Inquiring Minds Want to Know!

Who, What, Where, When and Why.... from the Wandering Berkmans!

It's time to say "Hasta luego!" to Tucson, our home in as much as any place has been our home these past years. On February 1, we're excited to leave for Mexico City to visit Zach for 7 weeks!  Don is sitting across from me, working hot and heavy on our Mexico itinerary, which will include a brief stay in Guadalajara.  We're all about the "trip within a trip"! 

The plan, Covid willing, is to then stay in Buenos Aires for 5 weeks and from there Santiago, Chile for another 5 weeks.  Does this reflect at all any of the planning we made way back when in 2017?  hahahaha not in the least.  But we walk merrily hand in hand with our buddy Flexibility.  

Before we get to the long-awaited question and answer portion of this blog edition, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the wonderful birthday visit we had from Ms. Patsy Tran, aka Pat, aka Ama, aka Don's Mom!  One of her requests-- to eat as much different ethnic food as possible, which we strived to do on a daily basis.  Korean, Japanese, Italian, Greek, Chinese-- Tucson had us covered.  Another request-- get her some sun!  And we did,  along with the Tucson Jazz Festival, the Tucson Jewish Film Festival (streaming), park visits, catching a tennis match at the University, lots of great talks and of course, the Zoom family birthday celebration. It was a visit to be remembered.  Happy happy birthday, Mom! 

And now, on to your questions! Admittedly, most of these came from one very inquisitive person- our very own sibling- from- another- mother David B.  He begins with the most hard-hitting question:

Which country has the best toilet paper? 

hahahah nice, David.  But important!  And we'd have to say..... the US!  Don is verrrrry particular about his choice of t.p. (and based on the t.p. run that took place in the US at the beginning of the pandemic, he's not the only American who feels that way).  It's Charmin and no other for DB.  Mr. Whipple has a superior product!

But(t), on our visit to Japan in 2015, who needed toilet paper with amazing Toto toilets that not only thoroughly wash and dry your nether regions , they warm up the seat for you and play music to drown out unwelcome sounds.  It takes taking a dump to a level unmatched!  Feast your eyes at all the many options for your elimination pleasure:

The best coffee? 

Italy, no surprise, has had the best coffee, hands down. And it's goodness is everywhere!  We toured an imposing fort from 1359, la Rocca Albornoziana,  that overlooks Spoleto. Amidst room after room of frescoes and fascinating history, they made sure to have a coffee machine for one to take a little break from wandering.  And the coffee was.... perfection.    

Runners up-- Spain and Mexico (our hotel had a coffee maker in the lobby with a brew so tasty we bought a 5 lb bag and held on to it tightly on the flight home like a precious baby.  Ok, maybe not like Lucy with the cheese but you get the idea.   

If you’ve seen one historic church, have you seen them all?

  

Depends on what you look for in a church.  This is kind of a sore subject for me (Monica) because the gilded churches in Spain, decorated with gold stolen from Mexico, really rub me the wrong way.   That said, we admired the tiny Chiesa di San Giovanni e Paolo in Spoleto from the 11 century that had little more than an altar but some amazing frescoes.   

Other photo-worthy churches include the 11th century church Elmelunde Kirke in Møn, Denmark, which showcases the work of a nameless 16th century artist over practically every surface, floor to ceiling.   Not an iota of gold in sight.  

And then, of course, there's this church/chapel in Athens, nestled within a newer (much newer!) building.  

So to answer your question, no!

Have you found any delicious food that you never knew existed? 

(Vegetarians, skip this part!) In Croatia, we were told we had to try cevapi. And once we tried this delectable meat-finger sandwich with ajvar, an out of this world red pepper relish, we knew we were in trouble.  We tried to limit ourselves during our 2 month stay but come on', man! We're only human! And here in Tucson, with only 1 week to go, Ron G sent us a link to a restaurant here... that serves cevapi!! We've planned an entire day around eating and digesting this culinary delight, and we're giddy with anticipation. (Update- we ordered the meal below but upon opening the boxes at the house found they hadn't given us the beloved ajvar! nooooooooooooooooo.  The cevapi just wasn't the same with it... I guess you can never go back!)

 

Runner up dishes, also from Croatia, would be the black risotto and the "frito soup" for Don.  So many choices! 

Which countries have the best desserts?

So we're not the best people to ask about dessert-- not really my thing and Don with his lactose deal can't really partake in too many traditional desserts but one that brought him to heaven and back when we were in Spoleto, Italy-- granita al pistacchio .  Not your grandmother's artificially flavored green ice-cream, this creamy nectar of the gods is more beige than green, just perfectly sweet with an unrivaled pure pistachio taste.  If you ever come across it, make your day, your week, your month and order it.  Or just make it yourself! 

Is there a place where the people are particularly happy? Is that annoying? 

hahahah that follow up is pure David.  At the risk of sounding repetitive, those Italians really know how to live.  There was a nice amount of hanging around in bistros, chatting it up with everyone who passed, just enjoying life.  And we were happy to chat along with them, especially when a convo with the waiter led to some freebee snacks with our drinks or suggestions of great places to see.  And that's never annoying.  We're happy to get caught up in that "life is good" vibe!

Runner up-- we met some very happy people in Athens.  One meal in particular was at a taverna filled with Greek high school students on a school trip.  When they began to dance to the live music and invited me to join in, how could I say no?  We asked the teacher chaperones about the kids drinking wine with their meal-- they said they trust the kids wouldn't abuse it.  They felt that by treating them as adults, the kids would rise to the occasion and act like adults.  As a kid, that would make me feel happy.  Here I am showing those youngins my best moves.  

 

Do you ever cheat on the one large bag / one small bag rule? 

Guilty, guilty, guilty!  To say otherwise, our kid Julia will call us out on this.  When we left New Mexico together in November, their under 50 lb bag became our depository for all those little extra things we couldn't part with.  And, of course, who could forget when we first left for our world adventure back in 2020, so proud to have packed  everything in just 4 cases between us, when we checked in and found our big bags were together 20 lbs over the limit.  So naive, so nubile we were.  We ended up buying a duffle bag for all these extra pounds and paid the $100 extra bag fee instead of the $200 over weight fee.  No bag needed for our tails between our legs.  We've since bought a hand scale to make sure each bag is under 50 lbs.  And as we leave Tucson, our dear friends Sylvia and Jim have graciously carved a nook out of their garage for one box filled with winter clothes we hopefully won't need for another 10 months! 

Would I fit in an additional large bag? Only if we cut your legs off.

Our friend from Italy and Colorado Andy C. asks - any regrets?

 

We absolutely miss seeing the family and the kids on a more frequent basis. And friends!   Other than that, nope!  Ok, maybe that we didn't buy the hand scale sooner (see above).

Sibling Laura V is planning a similar overseas adventure and asks about SIM cards-

We have friends that change the SIM card in their phone every time they change countries.  The problem with that is that your phone number then changes every time you change SIM cards-- a real pain when keeping in touch with people and on websites where your phone # is used.  Don did a ton of research on this and ultimately found that TMobile is our best bet-- we keep our phone # and we have calling and data overseas (although there is a limit). 

Many great questions from friend Carrie K:

 

What do you do for a mailing address?

We use a mail forwarding service and have most of our bills on digital only.  If anything arrives at the forwarding service, they scan it for us and give us options to have it mailed to us, etc.

As for our permanent address, we use my brother (in laws) home in NM and we have licenses from NM now.  Thanks, BB and Kris, for being our alternate mail forwarding service! 

What do you do for medical insurance?

It’s not cheap but we pay for private insurance with GeoBlue until we can get Medicare.  During a global pandemic, we don't want to mess around.  Insurance even includes evacuation coverage (yeow!)

How long are you going to travel? 

We have a 10 year plan-- this could be cut short depending on our health or if we get a grandchild.   (hahaha no pressure, kids.  We still have a few travel years left in us!)

 

What happens if you run out of money?

D'OH! Then any of you can expect a knock on your door!  Alternately, we'll start charging a $10 a month subscription fee for our blog-- look at the deal you're getting now!  

To avoid this, we’ve been working with a financial planner for a while and have a budget we follow.  There's more information regarding that on our website liveabroadreviews.com (shameless plug).  

Some suggestions for planning-- 

Don't forget your neighborhood travel agent 

You don't pay them, they're paid by the airline, cruise company, hotel.  We use them when we have a complicated trip with many legs of travel, like when we went  to Peru and Machu Picchu.  If there's a problem with a connection or a tour, travel agents a great resource to help out.  And sometimes you can get a package deal on hotel and airfare.

Consider independent in-country advisors 

Don usually plans all but with our 4th visit to CDMX he thought to use a local advisor to get some suggestions he may not have considered.  And it's turned out to be a terrific resource!  You pay for this service but it's been worth it for this leg of the trip.

Ok that's it!  Off to pack up, purge excess items, cram the suitcases closed and head out soon.  ¡Hasta la proxima! 

Be well, take care, mask up and thanks as always for following along!

Don and Monica

He/His. She/Hers