Hi guys. Great video as always. I'm also a retired full time slow traveler. One thing I might add regarding ATM's and money is to not wait until you are flat broke to hit the bank machine to get more money. Lots of times in many places the machines are out of money or out of service for a day or longer. I got caught by this in Langkawi, Malaysia and went hungry for most of the day because the system was down, including credit cards. I had waited until I was down to just a couple of dollars in my pocket. Make sure you have a couple of days of cash on hand just in case.

When I worked as a chef, I wore the same uniform every day for years which turned out to be great training for long-term travel. I wear the same black twill pants and slip-on flats so I only need to change up tops. I pack a few tops and, when those wear out, buy new ones on the road. All are multi-purpose (casual wear, workout wear, sleepwear) and washable. No one cares what you wear, and you will save so much space in your bag!

I'm glad you did this video and especially recognising the value in taking tours/paying for experiences - we had never done a day tour/ experience until our 50's and can tell you that if you do your research they are worth every cent you spend. The ease with which a day or even a multi day tour is along with the value you gain from a good guide is worth every penny. We went to Cappadokya for my 50th and chose to stay in a cave hotel over a regular one and took a hot air balloon ride at sunrise - it was one of the most memorable experiences of my life and I have long forgotten what it even cost, I realise that not everything is within a budget but I will happily forgo a lot of other things to stretch the budget for those things now.

Your channel is growing nicely. Well done. I love watching people closer to my age doing this type of channel. I am not a backpacker or hostel traveler. Thank you!

I don’t keep track of my expenses. I book flights and rentals and I pay my CC completely every month. Once the money leaves my hands it’s gone. Why track it…so I can cry over it? I can see why you guys do it…it’s at least a part time business for you. I also don’t spend too much time with booking places or buying plane tix. Plane tix I try to do a few months ahead. Booking places I just find something in an old town area…..review ratings. Then when I repeat a visit, I contact the landlord directly, usually getting a better deal then doing so online.

Always quality content from you two. I do think that Carrie can do a Master Class on her places to find airfare (websites included), accommodation (whether AirBnB or VRBO or other) and her planning and research hacks. You have scored so many amazing places at affordable prices with very few hiccups. That takes a lot of good planning and a little bit of luck. You continue to provide valuable tips, tricks and budgeting numbers. You could for sure film a Carrie online session where she looks to show her steps in planning out the next destination, after hearing Brian's different ideas (why you two also work so well together). Continued safe and good travels! Keep enjoying Turkey! Cheers!

Thank you and Happy Trails!

Rick Steves has a great video on what to carry when traveling!

I love your videos. I am in Phuket right now and because of you guys - I decided to take the bus when I got off the plane! and you were right - easy peezy!

Always a great listen😊

So much good info! Thankyou for giving your time up to share with everyone 👍

I'm also one for writing down every expense although I use a small, 6X4-inch spiral journal. I also write details about the expense. Recently, a friend was almost off to Thailand for her first time and I mentioned some restaurants in Bangkok for her to try. I got out my journal, looked them up, reviewed how much I had spent at the various ones. I also had written down which skytrain stop and/or river boat was best to take to get there and also the easiest walking route after getting off either the skytrain or river boat. I've been going there since the late 90s, but still write things down. For me, planning, documenting, budget journaling, and writing things down, is essential. Plus, I use the information to plan future trips to the same area of some places where I go annually or to help out friends who might be going to the same area. And since the journal is like a book, it's fun to read after the trips. I recently took out the my journal with my 2017 trip to Milan in it as I couldn't remember the name of a Japanese restaurant where I had eaten someone wanted to know. I had written down the price of my bill, the name and street, and a few directions of how to get there. Whenever I get back to Milan, I won't have trouble finding it. As for the ATM machine eating your card, it happened to me in a country in Europe.Not fun as I travel solo. The next morning, I was standing in front of my actual bank, in pouring rain, waiting for it to open in order to have the card fished out. And that was the bank that had issued the card. I was told that a new card had recently been mailed out to me and thus the card that I tried to use no longer worked although not even date expired. I was told that the bank had (finally) decided to grant me a Visa debit card instead of my regular ATM card. Uhhhh, but I'm not home in my country. And I wasn't e-mailed that a new card was in the mail system. I was also told that only one person had the authority to fish eaten cards out of the ATM machine and thank goodness that person was at work that morning. The card was fished out, but marked invalid and kept by the bank. That's why I personally carry extra cash. Cash works. And I also carry other cards, but didn't want to put another card into the ATM machine due to not knowing why the first one had been eaten. I was just trying to restock that evening on my way to dinner with a friend from that country. Plus, I was leaving the next day to head to a different country. Greetings from Los Angeles

great video guys with some great info i needed thanks jeff so cali guy

Really helpful tips, thanks so much for sharing!!

Awesome job. Love ❤

Good information, thanks

Thumbs up 👍 Brian & Carrie

Great video. Lots of helpful info. I really enjoyed seeing you face the camera. It’s much more pleasant than when you sit facing each other, and not looking at us. Thanks. -Elizabeth

I’m a very boring full time traveler. I very seldom do any excursions. I just like to walk everywhere I go and learn the city. I used to try to join a gym with a day, week or month pass, but now I have fitness bands and a flat foldable yoga mat that takes up very little of your valuable carryon space. I’m loving my fitness band routine. Also always planning and researching the next destinations is very entertaining to me. As always, love the channel. Cheers.

Logistics logistics logistics very overwhelming at least for me. Another great video, thanks for sharing

Great video guys!! We recognize some of our mistakes in your experiences! We are the most excited about these water bottles that you found, because we never even realized anything portable like this existed. These are game changer. We too, are spending so much on water in SE Asia and the plastic we throw out is just terrible, so this is really the best travel hack of 2024 for us!! lol Thank you. Keep up the great videos! Cheers!! 🍻

Great information, thank you. We are travelling south east Asia at present for 3 months and I have been keeping a spread sheet of everything we spend down to the last penny and it’s such an eye opener to see where your money goes.

Thanks! Thanks for this great video!

It's so funny to hear your stories, I'm sure that many of us can totally relate 😂. I will add that it's important to get familiar with the local currency / exchange rate, as this can lead to costly mistakes that add up really fast.I agree with the paid tours, AirBNB experiences and Viator offer great references and you are often able to book directly since they put the name of the company in the listing.

Good tips! I agree with everything you say and have made many of those mistakes. We haven't bought the expensive filtering water bottles yet and may never since we are terribly good at losing them!!! We lost 3 bottles on this past trip (one was left in the Airbnb fridge which is why I like to gather my personal things the night before.) Entering expenses at the time of purchase on a phone app is so easy. I've been doing it for 9 years while traveling as well as at home. You're almost convinced us to do a winter month stay in Turkey. You only hinted at the demonstrations due to the "war" but you've returned so it must not have been too scary.

We’ve been in Malaga for a few weeks. It’s our first extensive travel since 2019 and our first time to Spain. The weather wasn’t great last week so, because you seemed to really like Alicante, we decided to go for a few days… On Easter Weekend! Talk about poor planning and blowing the budget😂 in spite of that, we absolutely love Alicante!!!

You should make a list of accommodations that you’ve loved in the places you’ve been to! Great videos.

You will LOVE Crete! So much to do, see and taste! Go to the Samaria Gorge! Go for bouyatsa at the Lion Square in Iraklion…I could go on and on!

Thanks!

Totally agree with first three. Pay a little extra for an AirB with a decent couch too! Can make all the difference.

You guys are so thorough and your information is so helpful. Another great video, simple, easy to understand, and right to the point. Also, appreciate the links. My husband and I are soon planning a couple of years of slow travel, before we eventually move either to Spain or Portugal. We will be living off of my teachers pension of about $4000 a month after taxes. I've taken sabbaticals of a year twice and lived off of less. Your videos continue to inspire many great ideas. Thanks!

Great video! Wonderful tips! We are on our way to Portugal next week & agree with a mix of trying local foods & home cooking, plus a few reasonably priced, paid tours. (We bought Brita hard-sided plastic premium filtering water bottle, BPA-Free, replaces 300 plastic water bottles, filter lasts 2 months.)

Thanks for talking about bringing your own water bottle. One of the things that concerns me is the amount of water bottles and plastic containers tourists use.

Since we don't travel over 90 days at a time, I just keep my T-Mobile plan. The 3G speeds in other countries works well for maps and email.

Regarding tracking expenses: One of my favorite expressions is "cash evaporates". You had some in your wallet and it just seemed to go somewhere.

Agree totally on guided tours, especially broad scoped ones shortly after arriving at a place to get a sense of what is out there. My Larq arrived a couple of weeks ago; haven't had an opportunity to take it somewhere yet. I do think hiking videos would be more popular than you're thinking, especially if you end up at a spot with a great view.

Great video. I look forward to your videos each week. Great point about using those filtered/ UCV Light bottles. A bit on the pricey side but with enough research those types of bottles really can make a dent. Say 3- 6 plastic bottles of water a day is realistic per person. When traveling. Aprox 90- 180 plastic bottles per month!😮😢 1080- 2160 plastic water bottles in a year 😮🤔💡 Ok now if I apply Guy Math I could get just about all my water intake requirements by having a cup of coffee with boiled water in the morning then set my watch to Two Thirsty all day and drink beer out of a glass the rest of the day.😊😉🤔🍺 As my daughter would say...Big Brain....🧠😉

Nice tips guys, thanks :) About last tip, tracking expenses, that's a bit easier to say than to do. I tried 3 or 4 times in the last 10 years to track every expense and income in different apps, and I gave up eventually...it always ended up like a chore, to note down every cent. Longest run was about 1 year.. Maybe I should try at least to round up approximately the money, maybe that'll be easier :) Cheers!

The water bottle is very smart idea, you can save a lot of money just using your personal bottle

Hey! Just came across your channel and really love it. In this video what is the little square on Brian’s tshirt? I’ve seen this recently on other you tubers as well. Is it a microphone?

My husband and I have been traveling slow and living for 3 months at a time wherever we go. We use to work hard for 3 months then leave, we started this years ago. Then we both decided to build out a school bus into a tiny house. We gave up our sticks and bricks. We both just turned 62 and applied to social security, we will be selling the rest of our possessions, except the school bus, that gets us from coast to coast for family Now we will be taking the next step, and you inspired me to check out Vietnam. We just did Baja California for almost 3 months and were able to cut 700.00 in expenses, many beautiful free parking at the beach. Now we are wanting to save some money and Vietnam looks beautiful and in our budget. Im also waiting on Spanish citizenship. Thank you for some great advise. Can you talk about friendships on the road, I really miss having the female bonds, my hubby also. I would love to travel with a few couples, even if temporary, I felt much happier during our trip to Baja when we had a tribe. 😢

I am in costa rica right now and i can relate to this topic about accommodation misfit 🤬😊

I have really been enjoying my phone plan. It's only $5/month more than I was paying in the States, and 25 cents/minute for phone calls, BUT, if I'm using Wi-Fi calling, calls in country and to the U.S. are free. Is coverage always great? No. But I also have been getting a SIM card for my second phone for about what you mentioned.

We have loved your channel! We've added several of your stops to our travel bucket list. Can you tell us the types of ATM cards that you're using that don't charge an ATM fee at overseas ATM's? Thanks!

Tip regarding excursions Find a local travel agency once you get into town rather than using Viator, etc. It’s usually hugely cheaper (like 30% or more) and we prefer to support local businesses. Tip regarding SIM cards Make site there aren’t any extra steps you need to do to sign up for a plan. We got burned by that in Mexico. We didn’t realize that we had to go to the website and click through, so instead the amount we paid was just used a la carte , and what should have been a 30 day/3 Gig plan only lasted us 10 days.

Aloha, I just found you guys a couple days ago and have been binge watching your videos. :) I’m sure you’ve mentioned it somewhere, but I can’t seem to find it, what carry-on suitcase to you recommend? Thanks for all the detailed and fun content on slow travel in your fifties. We hope to emulate a lot of your smart choices.

Thank you for your time and posting. After seeing many of your videos (thank you) and others, I'm hopefully going to Vietnam in November and staying for a while, to see how I like it. If it works out, I'd stay there, create a home base, and go back and forth to Thailand and other countries. Just thinking. Thank you again for your time. :) PS. I'd be by myself and my budget would be US$3,500 (SS and VA Bennies). And if I do this. I'll finally get rid of the shirts I've carried around for 25 years and never worn. Really. :) Hey, they still look great.

Yeah, I do not understand people who don't track income and expenses. I have since I was in my 20's (early 20s!). It is one reason I was able to retire at 52. I use Quicken and I have all that data back to the 1980's.

Many YTers mention international health insurance plans that can be had "economically" for younger people, but stay away from any mention of the exorbitant cost (if even attainable) of coverage for the 70+ crowd. Seniors better be VERY rich - or stay at home - seems to be the unspoken caveat. This is just a general observation - I do like and appreciate your content greatly!

Since I live full-time abroad, I'm a check-in baggage convert. Sure, I pay more when I fly, but not having to stress out, huddling up front at the boarding gate to make sure I can get overhead luggage space, makes it well worth it to me...

You are absolutely right on the insurance thing, in reference to ‘I’m a guy’ unfortunately, I’m 67. Fortunately, I have medicare for US, and I’m a dual citizen, Italian, so I’m covered in Europe. 😊

The Tmobile Magenta plans have free data raoming, free SMS, and usually $0.25/min for intermatl calls, all over the world. We've had it, or an older version for literally decades and have paid no roaming fees anywhere, visiting about 70 countries, without having to buy SIMs.

We are retired full time travelers and couldn’t agree with you more about most everything you just said. We were in Fethiye last year at exactly this time and loved it. We had planned to stay a month or two but accommodations were extremely hard to find and were very expensive because there were so many Ukrainians and Russians staying there. You know, the war. Consequently, we only stayed three weeks and then spent a month island hopping the Dodecanese Islands to Athens. We are currently in Vietnam and will be heading to Turkey in a few weeks and we were wondering if the housing shortage was still a thing there??? Apparently, we don’t plan things out very far or do a lot of research.

Have you tried Esim cards yet? I never heard of until a month ago. New to your channel good stuff, I enjoyed your 1 year travel cost. I got 5 years until 56 retirement hope I am able to follow your example.

Thanks for this video. We travel full time (RV half year/abroad half year) and are curious which type of water bottle you use (Pre Vis or Nano Filter). Thanks!

Efficient packing It the longest learning process in travel. I’m finally at the rule of 3s. No more than three pair of everything. It’s amazing how often you rewear the same clothes. Just sink wash a everything you’ve worn, every night. Ill be in Crete in late July to meet some friends, short trip.😊

I would be interested in hearing more detail about Debit/ATM cards, credit cards, what role points and miles play in your travels. Maybe you covered it in a video I haven’t seen yet

Hi Brian and Carrie. We are leaving April 26th on our "Ooohh...shiny thing!" tour of the world. We have been following you almost since you started your channel as you have pretty much been doing what we intend to do. (We even thought about doing a You Tube channel but it looks like WAY too much work...I just retired and don't need another job thank you very much!) We think we have everything we need EXCEPT maybe a water bottle. Does yours have the UV light AND a filter because that was my impression? Used your link and on the LARQ site it looks like it's an either or situation. Did I miss something or just misunderstand the type of bottle you have. Thanks...Mike and Ann.

Do you have a video about phone service like in Asia or somewhere I wonder does GPS work the same. Like how do u navigate when you only speak English? Just always wondered this

great video guys . My worst mistakes are tracking all expenses. What app. do you use …any suggestions .? As seniors we did not budget enough to cover unexpected pharmacy expenses . But as Alan said he has saved a lot on his medications without prescriptions in Turkey . .

If you are looking for a adventure, there's a ferry that goes from Crete to Athens,

Can you indicate which specific water bottle you bought? Link in description goes to main site with multitude of products. Since these products are not cheap, I'd like to know exactly which one to buy.

In terms of accommodations,do you prefer Airbnb or others,we travel a fair bit (not as much as yourselves 😉) but are there any other sites you deal with or deal directly with the landlords ?….thx and great videos 👍!,

This may be a silly question but do any of the countries you travel have senior citizens discounts like the US? Things like excursions or entry fees. This may help with your budget.

How do you guys handle sunblock and contact solution? Those are the 2 things I'm concerned about with carry-on only.

Public transport - there are lots of KZfaq’s that show how to buy tickets/ use public transport … we try to do this before we get there

Hi with the SIM cards, do you keep the sims for each country for future trips or trash it ??

I’m so glad I found your channel. Tell me which version of the water bottle do you use for your travels. The straw filter or uv? Thinking of investing specifically for travel. Thank you for the fun content.

Can u share which atm cards u use that don’t charge fees overseas?

I am going to Kuala lumpur in a couple weeks. Very hot and humid. Any packing items you recommend?

What is a good size for carryon bag? 40L or 60L. I want to go with the smaller one

So you decide to go from Europe to SE Asia because of budget do you use something like Expedia for flights?

Did you have a code for Airalo?

I think you’re very brave and cool travels. Will join you in two years!! Gotta get my kids through college!

I always use SIM card instead my international plan

Which data plan do you typically select when you buy your e-sim? I assume you are using wifi when it's available at your accommodation.

By the way ... how long will you be in Turkey? I'll be in Istanbul in a week for at least a month. I could buy you a beer in person!

Which filter do you select on the water bottle? I see 2 types...

What expenses app do you use?

I’m about to go to Europe for 6 months and I’m planning on using my Att Daypass totally. I know it’s $10 a day, but there is a limit of 10 days in a billing cycle that they charge you. So $100 total for a month, on top of your regular cell phone plan. If you are country hopping a lot, it seems like it wouldn’t be too crazy to do this. Someone correct me if I’m wrong please.

Which eSim you use ?

Not sure if you have ever addressed this in a previous video.... Do you guys find that when you first arrive you're excited because of your research and by the end of the month have a sense of front loading? By the last week or more we've gone to all the sites we've researched and hit a wall.... It does give us time to do more research on the next location...but then we feel like we're not fully present where we are at the moment.... opportunity loss regret starts to creep in..... I hope this makes sense.... We do spend the first two to three days recovering from travel and getting familiar with our location.... Stores, restaurants, cafe's, pharmacy etc..... Thank you Larry and Minnie

No you don’t have everything figured out. You will continue to make ‘rookie’ mistakes. Murphy will always find a way to hitch a ride.😊

Can I still get $20 off AWAY luggage?