Several years ago, I realized that I shared a behavior with many of the animals on our planet: migration. It was reassuring to know that my choice to regularly move around the world was not entirely without precedent. Unlike most animals that move between north and south, I chose to fly halfway around the world to the eastern hemisphere to mark my change or seasons. It wasn’t an easy trip this year.
The 16 hour flight to Singapore was made longer by a passenger who began hyperventilating as we headed toward the runway. After sitting inexplicably on the tarmac for 30 minutes, the pilot made the announcement that we would be heading back to the gate to let this passenger off. I couldn’t help but wonder what the Singaporeans on the flight thought of inconveniencing an entire plane for one passenger, something I can’t imagine happening in Asia.
What made the ordeal particularly frustrating is that the airline had spent 45 minutes prior to boarding offering a $1500 flight voucher to anyone who would give up their seat on the overbooked flight. Not only had this passenger failed to take the opportunity, but any stand-by passengers who’d been hoping to take the flight had already left the gate by the time the plane returned.
Our stint at the gate was compounded by the fact that baggage has to travel with the passenger, so we also had to wait while their luggage was located and removed. The pilot told us that we would need additional time while the plane was re-fuled because we’d burned through so much during our hold up. Two hours later, we were on our way. Fortunately for me, I had a six hour layover in Singapore, but I felt bad for anyone who had a closer connection.
Two days later, due to crossing the international date line, I made it to Bangkok. While here I’ll tend to things that had to be neglected during my summer tour season. Last year I connected with a new tour provider who hired me to direct two of her two-week Western National Parks tours. She combines what are normally two separate tours: the northern National Parks with the southwestern national parks. It creates a journey between the Great Plains to the Great Basin starting in Rapid City and ending in Las Vegas, her own version of migration.
Along the way we saw 9 national parks including Mount Rushmore, Devil’s Tower, Little Bighorn, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Bryce Canyon, Zion, and the Grand Canyon. That doesn’t include all the little adventures in between that Travels with Theresa prides herself on. In addition to providing me with a month of employment, she paid me enough that I didn’t have to work again for the year.
Now, don’t get me wrong; annual expenses for me are considerably lower than the average American. This is for two reasons: For one, when I’m on tour, all of my expenses are paid including food and lodging. Second, when I am not on tour, I live inexpensively.
Naturally I take as many tours as I can. I am on the road so much that I decided it didn’t make sense to own a home or rent an apartment so now I fill in gaps between my tours by house sitting, couch surfing or renting AirBnBs by the week. When tour season is over, I bolt, money in hand, for more affordable countries. I still find it cheaper to work half the year and vacation the other half than it would be to try to live in the US year round.
In addition to picking up a new tour company, I picked up a new tour this summer: Glacier National Park. It meant I had to do a little more research and preparation to lead a tour I’d not done before, but it was to a park I’d wanted to see, and it gave me a chance to add on a family visit. The tour started in Spokane and ended in C’ouer d’Alene, which is where my parents live. It turns out that my sister and her entire family were there that same week.
I spent the rest of the summer house sitting in the Seattle area and picked up several shifts with ShowMeSeattle. For this job, I drive people around on a 3 hour Seattle city tour in a 14 passenger van. Most are coming off a cruise and have a day to kill before their flight home. I pride myself on hearing at the end of many tours “wow, there is so much more to Seattle than I realized”, and many are talking about a return trip when I drop them at the airport.
The extra money I earned help get me through the summer, because while I made enough money on the National Park tours to get me through the winter in Asia, it wasn’t enough to get me through summer in the USA. Between tour driving and house sits, I managed to enjoy a comfortable summer. The downside is I didn’t get much time for my Portland friends, something I hope to correct next summer as it’s what I’m missing most right now.
The summer ended with a road trip with Joan to work at the Albuquerque balloon fiesta. We both flew to Moab to complete a couple of areas we’d missed on our National Parks tour with Theresa. Flying to Albuquerque during the fiesta week was so expensive that I’d convinced my boss to pay for a rental car instead, and we drove from Moab to Albuquerque.
We toured Arches, where Joan was impressed at how lovely the desert was when you hiked in the shade of narrow rock fins jutting above the desert floor. On our way out of town we stopped by another rock formation called Hole in the Rock. This is a 5000 square foot home that Albert and Gladys Christensen carved in the Navajo Sandstone in the 1940s. Today it serves as one of America’s top roadside attractions.
From Moab, we did a circuit of Natural Bridges National monument before descending the unusually precipitous Moki Dugway road and on to Monument valley. Joan had remarked to me once that she had never really seen the night sky filled with stars before, and I thought what better place than Monument Valley to do that. We spent two nights in the spacious trailers that are the newest addition to Goulding’s Lodge.
Our last stop on the way to Albuquerque was Sedona, which Joan wanted to see. I was pretty sure I’d been there, but I couldn’t remember much about it. When we arrived, I remembered why. Joan’s first comment is that she felt like she’d just arrived at an east coast beach town in the middle of the desert. There were salt water taffy places, christmas stores, and so many other out of place concessions there that we considered leaving immediately, however Joan really wanted to experience one of the fabled vortexes of Sedona.
In the end, the only vortex we experienced was the traffic vortex as we tried to navigate the traffic circles through town with hundreds of other tourists. The really sad thing is that, because of time constraints, we’d chosen Sedona over Chaco canyon. A decision we both regretted.
The balloon fiesta was delightful, and we co-led a two bus tour with 108 people. In addition to seeing the mass ascension, we took the aerial tram to the top of the 10,000 foot Sandia peak. Though it hadn’t been planned in advance, our visit to the top of Sandia peak coincided with the annular eclipse, and most of our group was able to experience it just a little closer to the sun than anyone else.
The six day tour included visits to Santa Fe and Taos where we parted ways with the group, who had come with their own bus and headed back to Indiana. Joan and I took a one and a half hour taxi ride back to Santa Fe, which was filled with stories from our local driver. I took a ton of notes which I can’t wait to share on my next tour.
We flew the next day from Santa Fe airport. I’d given us some extra time since taxis and Ubers were rare in the capital city, and we found ourselves at the tiniest airport either of us had ever flown out of. We’d been expecting to buy a coffee at Starbucks and work on our laptops, but the only airport concession consisted of a vending machine. Not only was there no airport WiFi, but you’d be lucky to get a phone signal at the airport. Once you checked in, you had to practically bring your own checked bag planeside for loading. We joked with a couple of other passengers about where the TSA pre-check line was.
Our flights took us to Dallas and then onward to our respective locations. Joan to Portland, where she will spend the winter building a client base for her cruise planning business; and me to San Francisco, where I made one last visit with friends and family before flying to Bangkok.
Joan will spend the winter in Portland developing her travel business, Joan Voyage, and I will spend the winter in Asia, making contacts for potential future trips here. Unfortunately, I did not get enough interest in the tours I posted this year, so I’ve canceled them.
For this year, if any of my friends or followers are interested in trying out Asia, let me know. I will be traveling through Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and even Hong Kong, and I’m always happy to play tour guide, even if it’s a group of one.