We're halfway there!

Hey fam. I know, I know its been a while since our last post. But we have been super busy! For Egypt and Turkey we went into full guided tour mode with some fun guests joining us along the way. While amazing, it was not as conducive for blog writing or photo editing. We will catch up with the new countries in future posts soon, but for now enjoy this one that's a little bit different 😉- S&A

Its been 6 months since we started this journey and I thought it would be good to do a midpoint check in. I could do this just for myself but I figured this would be interesting to share with anyone who actually has been following this blog up to this point. The few times I have journal-ed (that's male for diary-ed) I actually enjoy the self Q&A format so I'll stick to that here.

So how's it going overall?

Overall, great. No complaints. Well, no real complaints 😁. Every day I am still excited to explore new places, and look forward to new destinations. With few exceptions, I have really enjoyed everywhere we have been - even if it was totally different from what I expected. Trying to appreciate places for what they are and finding the joy in that has been something I have been trying to do. Su and I are doing great, neither one of us has threatened bodily harm yet. This much time together could drive the best people crazy but we've really been enjoying the journey together.

How has it been living out of a suitcase?

Living out of a suitcase is not so bad and actually gets easier the more you do it!

• I pack the same suitcase the same way each time so the stressful parts of packing (what to pack, how to pack) are mostly gone. An added bonus is if I leave something behind I will often be able to tell if anything big is missing. At this point, I can go from completely unpacked to packed in less than 30 min! ⏱️

• I don’t get too tired wearing the same clothes every day. Though I have swapped an item or two out here or there for something bought locally if they get too worn out. More common is to leave behind things that we didn't use as much for the amount of space they took (e.g. raincoat for me, travel pillow for Su)

• As little as we brought, I think we could get away bringing even less. We actually end up doing laundry every 5-6 days anyways so it’s been a rare occurrence that we've come right up to the edge of having to wear our underwear inside out 🩲

• The main thing that bulks up the space are the special needs items - hiking clothes and boots 🥾, an extra warm layer for when its randomly colder than you think, adapters only used in a certain country, etc. We go back and forth all the time on whether to keep these or ditch them.

My natural instinct to want to do more with less has gotten stronger. Seeing how to be happy with just what I can carry is liberating in a way that makes me slightly dread coming back to normal life and all the "stuff" we need to reaccumulate.

What has been surprising or unexpected?

My reading list - not so diverse

Probably the amount of time we spend travel planning 🗺️.  I didn't envision it to be so time consuming but it really is! Perhaps people who are not optimizers or who are super easy going would not spend as much time as we do. But of course we have to plot the best route, stay at the coolest places and eat the best food all for the best price 😅. This means we spend lots of time on blogs, reddit and even in books trying to piece together the best itinerary. We have learnt the hard way to recognize when good is good enough but I would say we still spend too much time on this. Hopefully we will test out new ways to be more 'go with the flow' in Europe.

The other thing I didn't expect to take as much time but somehow does is 'life stuff'. Take meal planning -  whether that be finding a decent restaurant or stocking a kitchen, in each location we are starting from scratch. Or even working out - finding space, ideally a local gym just takes time to nail down. We never spent this much time on these things at home because it usually only needed to be figured out once.

The last thing which has been surprising is that I haven't done as much reading as I would have liked. Mostly because a lot of my time goes towards the above two items and a bit of blogging. We watch much less TV now - which is good? Who knows. I miss TV though 📺

It seems like everything I listed as surprising is negative but maybe that’s because I envisioned most of the good things about this trip already 😊.

What has been the most enjoyable part of the experience so far?

Just being in different cultures and interacting with locals is my favorite thing to do. I never lose a chance to chit chat with an uber driver, waiter or guide. Sometimes we are lucky to chat with fellow travelers from different places or local connections we have made through friends/family. Everyone has been so friendly but its been interesting to see how different life can be in different places.

Do you think you've changed or grown as a person?

I think so? Honestly I am not good at seeing change in myself in such a short time frame.

One thing I notice is that the longer I am away from America, the more American I feel. Away from the US, the things uniquely American about me - how I think, the media I consume, some of my values - come into sharper focus. These make me feel more connected to the US in a way I don't often appreciate while I am in the US (where I often feel more Indian or foreign). I also realized how lucky I am compared to so many others to have the opportunity to live in the US. We encounter so many folks on our travels who are either actively trying to move to the US or aspire to move there some day.

A quick example: One of the nicest people we met was Salah who operates a cab service in Jordan. Salah is a middle aged man who wears his heart on his sleeve. He sends me heart stickers on Whatsapp along with his ETA and brings Su sweets to welcome her into Jordan.

Salah has worked in the tourism industry his whole life often as a hotel manager since he speaks 3 different languages. He moved his family to the US in the 2010s but he had to move back in 2017 since his visa could not be renewed. Instead of taking his family with him he left behind his wife and 5 children in the US so that his kids "could have better opportunities inshallah 🤲🏽". The US denied his visa 4 times in the last 7 years but finally his oldest son is able to sponsor his green card. His son who he left behind in middle school graduated high school and is married - but he missed all those milestone events. He hasn't seen his family in 7 years and the US govt has been so callous to him but he still has only good things to say about the US. He talks glowingly about how well his children are doing and how excited he is to move to Kansas City. I opined that Jordan was a beautiful place, fairly well developed and maybe life here is pretty good. Did he wish his family was with him in Jordan so he could see them grow up? Salah dismissed this outright. He still loves Jordan  but he is crystal clear that in spite of all the time apart, the US was better for his kids' future.

As flawed as the US is for so many of us who live there, the American dream is alive and well in the rest of the world. 🗽

So how's that wallet feeling?

We've kept to our desired plan of staying below what we were spending while we were living in SF. So far so good I guess. All those point hacks did come in handy.

Last one, give me a quick top 5 experiences

Not in rank order, but maybe sequential

• Speaking my broken japanese with locals and walking the streets of all the cities

• Spending time with extended family in India and navigating through Su's recuperation

• Kerala - backwaters and munnar, so much beauty in a small state

• Getting up and close with nature on Safari in Tanzania

• Driving through Drakensberg mountains in South Africa