2022
I retired at the end of 2021, and shortly thereafter set off to travel the world. 10 months later, I returned to Austin, Texas, after stops along the way in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Turkey, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. My first stop was Porto, PT in January, and I loved it so much that Holly and I rendezvoused there again in May.
2023
Holly and I spent most of February in Ecuador, loving the mountain-top life in Cuenca, and the beach front life in Puerto Lopez. Then I returned to South East Asia in mid-June, with big plans but little success as three previously-quiet ruptured discs in my back went on a rampage that all but crippled me. I returned home in August and, and ultimately had seven hours of surgery in early December to repair my back and get me on my feet again.
2024
After six months of recovery, I was more than ready to hit the road again. I returned to Asia in mid-May, and then spent the next seven months seeing old friends and favorite places in Chiang Mai, Da Nang, and Hanoi, and finding new favorite places throughout Thailand, and in Luang Prabang, Laos, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Holly joined me for almost a month of fantastic stops in Thailand and Laos, and my back remained utterly painless all year long. I returned to the USA, in all of its post-election hell days of mid-December, and immediately started plotting a semi-permanent return to Thailand with Holly in 2025.
2025
Mission accomplished — I returned to Chiang Mai in early May, and finished the retirement visa application process in August, thus gaining the option to stay in Thailand indefinitely, while also house-hunting. As Memorial day approached, both efforts were proceeding well. I was preparing to move into a lovely, wooden rental hose on a quiet street near the old city center where I could await Holly. , While waiting, I suffered a relatively minor stroke which kept me in the ICU for a few days, but ultimately didn’t leave me with any serious damage.
Once Holly arrived in September, we took a brief trip to Vientiane in Laos to secure her DTV (Destination Thailand Visa) and then enjoyed the brief high season (November — January) in Chiang Mai, highlighted by the annual Chiang Mai Flower Festival, and the New Year festivities.