Roaming About

A Life Less Ordinary

Month: August 2018

Blogging Break & On the Road

Hello everyone,

For the first time in eleven years of blogging (eight years on my sailing blog It’s Irie and almost three years on Roaming About), I am taking a break from all things blogging, until September 5th, 2018, when another IWSG writing update is due.

The first half of 2018 was tough, hectic and tiring for Mark and me, what with a string of bad luck, business intricacies, house sitting, camper projects, health provider problems, writing my memoir, translation work, travels by trains, cars, and planes, and relatively draining visits to both of our families. When we returned to our camper, rats had chewed up some parts under the hood of our vehicle. We are pretty exhausted, to say the least.

As of July 26th, we have moved into our camper van Zesty for the foreseeable future. We plan to intersperse camping with house sitting when we see fit. The rest of this summer is devoted to visiting national forests in Colorado, national parks like Grand Teton, Yellowstone and Glacier NP, and an extended stay on Vancouver Island, if we don’t run out of warm weather by then. I’m looking forward to gaze at rushing rivers, smell pine trees, marvel at sunsets, and watch chipmunks chase each other. We plan to hike, sight see, photograph, and fully explore our upcoming destinations.

For the next month, our limited data and internet time will go to researching free campsites and attractive places. I might post a few photos on Facebook, but my focus will be on our travels, reading, meeting friends, and hopefully some memoir progress.

See you in September and have a lovely rest of the summer,

Liesbet xox

Sunset over Antero Reservoir, Colorado last week

PS: Our current location will be updated in the right column, as always.

Monthly Expenses – July 2018

Expenses - image

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.

Most of our July was spent in the company of friends and family, in Belgium and in Massachusetts. There were a lot of social events and life-time celebrations, where gifts and taking family members out to lunch and dinner made up a big chunk of our expenses. Other than that, the usual grocery shopping and fuel for two cars (our Zesty back in New Mexico and Mark's parents' car in New England) played a role. We had a flat tire, and dealt with damage caused by rats.

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