the word to your friends; become a Facebook fan of Ephemerratic, forward one of our posts to your friends (pick any post, click the little envelope icon, and go from there). Then, check out the ways to buy art, give support, and help out on the sponsorship page (pending).

Did you get one of those around-the-world tickets?
The vocal majority on discussion forums and blogs had enough stories about how their around-the-world plane tickets were not the deal they'd hoped for. We tried working with a few agents who specialize in those sorts of tickets, and most were uncreative or unresponsive. Overall, we decided while around-the-world tickets might be right for some travelers, they're not for us.

How can you afford this?
On the surface, the math doesn't add up: For the last 9 years, Lauren's worked for nonprofits, and Todd's been a substitute teacher and artist. Neither job makes us much money. We live in one of the most expensive cities in the world, and frequent some of the finer restaurants and dive bars of San Francisco. Yet, much to our surprise and confusion, we have saved money. How? A combination of decent rent, no iToys, shopping at thrift stores, and burritos, lots and lots of burritos. Mostly though, we've saved the most money by making a choice to live in a city with public transit and not owning a car. According to this cost calculator, the average American household spends over $7,200 a year by ditching their car which, after 10 years is more than enough to take us around the globe.

What are you doing with your apartment?
You're coveting our backyard, aren't you? Our friend Michael a.k.a. "Tevya" a.k.a. "The Prince of Rhode Island" found us a wonderful subletters, a couple who we'll call Michelena. This means the famed Golden L, the mighty Green Dragon and our BBQ grill will be cared for during our travels. Our landlord was cool enough to let us sign a two-year lease so our return to San Francisco is guaranteed (and contractually required).

What will you do for work when you get back?
Whoa, don't rush us to the end already! We'll figure it out on the beach in Bali. When we're back, Lauren will entertain offers (she knows everybody), and Todd will continue to do art and find a job in community education with benefits.

So, once you get all this traveling out of your system, you'll settle down, right?
We each renewed our passports and got 10-year visas for India. We could have spent less and gotten the 1-year visas, but we figure we'll get our money's worth when we go back again. And again.