Critters, critters, and more critters (Mostly On the road).

Riding a motorbike or driving a tuk tuk is always an adventure in Sri Lanka, made significantly more white-knuckled by the presence of every type of animal you can imagine on, and around the roads. The accepted right-of-way here seems to be that the biggest thing has the right of way, in this order: buses, […]

It May Not Be A Ferrari, But…

It is red! Well, we have gone and done it. Twenty years ago, Tam and I were introduced to tuk tuks in Thailand, and fell in love with them. The tuk tuk is probably the toughest, most versatile, and highly used mode of transport in less-developed countries all over the world. They are simple, easy […]

One Year, Not A Nurse.

Tam reminded me the other day (June 12th) that it was my one year anniversary of leaving St. Charles. I have a lot of mixed feelings about this, but mostly relief. I do miss nursing work, it’s just the job I can’t stomach anymore. Metrics, unnecessary screenings, monitoring wait times, poor policy for managing dangerous […]

Those Smiles, Though…

There are many reasons we decided to stay where we are, at Surfpoint Sri Lanka, in spite of the fact that it is a tiny bit more expensive than other places. It is right on the ocean (which here is one of the only places: the rest are on lagoons), close to kiting, the food […]

Its Not All Facebook And Rainbows… It’s real life.

Tam and I have had several conversations recently with other travelers. Mostly, these are Europeans, and one American: but in all cases long-term travelers spending three months to a year abroad. The one similar thing that we have all experienced are the misconceptions many of our friends and family back at home have about our […]

Sri Lanka At Last!

We have made it to Sri Lanka finally! I say finally because it feels like twenty years we have been talking about coming here (okay, it has been twenty years). I am really glad we did. We have been here five days, and I feel like I am sliding into this state of peace here […]

Going, Going, Gone Baby Gone…

This post was originally published on 11 Jan, 2023, and moved here to my new blog. We did it!None of this feels real in any way at this point. For the last few months, I have been saying (mostly to appease my own anxiety) that I wouldn’t feel any sense of realizing the results of […]