#esther's 150 celebration challenge

[metallikca]

Ich bin nur Menschlich (I'm only human)

(@shotgunintheimpala)

Prompt: Christina Perri's Human

For Esther's 150 Followers challenge that I'm rly late for and I'm sorry but life went hectic and its so hard for me to write when I'm stressed

A/N: Set in 2045, Dean/66 Sam/62, Cas has been human for 25 years and lives with Charlie.

Additional A/N: My fic is based off of the song, rather than containing the song, because I find it really hard to incorperate songs in my writing.

Wasser (Water)

Surrounding Castiel, simply water, it’s Bläue lost on his eyes, instead the light shone red through lids closed over irises made of sky.

Holding his breath, he swam, his strong body taking the strain with ease. He emerged from the water at the edge of the pool, cool marble chilling his hands as he used them to propel himself up out of the water.

“Cas!” he heard a feminine voice call from the kitchen, His roommate, Charlie, hung out of the window. The redheaded woman was holding a phone, presumably his, and waving it out the window at him.

“Answer it, Charlie.” He replied, grabbing a towel. “I’ll be a minute.” He threw the towel over his head and quickly dried off, leaving the damp towel around his shoulders as he walked in through the patio. He looked at Charlie expectantly, who held his emerald green Samsung to her ear. She held it out, “Claire.”, she spoke dully, and Cas wondered whether this would be good or bad.

He hadn’t heard from Claire in over 2 years, she had been living in Toronto with her boyfriend and busy hunting with the Canadian branch of the Winchester Letters Initiative, a re-creation of the years-gone “Men of Letters” (which now included many talented Female hunters.).

Originally based in Kansas, the Winchester brothers re-created the Men of Letters, making it a mix between what they were and what the Men of Letters wanted to be, and allowing any hunter of any gender to join the collective, and be permitted to utilize the Bunker’s library, holding key information on all monsters across America. Often times Hunters came into the Bunker when they got hurt or needed a place to lay low, the countless rooms in the space provided a “Hotel” of sorts for them.

He took the phone and pressed it to his ear, holding it with his shoulder as he strode into the kitchen. “Claire.” He grabbed a glass from the cabinet, “What’s going on?” he turned the handle on the sink and the faucet started to pour cool water into his glass, as he listened to Claire he turned the faucet off, slowly placing the glass on the counter without drinking any of the water. He leaned against the counter, in the pit of his stomach he felt a knot, and in his chest he felt pain. Even after years of being human, he never quite got used to this feeling.

“Dad.. I....I'm so sorry." Claire’s voice fell flat on Castiel’s ears.

Grief, like waves from the Ocean, pummeled against him as if he was the shore, he felt as if he might collapse, but some part of him was too stubborn to let his body fail. The phone went dead and he laid it quietly on the counter. Charlie stood in the doorway, a concerned look had appeared over her usually happy features,

“I’m so sorry, Cas.” Charlie spoke, walking forward into the room.

“I…” Cas breathed in deeply. “I knew it was coming.” he spoke as if it might make him feel better to say it, but it didn’t. There was no peace.

He walked out of the room and into his bedroom, locking the door behind him. He leaned against it, sliding down to the floor. He held his head in his hands and silent sobs began to make his body shake. After a long while he stood, crossing the room to his dresser, and pulled out a small box. He closed his eyes briefly, mentally preparing to face the reality Claire had told him. He opened the box softly, the light from the last of the evening sun illuminating shiny photographs, each one carefully labelled at the bottom. Cas picked up the first photo, with a black car, a man with green eyes was holding out a beer to the photographer, smiling widely. Surrounding them were trees in shades of red, orange and yellow. Underneath the photo a label read: Dean and Baby, October of 2020.

Castiel gently placed the photo on the table beside his bed, flicking on the lamp. He sat and continued looking through the photos, not noticing his crying until a drop landed on a photo of Him with Dean, Sam with his wife Eileen, and Charlie, each dressed as a different Scooby Doo character, titled The Scooby Gang, Halloween 2023.

Cas wiped the tear off of the photo, setting the box on the table he stood, trying not to cry. His best friends for years, the men who had saved him countless times, were gone.

‘Sam and Dean are dead.’

Thinking the words caused Cas’ emotions to overflow. He had seen Sam and Dean die over a dozen times and come back, but he knew, this time it was for real. He knew by how Claire said it, from the fact that she didn’t speak of any ideas to bring them back “this time”, or even tell him how they lost their lives. This time, was the last one, the last death for the brothers who had saved the world more times than anyone else could handle. He dropped to the floor and felt a rush of relief as his consciousness faded.

Hours later, Cas’ eyes open, looking around he notices that Charlie had gotten him onto his bed. Beside him on the table was a glass of water.

The box of photos had disappeared, he looked around systematically until he spotted the box sitting on the dresser, closed. He moved and felt something on his forehead, and removed what turned out to be a washcloth, damp with cool water.

He sat up only to feel a jarring pain in his head, and instantly grabbed the glass and the pill he noticed beside it, swallowing the pill followed with the water.

He moved the blanket off of his legs and swung them over the edge of the bed, wiggling his toes, encased in bumblebee socks peeking out from pajamas Charlie must have put on him while he was unconscious. He smiled gently, appreciating his roommate’s consideration and empathy.

He emerged to a semi-dark apartment, Charlie had gone to bed and night had long fallen over the city. The only light came from streetlights shining their light through the cracks in the curtains. He wandered to the window, pulling the curtain and gazing out into the artificially lit streets of Kansas City absently. The vast buildings made him feel safe, somehow, even knowing the monsters that lurked the streets.

He sighed as he turned from the window, and stood for a moment to let his eyes adjust as the curtain made the room dark, once more settling into place, shutting out the rest of the world. Shutting out the world that now seemed bleaker, knowing the Winchester Brothers were gone from it. He thought about how he would deal with this, he allowed his systematic Angel logic kick in. He thought that he might need counseling, that he might need help before their cremation. He knew they’d go like the hunters they were, burned on the pyre as generations of hunters had been. “The most honorable way to go,” Dean had once said, but now Cas wasn’t so sure he agreed. He wasn’t sure he could watch as his two brothers left this Earth for good, and he suddenly wondered where their souls went. Did they go to Hell, like so many Monsters undoubtedly promised? Did they go to Heaven, even though the Angels couldn’t care less about them? Did they get thrown in Purgatory, or the Void? His curiosity faded as quickly as it came, leaving behind a awfully large lump in his throat, which caused him to decide he needed an infusion.

He stepped into the kitchen, trailing his fingertips over the marble counter-tops. He loved this apartment, he loved the sleek kitchen appliances, the marble, the white carpet. He loved living with Charlie, too, because there would never be a day they’d be anything more than friends, and he decided a long time ago he didn’t want any more than friends. He may be human now, but his Angel instincts still made him wary of giving his heart to anyone, especially with past experiences in mind. He thought of Dean, and how they had such strong, undeniable Chemistry. An instant connection, he had thought it was love, and so had Dean. But it wasn’t. And even though Dean had moved on, Cas wasn’t sure exactly what held him back from loving anyone else. He knew he wasn’t in love with Dean, but nobody else could understand him, nobody else knew him the way Dean did and that made everyone else incapable of really being able to be with him.

He remembered back to Dean’s first marriage. A lovely young woman named Jo, if he remembered correctly, which of course he always did. That didn’t last long, but as far as he knew they stayed friends throughout the rest of Dean’s life. He wondered if the lady was still living, if she knew, if she cared. He moved on to Dean’s second marriage. She wasn’t a hunter, like Jo had been. She wasn’t even someone who was involved in this life at all. Her name was Sinead. She was brunette, built tall and broad-shouldered for a woman, soft personality, too. The total opposite of Jo. Her soft Irish accent made everyone in the room calm, and her music made everyone feel like they should be meditating. With Sinead, Dean had found love. Maybe not true love, maybe not his one-and-only, but certainly a wonderful love that made him happy until his dying day.

*screeeeeee* the tea kettle whistled, bringing Cas out of his reverie. He poured the hot water into his cup, watching the liquid pull the red colour out of the infusion, he breathed in, the scent of apple and cinnamon filled his nostrils and made him smile. He grabbed the honey jar out of the cabinet and smiled at the comb that was sitting at the bottom of the Jar. He poured honey in and stirred it, and put everything away before returning to the living room. He clicked on a lamp, and sat next to it on the recliner he usually occupied. Sipping his tea he thought of Sam, and how Sam had believed in him no matter what. Sam had always been like a brother, albeit a bit like an older brother, which Cas had plenty of with the Angels, but Sam was different. Sam understood, and when he didn’t, he listened. He always allowed Cas to finish his stories before adding feedback, unlike Dean who would cut in any time he had a thought. Sam was a genuinely good soul.

Cas thought of Eileen, Sam’s wife, and their three children, Dean, affectionately called “Dean 2.0” by the family, Bobby, and Ella. Dean 2.0 was the oldest, though luckily he wasn’t exactly like his Uncle. Instead he was more like his mother, caring and understanding but with a bite if he was crossed. He grew up to be a wonderful hunter, as did his siblings. Bobby and Ella, the younger two, were fraternal twins. Ella looked just like her mother, while Bobby looked more like Sam, built tall, they both exceeded their mother’s height as adults, much to her annoyance. “I’ve got a house full of moose!” she’d sign, smiling as she shook her head at her family. She could never really be annoyed with them, and Cas couldn’t honestly think of a family he knew of that loved each other more than them.

The clock chimed, signaling the end of another hour, and indeed, another day.

Cas debated whether he should try to sleep again, deciding to watch TV and finish his drink and then go back to bed, but before he knew it dawn’s light was shining in through the cracks in the curtains, illuminating the room in a soft glow. He sighed, running a hand through semi-long locks. He stood and stretched, empty mug hanging from one finger. He walked into the kitchen, cleaned his mug and got coffee on to brew for Charlie. He yawned, checked his watch and then proceeded to groan. 05:00. The worst time, in his opinion, to ever be awake. He didn’t have to work for hours.

‘maybe I should try to sleep,’ He thought absently to himself, yawning again. “I don’t think I can, at this point…” He spoke aloud, he had a habit or responding to himself. Stretching again, he tried to shake the stiffness out of his limbs.

He heard the coffee’s “Finished brewing” signal and returned to the kitchen, grabbing a mug and filling it with the hot brew. He heard a door open and Charlie emerged from her room, looking disheveled. She raised her nose and breathed in, a small smile forming on her face. “You made coffee?” She asked rhetorically, and Cas nodded. He held out a mug for her and she poured coffee into it, taking it from him to add the cream and sugar.

“Did you sleep?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. He knew he must look terrible.

“No.” He responded, furrowing his brow. “Well. I might have. I lost track of time at one point…” He added, thinking back to this morning, and wondering where the time had gone.

“When is the…thing?” He asked, not able to voice the burning he knew would happen.

“I…’m not sure.” Charlie responded, “Claire didn’t say anything to me. I figured she’d tell you.” She frowned, taking another sip.

“Alright.. Well I’ll call Eileen, I guess, and ask her that when I see how she is doing.” He took out his phone, but when the screen lit up to show time had only gone fifteen minutes, he set it back down. “Later. I’ll call her later. I’m sure her and the kids don’t want anyone bothering them before nine, at least.”

Charlie chuckled quietly, “You’re probably right.” She took another drink of her coffee and wandered out of the kitchen, Cas listened as her door shut, and Cas left to go to work.

The day dragged on, and Cas realized somewhere through it that he had somehow forgotten to call Eileen. He took a break and dialed her number, taking a deep breath as it rang.

"Dean Winchester," Cas squeezed his eyes closed, "Winchester Letters Initiative headquarters. What can I do for you?" The boy answered formally.

"Hey-uh-Dean." Cas muttered into the phone,

"Oh... hey Uncle Cas." The boy replied,

"Uh.. Dean... when is the.. the um.." Cas swallowed, trying to get his words out past the lump in his throat.

"The memorial?" Dean spoke softly, and Cas felt his eyes burn with tears.

"Y..ye..ah." Cas managed, feeling out of breath.

"It's in a week," Dean replied, "At the bunker. Everyone will be there."

Cas nodded to himself, taking another breath, "Alright. Charlie and I will be there. I have to get back to work now, tell the family Charlie and I love them."

"Will do. Love you, Uncle Cas."

Cas hung up, and slowly slid the phone into his pocket. The cold stone behind him was soothing, giving him a slight feeling of support.

~~~

The week went by, somehow fast and slow at the same time. Cas didn't think he could ever prepare himself.

Suddenly the day to leave was upon him, he packed enough for several days and joined Charlie at the door, clicking the autostart button on his truck keys. The engine revved to life outside as Cas locked the door behind him. Charlie slid into the passenger seat as Cas took the drivers seat, squeezing the steering wheel tightly before releasing it and shifting into drive.

The drive was long, and Cas had a hard time not thinking of all those memories of the boys.

Finally they arrived. Cas stepped out of the truck, grabbing his suitcase out of the back seat, and quickly strode up to the door. He felt a chill as he placed his hand on the door handle, turning it slowly and swinging the door open. The warm light of the hall illuminated his tired face, and as he walked down the steps into the main area he felt flooded with bittersweet memories. He could see Dean and Sam in his mind's eye, sitting at the tables, researching for one of their countless hunts. But the memory faded quickly as it had come, and he rubbed his arms as the chill came back.

Eileen and the kids were waiting for them in the media room. The kids were watching a movie and Eileen was crocheting. She set down the yarn in her hands and got up, giving them both big hugs, and the kids followed suit.

Then Eileen, sitting once more, took a breath, and began to sign, telling Cas how the boys died, and that they were so glad he and Charlie were there with them, that it was always good to have more family around. Tears began to flow from her eyes and she dropped her hands into her lap, looking down. At that moment Cas knew how hard she was taking the loss, so he pulled her close to him and hugged her. He knew he couldn't compare to Sam, but she needed something. He felt arms curving around him and Eileen, and glanced up to see Dean, Bobby, and Ella, half hugging him and half hugging their mother. All with tears streaming down their young faces. Charlie joined in and for awhile the group of them stayed that way, taking comfort in each other.

They stayed up late that night, telling stories of the men they knew and loved, laughing, crying, grieving, and just a bit, healing.

The next morning brought sunshine, they donned their black clothing and stepped outside into the bright light, the warmth drying their tears.

They spent the morning setting things up. The bunker needed seating for everyone who was attending the memorial later that evening. Before that, privately, would be the burning. The pyres were already set up, and Cas and Dean took the job of readying the boys for it. They cried, unashamed of their sorrow, throughout the whole process.

The burning itself went by quickly, and everyone involved was relieved as the last of the embers died out, for they weren't sure they could stand there much longer remembering.

As they shuffled inside, the first of their guests for the memorial arrived, a loud knock sounding on the door.

On the other side stood a very awkward Crowley, dressed in his usual black suit, with a black tie. Behind him stood his mother Rowena, looking equally as awkward.

"Come in." Dean gestured, eyeing them slightly.

"We're... so sor'y for yer loss." The redheaded witch offered politely, and Eileen gestured "thank you." She guided them to the main area of the bunker, in which sat dozens of seats and a table with a projector for photos and videos. Cas had packed his photos when he left, and now they sat neatly by the projector with a photo scanner beside them.

Many people arrived after that, Claire, Patience, Jody, Donna, Jack, Chuck, And many more arrived to say their goodbyes to the Winchester brothers who saved the world several times over.

A few hours past, they all ate dinner and had pie, and when everyone was finished they said their own goodbyes and eventually Dean, Bobby, Ella, Eileen, Cas, and Charlie were alone once more.

Cas and Charlie stayed for one week afterward, helping with anything they could. Eventually they too, went home, but not before both insisting Eileen call them if they needed anything.

Additional A/N: If you want the addition of how the boys died, send me an ask-I couldn't find a good way to put it in.

[omgskate360]

How to get success in your business: complete Guide

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[coin-news-blog]

Bank Crisis Spreads in India – Deaths, Strike, Supreme Court Denial

New Post has been published on https://coinmakers.tech/news/bank-crisis-spreads-in-india-deaths-strike-supreme-court-denial

Bank Crisis Spreads in India – Deaths, Strike, Supreme Court Denial

Bank Crisis Spreads in India – Deaths, Strike, Supreme Court Denial

The Indian banking sector is facing multiple challenges. Customers of several cooperative banks are still struggling to withdraw their money, and deaths have been reported in connection with withdrawal restrictions. Meanwhile, some 300,000 state-run bank employees are on strike against what the bank unions call “cold-blooded murder of six banks.”

PMC Bank Crisis Worsens

Customers of Mumbai-based Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank, which has 137 branches in six states, are still struggling to withdraw their money. It has been almost a month since the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), first placed regulatory restrictions on the bank, but depositors say their troubles have only worsened, PTI reported Monday.

According to CNN-News18, RBI officials met a delegation of PMC Bank customers, 100 of whom protested outside of central bank’s headquarters Sunday. “We gave them an ultimatum till October 30. None of us will celebrate Diwali,” a depositor told the news channel. However, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das is currently abroad and is not available to address the issue. Moneycontrol elaborated:

The delegation also demanded Rs 25 lakh [~$35,245] as compensation for the kin of those who have died due to the PMC crisis.

The situation has become so tense that several depositors reportedly died. Murlidhar Dharra, an 83-year-old PMC Bank customer, died on Friday. His family claims they could not raise money for his heart surgery due to the withdrawal restriction. Two PMC Bank customers died of a heart attack, and one allegedly committed suicide.

Depositors outside a PMC Bank branch.

Even though the RBI has raised the withdrawal limit to 40,000 rupees and Lok Sabha member Kirit Somaiya tweeted Wednesday that “needy” PMC Bank customers can apply to withdraw an additional 50,000 rupees, depositors say it is still not enough to live on for six months and demand all of their money back. They are struggling to pay essentials such as school fees for their children, medical expenses, employees’ salaries, taxes, and electricity bills, as their checks have bounced. Meanwhile, the fraud probe into PMC Bank has deepened.

Supreme Court Denies Hearing

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the Indian supreme court last week challenging the RBI circulars restricting withdrawals at cooperative banks. The petition sought directions to protect the interests of around 15 lakh (1.5 million) PMC Bank customers whose money is blocked due to the alleged scam.

However, the court refused to entertain the petition. “We are not inclined to entertain this petition under Article 32 (writ jurisdiction). Petitioner can approach the high court concerned for appropriate relief,” NDTV reported the supreme court judges as saying.

Other Banks With Similar Restrictions

Besides PMC Bank, there are several other cooperative banks that have been placed under similar regulatory restrictions by the central bank. Customers of Pune-based Shivajirao Bhosale Sahakari Bank have been stuck with a 1,000 rupee withdrawal limit since May.

The Times of India reported last week that the customers of this bank “held a demonstration outside the bank on Monday, [and] complained of step-motherly treatment because Shivajirao Bhosale Bank has just 1.3 lakh depositors compared to PMC Bank’s 8 lakh customer base,” adding:

Unlike the Mumbai-based bank which got an administrator immediately, the Pune-headquartered cooperative saw its operations being taken five months after RBI placed restrictions.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also talked to the RBI governor on behalf of PMC Bank customers. Some Shivajirao Bhosale Sahakari Bank customers are even having difficulty withdrawing the allowed 1,000 rupees. Vivek Bhatia, a 59-year-old tailor from Pune, told the news outlet that he has been unable to withdraw any amount from his Rs 18.5 lakh life savings because the bank is non-operational, the publication conveyed.

Other banks that have been placed under similar restrictions with the 1,000 rupee withdrawal limit include Shri Anand Co-operative Bank, Kolikata Mahila Cooperative Bank, Shivajirao Bhosale Sahakari Bank, and Millath Co-operative Bank.

Bank Consolidation Strike

On top of all the problems caused by RBI restrictions, a large number of bank employees in multiple cities went on strike on Tuesday against the government’s plans to consolidate the sector through mergers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has vowed to cut the total number of state-owned banks from 27 to 12, Reuters detailed, noting that 10 of the banks will be merged into four.

State-owned banks account for almost two-thirds of the countries’ banking assets and much of the banking sector’s nearly $150 billion of stressed loans. According to the news outlet, nearly 300,000 employees of Indian state-run banks stayed home from work across the country and took part in protest marches. Services such as cash deposits, withdrawals, cheque clearances, and ATM operations were all affected. PTI reported the number of bank workers on strike as high as 4 lakh (400,000).

Bank employees on strike on Tuesday. Image courtesy of The Economic Times.

“Government may call it a merger but, in reality, it is cold-blooded murder of six banks,” according to a release by the bank unions. All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), the oldest and largest national trade union center of bank employees in the country, was quoted by The Economic Times as saying:

In this process (a merger of 10 of the banks) the government is likely to close around 5,000 bank branches to enable small finance banks from the private sector to occupy the space and thus is privatizing banking business.

Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee met with Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee urged Prime Minister Modi to reduce the government’s stake in state-run banks to below 50% during a meeting with him on Tuesday. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor shared the 2019 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with his wife, Esther Duflo, and Michael Kremer for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.

“The current banking crisis is frightening and we should worry about it a lot because we see a repeated pattern,” he told the media on Tuesday. “We should be vigilant about this. I think we need important and aggressive changes.”

Source: news.bitcoin

[touristguidebuzz]

How this Boomer Canadian Couple Traveled the World for a Year

As a solo backpacker, there are are certain areas of travel I’m not yet an expert in. Fortunately, there are plenty of experts in our community who can share their travel experiences! Lately, there’s been a growing trend among boomers taking sabbaticals, early retirements, and buying vans and just saying “Screw it! Let’s go!” when the kids move out. More and more of my emails come from boomers looking for advice – not young college kids! It’s an awesome trend. So, today, I wanted to interview with Esther and Peter. They’re are couple from Canada traveling the world on a year-long sabbatical. They share their advice on health issues, budgeting, and much more!

Nomadic Matt: Hi Esther! Thanks for doing this interview. Tell us about yourself! Esther: I am an elementary school principal who has taken a self-funded leave for one year. I remarried a few years ago, and my husband, Peter, is my travel partner. I celebrated my 52nd birthday at the Pyramids of Giza, and Peter celebrated his 58th at a variety show in Bangkok. We call North Delta (a suburb of Vancouver) home.

How did you get into travel? I think it happened in stages. When I was still in elementary school, my parents bought me a desk that had a map of the world on the top. I used to stare at that and dream of all the incredible places there are to explore in the world. Then, when I was thirteen, my parents bought a time-share. This allowed our family to travel to Mexico and Hawaii, which were my first tropical experiences. I loved the sounds and smells and the exotic feel of it. As a university student I studied languages in both Freiburg, Germany, and Bordeaux, France. During those two years I traveled in Europe, and I think that is when the travel bug really bit me. I have yet to recover from that bite!

Where have you been? Before this round-the-world tour, I had already traveled extensively in Europe, Mexico, Hawaii, Cuba, China, and Canada. Since August 2016, my husband and I have visited Holland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Sri Lanka, India, and Nepal, and we are currently in Thailand. We still have three or four months of traveling ahead of us, and the current plan is to explore Southeast Asia, but we are open to other possibilities, too. Ironically, as we travel, my list of places to visit is growing longer rather than getting shorter!

What’s been the biggest lesson so far? The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that the world is simultaneously small and big. By this I mean that it is small enough to explore. It is big, however, in that there is an abundance of everything we require to sustain ourselves. If we were to put aside politics and borders and simply focus on ensuring that we distribute the riches of the world, there would, I honestly believe, be more than enough of everything for everyone. Living out of a carry-on suitcase has taught me that we actually “need” very little.

What’s your number one piece of advice for new travelers? Plan, plan, and plan some more. It is not only necessary but exciting! Then be prepared to abandon your carefully made plans for unexpected opportunities that will arise. This trip we decided to forego a portion of Eastern Europe to serve as crew on a sailboat in the Dodecanese Islands, and we blew our budget to sail down the Nile on a dahabiya (passenger boat). We don’t regret those decisions one bit.

A second piece of advice would be to document your journey. I am not normally one to journal, but I do while traveling, and it is tremendous to look back on even now. We also are sharing our travel adventures through blogging and social media. I am confident that the digital and hard copies will become treasured memories when the trip is over.

How do you travel on a budget? We basically draw from three pots of money: my salary, Peter’s pension and savings for the trip, and the income from renting our house. We are fortunate that all three sources of income come in monthly, which makes it easy to budget. We also have savings to dip into should the need arise, but so far we haven’t had to.

We look for budget accommodation. Hotels.com is where I do most of our bookings; because I write reviews of our stays, I get a percentage off subsequent stays and a free night for every ten paid nights. We have also used Airbnb on occasion.

We have been fortunate to spend some time with my relatives in Austria and also with many Couchsurfing hosts. I hesitate to put either of these in the budget category though, because we don’t use these to save money but rather because it is such an enriching experience. We have been fortunate to have had wonderful hosts in the past eight months.

What budget tips do you have for other travelers? Track every penny you spend. While Peter tracks things electronically using an app called Andromoney, I try to keep a running total in my head. Often my total is WAY off, as it is easy to forget a taxi ride, a cup of coffee, a snack at a roadside stand. We go over our $150 [Canadian] for the two of us some days, knowing we need to make it up on others.

Your husband has some health issues. How do you handle that on the road? While we have been planning this round-the-world trip for a few years, our resolve became greater when Peter had a stroke two years ago. He worked hard to recover, but it was a reminder that life is uncertain and that we don’t know how many days or years any of us have ahead of us, so we should fill them doing what we love.

We delayed our trip by one year while Peter worked on recovering. Originally, we planned on driving around Iceland so we could hike to the natural hot springs. Peter’s high blood pressure and hot springs aren’t a good combination, so instead we decided to sign up for a bike and barge tour in Holland.

His medical condition also caused us to think carefully about which travel insurance would cover pre-existing conditions. Peter packed a year’s worth of medication and his blood pressure cuff, and he monitors his blood pressure regularly. Additionally, I have a bad hip, and the doctor has told me I will eventually require a hip replacement. We strive to live a healthy, mainly vegetarian lifestyle while traveling, but it is difficult in many countries.

Between the two of us, we are mindful of our physical limitations and that some activities we might have undertaken in our twenties simply aren’t for us now. That is the reality of growing older (for us at least). We are still able to do all of the activities we enjoy…just scaled back a bit.

Have you had to see any doctors on the road? Was getting a year’s worth of medicine difficult? I had a really bad cold while in Sri Lanka over Christmas so we went to the hospital. The hospital visit and medications were only $25. I also had to have a doctor make a house call to the hotel while in India due to vertigo caused by a buildup of water in the ear, and he charged $23 for the house call and medication. For both of these medical interventions we paid cash, because it wasn’t enough to send to our medical insurance.

As far of the year’s worth medication, through the Canadian medical plan you can only purchase six months’ worth, so the other half was out of pocket. Apparently, we could have picked up these medications cheaply in some countries but found that out too late. I am not sure we would want to have counted on that though because we find that even trying to get baby aspirin in the right dosage can be a challenge.

Do you meet a lot of travelers your age on the road? If so, how? This has been tricky. Most of the travellers our age are on group tours so they don’t tend to seek to expand their circle of friends. I make a point to start conversations with people wherever and whenever I can. Hostel and hotel lobbies are often good spots to connect with people.

The most significant meetings have definitely been through Couchsurfing. When looking for a host, I don’t focus too much on the age, as our age bracket makes up a small percentage of the Couchsurfing world. Besides, I can enjoy the company of someone regardless of their age. Connecting with younger people has also been great and is quite rejuvenating. We have definitely made friendships on the road that I am confident will endure.

Do you find being older travelers makes it harder to find Couchsurfing hosts? A lot of older travelers worry that the site is “just for young people”. I don’t think our age has been an issue at all with Couchsurfing. If you make it clear that the Couchsurfing will be mutually satisfying, then age should not be an issue. I’d say more than 50% of the “surfers” are younger than us and we have had wonderful experiences. Actually, I think that a lot of the younger Couchsurfers take a lot without giving back by either not hosting themselves or just being a guest that sees it as a free hotel room. So being young could sometimes be viewed as a disadvantage in finding a host, in my mind.

What’s one mistake you’ve made that you could have avoided? Today we were robbed by our cabbie. My husband had been to the bank earlier in the day. Usually, we split up the money between us and also stash some in some secret places so as not to have all our money in one spot. Today, we were in a hurry, hot, and tired, and we were going to do it once we got back to the hotel. It was a perfect storm. In the end, the cabbie got about 3,000,000 dong ($180 USD) by feigning outrage and then grabbing a bunch of bills from my husband’s open wallet. Not knowing what he was going to do next, we got out of his cab as soon as he hit the unlock button. He was acting quite irrational, so we were happy to remove ourselves from that situation without greater loss. It has rattled us a bit and reminded us to follow all the common-sense safety measures.

What advice do you have for travelers your age? GO NOW! Many people are waiting for retirement or the economy to improve or their children or grandchildren to be older. There is always something that will hold you back. Independent traveling won’t get easier as the years pass. Some people might feel it is a selfish indulgence, but perhaps that isn’t such a bad thing. We have spent decades dedicating ourselves to working, raising children, and dreaming about “one day.” It is OK to decide that day is today—pack your bags and go!

Become the Next Success Story

One of my favorite parts about this job is hearing people’s travel stories. They inspire me, but more importantly, they also inspire you. I travel a certain way but there are many ways to fund your trips and travel the world. I hope these stories show you that there is more than one way to travel and that it is within your grasp to reach your travel goals. Here are more examples of people who found work overseas to fund their trips:

How Jim Didn’t Let a New Disability Change his Travels

How (and Why) This 72-Year-Old is Backpacking the World

How Families and Seniors Can Use the Information on this Website

How this 70-Year-Old Couple Bucked Tradition to Travel the World

P.S. – We are hosting a Q&A with Couchsurfing on September 28th. Come join and find out how to crush it on Couchsurfing and meet locals on your travels!

The post How this Boomer Canadian Couple Traveled the World for a Year appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

[fadingfartconnoisseur]

How this Boomer Canadian Couple Traveled the World for a Year

As a solo backpacker, there are are certain areas of travel I’m not yet an expert in. Fortunately, there are plenty of experts in our community who can share their travel experiences! Lately, there’s been a growing trend among boomers taking sabbaticals, early retirements, and buying vans and just saying “Screw it! Let’s go!” when the kids move out. More and more of my emails come from boomers looking for advice – not young college kids! It’s an awesome trend. So, today, I wanted to interview with Esther and Peter. They’re are couple from Canada traveling the world on a year-long sabbatical. They share their advice on health issues, budgeting, and much more!

Nomadic Matt: Hi Esther! Thanks for doing this interview. Tell us about yourself! Esther: I am an elementary school principal who has taken a self-funded leave for one year. I remarried a few years ago, and my husband, Peter, is my travel partner. I celebrated my 52nd birthday at the Pyramids of Giza, and Peter celebrated his 58th at a variety show in Bangkok. We call North Delta (a suburb of Vancouver) home.

How did you get into travel? I think it happened in stages. When I was still in elementary school, my parents bought me a desk that had a map of the world on the top. I used to stare at that and dream of all the incredible places there are to explore in the world. Then, when I was thirteen, my parents bought a time-share. This allowed our family to travel to Mexico and Hawaii, which were my first tropical experiences. I loved the sounds and smells and the exotic feel of it. As a university student I studied languages in both Freiburg, Germany, and Bordeaux, France. During those two years I traveled in Europe, and I think that is when the travel bug really bit me. I have yet to recover from that bite!

Where have you been? Before this round-the-world tour, I had already traveled extensively in Europe, Mexico, Hawaii, Cuba, China, and Canada. Since August 2016, my husband and I have visited Holland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Sri Lanka, India, and Nepal, and we are currently in Thailand. We still have three or four months of traveling ahead of us, and the current plan is to explore Southeast Asia, but we are open to other possibilities, too. Ironically, as we travel, my list of places to visit is growing longer rather than getting shorter!

What’s been the biggest lesson so far? The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that the world is simultaneously small and big. By this I mean that it is small enough to explore. It is big, however, in that there is an abundance of everything we require to sustain ourselves. If we were to put aside politics and borders and simply focus on ensuring that we distribute the riches of the world, there would, I honestly believe, be more than enough of everything for everyone. Living out of a carry-on suitcase has taught me that we actually “need” very little.

What’s your number one piece of advice for new travelers? Plan, plan, and plan some more. It is not only necessary but exciting! Then be prepared to abandon your carefully made plans for unexpected opportunities that will arise. This trip we decided to forego a portion of Eastern Europe to serve as crew on a sailboat in the Dodecanese Islands, and we blew our budget to sail down the Nile on a dahabiya (passenger boat). We don’t regret those decisions one bit.

A second piece of advice would be to document your journey. I am not normally one to journal, but I do while traveling, and it is tremendous to look back on even now. We also are sharing our travel adventures through blogging and social media. I am confident that the digital and hard copies will become treasured memories when the trip is over.

How do you travel on a budget? We basically draw from three pots of money: my salary, Peter’s pension and savings for the trip, and the income from renting our house. We are fortunate that all three sources of income come in monthly, which makes it easy to budget. We also have savings to dip into should the need arise, but so far we haven’t had to.

We look for budget accommodation. Hotels.com is where I do most of our bookings; because I write reviews of our stays, I get a percentage off subsequent stays and a free night for every ten paid nights. We have also used Airbnb on occasion.

We have been fortunate to spend some time with my relatives in Austria and also with many Couchsurfing hosts. I hesitate to put either of these in the budget category though, because we don’t use these to save money but rather because it is such an enriching experience. We have been fortunate to have had wonderful hosts in the past eight months.

What budget tips do you have for other travelers? Track every penny you spend. While Peter tracks things electronically using an app called Andromoney, I try to keep a running total in my head. Often my total is WAY off, as it is easy to forget a taxi ride, a cup of coffee, a snack at a roadside stand. We go over our $150 [Canadian] for the two of us some days, knowing we need to make it up on others.

Your husband has some health issues. How do you handle that on the road? While we have been planning this round-the-world trip for a few years, our resolve became greater when Peter had a stroke two years ago. He worked hard to recover, but it was a reminder that life is uncertain and that we don’t know how many days or years any of us have ahead of us, so we should fill them doing what we love.

We delayed our trip by one year while Peter worked on recovering. Originally, we planned on driving around Iceland so we could hike to the natural hot springs. Peter’s high blood pressure and hot springs aren’t a good combination, so instead we decided to sign up for a bike and barge tour in Holland.

His medical condition also caused us to think carefully about which travel insurance would cover pre-existing conditions. Peter packed a year’s worth of medication and his blood pressure cuff, and he monitors his blood pressure regularly. Additionally, I have a bad hip, and the doctor has told me I will eventually require a hip replacement. We strive to live a healthy, mainly vegetarian lifestyle while traveling, but it is difficult in many countries.

Between the two of us, we are mindful of our physical limitations and that some activities we might have undertaken in our twenties simply aren’t for us now. That is the reality of growing older (for us at least). We are still able to do all of the activities we enjoy…just scaled back a bit.

Have you had to see any doctors on the road? Was getting a year’s worth of medicine difficult? I had a really bad cold while in Sri Lanka over Christmas so we went to the hospital. The hospital visit and medications were only $25. I also had to have a doctor make a house call to the hotel while in India due to vertigo caused by a buildup of water in the ear, and he charged $23 for the house call and medication. For both of these medical interventions we paid cash, because it wasn’t enough to send to our medical insurance.

As far of the year’s worth medication, through the Canadian medical plan you can only purchase six months’ worth, so the other half was out of pocket. Apparently, we could have picked up these medications cheaply in some countries but found that out too late. I am not sure we would want to have counted on that though because we find that even trying to get baby aspirin in the right dosage can be a challenge.

Do you meet a lot of travelers your age on the road? If so, how? This has been tricky. Most of the travellers our age are on group tours so they don’t tend to seek to expand their circle of friends. I make a point to start conversations with people wherever and whenever I can. Hostel and hotel lobbies are often good spots to connect with people.

The most significant meetings have definitely been through Couchsurfing. When looking for a host, I don’t focus too much on the age, as our age bracket makes up a small percentage of the Couchsurfing world. Besides, I can enjoy the company of someone regardless of their age. Connecting with younger people has also been great and is quite rejuvenating. We have definitely made friendships on the road that I am confident will endure.

Do you find being older travelers makes it harder to find Couchsurfing hosts? A lot of older travelers worry that the site is “just for young people”. I don’t think our age has been an issue at all with Couchsurfing. If you make it clear that the Couchsurfing will be mutually satisfying, then age should not be an issue. I’d say more than 50% of the “surfers” are younger than us and we have had wonderful experiences. Actually, I think that a lot of the younger Couchsurfers take a lot without giving back by either not hosting themselves or just being a guest that sees it as a free hotel room. So being young could sometimes be viewed as a disadvantage in finding a host, in my mind.

What’s one mistake you’ve made that you could have avoided? Today we were robbed by our cabbie. My husband had been to the bank earlier in the day. Usually, we split up the money between us and also stash some in some secret places so as not to have all our money in one spot. Today, we were in a hurry, hot, and tired, and we were going to do it once we got back to the hotel. It was a perfect storm. In the end, the cabbie got about 3,000,000 dong ($180 USD) by feigning outrage and then grabbing a bunch of bills from my husband’s open wallet. Not knowing what he was going to do next, we got out of his cab as soon as he hit the unlock button. He was acting quite irrational, so we were happy to remove ourselves from that situation without greater loss. It has rattled us a bit and reminded us to follow all the common-sense safety measures.

What advice do you have for travelers your age? GO NOW! Many people are waiting for retirement or the economy to improve or their children or grandchildren to be older. There is always something that will hold you back. Independent traveling won’t get easier as the years pass. Some people might feel it is a selfish indulgence, but perhaps that isn’t such a bad thing. We have spent decades dedicating ourselves to working, raising children, and dreaming about “one day.” It is OK to decide that day is today—pack your bags and go!

Become the Next Success Story

One of my favorite parts about this job is hearing people’s travel stories. They inspire me, but more importantly, they also inspire you. I travel a certain way but there are many ways to fund your trips and travel the world. I hope these stories show you that there is more than one way to travel and that it is within your grasp to reach your travel goals. Here are more examples of people who found work overseas to fund their trips:

How Jim Didn’t Let a New Disability Change his Travels

How (and Why) This 72-Year-Old is Backpacking the World

How Families and Seniors Can Use the Information on this Website

How this 70-Year-Old Couple Bucked Tradition to Travel the World

P.S. – We are hosting a Q&A with Couchsurfing on September 28th. Come join and find out how to crush it on Couchsurfing and meet locals on your travels!

The post How this Boomer Canadian Couple Traveled the World for a Year appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

via Travel Blogs http://ift.tt/2fueLJU

[tamboradventure]

This Canadian Couple Took a Year Off to Travel the World

As a solo backpacker, there are are certain areas of travel I’m not yet an expert in. Fortunately, there are plenty of experts in our community who can share their travel experiences! Lately, there’s been a growing trend among boomers taking sabbaticals, early retirements, and buying vans and just saying “Screw it! Let’s go!” when the kids move out. More and more of my emails come from boomers looking for advice – not young college kids! It’s an awesome trend. So, today, I wanted to interview with Esther and Peter. They’re are couple from Canada traveling the world on a year-long sabbatical. They share their advice on health issues, budgeting, and much more!

Nomadic Matt: Hi Esther! Thanks for doing this interview. Tell us about yourself! Esther: I am an elementary school principal who has taken a self-funded leave for one year. I remarried a few years ago, and my husband, Peter, is my travel partner. I celebrated my 52nd birthday at the Pyramids of Giza, and Peter celebrated his 58th at a variety show in Bangkok. We call North Delta (a suburb of Vancouver) home.

How did you get into travel? I think it happened in stages. When I was still in elementary school, my parents bought me a desk that had a map of the world on the top. I used to stare at that and dream of all the incredible places there are to explore in the world. Then, when I was thirteen, my parents bought a time-share. This allowed our family to travel to Mexico and Hawaii, which were my first tropical experiences. I loved the sounds and smells and the exotic feel of it. As a university student I studied languages in both Freiburg, Germany, and Bordeaux, France. During those two years I traveled in Europe, and I think that is when the travel bug really bit me. I have yet to recover from that bite!

Where have you been? Before this round-the-world tour, I had already traveled extensively in Europe, Mexico, Hawaii, Cuba, China, and Canada. Since August 2016, my husband and I have visited Holland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Sri Lanka, India, and Nepal, and we are currently in Thailand. We still have three or four months of traveling ahead of us, and the current plan is to explore Southeast Asia, but we are open to other possibilities, too. Ironically, as we travel, my list of places to visit is growing longer rather than getting shorter!

What’s been the biggest lesson so far? The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that the world is simultaneously small and big. By this I mean that it is small enough to explore. It is big, however, in that there is an abundance of everything we require to sustain ourselves. If we were to put aside politics and borders and simply focus on ensuring that we distribute the riches of the world, there would, I honestly believe, be more than enough of everything for everyone. Living out of a carry-on suitcase has taught me that we actually “need” very little.

What’s your number one piece of advice for new travelers? Plan, plan, and plan some more. It is not only necessary but exciting! Then be prepared to abandon your carefully made plans for unexpected opportunities that will arise. This trip we decided to forego a portion of Eastern Europe to serve as crew on a sailboat in the Dodecanese Islands, and we blew our budget to sail down the Nile on a dahabiya (passenger boat). We don’t regret those decisions one bit.

A second piece of advice would be to document your journey. I am not normally one to journal, but I do while traveling, and it is tremendous to look back on even now. We also are sharing our travel adventures through blogging and social media. I am confident that the digital and hard copies will become treasured memories when the trip is over.

How do you travel on a budget? We basically draw from three pots of money: my salary, Peter’s pension and savings for the trip, and the income from renting our house. We are fortunate that all three sources of income come in monthly, which makes it easy to budget. We also have savings to dip into should the need arise, but so far we haven’t had to.

We look for budget accommodation. Hotels.com is where I do most of our bookings; because I write reviews of our stays, I get a percentage off subsequent stays and a free night for every ten paid nights. We have also used Airbnb on occasion.

We have been fortunate to spend some time with my relatives in Austria and also with many Couchsurfing hosts. I hesitate to put either of these in the budget category though, because we don’t use these to save money but rather because it is such an enriching experience. We have been fortunate to have had wonderful hosts in the past eight months.

What budget tips do you have for other travelers? Track every penny you spend. While Peter tracks things electronically using an app called Andromoney, I try to keep a running total in my head. Often my total is WAY off, as it is easy to forget a taxi ride, a cup of coffee, a snack at a roadside stand. We go over our $150 [Canadian] for the two of us some days, knowing we need to make it up on others.

Your husband has some health issues. How do you handle that on the road? While we have been planning this round-the-world trip for a few years, our resolve became greater when Peter had a stroke two years ago. He worked hard to recover, but it was a reminder that life is uncertain and that we don’t know how many days or years any of us have ahead of us, so we should fill them doing what we love.

We delayed our trip by one year while Peter worked on recovering. Originally, we planned on driving around Iceland so we could hike to the natural hot springs. Peter’s high blood pressure and hot springs aren’t a good combination, so instead we decided to sign up for a bike and barge tour in Holland.

His medical condition also caused us to think carefully about which travel insurance would cover pre-existing conditions. Peter packed a year’s worth of medication and his blood pressure cuff, and he monitors his blood pressure regularly. Additionally, I have a bad hip, and the doctor has told me I will eventually require a hip replacement. We strive to live a healthy, mainly vegetarian lifestyle while traveling, but it is difficult in many countries.

Between the two of us, we are mindful of our physical limitations and that some activities we might have undertaken in our twenties simply aren’t for us now. That is the reality of growing older (for us at least). We are still able to do all of the activities we enjoy…just scaled back a bit.

Have you had to see any doctors on the road? Was getting a year’s worth of medicine difficult? I had a really bad cold while in Sri Lanka over Christmas so we went to the hospital. The hospital visit and medications were only $25. I also had to have a doctor make a house call to the hotel while in India due to vertigo caused by a buildup of water in the ear, and he charged $23 for the house call and medication. For both of these medical interventions we paid cash, because it wasn’t enough to send to our medical insurance.

As far of the year’s worth medication, through the Canadian medical plan you can only purchase six months’ worth, so the other half was out of pocket. Apparently, we could have picked up these medications cheaply in some countries but found that out too late. I am not sure we would want to have counted on that though because we find that even trying to get baby aspirin in the right dosage can be a challenge.

Do you meet a lot of travelers your age on the road? If so, how? This has been tricky. Most of the travellers our age are on group tours so they don’t tend to seek to expand their circle of friends. I make a point to start conversations with people wherever and whenever I can. Hostel and hotel lobbies are often good spots to connect with people.

The most significant meetings have definitely been through Couchsurfing. When looking for a host, I don’t focus too much on the age, as our age bracket makes up a small percentage of the Couchsurfing world. Besides, I can enjoy the company of someone regardless of their age. Connecting with younger people has also been great and is quite rejuvenating. We have definitely made friendships on the road that I am confident will endure.

Do you find being older travelers makes it harder to find Couchsurfing hosts? A lot of older travelers worry that the site is “just for young people”. I don’t think our age has been an issue at all with Couchsurfing. If you make it clear that the Couchsurfing will be mutually satisfying, then age should not be an issue. I’d say more than 50% of the “surfers” are younger than us and we have had wonderful experiences. Actually, I think that a lot of the younger Couchsurfers take a lot without giving back by either not hosting themselves or just being a guest that sees it as a free hotel room. So being young could sometimes be viewed as a disadvantage in finding a host, in my mind.

What’s one mistake you’ve made that you could have avoided? Today we were robbed by our cabbie. My husband had been to the bank earlier in the day. Usually, we split up the money between us and also stash some in some secret places so as not to have all our money in one spot. Today, we were in a hurry, hot, and tired, and we were going to do it once we got back to the hotel. It was a perfect storm. In the end, the cabbie got about 3,000,000 dong ($180 USD) by feigning outrage and then grabbing a bunch of bills from my husband’s open wallet. Not knowing what he was going to do next, we got out of his cab as soon as he hit the unlock button. He was acting quite irrational, so we were happy to remove ourselves from that situation without greater loss. It has rattled us a bit and reminded us to follow all the common-sense safety measures.

What advice do you have for travelers your age? GO NOW! Many people are waiting for retirement or the economy to improve or their children or grandchildren to be older. There is always something that will hold you back. Independent traveling won’t get easier as the years pass. Some people might feel it is a selfish indulgence, but perhaps that isn’t such a bad thing. We have spent decades dedicating ourselves to working, raising children, and dreaming about “one day.” It is OK to decide that day is today—pack your bags and go!

Become the Next Success Story

One of my favorite parts about this job is hearing people’s travel stories. They inspire me, but more importantly, they also inspire you. I travel a certain way but there are many ways to fund your trips and travel the world. I hope these stories show you that there is more than one way to travel and that it is within your grasp to reach your travel goals. Here are more examples of people who found work overseas to fund their trips:

How Jim Didn’t Let a New Disability Change his Travels

How (and Why) This 72-Year-Old is Backpacking the World

How Families and Seniors Can Use the Information on this Website

How this 70-Year-Old Couple Bucked Tradition to Travel the World

P.S. – We are hosting a Q&A with Couchsurfing on September 28th. Come join and find out how to crush it on Couchsurfing and meet locals on your travels!

The post This Canadian Couple Took a Year Off to Travel the World appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

from Travel Blog – Nomadic Matt's Travel Site http://ift.tt/2fdPdny via IFTTT

[theladyjstyle]

As a solo backpacker, there are are certain areas of travel I’m not yet an expert in. Fortunately, there are plenty of experts in our community who can share their travel experiences! Lately, there’s been a growing trend among boomers taking sabbaticals, early retirements, and buying vans and just saying “Screw it! Let’s go!” when the kids move out. More and more of my emails come from boomers looking for advice – not young college kids! It’s an awesome trend. So, today, I wanted to interview with Esther and Peter. They’re are couple from Canada traveling the world on a year-long sabbatical. They share their advice on health issues, budgeting, and much more!

Nomadic Matt: Hi Esther! Thanks for doing this interview. Tell us about yourself! Esther: I am an elementary school principal who has taken a self-funded leave for one year. I remarried a few years ago, and my husband, Peter, is my travel partner. I celebrated my 52nd birthday at the Pyramids of Giza, and Peter celebrated his 58th at a variety show in Bangkok. We call North Delta (a suburb of Vancouver) home.

How did you get into travel? I think it happened in stages. When I was still in elementary school, my parents bought me a desk that had a map of the world on the top. I used to stare at that and dream of all the incredible places there are to explore in the world. Then, when I was thirteen, my parents bought a time-share. This allowed our family to travel to Mexico and Hawaii, which were my first tropical experiences. I loved the sounds and smells and the exotic feel of it. As a university student I studied languages in both Freiburg, Germany, and Bordeaux, France. During those two years I traveled in Europe, and I think that is when the travel bug really bit me. I have yet to recover from that bite!

Where have you been? Before this round-the-world tour, I had already traveled extensively in Europe, Mexico, Hawaii, Cuba, China, and Canada. Since August 2016, my husband and I have visited Holland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Sri Lanka, India, and Nepal, and we are currently in Thailand. We still have three or four months of traveling ahead of us, and the current plan is to explore Southeast Asia, but we are open to other possibilities, too. Ironically, as we travel, my list of places to visit is growing longer rather than getting shorter!

What’s been the biggest lesson so far? The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that the world is simultaneously small and big. By this I mean that it is small enough to explore. It is big, however, in that there is an abundance of everything we require to sustain ourselves. If we were to put aside politics and borders and simply focus on ensuring that we distribute the riches of the world, there would, I honestly believe, be more than enough of everything for everyone. Living out of a carry-on suitcase has taught me that we actually “need” very little.

What’s your number one piece of advice for new travelers? Plan, plan, and plan some more. It is not only necessary but exciting! Then be prepared to abandon your carefully made plans for unexpected opportunities that will arise. This trip we decided to forego a portion of Eastern Europe to serve as crew on a sailboat in the Dodecanese Islands, and we blew our budget to sail down the Nile on a dahabiya (passenger boat). We don’t regret those decisions one bit.

A second piece of advice would be to document your journey. I am not normally one to journal, but I do while traveling, and it is tremendous to look back on even now. We also are sharing our travel adventures through blogging and social media. I am confident that the digital and hard copies will become treasured memories when the trip is over.

How do you travel on a budget? We basically draw from three pots of money: my salary, Peter’s pension and savings for the trip, and the income from renting our house. We are fortunate that all three sources of income come in monthly, which makes it easy to budget. We also have savings to dip into should the need arise, but so far we haven’t had to.

We look for budget accommodation. Hotels.com is where I do most of our bookings; because I write reviews of our stays, I get a percentage off subsequent stays and a free night for every ten paid nights. We have also used Airbnb on occasion.

We have been fortunate to spend some time with my relatives in Austria and also with many Couchsurfing hosts. I hesitate to put either of these in the budget category though, because we don’t use these to save money but rather because it is such an enriching experience. We have been fortunate to have had wonderful hosts in the past eight months.

What budget tips do you have for other travelers? Track every penny you spend. While Peter tracks things electronically using an app called Andromoney, I try to keep a running total in my head. Often my total is WAY off, as it is easy to forget a taxi ride, a cup of coffee, a snack at a roadside stand. We go over our $150 [Canadian] for the two of us some days, knowing we need to make it up on others.

Your husband has some health issues. How do you handle that on the road? While we have been planning this round-the-world trip for a few years, our resolve became greater when Peter had a stroke two years ago. He worked hard to recover, but it was a reminder that life is uncertain and that we don’t know how many days or years any of us have ahead of us, so we should fill them doing what we love.

We delayed our trip by one year while Peter worked on recovering. Originally, we planned on driving around Iceland so we could hike to the natural hot springs. Peter’s high blood pressure and hot springs aren’t a good combination, so instead we decided to sign up for a bike and barge tour in Holland.

His medical condition also caused us to think carefully about which travel insurance would cover pre-existing conditions. Peter packed a year’s worth of medication and his blood pressure cuff, and he monitors his blood pressure regularly. Additionally, I have a bad hip, and the doctor has told me I will eventually require a hip replacement. We strive to live a healthy, mainly vegetarian lifestyle while traveling, but it is difficult in many countries.

Between the two of us, we are mindful of our physical limitations and that some activities we might have undertaken in our twenties simply aren’t for us now. That is the reality of growing older (for us at least). We are still able to do all of the activities we enjoy…just scaled back a bit.

Have you had to see any doctors on the road? Was getting a year’s worth of medicine difficult? I had a really bad cold while in Sri Lanka over Christmas so we went to the hospital. The hospital visit and medications were only $25. I also had to have a doctor make a house call to the hotel while in India due to vertigo caused by a buildup of water in the ear, and he charged $23 for the house call and medication. For both of these medical interventions we paid cash, because it wasn’t enough to send to our medical insurance.

As far of the year’s worth medication, through the Canadian medical plan you can only purchase six months’ worth, so the other half was out of pocket. Apparently, we could have picked up these medications cheaply in some countries but found that out too late. I am not sure we would want to have counted on that though because we find that even trying to get baby aspirin in the right dosage can be a challenge.

Do you meet a lot of travelers your age on the road? If so, how? This has been tricky. Most of the travellers our age are on group tours so they don’t tend to seek to expand their circle of friends. I make a point to start conversations with people wherever and whenever I can. Hostel and hotel lobbies are often good spots to connect with people.

The most significant meetings have definitely been through Couchsurfing. When looking for a host, I don’t focus too much on the age, as our age bracket makes up a small percentage of the Couchsurfing world. Besides, I can enjoy the company of someone regardless of their age. Connecting with younger people has also been great and is quite rejuvenating. We have definitely made friendships on the road that I am confident will endure.

Do you find being older travelers makes it harder to find Couchsurfing hosts? A lot of older travelers worry that the site is “just for young people”. I don’t think our age has been an issue at all with Couchsurfing. If you make it clear that the Couchsurfing will be mutually satisfying, then age should not be an issue. I’d say more than 50% of the “surfers” are younger than us and we have had wonderful experiences. Actually, I think that a lot of the younger Couchsurfers take a lot without giving back by either not hosting themselves or just being a guest that sees it as a free hotel room. So being young could sometimes be viewed as a disadvantage in finding a host, in my mind.

What’s one mistake you’ve made that you could have avoided? Today we were robbed by our cabbie. My husband had been to the bank earlier in the day. Usually, we split up the money between us and also stash some in some secret places so as not to have all our money in one spot. Today, we were in a hurry, hot, and tired, and we were going to do it once we got back to the hotel. It was a perfect storm. In the end, the cabbie got about 3,000,000 dong ($180 USD) by feigning outrage and then grabbing a bunch of bills from my husband’s open wallet. Not knowing what he was going to do next, we got out of his cab as soon as he hit the unlock button. He was acting quite irrational, so we were happy to remove ourselves from that situation without greater loss. It has rattled us a bit and reminded us to follow all the common-sense safety measures.

What advice do you have for travelers your age? GO NOW! Many people are waiting for retirement or the economy to improve or their children or grandchildren to be older. There is always something that will hold you back. Independent traveling won’t get easier as the years pass. Some people might feel it is a selfish indulgence, but perhaps that isn’t such a bad thing. We have spent decades dedicating ourselves to working, raising children, and dreaming about “one day.” It is OK to decide that day is today—pack your bags and go!

Become the Next Success Story

One of my favorite parts about this job is hearing people’s travel stories. They inspire me, but more importantly, they also inspire you. I travel a certain way but there are many ways to fund your trips and travel the world. I hope these stories show you that there is more than one way to travel and that it is within your grasp to reach your travel goals. Here are more examples of people who found work overseas to fund their trips:

How Jim Didn’t Let a New Disability Change his Travels

How (and Why) This 72-Year-Old is Backpacking the World

How Families and Seniors Can Use the Information on this Website

How this 70-Year-Old Couple Bucked Tradition to Travel the World

P.S. – We are hosting a Q&A with Couchsurfing on September 28th. Come join and find out how to crush it on Couchsurfing and meet locals on your travels!

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