Travel tips, cultural insights, best gear, and inspiring stories from across the Americas — for travelers who want to go deeper and tread more thoughtfully while also getting the most from their travel budget. Created by Angie and Scott Drake, cofounders of Not Your Average American.
A new Discord channel (first 25 free!) + our latest from the road
THE RAMBLERResponsible Travel. Creating Community. Some links in this newsletter are affiliate links. Your clicks and purchases help us keep sharing stories and tips. Thank you for supporting our work! Hi Reader! We've got a full one for you today: a new corner of our Discord community, a couple of new reads, and two finished web projects we're proud to show off. Join Our New Travel in the Americas Forum — First 25 In, FreeWe're opening up a Travel in the Americas forum in our Discord server, NYAA Ramblers — a place to post questions about a trip you're planning, or one you haven't even started mapping out yet. Along the way we're dropping ideas under our Destination Advice tag: Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, the US, you name it, we'll do our best to steer you right, the responsible-travel way. The first 25 people who join get in free, no strings — founding members, for good. After that, it moves to a small paid membership. 👉 Join here: https://discord.gg/P8wRkTusq (While you're in there, don't miss #gear-deals — our most active channel, where we post outdoor gear and clothing deals as they land on our desk, usually a few times a week. They move too fast for the newsletter to keep up, so Discord is the best way not to miss one.) Rafting & Hiking the Rogue RiverWe wrote up our trip down the Rogue — one of Oregon's classic wild and scenic rivers. 👉 Read it here: Rafting and Hiking the Rogue River, Oregon
Finding the Best Rain Jacket for Full CoverageWe live in the Pacific Northwest, which means we're always thinking about rain gear — even on the sunny days. 👉 Read it here: Best Rain Jacket for Full Coverage
Heading to the Bird Festival in Harney County?If this bird festival is on your radar, tours fill up fast — we put together our tips for reserving yours in advance. 👉 Read it here: Guide to the Harney County Bird Festival
Two Finished Projects We're Proud OfCuyabeno Kichwa Lodge — This ecolodge deep in Ecuador's Amazon has incredible reviews across WeTravel, TripAdvisor, Facebook, and Google, and the founder's conservation work in that stretch of rainforest is the real deal. We rebuilt the site to match: new lodging pages, and a full redesign that ditched Divi 4.0 for WordPress's block builder. Leaner, faster, more beautiful. Go look, then start dreaming about your next trip.
Slabtown Tours — A 10-hour coaching sprint that took a Portland tour operator's outdated WordPress theme into the modern 2025 block builder theme (she sells her tours through PeekPro). Getting to work with someone in our own hometown made this one extra fun.
Going's Summer SaleGoing (formerly Scott's Cheap Flights) is running a big summer sale — 50% off Premium and Elite memberships. Their free tier stays free, always, if you just want to dip a toe in. Hope your summer's going wonderfully so far. Whatever you've got planned — near or far, a big trip or just hammock time in the backyard — we'd love to hear about it. Hit reply and let us know what travel you've got on the calendar this season. We're truly interested! Thanks for Rambling With Us,Angie & Scott Living life to its fullest, one day at a time. P.S. If you've read this far, you're amazing! Want to support our work at no extra cost to you? If you plan to shop on Amazon, click ⇒ this link ⇐ first. We earn a small commission, and it helps us keep writing, reviewing, and traveling. Thank you! ❤️ |
Angie & Scott of Not Your Average American
Travel tips, cultural insights, best gear, and inspiring stories from across the Americas — for travelers who want to go deeper and tread more thoughtfully while also getting the most from their travel budget. Created by Angie and Scott Drake, cofounders of Not Your Average American.
THE RAMBLER Responsible Travel. Creating Community. Some links in this newsletter are affiliate links. Your clicks and purchases help us keep sharing stories and tips. Thank you for supporting our work! Hi Reader! Before anything else, we want to tell you about a friend of ours who needs help. Angel Paz Urgently Needs Heart Surgery Not all of you will know Angel Paz, but many of you have heard us talk about him — a pioneer of eco-tourism and bird conservation in Ecuador. Angel needs urgent...
THE RAMBLER Responsible Travel. Creating Community. Some links in this newsletter are affiliate links. Your clicks and purchases help us keep sharing stories and tips. Thank you for supporting our work! Hi Reader! Are you enjoying summer? It's definitely off to a beautiful start here in Portland, Oregon. We are having gorgeous days but what I am most excited about is rain in the forecast. Yep, we moved to the Pacific Northwest for cooler summers and we haven't really experienced once since we...
THE RAMBLER Responsible Travel. Creating Community. Some links in this newsletter are affiliate links. Your clicks and purchases help us keep sharing stories and tips. Thank you for supporting our work! Hi Reader! Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what keeps travel meaningful. Last month, I started trying something new: inviting people who love to travel to come share stories in a casual setting. No agenda, just conversation. Last week was our second Let’s Ramble gathering here in...