BOLT: Black Old Lesbians Traveling

Serendipitous Stay: Kimberly Hotel♡

March 20, 2016March 20, 2016 by BOLT, posted in Travel

Kathy recently shared a great (and very practical) post about the ins and outs of finding accommodations. I wanted to share about a completely surprising and delightful experience we had in George Town, Malaysia.

While exploring the city we came upon a brand new, luxurious hotel: The Kimberly. Thinking it too expensive for our budget, but being curious, we decided to walk in and inquire about the rates. Turned out the hotel had not even opened yet! The manager and staff were so excited to greet us and said they would love it if we could be their
very first guests. They were planning a “soft opening” in one week.

They showed us a variety of room options. Their least expensive room was still beyond our budget but they kept assuring us they would “work with us”. We finally agreed on a small room for $25 per night, a little above what we usually pay. The place was so nice and so centrally located we decided it was worth it.

When we arrived a week later we were delighted to find that they gave us one of their very best rooms for the same $25 a night. We had a wonderful room, balcony area, indoor seating area and lovely bathroom; all brand new!

The staff were most kind and helpful
throughout our stay. It was really fun to be a first guest and be treated like VIPs. So, for me, while planning and researching are important parts of BOLTing, serendipity means taking a chance, asking questions and being open to the blessings that will come!

Full-Time Travel part 2 Gotta Sleep Somewhere

March 12, 2016 by BOLT, posted in Travel

So where was I? Oh yea. We were going through the fixed costs. Things we need everyday. I think I covered food in the last post. Next would be accommodation. There are several choices for places to sleep and leave your gear while exploring a new city.

Hostels. When I walked across Spain I stayed in hostels the entire time. They are fine when you have no need for privacy. They charge by the bed and are great for meeting other travelers. Anyone traveling alone should at least consider hostels. Some excellent hostels cost about $7 a night per bed. You can certainly pay more although you may not want to pay too much less if you have to make a reservation without seeing the place first. Marci and stayed in a couple hostels over the last six months. One was in Singapore and at $70 a night it was by far the most expensive room we have stayed in while in Southeast Asia. We also stayed in one in Ha Long Bay Vietnam and at $9 it was the least expensive room we have stayed in. Both had queen bed and private bath.
Bed and Breakfast. Our favorite. These are small family run businesses that generally have a private room with en suite bath and people who are very happy to tell you about their home town. The rooms will vary. So will the breakfasts. But these places are always worth a gamble because of the traditional decor. They can be far away from city center but if you want an authentic restful experience try one. Marci and I are staying at one as I write this. The place is not luxurious but homey and since it is in the heart of Ubud Bali, it goes without saying it is beautiful. The price of a bed and breakfast can be as high as you are willing to pay but we can usually find one within our $20 a night budget. This one is only $16.
Home stays. This is like bed and breakfast except you may actually be sharing a bath with the family and meeting up as you walk through the living room. Not much privacy but the price is right. Marci and I have not done this one yet because we like having a private bath. Some home stays have one child on the sofa so you may be in that kid’s room. Not for me. But…
Serviced Apartments. We love serviced apartments. We stayed in two during our two month stay in Chiang Mai. They are simply all the things you love about being in a hotel without the price. Serviced apartments come with maid service on request. We stayed in one for $125 a month. Then we moved up to one for $225 a month. The truth is the first one was better. But with these types of places you pay in advance so make certain you love it before plunking down a month’s rent no matter how little it may be.
Hotel. We stay in one of these most of the time. They are mostly those boxy rooms that look like you could be living anywhere in any town in any country in the world. What we like about them is we know they will be clean and well managed. They come in all price ranges so it is pretty easy to stay within our budget. After traveling for 14 hours on a train it is nice to arrive at a place you understand, and where at least someone will understand what you are saying. That being said we do still try to avoid recognizable brand name places. One, they usually are more expensive. Two, we want to give ourselves every chance to experience something we have never have before and there is no chance of that at a chain anything. Three, we want to spend our money with the local people as much as possible.
Resorts. Believe it or not Marci and I did stay five days in a resort. It still cost less than that Singapore Hostel on a per night basis. We paid with our miles. It was Christmas in Vietnam, but the place was too far from town to see any sights. It was right on the beach. We swam and ate and laughed and missed our family. Overall it was a perfect all inclusive resort vacation. But we were not on vacation. This is our daily life for now. So we did not appreciate the experience as much as others might. Cruises are also all inclusive resorts. We have done several. Our longest was from Seattle to Singapore and is how we arrived in SE Asia.

This is getting too long. I will continue with actions for getting the right housing or accommodation at the price you want in the next post. Thank you for reading and sharing.

A BOLT Offering to the Gods and to You!

March 7, 2016 by BOLT, posted in Travel

All throughout the grounds of the bread and breakfast where we are staying and everywhere on the streets of Ubud we notice small bamboo baskets filled with pieces of fruit, flowers, rice and other items.

These baskets are called canang sari and are offerings (prasada) to the Gods. It is a way of saying thank you for all the blessings received. This lovely Hindu practice resonates deeply with me and is just one of the many reasons I love Ubud, Bali.

We have witnessed Balinese men and women quietly placing the offerings and making ritual hand movements, saying quiet prayers or chants while doing so. Incense is placed alongside the baskets making Ubud a fragrant and peaceful place to walk through.

Early in the morning the sidewalks are swept clean of yesterday’s canang sari and then washed in preparation for the new day. Offerings are done three times daily. The little baskets are hand made and you can see people making them as they sit in their shops and homes.

Ubud is our first visit to Bali but I understand this tradition is practiced throughout the island. We are so grateful to be here, for new experiences, for safe travels, and for the abundance and blessings in our life. This post is my canang sari to the Gods, the ancestors, orishas, angels, the Universe and to you.

How We Afford Full-time Travel

March 3, 2016March 3, 2016 by BOLT, posted in African American, Black, Fun, Gay, Lesbian, Long distance, Long term travel, Old, POC, queer, retirement, Travel, WOC, Women

I know some of you, a lot of you were very interested in Marci’s post about how much we spend on a daily basis here in beautiful Southeast Asia. I thought this would be a great time to tell how we get the bills so low.

First let me say that there is a post somewhere that talks about how we got started. You know: saving, selling, dreaming, doing. But once here we still have daily expenses. No matter what we all eat everyday. Here in Southeast Asia we eat very well everyday. The food is not to be believed. So how do save on food? First we adopted a tentative monthly budget for everything. I said it would be $1000 a month for the two of us. Marci said I was nuts. She was right. We now have a pretty firm budget of $1200 a month. But I have to say when were in Chiang Mai we spent $800 a month. More on that in a later post.

So once you know your monthly budget y
ou just divide by 30 and you get a daily budget. For us that comes out to $40 a day. Not a lot of money but it is very inexpensive to live here. With that we must pay for a place to stay, food, transportation and entertainment. Here is the thing. The longer you stay in one place the fewer dollars, ringit, baht, rupiah, etc you will spend. So if one day we go over budget because we wanna see the Vietnamese Water Puppets, the next two days we go some place beautiful but free or inexpensive, like Hanoi’s Temple of Literature. This marvelous temple complex is $1 to enter. We walked and had lunch on the way. It is an average after all. But at the end of the month we want to have spent less than our budget.

Saving money on food is as easy as eating what the locals eat. Western food here is very expensive and not very good. Street food here is incredibly delicious and almost free. Our daily budget is $10. (No alcohol. We don’t drink.)

Breakfast is sometimes included in the price of our accommodations. This is optimal to a point. Since we average about $3 a meal it does not make sense for us to spend more than about $5 over our daily budget of $20 a day for housing. But the extra $2 is worth it so we don’t have to leave too early in the morning.

Lunch is our biggest meal of the day. We always go out for it and we eat mostly street food. You can find delicious gourmet meals served at a sit down restaurant for much less during lunch when compared to dinner prices. Be mindful of the most touristy areas as they will have the worst food and the worst prices.

For most of you budgeting may be easier because your budget will be larger. But a larger budget is not the only thing that makes for an easy budget. Financial discipline is required. For some of you your budget will be smaller. You can do this too. If you have been following the BOLT FaceBook page, you know Marci and I are not living like paupers. The amount is up to you and your bank account. For the purposes of these posts we will stick with $1200 a month for two adults who like each other enough to share a room everyday.

You can probably afford it. Whatever it is.

March 3, 2016March 3, 2016 by BOLT, posted in Travel

One of the most asked questions about our trip is “How can you afford to do this?” . First off I believe you can have almost anything but you cannot have everything. But even if you don’t believe that all you have to believe to have a trip around the world is believe it is possible. Without that belief all the work isn’t worth the effort. And let me say now it is work. You must prepare to travel. And to travel full time you must prepare a lot.

So let’s do it step by step.

Stop spending on things that do not fit your goal of full-time travel. That means not spending money on concert tickets when that same money can be saved for whale-watching in Baja for example. You may want to start asking yourself how many lunches that fifty dollar dinner could buy you in Mumbai. (Hint: a lot). Saving money for the future may not be easy, but if you want to travel freely you must find a way to save more money than you do now.

Downsize. Get rid of things you do not use. Sell them and put the money in your savings account. Marci and I had a couple garage sales. We made about $3000. That of course includes selling all our furniture, and household goods. But even before selling our house we downsized. We started giving things away. Once you make up your mind you are traveling you will see several things you can not keep and will not need and do not use. Any item you own that falls into either of those three categories will eventually need to go away some how. We are in the process of giving away one of our cars for example.

Get a credit card. Or two. Marci and I have three. Make sure they are cards with travel rewards mostly known as miles. Even though the airlines and the courts have made using miles an exercise worthy of a PhD candidate there are still a few ways to get a nice bit of bang for you buck. So get a miles card. The best one (read: most bonus miles for least effort) you qualify for first then get another one and maybe even a third. Here’s what you need to know.

Plan a trip. The most exhilarating way to begin building travel into your life is to plan a dream trip. Here is a dream trip of mine.

Begin. The thing is the sooner you decide that travel is what you want the easier everything else becomes. These suggestions no longer look like sacrifices or hard work but instead become the first few steps toward your first trip.

BOLT Life…Doing the Math

February 28, 2016 by BOLT, posted in Uncategorized

This is a post about the affordability of travel for 2 Black old lesbians. Before I begin showing you some numbers, before I talk about how we live on less in Southeast Asia than in Los Angeles I want to acknowledge something. Travel is an incredible privilege, one that we don’t take for granted. The life that we are living is the result of some things for which we can take no credit: American passports, hard working, home owning parents who made sure we got educations, and of course gifts and blessings from the Universe too numerous to mention. It is also the result of some intentions we set and took dedicated action towards: working hard on jobs we didn’t love, getting free of debt, saving money and letting go of tons of stuff. We believe world travel is more affordable and doable than most people think. A lot of it is about deciding and then choosing what’s important to you. We chose seeing the world.

Now for some numbers. When we were living in Los Angeles, as frugally as comfortable, we were spending around $1800 a month. We were in one room with a shared bathroom, each drove used cars, we ate well (mostly food we cooked) and enjoyed life. Again, privilege.

Since arriving in Southeast Asia our monthly budget is around $1200. In the past 5 months we have visited 4 incredible countries, we live in clean, comfortable hotel rooms with maid service, we eat freshly cooked, tasty meals and we see amazing sights, usually walking or traveling by public transportation.

Here is an average BOLT day (this is for 2 people):
Breakfast of coffee and fruit: $2
Delicious Buffet Lunch of Malaysian Food: $5
Light Dinner: $3

Hotel Room: $20

Bus ride to Penang Hill: $2 round trip

An amazing time at Penang Hill, including funicular train ride: $15

Total spent yesterday : $ 47

Some days we spend less, some days more. We really try and watch it and stay within the $1200 a month. Months with a lot of air travel may be more but even air fares are amazingly low here. We are traveling to Bali, Indonesia on the first of March for $210, round trip, two people! Our hotel room there will be $15 a day. So far, everything has been working out beautifully and we are enjoying an adventure that is truly priceless and a great privilege.

Kwan Yin, Always With Us

February 21, 2016February 21, 2016 by BOLT, posted in Uncategorized

I recently remarked to Kathy that everywhere we have gone, since leaving Los Angeles in September, Kwan Yin has been there for us.

Kwan Yin Greeted Us in Hawaii, After 5 Days at Sea

Kwan Yin is a bodhisattva, an enlightened being who has taken a vow to remain in the world until all others have attained enlightenment.

Her name literally means “She who harkens to the cries of the world.”

It has been a great comfort to me to find Kwan Yin so often on our travels. I offer up prayers to her for our safe travels and for the well being of our loved ones.

We offered blessings by dropping 108 coins in the 108 bowls surrounding this beautiful Kwan Yin, the tallest in Malaysia.

Kwan Yin Watched Over Us in Danang, Vietnam

I believe the feminine energies of mercy, compassion and a stong, enduring and selfless love are found in the many female deities around the world and within us all. We have certainly found them everywhere on our journey.

Kwan Yin in Skin in our Beautiful Neighbors in Chiang Mai!

Goddess Worship Exhibit in Hanoi, Vietnam

Kwan Yin Love in the Heart of My Beloved

Kwan Yin Love in Oppulence and Abundance

We were greeted with Kwan Yin Love by the committee at this Kwan Yin Temple in Ipoh, Malaysia

A Visit to the Penang Clan Jetties: BOLT Adventures in Serendipity

February 8, 2016 by BOLT, posted in Uncategorized

Serendipity: the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way. Serendipity : how BOLT flows.

Chinese New Years Eve in George Town, Malaysia provided us with lots of options for things to see and do. One of the gifts of unplanned, serendipitous travel is the ability to make last minute choices about where to go and what to do. A chance conversation with our hotel desk clerk led us to choose the Penang Clan Jetties for our first New Years Eve in Aisa.

The Clan Jetties were no where on the long list of things for visitors to do on New Years Eve. The jetties are actually waterfront villages, built over a century ago, by the various Chinese clans who settled on the island. They feature beautiful stilt houses that are accessible by long, narrow walkways. The jetties are still home to many of the Chinese – Malay population of Penang.

Beautiful Plants at a home on Chew Clan Jetty

The jetties were all but deserted of tourists on New Years Eve. Penang’s very large ethnic Chinese population spends the evening in homes surrounded by family and friends. We saw jetty families preparing for and eating their meals. Everyone was friendly and welcoming but we were very mindful that we were walking in an actual neighborhood, not a tourist attraction.

Lee Clan Jetty was all lit up for the New Year!

This little fellow was ready for the New Year too, Lee Clan Jetty

A great benefit of serendipitous travel is never knowing what you will find. Sometimes the best things are found when you get lost. As we wandered along the walkways, admiring the stilt house, not really knowing where we were, a jetty resident came out of his home. He most kindly guided us to one of the most beautiful temples I have ever visited! Enjoy the pictures I took, never finding out the name of the temple (everything was in Chinese).

Leaving the clan jetties, we enjoyed a stroll amidst the New Years Eve excitement on the streets of George Town. Truly a beautiful evening of serendipity!

Esplanade Park was crowded with families celebrating.

Esplanade Walkway was decorated with these hand painted balloon lanterns.

Everyone enjoyed the light displays at Esplanade Park.

BOLT Review : Vietnam ♡♡♡

January 31, 2016January 31, 2016 by BOLT, posted in Uncategorized

We left Vietnam on January 13th and have had some time to reflect, process and talk about our time in there. We are in Malaysia now which is a great place to do this. We love both Vietnam and Malaysia, but the two countries are very different.

We were privileged to spend almost an entire month in Vietnam. We visited 7 cities : Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Mui Ne, Da Nang, Hoi An, Hue, Ha Long and Hanoi. Each place had its own special charms and delights. We honestly enjoyed every spot! The following review is based on our overall experience. We tried to capture the vibe of the different cities with the pictures.

Friendly People, Beautiful Sights, Ha Long Bay

Accommodations? ♡♡♡♡♡
In every city we found small, clean, affordable, centrally located hotels. We got great value, spending between $12 to $20 a night, often breakfast was included. Good WiFi, air conditioning and helpful staff and were a plus in every city.

The Poshanu Resort in Mui Ne was a luxurious treat for BOLT.

Food? ♡♡♡
The food in Vietnam was very inexpensive, well prepared and easy to find. Kathy liked Vietnamese cuisine better than I. I found it hard to get vegetarian protein, and there was not much variety or spiciness. We ate a LOT of pho (noodles) and rice.

The streets of Hanoi always busy, great for walking and finding little sidewalk eating spots.

Value? ♡♡♡♡♡
The American dollar is very strong in Vietnam. Meals for $2 each, hotel stays under $20, inexpensive museums, national parks and entertainment.

Hoi An was lots of fun, if kind of touristy.

Cultural Relevance? ♡♡♡♡♡
One of the things we love most is visiting museums, historical and
religious sites. Vietnam has 8 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and we visited 5 of them! It was great leaning so much about the culture and proud history of Vietnam.

Hanoi has a wonderful Ho Chi Minh Complex with his tomb and a museum.

The ancient citadel at Hue is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Lesbian Friendly?
We are not giving Vietnam any hearts in this area. This is not because we personally experienced any problems, we didn’t. We just don’t know anything about LGBT issues in vietnam. Here’s a link to an article I found.
LGBT in Vietnam

We loved the Hoan Kiem Lake Park in Hanoi, people gather every morning for all sorts of activities.

Elder Appropriate? ♡♡♡
We have gotten pretty good at crossing busy Southeast Asian streets and are very careful about uneven sidewalks and potholes. I think if your mobility is limited Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City would be a little difficult. The smaller cities like Hue, Ha Long Bay and Hoi An would be better choices and are great for vacationing.

We loved meeting and talking with these young women students in Hue.

Black Folk? ♡♡
The Vietnamese people we met were very friendly and we felt no discrimination or prejudice. However we were clearly a novelty in Vietnam. People were especially fascinated with Kathy’s locs, gently pulling them. We were often asked to take pictures with locals and many people actually rubbed our skin. It was very different from our experiences in Thailand and Malaysia. Not negative, just different.

So, in conclusion, Vietnam gets a loving 3 1/2 hearts from BOLT with a possible return visit. Hope you enjoy this review. Questions? Please email us at boltraveling@gmail.com.

This Post Office, designed by Gustave Eifell is one of the many historic sites in Saigon.

The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ha Long Bay

And The Winner Is…The Man in Seat 61! Traveling with Technology Part 4

January 25, 2016 by BOLT, posted in Uncategorized

Using websites, apps, our smart phones as well as other technological marvels has really made our traveling lives much easier. For the past few weeks I’ve tried to share about some of our favorites. By far the site that has been most helpful is one we’ve been using for years. The Man in Seat 61 is a site devoted to making train and ferry travel easier. The site was very helpful to us as we traveled through Africa by train. It continues to be our go to site as we travel Southeast Asia by train. Anywhere you want to travel by train this site will have information for you.
http://www.seat61.com/

Here are some of the great things about travel by train as confirmed by our BOLT experiences and the Man in Seat 61 :