Category: Travel

Reality Bites: Budgeting for Full-Time Travel

Posted on by Laura & Brett

The dream: road trip for a couple of years and visit all the national parks.

The reality: the monthly cost for how we thought we’d travel is significantly larger than we imagined.

It wasn’t long after starting work on a budget for our Big Adventure II that we began to discover our initial plans and itinerary would cost w-a-y more than we imagined, and would most likely drain our savings in short order, all without adding any extras.

Here’s the reality of what we’ve discovered so far:

  • Gasoline: We love the Armada – it’s the most comfortable car we’ve ever owned – and it’s perfect for this road trip in terms of safety, comfort, space, and the amount and type of of driving we would be doing. However, the Armada is a gas guzzler. It has a large tank and can go long distances, but would still require a fill-up or top-off nearly every day with our itinerary. Brett has worked hard at increasing the MPG, but he has figured out the cost of gas would be just slightly under double what we originally assumed. Ouch.
  • Lodging: This is largest monthly expense, and again, more than we initially assumed. After pricing (low cost) hotels and Airbnbs, a reasonable monthly budget amount for lodging would be about $3500/month to stay where we want to stay. Seriously. And that’s before adding in any pet fees. We could camp along the way, but neither of us is particularly interested in doing that for so long a period of time. We still do not want/plan to buy or pull a trailer.
  • Dining: This is the one reasonable area of the budget – with conditions. Completely avoiding restaurants, eating breakfast and dinner at our lodgings, investing in an electric cooler to keep fruit and other perishables fresh, and eating lunch on the road would keep food costs down to around what we’re paying now. But, it still requires some sacrifice and we doubt that’s sustainable for a year. Half the fun of traveling is dining out now and again.
  • Extras: There is no room in the budget for any extra side trips. We have free lifetime admission to the parks, but anything beyond that, like touring the slot canyons in northern Arizona or spending a few days in Santa Fe and Taos, NM, is out of the question.
  • Fixed expenses: We currently have only three fixed expenses that we’d continue to cover: car insurance, our phone plan, and storage fees for the few items we want to keep. We know what our phone plan will be each month, but the insurance and storage are currently wild cards. If we add an internet service for travel (like Starlink), that would be another additional fixed expense.
  • Unknown expenses: Thankfully medical costs are not a factor, but car maintenance is and we want to keep up a comfortable emergency fund. And of course other things can go wrong as well (an Airbnb canceling on us, for example, and having to find other lodging).

We are currently at a standstill and trying to come up with some options or ways to do things differently. One would be to rent Airbnbs for longer periods of time, say three or four months at a time, and use them as a base to visit parks in the area. This could cut our gas expenses down a bit, but wouldn’t save us all that much on lodging. Occasional overnight stays would still be required, but this plan would slow things w-a-y down and require us being able to find good, but reasonably priced Airbnbs in each place that will rent to us long term and accept a pet.

The Armada is big enough that we could sleep in the back of it but it doesn’t sound like a good option for us two oldsters for a variety of reasons. Neither does setting up and living in a tent and cooking outdoors for months on end.

We could sell the Armada, or trade it in on a more fuel efficient car, but a) we don’t want to be potentially stuck with another car payment, and b) it would just be a hassle. The overall savings wouldn’t be that much in the grand scheme of things.

It was so affordable traveling around the world back in the day, but we’ve unfortunately discovered expenses in the U.S. are much, much higher for everything (well except for gasoline, but everywhere else has trains, superb public transportation, etc.). We have a lot to think about right now. I know we can figure this out in a way that makes sense and that helps us stick to our budget, but for now we’ve arrived at a standstill.

Sketching Out An Itinerary

Posted on by Laura & Brett

Brett and I are finishing up the “talking about it” phase of planning for our National Park Adventure and have starting putting things on paper . . . in pencil. We’ve started setting things down on our calendar, from dates to destinations and what we’ve gotten so far seems pretty solid. We have to keep reminding ourselves that what we’ve come up with is only a first draft of our “dream” itinerary and things can or may have to change.

This big question we asked ourselves was which way should we go first? We decided the most important thing we need to do first is get domiciled, so our first major destination should be South Dakota. Getting domiciled appears to be an easy and fairly quick process, and we chose Rapid City for our location so we’ll also be able to see two national parks while we’re there (Badlands and Wind Cave) and Mt. Rushmore as well. We’ll stop at Hot Springs National Park (in Arkansas) on our way there.

We figure we’ll spend about 10 days in South Dakota, but once domiciling is taken care of we’ll head up to North Dakota to visit Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Following that we’ll go west to Montana and spend a few days at Glacier National Park. Then it’s down to Wyoming to see Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. We’re thinking we will stay in the area for a few weeks, to relax and take in the western landscape. From Wyoming it will be on to Utah to visit The Mighty Five: Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and Zion national parks, with a detour to Nevada to visit Great Basin park on the way. We’ll stay in Moab to see Arches and Canyonlands, spend a night or two near Capital Reef, then on to Kanab for a couple of weeks to see Bryce and Zion as well as visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and head over to Page, Arizona to tour the slot canyons.

Then it’s on to see the south rim of the Grand Canyon again – they now have pet-friendly lodging inside the park, one of our first splurges. Leaving there we’ll head for a month’s stay in Tucson to see friends and visit Saguaro National Park and other sites. Following our time in Tucson we’ll head back up to see Petrified Forest National Park and visit Canyon de Chelly, located in the Navajo reservation.

We’ll leave Arizona to visit Santa Fe and Taos, two places we’ve never been to and would love to see. From there we’ head’ll go south to visit White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns national parks. We have friends in Deming, and relations in Las Cruces, and may adjust our route to make stops there.

We’ll end the year in Texas with stops at Guadalupe Mountains and Big Bend national parks before going to Dallas to see Brett’s sister and brother in law.

The following year is still to be decided, but it will be winter when it’s time to leave Dallas. One idea we’ve had is to leave our car at Brett’s sister’s and go to San Miguel de Allende for a few months. Or, we could continue our trip and go to Florida and the parks there, then start slowly heading up the east coast. A stay in SMA would give us a chance to relax and refresh before hitting the road again, but it’s also not really part of any national park itinerary.

There are a couple of reservations that will have to be made nearly a year in advance (like the Grand Canyon lodge), and in some other popular locations several months before our planned arrival so we’ve got our fingers crossed we get those set as our first choice for lodging. We’ve already adjusted our budget to cover lodging costs – they’re going to be slightly more than we first imagined, but still doable, including pet fees.

The calendar has been started in pencil, but eventually will be filled in with pen as we get closer to our departure in 2025 and figure out the budget side of things. Life happens and things can change (again and again for us, it seems). But are we having fun yet? Yes, and it’s only just begun!

Traveling Light

Posted on by Laura & Brett

Our Armada has a lot of storage space. A LOT. There is so much room for stuff we could carry along on our road trip, but we want to keep things light, and mostly travel like we did on our first Big Adventure, with our big suitcases and carryon bags and not much else. However, because we’ll be traveling in a big car versus on airplanes and trains, and because we’ll be traveling with a dog there will a few extras items going with us.

Here’s what we’re so far planning to bring along:

  • Suitcases: We think for this adventure we may pack the big bags “seasonally” rather than his and hers; that is, one will contain cold weather clothes for both of us and the other warm weather gear. We’ll see though – we each pack a different way and they might not mix.
  • Carryons: These will mainly be used to carry toiletries and electronics, but other odds and ends as well (the travel Keurig, for example).
  • L.L. Bean bags: One of our large Occasional Nomads canvas bags can be used for laundry, the other for Kaipo’s accoutrements: food, treats, dishes, toys, etc.
  • Collapsible dog crate: We may occasionally not be able to take Kaipo with us (if we want to go out to eat, for example) and we will crate him at our Airbnb or hotel room. The crate packs flat and takes up little to no space.
  • Food container: We’re hoping to find a medium-sized lidded container to carry dry food supplies and a few canned goods along with some cooking utensils (no Airbnb ever has everything we need), cereal bowls, coffee mugs, and a few food storage containers.
  • Plug-in car cooler: We think an electric cooler that fits in the second row of seats will be a worthy splurge. Not only will it keep drinks cold but cold cuts, condiments, and other perishables that we can have for lunch when we’re on the road (and avoid restaurant or fast food stops). A good plug-in cooler can also keep some foods frozen, but those are quite expensive.

The one unknown now is whether we will get a bike rack or not and take our bikes with us. For now we’re thinking no for a variety of reasons, but there has been no firm decision on this yet.

Figuring It Out

Posted on by Laura & Brett

Since deciding a trailer purchase was not for us, Brett and I have been thinking a lot about what we’re going to do and where we’re going to go after Nashville. We’ve been having some great conversations about what we should do next, but have yet to find our landing spot.

This is new territory for us. We’ve always had the next step figured out well in advance, but this time it’s been different for some reason. Nothing we’ve come up with since we’ve been in Nashville has felt like the right fit for a variety of reasons. Our ages have something to do with it; we’re in good health but have some underlying concerns that we need to take into consideration. We also own a sweet little dog that has made our life happier and richer but also complicates things a bit. Full-time travel or living overseas still excite us, but come with a whole different set of issues with a dog along. Settling down and establishing a home base might also be the best thing to do, but the huge question remains where? Everything we think about requires compromises, but many of those are still unknowns, further complicating any choice we try to make.

One more thing weighs heavily on us this time as well: the need to get it right. In the past we could make corrections but there will be no more opportunities for a major do-over. I will be 73 and Brett will be 75 when we leave Nashville and there will be no starting over again if we get it wrong.

The one positive in all of this is we’re in the best shape financially we’ve ever been. That opens several doors that were previously closed to us. However, we’re finding that having more disposable income does not make it any easier to choose the best path.

Our task for the coming year will be keeping our minds open to different and potential opportunities, and focusing on important factors like cost of living, proximity to family, weather, tax friendliness, healthcare, and such. We’re not dismissing traveling full time and will look at how that might work out for a few more years.

For now we have time on our side. With a little over 18 months until it’s time to move on, we have time enough to think everything through and make the right decisions for us the right reasons.

Keeping It Simple

Posted on by Laura & Brett

Simplicity has been our overriding watchword this year, and will continue to be what we focus on next year as well.

After only a few months into planning for a Great American Road Trip we have decided that we’re not going to tow a trailer. While it initially felt fun, exciting, and like the perfect solution we got to a point where everything about owning a trailer, from choosing to purchasing to the reality of actually pulling one around was making us very unhappy and keeping both of us awake at night. So was the thought of having to camp every night.

It was, we realized, a complicated way for us to travel around.

We could not get over feeling very uncomfortable with the investment a trailer of any size or make would require at this point in our lives, from the actual purchase to outfitting it. The amount (and potential cost) of maintenance and upkeep, and lists of things that could go wrong with a trailer kept growing the further we investigated. Resale at the end of our travels was another HUGE issue we had to consider. Towing a trailer also complicated itinerary planning, requiring more frequent moves and more actual time on the road, as well as keeping us away from some places.

So, we took a deep breath and chose simplicity. There will be no trailer for us. A road trip is still on though; we just have to rethink how we’ll make it happen

Do we have regrets about purchasing the Armada? Absolutely not! We have a luxurious, comfortable, and quiet car that we continue to fall in love with for future road trips no matter where we go or for how long. The tow hitch will still come in handy too: we plan to buy a rear rack so we can carry our bikes around.

Where Would You Go . . .

Posted on by Laura & Brett

. . . to re-live your best travel memories?

It’s true that one can’t go back to a place again and expect the same experience as one had the first time, but:

The top three places I’d love to visit again: Blockley, Strasbourg, and Florence

My first choice of where to visit again would be Blockley, the village in England where we spent three months in 2019. I have nothing but wonderful memories of our time there, and of all we saw and did, and I know we only scratched the surface of all the area has to offer. Tied for second place would be Strasbourg and Florence. Our time in both places were near-perfect travel experiences from start to finish, and again there is so much more to experience in both cities than what we did.

Our Argentina and New Zealand visits were too short. We’d love to visit both again for a longer period, but the high cost of getting there is a major deterrent.

If money were no object, I’d love to go back to Argentina. We only got to dip our toes in there and wished we could have stayed and explored more. I would also like to go back to New Zealand to explore the South Island.

I could easily spend a year in each of these places, but those visas are difficult, if not impossible, to procure.

If I could go and stay anywhere for at least a year, without hesitation my choice would be Japan, and just about anywhere there. My second choice would be England. Third would be Strasbourg.

I can get it here but it’s not the same . . .

If food was my sole motivation for going back, Japan would be at the top of the list again, but Italy and Mexico are right up there as well. All three have foods I still dream about eating again. India would be pretty high up as well on my list – eating authentic Indian food was amazing (and delicious!).

Japan and the Costwolds have my favorite scenery

To experience the scenery, once again Japan would be #1 for me as it never fails to thrill me, but the Cotswolds area of England is a very close second.

I’m still fascinated by India and would love to spend more time there.

For the history and culture of a place, both Japan and England are at the top of my list again, but are followed closely by India. I was fascinated by that country and wish we could have spent more time there.

Nothing was lost in translation when we were in England

If I didn’t want to worry about the language, England would of course be the obvious choice, followed by Australia, New Zealand, and India. However, I do okay in Japan (I can get around easily, buy things, greet people, and such).

The Austrian Alps (photo credit: Nellia Karma/unsplash)

Finally, what are the top places I’ve never been but still want to visit? At the top of my list are the European Alps (in Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and France). Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, and Morocco are other places I still want to visit some day.

How about you? Where would you go?

Day Three in Maine

Posted on by Laura & Brett

It was another great day in the Pine Tree State, and a busy one too. The weather was better as well with the sun out at times and temperatures warming up. Fog still hung around in some places though.

We started our day with a visit to Marshall Point, at the bottom of the peninsula that Camden is located on. The lighthouse there is small, but we could walk out to it (gripping our phones in case the foghorn went off and startled us) and checked out the surrounding harbor. The drive down went through some small villages which we loved seeing as well as the old and new housing.

From Marshall Point we headed over to the town of Damariscotta (pronounced, we learned, more like “Dam-scotta”). We walked up and down the Main Street to see what was there, watched the tide roll in and up the river (full of evil looking whirlpools!), and then had a delicious al fresco lunch in the sun at Bred in the Bone – Brett ordered an Il Paradiso sandwich (mortadella, stracciatella, and pistachio cream) and I enjoyed freshly baked foccacia and stracciatella cheese along with a refreshing glass of iced tea. Damariscotta has loads of ways to spend your money, but all we left with were our full and happy bellies.

Then it was on to Pemaquid Point to check out the big lighthouse there. As at Marshall Point, the smell of the sea was intoxicating as was the sound of the waves, and after walking around for a while we sat down to rest and listen, and remember how much we love being near the ocean. The fog was actually quite heavy at Pemaquid Point and ruined many of the photos I took because it got the lens on my phone wet! Brett had wanted to go up into the lighthouse, but the line was long and we had other things to do, like find some blueberry pie, the last item on our list of “must try in Maine.”

Our lunch waitress had recommended Moody’s Diner in Waldoboro as a place we might find blueberry pie because they make and sell fresh pies every day, either whole or by the slice. We took advantage of the back roads between Pemaquid and Waldoboro to see more of the area’s beautiful scenery and the small villages along the way, but arrived at the diner in time to get their last two slices of blueberry pie! Success!

After the diner we went back into Camden for one last stop at the Camden Deli (our favorite eatery) to pick up a bowl of seafood chowder for my dinner tonight (Brett will have his leftover sandwich from lunch) and two sandwiches to take along with us tomorrow as we begin our journey back to Tennessee. We have spent far less on meals than we thought we would on this trip and I think we’re going to have fun toting things up when we get home.

He’s been a great travel companion and has gotten along with absolutely everyone, man or beast!

We’ve had a wonderful time in Maine, saw and did all the things we wanted to see and do, and wish we had a few more days here. We’ve eaten lobster, chowder, giant ice cream cones, and blueberry pie. Our hotel (The Country Inn in Camden/Rockport) has been super comfortable and a great place to return at the end of the day. Kaipo has been a great traveler too – we had to adjust some things for him, but overall he’s been loads of fun to have along.

Day Two in Maine

Posted on by Laura & Brett

Our second day in Maine featured a visit to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor but it was also a day of not-so-good weather (although no rain). Still, a good time was had and we mostly enjoyed our day.

The Penobscot River and Fort Knox viewpoint and the striking modern bridge over the river. There is an observatory at the top of the first bridge tower. We couldn’t see the fort until we were on our way home but it was impressive.

We left Camden under heavily overcast skies and went in and out of heavy fog several times before finally leaving it behind. We had an easy, scenic drive to Acadia, stopping at the Penobscot and Fort Knox overlook along the way.

Acadia was drippy with fog when we arrived. The parking lot was full, not a good sign, but we drove around and around until we finally got a slot. From there it was a short hike up to the Visitor’s Center to get checked in and get Brett an Acadia NP t-shirt.

Although there are free buses available to take visitors around and through the park, we drove the loop ourselves because Kaipo wasn’t allowed on the buses (and they were all full to the brim). We had a lovely, leisurely drive and we were able to stop a couple of times to take advantage of the views and let Kaipo out to stretch his legs. Mostly though we stayed in the car as viewpoints were socked in with fog.

Leaving the park we headed to Bar Harbor to enjoy some more ice cream at the highly-recommended CJ’s Big Dipper. I’m happy to report the ice cream was top quality and delicious, but our single, normal size cones (Maine blueberry for me, Whoopie Pie for Brett) were $8 each (!!!), and getting in and out of Bar Harbor was a nightmare! It was extremely crowded, like Disneyland on a busy day, and once we had our ice cream we couldn’t get out of there fast enough. We had heard such lovely things about the town but today it was anything but lovely – it was a mess.

It was nearly impossible to find parking, the streets were filled with cars, there were long lines everywhere, and the sidewalks were full up with visitors. Perhaps on another day we might have enjoyed our time in Bar Harbor, but not today.

We encountered traffic for the first time on the drive back to Camden, but Siri did a good job of getting us around and through that. We drove in and out of pea soup fog along the way as well, and were happy to get back to our hotel to relax with a glass of wine and finish the other half of our sandwiches for dinner.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Maine. We’re heading southwest to visit the Marshall Point lighthouse, then over to Damariscotta for lunch and blueberry pie, and ending with the Pemaquid Point lighthouse before coming back to pack our bags and get ready to head for home. Sunshine is thankfully predicted for tomorrow – fingers crossed!

Day One in Maine

Posted on by Laura & Brett
The day started with overcast and lingering fog

We’re excited to be in Maine but we had one heck of a time getting here. The route from northeastern Vermont was sort of crazy to begin with (constant turns every few miles), but it also poured rain the entire way, to the point that we sometimes couldn’t see the road in front of us. Our nagging navigator saw us through though and we actually made pretty good time and got good mileage in spite of the rain and route, arriving in Camden a little after 4:00 p.m. We checked into a lovely hotel room, unpacked a bit, picked up some soup and a sandwich to share from the local deli, and collapsed.

While the rain had stopped when we woke this morning it was still overcast and quite muggy. We enjoyed a great (free) breakfast at the hotel, then headed into Camden to walk around a bit and explore. Camden is a lovely town filled with shops, restaurants, some history, and beautiful views, and we spent around an hour there. I did a bit of shopping at Stonewall Kitchen and picked up blueberry jam, apple cranberry chutney, and cranberry relish for Thanksgiving this year. I also found Brett a great Maine t-shirt in Camden, so that search is over as well.

We left Camden and headed down to Spruce Head Island to have lunch at McLoon’s Lobster Shack. We didn’t see much traffic going down, but the place was nearly packed when we got there. The location was on the water with working lobstermen right next door, and we enjoyed a very atmospheric lunch as the fog there hadn’t yet burned off. McLoon’s lobster roll has been voted #1 in Maine and it lived up to its reputation. The crab roll was equally delicious.

Then it was on to Owl’s Head State Park for a hike and to check out the lighthouse. The sun was breaking through and the views from the park were beyond lovely. For both of us, hearing and seeing the ocean again filled our hearts. We met lovely people while we were there, including a picnicking local couple who almost convinced us on the spot to move to Maine, and another couple who turned us on to more lighthouse viewing in the area. We had planned to check out Rockport on the way back, but decided not to stop once we got there (it was still very charming).

However, we did stop at Dormon’s Dairy Dream in Thomaston on the route back to Camden for a couple of ice cream cones. Let’s just say we were shocked to find out that a double cone, priced at $5, included more than a pint of ice cream! Our cones turned into drippy but delicious messes as the temperature had soared, but they were worth every bite, and we are still full enough that we won’t require dinner.

It was a great first day and we’re excited about tomorrow’s drive up and over to Acadia National Park. We’re going to pick up sandwiches from the deli before we go, and will also stop in Bar Harbor to check it out and eat some more ice cream there.

How It’s Going So Far

Posted on by Laura & Brett
Double happiness

We arrived at the farm in Vermont yesterday afternoon after three semi-long days of driving. We lucked out with good weather and easy driving conditions on the way up: no traffic, Brett’s sister L was able to stay right with us the whole way, and comfortable places to stay each night. We got off to a late start because Brett had to run out and buy a second cooler to get all the cold food packed (we gave it to Meiling and K as another wedding gift) but eventually we got ourselves ready to go.

Kaipo has been a great traveler! He slept in my arms the whole way up which could be tiring, but mostly because he’s so small it wasn’t much of an issue. He just didn’t want to be anywhere else. We stopped fairly frequently for him to get out and walk, relieve himself, and drink, and he’s thankfully eating well (we brought his dishes from home along). He’s having a wonderful time with all the family.

The Airbnb in Pennsylvania was very comfortable and we got a great rest.

Our hotel in Roanoke the first night was okay (good breakfast though!), but Kaipo thought he’d hit the jackpot! We’d take him outside to walk but he wanted to be inside and prance down the halls so would drag us back the minute we got outside. Our second night was spent in a comfortable house in Clifford Township, Pennsylvania – it was a great choice over a hotel.

The Green Mountains of Vermont – what a view!

Vermont is beautiful, and the farm we’re at for the wedding is nothing short of gorgeous. It’s a perfect location for our entire family to gather and a beautiful site for a wedding. All of the food made it up here except for a couple of things that had to be tossed in Roanoke because the refrigerator in our room didn’t work (!!) and the ice didn’t freeze. With help last night I got the appetizers served, dinner on the table, and the breakfast casseroles made for today. There are two kitchens here which make things a bit easier, but it still requires about four of us to pull things together for everyone (and someone is always washing dishes even though there’s a dishwasher).

The view from the farmhouse living room. The whole property is amazing. There are bears around though . . . .

Although we had budgeted $75/day for eating, we spent just under $70 total for food on our trip up to Vermont! Breakfast was free, we ate sandwiches for lunch, and there was a frozen pizza waiting for us in the Pennsylvania house for dinner. Brett only had to fill the gas tank once a day – our car has been getting 40+ miles to the gallon so we’re well under budget for gas so far as well. We’ve paid for everything with cash and have over $71 already in change/$1/$5 – we were shocked to have accumulated so much already. I’m sure our spending will accelerate once we’re in Maine but so far we’re very pleased with how it’s going on the financial side.

Sitting down to dinner our first night. We didn’t eat until nearly 10:00 p.m. because it took that long for all of us to assemble (and four are still missing from the photo) and for me and the girls to get our act together in the kitchen. And yes, the table will seat all 16 of us!

Otherwise the whole family is here, there’s more than enough food, we’re having a grand time, and our daughter is getting married today! The good weather should hold for the wedding to be held outside, but continuing good weather for our time in Maine is not guaranteed. It’s supposed to rain all day tomorrow for our drive over, but may clear up afterwards. We’ll see.