I agree! I enjoy travel days for the most part because it is the launching of something new and exciting. We have enjoyed bus travel in Mexico (similar to train travel in Europe). I’m currently honing my organization with my suitcase. I want to keep important items in the same place every time so I know where to find it. I’m trying to remember to have electronic travel documents and notes handy on my phone, too. Trying not to scramble. I am also trying to pre arrange pick ups for the morning we leave.
Good for you and Stan, Erin! Any tips you've gleaned along the way to share? We continue to tweak our clothes and the other things we carry. It's all a process and you are doing great. We use the notes feature of our iPhones, and that works great. We also use 1Password, which is a secure place to store our passport picture pages. Thanks for watching! -Judy
Thank you so much, BW! It's great to hear from you. I appreciate the compliment more than you know. My hair has been through a lot lately! I had a hairdresser in Poland that put highlights in that I didn't ask for and it's been rough going trying to get it healthy again! -Judy
We figured some things are automatic and obvious to some people, but at the same time not everyone is a veteran packer/traveler, so we hoped they could find something useful (especially since we have had to relearn and apply things that we already know!). And I can appreciate that when someone travels only once or twice a year it's hard or intimidating because it's almost like learning it new each time and can be daunting. But it does help if you can have an optimistic mindset! -Judy
Thanks so much for watching some of our older videos! We love travel days, but we can appreciate that not everyone does. Hopefully our tips make those days a little more bearable! -Judy
We are so glad to hear this, Joanne. Thank you for watching! Here's our full playlist about navigating life as full-time travelers on the chance that other videos might also be helpful in our series. -Judy Navigating Life as Full-time Travelers: ru-vid.com/group/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH
YES, we didn't either for the longest time. And some of the airport lounges are incredible! We had an amazing experience at a lounge in Japan and even Hanoi! Our daughter was at an airport that didn't have a lounge, but she received a $28 credit to use in the airport food court. I never would have known about this additional perk (that you can find when you check out the lounge situation on the Priority Plus app).-Judy
Great stuff! I would say that wherever you are or wherever you are going, having some knowledge of the options to get from one place to another is ideal. For instance, if you land at FCO and the tourist train to Termini isn't running, you might be able to take a bus to Ostia and take the local train to Termini. It's not always as easy as that, but knowing your options is beneficial.
Excellent point, Dan. We try to find those things out in advance, but it's great to have a backup plan if something doesn't go as expected on arrival. Thanks for watching! -Judy
Also agree on having a capsule wardrobe and waiting to reach my goal weight before investing heavily in merino shirts. It was interesting to see the difference between how my partner with a single carry-on and a small backpack and her sisters with large checked bags traveled to Ireland for a 12 day trip last month. Hair dryers, curling irons, and clothes steamers take a lot of space apparently along with multiple pairs of shoes, a couple of dresses, and jackets.
Hi Tim, I understand your point. although I've been trying to get to my goal weight for a loong time. I've decided that I'm worth buying good clothes that fit my body today. Your mileage may be different 😎 We've updated our clothes and what we pack quite a bit, but I know we *still* carry too much. As full-time travelers, we have made peace that we like to have a tiny bit of variety in our clothes. We've jettisoned a lot of the extras, and dumped/donated clothes regularly, but it is an ongoing process to curate what we carry. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie without going into too much detail I have lost around 100 pounds since January and keep changing sizes. Our next big trip is two weeks in Spain next April and by February I should be able to start rebuilding my wardrobe. Totally appreciate wanting some variety when you are doing this full-time.
That is seriously impressive! 👏 It's been such a work in progress these days for me, so congratulations to you. I know it starts in the kitchen, and that's been easier in some places than others. I also need to build some better routines. It seems there is never enough time in the day to do what we want to accomplish, but if it's enough of a priority, I know it can happen. -Judy
Have been enjoying your videos and reading Judy’s blog. Reading the blog is so enjoyable because you seem to capture the essence of a place and your experience without indulging in excessive detail. (Sorry my following story misses that mark) My husband and I were your age when we had our travel adventures and I am so glad I convinced him to travel then. We only had 10 years before he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Your tips are spot on and I might have missed this, but I always travel with some disposable gloves. About 20 years ago when we were staying in a B&B in Amsterdam in the Jordan we were taking a last walk around the neighborhood before catching the train to Schiphol, when hubby stepped in a huge fresh pile of dog poop. Then proceeded to wipe his shoes off on the doormat. Fortunately I was able to stop him before he went up the 3 flights of stairs to our room. I was so glad I had the gloves for clean up. The doormat was a lost cause and as we were leaving, I apologized to the B&B host and he said “Oh yes, I saw that (the pile) this morning.” 😒Anyway it took a lot of toilet paper and flushes to clean the shoes. The landlord probably thought we were disposing of illegal substances before going to the airport.
Thank you so much for reading my blog and for watching our channel, Araminta! I'm so sorry that your husband is dealing with Parkinson's. It can't be easy for anyone in your family, and does make the point of the health versus wealth issue we address in one of our recent videos. I don't mention disposable gloves in this video, but I do in our packing video. I use them for fountain pen ink situations, but your use for them is way more practical. But ugh. How absolutely annoying to have to deal with that! This is a great tip! Be well and thank you for taking the time to share your experience. -Judy
Good and useful advice for all travelers. P2 carries the CSR and agree that it is a great card for Priority Pass lounge access and I carry the Amex Platinum (P2 is an AU) which gives us Centurion Lounge access along with Delta SkyClubs. P2 also has the C1 Venture X and with that combination there is almost always a lounge option. Another benefit of these cards is no foreign transaction fees. Train travel nearly always trumps air for the reasons you mention. Between trains and high quality mass transit options options like bus and subway we rarely find ourselves using a taxi or Uber outside the USA. Snacks are huge for me since I try to focus on protein, and less-processed food and have learned that you cannot rely on the airport shops unless you really want a giant Toblerone. Nuts, hummus, and protein bars are compact, portable, and generally easy to find in local bodegas.
Excellent info, Tim! I didn't emphasize but should have how important it is to have a card without foreign transaction fees! Our daughter made that mistake on her first international trip many years ago and it was not a good situation. Thanks so much for watching! -Judy
Unfortunately I had to get rid of my water bottle after security at IST. They had another security checkpoint at the gate. They searched my carry on and threw out my water even after I told them I just bought it right outside the gate. Once you were in the gate area you couldn't leave even to use the restroom. That was traveling back to the U.S.
How frustrating, Becky! We plan to visit Turkey next year. Egypt had a second security checkpoint, but they didn't care about our water bottles (frankly, they didn't care about them at either security station). Thanks for watching and for sharing your experience. -Judy
Great tips! I'm generally not a fan of travel days but having routines really does make everything less stressful. I do a lot of the things you mentioned, but I also learned some new things as well. Thank you for that! One thing that I really hate as a retired person is the sound of an alarm in the morning. lol So I usually don't take early flights or trains if I can help it, especially when it's a short trip to the next destination. It gives me more time in the morning to get last minute things done and to be more relaxed. Also, since you usually have to wait until about 3 pm to check in to most AirBnBs (and some hotels), I don't like arriving in the late morning and having to wait around for several hours before you can check in. Taking a later flight helps with that issue. Anytime I start dreading the next travel day, I stop and remind myself that the only way to get to that next awesome destination is to travel there. Focusing on how nice it will be once I'm there helps me deal with the inconveniences. Thanks again for the great video!
Thanks so much for watching and for your great feedback! We don't like to leave too late in the day where we need to have everything ready and then have a bunch of hang time before needing to leave for the next destination, but I do hear you on the alarms bit! And you have a great attitude about travel days as well! We love it! -Judy
When you left the United States did you just have one way tickets? We have read some horror stories about not being able to get on a flight due to not having a return ticket back to the states? When we go we are not sure if it will be 3, 6 months or longer when we return, it depends what we like and where we go. Just wondering about the lesser talked about "onward travel" rule and if you both have had any problems? 😮😊 Thank you again for all your advice.
Hi Carolann, Our tickets when we first started traveling full time were round trip, but that should not matter. We've been back in the US twice and departed both of those times with only one-way tickets and haven't had any problem. I can't see why anyone would care. It's not uncommon to have multi-city travel or to have multiple one-way tickets. Our original departure was only supposed to be to test out working remotely for a month (November to late December) and then return back to our jobs. But shortly before we left, we decided to use the departure date as the beginning of our full-time travels. We spent a month in Italy and our return tickets ended up with a layover in LA and then returning back to San Francisco. We made a plan to meet up with my birth mother for a few days at Christmas near LA and skip the final leg of our trip back to San Francisco. So skiplagging, which we don't really recommend because some airlines don't like it, but for us in that instance it was a better option. We then visited two of our kids in Houston before departing to Athens, Greece (one way) and had no issue at all. We visited the US last October and booked a one-way flight to Japan without any problems, either. -Judy
☺️ thank you for the reply. I definitely don't expect you to get back all the time. You have so many viewers with other questions. You & your husband just have a kind, compassionate way you tell everything & have valuable insight information. Hopefully Singapore will be on your list to visit at some point & Malaysia! 😌🇲🇾 🇸🇬
@@owlscoffeecats We are working on an episode and have down time, so we respond more quickly on the days when we're closer to "home." But our viewers are important to us and for now our channel isn't so big that we have too many comments to get to them all. We don't take any of our followers for granted! We looked at both Singapore and Malaysia this year, but Singapore is very expensive, and we skipped Malaysia in favor of spending time in Hoi An and Taiwan. But we would love to see both countries at some point! -Judy
Question regarding transportation. Other than public transportation (trains and buses), in places where there’s less convenient trains/buses to use, do you find Uber/Lyft to be safe and reasonably reliable, or do you find official taxies to be better (if a bit more expensive)? Would love your advice on that.
Thanks for watching, Rebecca! We have preferred to use ground transportation that uses apps whenever possible. In Vienna we used both Bolt and Uber. We haven't found Lyft in too many places, but my understanding is that in Southeast Asia there is Grab. Personally, I like knowing how much a trip is going to cost before hopping in, especially because a regular taxi can scam you and you may have no way of knowing until it's too late. Also, we like to map the trip and see that our driver is taking the appropriate path. It's also another layer of safety that our trip has been documented through the app if there ever is any sort of issue. In order to take a taxi from the airport (the bus ended up not running as early as we arrived!), we needed to get a voucher from inside the airport that throttled what taxis could charge because they notoriously overcharge. This was put to the test when we tried to take a taxi to the hospital (we already were halfway there) and one taxi tried to charge us 3000 RSD (we skipped him), another did charge us 1500 RSD (we thought we were getting a deal), but when the hospital called a taxi to take us all the way home, it was only 700 RSD! Not every taxi driver is dishonest, but often they're going to charge what they think they can get. I hope this helps! -Judy
Wonderful info. Thanks so much! I didn’t know about Bolt and Grab. Will definitely check them out. I too like to know how much something will cost before I commit, and I like to know that we aren’t being scammed. :-)
