Camping Abroad

Camping abroad is the last housing alternative of this series. Bootsnall.com published an article recommending sites to camp that I have been adapted to pass along to you. The luxury camping treks to Morocco and Tanzania are based on information from GlobalBasecamps.com   I thank both these sources.

New Zealand A most camper-friendly country, you can set up camp almost anywhere, beaches, forests, mountains, or on about any public land. There are, however, strict environmental regulations that need to be followed. You will need to have a waste disposal unit or camp-toilet if there are no public toilets available, and you must take all your waste with you. Campsites span all price ranges, but the government run campsites spread throughout the national parks provide basic facilities in some wonderfully remote regions, starting from as little as $5 a night.

Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya On one of our custom Tanzania treks, you will be camping so near Africa’s wildlife that you will need a Maasai warrior to guard your tent through the night Your neighbors here will include world’s largest lion populations, 570 species of birds, and a migration of over 2 million gazelle, wildebeest, and zebra passing. On one of our custom Tanzania treks, you will be camping so near Africa’s wildlife that you will need a Maasai warrior to guard your tent through the night.

Whether you want to go back to basics at one of the budget campsites or relax in style in a luxury tent, there are a host of options for camping within the park, but all of them come with rich grasslands dotted with acacia trees, and rivers teeming with hippopotami and crocodiles

Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica The Park, one of the world’s most biologically diverse natural parks, includes deserted beaches, waterfalls, lagoons, and an enormous tropical rainforest. You can find a campsite surrounded by wildlife as well as wilderness, and “if you’re lucky (or unlucky), you might even come into contact with some of the park’s other residents – monkeys, tiger herons, sloths, and even pumas.”

Lake District, England  It would be a shame to let England’s rainy reputation stop you from camping in one of the world’s most beautiful countryside in the Lake District National Park, Cumbria. It is a perfect example of the idyllic British countryside with verdant, rolling meadows, clear glassy lakes, and a horizon of vibrant wildflowers and epic mountain landscapes.

 Sahara Desert, Morocco Global Basecamps notes that “our Moroccan eco sahara tours feature luxury camping, Bedouin-style, and is unlike anything else you will ever experience. 

 

While you can camp in a basic or comfortable site, you can select a Global Base Camp’s luxury site. You will have to trek out there with a guide and dinner will be cooked on site,  but you’re unlikely to find a more incredible setting to camp. “Tucked away at the foot of the dunes and surrounded by an endless desert landscape, the best part of all is watching the sunrise melt over the desert landscape – that is if you can drag yourself out of bed at 4am.”

EF

Rent your Place Short Term

Elliot writes that in high price areas such as San Francisco, New York, or Washington D.C., and you want to travel for a month or longer, you may find it more advantageous to rent your home. Now that you can plan your stay with such services as AirBnB.com or Vacation Rentals By Owner (VRBO.com), you may find a property that is less expensive than the home you can rent monthly.

This will allow you extra money for your stay than opting for a home exchange.  The downside to this approach is that there is less degree of trust and perhaps control when you are renting out your home for the short-term.  We have found that many of the properties listed on homeexchange.com are rental properties and many also are simultaneously listed on Air BnB.

He has used Air BnB to reserve a place in the historical center of Seville and the owner lived on the premises.  She was extremely helpful and the weekly price included a continental breakfast.  We were in Seville for Santa Semana (Easter week) which is perhaps the city's most crowded week of the year.  The cost was extremely reasonable, but you did have to dine out every night.  In this situation, there were three other rooms that the owner was renting and having other guests stay at the house made for interesting conversation and sharing discovery travel.  

If you trust your instincts and you are willing to look for tenancy in your home while you travel, short term vacation rentals may be an advantage over a home exchange.  If you do decide to rent, try to find people from whom you can check credentials and references.

Travelhealthy.com  also heard from Serge who also rented his home, while taking a month’s vacation. He was contacted by someone in the Mexican Embassy who had a friend looking for a house to rent for a month. He was told that references and a security deposit, equal to a month’s rent would be provided. The embassy employee signed a lease.

Serge had the person he employed to clean his house weekly continue to do so during the rental. In that way, he could be notified if the tenants were misusing the house. He noted that his experience was good and he would not hesitate to rent again, using the same precautions.

EF

Swapping Your Home for Another Abroad

When Elliot tells friends that he and his wife have committed to a home exchange, many question whether or not this is a sensible choice when traveling abroad or in the States.  They often ask "Aren't you worried about someone possibly taking your possessions or leaving your house in a mess?"  My response is simply, “The people who are exchanging houses with you are doing so on a level of trust.”

Two years ago, we subscribed to homeexchange.com.  Although we were getting requests from many people who wished to trade for a home in San Francisco, we were still a bit reluctant.  After renewing our subscription, we decided to do our first trade for an apartment in New York City during Thanksgiving week.  We were more interested in location than in the square footage of the home and we decided to exchange our house to two young people who were living on the Upper West Side across from Central Park.

Although their apartment was small and a bit dark, it was adequate for our needs and we took advantage of the neighborhood and the proximity to the park.  The people we had traded with enjoyed our home and it was conveniently located near where her brother was living.  They left the house as they found it and also took good care of our cat, “Monkey”.  

Since that time, many people who use Home Exchange have written to us in regard to trading houses.  We must have received a minimum of thirty requests in the four months since November 2012.  Home Exchange gives a description of the home and neighborhood. Many pictures of the exterior and interior of the homes are included.  They also include a description of the people who wish to trade and contact information.  You can inquire about previous trades that a person has had.  It is a safe and secure web site and service.  

We have recently made our second home exchange in Amsterdam.  We couldn't ask for a better location in the city and during one of the Netherland's most celebrated day, the Queen's Birthday.  During that week, prices in hotels had soared over 300 percent and we were fortunate to be on the Prinsengracht Canal, two streets from the Anne Frank house.  The apartment included two bedrooms, one and a half bathroom, dining and living areas and a lovely terrace off the master bedroom.  The kitchen was well equipped and had access to the internet.  The streets nearby had some of the best shops in Amsterdam.  

There are many more home exchange sites on the internet, such as,  homebase-hols.com and homelink.com.  We have been happy with home exchange. We have also maintained our contacts with others who still would like to exchange homes in San Francisco for another time.  We have offered our home to others even when we are not traveling.  

It's a great way to cut the cost of travel, since accommodation is the largest expense.  You also get more than just a hotel room.  You can save money on meals and take advantage of other places a city has to offer.  

Elliot Barenbaum retired from the San Francisco Unified School District in 2008. He & his wife volunteer in their neighborhood school. They enjoy travel during the spring and the autumn months, when there are fewer tourists. They like to experience new communities and volunteer with children or young adults.   

Scientists Claim 72 Is the New 30

The Financial Times (UK)  reported that according to scientists, “Human longevity has improved so rapidly over the past century that 72 is the new 30.”

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany, said that lowering the odds of death at all ages has been so rapid since 1900 that life expectancy has risen faster than it did in the previous 200 millennia.

The pace of increase in life expectancy has left industrialized economies unprepared for the cost of providing retirement income to so many for so long.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (US), looked at Swedish and Japanese men – two countries with the longest life expectancy today. It concluded that their counterparts in 1800 would have had lifespans that were closer to those of the earliest hunter-gatherer humans than they would to adult men in both countries today. “Those primitive hunter gatherers, at age 30, had the same odds of dying as a modern Swedish or Japanese man would face at 72.”

Scientists who worked on the study said that it was unclear what the possible upper limit for life expectancy would be. "How much longer can we extend life?" said Oskar Burger, lead researcher of the study. "We just don't know."

The study did not try to draw conclusions about whether the extension of human life was moral or desirable, or whether it could occur without depleting the faculties needed to enjoy the extra years.

Instead, it tried to look at how the odds of dying at specific ages had changed over time. The researchers used longevity data from chimpanzees in captivity to estimate lifespans for pre-humans and data from modern day hunter-gatherer tribes as a benchmark for early human lifespans.

In fact, the rate at which human life expectancy is rising is even faster than that achieved by scientists when they tried to breed organisms such as fruit flies to create genetically engineered long-living species. Although these experiments produced sharp rises in longevity, the rise in human longevity over the past century, which is not based on genetic improvements, has been much starker.

Mr. Burger noted that the very rapid improvement in lifespans coincided with the invention of antibiotics and vaccines, huge improvements in agricultural efficiency that made food far more available and the widespread development of systems that made clean water more readily accessible.

Human mortality, he added, has shown itself to be far more "plastic" and capable of manipulation than anyone had imagined.

This means that you can not use age as an excuse for not traveling abroad.

EF

House and Apartment Sitting

When I was writing a book for the Financial Times, my daughter was living in London, UK in a small and shared apartment. Before I left the US to stay in London for a month to write and do research, I searched the internet for long term rentals to little avail. One month was not considered long term and short term meant exorbitant prices. It was a frustrating experience.

Then one day, my daughter called to ask if I would mind apartment sitting. She had two friends who wanted to travel for two weeks each, but needed someone to watch and care for their cats. The two weeks succeeded each other; covered the one month requirement; there was no charge; and each apartment was located in a great section of London.  It was a WOW and productive experience.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t replicate or recommend this method to others, because I didn’t have friends or relatives in other countries to look around for a similar arrangement. But recently, this obstacle has been removed by the website MindMyHouse.com.

This site provides an “An online matching service to bring home owners and house sitters together for the free exchange of goods (accommodations) for services (house and pet sitting).”  Without a sitter, home owners who were anxious about leaving their pets and homes unattended, had to pay a service agency or look for friends or family to assume the responsibility (often done begrudgingly or unreliably).

Homeowners join the service for free. They can login and search for house sitters for free. There are over 7,700 home owners active on the site. House sitters pay only $20 per year to participate and there are over 4,900 active house sitter members of the service. Before you join, you can search the homes available on the website.

A quick review, found that available homes were most prevalent in Europe and North America. For example, the United Kingdom had 64 homes; France, 33, and Spain 31. The US listed 64 properties, while 27 were found in Canada.

 During your search, make a shortlist of homes in which you would like to stay. Contact the home owners by email or phone to ascertain their requirements and availability. Then, it is your turn to sell yourself as the right person for the job!

Wishing you success, Eleanor