Mexico to the Letter

We had a rough take-off from Seattle on our journey to Mexico. I know we've all had airline fiascoes, but to be honest, in over two and a half years we've rarely had a problem with an airline or an airport. But this incident could have been a game changer. Luckily, there was a happy landing.

Early in December Michael booked our flight to Mexico and we found three perfect Airbnbs for our destinations there. We were all set, so we turned our attention to enjoying the holidays in the Pacific Northwest.

We enjoyed time in Seattle, Portland and Sun Valley while we were home in December.

We didn't think much further about our upcoming trip until Michael logged on to confirm our flights. He noticed that he had left the letter "p" out of my last name when he made the reservations, so he reached out to Expedia, where he had purchased the tickets, to make the correction. Here is their response "certainly, we can help you with that, however there is a change fee of $192." For a keystroke? It wasn't like we were changing our itinerary! They took a firm position that it was the airline that was charging the fee, and they were merely passing it on.

Possibly the representative from Expedia.

We decided if that was the case, we'd be our most charming selves when we got to the airport and see if Alaska Airlines would make this simple change on the spot. And at that point, we weren't even sure it was a problem - it was just a "p". At the airport we found out it was more than a problem - it was a "you can't fly internationally if the name on the reservation doesn't match your passport" sort of problem. A start-over situation looked imminent.

It's never fun to be behind the passengers with a problem!

We were a two hours early so we were confident it would all work out.  Fate delivered us to the check-in counter served by Kristi, whom we now call "Kristi the Super Agent". At first, she thought she would able to make the change, but her system would not allow it. Then whatever supervisor she was on hold with for ten minutes said absolutely not - Expedia issued the tickets and they would have to take care of it. By now, Kristi had heard the Senior Nomad story and she was not going to let the side down. She called Expedia herself. As many of us know, trying to speak to a human being at Expedia or Amazon, or any other online merchant is like trying to find a distant galaxy without a telescope. But she persevered. The warm body she finally found needed to speak to her own supervisor and that took another hour on hold, only to find out since we'd already technically checked in they could no longer help. Kristi continued to furiously tap away at her computer looking for solutions. She was still getting stonewalled from her side and Delta - our carrier from LAX to Mexico city wouldn't help either. I was standing to one side like excess baggage, but one thing being a Nomad has taught us is patience. Patience and flexibility. 

This isn't Kristi, but a good stand-in.

Kristi spend over two hours with us, and in the end, for miraculous reasons only God can explain she was finally given the go ahead to make the change. A keystroke or two later all was right with the world. Meanwhile we had missed our first flight to Los Angeles so she booked us on the next flight that would still allow us a short window to make our Delta connection at LAX. At security my boarding pass wouldn't scan. So we had to run back to Kristi and get a new one - she gave me TSA pre-check status on that one! You can be sure we sent a glowing recommendation to her boss.

At least Sea-Tac is a nice place to spend time.

Onward Senior Nomads! Until we got to the gate and found our flight was delayed for two hours because our pilots were flying into Seattle on another delayed flight. Meanwhile our bags were potentially on their merry way to Mexico - lucky bags.

In the end we took the delayed flight, spend a very short night at a hotel near the LAX airport (courtesy of Alaska because the delay was their fault) and then flew on to Mexico City the next morning. By a second miracle, our bags tagged along on the same flight.

Checking in at the Sheraton LAX at 1:00 am with our carry-on bags the clothes on our backs.

The irony of this story is that the only real travel challenges we've had in two and half years have been in customs in Seattle. Coming home I've been stopped three times - once going through immigration. And twice in the customs hall. The challenge in immigration was, according to a dour-faced agent, that I no longer looked like my 8 year old passport photo. True - my hair is longer and a foxy silver blond, and I have lost 25 pounds by walking at least 10,000 steps a day along with clean living, but that had never happened in the other 45 other countries we visited. That added almost an hour spent in a small room waiting for additional dour-faced officials to decide that yes, I was Debbie Campbell with a "p" in the right place. The second time I forgot I had oranges in my carry-on. My mistake, but it sidelined us to the agriculture line for people-who-should-know-better. Another lost hour. And this last time, we were automatically sent to that same line, because maybe I hadn't learned my lesson. I had no oranges, meat, cheese or tropical birds in my bags so we were set free in our own city! Welcome home.

This is my new passport photo.

We arrived in Mexico City a little on the frazzled side - but that was a perfect match to the city itself. As our taxi from the airport crawled along in freeway traffic and then onto tight, crowded streets filled with ramshackle food stands, double parked cars, and swarming pedestrians, we were growing nervous about our first Airbnb choice. Our good fortune returned however, and after a few more turns we were in the clear. Our new home for that first week was in the trendy Roma/Condesa neighborhood. Here's the link: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/5955186. It was a quiet, comfortable oasis from the busy streets outside our door, and our hosts were a delightful young couple (and baby Bruno) who gave us great tips and helped us many times as we found our feet.

The view of Mexico City from the roof deck of our building.

Since then we've been to the captivating city of San Miguel de Allende for a ten day stay and have just arrived back in Mexico City for a week. I will catch you up on all our Mexican adventures next time. Adios!

Thanks for following along. You can find us on facebook at Senior Nomads and follow us on instagram @seniornomads.

Debbie and Michael
The Senior Nomads

Senior Nomads 2016

Happy to be home in Seattle for the holidays before starting Senior Nomads 2016

The Senior Nomads are on the road! After spending Thanksgiving with our French family in Paris and six weeks at home in Seattle for the Christmas holidays, we charted a course for another round of our adventures. Well, a partial course. We started in Mexico City on January 5th where we worshiped the Sun God and did some fabulous food grazing. Our young hosts, Alberto and Daphne (and one year old son Bruno) welcomed us to their city. Here's a link to that airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/5955186 Currently we are four hours north in San Miguel de Allende for the next ten days: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/6569224 Then we head back to Mexico City for a week before a much anticipated visit to Cuba for three weeks! That gets us through February.

After that we are not sure where the March winds will blow us, but we are excited about the possibility of connecting with the Junior Nomads - that would be our son Alistair and his family, somewhere in South America as they continue their world tour.

The  Junior Nomads in Cambodia. They are currently in Thailand as they continue the #campbellamble.

Last summer we took the last step to becoming true Nomads and sold our home. It was odd to be in Seattle knowing that we could no longer open our own front door - but it also gave us even more freedom to continue our travels. During our stay our generous friends the Robinsons took us in, so we were well looked after and enjoyed a festive few weeks at home.

A perfect winter's day walking around Seattle's beloved Greenlake.

One of the reasons we embarked on this journey 2 1/2 years ago was some uncertainty around what our retirement would look like. We have a nest egg - not ostrich egg size, but not sparrow sized either. So the questions that we, like so many of our friends were facing, centered when to retire, and when we did so, how to make that nest egg last. And of course there were so many scenarios to consider. Did we want to continue living in Seattle? Or should we move to Portland or Paris to be closer to grandchildren? We both love to work, and thought we might be able to find a way to add to the retirement funds - we just weren't sure how to combine that with the freedom that retirement supposedly brings. One thing was certain - we had least one more adventure is us, and we weren't ready for rocking chairs.

Many of our followers know our story, but for those that don't, three years ago when we were contemplating our options, our daughter Mary, who lives in France with her French husband and three young children suggested we travel full time - especially in Europe. I am certain there was an ulterior motive there - but it got us thinking! She also asked if we had heard of Airbnb. We had not. Once we started to explore the possibilities of full-time travel staying in Airbnbs we discovered we could actually afford to give it a try! Four months later we booked tickets to Paris in left Seattle in July with a goal of traveling for six months.

We rented our house and filled a small storage unit with whatever we didn't sell or give-away. We sold our sailboat and we keep one car at my brother's house. The rest of our worldly goods fit inside two large suitcases, two day-packs and a generous purse. So wherever we end up after our travels, there won't be much to move!
 

Our storage unit. You never know when you might need a metal horse and your Pantone color guides!

We keep a daily journal and today is day #917 since we left Seattle. I guess we took Mary's suggestion to the extreme. Since we booked those first tickets in 2013 we've visited 46 countries, 129 cities and are currently in our 87th Airbnb home - and we are staying fairly close to what our budget would have been had we retired somewhere in the Northwest. Close enough to keep going.

We have filled 10 journals with our daily activities and spending since we left.

Now, instead of opening just one front door, we've opened 87. Instead of retiring in our own home, we live our daily lives in other peoples homes around the world. It's been the most gratifying experience you could ever imagine. Each new home we temporarily call our own home gives us first hand experiences of living like locals. We shop, we cook, we sleep-in, we do chores, we work and we learn everyday.

A recent front door in San Francisco opened one of our favorite Airbnbs.

At this point, we envision continuing our nomadic lifestyle until we run out of money, stop having fun, stop learning, have serious health issues or fall out of love.  Here is a story that ran last spring in The Seattle Times about the Senior Nomads: http://www.seattletimes.com/life/travel/seattle-couples-retirement-29-countries-46-airbnb-apartments/ 

 Mexico has been a great start to a new season of travel. Part of what makes this work for us is to stretch ourselves to embrace the local culture. We are not on vacation, we are just living our lives in other peoples homes in other neighborhoods.  I know we were seeing things that most tourists would miss. I will tell you more about our Mexican experiences in my next post.

Still in love, but not this thin in Mexico City!

Thank you for following along. For more frequent updates follow us on Facebook at Senior Nomads. Happy New Year!

Debbie and Michael Campbell
The Senior Nomads

Normandy Express

NOTE: This blog is going back to last August as we were nearing the finish of Senior Nomads Round II. Many things have happened since then - some I have written about, but I didn't want this important part of our journey to go undocumented!

After our family gathering in Brittany last August, Michael and I had an additional week to spend with our 35 year old daughter Kelly. We had nostalgic visions of a pleasant family road trip along the coast of France to visit the World War II sites.  Memory has a way of blurring the bad bits, and if we all admit it, there were really very few pleasant family road trips.  Oh, there might have been moments where everyone was playing "Slug Bug" or telling fart jokes, or sleeping (not the driver of course), but road trips with our young children were taken well ahead of minivans with movies or the current device-for-every-child trend. Let's just say we went back in time 25 years and Michael snapped more than once "Listen you two" (that would be Kelly and I) "If I have to pull over you won't like the consequences!"

The team! Kelly Chief Navigator,  me Snack Mom, and Dad the Driver.

Our plans included a drive along the coast to the medieval city of Dinan with a three night stay in a converted barn in the nearby village of Pleudihen sur Rance. That would be base camp for day trips to St. Malo and and St. Michele before making our way to Caen for two nights. From there we would explore the World War II memorials and D-Day beaches.

Finding our way on the small back roads proved challenging - but rewarding.

With Kelly and I both glued to our iPhones using separate GPS map programs  set to navigate the French countryside we hit the road.  Of course we had conflicting ideas on the perfect route, and that led to some "my way is better than your way" moments - but our trusty driver reached back to early parenting skills and got the job done despite our squabbling. For all future travel after day one we designated Kelly as the official navigator. My job was to provide snacks, enjoy the scenery and do my best to stay out of any negotiations around how to find a small farmhouse in the dark in the dense Normandy countryside. Ommmm. Here's a link to our farmhouse airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com.mt/users/show/10580871

My mistake was not stocking up on snacks and basics for our first night before leaving Quiberon Sunday morning. I knew better - I guess I just got flustered around three families heading in four directions and did they have snacks? A rookie mistake for  this Senior Nomad. In France, especially outside of big cities, large grocery stores are only open until 1:00 if at all, and restaurants and other shops are definitely closed. We had a hard time finding lunch on the road, but finally diverted into a very small village and thankfully found a bar serving sandwiches. And an an amazing 16th century cathederal. 

Our airbnb farmhouse was warm and comfortable.

Our rural retreat was cozy and it came with a friendly goat  pegged to a tether just outside our door. Our host kindly provided a bottle of local cider and breakfast fixings, and we dined on crepes for dinner at the only restaurant that was open in the tiny village. The place was packed of course, so that made for great atmosphere, and luckily the food was outstanding. All in all, a good day.

The lovely Kelly Anne taking a break from her navigating assignments.

Early the next morning I walked a mile into the village and bought proper travel snacks for the day's journey. We were headed to Dinan, but because our host suggested a side trip we discovered the picture-perfect village of Saint-Suliac. We would have missed this harbor-side village otherwise, and it was very special. It is rated as a Beau Village of France (a top honor for the most beautiful villages in the country) and the designation was well deserved.

It was a beautiful day in the popular village of Saint-Suliac.

After a full compliment of pastries (over and above car snacks) we were on to Dinan where we explored the castle and the winding narrow streets of the old town. The waddle and daub houses leaned precariously over the lanes and you could truly picture life here three hundred years ago. Luckily you didn't have to smell life 300 years ago since waste of every kind was tossed to the street with a shout of something like "incoming".  Instead you can buy expensive souvenirs and in our case, have ice cream for lunch.

Dinan showed off  beautiful buildings and ancient stone walls around every corner.

We taught Kelly our rules around Gelato. It can be breakfast, lunch or dinner!

The next day we headed to St. Malo. If you've read the popular book All the Light we Cannot See
you'll know a majority of the book takes place there. With every twist and turn within the city I could experience that amazing narrative. After a "back to reality" pizza lunch we headed to St. Michele - the iconic monastery that sits off shore and is it's own majestic city on a rock.

Leaving the shuttle for the civilized walk to the top of the monastery on St. Michele.

A peek at the sea from the ramparts around the monastery.

We witnessed pilgrims wading knee deep in the slurping sand to reach the island from shore (we chose the brand new bridge). Inside the gates we pushed through the gauntlet of tourist traps and souvenir shops. Once we broke free and wound up the many, many stairs to the monastery at the top we were rewarded with an amazing vista across miles of sand and sea. Unfortunately we had arrived too late to tour the monastery itself, but we'd had such a rewarding day with a minimum of car wars that we treated ourselves to another lovely crepe dinner.

A Rye flour crepe with a perfect farm fresh egg framed in the in the middle.

In anticipation of our visit to Omaha Beach, we re-watched the movie Saving Private Ryan. It had been many years since we'd seen it, and Kelly had never seen it. It was difficult to sits through the horrific opening scenes of the D-Day landings, but it set us up for the next two days.

Watching Saving Private Ryan was difficult - but a good set up for our D-Day excursions.

We arrived in Caen and found our Airbnb. It was nice, but nothing special, and Caen itself isn't really a destination city other than being home to the acclaimed World War II Memorial Museum. Our plan was to be sightseeing most of the time anyway, so we were set. We were fortunate to have great weather as well.

A 25 foot statue called "Unconditional Surrender" based on the famous kiss in Time Square on V-Day stands outside the World War II Memorial Museum in Caen.

Our first day was spent at the museum. This is not a place to see artifacts - it is dedicated to the history of the most violent and intensive conflict of the 20th Century and particularly World War II. The museum was officially opened on 6 June 1988 (the 44th anniversary of D day) by the French President Francois Mitterrand. The original building deals primarily with World War II, looking at the causes and course of the conflict. Well said Wikipedia. This was a perfect start to our journey.

Michael surrounded by some of the headstones overlooking Omaha Beach.

Standing on the actual soil and sand of the D-Day beaches and learning first hand of the events of those weeks during WWII is almost indescribable. I am so glad our travels brought us, and our daughter, to this hallowed ground.
The most fascinating story we heard detailed the allied ingenuity that built a man-made harbor in a matter of weeks on the shore at Arromanches out of derelict tankers and huge concrete slabs. This was one of the war's most strategic accomplishments in that men and materials could flow continuously onto French soil. Here's a link to a great article in Scientific American that explains it in detail:  http://tinyurl/qetzmft

Kelly and Michael outside the museum at Arromanches.

We were humbled by the sea of 9,387 white crosses punctuated with Stars of David at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer overlooking Omaha Beach. We had seen a lot that day, but Michael and I were compelled to bookmark our experience with a visit to the German Cemetery at La Cambre, about ten miles inland from the American burial grounds. It was a sharp contrast, but no less powerful. More than 21,000 soldiers are buried here - and while over 1 million visitors pay tribute to our soldiers - a small fraction of that visit this somber site. It was no less powerful and we left with heavy hearts for all the young men who's final resting place we visited that day.

The German Cemetery and Memorial was a good reminder that war is in fact, Hell.

It was time to head back to Paris - could we survive the car trip? We could, but our car could not.
For two days the check engine light had been glowing. On this last day it added the message, loosely translated, "get to a garage or risk implosion".

In the two and half years we have been on the move as Senior Nomads, we rarely move around behind the wheel. Our itineraries are built around staying in the center of each city and relying on public transportation to get us where we need to go. This road trip would be the only the third time we'd rented a car.  We rest our case.

We definitely didn't like the looks of this message!

We found the nearest Avis rental agency in Caen and they said we could probably make it to Paris. "Probably?" No thank you. So we switched to a new car - but not before the agency said we'd either need to find a gas station and fill our tank or pay double to have them fill it before we turned it in.  Wait. You want us to put gas in a car we are returning early because it is a potential death trap? Ah, the French.

Kelly saying goodbye to new friends in Paris.

We made it to Paris and Kelly did a great job of navigating the city streets and getting us to the rental return site. Not easy since it was down a narrow street with a sharp right down into the depths of a parking garage. There was not a soul in sight, just a few spaces marked Avis. We left the car and once above ground found the tiny office. We were happy and relieved to hand over the keys and get back on the trusty Parisian Metro!

We put Kelly on a plane back to Seattle the next day. It suddenly seemed very quiet without a constant stream of advice from our daughter as well as way too loud bouts of laughter; some tender moments; some scratchy moments and some very, very good times. Bless you Kelly.

Thanks for following along.

Debbie and Michael
The Senior Nomads

We are Safe in Paris

A black ribbon on the door of our nearest boulangerie.

Thank you to our readers who have been concerned about us. We are safe and so is our daughter and her family. This is such a sad day in Paris.

The Airbnb Open experience was so uplifting and our presentations went well - we even got a standing ovation from the big stage, so today's post was meant to be so different.

As the evening was wrapping up the 5,000 attendees were encouraged to go out and experience the real Paris. Explore a new neighborhood - meet up with new friends at a bar or over dinner. Who knew two hours later mayhem would be unleashed.

Please pray for the citizens of Paris and around the world who are suffering from violence and terror.

Thank you.

Debbie and Michael
The Senior Nomads