Category: Travel

Women traveling around the world

The trip of a lifetime

by Stacy Ziegler, posted in Home Exhcange, Lifestyle, Travel

To say it was the trip or adventure of a lifetime almost does not do it justice. It was several adventures, some I could never have even imagined (hiking the Ligurian Riviera in Varigotti makes Cinque Terre look like an afterthought) even though I was the one planning it! We spent 88 days traveling. We visited 7 countries and stayed in 18 cities. We took a few day trips (Greve in Chianti, Amalfi, Sorrento and a few others but we did not stay overnight) This post is going to be an overview of the trip with budget travel tips. In the future, I will add a separate post highlighting the places we stayed, what we loved and what we didn’t. Italy deserves it’s own post since that is where we spent the most time and the country I want to return to again and again.

Let’s begin!

This trip needed to be as affordable as possible while not skimping on why we were there, the food and the history. I spent hours researching ways to cut cost, travel hacks, tips, tricks, etc. and now I will share them with you.

It started about a year ago, contacting others on home exchange apps. My goal was to cover as much of our trip as possible through home exchanges to reduce our costs and “live like a local.” We connected with several families from across the globe and had successful stays in Barcelona, Montpellier, Paris, Marseille,Bologna, Florence, Varigotti, Rome, and Santorini. We texted and video called with everyone we were exchanging with to ensure it was a good fit on both sides. We were the newbies on the scene whereas everyone we exchanged with had done so numerous times before and had great reviews from people they hosted or who hosted them. In using home exchange, we had all but 5 days of our trip covered. We used these days to travel to our next exchange site. Communication from our guests was fabulous. There were no real issues and everyone left our home the way the found it. We now have friends from across the globe and it has enriched our lives and expanded our appreciation for other cultures and lifestyles tremendously.

Once in Europe, most of our travel was by high speed train with a few short flights. We only rented a car once and that was in Santorini. Ryanair, if you can stand it, got us there from Paris and returned us to Marseille for less than $50 euro each, including baggage. If you book your train months in advance, you can usually get business or first class seats for just a few euro more than 2nd class (and totally worth it) regional and local trains were roughly 1-10 euros. We stuck with Trenitalia in Italy, booking exclusively on the app. It was extremely easy to use and the app would usually know the platform before it was posted on the boards at the station. SNCF was great for travel in France and they even have a high speed train from Barcelona to Paris, book early and look for promo codes. We also only traveled with a carry on and a backpack It can be done! If you chat with anyone who travels extensively, they would likely agree that most people always overpack. Had we not needed different clothes for formal nights on the cruise, it would have been a piece of cake. I ended up utilizing vacuum bags for my clothes and a lot of strategic layering . After the third or fourth location, we had it down to a science and even managed to bring back a few goodies from Italy.

To get to Europe, we booked a repositioning transatlantic cruise through Princess. The cost was in line with what we would have paid for airline tickets alone and now we have transportation, 14 nights of lodging, food and entertainment! The cruise departed Fort Lauderdale for Barcelona with stops in Madeira (Portugal) Cadiz, and Malaga. All of the ports were great but my favorite was Cadiz. I was very apprehensive about taking such a long cruise. I am prone to motion sickness and the last (and only) cruise I had taken before was less than a pleasant experience. Armed with Scolpamine, I booked a mid ship, lower stateroom to minimize the motion. There was only 1 day where I really felt it, 3 days into the trip in the middle of the Atlantic. The internet the cruise line swears is the best in the business, went out for 5 days. 5 days! Despite my initial hesitation in going on the cruise, a little sea sickness combined with the internet going down, we had an absolutely fantastic time. So much so that we booked another cruise for Lisa’s birthday next year!

Ok so we have accommodations covered and transportation to Europe but how to get back? One way tickets are notoriously expensive. I began to search for mileage or reward flights since I had a ton of points through my Chase card. I have scored many one way flights on United and JetBlue for as little as 5,500 miles. (Our flight to NYC and back over the holidays was a grand total of 40k for two, round trip, non stop tickets) I just transfer however many points are needed directly from Chase to the airline. To my dismay, I could not find such deals this time around so I began to look at the cheapest one way tickets I could find, Turkish Airlines kept coming up. I looked at their miles and smiles reward flight and it does not partner of Chase. Bummer! They had a promo running for business class seats at only 45k miles. This is beyond a good deal but I didn’t have miles and smiles points, so what’s a girl like me to do? Well, if you know me, you know once I find a way, I have the will to either make it happen or positively know that it cannot be done. Googling, “Miles and Smiles credit card partners” pointed me to two cards, Capital One and Citi. Citi just so happen to have a card with an 80k point sign up bonus! (This number fluctuates) I applied, was approved, used the card to pay for the cruise and other things (You have to spend $4,000 in the first 3 months to get the bonus) and patiently waited for my bonus points while crossing my fingers that Turkish didn’t sell out of those seats in the meantime.

It all came together! We flew out of Rome, changed planes in Istanbul and flew back to Mexico. It did make the 15 hour flight back much more enjoyable and we were actually able to sleep. Yes, it was the scenic route but if I get to hang out longer in a free business class seat, I consider that to be the cherry on top of the trip of the trip of a lifetime!

That happened…again

by Stacy Ziegler, posted in Early Retirement, Empty nest, home exchange, Inspirational, Lifestyle, Mexico, Travel

Months have passed since the last entry, I am beginning to think I should rename this my quarterly blog site.

The events since October have been continuous. We have had a steady stream of visitors; my kids, my coworkers and my friends have all made the trip down with Lisa’s niece (and her family), mother/step father, sister (and her family) One of our most memorable guests was my best friend who came down (with her family) and her husband in mid October to celebrate their 25 year wedding anniversary. Lisa performed the ceremony and we honored the local culture with offerings and Copal, it was magical. Lisa’s dad and step mom are coming next week though they are treating themselves to a week at an all inclusive resort in Playacar before they stay with us for a few nights. My youngest son came down in November and we flew back to Washington with him in December due to a sudden tragic loss of my other best friend’s daughter.

We completed our first Home Exchange in NYC over the holidays, which was really living out a life dream of mine. Despite the absolutely awful, freezing cold wind directed directly into our eyes, we managed to make it to the Christmas Eve showing of The Rockettes, “Christmas Spectacular” and spectacular it was! It felt surreal and dreamlike, as if we were in a movie. We also went out to Coney Island on New Years day to grab a hot dog and people watch those who were crazy enough to participate in the polar bear plunge. We dined at several places but our favorite had to be Pig Heaven, where we had Christmas Dinner. Their ribs…no words to do them justice. They were so tender, flavorful, finger licking sticky, pieces of deliciousness. We were lucky enough to be within a few blocks of everything, including the subway. We were just a block down from an actual speakeasy, the concoctions were impressive! We spent a fair amount of time in the apartment, enjoying the breathtaking view from the corner apartment, snacking on charcutier trays, and delighting in foods we cannot get here. After meandering through numerous parks, ferry landings, subways, burrows, etc. we wrapped up our trip by visiting Summit One Vanderbilt. If you go, you should book well in advance if you are aiming for sunset or a night time visit.

Rockefeller Center Tree/ Drinks at the UES / Vanderbilt One

I have spent endless hours planning ,messaging, and prepping for our next big adventure. The ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME! Really, it is. I have planned this for months and I know the odds of ever being able to do it again are slim. When we retired, our goal was to travel. The big question became how to do that on a sustainable level where we were not just blowing through our savings. Through Home Exchange, we have found many others, like ourselves, who want to reasonably travel. Our first exchange in NY was perfect. It was beyond perfect really, we have friends in NY now and we plan on exchange with them again in the future. I don’t expect all of our exchanges to go that well but being able to text, call or video chat with our incoming guests have made this a much more comfortable experience for all. We have 87 days of travel ahead of us. 15 of those days will be on a cruise across the Atlantic. From there, we have reciprocal exchanges lined up for Montpellier, Marseille and Florence. We are allowing other Home Exchangers to use our home for guest points, which act as currency. In return, we had enough guest points to cover our stays in Barcelona ,Paris, Rome and Santorini. We are planning a minimum of a week per city and almost 2 weeks in Rome as we want to use it as a base to explore Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento, etc. We are only paying for accommodations for 6 out of those 87 days. A highlight of Home Exchange is being able to “live like a local.” Hosts are happy to provide information on where to eat, visit, etc. that can’t be found in a travel guide 😉

As for life in Mexico, it is still just as great and full of surprises and adventures as it has ever been. Lisa had to see a dermatologist for a suspicious mole. She was able to be seen in 3 days, it cost 1300 pesos (65 dollars) and the doctor was fantastic. She took Lisa’s medical history herself and spent about 45 minutes with us discussing concerns and what to look out for. She even had me look through her dermascope so I could see for myself what she was seeing. We also had to go through a process of changing out our license plates and registering the car for this year. It was not hard to do but one does question the logic behind making everyone change their plates every 3 years, at the same time. The lines in some places were hours long, I lucked out on a rainy day at a satellite office where it only took me 20 minutes.

When we returned from NYC, we did talk about possibly buying another home back in the States but then we were reminded of all the reasons we left. Sometimes it feels like we are on perpetual vacation and coming back from NY felt like we were coming back to a vacation house and not a home but that is exactly what we need it to be for the next few years. Who knows what the future will bring. Especially in regards to taking care of parents, helping out with grandkids (one day, I hope!!) or other unknowns but until then, we are going to travel travel travel and continue living our best lives!

Time flies……

by Stacy Ziegler, posted in Early Retirement, Empty nest, Ex pat, home exchange, Inspirational, Lifestyle, Mexico, Moving abroad, Travel

I can’t believe we have been here 5 months. I also can’t believe that I haven’t managed a blog post since June, but….. here we are.

Our first month or two just felt like we were on an extended vacation and month 3 started to feel like groundhogs day. I decided to pick up some piece work to give me more to do while Lisa is contently working on her puzzle or living her best life in the Ocean. We did not start having guests until August so we had plenty of time to settle in. Since then, we have had either friends or family down on a pretty regular basis. First my my 3rd oldest son and his friend, then Lisa’s niece and her family came, then my second youngest and his girlfriend, then my best friend and her children (though they stayed at a resort up the road) but Lisa and I happily hosted their 25th wedding vow renewal at our house, at sunset, under the palapa-it was magical! I have my friends and work colleagues coming in tomorrow for a week, I am sure there will be work done, for tax purposes 😉 next up is my sister in law and her son, then my youngest will arrive the last week of November. Tired yet? My oldest son will make the trip at some point. We are going back to Washington to spend a month next summer so it may be until then that I see him but he calls me frequently so I am not complaining.

So what’s it been like? It has been great! I feel like I know the Cancun airport, Playa del Carmen and all the local cenotes like the back of my hand. It took me FOR EVER to get an RFC (tax ID) number to open a checking account but I finally got that done last month. It was a challenging experience since I have limited Spanish reading skills but the employees at the SAT office were helpful and patient. There was a local man there who could not read sitting next to me while we were filling out forms and he asked me what his paper said, I can’t describe the feeling that left me with. There is very much a class system in place here and dare I say that the original settlers of this land are treated the worst. You could draw parallels from the Mayans to the Native Americans except that here, the Mayans don’t have much protection from exploitations. Work environments, tools, etc. are very archaic and that is the typical job for a Mayan, a laborer. Watching a man at work with a pix axe-going at limestone- in 90 degree weather makes my work ethic look questionable, if not almost embarrassing. When we hired a local contractor to install a pergola for our car, this is exactly what I witnessed as well as several workers, sitting on the supporting beams of the pergola, nailing in sticks of wood by hand in the middle of a thunderstorm. A power tool was used once… Even for workers who are paid legally, the Mexican minimum wage is 172 pesos per day (about 8 usd) and I can tell you that the cost of food and gas down here is only slightly less expensive than in the States because we live in a tourist state but that doesn’t mean they get paid more. One more before I get off my soapbox, in Mexico, it is very common to have a housekeeper and for her to come several times a week (Once is good for us). The pay is more than the minimum wage (usually) but not by much. My neighbors maid offered to clean our house when our housekeeper was away once and we took her up on it. She showed up with her 12 year old daughter as she was her apprentice, she was teaching her how to correctly clean houses, make the beds, etc.. I know not all kids go to high school here (and by here, I mean Mexico, not this privileged little community that I live in), some stop at 6th grade so they can work and help support their families but to see what that looks like left me extremely humbled and full of guilt. It is, after all, only a fluke that I was born in the States and yes, white privilege is real, even here.

If you look closely, you can see two extension cords strung together behind the man

Going to the store, out to eat, driving, shopping etc. has all become very normal. When we first moved down, I was hypervigilant about everything, now I am only hypervigilant about some things. We have the water delivery schedule down as well as the Gas guy (Propane home) and it feels….like home!

We went to Oaxaca in July for my birthday, it was truly a unique experience. We were lucky enough to go during Guelaguetza! This is a celebration of traditions and culture from the surrounding communities. Let me tell you, Oaxacans are some amazing and proud people and they now how to party! The food, the historical tours, the food, the mezcal, the food, the cooking class, the food, the ruins of Monte Alban, the food…Yes, it was amazing! We had no idea the parade route would turn right in front of our hotel, Casa de Siete Balcones. The hotel purveyors set up the rooftop for us so we could watch. It was a once in a lifetime experience.

The prices of food and items in Oaxaca were close to half of what they are in Quintana Roo. We are very much looking forward to traveling throughout Mexico and hope to do so next year. As for now, we have set up our home here on a few different home exchange sites and have several upcoming trips. We are exchanging homes over Christmas/New Years with a couple from Manhattan and next spring, we have exchanges set up in Spain, France and Italy! So far this, BBYODO thing is really panning out 🙂

TTFN!

And… We’re off!

by Stacy Ziegler, posted in Early Retirement, Empty nest, Ex pat, Inspirational, LGBT, Lifestyle, Mexico, Puerto Aventuras, Riviera Maya, Travel

So much has happened in the last two months and I don’t have time to do a break down but I will when we settle. Unfortunately, right after my last post my wife and I came down with COVID that knocked us down for several weeks. Triple vaxxed and still, but I digress..

I have often looked to the universe for signs. Good, bad, indifferent, I have come to rely on signs to point me in the right direction. If it is meant to be, it will. If it isn’t, stop fighting and listen. We have gone from a dream, to a plan, to an action. We sold our home to friends during this crazy market. It has reaffirmed our decision and it felt so right. We have sold our cars without issue, donated, gifted or sold the rest of our belongings and the path has remained clear. We will be leaving Washington state later this week for a, ” farewell tour” to California to see my family before boarding a plane on a one way ticket to Mexico later this month.

I will update next month after we settle in. Until then-Saludos!

The Mexican Consulate

by Stacy Ziegler, posted in Early Retirement, Ex pat, Lifestyle, Moving abroad, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Aventuras, Riviera Maya, Travel

Also known as, Consulado de México. This is where you start the process of legally entering Mexico if you want to stay past the 180 day tourist visa. Obviously our intent is to stay for an undetermined amount of time. Could be a several years, could be forever. The one thing I can say with absolute certainty is the only thing that is consist between consulates is that their Visa requirements are all different. Covid has restricted some consulates to only serving people in their geographical area, as determined by them. Portland, for example, is currently only serving Oregon and southern Washington state. Other consulates, like Las Vegas, are serving anyone. We chose Seattle because A) that’s our closest office. B) They were only asking for 6 months of financial documentation (which was still 35 pages) and C) They were conducting the initial interview via Zoom. All good things. In my last entry, I had just been notified that we had been processed and they had offered us an interview date!

Fast forward several weeks, our Zoom interview went very well. We were asked questions surrounding why we chose México, what ties we had there, and other basic questions. While I was nervous about the interview, I knew our intentions were solid and reflected what they wanted to see in someone seeking permanent residency. It helped that we are homeowners there and had already established solid ties to friends and our community, I’m on our HOA board and we had made several trips down over the last few years. It also helped that my wife lights up every time we talk about México and what she loves about the people, culture, and of course, the food. We were approved for our Visas and I can tell you that I genuinely felt welcomed to Mexico. Our agent was extremely helpful and kind throughout the process. This is not a new feeling, most Mexicans are extremely kind and welcoming to foreigners in their country so long as you show some respect and leave the entitlement at the border. We then needed to appear at the consulate in person to have our fingerprints and photos taken. I returned the next day to pick up our actual visas. This is what it looks like, they place it in your passport. You have 6 months to enter México to finish the process at INM (Instituto Nacional de Migración/Immigration) and exchange your visa for your resident card. Once you enter, you have 30 days to start the process.

Visa that goes into your passport
Permanent resident card (RP/Residente Permanente)

Depending on your finances, age, and intentions, you may be approved for temporary or permanent residency. The only difference is that temporary needs to be renewed, sometimes annually, for up to 4 years at which time you will have to roll it over to permanent or leave the country. The one upside to temporary (TP/Temporal Residente) is that you could bring a foreign plated car into México via a TIP (Temporary Import Permit) for a long as your visa is valid. Qroo Paul has an excellent blog with endless information about moving to Mexico. You can read the article here for more information on the ends and outs of bringing your car.

If you are offered permanent residency and have no intention of bringing a car, take it. Nobody wants to spend their time, money, or patience having to deal with immigration in Mexico. Further, if you are not fluent in Spanish (reading and writing) and don’t have a bunch of time, money and patience, I highly recommend using an immigration specialist to help you complete the process in Mexico. There are several throughout the country, search the Facebook expat boards for recommendations.

That’s all for now folks! Happy fall and safe travels.

We did it!

by Stacy Ziegler, posted in Akumal, Diving, Early Retirement, Ex pat, Lifestyle, Moving abroad, Puerto Aventuras, Riviera Maya, Scuba Diving, Travel

I apologize to those of you who had been following along. I have dropped the ball. Life has been CRAZY this year.

Previously on, BBYODO, we had just returned from the Riviera Maya and purchased a home in Puerto Aventuras. I had a horrific diving accident at 100 feet that landed me in the chamber with the bends and I thought I would likely never dive again.

Shortly after we returned from Mexico in November, we began plotting a return trip to get the new house ready. We had hoped to close on our property in January but the seller lived in Colorado and the secretary of state there was backed up for weeks due to Covid. She need a letter apostilled so her attorney in Mexico would have power of attorney to sign all the documents on her behalf. We were able to do the same in Washington and it only took a few days. Our trip back to Puerto Aventuras and our new home had been booked for late February. Well, closing day in January came and went and we agreed to an extension to early February. That day came and went… at this point, we were becoming very nervous about the entire process. We had already wired all of our money to the escrow account set up by our agent and it wasn’t that we were concerned about that, we were concerned that the seller would fail to preform and we were already committed to this house emotionally and financially. Ultimately, the night before our flight, we agreed on a soft close. The form that we had been waiting for from the State of Colorado finally came the first week of March while we were there. SUCH a relief!

While we were down in February, I knew I was not ready to go back to diving. Instead, we made our way to Akumal and spent the day snorkeling with the Turtles in Akumal bay. By the way, there is a trick to avoiding all the people selling tours, etc. Go grab some breakfast at Lol-Ha where you can park close to the bay or consider visiting Akumal Dive Center to rent a locker or gear if you need it. From Lol-Ha, walk down toward the bay and slightly to your right. You do not need to buy a tour to swim in the bay but these rules are constantly changing. You do need to stay out of the roped off areas but there is still plenty of bay to explore on your own. Here is a great map with tips and tricks I found for Akumal bay. Turtles galore! Make sure you wear biodegradable sunscreen and don’t wear fins.

I am not going to lie, just having my face in the water with a snorkel was anxiety producing. At one point, I ended up leaving Lisa to do her own thing while I collected myself. I had no expectations of being able to go diving but I was surprised that just being in the ocean was PTSD provoking. This is not ok! The whole reason we chose the area of Mexico that we did was so we would have very easy accessibility to the ocean, diving, etc. It was about this time I befriended a woman named Robin who owns Aquanauts dive shop in Puerto Aventuras. I shared with her my experience and fears and she confidently told me that she would be ready to help me get back in the water when I was ready. Having the correct fitting gear and the right instructor were going to be the answer. She even offered to let me try out her own wing style BCD to ensure proper fit (Women, especially big busted gals don’t fit into standard BCDs…) and having a BCD with integrated weights was going to be a must for me but I just wasn’t ready in March.

July rolls around and we head back to Mexico. (see why I have had no time to blog? I can’t wait until I am no longer working full time and the move is over!) At this point, we had submitted 48 pages of documents to the Consulate and were awaiting an email regarding our residency applications. If you learn anything about Mexico from this blog, know that the only thing that is consistent is inconsistency. If you are thinking about applying for residency, I highly suggest you visit websites for each one within your area to see what they are requesting. Even if you give them everything that they are asking for, it is at their discretion whether you are approved or not and for what type. (permanent or temporal) The main Consulate website can be found here. Other important tip, you cannot start the residency process within Mexico! If you head down and fall in love with Mexico, you have to come back to start the residency process. Visitor visas are good for 180 days. While we were down, we received an email with our appointment date for our interviews for residency. Yay!!! We had not received any sort of confirmation that our papers had been received and the website states to not follow up with an email to check the status. It is a, don’t contact us, we will contact you, mañana, process. More to come on that later. By the way mañana doesn’t actually mean tomorrow, sometimes it does but it really just means later. So far, this experience has been an excellent exercise in patience, letting go, trusting the universe, and trying not to lose my hair in the process.

Circling back to what I had said about Aquanauts, I had decided that I was ready to ease back into some scuba gear, in a pool, and work with Emilio (DM) on skills and reestablishing my confidence. After a 3 hour session, I was feeling pretty confident. I was able to relax and enjoy my trip back in the water and I really just cannot say enough awesome things about Robin, Emilio and their whole staff. I wrote a pretty detailed review here. Safe to say, I am looking forward to buying my own equipment and many more dives with Aquanauts and grabbing a margarita or two with Robin! Until next time- Salud!

Mexico, here we come!

by Stacy Ziegler, posted in Akumal, Diving, Early Retirement, Ex pat, LGBT, PADI, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Aventuras, Riviera Maya, Scuba Diving, Travel

2020 is almost over, thank goodness! I realize it has been quite some time since I have written anything- I think we all got sucked into the COVID abyss. While the end is coming to a year, 2020 has been full of as many ups as there have been downs. Big news!!!! We bought a place in Mexico! That’s correct, a place to call our own in the Riviera Maya. We made a trip down in November to complete our PADI Advanced Open Water dives since our training was about to expire and to check out some locations we had narrowed down. I will post separately about my horrid, near death experience with Seth Drabinsky through Seth Dive Mexico though you can read my review on TripAdvisor and his completely inappropriate and unprofessional response to it until then. I did find out the hard way that the healthcare providers in Playa are pretty top notch (for a gringo with money and good insurance) and I received better care there than I have ever in the US. I was treated by Playa International Clinic– Dr. Denise and my nurse Paula were amazing. Lisa was able to stay the night with me at the clinic in my room and they kept an eye on her for decompression illness and even fed her for free.

After spending countless hours on the computer to research areas, we narrowed our search down to Playacar, Puerto Aventuras, and Akumal. All of these areas are within 30 minutes or so from Playa del Carmen. We looked at several properties and were torn between a home in Playacar and one in Puerto. It was a very difficult decision but we went with home in Puerto. While Playacar is absolutely lovely, Puerto has it beat when it comes to snorkeling and a marina and it is about half way between Akumal and PDC. The beaches in Playacar are stunning but there is nothing to see in the water there. Puerto also has a variety of shops, restaurants, etc and was designed as an expat neighborhood. Don’t read that as expats just from the US, Puerto is like a giant Epcot center and right across the highway is where most of the locals live. We wanted something safe and in a gated community but what we did not want was a community that is filled with Americans. A big motivator in moving out of the country is to experience different cultures, people, and places.

I can tell you that buying in Mexico is not for the faint of heart, obviously. There is something about having the right realtor and attorney that can ease your fears but standing in your bank, wiring your 10% earnest money to an escrow account in Mexico takes some serious nerve. We are working with Marieke Brown, a very respected, straight shooting realtor who has talked me down a few times so far. We will be using our attorney to sign closing papers for us, I can say as someone who trusts no one, this is quite the experience. We will be back down several times (COVID/Vaccine willing) before our final move in 2022.

Flying during COVID was also something that caused a great amount of distress. There are tons of articles and studies surrounding COVID and the risk of contagion on an airplane. The risk is extremely low. We put on our N95s and sanitized everything. Alaska Airlines did a phenomenal job and I did not see a single person wearing a mask incorrectly and they blocked out middle seats. We were disheartened to see so many tourists not respecting guidelines once we got to Mexico. My biggest fear was what if we gave it to some poor local. They do not have the resources or hospital infrastructure to handle the COVID crisis. Read, Why Mexico is failing to confront the COVID crisis. With that said, I felt way safer in Playa del Carmen that I do here in Washington state. It isn’t a political issue for locals, they take it seriously. I just wished more tourist would have as well. We tested for COVID before our trip and then 6 days after we returned home. Side note- Mexico, at least the state of Quintana Roo, is very LGBT friendly. We felt extremely comfortable working with realtors, attorneys, etc. and have never felt discriminated against during any of our trips down.

I am sure most of my 2021 blog will be filed with the ups and downs of buying internationally and obtaining permanent resident status. Until next time, Hanukkah Sameach!! Stay safe and healthy.

Adios 2019!

by Stacy Ziegler, posted in Early Retirement, Inspirational, Lifestyle, Riviera Maya, Travel

I know I didn’t write on our adventures in Mexico like I said I would so here is a brief update. Mexico is and always has been a magical place for me. I feel like I truly belong in the Riviera Maya and that my feet long for the sand and my soul for the ocean after I have been away too long. With that said, since we stayed in an a mega resort this last time, we didn’t experience a whole lot of Playa del Carmen. We did take a day off from the resort and tax a cab into town to the Mega store to stock up on food and water because the resort we were at was not all inclusive and had prices relative to the USA. Tip! At checkout, you are expected to bag your own groceries or tip the person who does it for you. If you are interested in my review of The Grand Mayan, you can find it here. We went Scuba diving while there but it was delayed several days due to adverse current and weather conditions so our dive wasn’t as magical as the one from March in Cozumel. I really think it would take a lot for me to say it was a bad dive, is there such a thing? Even if the clarity isn’t fantastic and the current is strong, you still get to experience total zen and mindfulness. We have another trip planned for Mexico though this time to the Pacific side next November to check out Puerto Vallarta and that area though I am not convinced I will like it. I grew in Southern California and the ocean there has nothing on the turquoise waters of the Caribbean. I’m doing my best to ensure that I am not being too short sided and doing as much reconnaissance as possible.

I think 2019 is going to be a hard one to beat but we are going to try our best 🙂 It has been a good year for me and my family. We are ending the year with everyone healthy, kids are achieving their goals and dreams, work has had some real highs and some real lows but that is to be expected. My sister, who has been missing for several years, showed up out of the blue when a person contacted me on Facebook asking if I was her sister. That was pretty mind blowing!

We have our big trips mapped out and Lisa and I decided we will use our upcoming trip to Jamaica (Celebrating her 50th birthday!!) in March to obtain our PADI advanced open water certifications. I am very much looking forward to learning underwater navigation, how to safely dive in a wreck, deep water diving, etc. Jamaica will be all vacation-no recon. I would like to get another trip to RM in there somewhere but I am not sure I can talk Lisa into doing a shorter stay in PV and then head to RM but I am going to try! The price of housing in Puerto Vallarta at least double that of Riviera Maya so there is another strike.

One thing I know for sure is that you cannot accomplish something you don’t actually plan for. I follow a few really interesting and inspiring women on Instagram who travel and I came across this post this morning from Jen Winston. I really love the idea of vision writing so that is what I am going to do to step in to 2020 with the best frame of mind to achieve my goals. (There are so many bad puns to be had here…) While planning for your dreams, it is important to remember that if something comes up as an absolute roadblock or you find yourself on a detour, be open to why that is. Sometimes the universe has a great way of saving us from paths not meant for us. So, what are you planning for 2020? Wishing everyone a healthy, happy, and successful new year!

What an adventure! Part 1-Colombia

by Stacy Ziegler, posted in Colombia, Early Retirement, Ex pat, LGBT, Lifestyle, Travel

We just returned from a 3 week whirlwind trip that included New York city to celebrate our wedding anniversary, Cartagena and Santa Marta Colombia and winding down in Playa del Carmen Mexico. If you have followed this blog at all, you will know that we have been looking for a place that fits our needs/budget so we can pull off an “early retirement.” Colombia and Mexico had been on the short list for sometime so this trip was a long time coming. I am going to break this into two separate posts as there is so much to cover. You can also check out the reviews I have left on Tripadvisor for more detailed information and places I have left out of this page 🙂

Colombia…wow. What a lesson in first world problems, humility, culture, food, and privilege. It is not like I went in blind. Colombia is a third world country and I expected a lot of what I saw. What I didn’t expect is how absolutely desperate people are there for food/money. I have been to plenty of locations where there are street hustlers, beggars, etc but the beaches in Cartagena trump it all. You will be asked several times a minute if you want, xyz and you will need to say no repeatedly and often times, that isn’t enough. Some of the vendors took no for an answer and would move on but several did not. It appeared to be especially true of female vendors who would offer a massage. They would start by asking you, telling you some story about starving children, you can say no repeatedly and they would persist. Often times moving into your personal space and touching you while stating you are so tight, you need a massage. When you continue to decline, some would say that because they touched you, you now needed to pay them, even if you never accepted the massage. We had to physically get up and leave. When I mentioned this at our hotel, the staff said that was unfortunately normal and that the beaches are just not safe. This is an absolute shame as the beauty of Colombia is unparalleled but you can’t go anywhere in Cartagena (Boca Grande is the area we stayed in) without actually being accosted.

Cartagena, CO
Walled City Cartagena

The walled city in Cartagena was absolutely beautiful and full of history and culture as well as little boutique shops. We experienced several vendors and children begging for money saying they were from Venezuela but it was nothing compared to the beaches.

We took a bus from Cartagena to Santa Marta. After much research, we settled on Marsol for transportation. They picked us up (late but that was to be expected, it’s been my experience that almost everything runs on different time in Latin America) from our hotel and dropped us off at our hotel in Santa Marta. You need to text Marsol using Whatsapp to get a reservation. It was $50,000 COP (about $15 USD) per person and the van ride was ok. We scheduled a time slot where there was no stop in Barranquilla but it still took about 5 hours. This is where the biggest shock came. We chose to take the bus instead of flying because we wanted to see the land and area between Santa Marta and Cartagena first hand. After passing Barranquilla, you enter the small fishing town of Ciénaga. Until that day, I had never seen actual slums. Skid row in LA? Yes, small fishing villages in Belize? Yes. Ghettos, bad neighborhoods, poor tribal reservations, and my own research could not have possibly prepared me for what I saw on that bus ride. Children playing in pools of what I can only assume is contaminated waste water. Dogs, trash, rubble… and it went on for miles. Here is a good article that talks the death of Cienaga .

In 2007, the city built a highway at the edge of the Cienga. These houses right agaist it flood when it rains and are not connected to the sewage system.

When we arrived in Santa Marta we could tell the vibe was different than Cartagena. The poverty didn’t seem as pervasive and the vendors were not as aggressive. We spent only a day in Rodadero which is considered the “ex pat” section and to be honest, we didn’t really care for it. The beaches are beautiful but it just seemed so cut off from the rest of the area. We did look at an apartment for rent/sale while we were there and were impressed with the location and value. The big advantage i felt Rodadero has over SM is the breeze! Nothing feels as good as the breeze coming down from the Sierra Nevada mountains on a very hot and humid day. I could totally see spending the day on a hammock on the balcony. Oh and if anyone is wondering, yes, there are lockers for rent on the beach! I searched forever for that info and never found any 😉

The beach in Santa Marta isn’t as pretty but the Marina is very nice. And lets be honest, after the experience we had with vendors, we weren’t going to be hanging out on the beach. While we were in Santa Marta, we found plenty to do besides hanging out on the rooftop bar/pool. The big adventures were trying to navigate the city and find the best restaurants. I think we were pretty successful, the food there was amazing! We really had a great time even though our level of conversational Spanish is minimal and practically no one in Colombia speaks English. We flew out of Simon Bolivar Airport south of Santa Marta to Bogota on Avianca where we connected to our flight to Cancun, also on Avianca. One of the most stressful parts of the trip was trying to navigate the airport in Bogota having arrived on a domestic flight and needing to make our way to the international terminal where there were literally no signs. We had to ask two different people and it involved a long walk, going down several flights of stairs, leaving the terminal we were in and walking a bit more to the international terminal. If you are planning to do this, allow plenty of time to get lost, get through customs and get to your gate. Both flights were pleasant, on time and without issues.

We went diving with Caribbean Pro Dive while we were in SM and had a great experience diving at Tayrona Park. It was just the two of us with the divemaster and a photographer. We left from the marina in a small dive boat and they provided snacks and water. Two tank dives with equipment was $180,000 COP (about $52 USD) Later that week we took a sailboat excursion back to Tayrona to spend the day at the beach. Similar vendor issues but they took no for an answer much more readily. The sailboat trip was booked through Tripadvisor- Tayrona Bay Sailboat Trip

Final thoughts on Colombia…. It was an experience of a lifetime, it really helped shape my perspective. The people there are mostly friendly to foreigners though Lisa caught a handful of dirty looks. I am not sure if it was because of her looks (blonde/blue) or? I did not catch a single one though maybe I am more oblivious. Most people assumed we were travel partners, and the one time someone asked for clarification they were genuinely shocked when I said she was mi Esposa. I would definitely go back to Santa Marta to visit though I think it is safe to say we have ruled it out as a possible future home. Mexico on the other hand…. More to come!

    Was it my time?

    by Stacy Ziegler, posted in Early Retirement, Inspirational, Lifestyle, Parenting, Stroke, Travel

    Obviously not or I wouldn’t be writing this. Could it have been the day my ticket expired? Maybe. Last Monday morning I didn’t sleep well, waking frequently with a mild headache and a general feeling of unease. I woke my 16 year old that morning by knocking on his door and went downstairs to finish getting ready. When he came down for breakfast we started having a conversation where my words were coming out slurred. He asked me if I was drunk and I said of course not, it was 8:30 in the morning! When I answered him I could hear it, the slur. I said a few more things that became even more slurred and he said, well then you’re having a stroke. It was the most surreal experience I’ve ever had. It was almost as if I was looking at the scenario as a third person. I remember thinking, hmm maybe he’s right, I might be having a stroke. The rest of the morning is a blur, filled with the emergency room, a CT scan, and people talking to me too fast for me to process what they were saying. I had become unable to speak shortly after I arrived at the ER. I was given TPA, which is a clot-busting medication and transferred to the ICU. I was very lucky my son was home because I don’t know that I would have had the wherewithal to know what was happening or call someone for help if he wasn’t here. Now I get to spend the rest of my days listening to my youngest son tell me he saved my life inferring payback is warranted. I say that jokingly. It scared the crap out of him but it didn’t take long for him to start cracking stroke jokes after he realized I was going to be okay.

    When my wife and other children showed up I was not able to speak. I really did not want the kids there because I didn’t want them to be scared. It’s weird the things that you think of when something like that happens. I was more worried about them being worried than about myself. Anyway it’s been about 10 days now and I need to keep that in mind when I become impatient with myself. I am not a patient patient.

    I’m grateful that I still have 6 weeks before our big trip. I am worried about my abilities and I’m actually a little scared. We have so much on our agenda, New York for 3 days, Cartagena Colombia for 3 days, Santa Marta Colombia for 5 and then 7 days in the Riviera Maya, Mexico. This is where reminding myself that it’s only been 10 days and not to future trip would come in handy.

    Well; if I wasn’t already committed to retiring early and getting the hell out of Dodge, I would be now. My job, that I love, is extremely stressful. I went to work on Tuesday and didn’t say anything, I mostly just observed Court and by 3 in the afternoon I was exhausted. I run three businesses so easing back into work is almost a joke but I have excellent colleagues and co-workers that are making it as smooth as possible.

    I’m 43 years old. My sister died of a ruptured brain aneurysm at 47. I have another book to write (both literally and figuratively) and I’m not ready to go. I finally have everything in order. My kids are almost all adults and doing well, I have the woman of my dreams, and I have plans!! I am extremely grateful the universe extended my ticket with a reminder to be brave, you only die once.