Empty Nesters on a Green Global Trek

3) Addiction to travel:  One might think that, after 14 months, we might be reaching a point of saying “Ok, enough, we’ve seen the world, time to settle down”. Hardly! ~ To be sure, there are attributes of a non-nomadic lifestyle that we do miss.  Most notably, having our dogs and cats around, as they are important part of our lives, when we stay put in one place. Living out of a suitcase, gets old. But on the whole, after 14 months, the general feeling is…. but what about Tibet? Mongolia? Bhutan? and what about Malaysia? Brunei?  And we do want to go to Africa ~ Ivory Coast, Senagal, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique… you get the idea… the world is like Mary Poppins’ bag ~ there is an unending supply of amazing stuff that comes out of it… so far, we are still just scratching the surface…We still both love the feeling of landing in a new place and exploring a new city for the first time. We are lucky in that we have been able to visit and have time with our families, at least annually. (Not easy considering how many different places they live in… L.A, San Francisco, Portland, Chicago, Nicaragua and Ashkelon.)

So, what have we gained? Knowledge of geography, culture, history and of course rich life experience.  The knowledge that people are innately good and friendly where ever we go. We have been consistently rewarded with general kindness, helpfulness and hospitality wherever we have travelled. The knowledge that there is not only one way to do things, one way to live. (The U.S. value system is just that… A value system, which has it’s limitations, like any value system.)

What have we lost? We have lost a societal constraint,  that sense that traveling is something that one can only do on a rare occasion, neatly compartmentalized between blocks of “work time”, during rare vacation time.  And any sense that travel requires a lot of money… all depends how one travels. Of course, that is a positive loss. We have lost possessions, continuously, trying to travel as light as possible. The lighter we are, the happier we feel. (We also have paintings in a few locations, albums in Nicaragua, some boxes here or there.. )

4) Things work out:  Perhaps the most prevalent observation, other than the fact that people are fundamentally good, the world over, is that… things do work out. Fretting about logistics is an integral part of traveling, it seems.  By now, we are pretty relaxed about the logistics of our travels. We trust things will work out, and they do. We usually secure a place to sleep for the first night when we arrive in a new country, especially if we arrive at night.  We read a few travel blogs, we land, we get a general sense of the direction we want to go in,  we find a market place and we walk… and that’s it … everything falls into place and flows organically from there. Occasionally, of course there are logistical problems.  Motorcycles that break down (Viet Nam) , trains that get stuck mid-course on steep hills (Thailand), hotels that turn out to be sub par or  noise levels that make one cringe (India), falling ill and needing to get hospital treatment (Ben in Viet Nam). But it all works out!

6) Looking for a home base: Our globe trotting is part travel and discovery, part searching for our next “Nicaragua”.  We have been exceedingly successful in the sense that we have found several towns / cities that we would gladly call home ~ Hoi An in Viet Nam, Ubud in Indonesia, Luang Prabang in Laos, Fort Gall in Sri Lanka…

How has this changed us?  We are now completely clear that we can live pretty much anywhere.  So far we have identified at least 4 or 5 cities/towns where we could easily plant our flag and achieve, should we want it, geographic stability.  This is a big deal because one tends to limit one’s options of where to live based on proximity to family, ability to get income, language etc… but in fact, wherever we choose, eventually, to settle down (for a while) will only be a flight (or 2) away.

7) Geopolitics – a different perspective:  It is one thing to read articles and surmise that China is rising.  Seems like an abstract concept, perhaps of interest to economists, bankers and military strategists.  But, having now spent months in China’s neighborhood, our perspective is very much “first person”.  We read every single day, no matter what country we are in, about China’s incursions in the region.  China is flexing its considerable muscle and there is no doubt that a coming monster clash between the West (or perhaps just the U.S.) and China is in the making.  China has initiated land grabs that conflict with the status quo in Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and they have more amicably essentially taken over Sri Lanka and Laos.  Chinese tourists today are what Europeans referred to as the “Ugly American” in the post WWII era.  They generally, come across as arrogant, disrespectful of local customs, observing locals as animals in a zoo, with oversized cameras and are very much big spenders…  Chinese travelers are now the number one travel market in the world, with over 100 million Chinese traveling the world last year alone.  This is of course just the beginning.    We are now extremely aware of this mega shift in spending power and geographic expansion and China is the 800lbs gorilla.  We are grateful for having seen this first hand as it has changed very much our reading of world events.  To be clear, “the Chinese are coming”, no doubt about that.

8) One can’t do it all!: We have long given up doing traditional tourist type things. But we have both learnt, that one cannot do it all and see it all and so we no longer even try to. We select maybe 1 or at most 2 things that we for sure want to do or see in a new place, but other than that, the rest flows organically. It is much more about being on the street, going to market places and just seeing what comes our way. We also travel slow. When we really like a place, we stay there. When we don’t resonate as much, we move on.

9) Stability is internal, not external: Home is not determined by owning a house for us any more, or staying in one place. We both noticed, that during a day, no matter where we are, one of us will say “Lets go home now”. Being together, looking out for each other brings us a sense of stability that is stronger for us, than a physical place. 

10) Other nomads abound: A nomadic lifestyle is not that unusual. For years now we have met countless nomads passing through Nicaragua and for the past 14 months crossing paths with us in Asia. To be sure our lifestyle differs from the conventional approach that has many living in one house, one country for many years… However, there is an increasing number of people who have a similar approach to extended travel,  trading geographic stability and possessions in favour of the experience that a nomadic lifestyle offers.