May 16, 2023 - Our photos when shown to a group

We think that some of our photos are pretty good.

On cruises sometimes they ask for a few photos from everyone and show them all.  Our results:

1.  Of the 10 photos with loudest and longest ooh's and aah's, we had 5.  (Galapagos)

2.  Of all the photos that got good ooh's and aah's, we had 1/3 of them. (Sea Cloud Greek islands)

3.  Of all the photos that got good ooh's and aah's, we had 6% of them, while only having 3% of the total photos shown.  (Croatia to Greece cruise)

4.  Mary won the most beautiful photo category.  (Danube Christmas cruise)

Nov 2022 - Things to see in a city

 As we travel, we have run across beautiful and interesting buildings inside and out that we would not necessarily have previously considered seeing.  So now, we try to research before we go:

• Opera houses
• Cemeteries
• Libraries
• Train stations
• Underground stations
• Bookstores
• Bus stations 
• City halls 

August 2021 - On the "road" again

We are traveling again!  We are embarking on our Africa and UAE trip that was postponed from last year.  May not have traveled this soon, but the canceled trip was all credits and needed to be used, and the tour operators are all fully vaccinated as are the hotel staffs, and they all wear masks.  And our travel agent had two groups who just came back from their Africa trip and had no problems.   

May 30, 2021 - Comments on Traveling

From Tara, our travel agent (about our trip to Iceland):  It all seems a long time ago despite not having travelled much since then …. But so much has happened that it seems like it’s time to visit again.

From us:  Yes. Except of course there are all these other places in the world that we haven't yet visited. And our travel seems fully booked already for several years ahead.  

We have found that some of our most enjoyable and fantastic trips are those we drive - Iceland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and the US. Of course we wouldn't drive in some places - Asia for example - and yet had fantastic trips there as well - India, Japan, China, SE Asia, etc. - on private or small tours. Now that we think of it, every place we go we have had at least a good trip, and mostly a great trip. Maybe something to do with our attitude towards travel (being flexible, patient, respectful, understanding, open and accepting of other cultures, and having a sense of humor when things don't go right), our planning, our research into the history and culture of our destinations, and, very significantly, our travel agent, Tara😉.

Apr 28, 2021 - Landlords!

A little less than a year ago we closed on a nice condo in Henderson NV. The plans were that we would turn it into a rental once we started traveling again. However, after fixing it up a bit and with the pandemic still stifling travel we decided to keep it for ourselves instead of renting it. 

Problem was that it was an upstairs unit. No biggie for a rental unit but potentially a problem in a few years with heavy luggage and gimpy knees. So today we closed on a ground floor condo. It is the same floor plan as our current unit and is even in the same building. 

Moving should be pretty easy...down the stairs, around the building to the opposite, downstairs corner. And we even have a nice view of the wash. 

So much for being homeless nomads. Now we own two properties. 

We have not yet decided whether to rent or sell our upstairs unit.  We are remodeling the downstairs unit's bathrooms, and will not move in until that is done - initially we hoped for the end of July.  The pandemic screwed up the supply chain and they started on the remodel just two days before we were scheduled to leave on our first trip.

Nov 24, 2020 - Evolution of keeping and sharing our photos

Before about 2004, our cameras were film, and we had our film developed and kept our photos in albums.  

Around 2004 until 2007, we had our film developed and also put on a CD.  Then we could put slideshows up on the internet.

Starting in about 2007 we went to digital cameras.  In 2007 we started the blogs (and use Flickr as well for the slide shows).  At first we had several layers of photos - all that we kept, grouping all the photos by site, highlights, and specialty albums.  

Eventually we we went through a couple of iterations of organizing and displaying our photos to get to what we do now - photos and text in the blog to tell the story of our trip, and photos in specialty albums that we like and want to keep, but keep them in the specialty albums to avoid having too many in the blog.  We keep:

a. All very good photos.

b. All interesting or unique photos. 

c.. And photos that tell the story of our trip or remind us of the places, people, and experiences we saw and had on our trip.

In 2017 and 2018 we had our physical albums scanned, and no longer have the physical photos.  We do have several boxes of loose photos we have yet to go through. We think at least some of those were left over from the albums or were already scanned.  So those will be dealt with quickly.  The rest may take a while to go through.

Oct 7, 2020 - And yet more cancelations

 Regarding a couple of trips we had previously booked - a Galapagos cruise over Christmas and some time in Peru and Bolivia:

The Galapagos cruise had a webinar - they were opening the cruise back up again, and the first cruise was the one we were booked on.  They detailed their safety and health procedures, which were good.  However, it still is a fact that nothing is different about the covid pandemic, no lessening of infections, no vaccine yet, and we are in a high risk group (old).  So we decided to cancel, and will probably get most if not all of our deposit back.  

For Peru and Bolivia, we are canceling for the same reasons as above, plus both Peru and Bolivia have US travel advisories of Level 4 Do Not Travel by US Dept of State, and a Level 3: COVID-19 Risk Is High (worst rating) by the CDC.  This likely will be a credit, so something else we have to fit into our schedule in the future.

The next trip scheduled is to Brazil and Peru for Amazon cruises in May, 2021.  We will see what happens to these.  And then the next trip booked is August, 2021 to Africa.  Perhaps by then we can travel again.  Summer 2021 was supposed to be with the grandkids to Europe, but that is not booked.

We tend to book well in advance - partly to ensure we get the tours and accommodations we want (for example, Africa gorilla treks need to be booked at least a year in advance), partly to get discounts, and partly to get cheaper air fares.  We now are considering not booking so far in advance for some trips.  Especially if we have the flexibility to book alternate destinations (or no destination) if needed.

Aug 2, 2020 - More cancellations

As expected, our summer and fall trips are cancelled, with some credits, some refunds.  More trips to reschedule.  Before the pandemic we had booked several trips, both land and cruises, into 2023.  And are now trying to fit the trips canceled with credits into our schedule.   

July 3, 2020 - Condo as a base

We have decided, at least for now, to keep our condo as a home base and not to rent it when we start traveling again.  

And we had discussed earlier not being gone for so long at a time, so instead of traveling for 5 - 7 months at a time, only go for 3 or 4 months at a time. 

Since we had given away most of our furniture, kitchen items, towels, and most everything else, we have been busy buying lots of stuff, including a bed, a desk, a dining table, and lots of kitchen and bath items.  And we also are remodeling/decorating the new condo - new floors in the two baths, master bedroom, and master closet; added shutters to replace blinds (there were already shutters on most of the windows); added a door from the master bedroom into the bathroom; painted all the walls; added some nice pullout shelving in the kitchen, and many other things.

May 11, 2020 New home

Two years ago in April we sold our home in California and started our quest as nomads, traveling the world in search of adventure and knowledge and growth and, well, just fun.
And last April, just two years later, we were back in the US trying to avoid the pandemic and hunkering down.  And now, we are back where we started...sort of.  Today we closed on a small two bedroom, two bathroom condo here in Henderson NV.  We have no idea how long it will be before we can travel again so we decided to buy, as opposed to doing AirBnB (hotels are too expensive).

If and when (if ever) the travel can restart we will be approaching it slowly to try to assure our safety.  Once we are back to traveling extensively we will look into renting out the condo.  But for now, it looks like our days of wandering the globe are on hold.  (But we are keeping the same mailing address as we don't have to keep changing it.) 

March 31, 2020 - Pandemic

Our travels were interrupted by the Coronavirus, as were normal lives of  everyone else, traveling or not.  We think we are luckier than probably most - we are retired, so no jobs to lose, no jobs that require a presence.  We do not have a home, and are not going to quarantine with our children, so we are staying at a hotel.  Since hotels are what we stay in almost all the time, this is something we can handle, although not being able to go out except for walks or to get food is discouraging.  On the other hand, we have lots of photo and blog work to do on past trips, so we can keep busy, and perhaps catch up a bit.

We had two months of our long 7 month trip canceled.  Most suppliers are giving credits, not refunds, so we are in the process of rescheduling what we had planned for the next year or so, to take the trips that were canceled this year in order to not lose the credits.  And working them around trips we already have planned into 2023.  And we assume that out summer trips will be canceled as well, though they have not been yet, and we will need to reschedule those.  And possibly the fall trips as well.  Which means that future trips planned but not booked will be delayed by a year or two.  However, if that is the worst we have to do, we will be very lucky.  We are much better off than most people in that regard, as many people are dealing with lost jobs, lost pay checks, the infection, and lost loved ones.

We hope for a reasonably quick end to the virus threat, and recovery of jobs and the economy.  

And as a final thought, we would like to thank all the workers who are still out there doing their jobs that are keeping us safe, fed, and generally okay.  Thank you nurses, doctors, healthcare workers, janitors, farmers, field workers, food distributors, delivery people, sales clerks, teachers, restaurant workers, truck drivers, sanitation workers, first responders, letter carriers, and many other people working critical jobs.  

February 23, 2020 - More Suitcases

Suitcases:  The light 25" suitcase is working well, so we will continue to use that one.  And Mary will order another suitcase, also very light, that has a small light carry-on as well.  We will pack it when we get home, and see how that one does.

December 2019 - Non-sightseeing time

We had a couple of weeks of no sightseeing in India, and managed to finish the photos and blog for India.  From that experience, it would seem we need 1 week of non-sightseeing for every 4 weeks of sightseeing just to do photos and blog.  And we need more days off to deal with the normal living stuff, as we are not just vacationing, we are living as we travel.

And we need downtime just like we were living at home.  

So we need to extend our sightseeing days by 25% just to do the photo stuff (not working 8 hours a day, though), and maybe another 10% - 25% to do everything else.  So sightseeing time needs roughly a third to a half more, or, for example, for three weeks of sightseeing we might need 4 - 4 1/2 weeks; or for 4 weeks of sightseeing, we might need 5 - 6 weeks.  We need less when we travel by ourselves, since we can do some work in the evenings on sightseeing days.  That occurs less when we are on a tour.

August 29, 2019 - Suitcases

Suitcases:  We both have two very good 25" suitcases and two very good 18" suitcases - they will last a long time.  However, those suitcases weigh a lot, taking up weight we could use for the contents.

So Mary bought a light weight 25", but narrower than the other 25".   We will see how that works out, and maybe Paul will get one also.

August 22, 2019 - Laptop

Laptop:  We finally decided we need two computers.  So Paul got a 2-in-1 laptop/tablet - small and light.  Not as powerful as Mary's laptop, so not doing any photo or video editing, but it is enough to do other things.

August 15, 2019 - Travel

Travel:  From mid-June, 2018 to mid-Aug, 2019, we traveled 13 of those 14 months.  We have both traveled a lot in the United States, but for now we will be traveling mostly internationally while we still are healthy and able, with occasional USA travel now, with more later.

So far, so good.

We do not like being in a tour group on a big bus.  Too crowded, no say on the itinerary, no say on time spent at a site, and sometimes just not a good tour.  However, we have had some good big bus tours, 10 days in Japan, and several day tours here and there.  But also a lot of mediocre and a few bad tours. 

While we prefer to travel by ourselves with a rented car or by public transport (Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, US, and Canada, mostly) or on a private tours in other countries, we now also like to travel on small group tours, 12 or less people, with our travel agent, who always does a fantastic job of gathering compatible travelers, planning itineraries, and generally making the trips awesome. 

Laptop:  On the laptop, in general having only one laptop has been ok, but not great.    Hopefully  that will get better as we catch up by completing the process of going through previous travel photos and re-organizing our folder system.

January 10, 2019 - Things we are learning

Things we are learning:

A.  We need time not only to travel and sight-see, but also to:

1. Plan and research our future travels.  
• We have a fantastic travel agent who does a lot of that now, but we still need to initially identify the places we want to go (our travel agent has suggestions as well), the sites to see, activities to do, and how long to stay in any given place.  And then our travel agent makes suggestions about the season to go, places and sights to see, length of stay, etc.  Once we are all on the same page re the itinerary she then does her magic.  We also like to read up on the history and culture of the places before we visit.  And research practical matters like weather, currency, tipping, driving rules, etc.  
2. Process our photos and create our blogs.
3. Handle normal life stuff as it comes up.  We can no longer put it off until we get back home, because home is wherever our suitcases are.  For example:
• Track and manage finances, ensure bills (at this point it is mostly credit cards) are paid, handle the paperwork associated with life, keep the technology updated and working, etc.
4. Exercise - before starting our travels, we had personal trainers we would see three times a week.  Now, although we walk a lot, we still need to do other exercises.
5. Have some downtime.
• One way to do all this is to have an extra down day or two at most places.  And sometimes to just go someplace (with good internet) for a couple of weeks and do very little sightseeing.  We are still working to figure out a good balance.  It looks like maybe a ratio of 4 or 5 days sightseeing to two days doing all the other stuff might suffice.  But have yet to achieve that.

B.  Managing the turnaround time when we do come home for visits to the dentist, doctor, optometrist, and vaccination clinic.  Visiting friends and relatives.  Doing taxes, repacking, and other sometimes time consuming tasks.  We think the turnaround time at home should probably be at least a month.

C.  Since we eat out all the time, managing our weight is necessary (and difficult).

D.  Between trips "home", if possible, we should travel only to warm places, or only to cold places, in order to limit the amount of clothes and other items we need to pack.  We also might consider shipping some clothes, if it comes to that.  This also we have yet to manage.

E.   Not much, if any, time for movies or TV.  

F.   We travel on some small regional airlines, and the carry-on weight restrictions can be limited:  generally one bag  7kg (15.4 lbs) plus a personal item.  In one case it was 5 kg (11 lbs).  We have to pack the electronics, medicines, etc. in the backpack carefully, since the backpack could easily weight 10 kg (22 lbs).  Although only twice have they actually weighed a carry-on.  

And checked bags - sometimes no free bags, so we need to pay for excess bags.  And we need to watch the weight as well, especially on smaller airlines.

So a goal is to get down to one checked bag and one carry-on each, with a small personal item.😅  Not happening so far as we always need a relatively full daypack as well. 😥

June 15, 2018 - Nomads

Mid-June, Travel:  We started our nomadic life in June, 2018, with the intent to travel 9 - 11 months a year.

Mid-April to Mid-June 2018 - Downsizing and Moving

Mid-April - Mid-June, Downsizing and Moving:  We established residency in Nevada where our daughter and her family live.  We allocated 2 months after the sell of the house to establish residency, obtain new drivers licenses, register the cars, get new medical insurance, register to vote, etc.  Plus to finish several projects we had not gotten to.  A lot of which was getting photo albums and pictures scanned and getting those organized and named.  And downsizing from a desktop and a laptop to just one laptop (yet to see how that works).   Needless to say, we will need another two or three months to finish.

During this time we took a good hard look at what we hopefully would be storing for years and after much discussion decided to donate most of the rest of the furniture, keeping a few cherished items.  And gave some to the kids and donated a lot of kitchen and other items.

We still have a lot of boxes!

May 2018 - Notes on suitcases

Suitcases:  In the past, when we started traveling to Asia, we found a need for more space:  taking all the medicines and toiletries you might need for the trip and taking lots of toilet paper.  (Note on toilet paper:  you really need to carry your own in Asia.  But you can save a lot of space by getting TP marketed for camping/backpacking...they don't have the central core so they save a lot of space.)  Plus we now carried cell phones, upgraded to larger cameras and multiple lens, started bringing a laptop, external backup drives, and all the associated equipment, power blocks, and cords for these.  We also needed extra room to bring back presents - we actually bought a duffel bag on one trip.  

So, we now each bought a 25 inch suitcase to check and an 18 inch suitcase to carry on - and still they are full (nature abhors a vacuum syndrome).  And most of the electronics are carried in one backpack, since sometimes we have to check or gate-check the 18 inch suitcase.  

One goal is to get all the electronics into the carry-on suitcases, but still pack the backpack in case we need to transfer the electronics to it for carry-on.  So far, that has not happened.

Hints on luggage allowances:  Regional airlines in Asia are particularly stingy when it comes to carry on luggage allowances.  Before heading out you should check with your carriers to be sure that you will be able to take your carry on into the cabin.  

April 16, 2018 - Selling the house

April, Selling the house:  After a nervous moment when the first potential buyer showed up and they didn't even get out of the car - too much yard for them, we think - the house sold a week after it went on the market with multiple offers and for over the asking price.

January - March, 2018 - Downsizing

January - March, Downsizing:  We spent the first three months of 2018 getting the house ready to sell.

Our kids took some of our furniture, for a total of about 3 mostly bedrooms gone.   It turned out that neither our kids, consignment shops, nor antique shops wanted the master bedroom set nor any of our antiques (with two exceptions) or the rest of our furniture.  It was not the right style, and there was no market for it.  We did sell a few pieces to individuals and gave some furniture away.  And Goodwill got a lot of stuff.

We packed everything else, and had movers move our stuff to our son-in-law's warehouse near Las Vegas.  As the movers unpacked our stuff and piled it higher and higher, we were amazed at the amount of furniture and boxes we still had.  39 years in the same house saw us accumulate lots of stuff.

We then had repairs done to the house, the interior painted, new carpet laid, the house cleaned, and the house staged.

2012 - 2017 - Traveling and Downsizing

Traveling and Downsizing:  With all the traveling we have been doing, that led to a discussion in 2017 of downsizing and how many dollars a smaller house would save a year to be spent on travels.  Then a discussion of where to buy - near where we lived, near our daughter, or near our son.  Eventually Mary suggested we just downsize to suitcases - she would retire and we would sell the house (more money for travel) and not buy or rent another - basically traveling full time. 

We had a last holiday party at the house in early December, 2017.   And then a last Christmas at the house with both our kids and their families.

December 2017 - Travels and People

Traveling:  Paul retired in 2012, and with Mary being able to block out dates she will not take her consulting work, we traveled more.  In fact for 2014 - 2017 we traveled 5-6 months per year.  

People:  In all of our travels all over the world we have met only wonderful, friendly people...Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindu, Christians, non-believers, Jain, Jews, Muslims...you name it.  They all want exactly what we want...security and safety for their families.  Food on the table and a roof over their heads.  And a better future for their children.  It doesn't matter the language spoken or the color of their skin or their religion or any other superficial trait...we are all, under the skin, the same.

2001 - 2011 - Travels and Photos

2001 - 2011:  We did a lot of traveling, some just us, some with our grown or almost grown children or other relatives.  We tried to do one big trip a year for 4 weeks, and maybe some short ones.  Roughly 50 - 50 between international travel and US travel. 

Photos:  With digital cameras, the good news is one can take as many photos as you want, no cost of film (just the cards) and no processing cost (just our time).  The bad news is the same.  We started taking a lot more photos.  Early on in our traveling we would keep a lot of photos, then managed for a while to keep only 20 or so photos a day.  We now try to keep only 12 or so photos a place (but sometimes more), even though generally there are several places a day. So averaging 30 - 45 photos a day.

After 2001 - Suitcases and Hotels

Suitcases:
After 911, we managed to put everything into the 21 inch and backpack and still carry everything on.

Hotels:  At some point, as we get older, we decided to upgrade our hotels, to something like 3 stars - still wanting to save money on hotels to apply to days traveling.  And an occasional 4 or 5 star to splurge or when there was only high end or low end and nothing in between.  And an occasional no/low star when that was necessary, for example - jumping ahead in time - a couple of places in China, Tingri in Tibet, and near the Sundarbans in India.

Before 2001 - Travel and other notes

Travel:
Both international and domestic, before kids.  With the kids when younger, mostly our travel was US based with a lot to our parents and a couple of trips to Europe.  For the Europe trips, we generally would rent a car.

Hotels:  In Europe, we would stay at inexpensive hotels, pensions, and a couple of hostels.  Bathroom down the hall in many places.  We preferred to spend our money on more days traveling and sightseeing and less on fancy hotels, as long as the hotel was clean and safe.

Suitcases:
We would each (including kids) travel with a 21 inch roll a-board and a backpack, and Mary and Paul also had a fanny pack and cameras, all as carry on luggage.  

Photos:
We like to take photos.  Using film, we would try to limit our shots, as film and the subsequent processing was expensive.  Still, we would keep lots of photos.  Later, we tried to keep only 15 - 20 photos or so a day.  

Planning:
We plan our trips ourselves, and do all the bookings.  And we read up on the history and culture of the places we are going.  We prefer to travel independently, or on private tours if doing that makes sense.