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Ooops! – Embarrassing Travel Moments

I was just reading a blog post about some millennials’ most embarrassing travel moments. All-in-all, not that interesting… at least from a real traveler’s perspective. Maybe they just need some years and some miles to understand what true ’embarrassment’ is! It got my wife and I talking about the moments we have had over the years that definitely qualify as ’embarrassing’… As she pointed out, spending time in any place where the native language is not English forces a good traveler to live in an almost constant state of low-level embarrassment. You are never really sure you are extoling the tastiness of…

Every place, every culture, every peoples – have their way about them. We go to Europe and stand in awe of the work/life balance of the Italians, the diligence of the Germans, the loyalty of the British. We travel to Malaysia and see a wonderfully tolerant and welcoming culture. In our time in Australia, we found a genuine spirit that pervades the people. As every place and culture has its own wonderful elements, so too does it have a few less desirable traits. Let me be very clear, I love Mexico. I love the heart of the people, the depth…

Two girls, somewhere in their early 20’s, sat down next to us on the beach last week. While – certain – demographics have always been a little more concerned with style over substance, it was somewhat amusing to see the girls spend the first 30 minutes posing and re-posing for just the perfect ‘carefree’ beach photo. Between the primping of the hair and the adjustments to their bikinis to make them fit – just – right, they missed the fantastic clouds forming just offshore. The sea turned a brilliant blue, but I noticed that they were not shooting that direction…

Over the last week, Diane has been in Boston visiting her elderly aunt (shhh, no one tell her I called her that!). Modern air travel being what it is, she was taken from a tropical, island lifestyle and plopped back into her ‘old world’ in a matter of a few hours. Having made a few similar trips over the past few months for my work, I understand the immediate shift that is required to get ‘up to speed’ and in tune with a big city in the United States. It is not easy, even though it is automatic. Fortunately, our Global Entry has…

A few years back, when we were staying in Mazatlán, I contracted dengue fever from one of a seemingly insignificant series of mosquito bites. In my life, I have been lucky enough to have only endured a few medical conditions of this type, food poisoning, valley fever, stomach flu, etc. Dengue is another level of misery. It makes all of the others pale by comparison. Living on the Caribbean, we take great pains to ensure we reduce the number of times we get bitten by mosquitos. Of course you can’t totally eliminate bites, so lowering your chances is the best…

I read lots and lots of blogs about how you should ‘travel while you’re young’, which implies that traveling as an older person is not something that most folks can (or should) do. It logically follows that traveling young is what you do ‘before life starts’. As the typical Western narrative tells it, “be crazy and adventurous when you are young, then settle down to a ‘normal’ life, raise a family and perhaps squeeze in some time near the end for a last chance at reliving your ‘glory days’.” To a certain extent, that’s a true story – if you believe…

As our housesit on Isla Mujeres comes to an end – for this period – we are looking at where the next few months will see us. My job is settling in for a couple of long-term contracts that mean I will only have to be onsite rarely, which opens – quite literally – up a world of options for our next locations. Diane has been working on some long-delayed dental work (which will be the subject of a whole other series of posts), so we will need to come back to Mexico in the spring to complete the series…

Garrafon de Castilla - Isla Mujeres, Mexico

My first outing with my quadcopter proved to be something of an enlightenment. After having read so many angry articles from people who see ‘drones’ as simply an invasion of privacy, it was fantastic to see the reaction of everyone I encountered. I would like to think it was because most people on Earth see the technology behind quadcopters as an positive equal enabler of communication, rather than a negative threat to their wellbeing. It was noticeable that the crowd at the beach where I flew were from Brazil, Venezuela and Mexico. I also think age played a large factor…

Over the past few days, I have been reading and reviewing many different travel blogs, vlogs, and sites. One thing is for certain, there are A LOT of folks out there doing this. I did notice that there was a thread through them all that targeted specific audiences. Few, if any of the millennial readers of vagabrothers, or Hey Nadine are going to care about my perspective on the world. Likewise, the adventure tour folks who seem to run from adrenaline rush to adrenaline rush like Expert Vagabond share little of the same audience a middle aged couple that lives and works…

I did it. Today, after Diane’s prodding, I bought a DJI Phantom 3 Professional quadcopter. Before we left Arizona, I got into flying RC planes with my 83 year old neighbor, Kenny. He introduced me to the amazing world he had been toying around with since the 1950’s. Looking at the computerized telemetry and flight controls packaged with the Phantom, I am sure that Kenny would scoff. He liked the greasy mess that came along with ‘gassers’ as they called them. In fact, I bought a couple of electric powered RC planes and he rarely flew them, claiming “If I…

Ooops! – Embarrassing Travel Moments

Sometimes, It All Catches Up To You

Lost In My Old World

Blood, Sweat and Tears

Travel When You’re Old

Dreams of Sicily

First Flight Day

Now is the Future

Opera of the Phantom

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