While watching the morning meditations of the Langkawi Reiki club in their "I Love Money - millionairemindpower" t-shirts, I thought to myself that after 18 months of travel what would feel really exotic to me would be to stroll into a Chipolte Mexican Grill, order a burrito, and then catch a movie by myself in downtown San Jose. That daydream turned out to be prescient, as a few days later we decided to cut short our Asia travels and head back to the States.
A variety of factors precipitated the decision: the kids have been asking to go back, they are eating poorly while on the road, we are tired of the homeschool routine and have found it hard to provide sufficiently stimulating material, we think the kids are showing signs of needing some different developmental challenges, and I'm getting annoyed with them too often and think my parenting would be better if we weren't constantly on top of each other. I also really miss working with clients face-to-face. It's a bit painful to let go of Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and New Zealand, but I don't think we are done with traveling - we will just have to do shorter bursts of 1-2 months. In any case, the nomadic phase isn't over yet since we have to figure out where we will land. Options include Portland, the Oregon countryside, British Columbia, and the Bay Area. We like the idea of a walkable small town of 5,000-40,000 inhabitants, good schools, mountains and forest nearby, and maybe a university as well. Getting all that as well as the possibility of meeting with clients face-to-face twice a month in the Bay Area seems like a bit of a stretch, however. It'll sort itself out.
As I look at all the details ahead - finding housing, applying for health insurance (this is the most worrisome), buying a car and car insurance, and finding decent schools for the kids, just to name a few - it reminds me how simple the nomadic life is in comparison . . . and how inexpensive. We have managed to visit 35 countries in 18 months on about $3000/month as a family of four, or about $100 per day - numbers I'm not sure we can hit while living the settled life, at least in the Bay Area . . . then there's also the small matter of paying for our own health insurance somehow. So the experiment continues: I don't plan on working more than two days per week and Jill isn't planning on working outside the home at all. We continue to value free time over the income that working more hours can bring. I'm fortunate to have a flexible job that might just make this possible. Oh, and to make it really challenging, the budget needs to allow us to do a month or two of travel every year . . . like I said, the experiment continues. It's gonna be fun.
We're in Bangkok right now at the wonderful Lumpha Tree Hotel. The end of an experience has a disproportionate effect on one's memory of the experience as a whole, so we are taking care to end well and Bangkok has been kind to us.
From a comfortable bed on the 5th floor room of my boutique hotel, I can see my neighbor and his "house" across the canal.
After 3 days of watching him, I made my way over the canal to "talk" to him. It was cool and he was really friendly, but some chasms can't be crossed.
Earlier he was swimming his way through the disgusting canal water, dragging his fishing net behind him.
It's a reminder of what an arbitrary and unequal place the world is. Why am I up here and he down there? Why did I get to swim the pristine lakes of Lassen National Park, the frigid Aare in Switzerland, the Black Sea, the Aegean, Lake Ohrid in Macedonia, the Adriatic, the waters of Palau Langkawi, and the Andaman Sea? And why does my neighbor get this sewer of a canal? Feeling clever about pulling off an epic 18-month journey, eh? It's just dumb luck. And it's obscene.
