Traveling low to the ground is our style of getting around. We’re not big on throwing money into all inclusive resorts, hate being told what to do and enjoy meeting the “real people” at our chosen destinations.
It’s all about discovering things for ourselves and jumping into the culture at hand. No set plans.
It also costs a lot less, and we’re all about saving money where ever we can. Every little bit helps add to what we have to spend on our adventures.
We love to be afoot, seeing everything from ground level. You’d be surprised at how much you miss whizzing by at 60 miles an hour (though we have found that the best way to find out about a place is from a good taxi driver–the true ambassadors of the world–and the snarkier they are the more we love ’em!).
Street food, weird shop owners and cheesy tourist diversions are all more enjoyable when you discover them for yourself. We’d have a lot less to write about if we woke up in a gated resort with nothing more to think about than the planned menu and whether we’re going to play golf or join twenty other tourists on a day trip.
We’ve learned the “international sign language” that gets us through much of the tasks at hand. This sometimes involves some innovative on-the-fly signing.
Imaging poor David in the Italian pharmacy trying to get the point across to the stunned man behind the counter that his lovely wife is all clogged up and in the need of an enema. Hilarious fun. Or the night in a bar in Spain “discussing” American politics via cocktail napkins and crazy arm flapping. What great memories (really!).
Sometimes renting a car and pointing it in a general direction is a great way to go.
We spent a week in France in some wonderful places we would have never found in a guidebook, stayed in a room in a Medieval castle, watched pastry eating “tough guys” in Bordeaux and ordered the special at a cafe in a quaint little seaside town.
Our waiter at the cafe actually went to his home and returned with an encyclopedia to show us a picture of a ray so we would know what it was we were eating. Who says the French are unfriendly?
Our goal as Gypsy Nesters is to try new things, see as much of the world as possible, taking the time needed to truly fall in love with a place, gathering out-of-the-box memories as we go.
For us, this can only be accomplished low to the ground.
David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com
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Exactly! When we heard you on Rick Steves my husband and I both said, “We could do that… when we get tired of sailing.” We sold everything and moved aboard a sailboat, taking off in 2010 and spending 5 years cruising. We and the boat are back in the U.S., where we are working on her and the cruising kitty and plan our next cruise. We live low to the ground, too, for all the same reasons. We just reach our destinations at sea level. If you are looking for a new place to explore, we can recommend the Azores.
Hi Barbara. We seriously considered taking off in a boat when we left St. Croix back in 2008, but stayed land based (for now). Still think about it a lot though. Azores are definitely on our list. Safe travels.