HOW THIS BOOMER couple TRAVELED THE world FOR A YEAR

Posted: 9/18/17 | September 18th, 2017

As a solo backpacker, there are specific areas of travel I’m not yet an professional in. Fortunately, there are lots of experts in our neighborhood who can share their travel experiences with us! Lately, there’s been a growing pattern among boomers taking sabbaticals, early retirements, as well as buying vans as well as just stating “Screw it! Pojďme!” when the youngsters move out.

More as well as more of my emails come from boomers looking for advice — not young college kids. It’s an incredible trend. So, today I wished to share an interview with Esther as well as Peter. They’re couple from Canada traveling the world on a year-long sabbatical. They share their advice on health and wellness issues, budgeting, as well as much more!

Nomadic Matt: Hi Esther! thanks for doing this interview. Řekněte nám o sobě!
Esther: I am an elementary institution primary who has taken a self-funded leave for one year. I remarried a few years ago, as well as my husband, Peter, is my travel partner. I celebrated my 52nd birthday at the Pyramids of Giza, as well as Peter celebrated his 58th at a range show in Bangkok. We phone call North Delta (a suburb of Vancouver) home.

How did you get into travel?
I believe it occurred 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 utilized to gaze at that as well as dream of all the incredible locations there are to check out in the world. Then, when I was thirteen, my parents bought a time-share. This enabled our household to travel to Mexico as well as Hawaii, which were my very first tropical experiences. I liked the seems as well as smells as well as the exotic feel of it.

As a university trainee I examined languages in both Freiburg, Germany, as well as Bordeaux, France.

During those two years I traveled in Europe, as well as I believe that is when the travel bug truly bit me. I have yet to recuperate from that bite!

Kde jsi byl?
Before this round-the-world tour, I had already traveled extensively in Europe, Mexico, Hawaii, Cuba, China, as well as Canada. since August 2016, my hubby as well as I have visited Holland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Sri Lanka, India, as well as Nepal, as well as we are currently in Thailand.

We still have three or four months of traveling ahead of us, as well as the present plan is to check out Southeast Asia, however we are available to other possibilities, too. Ironically, as we travel, my listing of locations to go to is growing longer rather than getting shorter!

What’s been the biggest lesson so far?
The biggest lesson I’ve discovered is that the world is simultaneously little as well as big. By this I mean that it is little sufficient to explore. It is big, however, in that there is an abundance of whatever we need to sustain ourselves. If we were to put aside politics as well as borders as well as just focus on ensuring that we distribute the riches of the world, there would, I honestly believe, be more than sufficient of whatever for everyone.

Living out of a carry-on suitcase has taught me that we really “need” extremely little.

What’s your primary piece of advice for new travelers?
Plan, plan, as well as plan some more. It is not only necessary however exciting! then be prepared to abandon your carefully made plans for unforeseen chances that will arise. This trip we decided to forego a part of Eastern Europe to serve as team on a sailboat in the Dodecanese Islands, as well as we blew our budget plan 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, however I do while traveling, as well as it is tremendous to look back on even now. We likewise are sharing our travel adventures with blogging as well as social media. I am positive that the digital as well as difficult copies will ended up being 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 as well as cost savings for the trip, as well as the earnings from renting our house. We are fortunate that all three sources of earnings are available in monthly, which makes it simple to budget. We likewise have cost savings to dip into should the requirement arise, however so far we haven’t had to.

We look for budget plan accommodation. Hotels.com is where I do most of our bookings; since I compose evaluations of our stays, I get a portion off subsequent stays as well as a free night for each ten paid nights. We have likewise utilized Airbnb on occasion.

We have been fortunate to spend a long time with my relatives in Austria as well as likewise with many Couchsurfing hosts. I hesitate to put either of thesein the budget plan classification though, since we don’t utilize these to save money however rather since it is such an enriching experience. We have been fortunate to have had wonderful holds in the past eight months.

What budget plan tips do you have for other travelers?
Track every cent you spend. While Peter tracks things digitally utilizing an app called Andromoney, I try to keep a running overall in my head. frequently my overall is method off, as it is simple to fail to remember 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 requirement to make it up on others.

Your hubby has some health and wellness issues. exactly how do you handle that on the road?
While we have been planning this round-the-world trip for a few years, our resolve ended up being higher when Peter had a stroke two years ago. He worked difficult to recover, however it was a reminder that life is uncertain as well as that we don’t understand exactly how many days or years any type of 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 organized on driving around Iceland so we might hike to the natural hot springs. Peter’s high blood pressure as well as hot springs aren’t a great combination, so instead we decided to indication up for a bike as well as barge tour in Holland.

His medical condition likewise triggered us to believe carefully about which travel insurance coverage would cover pre-existing conditions. Peter packed a year’s worth of medication as well as his blood pressure cuff, as well as he monitors his blood pressure regularly. Additionally, I have a poor hip, as well as the physician has told me I will ultimately need a hip replacement. We aim to online a healthy, mainly vegetarian way of life while traveling, however it is difficult in many countries.

Between the two of us, we are mindful of our physical limitations as well as that some activities we may have undertaken in our twenties just aren’t for us now. That is the truth 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 type of doctors on the road? Was getting a year’s worth of medicine difficult?
I had a truly poor chilly while in Sri Lanka over Christmas so we went to the hospital. The hospital go to as well as medications were only $25 USD.

I likewise had to have a physician make a home contact us to the hotel while in India because of vertigo triggered by a buildup of water in the ear, as well as he charged $23 USD for the home phone call as well as medication.

For both of these medical interventions, we paid money since it wasn’t sufficient to send to our medical insurance.

As far of the year’s worth medication, with the Canadian medical plan you can only purchase six months’ worth, so the other half was out of pocket. Apparently, we might have chosen up these medications cheaply in some countries however discovered that out as well late. I am not sure we would want to have counted on that though since we discover that even trying to get infant aspirin in the right dosage can be a challenge.

Do you satisfy a great deal 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 broaden their circle of friends. I make a point to begin conversations with people anywhere as well as whenever I can. Hostel as well as hotel lobbies are frequently great areas to link with people.

The most considerable meetings have definitely been with Couchsurfing. When looking for a host, I don’t focus as well much on the age, as our age bracket makes up a little portion of the Couchsurfing world.

Besides, I can enjoy the business of somebody regardless of their age. connecting with younger people has likewise been fantastic as well as is rather rejuvenating. We have definitely made friendships on the road that I am positive will endure.

Do you discover being older travelers makes it harder to discover Couchsurfing hosts? A great deal of older travelers concern that the site is “just for young people”.
I don’t believe our age has been an problem at all with Couchsurfing. If you make it remove that the Couchsurfing will be mutually satisfying, then age should not be an issue.

I’d state more than 50% of the “surfers” are younger than us as well as we have had wonderful experiences. Actually, I believe that a great deal of the younger Couchsurfers take a great deal without providing back by either not holding themselves or just being a guest that sees it as a free hotel room. So being young might sometimes be viewed as a downside in discovering a host, in my mind.

What’s one error you’ve made that you might have avoided?
Today we were robbed by our cabbie. My hubby had been to the bank earlier in the day. Obvykle,Rozdělili jsme peníze mezi námi a také také skrývali některé v některých trikových místech, abychom neměli všechny naše peníze na jednom místě. Dnes jsme byli ve spěchu, horké, stejně jako unavení, stejně jako jsme to udělali, když jsme se vrátili do hotelu. Byla to perfektní bouře.

Nakonec kabinu získala asi 3 000 000 dong (180 USD) tím, že předstírala pobouření a pak popadla spoustu výdajů z otevřené peněženky mého manžela. Když jsme nevěděli, co bude dělat dál, dostali jsme z jeho kabiny, jakmile narazí na tlačítko odemknutí.

Choval poněkud iracionální, takže jsme byli rádi, že jsme se z této okolnosti odstranili bez vyšší ztráty. Trochu nás to chrlovalo a připomnělo nám, abychom dodržovali všechna bezpečnostní opatření.

Jakou radu máte pro cestovatele ve svém věku?
Jděte hned! Mnoho lidí čeká na odchod do důchodu nebo na hospodářské klima, aby se posílily nebo jejich děti nebo vnoučata jsou starší.

Vždy je něco, co vás zadrží.

Nezávislé cestování nebude s průběhem let snazší. Někteří lidé mohou cítit, že je to sobecká shovívavost, ale možná to není taková špatná věc. Strávili jsme desetiletí věnováním se práce, zvyšováním dětí a také snění o „jednoho dne“.

Je v pořádku si vybrat ten den je dnes – zabalte si tašky i Go!

Staňte se dalším příběhem o úspěchu

Jednou z mých preferovaných částí tohoto úkolu je slyšet cestovní příběhy lidí. Ovlivňují mě, i když je důležitější, ovlivňují vás také. Cestuji konkrétní metodou, ale existuje mnoho metod financování vašich cest a cestování po světě. Doufám, že vám tyto příběhy ukážou, že existuje více než jedna metoda cestování a že je ve vašem uchopení, abyste dosáhli svých cestovních cílů. Právě zde jsou další příklady lidí, kteří objevili práci v zahraničí na financování svých cest:

Jak Jim nedovolil nové úpravě postižení jeho cesty

Jak (a proč) tento 72letý batoh na svět

Jak domácnosti i seniory mohou využít informace na tomto webu

Jak tento 70letý pár vyvolal zvyk cestovat po světě

Jak cestovat po světě za 50 $ denně

Můj New York Times velmi populární průvodce brožovaným brožuřem po World Travel vás naučí přesně, jak zvládnout umění cestování, abyste zajistili, že se dostanete z vyšlapané cesty, ušetříte peníze a také máte hlubší zážitek z cestování. Je to váš průvodce plánováním A až Z, který BBC nazval „Bible pro cestovatele na rozpočtový plán“.

Kliknutím přímo zde objevíte více a začněte jej číst ještě dnes!

Zarezervujte si svůj výlet: Logistické tipy a triky
Zarezervujte si let
Najděte levný let pomocí Skyscannera. Je to můj preferovaný motor procházet, protože prohledává webové stránky i letecké společnosti po celém světě, takže vždy chápete, že žádný kámen nezůstane bez vložení.

Zarezervujte si ubytování
Svůj hostel si můžete zarezervovat pomocí hostelworld. Pokud chcete zůstat někde jinde než hostel, využijte Booking.com, protože neustále vracejí nejlevnější sazby pro penziony i hotely.

Nezapamatujte si cestovní pojištění
Pokrytí cestovního pojištění vás ochrání před nemocí, zraněním, krádeží a zrušením. Je to komplexní bezpečnost v situaci, cokoli se pokazí. Nikdy jsem nejezdil na výlet bez toho, protože jsem ho v minulosti musel mnohokrát využívat. Moje preferované podnikání, které nabízejí nejlepší služby a hodnota, jsou:

SafetyWing (nejlepší pro všechny)

Pojistěte moji cestu (pro ty nad 70)

MedJet (pro další pokrytí evakuace)

Jste připraveni rezervovat si cestu?
Podívejte se na moji stránku zdrojů pro to nejlepší firmu, kterou můžete využít při cestování. Při cestování uvádím všechny ty, které používám. Jsou to nejlepší ve třídě a také se nemůžete pokazit pomocí jejich cesty.