It’s been a month full of “Firsts” here in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where the Jacaranda trees are in full bloom. Michael and I went up, up, and away on our first hot air balloon ride. We had our first San Miguel Senior Nomads Meet-up with 20 new friends. I began hosting a weekly "Leap Chat" about travel. We have plans to visit two new countries for the first time since the Pandemic began. And Michael scrubbed our trusty suitcases for the first time in almost nine years! 

When we are in San Miguel at our favorite house, a handful of brightly colored dirigibles drift overhead almost every morning - close enough that we can hear the WHOOOSH of the propane.  And every year we exclaim “we should do that!” and…we never do.

 This year, a delightful woman staying with our next-door neighbor really wanted to do it. Her host Joni did not, so she asked if we’d go along. Pretty please? That’s all it took. Martile is one of those women always on the go - and ready for anything. She’s also partial to Mezcal and cigars. Who could resist an invitation from a gal like that?

 The experience was truly magical. From the dawn lift-off to the spectacular, hour-long traverse across San Miguel, to the delicious post-flight breakfast at the Rosewood Hotel, you could not have wished for anything better. Even the accounting department (Michael) declared it an excellent Return On Investment!

 Since we arrived San Miguel in January, we’ve been contacted by a few blog followers passing through - and we were recognized on the street twice! So we've had lovely morning coffee or lunch with several nomads - and made some great new friends that live here semi-permanently.

ReAnn Scott, travel blogger extraordinaire and member of the Senior Nomad tribe, suggested we put out an invitation on the Senior Nomad Facebook Group Page to see if there were enough members in town for a larger Meet-Up. Two weeks later we were pleased to host 20 happy travelers at our favorite outdoor coffee spot at Fabrica Aurora called Geek & Co.

 And as you know from my last post, I was invited to host a weekly Leap Chat about travel. Over the years Michael and I have batted around the idea of creating a webinar or some other How-to-be-a-Senior Nomad instructional platform - and then we remind ourselves we are retired and that sounded a lot like work!

 When the opportunity to host a bright and breezy 20-minute Zoom session around the joys of traveling came our way, that sounded more like fun! So, I decided to take the lead as host, and while I am not sharing much ‘wisdom’ I enjoy engaging people on a topic that is near and dear to my heart!

Leapchats.com is a start-up website where you can find short, interactive conversations on dozens of topics. After a host prompt, you enter breakout rooms with a few other curious folk and have a few minutes of pleasant, but meaningful interaction. My chat is called Let’s Talk Travel. Join me at 8:00 AM Pacific Time every Thursday.

 So far we’ve contemplated “If you’d just won the Mega-Millions Lottery”, “where is the first place you’d travel to, and how would you get there?” and “If you could travel with a famous person living or not, who would it be and where would you go?” Paris with Julia Child anyone? This past week we pondered “If the guests were paying, how would you show off your hometown over the weekend?” I know some of you tried to join my chat and it was full. Leap has opened up a few more spaces, so head to leapchats.com and maybe I’ll see you there. If mine is still full, try One Word, Ice Breakers, or The Best Thing - all great breaks in your day.

 We’ve also dug into travel planning for an upcoming two-week visit to Costa Rica followed by three weeks in Colombia - it feels so good to be researching countries we haven’t been to.

We’ve approached our visit to Costa Rica in a few different ways. From booking an all-inclusive tour to driving ourselves and staying in remote Airbnbs, to our final solution to hire a driving service to ferry us between a combination of Airbnbs and eco-lodges.

We reached our decision after watching more than enough YouTube posts about harrowing car rental scenarios, challenging driving conditions, crazy Costa Rican drivers, and a notorious disregard for addresses. We confirmed all that with some "on the ground" research and in the end, we are happy to leave the driving to Danny, a popular local guide and owner of Costa Rica Driver. 

 Colombia was easier. Three major cities with short flights in between will give us a nice “highlights” tour. We’ll spend a week in Cartagena, a week in Medellin, and ten days in Bogata. Now, I know people have mixed feelings about Bogata, but we found two great Airbnbs and look forward to ending this two-country excursion with a few some big-city-chill-time.

 From Colombia, we will head back to San Miguel for a month before heading north, with a stop in Hermosa Beach, CA to see our LAX family, and then on to Seattle for six weeks. Normally, we would have carried on to Europe to see Mary and family in France and check off those final three “Stans” but our French family will be house-sitting in Seattle for part of June and most of July, and we have a grandson (not the first) arriving at the end of June, so the pull to return “home” was too strong. We will head to Europe in August in time for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (another first) where our dear friend and playwright Duane Kelly has two plays being performed!

 To get ready for this flurry of travel Michael decided it was well past time to scrub our trusty rolling duffle bags. It was their first bath since we bought them at REI in July of 2013! I wish REI still made this piece of indestructible luggage. They have seen it all and we’ve only had to replace a buckle!

And, while this final "first” is not about us or our travels, we are proud to share the news that our eldest daughter Kelly has become the first Special Olympics athlete to be elected as a Board Chair in the history of Special Olympics of Washington, and only the second athlete in the history of the entire global organization to hold this position. She is an amazing woman and we are blessed to be her parents.

I hope you are dusting off your traveling shoes, making some bold plans, and embracing the Summer of 2022 - even though the world’s challenges can seem overwhelming. Turn off the news and create your own stories instead. Maybe even try something for the first time!

Thanks for following along,

Debbie and Michael Campbell

The Senior Nomads