It’s Not Only the Destination. It’s Even More than the Journey. It’s Reliving the Story.

How many times have we heard this: “It’s not the destination; it’s the journey!”? Well, I think it is a lot more than both. I believe the more important thing is being able to relive the story many, many times over.

Therein lies the beauty of becoming a storyteller. Surely, the retelling can be done by doing so in front of family and friends, especially with nonverbals that accentuate the highlights. I could have easily relied on my Toastmasters experience had I gone that route. However, I prefer to retell silently on paper, more privately, more for all time.  

Not an Easy Road in the Beginning

It wasn’t easy at first, I come from a world of left brains. From a degree in BS Mathematics and a career in computers, it was hard trying to wake up the right side of my brain. My experience consisted of proofs of theorems, business papers, theses, and dissertations. My first book Carolina: Cruising to an American Dream came about only as a compilation of the daily journals I kept as we RVed across North America.  

The other problem is that English is not my native tongue. I was born in the slums of Manila, acquiring basic English skills through scholarships at the International School for high school, the National Science Development Board for college, and at the multinational companies I joined. Tagalog has a very different syntax from English. When my husband edited my work during my early writing days, he returned pages red with corrections.  

But It Has Become Better

But my writing has improved. After all, I have been writing for thirteen years now. But there’s still that limited flair for idiomatic, local English, that which is spoken in the streets and homes of America. That’s why I have the TV on the whole day so I can continuously imbibe by hearing. Unfortunately, it drives Bill away because I prefer to stay in the more spacious and brighter sunroom than my office. But that is all TMI.

Wanting to tell stories better led me to take the pains to photograph better images. Pictures are worth a thousand words and their combination with words makes the reliving a whole lot better. Years after they happened, it's as if they were happening before my very eyes all over again.

Creating More Depth

There is much I have shared from our exploration of the world but my time here is ever becoming shorter. Now that we are traveling less, I have more time to wonder about our wanderings.  Thus, I am the major beneficiary, reaping the benefits of having documented our travels. 

One by one, as I relive each story, I evoke more feelings and thoughts, sifting through the insights gained and lessons learned. I have found new things to write about. Since shifting gears, around my turning 70, I have crafted more travel essays than journals. It enabled me to publish my second book, Cruising Past 70. It’s Not Only about Outer Journeys. It’s also about Inner Ones, a compilation of my essays and best-read stories.

After I turned 75 last November, I am refining and resharing even those inner journeys. I guess it's part of being older and gaining more wisdom. While spending hours traveling from our “armchairs” or musing from our “rocking” chairs, we learn even more, helping loved ones more.

We All Have a Book In Us. Publish Yours for Free.

It is still being debated who, among many intellectuals, first wrote the very popular quote, “Everyone has a book in them…” Regardless of the origin, I believe in this. Each of us has a funny, inspiring, or informative story to tell. You may have a good idea about how to improve life for many, a special skill that will empower others, a view about the future that will make a difference.  There are many other reasons.

What has stopped people from writing books then? One, it requires focus and time. I didn’t get the focus to write until I retired. And even then, I found the impetus only when I encountered dire situations that gave me the time. The first travel book, Carolina : Cruising to an American Dream, was born during a six-week separation from Bill. The second travel book, Cruising Past Seventy. It’s Not only about Outer Journeys. It’s Also about Inner Ones, was written and published while we were all trapped inside our homes during the coronavirus lockdowns.

But I think there is another even more compelling reason. It requires money to convert the book inside each of us to a publishable format, off the press, on to the bookshelves, and to the hands of readers. The traditional way to publish is quite unreachable to many. Your idea must be previously not thought of and you must be a celebrity who can pull readers in droves. Self-publishing has produced another way but it also required a couple of thousands of dollars. My first book, Carolina: Cruising to an American Dream, was done this way. It is good I was able to recoup my investment.

You will be very happy to know that there is a way that is now available absolutely free! It is called direct publishing. And Amazon has made it happen in its Kindle program. This is how I produced my new travel book, Cruising Past Seventy, It's Not Only about Outer Journeys. It's Also about Inner Ones. Its precursor was Amazon’s CreateSpace but that was difficult to use. It has since been moved into Kindle Direct Publishing that is surprisingly relatively easy to use although it still requires some tech-savviness and attention to detail. I found out even ordinary mortals like me can do it!

You can create both the ebook and the paperback using three steps:

1. set up the details,

2. upload the manuscript and create the cover, and

3. price the book. 

The first step includes the addition of the title, the author and other contributors, the book description, the publishing rights, the searchable keywords, and the ISBN, the unique book number. In the second step, the manuscript for the ebook can be input in MS Word, HTML, RTF, Text, GIF, JPEG, and PNG formats. Thankfully, there are also many tools, mostly free, offered during this creative process. This is the part that requires some tech-savviness and attention to detail. For the paperback, it must be in PDF. The third step takes you into the decisions on royalty, pricing, and territories.

After you have created the book in the section called Bookshelf, there are three other sections that will help you. “Marketing” lets you create your Author Page using Author Central and offers other ways to promote your book for free. “Reports” helps you track all your sales (quantity and dollars earned) by title and by date. Finally, “Community” helps you learn the ins and outs of KDP. There is even a KDP University that offers free courses and webinars.

So, what is the catch? No, it is not that your book can only be read in a Kindle Reader. KDP offers free Kindle apps that can be downloaded to a smartphone, a tablet, or a laptop which then becomes your reader. The catch is that to gain the maximum benefit of all the KDP features, your book will become exclusively sold on Amazon and Kindle. But the biggest catch is that not everybody wants to read ebooks. They still prefer paperbacks and shipping costs from a central location like the US is costly, especially during the time of Covid.

This may not be as bad as it sounds since Amazon dominates 80% of the ebook market and especially if your major market is the US anyway. Besides, KDP also has, since CreateSpace has moved to it, a print on demand feature that is cost-competitive. For example, I was able to price the print version of my second travel book, with all its 346 pages, at just $8.99 which already includes a small royalty. It is a more reasonable price compared to the minimum price of $16.95 I was mandated to use for my first book.

My experience with KDP has been good but since I was a rookie and not really a techie, I had to deal with some formatting issues until the end. But, since I do not worry anymore about recovering any cost, I can in fact now write as many books as I have in my mind. In addition, I can reserve my money for modest marketing spend to improve my sales.

The second part of the quotation, however, says “…but in most cases, that’s where it should stay.” Please tell me in the comments section what next books are lurking in your mind. Those that are topmost in mine are: “How to Find Your Lifetime Partner on the Net” or “Veggies beyond Salads.” What book that’s inside you wants to be published? That, probably, should not just stay in your mind! 

FOR THOSE ON MOBILE, SHARE BUTTONS APPEAR WHEN YOU CLICK WEB VERSION AT THE VERY END AFTER COMMENTS.

PREVIOUS POST

Anticipating the Best After Quite an Unusual Year                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                                                                              

CLICK THIS TO PIN THIS IMIAGE BELOW                                                                                              

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

CLICK THIS TO PIN THE IMAGE BELOW

THE SEQUEL TO MY FIRST TRAVEL BOOK IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER!

SCOOP! You're one of the first to know. Amazon just approved my book for preorder at $1.99. It will be released on Nov. 28 at $2.99. ONE CLICK TO THE AMAZON PAGE 

There are a lot of things I am particularly crazy about—cooking, dancing, singing, grandkids, plants, word games, poker, and mahjong—but it was two other things, travel and writing, that led me to publish my first book, Carolina: Cruising to an American Dream, a travel diary about our cruising in an RV across North America for five years. Very soon, its sequel will be with you.

How This Second Book Almost Did Not Happen, Got Started, and Was Completed

In 2004 when I migrated and retired in America, all of 101 pounds after burning out from a jet-setting business life in Manila, I wanted time to “cook a little, teach a little, travel a little, write a little, and love a little.” And I did. In fact, my husband wholeheartedly supported my first book but this time around, he complained that I had forgotten about that operative term, “a little.” 

Besides, I had reduced my cooking to only once a day, dropped teaching completely, and we have reduced our travel months to about six in a year.  Furthermore, I reasoned that it may be stressful to publish a book but I have “crazes” that relax me. Besides, if there is one thing I hate, it is boredom. I warned him that he would not like a bored Carol. And the stress of writing another book is not like the one that led me to retire early. It’s the one that leads to fulfillment. I think that’s called positive stress.

When we approached the seventies, we moved beyond fulltime RVing and settled in a Phoenix home. I also rebranded the blog that I casually started in 2010 to “Cruising Past 70,” shifting to writing also about inner journeys rather than just the outer ones. Last year, just as I did for my first book, I compiled some of the posts I had written from the time I finished the first book in 2015.  

This time, however, I became more selective. I included only those that elicited at least 1,000 views (some had more than 30,000). They were the best-loved and most widely-read posts because they were an excellent invitation to visit a place, answered a reader’s question(s), or inspired a new pathway(s). I thought that many of them would be good to share with those of you who have been retired, just retired, or are thinking of retiring. Despite my husband’s objection, I proceeded with the writing of the second book.

Unfortunately, a macular hole developed in my right eye in September of last year. After the vitrectomy, the recovery happened very slowly. Months later, my vision stabilized somewhat. But my eyes were no longer the same. I couldn’t finish the book I had intended to publish before the end of 2019. I needed a lot more time.

This year coronavirus upended all our lives. In fact, we had to cut short our Mexican vacation in March when coronavirus was declared a pandemic. After the self-quarantining for fourteen days and observing the state-mandated lockdown, we canceled all our scheduled trips from April to June. If there was one good thing the Covid-19 lockdown did for me, it was to give me all the time I needed to complete the first draft. I was also able to ask six friends to read it and give me the feedback I needed to refine the draft and complete the book in the following three months. 

What You Can Expect from this New Book

The book contains not only the most widely-read and best-loved blog posts. I have also added six of my original twenty-three articles published by the travel magazine I write for bimonthly, travelawaits.com. After updating and polishing each one, I have arranged them into the following three themes of inner journeys: lessons learned, changes made, and insights gained.

Part 1 consists of the general life lessons we learned from RVing, the preferred mode of travel nowadays. There are chapters on how to travel light, utilize technology, or discover campgrounds. I have included pieces that will give readers unique ideas for itineraries like visiting great inspiring institutions, completing a historical picture across the vast land, chillaxing in the home that the RV has become and searching for the beauty of the country. There are also tips about healthcare and other RVing concerns.

Part 2 describes how travel transformed me. My calling card bearing President/CEO now reads Wanderer, Writer, Wife. I hinted about this in my first book but I have added transformations such as becoming a Filipino-American, a better mother, a happy grandmother, and including the inescapable direction towards becoming a "global citizen" by adopting a third home and loving the countries where my children live.

Part 3 zeroes in on insights about travelers’ concerns that I have encountered on the road. There are chapters on the attitude, flexibility, curiosity, and courage we travelers should have. Some focus on how to deal with travel mishaps or falling ill. There is a reflection on the better travel buddy, the choice between brand new or old favorite destinations, and the folly of breaking rules. Others talk about the season and time to travel, meeting beautiful people, finding good food, and keeping fit. I have even included new ways of traveling during the time of Covid-19.

How relevant for these times this book has become! Now that we are not able to travel as much as we want, blending our outer journeys with the inner journeys that come as a result of them should better feed our wanderlust. This is how, even if we are forced to travel less, especially as we advance in years, our lives become enriched. That's when we see the benefits of travel that are deep and long-lasting. They are the lessons learned, changes made, and insights gained. 

SCOOP! You're one of the first to know. Amazon just approved my book for preorder at $1.99. It will be released on Nov. 28 at $2.99. ONE CLICK TO THE AMAZON PAGE 

FOR THOSE ON MOBILE, SHARE BUTTONS APPEAR WHEN YOU CLICK WEB VERSION AT THE VERY END AFTER COMMENTS.

PREVIOUS POST

The Short and Less Expensive Way to Visit World-Famous Marietas Islands

CLICK THIS TO PIN THE IMAGE BELOW!

  

Creative Ideas for a Meaningful Self-Isolation

White Tank Mountain Regional Park

On January 21, it was reported that the coronavirus ravaging China had arrived in the US, in Seattle, Washington. We were on our annual three-month all-inclusive vacation at a resort in Mazatlan, Mexico. Later, I got more worried since the most vulnerable seemed to be older people, like Bill and me, especially those with compromised immune systems. This post is how we progressed from cutting short our trip, going home to self-isolation, and finding ways to cope with the situation.

Going Home

Los Arcos on the Malecon in Puerto Vallarta

On March 11, when we were on our second of a two-week visit in Puerto Vallarta, the WHO officially declared COVID-19, the coronavirus disease, a pandemic. We did not want to cut short our stay so we did social distancing. We did not join tours, visited landmarks at non-peak times, went to outdoorsy places, and tried to keep the required healthy distance from the people we found in places.

When we got back to Mazatlan on March 14, Europe had become the new epicenter and panic-buying in the US had set in. We had twelve more scheduled days in Mexico but we decided to cut short our stay and canceled/rebooked our tours to La Noria, La Concordia, and San Carlos. Then we shopped for staples, including toilet paper, at Walmart and local grocery chain Soriana.  We were driving.

the Mariposa border, a ghost town

We left Mexico when the statistics were pretty grim, the US had become a new epicenter, and the Canadian and Mexican borders had been closed to non-essential travel. It took us two days, driving eight hours each day to get home. What was surprising was it took us no time at the Mariposa Border on both the Mexico and US sides. What was scary was that there was no inspection or testing done.  

But home is the best place to do self-isolation, not on a cruise ship out at sea or a hotel room in a foreign country. Now that we have completed our 14-day period of self-isolation, it has been decided for us that we have to extend it to the end of April. I wouldn’t say it is welcome news but it’s not a problem. There are a few things we have learned to do to make it a more meaningful one.

Having a Flagship Project

Whenever a phase in my life goes south, I always turn to some project to which I can focus my energy. The last time, my first travel book, Carolina: Cruising to an American, was born. This time it’s my second travel book. I started it last October but progress had stalled. Now my first draft is near completion and I hope to be on the editing phase by the end of the month. (No, the title will not be Cruising with Coronavirus). I call it a flagship project, one that consumes my passion. Find yours!

Creating Significant Engagement Time with Others

My three daughters and their husbands are all in “work from home” modes in San Francisco, Calgary, and Melbourne. With the help of Zoom, I have been able to conduct one-hour class sessions with my grandsons, ages 4-6, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I am so happy that I can help and that I am engaged with my family. They may not be as far-flung as mine but your physical engagement is limited just the same. On Easter Sunday, we hope to celebrate via HouseParty. And we have scheduled a neighborhood party through the same app. As a matter of fact, an appeal of mine for one lemon posted on the Viewpoint Facebook Group netted 18 lemons, 13 oranges, and seven grapefruits,   Let technology bridge the gap!

on Zoom with my grandkids

Keeping the Kitchen Alive with Substitutes 

Delivery from groceries and pick-ups from pharmacies have kept us from needing to go into stores. But, particularly for groceries, the stocks available are not the same so sometimes we cannot cook with the same ingredients. Consider my Spam Fried Rice. We did not have eggs. Guess what is the substitute for them? Vegans have known all along that it is scrambled tofu. It’s a good thing I had a non-refrigerated version from a Mexican local grocery chain. Scrambled tofu looks and tastes just like scrambled eggs. Believe that there’s always a substitute! 

Cleaning with Everywhere Solutions 

The time calls for disinfectant cleanliness but the panic-buying has created out-of-stock items big time.  When we shopped in Mexico, hand sanitizers and 60+% Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol bottles were nowhere to be found. But Bill found ethyl alcohol 70% so we made hand sanitizers together with aloe vera with it. He even found wipes and gloves in a medical supplies store at a hospital in Mexico. As far as face masks are concerned, Holiday Inn, our hotel on the way back home, gave us enough. Solutions are everywhere!

a gift from Holiday Inn

We had our house cleaned before our arrival. As soon as we arrived, we left our shoes outside the door and used disinfectant sprays on all commonly used surfaces to further protect us. Now we also launder linens and towels more often.  We also disinfect groceries outside before taking them in. It is good we are fully supplied with toilet paper, paper towels, and tissue paper because the shelves in Mexico were full of them, as well as other cleaning supplies like Chlorox and Lysol.

at Walmart in Mazzatlan

Keeping Ourselves Renewed

My writing assignments have increased and I am still maintaining my blog while Bill reads e-books and listens to music a lot when he is not working on our financials. As far as recreation is concerned, there are many options for entertainment available for my favorite pastime of watching movies. So, we are friends with Netflix and TV every night. As a matter of fact, we have allowed ourselves the luxury of one Redbox on Demand once a week when we imagine we are in a theater with popcorn!

at the Estrella Mountain Regional Park

But the best idea is this. We have considered our car an extension of our home. We disinfect it, too. So we have created a list of places where we can go and breathe the good fresh air and see the desert in color. Spring is the best time to be here. It's the season when the palo verde trees turn blazing yellow, poppies grow wild, and the cacti bloom. If we don’t see people on the trails, we go down and walk a little. If not, we just continue driving. The operative principle is to distance ourselves from others, but not from nature.  We are grateful that Arizona has not closed its state parks.

We have canceled our trips in April but are still holding on to our bookings from July to September. Even if they all fall through, we will not be bothered. Self-isolation is a meaningful activity not only because it helps flatten the curve for our community and the world but because it gives us meaning for our own lives. Besides, it may be a significant inflection point for a new normal of how we live.

PREVIOUS POST
5 Day Trips You Ought to Do in Puerto Vallarta

CLICK THIS TO PIN THE IMAGE

CLICK THIS TO PIN THE IMAGE                                   

Through Our Hugely Important Eyes

"Almost nothing need be said when you have eyes,” Tarjei Vesaas, The Boat in the Evening

Except in little posts like this with a few images. As travelers and bloggers, we know how hugely important our eyes are. They give us both the details and the grandeur of each landmark we visit. Then they help us put the thrills and excitement into a few words and images. So I had always hoped that I would enjoy the benefits of good eyesight until the day I die. Last year, however, I turned 70. And soon after, age-related problems started to catch up with me.

Last July, while I was on a five-week road trip. during mass in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, I noticed that, when I closed my left eye, the priest seemed so far away. It was scary. When I tried to read the words of the gospel songs projected on the screen, the letters were all distorted. That was scarier. I called my eye doctor in Phoenix, Arizona and told the clinic that, if I had to, even if I still had two weeks left on my road trip, I would go back. The nurse practitioner said that the doctor was not available until two weeks anyway. But she warned that if I see flashes of light, I should go to an emergency room right away. That was scariest.

When we got back to Phoenix, the doctor immediately referred me to a retinal specialist. His diagnosis: a full-thickness (Stage III) macular hole in my right eye. (The macula is the part of the retina responsible for detailed central vision). He ordered a vitrectomy and membrane peel. It is a delicate surgery that involves the suctioning of the vitreous fluid from the eye, repairing the hole with tiny instrumentation, and placing a gas bubble to allow the hole to close and heal and the fluid to refill the eye. There was only one catch. The four-month recovery period includes the first to second week must be done face-down. This is key to keeping the hole closed but anyone who knows me would say that is an impossible task for this Queen of Impatience. But that was the hand I was dealt. 

Vitrectomy Support Equipment

It is good that a company now rents out a Vitrectomy Support Equipment for $189 a week. It is a chair that allows face-down positioning to be bearable, even somewhat comfortable, seated or when taken apart, lying down. However, the surgery, which should have been done immediately the week after the retinal specialist saw me,  would have prevented me from flying (or even driving anywhere with an elevation greater than 4.000 feet, for three to four months because the atmospheric pressure may reopen the hole. Because I had to be in San Francisco Aug. 30-Sept.2, the surgery was

face-down recovery

to Sept. 4, the day after I come back,

The special chair arrived the day before we left so that I could have more time to set it up and get accustomed to it. My husband had it ready for me in no time. It even came with a system of reflecting mirrors so that I can watch TV face-down. That accessory let me enjoy the US Open from Round 1 to the Finals which my favorite Nadal won.

On the morning of Sept. 4, I was wheeled into the pre-operating room. My BP shot up to 160/85. It was a good thing that, when the anesthesia was delivered to my IV port, I fell into the twilight zone immediately. When I woke up, my husband was at my side, getting all the post-operation instructions and absolutely ready to take me home. We were ecstatic to find out that my face-down recovery was needed for only five days instead of ten.

Then the unimaginable happened. I survived the first day of face-down recovery on my chair and slept on my left side with my nose down. It required lots of discipline. But on the second to the fifth days, things became increasingly unbearable. My back started to hurt more and more. I could not sleep without the help of Xanax which my family doctor allowed me to take, together with Tylenol for the pain. 

Vitrectomy support equipment

My Facebook posts gathered hundreds of prayer warriors but it was my husband who was my angel. He gave me my round-the-clock medications and eye-drops. He kept me supplied with Redbox movies, his signature grilled cheese sandwiches,  fresh yellow flowers, and Ben & Jerry’s chocolate therapy ice cream (I finished five pints). Another angel-friend prepared additional dishes for me even if her house was very far from ours.

In short, I was well taken care of. But the boredom nearly killed me because I could not read well. After six weeks, when no further improvement in vision was expected, my optometrist took measurements for new glasses. I had read that patients usually improve to 20/40 but sometimes end up with 20/50 (20/20 is best). My bad luck is that I got stuck at 20/60. The hole repair unluckily left more scarring than expected. I now read with 12-14 font text against the brightest display.  And the distortion could not be eliminated.

But I am happy I did not lose my right eye's central vision. Statistics show that if you develop ailments in one, the other eye would follow, too. Our diet is now focused on eye health. I had eliminated eggs after my husband's cardiovascular problems, but I brought them back because they are great for our eyes. He also suffers from macular degeneration. And I have doubled our intake of fruits and vegetables, reducing meats at the same time. They are rich in lutein and zeaxanthin, antioxidants needed by the macula. Also important are foods like walnuts, wild-caught fish, and other foods that are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids. 

Our eyes are hugely important, especially for travel-bloggers like us. I had intended to release my second book before the end of this year but now I think I will only be able to do it next year, a full five years from the time I published my first. This compilation of not only obvious but also inner journeys is being completed while I am under this difficult adjustment period. It's hard to put into paper my thoughts. It's even harder to process the raw images from my camera. But the difficulty also makes me more highly introspective. So I promise to make it extra special with these new eyes.

As Marcel Proust once said: "The real voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new landscapes but in seeing with new eyes."

PREVIOUS POST
Choosing Between a Brand New Destination and an Old-Time Favorite

FOR MOBILES, click "View Web Version" at the end of the post past comments and share buttons will appear. The Pin Button is at the end.

CLICK THIS TO PIN THE IMAGE

CLICK THIS TO PIN THE IMAGE

CLICK THIS TO PIN THE IMAGE

Turning 70: What Growing Old Means to Me

in Sedona, August 2018

When I turned forty, I thought, "Oh no, soon I will be old." Now that I am turning 70, I say, "Oh no, I am NOW OLD!" It is a good thing family and friends will be with me in Indio, California at a Club Wyndham Resort to "celebrate" with me this week. In addition, I found out that the average lifespan of a female in the Philippines is 72; in America, it is 84. Since I have left my stressful life in the Philippines and migrated to the US, I may have added twelve years to my life, just like that! 

back in Manila, August 2017

But it also means that somewhere about ten years before the average lifespan, your body begins to break down. Mine started to do so at age 62, in the middle of our RVing. First, I had a two-year case of hives after the stress of Bill’s heart attack. Then, I began to have strong bouts of acid reflux and other digestive problems. I changed my eating habits, put back rice and seafood into my diet, control my portions, and exercise daily. With this change, I hope there are twenty years left in me, at least.

The main thing that changed, however, is the mellowing and the balancing of my life. It used to be that I had huge goals that I strived for. Imagine studying until you finish your Ph.D., giving birth to pioneers in information technology in the country, contributing to industry and country goals, and bringing up three children singlehandedly all at the same time.

in Seattle launch, June 2015

But now, I have simpler goals on top of everyday life: see the world and take pictures of and write about our travels. The most stressful thing I do is when I combine those hobbies with publishing and promoting a book. Playing scrabble and poker and singing karaoke and dancing in parties relieve me of stresses. I love cooking and nurturing plants, too. It is a good thing that my husband does not mind housekeeping. But my husband disagrees. He says my goals may not be as big as before but they have now become bigger than when we first met. Oh well, life cannot be boring anyway.

The relationships I keep have become simpler, too. There is my beloved husband. He and I take care of each other. Then there are our children who have all grown and do not need much from us anymore. Then there are our grandchildren who give us so much joy. Finally, there are our friends, some neighbors, some who visit us, and some whom we visit. Of course, we have people with whom we still keep in touch.

In general, therefore, I may be becoming weaker and less healthy but these are accompanied by less striving and more peace. In my book, Carolina: Cruising to an American Dream, I write about how my contact card has changed from the corporate Carol as Carolina Esguerra Carreon, President/CEO, to the more colorful Carol, Carolina Esguerra Colborn, Wanderer, Writer, Wife.

in Ensenada, Mexico, August 018

Life has come full circle. It is now as basic as when we were children. How do we then travel past 70? There are times in the past when I have flown thirty-six hours instead of eighteen, chosen cheaper lodging even if it's far from the city center, and eaten street or fast food to save travel dollars. I submit that now we will probably travel less, but more slowly, and definitely, more comfortably, even if not more stylishly.

What I write about has also changed. As much as our travels have steadily become less, from twelve to eight, to probably four months a year in the next few years, I will probably write more about lessons we have learned, insights we have gained, and AHA moments we have relished. After all, getting old also means becoming wiser, having experienced much and understanding more. As we have accumulated the years, it is good that we have collected neither debt nor enemies, and not yet many wrinkles!  

pinnable image 

Revisiting the Pros and Cons of the Full-time RV Cruising Lifestyle

one of our many neighborhoods

Since my husband and I met while already on the road to retirement, we did not experience the initial stage of the cruising lifestyle’s weekend RV trips. We jumped right into fulltime RV cruising after the wedding, inspired by the idea of a never-ending honeymoon. We made the RV our home and lived all over North America for five years, visiting forty-nine American states, nine Canadian provinces and territories, and six Mexican states.

Last year, after three years of snowbirding at Viewpoint in Mesa, Arizona, and making many friends, we finally bought a home at the Resort. Now, a full year after our RV was sold, I revisit the debate that raged in my head in the middle of our adventure. There are pros and cons to the fulltime RV cruising lifestyle. I wrote about them here. This is an updated post that offers better perspectives, in hindsight. But do I reach the same conclusions?

near the Arctic Circle in the Yukon, Canada

Benefits 

We enjoyed the following benefits tremendously:

Consistently experiencing new things-to-do

Consistently seeing new places and sights

Consistently meeting new people
Closeness to nature and the outdoors
A larger, refreshing view of life
Stress (the positive kind)

At the time this debate was raging in my mind, we had already traveled 21,000 miles, from Alaska and the Arctic Circle to Mexico and the Tropic of Cancer to Florida and Low Country USA.  We would travel 80,000 more miles, but the pattern was set early on. Because of the consistently new experiences, activities, places, sights and people, boredom never had the chance to set in. And the ability to boondock brought us closer to nature and the outdoors.

Since we had not been rooted anywhere really, we were also developing a more accepting view of life, adapting more easily to differences in daily living among countries, regions, and towns; and also becoming aware of universal themes and larger concerns. Our lifestyles were quite driven before we married and fully retired. My husband was keeping a small business alive in a flagging economy after years of navigating the corporate jungle. In turn; I was juggling teaching at three institutions of higher learning while babysitting my grandson after years of pioneering in information technology in the Philippines. The RV cruising lifestyle was exhilarating and reinvigorating.

And, though there was a lot of stress looking for campgrounds, hooking-up and unhooking, planning itineraries, mapping sights to see and choosing activities to do, it was the positive kind of stress; it wasn’t the kind where you earnestly pray that your situation will change or even wish that you were somewhere else.  It was the kind that allowed you to sleep soundly at night with this thought: "That was an awesome day well spent!"

at Monroe Thunderbird Resort in Washington

Disadvantages 

But we also experienced the following disadvantages:

     Loss of the sense of stability
 Many unfamiliar situations
 Time and distance stress on bonds to family and friends
 Inconsistency in involvement with worthwhile causes
 Loss of income
 Uncertainties in healthcare

The very benefits of having something new all the time also brought the disadvantage of instability and a preponderance of unfamiliar situations, especially in the beginning with our smaller 24-foot RV. Once, in Chicken, Alaska, I ended up finishing my bath using the cold water in the sink. I could just not get the Park’s coin-operated shower to operate again when the time for the first token was over.

The most telling was the stress on bonds with family and friends and the inability to work for humanitarian causes we used to nurture.  Technology has definitely helped with bonding (skype, webcam, cell phones, broadband access, laptops, the internet, Facebook, etc.) but “propinquity” was actually lost. And, since we had practically a new parish each or every other week, we could not participate in a regular ministry. In hindsight, we could have parked our RV near our children’s homes for longer times; and, maybe, in Louisiana, parked our RV there to help build homes for Katrina victims, as an example.

What younger people would find most disturbing, however, is the loss of regular income. We found out later that there are options like “work camping” (see workamper.com), parking your RV at Amazon centers for seasonal jobs, or getting a portable career such as monetizing travel blogs. For retired people like us, the income loss just made us more frugal than usual and budgeting more of a regular to-do. This was not a big issue for us. 

But the disadvantage that finally made us settle down sooner than we otherwise wanted is uncertainties in healthcare. Again in hindsight, we should have established a central location where we could return regularly a couple of months a year so that a family physician, a dentist, and an ophthalmologist could take care of monitoring our health. Since we didn’t, we had a few health issues that bothered us more as time went on. We had three wake-up calls before we finally decided: a heart attack, a blood clot, and collapsing in an Auckland street.

at the Rocky Mountain National Park

Conclusion

Today, we come to the same conclusions. It is a lifestyle we hope many would be able to experience at least once in their lifetime. If you do, please refer to my post on The 10 Commandments of the Full-time RV Cruising Lifestyle. I loved the adventure so much I wrote a book about it: Carolina: Cruising to an American Dream. It thoroughly describes the lifestyle; and also my inner journey of becoming a wife and an American. So, yes, we recommend you succumb to the lure of the open road! We are thankful that we took the plunge even if it wasn't forever.

Some parting words, though. A good attitude is not to sweat the small stuff when you face varying situations, people, rules, facilities, schedules, etc. For older folks like us, that may not be an easy thing to do, but it is a good exercise for improving emotional flexibility. And, if you are a “young couple” like we are, the coziness of the lifestyle makes for another great exercise for building closer and stronger bonds. How’s that for advice from a couple that met on the road to retirement?