One kind of travel was easier back then. But first: About 35 years ago, while in grad school, I took a summer course in Vicenza Italy. I traveled quite a bit around the region that summer, as the class was only held mornings, and only during the week. So as soon as it finished each day at Noon, I'd head to the train station and grab a train to some town I'd read about the night before. (I relied almost solely on a book by Paul Hoffman, who had been a Rome Correspondent for the NY Times for many years -- the book, "Cento Citta: A Guide to the "Hundred Cities & Towns" of Italy.") Usually I'd return late that night, but occasionally I'd stay for the evening and return in the morning, just in time for class. Each Friday, I'd leave for places much further for the weekend, returning Sunday evening, usually (and occasionally on Monday morning).
It was VERY easy to stay someplace on the fly in almost any Italian town back then. There was always a tourist office near the train station, and if I planned to stay over, I'd pop in the office and ask them to find me a place for the evening or weekend.
I was never disappointed. It was such a lovely service.
I can't imagine doing that today, though of course I could check online through booking.com or Airbnb or any of several sites to find myself something myself -- but in tourist-packed Italy these days, I wonder whether I'd be able to find anything at all the day of, or night before, especially during summer. (I was still paying off my student loans, including from that summer, for about 10 years after grad school, but it was the best money I ever spent!)
I didn't start traveling until later than that, but it DOES feel like people were so lovely and friendly and helpful, even in the 90s! (People are still lovely, but they are understandably jaded too).
In a way, you're right, it wasn't difficult at all. There was always a friend to help you out.
I have even more mixed feelings about Kusadasi and environmental damage, because my grandmother had a house in Kadinlar Denizi, and when I used to visit as a kid in the early 80s (when, yes, travel was difficult! My parents needed an agent to find us the most affordable flights, layovers could last up to 10 hours...but kids could travel on their own with barely a look-in from an airline assistant!), the beach was still relatively empty, there were still tiny sand insects hopping about, and natural grasses extended from the shoreline to the sand. Now the sand is "dead", all the grasses have been paved over, and many of the rocks have been blasted away to extend the piers of various hotels.
It's been a decade since I've seen the place and I'm afraid to go back! <3
(On the other hand, I'm loving revisiting Turkey vicariously through both of you! Please eat some pide for me!)
And remember having to get travelers' checks and change money beforehand? (Actually I still like to have a little local cash on hand, because you never know. We landed in Iceland at the crack of dawn, and it was handy to have krona for the only place open that could sell us a muffin and juice.)
I still find it possible to be surprised by places, though. I'm not on Instagram and don't see huge amounts of photos and videos online before visiting a place. But even when you see something familiar like the Eiffel Tower or Michelangelo's David or the Rocky Mountains or Multnomah Falls, it's still different from seeing it on a little screen. It's bigger, it's three-dimensional, it's real! Then there are the non-visual aspects: the smells, sounds, tastes, temperature, and so on. The mist from a waterfall, the creamy sweetness of true Italian gelato, the smell of an evergreen forest, can not be felt from an online picture.
The aridity of Hawaii's leeward coasts surprised me, as did the free-range chickens roaming everywhere (I had never seen any posts about that before!) and the coarseness of black sand. I had seen tons of pictures of Hawaii, but being there was very different.
And I don't think you need to feel guilty about your newsletter. You always encourage mindfulness and responsibility as visitors, and although I hope to do some traveling, for me your newsletter is still largely a vicarious joy. You go a lot of places I'm never going to go myself, and I wouldn't otherwise get to see or learn about them.
I was one of a several college faculty who took American students to London in 2008. It took my deep knowledge of my native UK and of the US to find ways to slow them down, and get them to look, and talk to people. It was one of my most worthwhile teaching experiences, of which I'm very proud. But now I wonder if I erred in encouraging travel. Most tourists blunder abroad in search of novelty, and quickly get bored, while spoiling the places they visit. It's sad.
LOL Yes, we're starting to feel very guilty about this newsletter, despite the fact that we KNOW most of our readers are thoughtful travelers. But someone tells two people and they tell two people...and so on and so on.
Change is usually good but the pace is so fast these days. Ug.
Keep writing. I have many armchair travelers reading me, and given the places I go, like Miami (the one in Oklahoma) and other underappreciated bits of America, they're not likely to follow. And that's ok! It's ok not to have a bucket list! It's ok to read Brent and Michael instead of trying to follow them everywhere! And see how they have a great time in non-tourist places! Read travel accounts, novels, memoirs, and histories, folks. We all don't have to go everywhere. Going somewhere well is the most important thing. ❤️
I just returned from a 13 day deep dive all around Morocco and your views were exactly how I felt. I was 30-40 years to late to experience the "real" and exotic Morocco. The place was mobbed and turned into a dumbed down tourist trap..
Well, here's some irony for you. I took a picture from the exact same spot overlooking Vernazza that you two were standing in ... And speaking of Cinque Terre - and the mobs of travelers ... I don't know, the little quaint things you see on your hike, just seem so less quaint when there are so many tourists around. It feels almost like Disneyland. I also felt the same about visiting Venice - first time in 1982, second in 2012. You are making a really good point about how easy it is, it becomes so much harder to find places that are special anymore. By the same token, how will it be 20 years from now? Will we remember the places we visit today as uncrowded compared to how it will be then? I hate to think about that.
That's exactly right! That's exactly the point! People waiting in line to take the same Instagram photos. I did like the Cinque Terre but it TOTALLY felt like Disneyland, like a museum, with various set pieces. Not "authentic" at all anymore.
Re: 20 years from now. Yeah, I ask the same question. How much crazier can it get?? But somehow it will, I know. Oy!
As is probably true for most of your readers, this brings up a lot of memories. Those weirdly cheap student tickets you could get on KLM and the like to get from the U.S. to Europe, and the student-priced rail passes. How you had to puzzle together trips from travel guides (I traveled by bus and hostel along the coast of Turkey in 1997 with some friends and can't remember how we put it together). My family was very poor and didn't travel at all when I was young--we camped locally--but in college it doesn't seem like it was that hard, by comparison to today, to work enough waitressing shifts for a small trip. And somehow, I've lost a sense of wanderlust. Mostly I want to get to know where I live more deeply every year. Are these things related? Maybe.
Oh, that's a good point about student travel! Rail passes and hostels. Sadly, the hostel prices are exploding, I hear (but only in Western Europe, not in places beyond, so maybe it's the market righting itself a bit).
Hey, life is seasons! I swear it is. I am in one season now, but I know it will pass. (Shhh, don't tell Michael. He never wants to stop traveling!)
Great piece. Living in Costa Rica and building a thriving tourism business in a small beach town over the past 20 years, I have seen many changes. And yes, it was not all good. I would try and look past my own greed and personal desire for my own vision of paradise on numerous occasions and ask myself, “Am I part of the problem or part of the solution?” I never was 100% clear on that.
But like you observed, where would the community be without the tourists? In my town, it was clear. The lucky ones would be working on Banana Plantations. There was nothing else.
Over the years, until I became a citizen, I became less involved in the discussion on the subject. Why? Because I realized ultimately I was a guest in this country and the destiny of the town or country was not my place to decide. Yes, I owned a business with many employees, but that does not give you a seat at the table in deciding a country’s future. I made a conscious decision to allow the democratic process prevail for better or worse. If ultimately I didn’t like it, I could leave. My life became much more peaceful when I adopted that attitude rather than be constantly preoccupied about what everyone else is doing when really I had no right or place to do so.
Eventually I became a full citizen of Costa Rica and now participate in the democratic process. Even, still, I try and acknowledge I come from a place of privilege and am 63 years old. Who I am to decide the future of my much younger staff and their families? I try and think about what they want and discuss that with them. Ultimately I got basically the same answer you did from residents of SMA.
One thing that was absent in your article, is that it’s clear in many places that over tourism is a problem and becoming a bigger one. While there is no clear answer to how to solve that, local and federal governments can take steps to mitigate many of the issues. One of the biggest problems is affordable housing. It’s very clear that unrestricted, unlicensed, untaxed vacation rentals (aka Airbnbs) suck up a lot of affordable housing. And no… it’s not the foreign owners who are leading the way in exasperating this problem. Local citizens own and rent out far more properties than foreigners and do so to the highest bidders. Also in my country, they are more experienced in getting around taxation and the laws are applied less aggressively to citizens then they are foreign owned properties.
Yes, the upshot is that there will be less places to stay, and that means higher prices. But… that is just the way our capitalist system works.
Governments can also introduce caps on arrivals at certain times of the year and try and spread visitors in to lower seasons. They can also add accommodation taxes to popular cities and therefore help encourage people to explore other parts of the country.
There are many tools in the toolbox they can use. And yes, most tourists will not like these measures. But, in efforts to keep places sustainable, measures must be taken. And if tourists don’t like the measures the government has implemented, it’s a big world. There are many places to go that will bend over backwards to accommodate more tourists.
As a long time resident/citizen of Costa Rica, I now live in the country in the mountains. I too got very tired of living amongst the throngs of tourists and paying the high prices. I don’t miss it one bit. But I full appreciate and celebrate the people that visit these places and the local communities that overall lived much more economically sustainable futures because of them.
Oh, how interesting to have witnessed it all over twenty years! Interesting and depressing. We feel like we've seen in absolutely REVOLUTION in just the last eight years of our travels.
Re: overtourism -- that's Part 2, which will be published tomorrow. Not sure if folks want to read THIS MUCH about this year, but hey, we had/ have a lot to say, and it's an interesting issue, central to our experiences.
In Part 2, we also talk about government solutions, of which there are many. And things ARE happening! Prices are rising too, which should be a deterrent.
excellent discussion and I think your conclusion is very "balanced".. I have friends who have lived there for several years and are making good contributions to the community but also elevating the knowledge and appreciation people like me have of the Mexican culture they now live in by writing about it.. just like you are. I appreciate all of you..
I've been enjoying your comments during your stay here in San Miguel de Allende, and also enjoyed your visit with Vail, since we've known her and her parents (both Americans) for the entire 19 years we've lived here. So glad you've enjoyed your visit..
Great piece as always guys.. I plan to stay a couple of months in Cdmx later this year and will be exploring the area as well. Take care.. Was good to meet you in PV in February!
As long-time (18 years) residents os San Miguel de Allende, we can agree with your assessment of the wealth disparity here, but since the entire economy of the area depends on tourism and the expat community, the Mexican community more or less accepts us. We’re sure there are exceptions, but in all our years here we’ve never, for even a moment, felt any negative “vibes” from our Mexican neighbors. But since you’re in town, we'd love to meet you guys, so contact us. Ron & Fred
LOL. Your picture of Chimney B looks a lot like a section of a hike that Gary and I inadvertently did in Brazil. ( When Alltrails rated the hike as "moderate," perhaps they should have added the qualifier of "for a 20-year-old in great shape." ). It was the most challenging hike I have ever done and certainly not one I will ever do again. But I have to admit, the adrenaline rush when we made it back to the car 4.5 hours later was a high I will never forget. I think travel has made me more of a risk-taker, but I do read those AllTrails reviews with a more skeptical eye nowadays.
See, this is key though. That was at least a "trail"! I think it is virtually ALWAYS a bad idea to leave a trail because...something looks kinda cool? LOL
It's funny. Travel has made me much more comfortable doing certain things -- but only because I know how that my fears were completely unjustified and they weren't really "risky" at all. I dunno, it's complicated, isn't it?
You know, Trump will fix this (like he's fixing everything else).
I also miss the "good old days" of easy travel and and communication, and not being in a mass of people. I suspect that Trump will fix that too - no will look nicely upon us and with the economy in flux, well, maybe it won't be possible to travel. Like with many things lately the US is in a bad place.
I am in Mexico. Now many of my subscribed sites think I am a bandito. With now ubiquitous 2 and 3 verification checks my "trusted devices" no longer trust me!
I suggest renting the movie Brazil. Once Ai gets fully ensconced by all the CEOs who say it's the future we will wish we were living on the Scottish Hebrides!
One kind of travel was easier back then. But first: About 35 years ago, while in grad school, I took a summer course in Vicenza Italy. I traveled quite a bit around the region that summer, as the class was only held mornings, and only during the week. So as soon as it finished each day at Noon, I'd head to the train station and grab a train to some town I'd read about the night before. (I relied almost solely on a book by Paul Hoffman, who had been a Rome Correspondent for the NY Times for many years -- the book, "Cento Citta: A Guide to the "Hundred Cities & Towns" of Italy.") Usually I'd return late that night, but occasionally I'd stay for the evening and return in the morning, just in time for class. Each Friday, I'd leave for places much further for the weekend, returning Sunday evening, usually (and occasionally on Monday morning).
It was VERY easy to stay someplace on the fly in almost any Italian town back then. There was always a tourist office near the train station, and if I planned to stay over, I'd pop in the office and ask them to find me a place for the evening or weekend.
I was never disappointed. It was such a lovely service.
I can't imagine doing that today, though of course I could check online through booking.com or Airbnb or any of several sites to find myself something myself -- but in tourist-packed Italy these days, I wonder whether I'd be able to find anything at all the day of, or night before, especially during summer. (I was still paying off my student loans, including from that summer, for about 10 years after grad school, but it was the best money I ever spent!)
Oh, those are lovely memories!
I didn't start traveling until later than that, but it DOES feel like people were so lovely and friendly and helpful, even in the 90s! (People are still lovely, but they are understandably jaded too).
In a way, you're right, it wasn't difficult at all. There was always a friend to help you out.
I miss the spontaneity of traveling before the internet too. Finding a place to stay was part of the adventure.
I have even more mixed feelings about Kusadasi and environmental damage, because my grandmother had a house in Kadinlar Denizi, and when I used to visit as a kid in the early 80s (when, yes, travel was difficult! My parents needed an agent to find us the most affordable flights, layovers could last up to 10 hours...but kids could travel on their own with barely a look-in from an airline assistant!), the beach was still relatively empty, there were still tiny sand insects hopping about, and natural grasses extended from the shoreline to the sand. Now the sand is "dead", all the grasses have been paved over, and many of the rocks have been blasted away to extend the piers of various hotels.
It's been a decade since I've seen the place and I'm afraid to go back! <3
(On the other hand, I'm loving revisiting Turkey vicariously through both of you! Please eat some pide for me!)
Oh, how very very sad. I have these same feelings about the (mobbed dead) beaches and rivers near my home town.
You would not recognize it, i'm afraid.
But we do love Turkey! As for the pide, DEAL!
And remember having to get travelers' checks and change money beforehand? (Actually I still like to have a little local cash on hand, because you never know. We landed in Iceland at the crack of dawn, and it was handy to have krona for the only place open that could sell us a muffin and juice.)
I still find it possible to be surprised by places, though. I'm not on Instagram and don't see huge amounts of photos and videos online before visiting a place. But even when you see something familiar like the Eiffel Tower or Michelangelo's David or the Rocky Mountains or Multnomah Falls, it's still different from seeing it on a little screen. It's bigger, it's three-dimensional, it's real! Then there are the non-visual aspects: the smells, sounds, tastes, temperature, and so on. The mist from a waterfall, the creamy sweetness of true Italian gelato, the smell of an evergreen forest, can not be felt from an online picture.
The aridity of Hawaii's leeward coasts surprised me, as did the free-range chickens roaming everywhere (I had never seen any posts about that before!) and the coarseness of black sand. I had seen tons of pictures of Hawaii, but being there was very different.
And I don't think you need to feel guilty about your newsletter. You always encourage mindfulness and responsibility as visitors, and although I hope to do some traveling, for me your newsletter is still largely a vicarious joy. You go a lot of places I'm never going to go myself, and I wouldn't otherwise get to see or learn about them.
Oh Lord, travelers' checks! Insane. But remember them well. LOL
It's a good point how reality differs from the photo or the video. Very very true!
Appreciate the kind words, as always.
I was one of a several college faculty who took American students to London in 2008. It took my deep knowledge of my native UK and of the US to find ways to slow them down, and get them to look, and talk to people. It was one of my most worthwhile teaching experiences, of which I'm very proud. But now I wonder if I erred in encouraging travel. Most tourists blunder abroad in search of novelty, and quickly get bored, while spoiling the places they visit. It's sad.
LOL Yes, we're starting to feel very guilty about this newsletter, despite the fact that we KNOW most of our readers are thoughtful travelers. But someone tells two people and they tell two people...and so on and so on.
Change is usually good but the pace is so fast these days. Ug.
Keep writing. I have many armchair travelers reading me, and given the places I go, like Miami (the one in Oklahoma) and other underappreciated bits of America, they're not likely to follow. And that's ok! It's ok not to have a bucket list! It's ok to read Brent and Michael instead of trying to follow them everywhere! And see how they have a great time in non-tourist places! Read travel accounts, novels, memoirs, and histories, folks. We all don't have to go everywhere. Going somewhere well is the most important thing. ❤️
Very well said!
I just returned from a 13 day deep dive all around Morocco and your views were exactly how I felt. I was 30-40 years to late to experience the "real" and exotic Morocco. The place was mobbed and turned into a dumbed down tourist trap..
My first international trip in 1078... Tahiti.
Travel was very different then.
Very very mixed feelings, no? (I DO think one can still go "off the beaten path." But at some point, that really will be impossible...)
And thank you.
Well, here's some irony for you. I took a picture from the exact same spot overlooking Vernazza that you two were standing in ... And speaking of Cinque Terre - and the mobs of travelers ... I don't know, the little quaint things you see on your hike, just seem so less quaint when there are so many tourists around. It feels almost like Disneyland. I also felt the same about visiting Venice - first time in 1982, second in 2012. You are making a really good point about how easy it is, it becomes so much harder to find places that are special anymore. By the same token, how will it be 20 years from now? Will we remember the places we visit today as uncrowded compared to how it will be then? I hate to think about that.
That's exactly right! That's exactly the point! People waiting in line to take the same Instagram photos. I did like the Cinque Terre but it TOTALLY felt like Disneyland, like a museum, with various set pieces. Not "authentic" at all anymore.
Re: 20 years from now. Yeah, I ask the same question. How much crazier can it get?? But somehow it will, I know. Oy!
As is probably true for most of your readers, this brings up a lot of memories. Those weirdly cheap student tickets you could get on KLM and the like to get from the U.S. to Europe, and the student-priced rail passes. How you had to puzzle together trips from travel guides (I traveled by bus and hostel along the coast of Turkey in 1997 with some friends and can't remember how we put it together). My family was very poor and didn't travel at all when I was young--we camped locally--but in college it doesn't seem like it was that hard, by comparison to today, to work enough waitressing shifts for a small trip. And somehow, I've lost a sense of wanderlust. Mostly I want to get to know where I live more deeply every year. Are these things related? Maybe.
Taylor Swift always said it best! 👸🏼
Oh, that's a good point about student travel! Rail passes and hostels. Sadly, the hostel prices are exploding, I hear (but only in Western Europe, not in places beyond, so maybe it's the market righting itself a bit).
Hey, life is seasons! I swear it is. I am in one season now, but I know it will pass. (Shhh, don't tell Michael. He never wants to stop traveling!)
I agree with you! But we'll keep it between us 🤫🫢😂
Great piece. Living in Costa Rica and building a thriving tourism business in a small beach town over the past 20 years, I have seen many changes. And yes, it was not all good. I would try and look past my own greed and personal desire for my own vision of paradise on numerous occasions and ask myself, “Am I part of the problem or part of the solution?” I never was 100% clear on that.
But like you observed, where would the community be without the tourists? In my town, it was clear. The lucky ones would be working on Banana Plantations. There was nothing else.
Over the years, until I became a citizen, I became less involved in the discussion on the subject. Why? Because I realized ultimately I was a guest in this country and the destiny of the town or country was not my place to decide. Yes, I owned a business with many employees, but that does not give you a seat at the table in deciding a country’s future. I made a conscious decision to allow the democratic process prevail for better or worse. If ultimately I didn’t like it, I could leave. My life became much more peaceful when I adopted that attitude rather than be constantly preoccupied about what everyone else is doing when really I had no right or place to do so.
Eventually I became a full citizen of Costa Rica and now participate in the democratic process. Even, still, I try and acknowledge I come from a place of privilege and am 63 years old. Who I am to decide the future of my much younger staff and their families? I try and think about what they want and discuss that with them. Ultimately I got basically the same answer you did from residents of SMA.
One thing that was absent in your article, is that it’s clear in many places that over tourism is a problem and becoming a bigger one. While there is no clear answer to how to solve that, local and federal governments can take steps to mitigate many of the issues. One of the biggest problems is affordable housing. It’s very clear that unrestricted, unlicensed, untaxed vacation rentals (aka Airbnbs) suck up a lot of affordable housing. And no… it’s not the foreign owners who are leading the way in exasperating this problem. Local citizens own and rent out far more properties than foreigners and do so to the highest bidders. Also in my country, they are more experienced in getting around taxation and the laws are applied less aggressively to citizens then they are foreign owned properties.
Yes, the upshot is that there will be less places to stay, and that means higher prices. But… that is just the way our capitalist system works.
Governments can also introduce caps on arrivals at certain times of the year and try and spread visitors in to lower seasons. They can also add accommodation taxes to popular cities and therefore help encourage people to explore other parts of the country.
There are many tools in the toolbox they can use. And yes, most tourists will not like these measures. But, in efforts to keep places sustainable, measures must be taken. And if tourists don’t like the measures the government has implemented, it’s a big world. There are many places to go that will bend over backwards to accommodate more tourists.
As a long time resident/citizen of Costa Rica, I now live in the country in the mountains. I too got very tired of living amongst the throngs of tourists and paying the high prices. I don’t miss it one bit. But I full appreciate and celebrate the people that visit these places and the local communities that overall lived much more economically sustainable futures because of them.
Oh, how interesting to have witnessed it all over twenty years! Interesting and depressing. We feel like we've seen in absolutely REVOLUTION in just the last eight years of our travels.
Re: overtourism -- that's Part 2, which will be published tomorrow. Not sure if folks want to read THIS MUCH about this year, but hey, we had/ have a lot to say, and it's an interesting issue, central to our experiences.
In Part 2, we also talk about government solutions, of which there are many. And things ARE happening! Prices are rising too, which should be a deterrent.
excellent discussion and I think your conclusion is very "balanced".. I have friends who have lived there for several years and are making good contributions to the community but also elevating the knowledge and appreciation people like me have of the Mexican culture they now live in by writing about it.. just like you are. I appreciate all of you..
So nice of you to say!
Thanks, Patricia!
I've been enjoying your comments during your stay here in San Miguel de Allende, and also enjoyed your visit with Vail, since we've known her and her parents (both Americans) for the entire 19 years we've lived here. So glad you've enjoyed your visit..
She really is terrific! Thanks for the nice words...
Great piece as always guys.. I plan to stay a couple of months in Cdmx later this year and will be exploring the area as well. Take care.. Was good to meet you in PV in February!
Yes, that was fun!
Thanks, David. You as well!
you know, every once in a while it's nice to splurge and have something really special!
Absolutely! Assuming we don't get lost in here. 😂
As long-time (18 years) residents os San Miguel de Allende, we can agree with your assessment of the wealth disparity here, but since the entire economy of the area depends on tourism and the expat community, the Mexican community more or less accepts us. We’re sure there are exceptions, but in all our years here we’ve never, for even a moment, felt any negative “vibes” from our Mexican neighbors. But since you’re in town, we'd love to meet you guys, so contact us. Ron & Fred
We have also found people to be so friendly!
We're on to Guanajuato for the week but would love to meet when we get back. 🙂
brenthartinger@gmail.com
LOL. Your picture of Chimney B looks a lot like a section of a hike that Gary and I inadvertently did in Brazil. ( When Alltrails rated the hike as "moderate," perhaps they should have added the qualifier of "for a 20-year-old in great shape." ). It was the most challenging hike I have ever done and certainly not one I will ever do again. But I have to admit, the adrenaline rush when we made it back to the car 4.5 hours later was a high I will never forget. I think travel has made me more of a risk-taker, but I do read those AllTrails reviews with a more skeptical eye nowadays.
See, this is key though. That was at least a "trail"! I think it is virtually ALWAYS a bad idea to leave a trail because...something looks kinda cool? LOL
It's funny. Travel has made me much more comfortable doing certain things -- but only because I know how that my fears were completely unjustified and they weren't really "risky" at all. I dunno, it's complicated, isn't it?
🤣🤣🤣🤣
You know, Trump will fix this (like he's fixing everything else).
I also miss the "good old days" of easy travel and and communication, and not being in a mass of people. I suspect that Trump will fix that too - no will look nicely upon us and with the economy in flux, well, maybe it won't be possible to travel. Like with many things lately the US is in a bad place.
it's true, in the "best case scenario," we're in the process of having to rebuild everything from the ground up.
I am in Mexico. Now many of my subscribed sites think I am a bandito. With now ubiquitous 2 and 3 verification checks my "trusted devices" no longer trust me!
I suggest renting the movie Brazil. Once Ai gets fully ensconced by all the CEOs who say it's the future we will wish we were living on the Scottish Hebrides!
Cheers! (with a nice mezcalito in hand.)
LOL yeah we're having the same problem (in Mexico). Wait till you get to Turkey, which has banned VPNs!
Oh, we are in San Miguel de Allende though April if you are passing by.
We arrive April 12!
Look forward to a ping if you don't mind hanging with old Yankees!
Just a little stream of consciousness: Putin in German means turkey. The spelling is different but . . .