Tag Archives: travel

Dazzling Autocracy

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Dubai and Abu Dhabi were impressive when we visited last week. Our overlap with President Trump’s trip to the region was coincidental but instructive.

Millions of people have flocked to the United Arab Emirates from around the world. They seek higher-paying jobs and better lives amid growing skylines, bustling airports, a modern metro system and luxurious shopping centers.

What they don’t find are democratic institutions. UAE’s citizens, who comprise a small percentage of the population, cannot change their government and have limited human rights.

The same is true of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which President Trump also visited last week. Thanks to their oil riches, all three nations have transformed over the past half-century from poor agrarian societies into modern global powers. Champa and I visited Qatar’s capital, Doha, two years ago, and were amazed, just as we were in the UAE.

Yet I wouldn’t want to live in any of these countries. As an American, I am unwilling to compromise my freedom to speak out, criticize the government and write an article like this one. 

I recognize my good fortune in asserting this. If I were poorer and felt no stake in the political system, my overwhelming concern might be to improve my economic situation.

The UAE exemplifies the beguiling appeal of autocracy. Its royal families can act with few constraints from courts, legislatures, reporters or protestors. They have used their extraordinary power and wealth to build schools, hospitals, roads and shopping malls, creating jobs for millions of people while enhancing their own fortunes.

You can make a similar case for China and some other nations that have prospered over the past several decades. Their leaders have immense power and can be ruthless and corrupt, but they often get things done.

In our own country, by comparison, our political system struggles to solve anything, from the price of eggs to protecting our borders. Recent successes have been limited.

It’s not just that these Mideast monarchies have so much money. Consider Bhutan, where we spent several days before flying to Dubai. It’s vastly different from the UAE — poorer, Himalayan and Buddhist. It is remote and idyllic, with a “democratic constitutional monarchy.” Yet its unelected king retains enormous influence.

Here, too, the people we met — a tiny sample — enjoy living there. Bhutan has made great strides in reducing extreme poverty. It’s currently building a “mindfulness city” that was glowingly profiled on 60 Minutes. Many of its young people have left to pursue opportunities abroad, including in the Gulf, but Bhutan has been a success story compared to many of its neighbors. We traveled there from Sri Lanka and Nepal, two fragile democracies beset by poverty and political strife.

Of course, during the past year we’ve also traveled to Portugal, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — countries with both strong democracies and healthy economies. At the other end of the spectrum, I’ve visited autocracies that provide neither freedom nor prosperity. And to be clear, I am appalled by the corruption and cruelty taking hold in my own country, and by the recent attacks on science, education, diversity and other ideals central to my career.

Furthermore, I know the people I met in the UAE may have hidden what they really believe, and people everywhere are motivated by more than economics. Autocracy’s rise in our own country has many roots.

So all of this is complicated, to be sure. And, no, this trip didn’t change my mind about what I value. Yet traveling to the UAE, especially while Trump was there, made me think anew about why so many people, including fellow Americans, are willing to accept autocracy. I don’t agree with them. I think we must solve our problems ourselves, without autocrats who often make things worse. But after seeing these gleaming cities up close, I find it easier to understand why some people might make choices different from mine.

When autocracy dazzles, it’s hard to see anything else.

Rethinking Bhutan

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Bhutan has been widely hailed as the champion of “gross national happiness,” but I had my doubts.

I’ve never forgotten its mass deportation of ethnic Nepalis in the 1990s. More than 100,000 people languished for years in refugee camps. Ever since, I’ve avoided going there. Until now.

I kept hearing glowing reports from friends who visited Bhutan. There was also no denying Bhutan’s leadership in showing how a country can advance while protecting its own culture and environment.

So, this past week, I finally traveled there with Champa from Kathmandu. We arranged a quick tour with an excellent local company, visiting Thimphu, Punakha and Paro. 

And now, I have to admit it: Bhutan is pretty wonderful.

It’s like Nepal in many ways, with terraced fields and snow-capped mountains, but it’s cleaner, calmer and easier. As we drove from the airport in Paro to the capital, Thimphu, there was no trash on the road. No blaring horns. The rivers were clear. The air was pure. Everything was well-maintained. 

Many people wear Bhutan’s distinctive national dress — the kira for women and the gho for men. Every building has traditional architectural motifs. Prayer flags are everywhere. So are photos of the royal family. Bhutan’s beauty surrounds you. 

We visited many of the main tourist spots, including several dzongs, or fortified monasteries, and the breathtaking Dochula Pass, whose 108 memorial stupas frame white peaks of the Himalayas. We climbed partway up a mountain to view the Tiger’s Nest monastery, which clings to the side of a cliff (top photo).

We visited a “fertility temple” along a path whose shops feature ornamental penises. We bathed in tubs heated by hot stones, tasted the local momos and drank homemade alcohol with a Bhutanese family. 

Like I said: pretty wonderful. 

So now I’ve joined the ranks of Bhutan’s many admirers. Bhutan requires visitors to travel with a guide and imposes a hefty daily fee, so it’s more expensive than a typical trip to Nepal, which is why our own trip was short. But Bhutan is also gentler for Western visitors, especially those who haven’t experienced South Asia previously. 

Personally, I’m much more likely to return to Nepal instead of Bhutan in the future. That’s where our family is and where my heart lies. I speak Nepali and feel at home in the chaos of Kathmandu traffic and the paths of Champa’s hometown. Nepal is also a much bigger country, with a population of nearly 30 million people versus 800,000 for Bhutan. 

Yet I’m glad we finally gave Bhutan a chance and I’d recommend it to anyone wanting to explore the Himalayas. The scenery is stunning, the people are friendly and it’s fascinating to learn how this small country is charting its own development path based on gross national happiness — something we could use a lot more of ourselves back home these days. 

Elsewhere in Nepal

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First-time travelers to Nepal typically visit the magnificent temples and other treasures of the Kathmandu Valley. If they’re adventurous and have the time, they may also go trekking near Mount Everest or someplace else. 

That’s what I did back in 1975 when I first discovered this magical country. I fell in love with Nepal, even before I met Champa, and I remain smitten with it a half-century later. 

We’ve returned here many times but have usually been so busy visiting our family that we didn’t explore much beyond the tourist trail. 

Until now. 

We just returned from a memorable road trip to several places we’d long been hoping to see: a remote valley unlike the rest of Nepal, a picturesque town atop a mountain and the homeland of the king who unified Nepal. 

We enjoyed all three places — Mustang, Bandipur and Gorkha — as well as our stop in Pokhara, a more familiar destination famous for its beautiful lake and snow-covered peaks. 

If you’re considering a trip to Nepal and want something different from the usual itinerary, you might consider a similar trip. We did ours in five busy days with a private jeep, traveling with our nephew, Shankar, and his wife, Bindu. They hired our driver but you could arrange something similar with a local travel agency. 

Mustang is a distinctive region of stark landscapes and traditional culture. Parts of it were closed to foreigners until recently and permits are still required to visit (although easy to obtain). We stayed in the main town of Jomsom, home of the Thakali people. Apples grow in many of its fields and its stone houses are adorned with prayer flags. We gazed out of our hotel window to see snowy peaks and small planes landing across the street at a tiny airport. 

Mustang is best known for Muktinath, a temple and pilgrimage site for both Buddhists and Hindus. Champa and Bindu visited it while I remained in Jomsom with Shankar since I wasn’t feeling well that day. I was sorry to miss it but still happy to finally see Mustang, which was so mysterious when I first came to Nepal. 

Bandipur, our next stop, was familiar to me since I did my practice teaching there during my Peace Corps training in 1977. I remembered it as being spectacularly beautiful — and it remains so, although much more developed. 

Bandipur is a traditional Newari village built atop a small mountain. Back when I lived there, the usual way to reach it was by climbing a long series of stone steps. Now you can drive up or take a cable car, which we rode for fun. Cars are banned in the town center, which has a growing number of souvenir shops and small hotels catering to tourists who have begun discovering this charming escape from Kathmandu’s traffic and pollution. 

We stayed in a lovely hotel — two private rooms with five dinners and breakfasts for $68 — and the owner was amazed that I’d taught there so many years earlier. He told some friends and the next morning we were joined at breakfast by one of my former fellow teachers and his wife, who’d worked with the Peace Corps. That’s Bidya Prasad Shrestha and Laxmi Shrestha in the photo with us. Amazing. 

Gorkha is a regional center best known as the birthplace of Nepal’s unifier, King Prithvi Narayan Shah. He’s a bit like George Washington in our country and lived at roughly the same time. Gorkha also lends its name to the Gurkha soldiers, who serve in other countries and are known worldwide for their bravery.

We only spent a brief time there, mainly to climb up to the Gorkha Durbar, a 16th-century palace featuring both monkeys and traditional architecture. Nearby is the Manakamana Temple, which we’d visited previously and is a great place to stop and visit via cable car while driving between Kathmandu and Pokhara. 

Pokhara’s tourist crowds are bigger than ever, with hotels, restaurants, shops and travel agencies filling the streets near the famous “fish tail” mountain and lake. Nonetheless, we were happy to return. We strolled beside the lake and enjoyed dinner at one of the many outdoor restaurants along the shore. 

When the rhododendrons are blooming, the lake is shimmering and the famous mountains appear — Annapurna, Dhaulagiri and others — few places on Earth are more stunning than Pokhara. 

We returned to Kathmandu just in time to celebrate Nepali New Year. We’ll be visiting with several friends and family this week and will then head east to Champa’s hometown, Ilam. From there we’ll drive through the tea gardens and mountains to Samalbung, the small village where we’ve been helping to build a new school with generous support from many Not Exactly Retired readers. 

For now, we’re savoring our road trip to some of Nepal’s less-visited places. We’re very glad we finally made it to Mustang, Bandipur and Gorkha — three destinations that I hope others will discover, too. 

Come to the Cabaret

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I’ve wondered lately whether I’m like the emcee in the musical Cabaret, amusing myself as darkness spreads across the land.

You probably remember the emcee. He kept singing and leering in a Berlin nightclub as Hitler rose to power, refusing to recognize, much less confront, the nightmare unfolding around him. He distracted his patrons from paying attention to the chaos outside the door. But in the end, there was no escape. The deluge came and they were all swept away,

Following this past November’s election, Champa and I anticipated the nightmare we’d soon be seeing in America. Our strategy for coping, as I wrote previously, was to spend as much time as possible outside the country. 

Soon after the election, we departed for nearly two months in Australia and New Zealand. A few weeks ago we returned home to see our family and take care of some business — doctor’s visits, jury duty and the like. But now we’re planning to leave again, to Nepal and other countries.

Eddie Redmayne in the recent Broadway revival

After that we’ll return home again, but not for long. Just over a month has passed since the inauguration, although it feels much longer. We still have nearly four years to fill.

I don’t regret our decision and don’t plan to change it, at least not yet. I simply don’t have the energy to feel constant outrage. Living abroad gives me distance and perspective. Moreover, from a strategic standpoint, the best thing now may be to wait and let the American people see the consequences of their choice, as devastating as these are proving to be. Of course, that’s easier for me to say than it is for a fired federal employee or a Ukrainian soldier.

Alan Cumming portrays the Cabaret emcee

As I’ve discovered, there’s actually no escaping what’s happening, even far from home. When we were in New Zealand, some Canadians asked me why our president was so hostile to a long-time friend. Australians said they were nervous about U.S. tariff policy and anticipated closer trade with China. A family from Mexico wondered whether they’d be able to visit the United States again. More recently, our friends in Moldova have been shocked by the abrupt shift in U.S. policy towards their neighbor, Ukraine.

Since we returned home, just a week after the inauguration, I’ve witnessed a relentless attack on things I hold dear — justice, democracy, diversity and more. I devoted much of my career to science, higher education and foreign assistance. Now all of these things are on the ropes. Fellow former Peace Corps Volunteers who pursued careers with USAID have had their lives upended. Scientists I know are deeply concerned about their funding. The list goes on and on.

And me? I’ve been researching travel itineraries in Sri Lanka. 

Taylor Mac in the 2013 PlayMakers production

The juxtaposition makes me uneasy. I don’t want to be the cabaret emcee saying: “The world keeps going round and round, but it doesn’t affect me.” It does affect me and many others, most of whom lack the flexibility and resources to leave. Going abroad for months at a time is hardly the same as performing at a sleazy Berlin nightclub, but it’s also a far cry from manning the barricades.

I keep hoping more of my fellow Americans will finally wake up and political options will become more promising. In the meantime, I’m doing my best to focus on things I can actually change. I’m volunteering locally with several groups. I’m finding joy with family, friends, my community and projects like the school in Nepal we’ve been helping to build, which we’ll be dedicating during our upcoming trip. I’m traveling as much as I can before I get too old, especially while things are so grim at home.

I wish I had a better plan right now, but I don’t. I wish things were different, but they’re not. I wish I could turn off the song in my head, but I can’t. It keeps playing: “What good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play. Life is a cabaret, old chum. Come to the cabaret.”

Top photo: Joel Grey as the emcee in the original production of Cabaret.

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Thank You Donors

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The children of Samalbung, Nepal, will soon have a beautiful new school, thanks in part to the generosity of Not Exactly Retired‘s readers.

Nearly 100 people have contributed to the project we announced in May to help build the school in a remote village of eastern Nepal. It will serve about 125 students — mostly girls, mostly from indigenous groups. Our previous announcement has more details.

Readers have donated nearly $23,000 through our GoFundMe account and directly to me. Together with funds raised by the local community, which is also helping with the construction, this has covered nearly half of the total budget. Champa and I are paying the rest.

The school should be ready in late April, in time for Nepal’s new school year. We plan to attend the dedication ceremony and will share video and photos of the event.

We will bring with us a sign thanking all of the donors by name, as shown below. If I have overlooked or listed anyone incorrectly, please let me know by Friday, February 21, so I have enough time to make corrections before ordering the sign. If you want to add your name to the sign, we still welcome donations, which will be used to enhance the school and buy much-needed classroom supplies. You can donate directly to me or through the GoFundMe site — again, by February 21, please. We’ll make the final list public.

We also welcome additional donations from previous donors. No matter when you donate, or how much, the school’s teachers, students and families are deeply grateful for your support. At a moment when the U.S. government is turning its back on foreign assistance, you have made the opposite choice — to open your hearts.

Champa and I join the Samalbung community in saying dhanyabad — thank you! — to all of you.


Thanks to:

Anita Adhikary
Cheryl Arroyo
Jay and Celine Barker
Elia Ben-Ari
Amy Blackwell
Evan Burness and Katie Lindquist
Linda Carlson and Larry Himelfarb
Jennifer Chow
Nancy and Joel Collamer
Thomas Corr
Phyllis and Jerry Crabb
Jill DeGroff
Deepa Dewan
Lokendra Dewan
Raj Bahadur Dewan
Joel Diringer
Kim Dixon
Doschinescu and Nanu Family
Debbie Durham
Scott and Diane Eblin
Benjamin Edwards
Bruce Fong and Virginia Lim
Jill Foster
David Fryer 
Robert B. Gerzoff
Christa Gibson
Ryan Gorczycki
Deborah and Simon Gregory
Bob Green
Kate Green
Mitch and Chiyoko Haas
Valerie Harden
Ruth Heuer
Katherine Hicks and Henry Rosenberg
Sally Hicks
Dwight Holmes
Rachel Holtzman
Wendy Hower
Juliana Collamer and Nick Hughes
Camille Jackson
Jonathan and Jamie Jarmul
Paul and Stephanie Jarmul
Ruth Jarmul and Irvin Rosenthal
Pukar and Rekha Joshi
Mariam El-Khouri
Christina Kohrt
Danielle and Steve Kohut
Peter Lange
Keith and Cheryl Lawrence
Priya Limbu
Sudhir and Sarla Mahara
Mariana Mari
Bernadette and Bob Marriott
Herbert V. McKnight
Chris McLeod
Geoffrey Mock
Larry and Judy Moneta
James Moore
Shashi Nembang and Peter Giaquinta
Dennis O’Shea
Steve and Lynn Olson
Lisa Orange
Joyce Pardon
John E. Paul
Deepak Prajapati
Stephanie Prausnitz
Kevin Quigley
Deepa Rai
Timothy and Crissy Ready
Rosalind Reid
Margaret Riley
Rachel Rosenthal and Yair Rosenberg
Rebecca Rosenthal and Adam Arenson
Sarah Rosenthal and Mark Broomfield
Patricia Ross
Jeannine Sato
Peggy Schaeffer
Manish Shrestha
Bob and Karen Simon
Bruce Simon and Betsy Hely
Beth and Cabell Smith
Susan Turner-Lowe
Melinda Vaughn
Jennifer Vega
Sue Kaminsky Vest
Ken and Nancy Warren
Rob Waters
Cindy Weinbaum and Mark Prausnitz
Anne Williams
Robert Wright
Vivekananthan Yatheepan
Merina Dewan Yolmu





New Zealand’s North

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You may have seen New Zealand’s sports teams perform the haka before matches, facing their opponents with shouts, glares and bulging eyes.

We saw traditional Māori dances in person at the Te Puia cultural center in Rotorua, on New Zealand’s North Island. This 90-second video (also viewable at http://youtu.be/m5oKvlgeEjM) has some highlights:

The performance was touristy but fascinating, like the rest of the center, which features geysers, kiwis and diverse crafts produced by Māori artisans trained at an on-site school.

We learned about Māori culture throughout our visit to the North Island, just as we had on the South Island. For instance, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, in the capital city, Wellington, helped us appreciate the dazzling seamanship of the Polynesian settlers who arrived in the 1300s — centuries before Columbus or Magellan. It showed how they established a thriving society “discovered” by European settlers in the early 1800s.

At the Auckland Art Gallery, in New Zealand’s largest city, we admired portraits of Māori and other indigenous leaders, like the one you see of Tūhoto Arikiat. In Waitangi, we visited the site where Māori leaders and British officials signed a historic treaty in 1840, still recognized as a founding document of New Zealand.

We learned so much about the country during our bus trip, such as about the terrible Gallipoli campaign of World War One, where thousands of troops from New Zealand and other nations suffered and died. A stunning exhibit at the national museum captures the carnage.

At Riverdale Farm in Rotorua, we watched a show about New Zealand’s diverse varieties of sheep. At the Kauri Museum, we learned about the towering kauri forests that once covered much of New Zealand. In several locations, we learned how New Zealand was the first nation to allow women to vote — 27 years before the United States.

We also took a tour about the Wētā Workshop, which created the special effects for the Lord of the Rings trilogy and other movies, as well as for the Gallipoli exhibit. The photo shows me trying out a new look for myself at one of the tour’s interactive stations.

As with any trip. many of the most interesting sights were unplanned, like this sign at a McDonald’s, known locally as Macca’s, as it is in Australia.

We also happened to be in Auckland during its annual International Buskers Festival, which attracts performers from around the world. The photo shows Andy Spigola of Italy.

We visited countless places of natural beauty — lakes, mountains, geysers and more — challenged ourselves with jet boats and luge rides, and sampled the country’s famous Sauvignon Blancs and other wines.

We loved all of it — even more since we were far from the winter weather back home.

New Zealand isn’t a big country. It has just over 5 million people — less than a quarter of its sheep population. But it is filled with beauty, history and fun things to do. The next time I see a New Zealand team competing on television, I’ll be cheering for them, even if I tune in too late to see the haka dance.

Finding Our Tribe

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You don’t have to be a Lord of the Rings fanatic to find your tribe in New Zealand.

We met some of the movie trilogy’s devoted tribe yesterday during a tour showing how Wētā Workshop created the special effects for director Peter Jackson.

But we’d already found our own tribe during the preceding 16 days, on a bus trip across New Zealand that connected us with others who share our passion for global travel. 

People like Ron, a retired banker from Toronto who has visited 81 countries and hopes to top 100 with upcoming trips to Bhutan, West Africa and Central Europe. 

Or Vickie, a teacher from Canberra, Australia, who fills her school breaks with trips around the world, from Cambodia to Europe. She’s even spent time in Moldova, where Champa and I served in the Peace Corps together. 

Or Eric and Jyleece , from western Canada, who will remain on the road for the next two months, adding to their extensive travels. 

We loved spending time and swapping stories with this group while exploring New Zealand on a Grand Pacific bus tour that began in Christchurch. We didn’t have to explain or justify to any of them why we feel so alive when we’re exploring new places.

Back home, by contrast, we sometimes feel like outliers. We’re not surrounded by people who share our passion. If you have a passion of your own, from romance novels to politics to sports, you probably enjoy being with your tribe, too.

Our tribe of world travelers gets energy from meeting different kinds of people and learning about new cultures. We feel that travel opens our eyes wider. It gives us new perspective on our lives back home. It adds to the happiness we get from family, friends and the rest of our “normal” lives. It fills every day with new experiences and memories.

To be sure, it’s not for everyone. Travel can be tiring and unsettling. Some people consider it a waste of time and money, preferring to stay home. Others limit their travel to familiar and safe destinations. Still others prefer to chill out at a resort, or gamble, or hike or shop. 

Of course, many people lack the means, freedom or mobility to travel at all, even if they want to. Champa and I traveled far less when we had young children, limited vacation time and future college bills. Even then, we recognized how fortunate we were to travel at all.

We respect that millions of people would rather play golf, watch football, garden or spend their time in ways other than travel. That’s their choice — but it’s not ours. 

In New Zealand, we’ve been reassured we’re not alone. We don’t usually travel with a group but were glad we made an exception this time. 

For instance, we met Dorothy, above, a Scottish woman who has visited every continent, including Antarctica. And Carolina from Perth, now in her eighties but still adding countries to a list that includes Afghanistan, Uganda and many others. 

Interacting with the Lord of the Rings tribe was fun, in other words, but we had found our own tribal partners and were sorry to leave them. 

The Rings character Gollum, whom we saw during the Wētā Workshop tour, might have described our emotions best: Spending time with fellow travelers was precious. 

Liberty’s Sunset

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We visited the Statue of Liberty this past weekend and I found myself wondering whether they will soon be adding “Don’t” to the front of the famous poem by Emma Lazarus.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore,” the poem says. “Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

“Don’t give me your tired, your poor” sounds about right these days, the way things are going. For good measure, they could add a warning about immigrants eating dogs and cats.

In the wake of the recent election, I found it disheartening to visit Lady Liberty, which greeted my grandparents more than a century ago. Champa and I went there with our son and his family during a family get-together in New York.

Our four granddaughters were especially excited to see the names of their great-great-grandparents on the Wall of Honor at Ellis Island. These were my dad’s parents, Reuben and Sarah Jarmul, who both came to New York after fleeing religious persecution in Eastern Europe. My mother’s family came from Germany a few decades later, narrowly escaping the Holocaust in Germany.

Today’s refugees will not be so lucky — and their situation is just one of many issues that make me despair about what lies ahead during the next four years.

Several months ago, I wrote about how we were considering a post-election Plan B focused on “slow travel,” which has become popular among older Americans and is substantially less expensive than many people assume. Now this has become our Plan A. We’re going to keep our home in Durham, at least for now, but will spend much of our time elsewhere around the world. We think it’s our best way to stay sane during the next four years.

We could change our minds. Maybe the next Trump presidency will be less tumultuous than we expect. Maybe we’ll experience a health setback, a family crisis or something else. Maybe we’ll get tired of the road. Serving in the Peace Corps and traveling frequently have made us comfortable with uncertainty and foreign adventure.

For now, though, we need to get away, although we’ll remain engaged and seek new opportunities to serve as volunteers. In three weeks, we’re leaving on an extended trip to Australia and New Zealand, and we have other trips planned after that.

As we head for other shores, we’ll keep Lady Liberty in our hearts. My last glimpse of her this past weekend was from the ferry returning us from Ellis Island to New York’s Battery Park. It was sunset and the sky was bathed in red. As I gazed behind us, across the harbor where my grandparents came to find safety and freedom, I watched the statue’s outstretched lamp as it slowly faded into the gathering darkness. 

I hope it will shine more brightly when we come back.

Our Election ‘Plan B’

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I wouldn’t exist today and you wouldn’t be reading this article if my maternal grandparents hadn’t had the foresight to flee Nazi Germany for New York in 1937, narrowly escaping the Holocaust.

Until recently, this was just part of my family history. But as the election approaches and darkness looms on the horizon, I’ve begun wondering whether it’s a cautionary tale.

My mother’s German passport, with Nazi swastikas on the stamp.

I’m not alone. I recently received the e-mail message shown above, with the title “How to Move Out of the US (and Where to Escape to).” It began: “If you’re anything like me, you’re looking at the election year ahead with some trepidation. And who can blame you? Things could go sideways—politically, economically, socially. It’s not a crazy idea to have a Plan B. In fact, it’s prudent.”

The message came from International Living, which helps older Americans relocate to “safe, warm, friendly spots abroad.” Costa Rica, Portugal and Mexico top its current list of “the best countries to retire,” based on living costs, healthcare and other criteria.

My fears about things “going sideways” don’t reach the horrific level of the Holocaust but they’re bad enough that I don’t want to live through them. Am I being melodramatic? Maybe. I hope so. I know I’m privileged to even consider leaving the country and I recognize the need to fight for my beliefs. I have children and grandchildren, along with countless fellow Americans, who can’t leave as easily.

But my anxiety is real and, unrelated to politics, Champa and I were already discussing how we might spend more time abroad. We love to travel and have been fortunate to visit some amazing places, as I’ve chronicled on this blog. However, except when we served as older Peace Corps Volunteers in Moldova, or while visiting our family in Nepal, we’ve generally passed through countries as tourists rather than slowing down to truly experience them.

That’s what we’d like to do now, traveling more slowly and deliberately, while we’re still relatively young and healthy. As I wrote back in November, “I’m determined to make the most of this precious ‘not exactly retired’ stage of my life when I no longer have the responsibilities of a formal job but am still able to contribute and thrive.”

A retirement focused on travel may sound crazy, dangerous, self-indulgent or extravagant to some. But it’s become common, as I’ve seen from numerous websites, videos, online groups, books and other sources, including conversations with people we’ve met on the road.

It can also be far cheaper than you might imagine. Brian and Carrie, one of our favorite Internet couples, shown above, spent $29,728 for all of their travel and living costs in 2023. That’s $1,238 monthly each, living in Airbnbs and elsewhere in Spain, Portugal, Croatia and other parts of Europe. They later moved on to Southeast Asia.

We’re also fans of Debbie and Michael Campbell, the Senior Nomads, who have stayed in Airbnbs in 90 countries since leaving their Seattle home in 2013. “We weren’t sure how long we’d be gone,” they write on their website. “Now, over ten years later, we still aren’t sure! But as long as we are learning every day, having fun, are close to our budget, have our health, and are still in love, we’ll keep going.”  

Debbie and Michael’s Facebook group has nearly 14,000 members who share travel tips, swap stories and encourage each other. An even bigger Facebook group is Budget Slow Travel in Retirement, whose 68,000+ members discuss everything from medical insurance to the best ways to keep in touch with grandchildren. 

Brian and Carrie’s YouTube series addresses many of these questions while highlighting destinations from Greece to Vietnam. Other good YouTube sites include Kara and Nate and Earth Vagabonds, which targets “slow travel for retired budget travelers.”

Another travel inspiration is Nomadic Matt, whose blog I’ve followed for years and whose book Ten Years a Nomad I just finished reading. Champa’s reading it now. Matt is younger than us but spent ten years traveling to more than 100 countries and territories. He now offers a variety of guides and products on his website.

I don’t foresee us ever leaving our family, friends and community for good. We’d return regularly, remain connected electronically and keep America in our hearts. But spending a significant part of our time in Nepal and elsewhere over the next four years might be our best way of coping with a post-election nightmare.

Mark Twain famously wrote that travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness —  the very forces I now see threatening my homeland. I’ll never stop loving America but I also want to live my life and embrace the world. 

I recognize my planning may come across as selfish or apocalyptic to some readers. My grandparents probably heard the same thing.

Heartfelt thanks to everyone who responded to my previous post about our project to help build a new school in Nepal. Sixty donors have contributed $12,811. That’s more than halfway to our goal but we still need more help. If you haven’t already, please donate on our GoFundMe site or, to avoid their fees, contact me directly. All donors will have their names honored in the new school. Thank you!

Travel Tips

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Travel is my passion and I’ve learned a few things while visiting more than 60 countries and all 50 U.S. states. Looking ahead to 2024, I thought I’d share some “lessons learned” you might find helpful, too,

First, some caveats. Your preferences may differ from ours. Champa and I enjoy planning our own trips, exploring cities, hiking in beautiful places and exploring local cultures and food. We’re less interested in theme parks, spas, shopping and luxury. We prefer a new destination over returning to the same beach every year. We join groups only in certain situations. And, especially as older returned Peace Corps Volunteers, we know how fortunate we are to do any of this.

If any of that resonates with you, here are my dozen tips:

Use local experts. If you’re heading someplace where travel is relatively simple, you can probably plan and book everything yourself. Dozens of sites offer information about where to visit, stay and eat in, say, London or Toronto. It’s easy even in a place like Bruges, above, where English is widely understood. For more challenging spots, you might want to use a local planner, as I did for China, Vietnam and Romania. Local experts are easy enough to find online, do a great job and generally cost much less than a U.S. company (which may be using these same people as subcontractors). Why pay for the intermediary?

Take advantage of online itineraries. I check the online itineraries of trips from Rick Steves, Odysseys Unlimited and other companies. Then I work with a local company, or on my own, to plan the trip. I don’t feel guilty about using their information because I am willing to book their trip if their itinerary and price are good. We did this with an excellent South Africa trip from Friendly Planet.

Be wary of visits to arts centers. Your planner may suggest visits to local studios specializing in a region’s artistic specialties, such as porcelain or textiles. It can be fascinating to watch these artisans and you’re under no obligation to buy anything from them. But if this is going to make you uncomfortable, spend your time elsewhere. Tell the planner in advance about your preferences and review the itinerary carefully

Use free walking tours. As I’ve written previously, I’m a big fan of the free walking tours offered in many popular destinations. The guides work for tips, so are motivated to provide excellent service. (We always tip them generously if they’ve done a good job.) We usually take the tour soon after we arrive. It’s a great way to get the lay of the land and identify local highlights for possible return visits.

Note where walking tours start. If you’re wondering where to stay in a new city, use a trick we learned from our travel heroes, the Senior Nomads: Look for a hotel, Airbnb or hostel near the walking tour’s starting point. This puts you within walking distance of many sights. If these places are too expensive for your budget, you’ll still have a valuable reference point as you consider other locations.

Use Google Maps. You probably use Google Maps already to plan driving trips or find a friend’s house. But it’s more powerful than that. I use it to explore cities on foot and find things I need, like a restaurant in Riga, a winery in Williamette or a tour in Tbilisi. You can also check the weather, find the best times to visit places, create a custom map or download maps for cities where you may have limited Internet access. I stay connected with an international plan from T-Mobile.

Use Google Translate. Online translations have improved dramatically. I now feel much more comfortable traveling in places where I don’t know the local alphabet or language. If I need to communicate, I just speak or type into Google Translate and show the translation. If I can’t understand a local menu or sign, I point my phone camera at the text and read the translation. It’s usually imperfect but good enough.

Charge in local currency. In many countries, cash remains the best way to buy things, whether because of custom (as in Nepal), rapid inflation (Argentina) or limited technology and connectivity. Generally, though, you can pay with a credit card. Be sure to get one that doesn’t add fees every time you use it abroad. If the merchant asks whether you want to process the transaction in dollars or local currency, choose the latter, even though this may seem counterintuitive. The credit card company will convert the charge into dollars at the international exchange rate whereas a transaction made in dollars uses a rate set by local banks or merchants, which is usually worse.

Take advantage of travel credit cards. If you’re a loyal customer of an airline, hotel chain or other travel company, you may already be using their credit card and enjoying the benefits. If you’re less loyal, like me, you can take advantage of introductory offers. United Airlines gave me enough miles to book two long flights after I made some purchases with their Visa card. Before my free year expired, I canceled that card and took advantage of a similar offer from Delta. After Champa and I visit South America next month, we’ll fly home for free.

Use taxi apps. Until recently, I was nervous about taxi drivers in foreign countries, wondering whether they would cheat me. Uber and similar services have eased that problem. When we were in Qatar last year, for example, I used Uber to travel from the airport to the hotel, and then around the capital city, Doha. The driver understood where I wanted to go and the price was fixed. Uber doesn’t work everywhere so, if necessary, I download a local app in advance. In Moldova, I used Yandex Go; in Thailand, I used Bolt. You pay with cash with these apps but they work fine and are much less stressful than haggling with a foreign driver.

Think twice before pre-ordering a visa. If you’re traveling to a country that requires a visa, you’ll probably buy it online — a process that’s become much simpler. Countries now send you QR codes or downloadable visas after you submit the paperwork. Sometimes they require you to do this before you travel. If you can wait until you actually arrive, though, that’s often the best option. It’s usually quick and you’ll avoid paying the fees, which can be substantial, until you’re sure your plans haven’t changed. Check online beforehand and see what other travelers suggest.

Buy a luggage scale. Everyone has their favorite travel device: a pillow, a cosmetics kit or something else. Mine is the small hand-held luggage scale I use to weigh suitcases before heading to the airport. It shows the weight in both pounds and kilograms. No longer do I approach airline counters wondering whether my bags are too heavy and subject to hefty fees

I know these tips address only some of the many questions you may have as a traveler, but I hope you found them helpful. If you have tips of your own, please share them here for me and others to use.

Happy travels in 2024!