The first bit of excitement was a layover in Iceland, and watching the sun out the window, never setting, just hovering above the horizon for the time I watched it, intrigued the hell out of me. The layover was short, and not long after we departed for Amsterdam, which was stop number one. I was invited to speak at an event there, followed by another in Prague, then Warsaw, and had a large time gap in between. A client in Ireland asked me if I had time to check out a new manufacturing facility they were considering, so of course I said yes! They paid my way there, put me up in a nice room in Dublin, and from there we drove up to the northern coast of Ireland–Donegal–my first time being driven on the left side of the road. The one thing that I really wanted to see in Ireland was the green hillsides they are known for, and I got my share over that 290 km drive.

Watching young people travel so effortlessly from country to country, navigating borders, public transportation, and dealing with money, truly inspired me since I was overwhelmed much of the time.

And I said to myself,

and that is where the seed was planted which eventually turned into my website and platform, Travel Younger.

I had no idea that trip would change my life to the degree that it has, but when I returned I had lunch with a fellow writer (a millennial …) who was continually on the road, and asked her how she did it on such a meager budget. With her suggestions, and my realization that I truly WAS location independent and had no reason to live in California, or the United States for that matter, my life changed, and as they say, the rest is history.

We don’t always know what events or people will change our lives, but it’s important that we keep an open mind and heart to all of them.

We’ve been back in Da Nang for about a month, and though bloggers, vloggers and media are both touting it and doubting it, after being gone for 2 years, it still works. We heard a lot of people complaining about the construction, and that is absolutely happening. And yes, prices have gone up as well, but we moved back into the apartment we left 2 years ago and even though we’re paying about $150 more, it’s still a value, especially since they added a kitchen to the unit. We have been planning to return here pretty much since we left Vietnam 22 months ago, and our intention/plan is to stay for the foreseeable future. The visa runs are not a problem since it gives us a chance to go somewhere new (like Japan recently, Sri Lanka in August). There is no doubt we are slowing down a bit after 7+ years of nomadic travel, and this place—Da Nang– is one of the three places that we truly love and plan on making our semi-regular or semi-permanent home. As my token brother has said before, “We don’t live anywhere but we belong everywhere.”

Some of the rants we’ve heard and continue to hear:

> Construction: yup, it’s everywhere, including to the left of our unit as well as the right! The vacant lot that was there 2 years ago on one side is now a single story café (yay!), and on the other side is a tall apartment about 80% complete. Yes, they DO make noise, and it does seem that there is construction on almost every street.

> More tourists: oh yea, lots more. The Walking Streets are quite busy, as is the beach and the beach promenade. But that is true in almost every desirable city in the world. It will get busy, the buildings will grow to accommodate it, and hopefully the infrastructure will, too.

> Careless motorbike riders: How controversial is THIS topic! Tourists without helmets, even shoes! Rude riders (of all persuasions), and car drivers who don’t pay attention. As a bike rider for half a century I can state with certainty that this is NOT THE PLACE to learn how to ride!! You must ride like a local in order to fit in and stay safe.

> Too many… Russians! Koreans! Japanese! Westerners! You name it, people will say there are too many of “them.” Truth is, Russians are less than 5% of visitors, and the Japanese influence is more deep rooted, and they have a significant business presence. The Westerners, including Americans, Brits, and Aussie presence IS significant, especially in the An Thuong party and beer areas. Is it just cheap beer that brings them?? But the largest group, by far, is South Koreans, who look at Da Nang as being the “Seoul of Vietnam.” Generally (but not always) they have more money and stay at nicer resorts and do more high end tours. You’ll see more and more Korean eateries in the years to come.

Nothing in life is perfect, and no PLACE is either. You take the good with the bad, but even the worst part of Da Nang and Vietnam is probably better than where you left

The first thing that came to mind as Kathleen and I pulled into Hanoi was, “OMG, this reminds me so much of Ho Chi Minh City/ Saigon.” Busy and crowded and chaotic, and as we sought out our room in the Old Town/ French quarter, we kind of questioned our decision to come here in the first place. Accessing the building was a bit crazy, and thank God for hosts who put pictures in with explanations of exactly where to go because if we had to read it verbally, we would have spent so much more time in frustration… The alley zigged and zagged through different buildings and past open kitchens and bedrooms, with people actually preparing their meals outside IN our alley. Weird. And how they could squeeze THAT MUCH density into such a small space is a miracle. And dangerous.

We got to the room, it was quite small, as we expected, especially the bathroom with, of course, a shower that intrudes upon the toilet (which I hate, but endure), but that is status quo for a lot of smaller places. We checked out some coffee shops for Kat to work, found some good places to eat, and when we got back to our room, we acknowledged that MAYBE Hanoi was not as bad as those first impressions. We learned this lesson many times in the past, but it’s easy to fall back on bad habits.

Our first evening walking around was like bedlam, as is typical for every large Vietnamese town, but in the morning it was much more relaxed. Busy, but not crazy, and not as many shops open as I would have expected, and I have found out for ME, particularly, that once I settle into a neighborhood it becomes like putting on comfortable shoes, and I embrace it.

Since this is our fourth visit to Vietnam and I’ve seen quite a bit of it, there are some things that I don’t appreciate as much as others, and someI do.

Hanoi has lots of “beer craft shops” within any given block, but truly I am not a beer drinker and certainly not a connoisseur. And of course Vietnam overall is well known for their many varieties of coffee, ie, egg, salt, avocado, but the only one I truly, truly love is my coconut coffee, which is a Vietnam staple, and of course my traditional cappuccino.

And take hamburgers, which many places spiff up and create concoctions you can’t even bite into, but as for me, give me a simple Old Burger, pure and unfettered, with ketchup, onion, and relish. Don’t need the mushrooms, nor bacon, but cheese is always appreciated!

The point is you don’t need to embrace EVERY feature that every country offers—but we WILL embrace the massages in Bali!—and you don’t need to visit every attraction within the area. As Travelers and not Tourists, we live a basic, simple, day-to-day life in different locations. But that’s perfectly fine with us.

By the time we left Hanoi after five days we pretty much (?) had a handle on things, but concluded that there may not be enough to entice us back again. Kathleen had a particularly difficult time with the cars, bikes, and merchants crowding the small streets, plus the constant noise, and the dinginess and foul odors of some areas, which was worse than many places we lived.

(Photos courtesy of Kathleen Plumley}