Modern nomads lifestyle, travel and beyond. Our journey in the new version - the beginning, thoughts & ideas while traveling the world.
Podcasts
July, 2024
To live 24X7 with your partner (as we do when we’re on the road, which is most of the year), there are two options: agree or divide. When we both like the same thing, there is agreement and we do it willingly, let’s say we both like to travel in nature, ancient villages and gossip about the locals… Therefore, there is no problem, but when one likes something and the other doesn’t, there should be a compromise, for example she likes hiking uphill and I don’t, so we split up, I complain on the way up and she complains on the way down. We are usually in agreement (how lucky). But there is one issue we are not. Podcasts! Since we are on the road a lot, listening to podcasts is required. But my wife can only listen to one episode in a row. After each episode you have to rest for hours, to digest, and prepare for the next one in line… We tried everything, earphones, mixing topics, starting to listen only at noon, and what not… a problem 😀.
Google Maps
July, 2023
We love Google Maps. Sometimes you are thrilled by the application’s ability to know in such great detail so much about remote roads in the world… and now that we have praised the ‘lord’ (the machine that will soon rule us)… we recommend not to trust it 100% (like any AI application)… Not long ago we found ourselves on the top of a hill with only terraces half a meter high in front of us, and the ‘lord’ insists on continuing straight ahead; or he sends us to the narrow streets that cannot accommodate a car or to unpaved roads and some of them are really tough so that we ask ourselves how he knows that we are in a 4WD vehicle. And that’s without taking into account the times he doesn’t recognize that it’s a one-way road and convinces you to drive there in an opposite direction or he thinks you’re now in the middle of the sea or the desert with no road in sight. That is, the map and the reality are not the same. So what do we do… Here are some useful tips:
>> We check how long the system thinks it will take to drive in a certain section and if, for example, 10 km should take an hour, it usually means that the road is really rough. To make sure, switch to satellite mode and with maximum zoom you can see the condition of the road.
>> In problematic places we operate two phones, one with Google Maps and one with Waze and compare.
>> The navigator (the one next to the driver) checks the route to see whether the system’s suggestions make sense. The system has a tendency to recommend unnecessary shortcuts to save half a minute. They may pass through impassable roads.
>> Scenic roads are marked on the maps (in green) but when the route is marked (in blue) you don’t see the scenic landmarks. That’s why you should look at the map in advance and choose how you want to travel and force the system by adding stops.>> The system tends to look for the shortest route and may change the route while traveling so if you want to travel a specific route (not just to reach a destination point) it is advisable to add stops along the way.
>> Unless we are in a hurry (rare), we will choose the options to avoid highways. It’s slower but twice as fun. Note that sometimes around a highway there is the old road that just zigzags around it. In that case we recommend driving on the highway.
>> We travel with the system on mute. So when you make a mistake in navigation, the system immediately finds an alternative way (often quite a few kilometers ahead just to make a U-turn), so we follow the remaining time and if it suddenly gets longer, it is a sign that we should re-examine our life decisions 
.
>> Our way of planning a trip is to collect a lot of recommended points (from the Internet) and mark them on the map (under save > want to go there) when at the beginning of the day we plan a route, we will look for such points (marked in green on the map) and add them to the route. Note that when there is a route, these points do not appear on the map (bug?).
OK, we’ve mumbled enough… Have a nice trip!
In the picture below my Google Maps from 2016 (still so many non-red areas 🤔).
Readers' review
July, 2023
The reviews about the hotel were excellent, the price was indeed lower than expected, but we were in the off season so you know… Indeed the hotel was of high quality. Mirrors on the entire ceiling in the room, the porn channels on loop on the TV, sex accessories for sale in the room and the high walls that surround the hotel. And so we discovered that a motel in Brazil (and in several other countries in South America) is a hotel that rents rooms by the hour.
You can usually trust hotel reviews (say on Booking.com or Google Maps), especially if you know what you’re looking for.
Restaurant reviews will also reflect reality (say on Google Maps), and when we see phrases like “basic but delicious food” or “great atmosphere” (accompanied by a score of 4.8 out of hundreds of ratings), we know this is the place for us.
Even reviews on tourist sites serve us really well (albeit in the opposite way), when it says “must see” or “must not be missed” it is clear to us that the place will be crowded with visitors and should not be approached….
So why doesn’t it work for the books? Reviews (written by readers) such as “the most delightful book I’ve ever read!”, “I couldn’t stop reading”, “a witty and clever book, full of quality British humor”… don’t say anything about the book as if the person who wrote the review didn’t read the book. OK, the negative reviews may give a hint, and no, they are not related to the book either (and you know this in retrospect). Why? To the God of books.
Pictured in a hotel in Thailand with an excellent review.
The Purpose in Life
December, 2022
Quite a few people have been asking me recently what my purpose in life is, especially in light of our lifestyle. And it’s funny because I’ve never been asked what my purpose in life is, and funnier, I don’t think I’ve ever had a “purpose in life.” At a certain point in life I could say I want to be an engineer, or finish a doctorate or have five children or I want to build a career. But “purpose”? The interesting thing is that I’m 70 years old and now I have to set goals in life.
Anyway, since I have been asked, here is the answer (mainly for myself). My purpose in life is related to experiences, to have experiences and especially those related to curiosity to discover new things, experience places I have not been to, talk to people I have not spoken to, discover customs I did not know, and drive vehicles I have not driven. A modest goal that our lifestyle supports.
BTW, Ira thinks that my goal in life should be to “make her happy”.
Factor India
September 2022
Booking.com has a rating score for every place. The score is given by users and generally is reliable. But the score of 9 in India is not like a score of 9 in England for example. In England, 10 would be given to Buckingham Palace (if they would only rent it out for the night), therefore a place with a score of 8 or higher would be of a very high standard with an emphasis on details, excellent maintenance and accuracy in the description. In India, on the other hand, you will not be surprised to find in a place with a score of 9 that there is no hot water (one showers using the big-bucket-small-bucket method), the cleanliness does not reach the corners and the rooms furnished with a necessary minimum. This is what we call the Factor India (registered mark).
In many places, the Factor India will also work in the difference between the city and the village (usually in favor of the city) or between a hotel and a hostel (usually a hostel with a score of 10 is still suitable for people up to the age of 25). It takes a few days for the skilled traveler to discover the factor upon arriving in a new country and here we are in Georgia. In the cities everything is fine (factor 0.9) but when you go to the mountains, where we usually are, the factor drops dramatically. The places are simple, lack of attention to details, the cleanliness is not best and the shower splashes to the sides and is in the backyard (and they still have a score of 9.2 with the revelry of the Georgian hospitality).
It took us a week to find the factor (0.7 for those who are interested). But (in Georgia there is a big but), it doesn’t matter what the score is, the hosts will be incredibly nice and ready to help, they go above and beyond to make you welcomed and comfortable and that wins every factor. In the picture is an opinion about a place (score 9.3) which we gave 7 mainly because the owner of the house was really nice.
MODERN NOMADS
We call ourselves modern nomads. Those who follow us know that we like to be on the move and are unable to plan more than two weeks ahead. If you ask us where we will go in a month, we will be able to tell you (Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan), but if you had asked us two weeks ago, the answer would have been different (rally in Portugal), and it is certainly possible that in two weeks the answer will change again.
Since we are nomads, it seems to us that there are nomads everywhere (a well-known human trait). Nomadism does not have to be physical in moving from one place to another, but rather in any area of our lives where we jump between different options. Here are some examples:
Video streaming – until recently everyone had one main viewing channel, let’s say Netflix, and the subscription was for years. And now there is a global trend of skipping between various providers (soon also in Israel), making a two-month subscription to Disney (binge, binge, binge and switching to HBO or Prime or returning to Netflix to watch the new season of…). Nomads watching.
Beer – Tempo has a small number of beers that they have been marketing for years (for example, Goldstar, Maccabi, Paulner), in recent years, breweries have sprung up that produce a new type of beer every month (for example, Hadubim, Shapira, Hashekma). Each cycle is different from the previous one and there is a growing group of groupies looking for the new taste.
Buying an apartment – more and more young people choose not to buy an apartment, some of them for financial reasons (it is sooooo expensive) but some of them chose not to buy in order to have flexibility in their place of residence. Nomads in housing (the next step is a tent?).
And I’m interested in when there will be nomadism in the elections in Israel (for example, I’ve been voting for the same party since the age of 18).
June 11, 2022 – by Yoav Armony
Around four o’clock in the afternoon we start looking for a place for the night, see a sign for the B&B on the side of the road, drive towards it, the sign says “vacancies”, go inside, the bathroom is shared, move to the next place, the room is suitable for dwarfs, the next place, a pungent smell of boiled cabbage. Around six o’clock, after entering five of these, one begins to compromise and at seven takes whatever is available. This scenario was the routine up until only few years ago. Then came Booking.com.
Every evening we have the ceremony of booking a place for tomorrow (usually during dinner). First of all, decide where we are going tomorrow, for example today we are going to Glen Affric in Scotland we heard about it at a breakfast when the couple next to us shared impressions with another person (and we overheard the conversation).
Looking for a place close to the destination in Booking we use three filters:
– Guest rating 9+ from as many reviewers as possible (some countries also have an 8+ rating that definitely suits us).
– Price range (from experience, too cheap is not good either – no free meals here).
– ‘En suite’ services.
Now sort according to the distance from the destination. If we are not in the high season, we usually find a variety of places that suit us. Now, one picture worth thousand words – room size (at least 18 sqm), photos of the place and the room, and always read the opinions of the guests (especially those who were not satisfied).
If we have not found a room close enough to the destination, increase the price or lower the guest rating – we never compromise on ‘en suite’.
If we are looking for a place in the city, we like to be close to the city center and we will check the parking status of the place.
Since we book over 200 nights a year through Booking it can be said with certainty that the amount of failures is very negligible, while the experience of finding a place for the night turned from a nightmare into an exciting ceremony.
Full disclosure – we have nothing to do with Booking, just think that it and Google Maps have upgraded our travel experience by many levels.
Finally, an interesting insight – no matter what country we are in, the best hosts will not be originally from that country – Germans in Iceland, Dutch in France, Italians in Argentina, French in Morocco and English in Scotland.
In the picture our room tonight score 9.8 (the room comes with the cat named Casper).
Timeline
May, 2022 – by Yoav Armony
Google Maps has “insights” in its timeline – you can see what I did every month (since 2013). Here is what I see in the month of March this year, as an example:
I walked 66 km (and I tell everyone that I walk 8 km a day – where did 22 days go?)
I traveled 4,359 km (of which 2,500 km in Rolls-Royce – Google did not specify this)
I ate for almost 34 hours (which is more than an hour every day)
I spent 479 hours and 28 minutes in hotels (the ‘good life’)
I did 25 hours of shopping (here we must clarify that most of it was in supermarkets – I look good)
4 hours of culture – most of them in the Alhambra in Granada which in my view counts as culture… but Google does not count that I read about 60-70 hours, I saw The Big Bang Theory 30 hours, and participated in a very cultural rally.
and most importantly I did sports for an hour and forty minutes (!) (this clearly explains the belly that has recently grown in front of my body).
Google also points out that I visited 14 bars during this month (and I do not drink alcohol – this is what happens when you go out with a Russian girl )
Thanks to Idle Times
Apr, 2022 – by Yoav Armony
Researchers claim that our brain works in two states, an active state and an idle state. An idle state (sitting and doing nothing) is the time when new ideas come (as if out of nowhere), problems that have bothered us for a long time are solved and things we tried to remember without success are remembered. The same researchers praise idle times and even recommend mechanically spending time when you are doing nothing.
From experience it’s hard, you will not find me just staring in the air, when there is a quiet second in the restaurant (during a romantic meal with Ira) – I would pick up the phone and start exploring it. If I cannot fall asleep – I would turn on the phone; when there is an advertisement on the TV – phone; waiting in line at the supermarket – phone… There is no second in the day that I am not active or looking at the phone, reading, browsing, checking…
So, where do I just ‘being there’? – while driving. As nomads, Ira and I travel on average several hours a day. Since we only drive on side roads and try to avoid cities, most of the time we are quite alone on the road, in an automatic driving mode that does not require mental effort. Then we talk, listen to podcasts, play trivia, but a lot of the time we are just quiet, and this is when the feeling, that you are in a dream, comes – this is probably my idle time.
It’s true that I have not yet discovered a cure for cancer while my brain in its idle state, but this is a sheer pleasure.
Source – Design of Consciousness – Liraz Margalit
Uphill and Downhill
Nov, 2021 – by Yoav Armony
Today we climbed “Clara’s Hut” in the Austrian Alps. AllTrail (hiking app) defines the route as “Easy – intended for an afternoon hike on Sunday”. If we ignore the fact that it is 8 km one way (total about 16 km trip), and we ignore the fact that it is a 600 meter difference in height (about a 200-story building), and even ignore the fact that the hut was closed and there was no soup we dreamed of, despite al that, the hike was quite easy. But it is not what I wanted to write about, rather there is this annoying phenomenon. My dear partner, Ira, and I share many loves but there is one issue that disturbs the harmony, aggravates the relationship and may even endanger our future… Ira loves going uphill, and I love downhills (who likes climbs anyway?). It does not matter what the slope or the length of the route, as long as we ascend Ira leaps like a deer uphill at the pace of an infantry soldier and mutters sentences like “one does not stop in the middle of ascend” while I linger far behind panting, sweating and cursing the God of the mountains and ascents. But as the direction reverses and we’re going downhill, Ira, like a baby who just started walking, crawls slowly, clinging to every occasional railing and pipe in every direction, as I lightly hop from rock to rock – merry and joyful. I have no idea how to solve this problem – but it requires a solution, and fast.
Traveling in COVID times
COVID times – traveling in the Corona era – go where you can, there is still plenty to see.
Sep, 2021 – by Yoav Armony
Travelling in the Corona era – we wanted Siberia and Mongolia, the Corona wanted something different. And after waiting for over a year and when we thought that everything was behind us, we went out to wander around a bit in non-Hebrew speaking countries (Siberia and Mongolia were postponed to next year – ‘inshallah’, and we roam Europe). But a trip in Corona time poses challenges and we are only in the middle of the fourth wave.
First, a significant advantage of a trip in Corona time – we develop our reading skills and ability (in English translated from all kinds of languages). Before boarding / crossing a border, research the network in an attempt to understand what the minimum requirements are for entering the country, what needs to be done, what forms to fill out, what tests to go through, what sites to visit. So far, a passport and a Corona vaccine certificate are sufficient.
Another significant advantage is the practice of taking risks, we refuse in principle to think what if … what happens if they do not let us leave the airport, what happens if they do not let us to cross the border, what happens if a certificate of vaccination from Israel is not enough …. Do not think about it, we will manage.
We thought it would not be crowded, who goes out for a walk when an epidemic is raging outside. And it turned out to be false hopes. Although most of the tourism is local (except for the Germans they are still everywhere) but unfortunately the hotels are fully booked, and there are queues at every tourist site. Anyway, there is an advantage here, when you travel in Africa (pre-Corona) you always feel special, there is excitement among the locals when a white tourist arrives. The same feeling exists here in Europe. Suddenly a pair of tourists arrived who do not speak the local language – wow like creatures from outer space.
After visiting Romania, Italy, Iceland, Austria, Hungary and Croatia, no one asked for a Corona test (none), in rare cases they asked for a vaccination certificate (yes), in most places no mask is needed (it is in a pocket at times), COVID is not a topic of conversation ( the heat wave yes) … and so far we have not had to change direction following a missing document (knock wood, because we have quite a few plans still).
In two more weeks, we are planning a visit to the homeland (after 3 months) and it seems to us that this will be the real challenge (tests, third vaccination, isolation, lock-down, holidays 
).
Modern Nomads – How This Works
Sep, 2021 – by Yoav Armony
Wandering – Arik Einstein likes to be at home with the tea and lemon and the old books, and we like to wander with digital books and a coffee kit but without a proper song.
“Aren’t you tired?” We are more often asked than you would expect, “Another nature reserve, a green mountain, a waterfall, a hiking trail… not tiring to change hotels every day?”, So here is the thing: We are not on vacation, it is our way of life (until we get tired), although we are away from home, sleeping in hotels and hanging out at tourist sites, it is not a vacation, and it is not tiring (so far). Maybe we were Bedouins in the previous incarnation, and we will adopt David Broza with the flute sounds of the sands (Bedouin love song).
“Aren’t you tired of each other?”, people keep asking, “How do you keep such a close relationship, 24/7?” The truth is that we have no idea, maybe because we both just love this lifestyle.
“What about the grandchildren? the children?”, they keep pushing… “How can you abandon them for such a long time?” – here we actually do have a good answer – we found a routine that we are comfortable with – two-three months on the road, a month visiting home-land. We try to get as much ‘together time’ as we can when we are at home and then back on the road.
In short, it is much recommended for the retirement, you do not have to go two months / one month, it is also possible to do two weeks / one week .
Hotel Reviewer
Aug, 2021 – by Yoav Armony
I’ve had a dream of being a restaurant reviewer, going to a restaurant and ordering the dishes with the craziest names without considering the price and then getting even with the sour waiter and the dark bathroom . But with the years passing and the sloping belly growing, the dream has been redeemed and replaced with a new dream – a hotel reviewer.
We travel a lot and usually our trips roll, i.e. almost every day we sleep somewhere else. Since we are not in favor of tents, sleeping bags, cooking on fires and so on in principle, we are world the champions in booking.com.
A hotel inspector looks like a respectable profession, you enter a lobby delicately and professionally review the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, examine the office uniform of the receptionist and click on the ragged carpets at the edges, examine the safety measures and elevator speed and so on. Well I cracked the method. There is one parameter that indicates more than anything the quality of the hotel, meaning that if you check it you will immediately know the price of a prize, thumbs up or down… The shower. Not the bathroom and the fluffy oils, not the Louis XIV-style sinks, not even the toilets with the shock absorbers for the toilet seat, these will not indicate the quality of the hotel. The light movement of the wrist – opening the shower water stream – will unveil the quality of the hotel; is there a leak along the pipe?; where does the water splash?; the intensity of the current; and most importantly, is the hot water tap on the side of the hot water?. And, if you have a few minutes for a refreshing shower, does the water temperature stay constant throughout the shower?
And now that I have revealed to you this secret, who will give me a job as a hotel reviewer? … me and my big mouth.
The Beginning
May, 2021 – by Yoav Armony
I like writing short stories, usually when I start writing I have a general idea and an opening sentence, but I have no idea how the story will end, the end comes while writing.
In contrast to the regular practice of “let’s start and see where we get to” this time we planned the trip in depth. We checked the expected weather along the entire route (cold there!), checked out accommodations along the way (we avoid in principled tents and a sky overhead at night) and even prepared a target bank of sites we would like to visit. In short, we were ready…. Then the COVID arrived, and we were grounded for more than a year. We are not the only ones whose plans were changed by COVID has changed so it is difficult to complain, moreover we took the time to spend a year in Mitzpe Ramon volunteering in education field, and we really did not suffer .
The original planning was to go through: Romania, Serbia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Russia (much of Russia, Siberia), Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan , Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece and Romania – this is how it was supposed to be:
We estimated the trip to be more or less a year, summer in Europe and northern Russia and winter on the shores of the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea and Greece. We bought a jeep in Romania and everything was ready.
And here we are a year late leaving… except this time the rules of the game will be different, we know where we will start (in Iasi, Romania), plan to spend a few weeks in Romania and drive west generally (we will drive towards Europe as the COVID status reports there are more reliable) to any country that will agree to let us in .
HE 
