2000

A: Yes! No kidding, those jerks! Considering that we didn't do anything wrong, and were paying a big premium to use their service in Portugal, the least the twerps could have done is provide some reasonable way to contact them without having to place a very expensive call to Customer Screwing -- whoops, Customer Service -- in the USA.

When we finally did get them on the phone when we returned to the USA, they said that we sent an e-mail to "too many" people.

We asked "How many is too many?"

They said they have no set policy, and there is no exact number. What kind of morons design these policies? There's no defense against these kinds of idiots, and we were relieved to finally cancel our AOL service -- which had to be done via a US telephone and not over the Internet.

Beyond all that it is impossible to update this website when signed onto the Internet via AOL.

Other than that, we have no strong opinions on the topic.

Q: Hi, Don and Rebecca. Are you rich or something? How can you quit your jobs and go traveling? Don't you have children or other financial obligations? (A.L. in Dallas, TX)

A: We're just ordinary people, not lottery winners. The truth is that we have a few investments and an early pension, but we're certainly not rich.

The important fact is that full time travel is less expensive than most people assume. And, we are fortunate to no longer bear the costs of being employed homeowners! For example, we now rent a two story home in Thailand for less than we paid to park our cars each month when we worked in Washington, DC.

Because we are child free, we are without the traditional obligations of saving for college and other expenses. So once we made the decision to see the world, were able to forgo our higher regular income without negatively affecting ourselves or anyone else.

We simply made important lifestyle choices to see more of the world and be in control of our own time and lives.

Q: Who are you? What did you do in your former work lives, and what are your other interests besides adventure traveling? (R.K. in Boston)

A: Don was director of government relations at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Previously, he was chief of staff to U.S. Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming. Don's most consuming hobby has been aviation, as he is an instrument rated pilot and was a co-owner of a Cessna 182. Don also enjoys computers (he created this website by himself), travel writing (see the "essays" section), and science. After 21 years in Washington, DC, he has sworn off politics (allegedly).

Rebecca has done all kinds of things both in and out of the government, but most recently worked at a DC law firm while finishing her master's degree in international business. She loves the water and boats of all kinds, and took sailing classes on her own, which eventually led to the purchase of our beautiful 30-foot sailboat on which we lived every weekend on the Chesapeake Bay. She also enjoys mountain biking, writing, Thai cooking, history, archeology, and bodyboard surfing.

We were married in April, 1995 in a small ceremony in Virginia's beautiful Shenandoah Valley.

Q: We are setting off on a long international trip and are wondering how you make phone calls. Do you buy prepaid phone cards, or do it all via e-mail? Thanks for any advice. L.A. (CA)

A: We rarely make telephone calls while overseas, and when we do, we do it as locals do: going to the local post office or phone shop and placing calls then paying cash (usually, a lot of cash). E-mail through Internet cafes (or friends) has proven much more economical. On special occasions when we really want to hear someone's voice, we've used www.dialpad.com. It is free telephoning, over the Internet. Quality is not great, reliability is not great (on a slow Internet connection), BUT it's a free international phone call. Try it out before you leave America, to see how it works. It's best if the person being called knows to expect the phone call, so they understand that the talking is more like an old radiophone. "Over."

We have always tried to have a telephone hooked up in our various apartments and houses around the world, but it is not easy! So far we've had zero success. In Thailand, they flat-out said that "farangs" cannot have a telephone connected in their house. We still tried, by having a Thai friend pretend that it was his phone, but it would have been a six month waiting period. We think we would be more successful if we just bribed local phone officials, but so far it just hasn't been important enough to do that.

Q: You two sure are missing a lot of frustration and agony about the elections in the US. How are you keeping informed about developments and other news from home? (DN, Washington, DC)

A: We get most of our news from our portable, paperback-sized short wave radio, and get reports in English at the top of any hour. On the short wave, we listen to Voice of America, Radio Islam, Radio Japan, BBC, Radio Singapore, and Radio Philippines -- whichever broadcast is clearest at the moment.

A few times a week, we also read an English language newspaper, such as The Bangkok Post, The Nation, or The Herald Tribune, which tells us about Thailand and international news. We also check out news sources on the Internet several times a week when we're in town and have access, at such sites as The Washington Post (to find out who beat the Redskins this week), New York Times, MSNBC, USA Today, and the Belle Fourche Weekly Bee.

Concerning the frustration of the U.S. elections -- we didn't escape it!

Q: Don, when are you ever going to get a haircut? Your father still has his electric clippers, and he's ready to go! (Your Mother, Livingston, Montana)

A: Dear Mom. Well, I've done it. I found that a shave and haircut in Thailand costs less than two bucks, so now I'm back in trim. But I have to confess that I'm letting it get long in the back. That hasn't been cut since December 1999!

Becky likes it, and I think it's fun to trick people into thinking that I'm not a Republican. Please tell Dad thanks for the great offer, but when is the last time you saw a short-haired Gypsy? Considering how fast my hair is falling out on top, I think it's exciting to see it growing anywhere. Your son, Don

Q: What's your favorite place in the world? (R.O. Seattle, WA)

A: Hard question! Very difficult to answer. We have a dozen or so favorite places, but we love them for different reasons. Bear in mind that these are our personal opinions only.
Rain forests: Costa Rica, Brazil and Peru.
History, including maritime history: Portugal is high on the list.
Most interesting culture: the Sarawak side of Borneo.
Archeology: Mexico, Peru and Portugal.
Most beautiful and interesting city: Budapest, Hungary or Hong Kong, China.
Most beautiful mountains and rugged settings: British Columbia and the Yukon in Canada, and Alaska -- with stiff competition from the South Island of New Zealand and southern and western Thailand.
Best AND worst city: Bangkok, Thailand (Lima, Peru is absolutely the worst).
Most beautiful beaches: boy, there are a lot! Probably the most dramatic with huge cliffs would be Railay Beach on Thailand's west coast, or some of the Mexican beaches around Chacala and Boca de Naranja.Best public transportation: Norway.
Most beautiful and accessible European country: Switzerland.
Smelliest: Prievidza, Slovakia; or Rome, Italy; or Bangkok, Thailand.
Most beautiful islands: Bora Bora, Moorea, and other French Polynesian islands around Tahiti.
Best food: Hmmmm....Thailand.
Best cheap wine: Portugal, hands down!

Q: How do you gypsies decide where to go, and how much time to spend there? (A.L. Glenrock, WY)

A: We schedule our travels largely around the seasons, as we strive to remain in perfect weather. We also work around major commitments that require us to be in a certain place at a certain time. For example, after returning from Alaska and Canada, our next scheduled trip was to go to Thailand eight weeks later. So being flexible, we decided to go to Portugal for six of those eight weeks. We chose Portugal because it's one of Becky's favorite European countries and has one of the more affordable economies in Europe.

Having returned to the USA early in the spring of 2001 because of family obligations, we found that we had several months before our next obligation, a family reunion in August. That afforded the time to travel 17,000 miles throughout the USA, visiting friends and family, and seeing new things.

We planned our August 2001 return to Asia, scheduling time in Indonesia first to take advantage of the best weather there. After all, that same period is "leech season" in Nepal. So our visit to Nepal will come later in the year, but while it's still warm there.

Each destination is chosen on the basis of its culture, physical attractiveness, economy, weather, and our own family obligations.

Q: I thought you were going to drive to the east coast before departing in October for Asia. Why did you squeeze in Portugal? Isn't that a lot of flying in different directions? (A.S. in Tucson, AZ)

A: It was a whim. We saved as much on gasoline by not driving to the east coast as we spent on airfare to Portugal, so what the heck?

After pulling the trailer 8,000 miles through Canada and Alaska, in addition to travels throughout the western states, we needed a break from the "Gypsy Camp."

Q: Where are you from originally? Also, I read that you have already been in 64 countries. How could you have traveled that much? (S.T. in Falls Church, VA)

A: Is it really that many countries? Actually, it’s even more now!

Don was born in Sidney, Montana and grew up in Cody and Powell, Wyoming. Rebecca was born and raised in Belle Fourche in western South Dakota.

Don began his travels in the mid east and east Africa as a seaman in the U.S. Navy, and never lost his love of adventure. He did a great deal of traveling as a senior staff member in the United States Senate.

After college and a few years of working in Washington, DC, Rebecca took her first steps toward the life of a nomad by moving to Czechoslovakia as a volunteer teaching English. She loves exploring the world, and has traveled extensively alone.

CLICK HERE to jump to a list of the countries we’ve visited.

Q: You call your journey "The Gypsy Wagon Expedition," but actually you look perfectly equipped for your trek. Tell us about your gear and equipment. (J.S. in Bozeman, MT)

A: As is our usual style, we did a tremendous amount of research before we acquired our machinery and gear.

The GMC Yukon Denali met all of our very specific requirements, including serious off road ability, on-road comfort, and is spacious enough for us to easily 'camp' overnight in the back when the occasion arises (Don is over 6'2" tall). We did all of our research for the Denali via the Internet, and flew to Lovell, Wyoming from Washington, DC, to purchase it since a dealer there offered the lowest Internet price in the country. (Admittedly, this initial expense is not included in our monthly expense averages on Expedition Update page.) The 4wd Denali came with beautiful aluminum wheels and road tires, which we removed and put into storage. We then purchased rusty, scratched, nasty old wheels with locks and heavy-duty sand/snow/mud/off-road tires, which have been fearless.

Upon returning to the U.S. after our winter of off-roading in Mexico, we bought a travel trailer to pull behind the Denali for the trip to Canada and Alaska to serve as protection against bears and frosty nights. It is a 25-foot Terry, purchased in Saint George, Utah, after obtaining the best offers on this model from dealers all over the West. We also made several upgrades to our trailer, such as improved tires and batteries. The Gypsy Camp has been a very pleasant (if temporary) addition to our Gypsy Wagon Expedition. For that portion of our travels, we were happy to have a portable home for our stuff to follow us wherever we went, yet we could 'ditch' the trailer and go off-roading for days, when we chose.

For our other gear, we made many compromises in trying to keep the total weight down and, of course, accommodating space limitations.

Now that we are traveling in Europe and Asia, we have put nearly all of our Gypsy Gear (including vehicles) in storage in the US, and carry all necessities in Gypsy Packs on our backs. Currently, that's 75 lbs of gear, including the packs themselves. Of that, the laptop/electronics case alone weighs 22 lbs.

Rebecca's pack is an old REI convertible pack that's gone around Europe and Asia a couple of times (purchased for the EuroBabe Tour of the early 1990's by the three then-single Thetas). We acquired a "new" slightly used pack for Don on E-Bay (saving $100), which we bid upon while roving through various states and provinces. His is a great new model by Eagle Creek called Cross-Terrain, which is a convertible backpack (with detachable day pack) but has wheels for rolling around in airports and other flat stretches. Overall, we are pleased with our machinery and gear, and feel that all of our planning and research paid off well.

Q: How do you decide what to take with you? How do you handle, um, feminine items and other personal things? (I.O. Madison, WI)

A: On our upcoming trip to Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand and Laos, we are taking with us only two big backpacks, plus the medical supplies and other stuff we're delivering to the Kwai River Christian Hospital in Thailand and to some missionary friends of ours near there.

You'd be surprised how much stuff is available to buy in foreign countries. Rebecca has no trouble buying clothes, but we have to take all the clothes Don will wear for the next year, as he's so big and tall that it's nearly impossible to find clothes in his size.

Shoes are harder to find, in particular technical or especially rugged or comfortable shoes. We each are taking a pair of Teva sandals (we each bought new replacement pairs in the past few months while in America, although the Tevas we wore for the past 1.5 years are in fine condition, including a lone sandal of Becky's that ran off in the mouth of a stray Navajo dog in Monument Valley). We're also taking a pair of hiking boots for each of us, which are already broken in (purchased for the Borneo trip a few years ago, still in great shape). We'll store the boots in Thailand until we go to Nepal, when we'll need them.

We are taking a complete first aid kit, which includes a lot of small items that are so easy to find in America, but difficult to find in all other countries, like cough lozenges, multivitamins, pain killers, and antibiotics. As for feminine items, it's been interesting to figure out what women in different cultures do to comfort the same bodies that American women have.

Basically, we try to 'go native' as much as possible, however, I'm also taking a full year's worth of necessary supplies for our year overseas. In part this is because sometimes it's hard to figure out how and where to buy certain items, especially if you need them in a hurry.

Most of these things will remain in storage in Thailand, along with the boots, and we'll travel with a smaller amount of stuff. Wherever we go, we seem to buy the same items locally. Pots, pans, dishes, silverware are just too cumbersome to take with us everywhere, so these are things that we buy in each country, then usually leave them there. We also buy sheets and bedding wherever we go.

A: Mom, it's all a part of simplifying our lives. Did we really need closets of clothes? A person can only wear one thing at a time, and most of that junk we rarely used anyway. We gave most of it away, and in fact, Don doesn't even own a suit anymore. In order to live the kind of life we want to live and explore the world in this way, we've carefully filtered our material possessions down to nearly nothing. A closet full of clothes is just not necessary, and dragging around more stuff would slow us down. We're already carrying more than 75 pounds of stuff during our travels, and I have no use for another ounce of clothing. Besides, it's nice to buy a few items of local clothing wherever we go, to help us fit in a bit with locals.

As for our hair, yes, we're both trying something new and look a little different. I've learned that it's dangerous to get haircuts from hairstylist-strangers around the world. (We miss Sarvia's care and attention.) So we're letting it grow, and it's kind of fun. A new look for our new lives. AND, Don shaved off his mustache!

UPDATE: That didn't last long. He grew it back -- and added a beard to boot.

Q: How did you do with the language in Portugal? (A.M. Denver, CO)

A: Acceptably. We learned a little Portuguese, which was very helpful. Although Portuguese people, especially the older generation, won't readily admit to understanding Spanish or even admit to its similarity to Portuguese, there are so many similar words and concepts that it's not too difficult to communicate when all parties are willing participants.

Our Spanish classes in Mexico last winter paid dividends in Portugal. However, Rebecca had a fairly complex issue to discuss with a particular loud, rude Portuguese fellow who pretended to comprehend no Spanish. A kind, elderly man stepped up to help interpret, although he spoke no English, only Portuguese and French. Rebecca doesn't speak much French, but he explained the situation to her in French, she comprehended and replied in Spanish, and they discussed her Portuguese problem. (But the rude Portuguese guy still didn't care about her lost sweater.)

On the other hand, maybe we're not doing so well. While writing this, a Portuguese woman knocked on our door and asked us some questions, and we had no idea what she was talking about.

A: From the excellent CDC (US Center for Disease Control) website, we got the list of diseases to which we'd be exposed, and the drugs recommended for them. We were offended at the extremely high prices of treatment at various tropical disease clinics in the US, and we sought to avoid the very expensive "doctor's consultation" in which a medic would tell us what we needed according to the CDC. Why pay a hundred dollars for someone to take up our time to tell us what we already know? We had already examined the CDC's recommendations, compared what we needed with what we already had, and easily determined our needs for ourselves. Then we took the list of drugs around with us as we traveled from state to state, province to province throughout Canada, and later to Portugal, shopping for a bargain. But every place wanted hundreds of dollars! And of course, as with most insurance policies, our insurance would only cover us if we GET the disease, and won't cover anyone trying to PREVENT getting the disease.

So when we were in Arizona, we popped down to Algadones, Mexico, and received gamma globulin shots from a nurse at a pharmacy there. It was $5 for the same medicine as in the States. Still, we couldn't find the inoculation drugs for everything we needed, such as Japanese Encephalitis. (One of shots costs $110 in the States, and a person needs three shots!) We made the calculated decision not to get vaccinated for this, but to avoid bathing where wild or domesticated pigs are also bathing, and this should significantly cut our chances of contracting J.E. Also, we both received the full regimen of preventative medication before our trip to the outback jungles of Borneo two years ago, so some of our medicines are still valid or borderline valid (yellow fever, polio, cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A and B, and tetanus-diphtheria for example). Meanwhile, we're careful about mosquitoes, wear 30% Deet repellent most of the time, and are very watchful for any signs of sickness - especially now that we occasionally hang around the missionary hospital which specializes in tuberculosis, malaria, and leprosy.

We carry medical inoculation cards with us, which are required in some countries, and which describe in detail which vaccinations we've had and when we received them. It's a good idea to carry this documentation in any case, as some countries may make us have certain shots or tests, if we can't prove that we've already had them. (For example, Rebecca had to have numerous hideous and unsanitary blood tests done in Eastern Europe, since she had no documentation proving she didn't have tuberculosis, AIDS, polio, and other diseases.)

For real emergencies, we do have a kind of supplemental insurance that comes with one expensive credit card we keep. We can call them collect from anywhere in the world and, if medically necessary, they will pay to evacuate us to the nearest medical facility or even back to the US.

We recently refitted our first aid kit with all kinds of drugs for our future self-medication, which we purchased at bargain prices in Mexico. We take anti-malarial medicine weekly, although no malaria prevention method is guaranteed and SE Asia's tropical mosquitoes are very resistant. We have all kinds of other stuff: antibiotics, various pain killers, multiple skin solvents, medicine for colds and flus, snakebites, Montezuma's Revenge, problems of the eyes, ears, teeth… We are covered for a vast variety of medical ills, including those we've never had, in case we may be stricken someday far away from medical professionals. (We learned ALL about preparation for this kind of experience when we were in Borneo. If we hadn't been able to take care of ourselves in case of a serious sickness or injury, we would have died in the jungle. No doubt about it.) We have an excellent little stash of drugs and medical supplies that would help us (or someone else) survive until getting proper medical attention. Some countries have easier or more difficult ways to get pharmacy medicine than we're accustomed to, including occasional bribery of the pharmacists (which Becky did in Czechoslovakia many years ago). We find that it's easier to be prepared for minor problems, rather than work our way through local health care systems around the world.

In our medical kit, we've tossed out most of the packaging, keeping just the instructions/indications sheet in a sealed zip lock bag along with the drugs themselves. The whole thing fits in a gallon sized zip lock bag. When we go on shorter excursions and we take only an overnight pack, we take a smaller version of our kit. All of this planning works wonderfully, and we're rarely caught unprepared or unable to help a stranger in need. This is a great plan, until that terrible day in the future when a cranky customs agent in a country infested with illicit-drugs, asks what I'm doing with all of these colorful pills.

Q: Do you miss your family and friends? (M.M. in Omaha, NE)

A: Not yet!

Just kidding. Of course we miss them. Especially we miss casual conversations of everyday life. Now that we're abroad, we stay in touch via the Internet, which is a sensational, invaluable tool for people who travel.

If the technology didn't exist for us to have low-cost and relatively reliable contact with friends and family, we probably wouldn't have felt comfortable going on the expedition at all, or would have planned more frequent returns "home" (well, their homes, as we don't have one).

A: Yes, and yes.

Q: Do you see a lot of Buddhists in Thailand? Are you studying that religion while you are there? (BK, Denver, Colorado. November 2000)

A: Absolutely there are. Although the national policy encourages acceptance of all religions, over 95 percent of Thais are Buddhist, and we are learning things every day about their beliefs and daily practices.

By the way, there are more Hindus than Christians in the country, and because we were raised to know the meaning of Christmas, we are, of course, immediately labeled as Christians.

Our Thai acquaintances know few non-Buddhists, and none have expressed any curiosity in learning details, such as variations within Christianity, like the difference between Catholics, Baptists, Congregationalists, 'Born Agains,' Christian Science followers, etc. It's all the same in their eyes, it seems -- which is an interesting perspective in itself.

We respect Thailand's Theravada Buddhism, and constantly see the impact that it has had on the history and development of this country. In Thailand, as with most nations outside of the US, there is little attempt to separate of church and state. (The Royal Family are the only people in Thailand who are required to be Buddhists.)

There is much to learn, and Thais often think we understand more about it than we do. However, we understand the meaning of offerings to the spirits in their Spirit Houses, the importance of becoming a monk (which nearly all Thai men do, if only briefly), and the significance of things we see in Wats (temples of worship) as well as the value of meditation according to the teachings of Lord Buddha. It's a fascinating religion.

Any curiosity we had in becoming Buddhists, however, has been calmed at least for now. In large part, this has to do with our conversations with a Canadian man and an American woman we met recently. They had just come from an intensive ten-day Buddhist meditation seminar, focusing on discomfort and simplification of daily life. Kerry Rosenthal sent an e-mail to her friends describing her experience. Here's an excerpt.

"I am very happy to say that the retreat is over and I survived. It was pretty hard. I got to Suan Mokkh on Oct. 31 to find out that the retreat was COMPLETELY silent. Not a word was supposed to be spoken for 10 days. At that point I briefly reconsidered.

"We were issued rooms that were less inviting than most prison cells - and given a straw mat, mosquito net and a blanket. The room had a concrete slab for a bed and a wooden pillow. We were told that during the retreat we would follow the 8 precepts of the monastic order - no intoxicants, no sex, no eating between noon and dawn the next morning, no false speech, no taking anything that was not given...etc. (You get the idea).

"The bell rang to wake us every morning at 4:00 am and at 4:30 we were expected to be in the meditation hall where we heard a reading and then meditated for 40 minutes, had an exercise class, then the abbot would speak to us for 40 minutes in very broken English and a monotone voice, and then more meditation and at 8:00 was breakfast -- a rice porridge that was not something you'd be eager to get out of bed for.

"Then we did chores (I cleaned the toilets!) and had an hour of free time but we still couldn't talk. The day went on with more lectures and more meditation (12 hours a day of sitting, standing, or walking meditation minus maybe three hours of lecture) and lunch at 12:30, after which we did not eat till the next morning.

"Okay - so you MAY be asking yourself "why the hell did she stay?!" EXCELLENT question. I don't know exactly. Perhaps there was the hope that I would reach a breakthrough point that would make it worth it - no such luck. One person convinced me to stay, then he reached a breaking point and left on Day 7. It was a long final 4 days, but the natural setting was spectacular. It is set in Thailand's tropical rain forest on the southern coast. It was so gorgeous.

I shared my cell with a lizard named Liz who was about 10 inches long and pretty impressive - as well as a spider that was as big as a tarantula (but I was told it was harmless) and several geckos. Every night we were treated to the most amazing bat show. Several different species would fly through the dining hall as we drank tea - one of them had a 12-inch wingspan.

"Getting up at 4:00 am was pretty neat - the rain forest is so beautiful at that hour. And you never had any trouble hearing the sounds (since there were no human ones). But since the retreat finished yesterday morning I have felt let out of jail. I spent 12 nights on a concrete slab and am taking a night train to BKK. That bed is going to feel excellent." (KR, New Hampshire)

A. Of course, we respect the King very much. We would never criticize a thing about him, because he is a very admirable man, and the world would be a better place if more national leaders were like him.

King Rama IX, also known as Bhumipol, is actually a very interesting fellow, and deserves (and certainly gets!) the respect of Thai people. He was never expected to become King, and was inauspiciously born in Massachusetts in 1927, where his father was studying medicine at Harvard. The reigning king at the time was his uncle, who abdicated without an heir in 1935.

Meanwhile, Bhumipol's father died, then his older brother was named king but died eleven years later. Therefore, our American-born Prince Bhumipol became King at age 19, and is now the longest serving King in the history of Siam.

The young King completed college in Switzerland, during which he had a terrible car accident and lost an eye, then met and married the beautiful daughter of Thailand's ambassador to France. He returned to Thailand to take the throne, and continued to develop his interest of playing and writing jazz music. He plays many instruments including the sax, and has held impromptu jam sessions in the Royal Palace. And he's played with all of the famous jazz musicians and band leaders, and even joined Benny Goodman's orchestra in New York in the 1960's.

According to our Moon Travel Handbook, when the King was playing with Lionel Hampton's orchestra, Lionel introduced his saxophonist as the "coolest king in the land." Can you imagine how wild it would have been to be sitting in the audience and hear that the saxophonist is the King of Siam?

The King is also a great sailor, and is an award-winning yacht designer. In early December 2000, we will go to the King's Cup Regatta held on the King's birthday each year in Phuket. It's become one of the premiere sailing events in Asia, although we'll find out for ourselves soon enough.

In short, this King and his royal family are doing a wonderful job, have brought the nation through difficult times, are very forward thinking, are talented in many arts, and work hard to help the poorest of their people. Although the government is run by the Prime Minister, an appointed Senate, and an elected House of Representatives, the King is one of the most powerful royal figures you will find in the world. Thai people hold the King in the absolute highest esteem, and he is a semi-divine being who represents all that is good about Thai culture since its inception.

As Americans who survived the unending disrespect, humiliation, and dishonesty hurled at us by a selfish recent president, it's kind of refreshing to be in a place where the leader handles his duties seriously and selflessly, with his citizens' concerns as his single top priority, and he is thus rewarded with deep respect from his subjects.

To answer your question, no one speaks badly about the King, but if they did, they could get up to seven years in prison.

Also do yourself a favor, and throw away your videotape of the musical movie, "The King and I," which is a wildly inaccurate and humiliating portrayal of King Rama IV, who is one of the most intelligent and revered Kings in Thai history. And by the way, this movie happens to be banned in Thailand.

Q: How can you two keep up with the paperwork of daily life? Is the IRS after you, or have your credit card companies canceled your credit because you didn't pay your bills? (S.T., Phoenix, AZ)

A: We are trying to become 'paperless' people. We're almost there. All of our most important transactions and correspondence are via e-mail or accessible on the Internet. We have very few monthly bills, and we put them on a single credit card. The credit card bill is paid automatically every month from our account with a broker in Washington, DC. We examine the statements thoroughly via the Internet.

Similarly, we use this card for ATM withdrawals in foreign countries, thus obtaining local currency quickly, easily, at a decent rate, and avoiding the archaic practice of exchanging cash at a bank with a clerk who wants to inspect our passport and charge a commission. We do occasionally have special purchases that we'll put on a different credit card for some reason. When that happens, we immediately mail in a payment check, knowing the bill couldn't reach us before it would be overdue.

We carry backup credit cards that we don't use. Most of these accounts are accessible to us on-line, so we can monitor our statements for potential billing errors or fraud. We do receive a small amount of real live "mail," and keep a Post Office Box in Rebecca's hometown. However, much of the mail received there is junk, or old news. When our mailbox gets full, the wonderful Rose Wall sends it to us at whatever address we have at the moment. It's worked perfectly so far.

Old-fashioned paper mail is not usually time-sensitive or personal to us, so we don't worry about receiving it often. For example, we were in Portugal for nearly two months, and didn't consider having our mail sent there.

Of course, we still file federal tax returns, prepared by our accountant per our e-mail instructions. He mails them to us wherever we are, in plenty of time for us to file them by April 15. (Fortunately, South Dakota has no state income tax, so there are no state returns to prepare. We don't miss Virginia that much!) When you're jobless and homeless and have all financial accounts in one place, the tax preparation process is not difficult. And of course, we voted in the November 2000 elections, via absentee ballot in South Dakota, since we've been in Thailand since October.

Q: You mentioned that your Portugal apartment is three times more expensive than the one you had in Mexico. How much did you pay and why? (P.H., Livingston, Montana)

A: Our Sintra apartment cost more in the initial days and was less so later, averaging out at 850 USD per month. This area is a prime destination for people from all across Europe in the summer. Very few accommodations were available at any reasonable price.

We lived in La Penita de Jaltemba, Mexico, which is a typical working town, and most out-of-country visitors rush to Puerto Vallarta, further south, resulting in higher lodging costs in PV but not La Penita.

We couldn't afford to live in one of the most expensive areas of Portugal at high season for more than a couple of months -- but during these 49 days, it's worth the premium. We considered moving to an interesting yet less expensive Portuguese village, but decided that we were better off in Sintra.

A: We initially gave up on that idea when we realized that if we didn't spend money on a new sailboat with all kinds of electronic goodies, we could begin our expedition five years sooner! But since then two things have happened: Our desire to be back at the helm has increased dramatically, and we've come to accept that a less expensive, used sailboat can sail us to the same beautiful locations. As for size, an ocean going sailboat is as big or as small as one desires and can afford -- people have crossed oceans in 12 footers.

We owned a comfortable and beautiful 30' sailboat, and loved it although it was not designed for blue water cruising. We're trying to be open-minded about what we want in our next boat.

Currently, the sailboats we're considering are 38-46 feet, fiberglass ketch-rig with a center cockpit. We have seriously considered the Tayana 42, which is a fine blue water boat. Whatever we end up with will be safe and comfortable, because it will be our home on the seas and in anchorages wherever we go, for a long time.

Q: We love your website! Who made it for you, and how do you keep it updated on the road? It gets better and better. (A.R. in Winthrop, Minnesota)

A: We created and designed our website by ourselves, and do our own updates. We used WebExpress software, which we do not recommend because they proved useless in resolving problems. We now use NetObjects Fusion to create this site. Our web host is AM Hosting, and they’re great.

Each country has different Internet accessibility and capabilities, but here's how we do it in Thailand, which is the easiest it's been in our travels to date. We write updates and link photos from our Kodak 280 digital camera on our Dell 7500 laptop, and copy the updates onto several floppies. Then we go to one of several inexpensive 'cyber cafes' which charge by the hour. By the way, these are not actual pleasant cafes, but businesses with many computer terminals and are popular with school kids. Then we secretly load our FTP (file transfer program, ours is called Cute) onto their computer, and upload our updates to our website. This usually takes only a few minutes, but on slow computers (which we've learned to avoid!) it can take hours. When finished, we remove our FTP and related passwords, so that no one else can access our website using that computer. Presto, we're done!

Now that we dropped archaic AOL (see "Companies We Despise") and stopped pretending that their service was useful, this updating process is infinitely easier. Occasionally we have been stuck for weeks without any Internet access, so send our updates via mail (floppies) or email to Don's old friend Jerry Pyle in Basin, Wyoming who uploads our information to our website.

UPDATE May, 2004. We now use a 5MP Minolta camera, and love it. We also have a new Dell Inspiron 8500 and backup our data, including 17GB worth of photos, onto DVD disks. Shortly we’ll change the backup to a separate 160GB external drive.

Q: You mentioned hiking up a mountain to the Castelo de Mouros and Pena Palace from your apartment in Portugal. Isn't there a road up to those places? (B.F. Washington, DC., September 2000)

A. There certainly IS a road -- most of the way, at least. And there was frequent bus service too. But that's the difference between tourists and explorers -- tourists take the tour bus. Gypsies take the slower, but more beautiful and fulfilling footpath -- smelling the roses along the way.

Not only did we make all kinds of interesting discoveries on the way up, but the climb give us a sense of accomplishment. Besides, we had a lot more time to recover from the trek than typical tourists. We are smelling the roses, while the smelly bus zooms to the top.

End of year 2000 questions.

Go to Q&A 2001