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Too Many Languages
Many years ago, I was picking out pastries in a bakery in Paris with my older daughter Stephanie. When the clerk pointed to a pastry, I confidently replied, “por favor.” My daughter quietly said, “Mom, that’s Spanish.” Looking back, I wondered if this error was a harbinger of things to come. Too Many Countries, Too Many Languages Steve and I…
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Oops! Did We Do That? Our Biggest Travel Mistakes
As Steve and I prepared to travel full-time, we knew that we would make mistakes. Fortunately, we have been able to keep them to a minimum, partly due to luck, partly due to the graciousness of others, and partly because we spent more than half a year under lockdown. Here are the biggest travel mistakes and near-misses we had during…
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Laundry on the Road
What’s the biggest challenge of nomad life? The language barrier? Missing family and friends back home? Boring footwear? Yes, yes, and yes. But perhaps the biggest challenge is laundry. As a full-time traveler, I have dealt with possessed washers, a myriad of drying setups, and excess laundry soap issues. I have learned that clothes dryers are not common outside of…
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12 Full-Time Travel Questions Answered
Do you dream of traveling full-time? You’re not alone. Between thoughts of Parisian cafes, Maldivian beaches, and African safaris, you may be wondering how feasible it is. You are probably concerned about costs and practical issues like medical insurance, prescriptions, and cell phone usage. In 2016 Steve and I announced that we were planning to retire and travel full-time beginning…
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Bye, Bye Bucket List
Barcelona sat right at the top of our bucket list. It was the first city in which Steve and I would spend a month as we began our new life as full-time travelers. La Sagrada Familia and Park Guell awaited us. We couldn’t wait for the city to cast its spell on us as it had for several friends who…
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Is Full-Time Travel Right for You?
It may seem strange that I am writing about full-time travel during a pandemic. But the pandemic will not last forever. While it lasts we all have plenty of time to dream and plan. It’s a dream shared by many. Leave behind the hassles of daily life and travel the world. See faraway places, have exciting adventures, and meet interesting people.…
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Our Top 10 Latin American Travel Experiences (2019)
When you are heading to a new location you think about the famous sights you plan to see. But often your best memories are of the little things that no trip planning could have anticipated. From February through November of 2019 we traveled throughout Latin America. These are ten of our most memorable travel experiences from those ten months (in…
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What Full-Time Travel Has Taught Us
More than three years of full-time travel has taught us a few things. I’m happy to say they are mostly positive. We’ve learned about safety, other cultures and people, and ourselves. Here are fourteen things full-time travel has taught us. WHAT WE LEARNED ABOUT SAFETY 1. Take Warnings With a Grain of Salt As U.S. citizens, we sometimes research information…
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Is The Ugly American Dead?
We’ve all heard about ugly Americans. Tourists from the U.S. who talk too loud, wear garish clothes, compare things in other countries to how they do it in the U.S., and expect everyone to speak English. A Case in Point Many years ago, I was sitting at my daughters’ soccer practice when a very loud man told a story of…
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Don’t Be Afraid of Multilingualism
Traveling to countries where English is not the primary language has made me rethink my attitude toward multilingualism. Before Steve and I started traveling full-time, I would be annoyed when businesses offered a Spanish option on their phone menu. I was even more annoyed when they asked me to press one for English. I felt like many Americans. Why should…
