Good Morning!

I was walking along the other day and I said good morning to someone and they responded by saying something that sounded like "Dobre." Afterwards, I was going over in my mind where I thought they were from, as you sometimes do when you are traveling. Do you do that? The "judge the tourist" game, or is that just me? Often you don't ever get the answer but it's fun to guess. For example, two people kissing on two cheeks... They could be French, Italian, Latin American or even African (as well as many others). But what if they kiss on three cheeks? They could be Dutch, or from the southern part of France, the Balkans, or maybe even the Middle East. What if they bump foreheads? They could be Turkish or Maori! In Africa, it's common to see two male friends holding hands and I've seen the same thing in Türkiye. 

But I digress. Going back to the Dobre people, this is a hard one, as there are many languages who say something similar to say good morning or good day. So they could have been Russian or Polish or Czech. My guess was Polish because I have recency bias since I was there a couple of months ago. And I'll never know! 

Some once asked me (Michelle? Kae?) about how I managed languages while traveling. I have a list of phrases and I always check those before I go so I will be ready. I am a firm believer in not just approaching everyone and immediately speaking English to them. If possible , I always ask them in their language, "do you speak English?" and then go from there. If they say no, I either use the point and guesture method, or I whip out Google Translate and type in what I need. Pro tip: download the language so that you can use it offline in case you are not in wifi or your SIM card is not working. 

Unless I have a complicated question, I generally just use baby phrases, like, "bus, Paris?" Instead of trying to ask "where is the bus to Paris and when does it leave and how much is the ticket?" Then we often go back to the point and guesture method. I once was hiking in Slovenia and it was raining and I was coming from the Alps into a very tiny town where I was going to try to catch a bus into a bigger town. A man pulled over asked me sometging in Slovenian and when I said the name of the tiny town he guestured for me to get in. So I did. The car ride was fun because somehow despite neither of us speaking the other language, I learned that the bus to the bigger town was leaving in about an hour and he dropped me off right next to the stop. Luckily the word bus is often similar in other languages, and it is avtobus in Slovenian. 

Some other phrases which are helpful are: yes, no, thank you, bathroom (although often you can say "toilet" and people will know what you mean, or you can make the pee-pee face and cross your legs and they will get the point), bus, and, to bring it back full circle, hello, good morning or good day. 

In many cultures it is rude to just walk up to someone and demand or ask for what you need without first saying hello, good morning or good day. In fact, even in some places in the US this is the case. So, at the very least, I always make sure that this is something I know how to say. Here are some of my favorites! I am going to spell them phonetically so excuse my poor spelling.

In Japanese, you say Ohio! 

In Slovakian, you say Ahoy! 

In Swedish, you say Hey! (Spelled Hej)

Here are a few more casual greetings:

In French instead of Bonjour (formal), you can say Salut!

In German instead of Gluten Tag, you can say Servus! 

I have a list of common words and phrases that I want and usually I just plug it into chatgpt before I go to the country and then I copy and paste the list into my notes app (Google Keep) which will be offline. If I am going to be moving around, I will ask it to do the list for the next five countries all at the same time. 

If I am doing something specific, like hiking, I will have it put together a list with common phrases for that activity like, "Where can I find water/food? Can I camp here? Do you have a room available? How much does it cost?" And of course "bus, bathroom, thank you" still come in handy.

I also like to learn a few numbers, especially if I plan on going to the weekly markets, and then the word for "kilo" or "gram" so that I can buy tomatoes or cheese! So at least "one" or "half" is handy to know. I mean, half a kilo is about a pound and I can eat a pound of most things! 

So that's it, that's what I do as far as languages in other countries. Your turn! 

What do you do regarding language when you are traveling? Do you have a go-to list of phrases? Do you stay in hotels or do tours so that you don't need to worry about it?? 

A Day In The Life

Last year, almost to the day, I did a DITL post, and I read through it recently and was feeling nostalgic for little old tent-dwelling me, who had just started out on a long bike ride and had the whole world in front of me. Due to this, I thought it would be a good idea to do this a little more regularly, so I can look back on them, so I am going to do one for each location where I have a longer term stay. 

April 21, 2024 - Tacoma, WA

I think that when most people think of full time travel, they think of excitement and a vacation every day, but in reality, it is just daily life somewhere else, and can often be repetitive and mundane. However, I am not knocking repetitive or mundane in the least; the reason I am staying in one place for a little longer is so that I can have those "regular" days! So here is a little peek into the real life of a slow traveler. 

Thursday January 16th, 2025

Lyon, France

6:00 am: Yes, I still get up early! I love waking up in the dark and watching the sun rise over the...mountains...or in this case the courtyard of my building! I get out of bed, use the bathroom, brush my teeth, and put in my contacts; this is the same exact routine every day without fail! The next (very important) thing is to make coffee! I drink my coffee and watch the light start to get brighter as I catch up on the news and blogs. When I say "drink my coffee," that is coffee plural, and also it is not the tiny cups that the French drink. I do like espresso, but I also like a big ol' cup, or five, of drip coffee. However, I am actually drinking instant, which will probably gross out the coffee snobs, but there is no coffee maker in my apartment and I actually don't mind instant that much anyway. 

7:00 am: Now that it is light, I go for a quick run along the Saone river, which is just a few hundred feet from my doorstep. I did this on purpose, as one of the things that is important to me when I am traveling is the ability to get out and get some exercise without having to travel or fight crowds. Of course, a nice view is nice too, but I have found that often the place with the nice view is either the popular (crowded) one, you need a car to get to it, or it is prohibitively expensive! It is a little cold still, and a bit foggy, but it is invigorating to get out! 

A bit dreary, but its good to get out

8:00 am: The run is done; I buy a baguette and hit the shower, then eat the baguette with butter and call that breakfast done! Usually I would wait a little longer to have breakfast, and then just have two meals instead of three, but today I have a walking tour at 10:00 am, which is my normal eating time. 

Walking to Vieux Lyon

9:00 am: I start walking down toward the Vieux Lyon, which is about a 2.5 mile walk from where I am staying. I take my time and enjoy the quiet of the river, and the cyclists all doing their thing commuting to work. This is a big cycling town and I love it, and of course I also miss my bike! I could easily take the Metro, as there is a stop about 30 seconds from my house, but I enjoy the exercise, and seeing the people on the street. I get to the area a little early and check out the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, which has a really cool astronomical clock inside. 

St. John the Baptist

10:00 am-12:00 pm: Walking tour of the Vieux Lyon. This is something I generally like to do on one of my first few days in a new city, as I can get a nice lay of the land and a bit of history. Plus I like to pick the brain of the tour guide for a place to eat and anything I should do that the locals do (in case you are wondering, here are his recommendations). 

Inside of a Traboule

This tour is a free walking tour, but that means you have to tip the person, which can be whatever you want but I think that generally $10-$20 is standard. This is still true in non-tipping countries, as this is how they get paid. This is one of the only things I need cash for in most places that I travel (and my baguette; it just feels weird to charge one euro every day on my card!) 

Place Bellecour

12:00 pm: The tour ends near the Place Bellecour, which used to be a military training ground but now is a plaza with a Ferris wheel and a subway stop. From it you can see the Basilica of Notre Dame of Fourvière, which sits up on the hill above the city. Luckily it ended here, because also Republic St. is a known shopping street and is nearby and I need a new phone! I head to FNAC to look. 

Rue de la République

1:00 pm: I spend quite a lot of time looking at phones, inquiring about fixing mine, and talking to a representative via Google Translate. After finally deciding, I end up buying a phone and after I open it, I then realize that it is actually not compatible for what I will need, so I return it. Due to the exchange rate fluctuation, I actually end up having a debit of about $0.10 USD in the end! Ha! 

2:00 pm-4:00 pm: I slowly make my way back home, but not along the river. Instead I go up through the Croix-Rousse neighborhood, which is my favorite neighborhood in the city so far. It has a lot of artwork, murals and weird art installations, and it sits on the top of the hill, so you get a great view of the city below as you go up the hill. I have fun "treasure hunting" as I walk. 

Croix-Rousse

Croix-Rousse

4:00 pm: I get back to my neighborhood and I head to the grocery store. I love looking at things in the stores in different countries. In fact, I can easily spend an hour in the store just staring at meats and breads and bean casseroles. Which is what I do! Who wants some duck confit? 

Duck confit?

5:00 pm: Family video call! We do this every Thursday. It used to be at 5:00 pm PT, but now that I am abroad, the family does it at 8:00 am instead. Otherwise, I would have to get up at 2:00 am to do the call. Thanks fam! 

6:00 pm: The call is over, so I make myself a pate and baguette sandwich for dinner. What do you mean that I can't just eat bread with toppings for every meal? Fine, I will have a side of cheese with it. 

Cheese!! 

7:00 pm: I read my book for a while. I am reading The Briar Club by Kate Quinn, which is a good book. It is not my favorite Quinn book, that would be The Alice Network, but it is still enjoyable. 

9:00 pm: I do my bedtime routine, which is to play one game (okay, maybe two) of Rummikub on my phone before going to bed. I am having issues with my phone though, and the battery doesn't last, and I don't have two adapters, and my computer is plugged in in the living room, so I have to keep my external battery pack nearby to charge my phone. I win one game and lose the other, which is about par for the course. 

I am about to win!

9:15 pm: I put on a podcast, set the sleep timer to 15 minutes and pass out!

Total steps: 13,000

Total miles: 7.5 (12 km)

What is your favorite thing to do when you get to a new place? What is your normal bedtime routine? What is your favorite kind of cheese? 

Money Pie Q1 - Western Europe

Oh hello. You thought that I forgot that I was going to keep track of how much I have been spending, but I didn't! I thought it would be more helpful to do a breakdown after I had been traveling for a little bit, so will likely do it every quarter rather than every month. However, I reserve the right to change my mind. Okay, let's get started! I was in Europe for a total of 87 days, so roughly three months, and here is the breakdown of what I spent. All numbers are quoted in USD.  

Accommodation. $3,789 or $43.56/day or $1,307/month. This is always the first and most expensive item on the list and it did not disappoint. This included 74 nights in Airbnbs, 5 nights with a friend, and 8 nights in hotels, plus another 5 nights in hotels where I kept my monthly Airbnb and booked a second place somewhere else at the same time. The average accommodation per day ranged from $41 in the Andalusia region of Spain to $58 in Krakow. 

Dining Out. $944 or $10.85/day or $119/month. This included meals that I paid for the entire thing in order to pay my friends back for letting me stay with them, as well as shared meals when people were visiting, but usually when I was on my own, my dining out is generally one lunch, one dinner and one coffee out per week. Most of the time, the average dinner was about $25, lunch was $20, coffee was $4 and pastries (of course!) were about $2 each. 

Groceries. $396.33 or $4.56/day or $137/month. This included a lot of groceries believe it or not, but I am not really eating much meat or booze, so that keeps the costs down. However, fresh produce and eggs and things are pretty inexpensive overall. If you add this to the dining out cost, my average spent per day on food is $15.41. 

Transportation. $629 or $7.22/day or $217/month. The bulk of this was two things - first was an 8 day car rental in Spain coupled with a 3 day rental in Germany, the second was the Netherlands/Belgium, where I traveled really fast, so had three different train/buses in one week. Other than that, this is mostly trains from one city to another or public transportation within a city, which are fairly inexpensive. Most train rides of a couple hours were around $35 (this included Germany, France, Belgium) from point to point. 

Entertainment. $346 or $3.98/day or $119/month. The bulk of this was for walking tours (one, sometimes two per city), skiing (ticket, bus and gear for about $100) and various museums or attractions. Most of the time, I entertain myself pretty well by walking around, people watching or going to green spaces. I am fairly easily amused. 

Miscellaneous. $31 or $0.36/day or $11/month. This is mostly post cards and shipping, but also includes tips and toilet fees. 

Flights. $340 or $3.91/day or $117/month. This includes my flight from San Francisco to Germany, which I booked using points ($0), and three flights within Europe: Lyon-Krakow ($94), Krakow-Amsterdam ($102), Brussels-Seville ($144). I travel with a carry on only, but now many airlines are charging for that, and I had to pay 30 euro on the Seville flight just to carry on baggage. 

So if you were on a long vacation, you may be able to stop here, as this is the end of the travel related items. But since I am traveling full time, life still has other things, so I am going to go over those too just for full disclosure. You can omit these when planning your next long vacation. 

Health Insurance. $511 or $5.88/day or $176/month. I just changed carriers so my insurance will now be about $75 a month, but before, since I was still in the US more than a certain amount of days per year, I had to have coverage there, which was $235/month. 

Utilities. $313 or $3.60/day or $108/month. This includes my phone, any yearly subscriptions like Trusted Housesittter, cloud services, apps, VPN service, and any credit card annual fees. I do not have any streaming services, but this would be included here if I did. 

Shopping. $788 or $9.06/day or $271/month. Those of you who know me well will be wondering what the hockey I spent $788 on. Well, life happens and so does shit and my phone went to the great meadow in the sky, and I needed more HD storage, so I had to spend a lot of money on electronics in the first quarter. As you know, I also bought a new computer in November, so I don't even want to talk about how much money I have spent on electronics in the last twelve months. It burns, precious. 

So, what was the total and did I stay within budget? Drumroll please. The grand total was $8,089, which comes out to about $2,789 per month, or $93 per day. My budget is $2,500 a month or roughly $80 per day, so I struck out this quarter big time. However, if you remove the electronics, it would be $84 per day, which is still not within budget but it is a lot closer. 

So what is the verdict? The verdict is that if I have no more electronics mishaps, I may be okay next quarter, or maybe something else will come up. Also, I do plan on being in a less expensive place for the next three months, and I hope to do some hiking, which could mean I spend less due to camping, or a lot more due to ice cream consumption. The bottom line is, and I quote my friend G-money, who always tells it like it is, that my budget number really is arbitrary and if I go over, I go over. C'est la vie. 

What do you normally budget for your travels on a per person or per day basis and do you stay within that budget? Or is it okay to fudge it a little? 

What I Learned & Looking Back & Forward: March 2025

March: in like a lion and out like a lamb? You tell me! Please copy and paste the questions at the end and add your answers to the mix! 

1. What is the name of your last month's chapter or the theme of your last month if you prefer that? 

January: Baguettes and Many Steps
February: In Like Minnesota; Out Like Hawaii
March: Wet and Wild

2. What did you learn last month? 

I learned that I love small towns but they are not as great for finding community when traveling for an extended time period. I learned that I can live with a shitty phone with a mostly dead battery, although it really sucks, especially when you are in a place where you may need maps, or to get into your remotely controlled (by the phone) door. I learned that having a new phone, with a working battery and a new camera is like a rainbow after a storm. 

3. What was the weather like where you are? 

Another spoiler by the title, but...it rained a lot! Here is the news from Malaga, which is near where I was. It was not great for life on the Sunshine coast, let me tell you. 

4. What event last month was your favorite?

Granada with the family. If you ever get to Spain, I liked Seville, but I liked Granada more! What a wonderful town with good food, outdoor activities and nice people. Plus you can't beat the fact that if you order a beer/wine, you get a free tapa with it! Those are my kind of people! 

Seen below left to right, top to bottom: Berenjenas con miel (eggplant with honey). This was my favorite. It sounds weird, but it is so good. Pulpo a la Gallaga (octopus). I love me some octopus, and this is so tender, and is not chewy at all. Anchovies (don't knock them 'til you've tried them pickled). Habas con jamon (beans with ham, aka pork and beans taken to the next level). 

Plus the Alhambra. Well worth a visit and you can see it from many parts of town, so it is also worth trying to get different views of it from different hills. 

5. What was the best thing you listened to or watched last month?  

I am going to tell this in book, movie/show, podcast format. 

Book: The Third Gilmore Girl; it was interesting to hear the perspective of Laureli's Mom, Emily, and also to learn more about Kelly Bishop)

Movie/Show: still watching Jeopardy! That Ken Jennings is really growing on me. Sorry, Alex! 

Podcast: Mostly money related; I am going through Choose FI from the beginning just for fun. 

6. Tell us one funny recent story. 

My Dad, brother and I were having dinner. My brother and I can speak enough Spanish to get by and my Dad can say baño and gracias. My brother and I were asking the server some questions about the menu in Spanish and my Dad says to the server, in English, what are they saying, and the server translates for him, in English, what we had been saying. I don't know why but I found it funny that (a) Dad did not ask broski and I what SHE was saying and (b) that she had to help him translate what his own kids were saying to her and (c) that she spoke perfect English so that we could have been speaking in English if we wanted to. I don't know why, but that made me giggle, like we need to have a translator hang out with us to translate to my Dad what broski and I are saying. 

7. What are you looking forward to this month?

I am starting a long distance hike in April and am looking forward to it but am also kind of dreading it, as (a) it has been raining (!) and (b) it has been a while since I have done a longer hike. However, this is my MO; I often get "nervous" before doing something, even though as soon as I start, the nerves are gone and I just get to work, and I enjoy myself. Sometimes the planning can be fun but I think I am ready now to get the show on the road.

Fun story though: I met up for lunch with a woman who had just finished the same hike, and we had a fun time talking about life, travel and hiking and in the end, she let me borrow her tent! So now that is one less thing to worry about! I still need a sleeping bag and a pot, but those don't have to be good quality, so I can just find a cheap one somewhere, whereas it is really nice to have a good quality (and light!) tent! Thank you DB! As they say in the hiking world, "the trail provides." 

MARCH:
1. What is the name of your last month's chapter or the theme of your last month if you prefer that? 
2. What did you learn last month? 
3. What was the weather like where you are? 
4. What event last month was your favorite?
5. What was the best thing you listened to or watched last month?  
6. Tell us one funny recent story. 

APRIL: 
7. What are you looking forward to this month?

Bonus question! Do you have a "the trail provides" story to tell us?