Year 1 Travel Plan – Adventures in Wishful Thinking

“Well, there’s no going back now.” Careers ended. House sold. Belongings sold. Financial accounts braced for impact. And most importantly, our flights are booked. Our travel plan is pretty much committed at this point. And we know what we are doing. Probably.

People are asking about what our travel plans are looking like, so now seems an ideal time to spell that out. The next year will be quite the ride, but Rhonda and I aren’t abroad quite yet. June and July will be spent making up for lost time with friends and family, and doing last-minute prepping for our travels beginning in August. And then things get very interesting.

So here is our plan, with the only true certainties being our plane ticket destinations, our final June and July in the USA, and the first two months in Guatemala:

June 2022 – Ohio, USA

• Visit Ohio to spend time with Rhonda’s family and our collective friends from our graduate school days.

July 2022 – Florida & Connecticut, USA

• Establish Florida residency, because no state tax on investments and affordable nationwide healthcare is a good thing.
• Visit Connecticut to spend time with my family and our New England friends.

August – October 2022 – Guatemala

• 1 Month in San Pedro la Laguna on Lake Atitlan – Attend Spanish language classes and homestay with a local family for language immersion goodness. The whole point of this year in Latin America is to immerse in the local culture as much as possible, so language skills will be key.
• 1 Month in San Pablo la Laguna on Lake Atitlan – Decompressing in our own 2-story bungalow with an epic view of Lake Atitlan. San Pablo is wonderfully devoid of expats, so we will really be getting the local experience here. But should we want something more touristy, San Marcos la Laguna is only a 20-minute walk away.
• 1 Month in Antigua Guatemala – Arguably the most beautiful Spanish colonial city in all of Latin America, and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Day trip hikes to local active volcanoes are absolutely part of the plan.

November 2022 – January 2023 – Peru

• 1 Month in Lima – The capital of Peru and considered by some to be the culinary capital of South America. It is loaded with museums, food, culture, food, festivals, art, food, and food. I may need a bigger belt.
• 1 Month in Cusco and the surrounding area – Macchu Picchu. Nazca Lines. The Sacred Valley. Fuzzy alpacas. Ancient Aliens. Nothing more really needs to be said.
• 1 Month in Arequipa – Another UNESCO World Heritage site polluted with art and culture, it will make a great base to explore southern Peru after exhausting our options within the city. Which may never happen.
• 1 Month in Taganga, Colombia – Due to the political protests in Peru, we had to bail on our Arequipa, Peru travel plan for the Caribbean coast of Taganga, Colombia. Not a bad plan B.

February – April 2023 – Ecuador

• 1 Month in Quito – The capital and cultural epicenter of Ecuador, we were here for a couple of days back in 2018. But this time we plan on exploring the city properly. We have a friend who lives here (a professional tour guide), so we are looking forward to seeing Quito from a local’s perspective.
• 1 Month in Baños de Agua Santa – The Ecuadorian gateway to the Amazon. Lots of outdoor opportunities here that are right up our alley.
• 1 Month in Cuenca – Yet another UNESCO World Heritage site, this city is extremely popular with expats so we’re here to see what all the hubbub is about.

May – July 2023 – Panama

• 1 Month in Pedasi – A sleepy Pacific beach community with an environmental conservation organization, Pro Eco Azuero, that we really like. We’re thinking of volunteering there for the month and helping out with conservation and research projects, as an homage to my previous career. And the rent is cheap for the area too.
• 1 Month in Boquete – An expat haven in the Panamanian highlands (read: cool temperatures with lush vegetation) is reputed to be heaven for hikers and naturalists. We’ll test that theory.
• 1 Month to be determined – We were going to go to Bocas del Toro, but the weather at this time of year is less than ideal. If we can’t find a location that is interesting to us, we may bail on Panama and head to Mexico! We’ll see…

So that is our travel plan for the near future! Honestly, everything post-Guatemala is fluid, and we won’t be committing to lodging more than a few months in advance of arriving in an area (except in special circumstances). There are good reasons for this, the main one being that if you rent for one month using AirBnB you can’t get your money back if plans change and you need to reschedule. This isn’t the case if you rent for only a few days. Strange but true.

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