Retire Early Lifestyle
Retirement; like your parents, but way cooler

In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this financially independent lifestyle, they invite you to take advantage of their wisdom and experience.

Traveling Isn’t for Sissies

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli

Billy and Akaisha in front of a fruit truck in Europe

We have written about the approaches to travel that people take, explaining the differences between a tourist, a visitor and a seasoned traveler.

First, we want to say that there is no one right way to travel, and as long as you know your particular style, you should be able to make the most of the challenges that come your way.

And there will be challenges.

Even if you purchase a tour through a company who takes care of your visas, your various transport options (flights, cruises, buses and trains) and arranges for your lodging and meals, you still have to get on that plane with the appropriate amount of luggage, standing in line and going through security checks.

Traveling these days seem to be more complicated than in previous years.

With extra paperwork, visa requirements (Schengen for instance) and fees, making flights with tight connections, working out lodging arrangements on one’s own all contributes to a knotty situation.

After over 3 decades of vagabonding, Billy and I are still independent travelers.

Choosing to take a tour

We understand how people would choose to journey on vacation with like-minded groups, or take a cruise that stops at various ports, or to do a specified project like cooking classes in France, join a yoga retreat in Thailand, take up a painting course in Italy, or sign up for an archaeological dig in Israel.

Akaisha and Billy on a Vietnamese junk in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

These approaches to travel offer human guides to set up your lodging, get your visas figured out, exchange your home currency for the local one, plan your meals at restaurants and various tours, and if there are any glitches, these guides will smooth them out for you.

Have a noisy neighbor? Shower backed up? Internet slow or spotty? Have a little tummy trouble? Well, that’s what the travel leader is for. They smooth out all the bumps in your experience.

If things don’t work out how you would like, then you simply complain to them or leave a bad rating on their site. There are plenty of reasons to do this style of travel and happily people still get out and see something different from their own world.

Independent travel

But Billy and I have no protective infrastructure between us and our experience in a foreign country.

We have to figure out lodging, train and bus schedules, cell phone Sims cards, places of interest, differences in language, exchange rates to local currency and visa time periods on our own.

We prefer it this way, but let me tell you, Independent Travel Isn’t for Sissies.

We research visa rules, arrange for our own transportation and lodging, and we choose our own meals. In fact, in our case since Billy is a trained French Chef and we owned a restaurant for a decade, we put a strong emphasis on culinary travel.

Not everyone has this interest nor does everyone want to bother with all the details it takes to get from one country to another.

We get it.

Completely.

Billy with some hill tribe children in Thailand

Below I have written a few suggestions to make your traveling more appealing no matter what your style, and more comfortable for you mentally and emotionally.

Courage

Who would have ever thought it took courage to travel?

I’m here to explain that it does, and giving you tips to make your traveling adventures easier and more pleasant.

Billy and I like to say the hardest part of traveling is getting out of the Lazy Boy chair at home.

Everyone loves their patterns and routines, and granted, there is comfort in the familiar. However, that is not why one travels; It is to break those routines and infuse your current patterns with something new and lively which keeps you young.

Otherwise, one can simply stay home, watch a travel movie on TV and never have to adjust yourself or stretch to take in the new.

Complaining does not help anything or anyone

Once again, we say there are 2 paths to successful travel. The monetary, physical, details of travel (visas, booking lodging, getting transport options) and the emotional component (attitude, personal flexibility, creativity, having faith in one’s self to figure things out).

For the monetary, physical details of travel, there are countless useful websites and guides online to help you with your itinerary, train schedules, lists of travel hacks and more.

Akaisha in a long boat on the Mekong River, Laos

Few of these deal with the most formidable hurdle to pleasurable travel – ourselves.

For us, the whole reason to leave home is to get a different perspective and to learn new things.

Cultures engage with life differently all over the world. There is no right or wrong about this, and to expect things to be “just like home” is self-defeating.

Language, food, lodging, transport options, pricing, customs and holidays will all be different.

Complaining about each and all of these things is not only exhausting to you and to your partner, but it’s like dropping a turd on your personal sidewalk through Life.

You’re always looking for the poop-piles, watching your step, and being cautious about the next one that is sure to come. Meanwhile, you are missing the joy of the people, amazing architecture, mesmerizing music, wide flavors of the local cuisine, the variety of the weather and the marvelous change of scenery.

You are missing the vital opportunity of Travel Itself.

For example, while on a recent trip to Catania, Sicily, we befriended a shop owner of a Salumeria, named Leota Salvadore.

Leota Salvadore in his Salumeria

After we chatted with him using Google Translate, we learned that he is 75 years old and has had this shop for over 30 years. He knew his meats and cheeses and made recommendations to us. We used his advice and was not disappointed. The next time we walked past his shop he stopped us and wanted to know if we liked them. We would see him two or three times a day in passing and always said buongiorno to each other. We considered this "friendship" to be rich and welcoming.

Be flexible

We are serious about this one, too.

Travel is intrinsically challenging.

There is jet lag, differences in your schedule, perhaps a bed that’s not perfect, or a shower that isn’t highly functioning.

Billy and Akaisha at the equator line in Ecuador

The weather might change suddenly, you could get a blister on your toe, or a pair of eye glasses could break. A scheduled bus does not show up.

When your plans are to zig, you find yourself forced to zag. This could be hugely irritating, or it could be an adventure.

Having control of both your attitude and choosing to go with what’s happening instead of fighting it will save you mental and physical energy.

Being angry and shutting down – plainly speaking – just isn’t useful.

Support yourself and your travel partner

If you are tired, take a rest. Hungry? Eat something. If you are grumpy, get some exercise.

Sometimes we must re-arrange the items in our luggage and toss out the non-essentials. Or we might be having a GREAT day, but our partner is struggling.

Find out what you can do to help, and to make things go more smoothly.

This isn’t a competition, it’s a partnership.

Essentially, take care of the basics: get sleep, bring travel food on a day trip, eat regularly, and stay hydrated. Be a friend to yourself and to your partner.

Have faith in yourself and in other people

You are smart. You can figure things out – you have made it in Life this far, right? Have some faith in yourself.

I’d like to say also, have faith in the people you meet on your travels, too.

Billy and Akaisha at the wharf in Anzio, Italy

In our experience, people are people everywhere. AND there are good and fabulous people all over the world.

Rely on your gut and don’t be naïve, but truly, people love to help others and they love to return a smile, even if you have to try a few times.

Having faith in the goodness of strangers is a profound gift to yourself and to the stranger, too.

And just because they told you that the train station was just two blocks away and forgot to mention which direction, this wasn't done out of malice. They were just trying to help.

Remind yourself why you left home

If you’ve had some disruptions or have gotten off course, it’s good to remind yourself why you took this journey to begin with.

Was it to see geographical wonders? Pursue an archaeological dig? Take advantage of those museums and concerts at that location? Learn a new language? Get out of a rut?

Whatever your reasons, it’s good to renew that list for yourself. It will put you back on course.

And when you know your reasons why, you will figure out your how.

For us, we can sit for hours in a cafe people watching and or chatting with the table next to us. Many times this becomes a wealth of information about the area and of other places to visit. It's fun and rewarding to be friendly.

Our wish for you

We wish all of you travelers the best, along with the personal courage it takes to do something new and different.

We know from our experience, that our perspectives have been enlarged and enlivened through our travels around the globe. It has built a self-confidence and joy for Life that continues to grow. Having met incredible human beings everywhere, we feel blessed to be able to live this lifestyle.

Even if you are not a fellow traveler, we hope you enjoy our stories and photos, and of course we wish the best for you too! AND the courage to live the life of your dreams… whatever that may be.

Retire Early Lifestyle appeals to a different kind of person – the person who prizes their independence, values their time, and who doesn’t want to mindlessly follow the crowd.

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