2018: Our Year in Review and 2019 Plans

2018: Our first year of travelling for the whole year!  Definitely a learning experience!  Here it is: the much-awaited review of 2018 followed by our plans for 2019.

Summary

During 2018, we took 24 flights, 13 trains, 13 long distance buses, 5 ferries, 1 cruise ship and slept in 51 beds. Most of our accommodations were in Airbnbs, with 7 weeks spent in timeshare resorts, and only 8 nights in hotel rooms.

While we enjoyed all the places we visited, we also realized, not once but multiple times, that we were moving around too fast. Hey, we never claimed to be fast leaners.

We also learned that it’s very hard to find reasonably priced Airbnbs last minute (1-2 weeks ahead) in Latin America or Europe during the high (or even shoulder) season. While we saw tons of more expensive options, at our price point, we needed to book further (1-2 months) ahead. Which limited our flexibility to make changes last minute. Many Airbnbs target the millionaire-for-a-week crowd (vacationers) rather than those traveling longer term on a budget.

2018 Destinations

As for destinations, we’ve figured out that for us the sweet spot is medium sized cities that are below most tourists’ radar. Examples, in order of likely preference, would be Medellin, Colombia; Brasov, Romania; A Coruna, Spain; Valencia, Spain; Sarajevo, Bosnia; Guanajuato, Mexico; and Zagreb, Croatia.

Beach destinations are a different category. Then it’s all about the beach, long walkable soft sand, warmer water, reasonably priced. Right now, our two top choices are Las Palmas and Puerto Morelos.

Major cities such as Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, etc., while we can enjoy them for a few days, are just too busy and frenetic for us longer term.

Main tourist hotspots, especially smaller cities, such as Venice, Dubrovnik, Split, Playa Del Carmen, Tulum, just have, well, too many tourists or expats. In the future, we will try to avoid those kinds of locations.

Finally, the answer to perhaps our most frequently asked question. How do you two like/manage being together 24/7? While we’ve definitely had our moments, it took us about a year to adjust our expectations of being together full-time in much smaller spaces. We have now reached a place where we are at peace and more harmonious.

A month-by-month summary of where we’ve been followed by our 2019 plans. Since we already summarized Latin America here, we won’t bore you with a repeat. So here is our monthly wrap-up in a few words and one photo for each destination in Europe.

January: Colombia, Mexico

As 2018 dawned, we finished our five-week stay in Medellin, Colombia before heading to the Riviera Maya in Mexico.

February: Mexico

Finishing up the Riviera Maya, we headed to Zihuatanejo on Mexico’s west coast before ending the month in the colonial highlands.

March: Mexico, USA

Most of the month spent in the colonial highlands, with a quick stop in Ajijic, before finishing our six months in Latin America in Puerto Vallarta.

April: USA, Transatlantic Cruise

We returned to the USA, visiting family and friends in San Diego, Phoenix, Charlotte, and New Jersey before heading to Miami where we boarded our Transatlantic cruise.

May: Spain

After disembarking our cruise, we spent the next five months in Europe visiting 20 cities in 5 countries.

Barcelona – all about Gaudi, Sagrada Familia

Valencia – our favorite town on Spain’s southern coast, paella

Seville – Alcazar, Moors and flamenco

Jerez  – Sherry mecca

Granada  – More about Moors, Alhambra

 

Almeria  – Best deal on tapas, beach a disappointment

June: Croatia, Bosnia

Dubrovnik – Expensive, too many tourists, stunning coastline

Split – Roman Empire meets Croatian culture

Mostar  – Sad history, warm hospitality

Sarajevo  – Gritty, sad history, tolerance, yummy hearty food

July: Croatia, Romania

Zagreb  – Our favorite Croatian city

Bucharest  – crowded, noisy, Ceausescu’s ugly legacy

Sibiu  – Quaint, historic

Brasov  – beautiful, green, temperate, friends, connections

August: Romania, Poland

Sinaia  – picturesque, castles

Warsaw  – A pleasant surprise, Polish history, POLIN, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and vodka

Krakow  – History, language barrier, too many tourists in town center (although not at 6am), pierogis

September: Poland, Spain

Las Palmas  – ugly town with awesome beach

A Coruna  – wine, tapas, pinchos, Spain with a Gaelic flare

Santander  – tapas, pinchos, long beach walks

October: Spain, USA

Madrid – Big city Spain, a fitting end to five months in Europe

After finishing up in Madrid, we boarded our Iberia business class flight (we’d gotten a great frequently flyer deal). Nine hours later, we were in Chicago where we visited with one of Ian’s sisters, and friends. Then it was off to Michigan to visit Ian’s other sister.

Finishing up the month outside Phoenix where we finally got to live in the house we bought in summer 2017.

November: USA, Mexico

After hosting friends and family in Phoenix and enjoying our house so much that Ian didn’t want to leave, we headed to New Jersey to spend Thanksgiving with Ann’s family. We were scheduled to spend Christmas with Ian’s son, daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren in Charlotte, North Carolina. Being a weather diva, there was no way Ian was going to cool his heels in the northeast for four weeks in cold weather.  We couldn’t return to Phoenix since our house was rented. So we embraced our nomad ways fully and returned to Mexico’s Riviera Maya for a little beach time. First stop, WorldMark Isla Mujeres for six days. We had visited In January and we really liked Isla.

December: Mexico, USA

We had some expiring Westin timeshare weeks, so we booked two weeks at the Westin Lagunamar and thoroughly enjoyed it (big surprise, right?). Very elegant, two weeks of relaxing around the pool, the occasional dip in the ocean (rough waves, red flags most days), and visits to the gym. While Cancun isn’t our favorite destination, we’d happily return to this resort.

Following the Westin, we booked an Airbnb in Puerto Morelos. This is the town that we had visited on two days trips to in January, and we wanted to see what we thought about a longer stay. After six days in Puerto Morelos, we agreed that it is now our favorite Mexican beach town. PM (as many locals refer to it) edged out Isla Mujeres because of ease of access and a beach that takes us an hour to walk from one end to the other. It’s quite amazing since Cancun is due north, and Playa Del Carmen is due south. Yet Puerto Morelos sits in the middle and retains its charm as a quaint fishing village. Shh…don’t tell too many people.

We returned to the US for Christmas in Charlotte and Arizona to visit with friends in Tucson.

2019 Plans

When we first started planning this trip, our plan was that if we made it to the second winter, we would head to Asia. But when we got to Phoenix in October, Ian was tired of travelling and wanted to stay put for a while. We decided that it made more sense to return to a few of our favorite spots from 2018. We would stay for longer visits in these places where we started forming connections rather than tackle a new continent. So Asia is on hold until late 2019/early 2020.

For 2019 we are returning to Medellin, Colombia for January, February and March, reconnecting with people we met in 2017/18. Maybe we’ll make some quick trips to other parts of Colombia and/or nearby countries. April will be all about Hawaii (our budget buster) before ending the month in San Diego. We return to our Phoenix house for May.

June through September will see us in Europe. We will be flying into and out of Paris since Ian found a dynamite $1200 roundtrip fare from Newark to Paris in business class on La Compagnie . Our current plan is to spend June in either France or Italy, head back to Romania for July and August to cement the connections we formed in 2018. September we’ll return to France before heading back to the US. October and November, we will stay put in our Phoenix house. Then in early December we will head to Asia for five months.

Next up: 2018 Expenses