Richard and travel-buddy, Dao, have embarked on a road trip of the American Southwest in a second-hand Toyota (named “Betsy”) Richard had picked up in Los Angeles. Up until now, they have visited parts of Southern California, stayed a few days in Prescott, Arizona, before arriving at their first non city destination: the Indian ruins of Wupatki.

The Wupatki ruins, pueblo, though historically significant and visually pretty damn cool with its red flat stone dwellings and glimpse of Sinagua living, consumed only an hour or so of our time. So from there we cruised eastwardly to take in the famed Petrified Forest (because no road trip is complete without a visit to a desert location that has the largest accumulation of fallen tree trunks turned to stone). And as remarkable as it was, we knew we had many miles to go that day and we’d better jam soon if we were to get to the Hubbell Trading Post (the oldest continuously operating trading post on the NavajoNation) in the town of Holbrook—to buy some jam before closing. Unfortunately, since the Navajo Nation clock is set back an hour ahead (go figure) we pulled up there just in time for the last counter clerk to remind us that we had only ten minutes before they boarded shut the door. Old counters with glass casing offered up staples like tobacco, canned meat and crackers (but, no jam. It was sold-out for the day.) Animal skins and wool clothing was available next to old muskets and tourist souvenirs. The potbelly stove in the center of the store looked perfectly in place.

Now that the day was closing fast, I thought it would be a good idea to check for emails via my mobile phone. I knew that I might need to factor in some work time before dinner. But, no signal—damn. However, that was not a problem; we’d be spending our first night at a hotel which was, not only really special, but had Internet.

The La Posada Hotel is a destination in itself. It was the crown jewel of the old Fred Harvey railway inns—located in Winslow, Arizona. (Yup, the very one immortalized in the old Eagles song: “Take it Easy.”) La Posada was designed by Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, who is considered the first great female American architect. Even if you decide to stay someplace else there along old Route 66 in Winslow, one has to tour the historic hotel that was only recently renovated to its original splendor. The rooms are like visiting a museum—but far more comfortable. The place has its own depot, gardens, libraries and cozy verandas to watch trains go by from. And since our room (the “manager’s suite”) was so close to the lobby, I was able to get a very strong Internet signal. (Several clients had some minor website updates for me to make, which I concluded before we headed over to the hotel’s restaurant for the best meal of the trip. Oh, how I like working from places like this!) BTW: the restaurant in La Posada, The Turquoise Room, is considered one of the best restaurants in the USA. (Try the stuffed squash blossoms.)

The next morning we breakfasted in our room to save both money and time. (We had packed a whole bunch of fruit, vegetables and whatnot to eat before leaving Prescott—to save us money. Plus, road food can be both bad and expensive in these parts. And forget about finding decent fruit in places that we were heading to.) Anyway, Betsy (the car) would, soon take us out of Winslow northward and to the Painted Desert.

The Painted Desert gets its name from bands of red, white and yellow sediments and clay of the Chinle rock formation that have been exposed by erosion. (Yup, I gleaned that description from the Internet.)  The Painted Desert is the sort of place that is humbling beyond words: though it makes one feel very small and insignificant, it makes you appreciate life. There we had a picnic lunch before road-tripping over to another Fred Harvey/Mary Colter landmark, the Painted Desert Inn, which is now only a National Park site and museum.

As we continued northward within the Navajo Nation, we arrived at the entry point to Canyon de Chelly (pronounced: “de shé) National Monument. However having gotten there just before sundown, we could not view the canyon until the morning—plus we were too late to score an accommodation within any of the three available inns in that area. (I would have called in for a reservation, but not having a mobile phone signal that day meant that we had to just wing-it this time.) Fortunately, Canyon de Chelly has a very well kept—and more importantly, free—campground at the very entry point to the site. We had brought with us a couple of sleeping bags and a tent in case of such an instance. So, we enjoyed another picnic meal before sleeping outdoors for the night. (Note: the only mobile phone service here is through the Navajo Nation’s service.)

The next morning we got up early and headed to the Holiday Inn restaurant so my friend could see, for herself, what an authentic American buffet breakfast was—that, and so I could avail myself to their free Wi-Fi. There I checked my emails (did some work rather hurriedly) as well as make a room reservation for the night.  And before the tour operators could herd their groups into buses, we bolted on over to Canyon de Chelly.

What an amazing place this site is. One starts off looking down into canyons from one of many scenic overlooks off the narrow road above, to eventually have the opportunity to hike down from the South Rim Drive. This lesser-known canyon is not as immediately spectacular as, let’s say the Grand Canyon, but it does have sheer sandstone walls rising up to 1,000 feet, a couple of well-preserved Anasazi ruins (White House Ruin is the best known and preserved) and an insight into the present day life of the Navajo who still inhabit and cultivate the valley floor. One could easily spend a day or two here alone, but our rather tight schedule reminded us to hit the road by early afternoon.

Being relatively close to the Utah border, Dao suggested (strenuously, I might add) that we check out Monument Valley National Park. Since she had grown up watching old westerns (mostly John Ford films) on French television with her father, many of which were filmed in Monument Valley, it was more than just a good idea. About a hundred extremely scenic miles further north we arrived in the town of Kayenta, which is where one stays the night before driving the last 30 miles to Monument Valley. (There’s nothing to do in Kayenta but sleep.) However, since we wanted to see the valley during sunset, considered the best viewing time, we used the extra hour to visit the windswept settlement of Goulding’s. This place boasts the oldest outpost and inn for that vast area. It’s a funky little tourist draw, but worth a detour should you find yourself near the Four Corners area. As for Monument Valley itself—well, what could one say that hasn’t already been seen hundreds of times in photographs? It’s awesome. It’s huge. And though there are daily jeep and self-guided tours available for getting into the canyon (for those who want to see their monuments really close up), we opted to enjoy the sunset and scenery from the vantage point of the View Inn’s veranda where we sipped hot tea until it got dark. Afterwards, we returned to our budget motel room in Kayenta to munch down the last of our road food, reply to emails (it seems that nearly all hotel and motel rooms now have free Wi-Fi, even in the more remote places) and plan out next leg of our road trip: The Grand Canyon.

(End of Part 3. More on this road trip to come. View images of the Road Trip)

Enjoy Ricardo’s account?  Read Part 1 and Part 2!

by Carmen

As you may know from a couple of posts ago, I recently had the opportunity to do a bit of nomading around Costa Rica. This wasn’t a pure nu nomadic adventure as I wasn’t able to stay more than a couple of weeks but I was able to scout out a bit of nomadic issues while I traveled/worked around the country.

Our journey began in an outskirt of San Jose, Heredia, moved into the rain forest area near Puerto Viejo, on to Arenal Volcano and La Fortuna, and then ended on the coast near Tamarindo (click town names for pictures). Costa Rica has a thriving tourist business that attracts many environmentalists and nature lovers to its “ecolodge” accommodations where they can marvel at the abundant wildlife and learn about the rain forest. It also beckons to the active traveler who loves to surf, hike, snorkel, bungee jump or you name it. In addition, you will find an active expat community that includes citizens from many countries of Europe as well as the U.S. While all of this means that it could be very easy in Costa Rica to find a comfortable living situation, plug yourself into a satellite television and live a sheltered life surrounded by your western world friends, your golf course and your mojito, it also means that if you want to really know Costa Rica and the Costa Rican people, you will have to seek them out away from the upscale niceties that have been developed for the tourist/expat lifestyle and “live like the Romans (or in this case, Ticos) do”.

Getting around Costa Rica is an adventure in itself. It is possible to take short commuter flights between popular areas and major cities such as Liberia, San Jose, Tamarindo and La Fortuna. This may make sense if you really need to move locations quickly. However, you can make your way between many major destinations in a day or half day by car or bus. If you choose to rent a car be sure to rent a 4×4. While the larger “highways” ( I rarely saw any larger than 2 lanes outside the major cities) are paved, most of the remaining roads including major routes between towns are gravel and some are downright large (I’m talking cantaloupe size now) rock roads. Be prepared to place a large deposit (in our case $1500.00 US) for a car to cover any damage your adventure driving might cause. I chose to go with a Costa Rican rental business called Mapache Rental Car because of their lower prices. They delivered the car to me in the rain forest, were prompt, efficient and honest. The car had some difficulties shifting but made the trip without incident and I was relieved to get my deposit back in full, knowing we spent a lot of time kicking up gravel and rocks.

If you choose a place to remain as a nomad and are within a short distance to your daily needs you could get by without a car. You might even consider a bicycle as many of the locals do. Taxis are reasonable and the public bus system is downright luxurious. Before needing our car we chose to take a public bus to do some waterfall viewing. The bus was the same style as other tourist buses, air conditioned with upholstered seats. This was a great comparison experience between tourist living and Tico living. To take a reserved tourist van to our destination (a 45 minute ride) and back would have cost us $75.00 US per person. The same trip on our luxurious public bus – $4.00 US per person. The bus ran on a set schedule and we found it to be on time.

So – what about working? Here’s where a bit of the challenge comes in. Costa Rica varies wildly between world class accommodations with all conveniences including free Wifi in your room (such as we found in Heredia at La Contessa Hotel) – to very rugged areas that are still waiting to receive land-line telephone service (the case around Lake Arenal). Do not assume that because a destination is popular, has charming accommodations or an internet presence, that there will be access to internet or even telephone available. In fact, once we left Heredia (near San Jose) we never again had access to a phone in our room let alone internet. Actually – I exaggerate here. One place boasted in room telephones that I was to find out later only called other rooms at the lodge. Many locations seem to keep a phone that will make international calls with a credit or calling card in their main lobby. This is great if you’re just trying to check in with family but not so great if, like me, you’re needing to meet with clients by phone for hour long calls.

If telephone is vital to your career, I would suggest you consider an unlocked GSM with SIM card for Costa Rica. In fact, mobile phones appeared to be the communicator of choice for many locals. I was amused by our 11 year old horseback riding guide one day who spent a good amount of time talking with friends on his mobile phone while he rode.

You should be able to find telephone and internet service at most of the larger towns and occasionally you may find some in a smaller town. One of my favorites was the German Bakery in Nuevo Arenal (article picture is from there), where you could sit on a charming open air porch, eat pastries and coffee and get some work done online. Don’t have your laptop? No problem – they had a computer room in the back of their associated gift shop for $1.00 US per half hour.

So – all in all – here are my impressions for nomading Costa Rica. This is an amazing place especially if you appreciate wildlife and natural wonders. You will find everything from beautiful white sand beaches excellent for surfing, to a live volcano, and rainforests with abundant animals and birds. The people are warm and helpful, exuding their love of a laid back lifestyle and a pride for their country. Costa Rica is reasonably safe. While you will want to take normal anti-theft precautions (especially in San Jose) the rest of the country seems quite secure. Prices are slightly cheaper than US but not as low as one might hope for a nomadic destination. Internet access can be an issue depending on what area you are in. My advice if you’d like to try it out for a longer stay: consider getting a car for a period of one or two weeks so that you can be free to travel the country, get a feel for the variation of different destinations and the viability of doing your work in them. Don’t plan to do a lot of work during this initial period because connectivity may be difficult at times. Do a lot of talking with the local people about lodging and connectivity possibilities. Here a knowledge of Spanish is helpful. Once you’ve chosen your nest, say goodbye to the car, unpack your bags and get ready for life the “Pura Vida” way!

Unlike my Nu Nomad partner Ricardo, who nomads continually and has for years, I have not broken away from a home base that completely. For me, nomading has meant developing my coaching business until it is completely mobile and having the freedom to work from wherever I like for as long as I like. However, having 3 children of school age we do stay home for extended periods.

Today, though, I am enjoying my ability to nomad. When my mother in law decided we should all go to Costa Rica I knew I could continue to work so our family was able to double our time with her here as compared to the extended family.

We flew in yesterday to San Jose and have spent our first night in La Condesa Hotel in Heredia (a neighboring area to San Jose. This must be one of the most beautiful locations anyone has ever found to build a hotel and the place that was built is quite grand in a “grand old hotel” way. The picture I’m including is the view from our room. The rooms are 2 floors high with a loft layout so that each room has it’s own staircase. The central dining area is open air and the grounds are extensive. There is free wifi in the room which I’m using to write this blog.

This isn’t a place most of us could stay for an extended nomading experience because the price isn’t cheap, but if you wanted to treat yourself to some luxury for a night or two this is definitely the place to do so.

Heredia is a charming place with many small shops and the hustle-bustle of lots of pedestrian traffic. Many cafes boasted “Internet” on signs so I’m led to believe it would not be difficult to work in this town. You can expect numerous church spires rising from this town that sits at the base of small mountains. We were also treated to the site of many fruit vendors, a lovely town square, and homes from cute little bungalows teeming with flowers to the gated homes of the president’s extended family who made their fortune in coffee.

I would definitely encourage anyone to check it out! Today we move on to an eco-lodge in Sarapiqui.

We last interviewed the Atkins family in May of 2007 as they were in the preparation stages of an around the world trip by bus while homeschooling their 4 children. At that time, the Atkins were overhauling their vehicle to accomodate their trip. Now they have been on the road for 6 months so we thought we’d get in touch and see how they’re doing.

Manny, when we last interviewed you and your family, you were in the process of building out your bus and planning your trip. Now you have been on the road for several months. What countries have you visited so far?

We traveled through France, into Spain back into France, across to Northern Italy. Joe then had work in Monte Carlo, so we stayed in Antibes, and went in to work with him pretty much every day, which was wonderful! Back in to Italy, to Rome and beyond. We took a ferry to Greece, drove up through Bulgaria, into Romania to play a couple of concerts for the charity Growing Care. Back through Bulgaria and into Turkey, we spent Christmas in Istanbul, and New Year in Athens. Crossed back into Italy and came back up to France where we are taking a pause after traveling 15,000Km and being on the road for six months.

If you were advising a NuNomad as to what locations in Europe are most Nomad friendly (ie, low cost of living, widely available internet, quality of life) what would be your top picks?

Sometimes we’ve found the best internet access in the most surprisingly remote places (virtually the whole of Bulgaria seemed to have free wifi! just no shops!) and our favourite Italian campsite, in the forested mountains just outside Deiva Marina, had free and excellent wifi. And yet we struggled to find wifi in some capital cities – which surprised me! We have stayed mainly in campsites; which often offered wifi and always had useful info on public transport into the city etc. The free hot water, ability to plug in to electricity, and use of washing machines made sense for us as a big family. We often stayed overnight in truckstops on the autoroutes, when travelling from place to place, but then we’d seek the security and facilities of a campsite to base ourselves. The city sites tended to cost double the rural sites. Spain was cheaper than Italy and France, and the Spanish really know how to run a city! Greece was cheaper still, but we were there very much out of season. Turkey would probably be my top location – not too expensive, good internet, and the warmest and most generous strangers we ever came across. Istanbul was vibrant, and exciting. You cross from Europe to Asia and back, all within one city! Here’s a link to the blogs while we were in Turkey:http://web.mac.com/harryatkins/WTTW_Blogs/The_Family_Blog/Entries/2007/12/22_-_Turkey.html

Was this your original itinerary or have you changed? If you have changed itinerary what factors caused you to do so?

It was always our intention to have a fluid itinerary and while we were in Spain, we decided we weren’t ready to go into Africa. We thought maybe we’d head for North America, but in our (long) search for crossings for us and the bus, we discovered Grimaldi Freighter Cruises. Their office in Naples have been really helpful, and we were thrilled to find we could cross to Argentina. We were booked to travel in April. In fact this crossing has been cancelled, and we are now booked onto the November crossing.
This delay has coincided with a bit of a financial crisis for us: some money we were relying on has fallen through, and so we need to re-fuel our funds. We’ll sit tight for a few months here in France, live as cheaply as we can; earn as much as we can, and learn French! And hopefully be ready to get on the boat in November.

What caused the decision not to go to Africa?

We found it almost impossible to find a realistic crossing from Egypt to Kenya, which was our original plan; also the political situation in Africa seemed to be more and more unsettled. We decided we weren’t comfortable taking the children into a situation where we would be so vulnerable. It was a big disappointment, but Joe and I felt strongly that it was too early in our trip to be facing those kinds of challenges. Life on the road was going so well, and to be honest was exciting, interesting and challenging enough. I have to say though, that now we’re six months in, and have crossed borders in the dark and snow, I’m really excited about changing continents!

How has it been to be in the bus on the road with a large family? How have you all adapted to the close quarters?

The joy of a big family is that no-one ever gets left out; there’s a constant variety of different combinations. We run a very harmonious team to keep everything ticking over, and the children take as much responsibility for the tidiness and running of the bus as Joe and I. It works really well, and it all runs very smoothly. Being so close has become a way of life now, even sharing our huge top bunk with Arthur, our seven year old, feels completely natural. Going to bed is reminiscent of the end of “The Waltons”!

Looks like you’ve been playing music as a family band along the way. How do you set up your concerts and get an audience?

The music has been a great family focus. it tends to come in bursts. We played some summer concerts, at campsites and for friends; and a big Birthday Party last September. Then we played the two concerts in Romania. They were a real adventure. One was for the children the charity helps; they have so little, and live a hard hard life. It was a real pleasure to bring a live gig to them, we felt so appreciated, and it was very humbling! The other was in a big theatre as more of an awareness-raiser with local dignitaries etc. Here’s the blog link to the Romanian concerts – http://web.mac.com/harryatkins/WTTW_Blogs/The_Family_Blog/Entries/2007/12/7_Politics%2C_Philosophy%2C_Harmonics_-_Romania_2.html
We’re playing a gig in a couple of weeks here in France, a musical evening already organised, so audience gathering is not down to us! but we hope it will lead to a few more. So we’re practising hard at the moment. We’ve made no more than a free supper so far, and it would be great to earn a bit; but playing for pleasure carries less pressure!

What are you learning along the way that you didn’t expect?

Just how rewarding home-schooling is
I don’t miss England at all!
I never crave time to myself, away from the family.
The Turkish generosity is boundless.
There are more good people in the world than the media would have you believe! (Actually, I did expect that to be the case!)

How is the bus holding up?

She’s in fine form. She’s running better now than she was when we left the UK. We’ve ironed out oil-leaks and air system problems; fixed the radiator and had the heating re-instated. She’s happiest doing the kind of long, steady, regular drives we do, so really she’s in her element! There is a harmony and trust when we’re driving that’s hard to describe. The bumpy roads of Romania took their toll, and we had some quite big structural repairs to take care of in Turkey. But all in all she’s looked after us, and we’ve looked after her and the respect is mutual!

What has been the greatest highlight/positive experience of the trip so far?

There’ve been a few!
Parking on the waters edge at Camping Fusina, and watching the sun go down over Venice took some beating!
Driving through Greece in the crisp winter sun; snow capped mountains to our left, and crystal blue sea on our right…music playing, family singing… deep inner peace!
Christmas day in Istanbul! waking up to stockings in the morning, and a boat trip across the Bosphorus sea in the evening, the city illuminated magnificently in the moonlight.
I can’t even begin to put into words the way this trip and the preparations for it, have bonded us as a family. It has enriched our marriage and deepened all our relationships.

Welcome to the World.