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| Travel Tech | Arcteryx Bora 65 |
It’s been a while… 3,476 days, almost 10 years (9.52 years to be exact at the time of typing) later! What’s changed, you ask? Well, a lot. The world, travel, us… everything really. I can’t speak to all of it, but I can at least speak about us and our experiences. And after almost 10 years of being on the road, we’ve had plenty of time to think about what has changed—not just in the world, but also in us and how we travel.
Us
Aging. It’s a thing (something that we are lucky enough to be doing), but it has changed us. Nine-plus years in our 30s is different from nine years in our 40s/50s. Don’t get me wrong, we realize we aren’t old, but we have slowed down and our tolerance for discomfort has… lessened. When we first started in 2017, 15-hour overnight buses were an adventure. Now they’re annoying to the point that we don’t bother—we’ll take a four-hour flight instead. We’ve been able to experience things like 63 nights in a tent on the PCT, trekking in Nepal twice, six months of van life in Australia and New Zealand (twice)… all things that get a bit more challenging as we get older. Even in the three years since our 2023 van life adventure, we’ve realized that two to three months living in a van is probably our maximum. Probably a good thing we sold ours!
I think there are a lot of moving parts to this change – it’s not just the numbers increasing and joints stiffening up. We are still excited to explore and have new adventures or challenges, but we also appreciate that sense of being settled, or feeling the comfort of returning to a place that has resonated with us. With that realization, our “pillars” have changed as well. We’ve come to realize that we will never see or do everything that we originally talked about. Even if we went all out for the next five years before slowing down, it won’t happen. And we are okay with that.
We’ve also formed close friendships during our travels that have us going back to see the people, not necessarily the place. It’s made our travel more linear, more thoughtful, if you will. We realized that we are willing to sacrifice the adventure of a new location in order to return to a place and spend time with people who matter to us. We’ve missed some pretty important milestones and events, both good and bad, that we will never have the chance to be part of again and that can be hard to accept. As can constantly saying goodbye, not knowing when or if we’ll see those people again. It all comes down to choices in the moment… just like life!
We are closer to understanding the value of experiences, the freedom of flexibility versus the concern about costs. The first year we let concerns over spending make some of our decisions… luckily not all and mostly regarding accommodation or flights. Some examples would be the $20/night bedbug hostel in Laos instead of $40 at a nice hotel, an overnight budget Jetstar flight instead of spending an extra $150 for a shorter and better-timed arrival. That said, we managed to have some pretty amazing experiences caving in Vietnam and New Zealand, snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef, riding the “red roads” around Kampot… it was a matter of finding the balance for us. I think this can be a pretty common thing when people retire since it’s such an unknown. Now that we’ve built up a few years of experience, we are much more comfortable and quicker to say yes, which has led to some wonderful moments. A quickly planned return to Lipe or Tassie and the helicopter ride in New Zealand pop to mind here.
We talk about settling down within the next few years… well, settling for us. What that looks like we don’t know yet. We know that Canada will be our main base, but what would the rest look like? Would it be like our recent travels, with time split between Canada, Thailand and Australia? Or Canada, Europe and Thailand? Canada and specific trips to visit friends we’ve made along the way? We’ll let you know when we do!
The World Situation
I try not to get on a soapbox, but maybe this is one. The world has shifted dramatically—politically, socially, and economically. On a personal level, the majority of people are much the same. We’ve met good people and bad, but the balance feels off lately, with a growing acceptance of what used to be considered unacceptable behavior. I can only base it on our experiences, and I dislike generalizations, but I think that overall society has changed.
Another topic that comes up often is how much the world changed after COVID. It isn’t the whole story, but it’s definitely a factor. Add in rising costs, financial strain, layoffs, and constant daily pressures, and it’s no surprise some people are closer to reaching their breaking point. Beyond that, the pandemic served as a stark reminder that the “someday” people kept pushing off might never arrive. All of this seems to translate into less patience and empathy—whether toward service workers or each other. People are quicker to react, more aggressive, and less inclined to listen, especially in high-stress environments like airports and restaurants–something we have experienced and been witness to many times. We’ve forgotten that the person we are interacting with is still a person, possibly going through things we have no idea about.
All that said, “there is always hope,” and we’ve seen so many moments that reinforce that. From seeing random acts of kindness to experiencing positive interactions and people helping others, it’s important to remember that it’s not all doom and gloom. People are resilient, and when everyone does what they can to make the world a better place, it can become one.
Travel
Travel has changed, too. More people are hitting the road than ever (again, thanks to COVID)—which, like anything, has its good and bad sides, but it certainly makes places busier. Travel is a good way for people to broaden their horizons and understand that we are more alike than different. It also means we have more opportunities to meet different people. We’ve had some wonderful experiences that wouldn’t have happened without more people deciding to travel. The rising costs come into play here, as it is becoming more expensive to travel (looking at you, gas prices, thanks to the unnecessary war in Iran and stupid tariffs)—but with a little bit of planning… and luck… it’s manageable. Our ability to be flexible and our willingness to go with the flow have benefited us here. There are still a lot of experiences to be had out there.
When we started on this adventure, our plan was “there is no plan,” and that hasn’t changed. We will plan when we have to for flights, booking vans for our road trips, or if we need to arrange longer-term accommodation. For the most part, this has worked well, though we did learn the hard way that we need to make sure we’re booked somewhere when travelling during local and international holidays. Moving hotels three times in five days in the Philippines taught us we needed to book ahead to cover the Easter long weekend and school holidays in Australia. I don’t think we’ll forget that lesson anytime soon! With more and more people travelling, being able to adjust is a major bonus.
It’s been interesting to see how the travel sector has adjusted over the years. There are more and more tour options, bundling flights and experiences. We’ve never found one to suit us, but the appeal is understandable, especially if people are on restricted timelines. Planes (and campervans) have been our most common forms of transportation and they have also changed a lot. In some parts of the world the no-frills budget airlines, or sardine cans, are still the best option. I say that, but after our most recent 10-hour KUL-MEL flight, we have decided that anything over 5 hours means no budget carriers for us. We’ve even started to book a cheeky business class flight if we can swing it… arriving in style!
It seems that countries are changing entry requirements more often than they used to. Nowadays you have to double-, sometimes even triple-check before you head off. Many countries now want you to complete online forms before you arrive—easy enough. In many of those countries, you can now enter and exit through electronic gates (a nice bonus for saving passport space, unless you collect the stamps). So far, our Canadian passports have definitely been of assistance in making entry pretty easy. Thanks, Canada! 🇨🇦
If you’ve made it this far, good on ya, and go get that well-deserved beverage for making it through my rambles. So what’s next… more of the same, I reckon, but we’ll let you know when we do! Hopefully, it won’t take us 9.52 years. ☺️
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| Travel Tech | Arcteryx Bora 65 |