Roamers Report #14 March 29, 2025

Dear Fellow Travel Enthusiasts,

Welcome to the 14th installment of the Roamers' Report!

After a relaxing, albeit hot, month in Ubud, Bali, where we enjoyed strolls through rice fields and learned how to make silver jewelry, we flew to Nepal. We timed our arrival perfectly for the Holi Festival in Bhaktapur and embarked on a challenging 6-day "Mt. Everest View" trek that pushed the kids well beyond their comfort zones. Now we’re unwinding in the lakeside town of Pokhara before leaving Nepal for Peru, where we'll trek the Inca Trail to the enigmatic Machu Picchu. 

Bringing it home....

The end of our journey is in sight and the final piece of our itinerary puzzle is finally in place.  We'll be spending our last month in Panama.  This was not a country on either Francesca or my must see list initially, but the more we looked into it, the more we thought it would be a perfect place to end the trip. There will be mountains, and beaches and good food and wild animals and history (Panama Canal).  Not to mention we got a really awesome place for free as part of the People Like Us house exchange group that we belong to.   We plan to be back home in Sonoma County by the end of June, a little over one year after we left. 

(An overview of the countries and cities we've been since the last newsletter and an update on where we are currently)

Here are some final pics from Ubud, Bali, Indonesia and from our first few weeks in Nepal. 

Finley at the Kemenuh Butterfly Park on her Daughter-Daddy Date.

Finley and Daddy at the Paradiso Theatre in Ubud to watch the new Paddington In Peru movie. The last stop on our Daddy-Daughter 1 on 1 date.  

Mount Batur in Bali stands at 1,717 meters (5,633 feet) above sea level. It’s a popular spot for sunrise hikes, offering stunning views of Lake Batur and the surrounding landscape!  It was about a 2.5 hour hike, but mostly steeply uphill and in the dark so the kids, especially Austen, were not happy about it.  But they loved the payoff at the end, seeing the sunrise over Mt. Agung.

Bhaktapur, located about 13 kilometers (8 miles) east of Kathmandu, is one of the three ancient cities in the Kathmandu Valley, along with Kathmandu and Patan. Known as the "City of Devotees," Bhaktapur is renowned for its rich cultural heritage, stunning Newar architecture, and well-preserved medieval ambiance.  We thought this city would be a good way to ease into Nepali culture before being dropped into the maddness of Kathmandu. 

Holi in Bhaktapur, Nepal, is a vibrant and culturally rich experience, distinct from celebrations in other parts of Nepal or India. Known as the Festival of Colors, it typically takes place in March, during the full moon of the Hindu month of Phalguna.  In Bhaktapur, Holi retains a traditional and spiritual tone while incorporating colorful fun. The city’s Newar culture adds a unique flavor, blending Hindu and indigenous traditions.  We chose to celebrate here as it is known to be less chaotic than the ones in Kathamandu.  We're happy with our decision. It was just the right amount of fun.  Happy Holi!

We signed up for a 7 day trek with Peaceful Nepal Trek & Tours that took us from Lukla Airport (the most dangerous airport in the world) to the Everest View Point on top of Syangboche Mountain, just north of Namche Bazaar.  It was hard work for both us and the kids, but they never complained and did brilliantly getting out of their comfort zones.  We were cold and tired at the end of the trek, but we all agreed it was worth it. 

(Hopefully humorous stories about real events that happened to us on our trip)

Here are two new travel stories for your reading pleasure.  Frisbee, Friendships and Worldschooling: A Family's Adventure is about the community and commeraderie of the phenomenon that is worldschooling and Holi War! is a playful story about our experience at the Holi Festival in Bhaktapur, Nepal. Look out for the cute twist!

HOLI WAR!

I crouched behind an old motorcycle, heart pounding, mouth dry with the taste of dust and chalk. Across the village square, the enemy was making their final preparations. To my right, concealed behind a weathered Newari-style brick temple, my troops awaited their orders. We had only moments before the element of surprise would be lost. I motioned for them to move around a crumbling tower to flank the enemy. Then, in my best dramatic whisper, I uttered, "On my signal... unleash hell!"  (Click HERE to read the full story)

FRISBEE, FRIENDSHIPS & WORlDSCHOOLING: A FAMILY'S ADVENTURE

We arrived on the beach early, the sun hanging low over the Andaman Sea, promising a spectacular sunset. As I wandered along the shore looking for the others, my wife and children stayed back under a tiki umbrella, watching the horizon and each other with a mix of anticipation and hesitation. This was our first worldschooling meetup, organized by the "BLISS Hub," a loose federation of like-minded families living in Koh Lanta, Thailand. All of us shared a similar philosophy: the value of exposing our children to travel, diverse cultures, and the thrill of stepping out of comfort zones. (Click HERE to read the full story)

In case you missed the previous Travel Stories, here is a link to all of them.....

www.fiveticketstoroam.com/travel-stories 

(Many of you may not care about the home schooling portion of this, but since it's ostensibly the reason we are doing this, I will provide a brief update during these Newsletters.)

The home/world schooling continues to go well.  As we head into the final stretch we are confident that both Ryan & Finley will be on par with (or ahead of) their classmates from a knowledge perspective when they start in grades 8 and 2 respectively come August.  Due to Austen's learning challenges (she was recently diagnosed with Dup15q syndrome) she may be a bit behind her classmates in 5th grade, but she excells in English Language Arts and has worked hard to learn the basic math concepts for 4th grade so with a little help from an IEP she should be just fine.

Of course, we'll have to see what happens with all of them as the next school year starts, but at least one of our pre travel concerns - if we were doing our kids a disservice, academically, by pulling them from traditional school for a year -  seems to be more or less a non issue.  Although we'll all be glad to have them back in the care and expertise of their professional teachers! 

Thanks to Mr. Stasey from Pathways Charter for helping us keep the kiddos on track. 

(Blog Posts Published since the last newsletter - in case you missed them on social media)

The Rice Field Walks of Bali

Bicycle Days In Hoi An

(A dose of truth about some of the things that did not go according to plan or worries that we've had about the trip)

We've talked a little bit about budgets and finances during our trip, but the truth is, while we feel completely blessed that we had the financial means to take this trip, we did not have a pile of money saved up for this.  It was just something that we knew we wanted to do and were going to make it work financially one way or another. 

That said, a significant part of our finance plan for this adventure centered around renting out our home in Sonoma County while we were away and we did rent it out for the majority of the 1st half of our trip which was tremendously helpful.  However, while we have recieved some interest here and there since January, our place remains empty which has caused us to dip further into our retirement savings - or as we tell the kids, they are enjoying their inheritence early! - more than we had hoped.  It has also prompted me and Francesca to look for jobs sooner than we had hoped to - ie doing interviews on the road with a potential start date (albiet remotely) before we return. 

At the end of the day we'll be fine - maybe we don't retire as early as we otherwise might - but we both feel it will have been worth it.  In the meantime, we'll start buying those Mega Millions Lottery Tickets!!! 

(I'm a little reluctant about this section because this trip is supposed to be more about quality and experience than sheer quantity, but I find stats like this interesting nonetheless) 

I am getting a bit more comfortable with keeping the trip stats.  As time goes by and the stats grow, it is getting fun to track the various cities we've been to and the modes of transport we've taken, etc. 

Here is a quick list of countries we've been to so far on this trip. They are places we have stayed overnight for at least one night. The bold ones are places we've lived in for an extended period of time (over 3 weeks). 

• United States

• United Kingdom

• Greece

• Croatia

• Bosnia and Hercegovina

• Slovenia

• Austria

• Italy

• Spain

• Portugal

• Morocco

• Romania

• Thailand

• Philippines

• Taiwan

• Hong Kong

• Vietnam

• Indonesia

• Nepal

Here is the link to the full trip stats page.

Thanks for joining us on our journey. I have tried to keep to my self imposed routine of sending a Roamers' Report every 2 weeks, but it hasn't always worked out that way. But I do post more regularly on social media (mostly FB, but some Instagram too) so if you want more real time updates please follow our Five Tickets to Roam FB page .

Regards,

The Roamers - Dan, Francesca, Ryan, Austen & Finley