Dear So and So

[emily_in_nc]

My parents have been "full timing" for more than 20 years now… I couldn't live that way, but they love it. They don't have a home base period, they've been using various relatives and friends homes as their address. They criss cross around the states and Canada for the most part. They've made little forays across the border into Mexico, but haven't spent any significant time there - I don't think even over night. They follow the good weather around and try to visit all the little stuff that mostly gets missed if you are traveling quickly.

One note about dogs - if you do travel with a dog it can still be difficult to visit some places like national parks. Dogs aren't allowed on trails at all - basically not outside of parking lots and some campground areas and you cannot leave them alone at campsites or in vehicles (including motorhomes), so what you can actually do there is very limited. I think my parents (or at least my dad…) might like to have one, but they haven't for that reason.

Yes, I am very aware of this as we've been to quite a few National Parks (without our dog, of course). However, people do leave their dogs in their motorhomes often -- we've seen (and heard!) it as we've walked through quite a few campgrounds. If the campground has rules against it it is either because they worry about nuisance barking, which ours doesn't do (we're lucky if she barks one time a week!) or the pet's safety from heat or cold. If you plan to avoid the hottest or coldest times and leave fans running and plenty of ventilation, fresh water, etc, I don't see the problem. Otherwise you can't even take a bike ride or go out to dinner together. If you have full hookups, you can even leave the A/C running for them, if needed.

When we've stayed in hotels with Paisley, there have often been rules about leaving dogs in the room alone, but we've done it many times because, as I say, she is (very thankfully!) quiet, non-destructive, and just sleeps while we're gone. She doesn't jump up on the bed, so we just put her blankie on the chair (if there is one), so she can sleep there until we return from our bike ride, meal out, whatever. We use the "do not disturb" sign on the door so the housekeeper won't enter the room. We have stayed in many, many hotels over the past few years and have never once had any issues with doing this.

That said, we would be more likely to stay in state parks or boondock. National parks, while a special treat, can be very crowded, so we wouldn't necessarily concentrate on those as we prefer places with fewer people.

We are already nomadic like your folks, we just stay in rentals rather than an RV so far. We have a mail service that gets our mail to us wherever we roam, or we have it sent to my step-father to look at and scan in for us if needed. We are officially Florida residents, but really, we are full-time travelers as we have no home there or anywhere else, for that matter. So changing to an RV would not be as big a change for us as it would be to someone who has lived in the same place for awhile. We've done that, of course, but we are enjoying traveling around in our early retirement years. I am sure we'll settle down again one of these days, but where and when are far from decided.

[Crankin]

I could never wander; I am just too much a creature of habit. I do love traveling, and we've considered maybe, spending 2-4 weeks in the winter back in AZ, but one of the things I like about traveling, is coming home to my own home! This makes me think there's something wrong with me. I am even getting worried that I might not be able to handle moving out to western MA, eventually. I just feel very attached to the area we live in. Maybe this is because I have moved a lot, mostly as an adult. I didn't even start seriously traveling until about 10 years ago, so hearing about a wandering lifestyle is completely new to me. I don't want to be like my extended family, who see travel as unnecessary, and almost evil (probably because they are scared to death of anyone/thing who is different from them), but I know myself. I still don't deal that well with the physical aspects of travel/time zone changes, and while I often hold it together for the time I am away, I get sick when I get home.

[Pax]

I hear you about the physical challenges of travel. It never used to bother me, but now it does take a me a while to recover from the trips, especially anything involving air travel. I'm hoping wandering with our own little home will ameliorate those issues.

[shootingstar]

BEcause I had sleep disruption and have had to attend to realigning my sleep patterns after my concussion, I find now that if there is a time zone difference of over 2 hrs.or more, I need to be more conscious of my sleep needs.

I'm the sort of traveller that likes at least knowing general travel plans to areas I don't know ..meaning things that we might see along the way, if right weather conditions, cycling, snowshoeing or hiking. I am not a totally outdoor traveller...ie. I want to escape to the wilderness for many weeks. After a few hikes and then in the evening, if there is no Internet, I get bored. Reading a book is nice, but doing many evenings of this, I wonder what else I am missing in the area that I'm visiting.

I do find people, culture, history and art very interesting to learn about an area. I like wilderness activities and trips which ALSO include an outing to a town, an historic point, etc. For instance in the Canadian mountain regions..there are historic markers for the Gold Rush, building of the national railway, Japanese-CAnadian internment camp sites during WWII, wineries, rail trails...all marks of human touch.

I understand some folks just want to see wild animals, vegetation, etc. in a foreign country outside of North America. Yes, the wildlife safari in Africa, etc. But you know, it almost sounds insulting, not even learn abit about the local culture nor meet the locals who live there. (beyond a local safari guide) To me that's ironic, and very "protected" way of travelling....NOT meeting the reality of locals and their real culture.

Wherever I travel, I like dropping by local bike shops, a local art gallery/arts/crafts centre, bookstore (because local books are not marketed heavily online) or if there's a farmers' market. The latter you really get a flavour of locals and foods, particularily outside of North America...but also in different regions....New Mexico market is very different from British Columbia different from Quebec! And may I add, Hawaiian farmers' market is totally different.

[Crankin]

The best part of our recent trips were the farmer's markets in Provence and in Lisbon. I just used up the tapenade I bought in Provence.
I agree, Shooting Star. I also like to learn about local culture, even while on a bike trip. That's why things felt a little "off," on our trip to Provence. The cycling was all we hoped for, the scenery outstanding, and the food/wine, the best. But, we didn't really get to explore a lot in the 2 towns we stayed in. Some was because when we got back from riding, we wanted to chill out from riding in the heat; others did walk into town. But this was built in much more to our other trips. Having espresso at a cafe in a tiny little Portuguese village while riding was something you could not replicate in any other way. We even had to avoid a donkey that had broken lose from its owner and was running down the street, as we cycled out of the town!

[Pax]

We are musuem junkies, we've found just about any wide spot in the road has a museum/historical markers/historical societies... So fun to discover those tiny little places on our adventures!

[emily_in_nc]

We like learning about local culture, visiting local restaurants & farmer's markets, walking, hiking, and watching birds, and cycling in different areas (but of course)! We rarely travel more than one time zone at a time. On road trips, which is mostly what we do, we do short days and spend 2-3 days in each town/city, usually, if not a week or a month, so one time zone at a time. And where we are in Mexico is either 0 or 1 hour off from Eastern time, depending on the time of year. So I do get that. I feel icky when crossing more than one time zone too.

The last time we flew back east from Hawaii, I started having visual anomalies that next morning (after pretty much losing a full night of sleep traveling), and I was only 30 then! All was cured with a good night's sleep, but I had to take an extra day off work I felt so "off" and didn't even trust myself to drive. I can only imagine how well I'd do in my 50s. I decided after that trip that I'd prefer island destinations closer to home, so when we have gone to the tropics since, it's been the Caribbean.

Having lived in NC most of my life, over the pat few years I have been surprised to learn what a nomadic subculture there actually is out there. In addition to the obvious (RVers and sailboat cruisers), when we moved to Belize, we learned about other couples and families who were moving around nomadically with no set home base. We met two couples there who were living this lifestyle, which was all new to us. One couple moves to a different place every three months (they're now in Malta), and the other stays from 6 months to 2 years in any one place (they're now in Bali). And meeting them opened our eyes to how many others are doing just that -- from digital workers in their 20s to retirees. There are a ton of blogs written by these various nomads.

Since we have a dog, it's much harder to travel internationally, and thus we've limited our travels to within the US, plus Belize and Mexico so far, both of which are easy to take a dog in and out of. Most of the nomads we know of are traveling without pets unless they are doing it in an RV.

Crankin, I don't think there's a thing wrong with you for wanting to limit your travels to 1-2 vacations a year. I think most people feel just like you: they are ready for the comforts of home after being away for awhile. We're the odd balls -- not you!

[Eden]

We are musuem junkies, we've found just about any wide spot in the road has a museum/historical markers/historical societies... So fun to discover those tiny little places on our adventures!

You might enjoy a peruse around my mom's blog - she hasn't had it going all 20 years… but enough that she's got a large collection of tiny places catalogued and mapped
http://rollinginarv-wheelchairtraveling.blogspot.com