Living simply is a lifestyle choice. We have made slow changes over the past ten years or so to live more simply. We have experienced an increase in life satisfaction by pursuing a simpler lifestyle and living simply is one of the factors that has allowed us to retire at 53 years of age and […]
Archives for May 2016
How I Amassed 1.3 Million Hotel and Airline Points in Less Than a Year
In early 2015 I decided to seriously work on collecting as many airline and hotel reward points as possible. When I looked at my total point balance at the end of 2015 and saw that I had accumulated 1.3 million points in less than a year, I even surprised myself at how successful I had […]
Re-positioning Cruises – A Low Cost Way to Travel
In January of 2016 at the age of 53 I retired from my job in corporate America and my wife and I now travel the world full-time. We feel that we are living a fantastic lifestyle for less than what a typical middle class lifestyle would cost in the United States. We do this by […]
Cars, Cars, Cars in Cuba
If you ask just about anyone what they know about Havana, Cuba the top three answers are probably going to be: cigars, rum and 1950s American cars. It is true, there are a lot of 1950s American cars on the road in Cuba. Our cab driver from the airport told us that there are 20,000 […]
Propaganda is Alive and Well in Havana
I love experiencing and observing the differences in cultures and try to understand the way that individuals in each culture view the world. I’d like to think that I am a rational individual and that my world view is the result of truth, study, reason and careful thought. However, I realize that my world view […]
Hoping for Change – Conversations with Cubans
Here are some more stories and observations from a few of the Cuban people we were able to talk to during our 5 days in Havana. We were only there for five days, but got a glimpse at the life of people in Havana and got to hear some of their thoughts and dreams. Cab driver […]
Middle Class Begging in Havana
One of our primary goals as we travel is to experience life as much as possible as a local. We like to meet everyday people and get to know how they live their lives, how they view the world, we like to get as close as possible to experiencing life as a native would. It […]
Our Top Sights in Havana
Many of my Canadian friends and family have made trips to Cuba. The vast majority go on package tours to all-inclusive resorts on the beaches 20-30 kilometers outside of Havana. They have a great time sitting on the beach, smoking Cuban cigars and drinking great inexpensive rum. Occasionally, they might take a daily excursion into […]
How Poor is Poor? A Visit to Rural Paraguay
My wife’s cousin, Alice, sent me a Facebook message a month or so ago asking if we could be her eyes and ears and let her know how the other seven billion people on the planet are doing as we traveled the globe. Are they suffering? Are they happy? Even before Alice asked this question, […]
Things they do differently in Paraguay
One of the things I enjoy is observing the differences in the way people do things in other countries and areas. While these differences may not be just for Paraguay, they were new to me. So, here are some of the differences I noticed in daily life in Paraguay: Clapping at the gate to let someone […]