Mark and I never had the amount of money or the required connections to ever go behind the scenes of anything. That was until we reconnected with our friend Amy this past winter. As a recently graduated zoologist and no-nonsense environmentalist, she has friends in the right places, namely the renowned San Diego Zoo and Safari Park. So, on our last weekend house and pet sitting in San Diego, California, she treated us to a return visit at the Safari Park, where we came up-close with tigers and elephants, and learned a bunch more about those species and the zoo’s conservation efforts.
The two tiger cubs we first saw in November 2017 had grown substantially!
The “mother” of all tigers
The tigers take turns at the exhibits, and rest, eat and are given “enrichments” (like toys and smells) in their “chambers” when not outside.
One of the cubs was seized during a border smuggling attempt from Mexico, and the other was brought from Washington, D.C., to provide companionship.
Up until our last week of house and pet sitting in San Diego, Mark and I had no concrete idea of what was next. Because the unpredictable condition of my mother-in-law in New England earlier this year, we had not booked another sit, in case we’d have to fly back. Flexibility has been an important part of our lifestyle. Luckily, the situation back east was stable, mid-February, so we could remain “out west”. Since we had no house sit to get to, and we own this amazing little camper van, our plan was to bridge the seven-week gap between sits in the desert, being warm. Baja California in Mexico was dismissed, after we discovered our favorite beach spot there has no cell service, so we mentally aimed for four different boondocking areas in Arizona to split our time and work from the van. It would be tricky.
This weekend, I am honored to be a guest on Sally Cronin’s blog Smorgasbord – Variety is the Spice of Life.
Please, have a look at my interview, and leave a comment there, if you’d like!
My guest today is Liesbet Collaert who has a lifestyle that is very different to those of us who rarely stir from our comfort zones, except for the odd couple of weeks holiday.
Let’s find out more about Liesbet before finding out Belgium, her favourite leisure pastimes, the impact of modern technology and the five experiences we should all tick off our bucket list. Liesbet also shares some of her photographs from her travels which will certainly create wanderlust in most of us.
Almost every day, Mark and I walked Elvis and Frida to and around Liberty Station for an hour-long outing. When we returned via Trader Joe’s to pick up a few groceries, we passed signs for “Rock Church”, and observed a building named “The School of Rock”. Once, our little getaway took place on a Sunday morning. Crowds of people – rows and rows of them on the sidewalks – made their way to the church. Traffic control was in place and notices in the supermarkets’ parking lots warned against stationing your car there to attend Sunday service. Our curiosity was peaked! Especially when someone mentioned that the “rock” had nothing to do with the building material, but with a rock concert.
Full parking lots and driveways near the stores
Traffic control
Front of the Rock Church at Liberty Station on Point Loma, San Diego
Every month, I post a report of our expenses to show that it is possible to live a comfortable, exciting and relatively adventurous life without breaking the bank. The less money you spend, the less you need to make. 🙂 That being said, Mark and I seem to manage one big expense a month for some reason, whether it is camper, plane, travel or computer-related. Luckily, we live totally rent-free, wherever we end up.
This report includes ALL of our expenses, in US$, for the two of us. Under groceries we incorporate all the food, produce and non-alcoholic drinks predominantly bought in supermarkets. Toiletries belong in that category as well. Dining out means eating at a restaurant/event or purchasing take-out food. The health category covers non-prescription medicines and Mark's vitamins and supplements; medical contains prescription drugs and doctor's visits.Health insurance and costs are related to my health care as a permanent resident in the US. Mark is still eligible for free health care in the state of Massachusetts as of today. If a non-emergency were to happen outside of that state, it will be expensive! For check-ups, we both return to the East Coast. I still pay a small quarterly fee in Belgium for health care (required to retain citizenship), which I mention in my year report.
February was pretty much an average month, with extra expenses going to gifts for Mark's birthday, and to the camper for a bike rack and fuel for our five-day road trip between house sits. Those were the categories putting us over $1K. We have a serious repair planned for Zesty, but don't know yet when this will happen, since our mechanic of choice lives in San Diego. The positive? Living costs in New Mexico are lower than in California!
Birthday drinks and dinner at a wine bar & restaurant in Albuquerque, NM
Every first Wednesday of the month, the IWSG (Insecure Writer’s Support Group) engages writers to share their fears, thoughts, progress, struggles, excitement, encouragement or anything really about their writing. A different question is posed each month, as a writing prompt for IWSG members. Answering it is optional. For March, the question is “How do you celebrate when you achieve a writing goal / finish a story?”
My answer to the question (“How do you celebrate when you achieve a writing goal / finish a story?”)
I’m not a big celebrator. My husband and I celebrate birthdays. And Thanksgiving, based on our location. Oh, we did toast to Neptune when we crossed the equator on our sailboatIrie in 2013, with rum and coke and Belgian chocolate. R&C for Mark, a shot of rum for Neptune, and just coke for me, since I was on watch. That being said, whenever I achieve a milestone in my writing (as in: finish my memoir), I’ll be sure to celebrate!
Crossing the equator on the way to the Galapagos Islands
Mark and Liesbet on the equator
Celebratory drinks and chocolates (truffles)
My book progress
I have no idea what is happening in 2018, but a giant creature from outer space must have descended upon earth and devoured January and February, because, all of a sudden, those months are gone. This is how my February looked like: Continue reading
This weekend, I am a guest of Donna at Retirement Reflections, where I explain a bit more about the house sitting process and lifestyle. Would it be something you consider?
Thank you, Donna, for inviting me back to the stage of Retirement Reflections. I enjoyed my performance last time, and today is no different.
Far from retired
My husband, Mark, and I are not settled and not retired. And, we never will be. At least not in the conventional way of owning a house debt-free, concluding a 40+ year career, having a home full of stuff, and receiving a reliable social security check. Why? Well, for starters, we are ‘only’ in our forties. Also, we don’t have a house, haven’t held a ‘normal’ job for 15 years (me) and 13 years (Mark), have no rooms, closets, attics or basements to store anything, and, even though we file taxes in the US (Mark and I) and Belgium (me), we barely make more than minimum wage. We do put some money aside for the future, but expect we will have to keep generating an income, creatively, for many years to come.
Sailing adventure with Darwin and Kali in Annapolis, MD
Part of the retirement environment
All that being said, we have found ourselves surrounded by 60-plussers everywhere we roamed, no matter the lifestyle we adopted this past decade. Retirees are becoming more adventurous. They enjoy being mobile and switching up their surroundings. Some full-time, once the house is sold or rented out, others in stints. We met many matured RVers when we lived in a truck camper and traveled throughout North and Central America, made plenty of retired friends during our eight years of cruising aboard Irie, our 35’catamaran, in the Caribbean and South Pacific, and are in touch with retirees who house and pet sit just like us. The only difference between them and us is that we differentiate between workdays and weekends.
Liesbet and Mark San Blas Islands, Panama
Ever considered house sitting?
While my first two examples might be a tad too adventurous and risky of a lifestyle for many, the idea of house and pet sitting does have a lot of sensible merits. Continue reading here…
(If you would like to leave a comment, please do so at Donna’s site. Thank you!)
We have been perpetual nomads since 2003 – sailing, camping, RVing, house and pet sitting – and are currently roaming about South America in a truck camper with our rescue dog, Maya. As lifetime adventurers, we are self-employed and maintain a tight budget. This blog is about all that – and more – to inspire a life less ordinary. Don’t dream but do! 🙂
