Mark, Author at Expat Expressions

City Bus Tours – A Valuable Tool for Slow Travel

by Mark | Aug 21, 2013 | Deep In It

Say what you will. As slow travel veterans, we have come to appreciate this staple of city tourism. We arrive in a city determined to know it -- to walk, live, eat, shop, and cultivate a deep understanding. These city bus tours offer the opportunity to do the once around and orient yourself to a place. Hear the historical overview and pinpoint places for future probing, while snapping pictures and visualizing the directions and locations of key places. City tours are generally reasonably priced, and we like that.

One of our first slow travel experiences and city bus tour was in Granada, Spain. That one gave you 48 hours to get on and off. We planned it so we could visit some out of the way places like the Science Center while we got our bearings in the city. The cost was 17 euros.

More recently we had an important visitor here in Boston and while we have been frequent visitors since 2003 when undergrad school started for our daughters, we had never done the world famous Duck Boat tour. This one is short and there is no getting on and off. Prices vary, go online to get deals. I doubt very many savvy travelers pay full price.

We found a variation of the above in Amsterdam. There are lots of operators. We chose one and enjoyed the canal view. While biking and walking are tailor-made for this wonderful city, we learned a bit, relaxed and enjoyed the water-level perspective.

You can't find too many cities higher than Quito at 2,800 meters, but you will find city bus tours. The view from the top level of the bus offered a step-ladder perspective and the chance to take some nice photos. Plus the first few days walking in this low-oxygen city will have you gasping for breath. We gained some perspective and once acclimated we started walking and exploring. This one was $12 and you're allowed on and off.

Edinburgh, a beautiful, walkable city with character, history and charm. We got our first look-see on this tour, then spent the next week walking and busing.

Cuenca, Ecuador. We fell in love with this city, and it started on this tour.

Glasgow, Scotland. This bus tour started in George Square. Glasgow is going to become a must-see city on every smart list. Well worth the time for slow travel.

Buenos Aires. La Boca will stun you with color and character. Get on the bus, get to know this amazing city.

You meet interesting people from around the world, everyone is out for fun, and you learn something while not spending a fortune. Better yet, these tours offer the opportunity to make that first acquaintance with a city and possibly fall in love.

Slow Travel & Funky Apartments

by Mark | Aug 21, 2013 | Pulled Back

The most (possibly only) tiresome part of slow travel is finding apartments. Sure, if we had unlimited resources or even just lots of money, it might be one of the more fun aspects. But for us, it usually involves a lot of searching and then hoping. Funky apartments can be charming.

We have found some good ones in our slow travel journey. Our apartment in Cuenca, Ecuador, pops to mind. The people we rented from in Crucita, Eucador, knew the people in Cuenca, so as we were ready to leave the beach we had a nice three-bedroom, 6th floor, modern apartment, close to the centre, to rent for $850/month. Of course we had struggled to find the Crucita house. Finding good beach rentals in Ecuador is challenging.

Those gems pop up, and we’ve enjoyed our share. The funky apartments are memorable as well. For example, we were in Berlin for our son’s graduation and planned to slow travel to spend some time with him. We focused on the Neukölln neighborhood, at the time a Turkish area with a thriving weekly market. The neighborhood was in the process of gentrification with new bars and restaurants opening almost daily. Rents were low and the variety of value-priced restaurants amazing, which made it a cool place to live.

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Guatemala, Slow Travel

by Mark | Aug 21, 2013 | Deep In It

Antigua, Guatemala – San Pedro Church & Hospital & Volcán de Agua

Slow travel demands flexibility. For example, earlier this year we had planned to stay in Oaxaca, Mexico, for a few months, get some work done and take Spanish lessons. For a decade or more we had heard about this beautiful city and after a few days there, we understood.

Street scene in Oaxaca, Mexico

As background, our arrival in Oaxaca was preceded by a month of travel, at the end of which we were tired, overspent and anxious to settle down and work. (more…)

Slow Travel Four Years Later

by Mark | Aug 20, 2013 | Pulled Back

“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” – Cesare Pavese

***

Constantly off balance. Yep. It’s hard remember the exact months or sometimes even the year of where we have been when during the last four years. A recent acquaintance after hearing our story said, “You guys are really out there, living on the edge,” and quickly added, “but in a good way.”

We call it slow travel. We target interesting places where we might want to live, do some research, and then go about finding an apartment — sometimes for a month, but three months is better. We both work remotely and need a routine to balance our schedules between work and play in order to pay for our travel.

We would love to have more flexibility in how long we can stay, but most tourist visas are granted for 90 days. In Europe the Schengen Agreement covers 26 countries with a common 90- day limit. In Central America the C4 Agreement sets similar parameters. Mexico has a six-month tourist visa. Some countries like Argentina allow you to leave for a day or two and return with a new 90-day visa, but that can be fickle.

Two to three months seems like a good amount of time to experience a place, after which you can almost say you have lived there. Certainly it is more than a casual affair. It is time enough to get to know people and burrow under the covers of a place.

Some exciting places where we have spent some slow-travel time during the last four years include:

Crucita and Cuenca, Ecuador
Dupont Circle, D.C., and Baltimore
Granada, Spain
Key West
Berlin
Boston
Buenos Aires
Florida
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Antigua, Guatemala
Amsterdam

When we add housesitting, Morganton, North Carolina, and New Orleans get thrown into the mix. If we include one- and two-week places, the list grows to include Slovenia, Scotland and much of Mexico, Spain and Ecuador. (more…)

Mexico 2013, Travel through Quintana Roo, Yucatán, Oaxaca, Chiapas

by Mark | Feb 17, 2013 | Deep In It

By the numbers, we were in Mexico 28 days, from January 16 - February 13. We traveled roughly 3568km (2,217miles). It looks something like this:

The first week we rented a car to explore the Yucatan Peninsula. We drove from Cancun as far south as Chetumal and then north toValladolid to see Chichen Itza and then back to Cancun to drop the car. Then we set off by bus to Merida, Progreso, and then our first monster bus ride (8 hours) to the beautiful Mayan ruins in Palenque, a World Heritage Site. Another bus (7 hours) took us to San Cristobal de las Casas epicenter of the 1994 Zapatista uprising. A few days later we moved on to culturally rich Oaxaca (11 hours), then the Pacific beach cities of Huatulco and Puerto Escondido. We left Mexico via a 14-hour bus ride to Tapachula. Mexico has a wonderfully advanced bus system. The buses are comfortable, timely and make travel a breeze.

That outline explains the raw stats but tells nothing of the people we met nor the beauty of our time in Mexico. The trip from Palenque to San Cristobal through jungle and mountains is in my top 10 most scenic rides ever. If you are anywhere near Bacalar, you must visit the lagoon (Lake of Seven Colors) with its deep and mysterious cenotes. Tulum and Mahahual offer beautiful beaches and clear Caribbean waters. Merida is a million people strong, a vibrantly cultural city that bustles to a big city beat. Oaxaca lives up to its reputation as a beautiful, cultural and interesting city. The lure of the Pacific Ocean drew us to the designer city of Huatulco and then to the funkier laid-back city of Puerto Escondido. Four weeks later we were still looking for a place to settle and headed into our first visit to Central America.

The details of our 2013 Mexico tour will wait for another time, but here is a glimpse in no particular order: