April 25, 2020
Episode 4 of the podcast chronicles finds me chatting with Glenn, a nomad of several years with his wife Jacqueline. Having been on the go after a stupendous gap year, they had recently rented their home. Of course the coronavirus pandemic struck shortly after, leaving them with no place to ride it out. Read on to find out how they are coping down under.
Lockdown in Australia:
After a terrific gap year during which they discovered the house and pet sitting life, Glenn and his wife decided three years ago (2017) that the life of travel was for them. They rented out their home to try things out. Turned out they loved it chose to travel full time house sitting in some of the most gorgeous places on earth, including Thailand, Scotland and Mexico.
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We met them when they pet sat for us here in Valencia about three years ago, and have stayed friends since. Needless to say, the pets loved them, especially the big beagle. Jacqueline is one of the most energetic people l have ever met, and delighted in taking super, super, super long walks which the dog loved. Yeah… that wasn’t going to keep happening once we got back! :-), so he was disappointed. Like l always say, it’s been incredible how many wonderful people we have met through house sitting.
Glenn and Jacqueline absolutely adore bicycling. They actually travel with their helmets and gears and speak of biking 60 or more kilometres a day on their jaunts!!! Madness l tell you :-). We found them on Housesitmatch , a website l use exclusively to find our sitters because we absolutely love the woman who runs it. Very personal service and a smaller company that l highly recommend for your house or pet sitting needs. I’ve written about them before on this post.
Fast forward to the end of 2019 when they decided to sell their primary home and go traveling full time. Shortly after the sale, and having many house sits lined up at that point, they were raring to go. Enter Covid-19 and having to alter the plans, one of the many skill sets required to be a digital nomad, being able to change plans at the drop of a hat.
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Luckily for them, they were at least in their home country of Australia on a house sit and taking the opportunity to visit family. However, no longer having a house of their own meant that they had to make alternate plans.
Some of the Lockdown in Australia show notes:
- How long they have been traveling
- Where they were when the pandemic struck (on a sit and the kindness of the homeowners)
- Where they are now, about 2,000 km away from home.
- The sits they had that have now being cancelled, including their bike tour through Europe that they had been looking forward to.
- The struggle to get their son (who had also been on a multi year travel around the world) back on Australian soil when the s**t hit the fan.
- What the lockdown in Australia is like, what they can and can not do.
- Quarantine requirements
- What their future plans look like for now.
A funny thing happened during the podcast which goes to show how serious the government is taking this whole pandemic.
Listen To Lockdown in Australia Episode 4
You can find Glenn and Jacqueline on the following platforms:
Travel Blog: https://lambiestravels.com
House sitting: https://theaussielambs.com
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*Update*
Post interview, The Australian government has recently said that it is highly unlikely that citizens will be able to travel in or out of the country until 2021 which l suspect is going to be the same for pretty much most of the world. I know Spain is thinking Christmas time for travel to begin. It’s clear that we all have to settle in for the long haul.
Lockdown In Spain Update:
Truthfully, I’m okay with not being able to travel in the near future. Whenever travel starts up again, we had previously said we were going to discover our backyard so to speak. Earlier this year, we had traveled up north to Bilbao, and worked our way down to four more cities including the magnificent Salamanca before returning. We have so much to discover in Spain still, and train travel makes it more relaxing. We are okay with spending our money to help our new homeland.
As we approach Day 41 of the lockdown, we are still hanging tough :-). Federico more than me, because he has always been more of a homebody. My Spanish professor still send us tons of homework to keep me busy. I continue to spend a bit more time in the kitchen cooking and baking. I wonder if that will become part of the new normal, or if l will just go back to being a lazy ass who hates cooking when this is all behind us. Only time will tell l guess.
As of the 26th of April, children will indeed be allowed to go out for short walks with one parent at a time. They have had it the roughest not being able to be outside. At all! More good news since the numbers keep improving, adults will also be allowed out for exercise starting May 2. The final announcement will be made in a couple of days, but l am optimistic that it will be a go. People have been going to extraordinary lengths to head out. One guy was “walking” his little goldfish in a jar :-).
Other lockdown podcast episodes:
How are you holding up wherever you are? Is the lockdown getting you down? How do you pass the time?
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Great podcast, as always! It’s great to hear about how things are in various places in the world and how this is changing our lives. But I swear that the stories I hear about planes being canceled and the sense of tension and all… it’s just like in the movies!
I know for a fact that in Romania the police checks for those who should be in self-quarantine are real too: many, many fines were given to those who didn’t respect the measures and now they’re moving those who are not found at their address into forced, state quarantine. Well, at least most people are taking this for real!
Thanks C! I find it fascinating also to hear how things are in different parts of the world. It’s amazing that the same virus has to many different ways of handling things. Some choose to confront it, while others choose to ignore it. I guess time will tell who did it better. It does feel like a really bad movie sometimes doesn’t it.
They have been strict with people here and the checks, and fines. I think it was, and is needed to make sure people comply. Sometimes you have to put the welfare of everyone as a collective over your own personal need. I would hate to be in forced quarantine. Yeah… I think that would motivate me to stay at home…. hahah!
Interesting Podcast, it is funny to hear your voice as opposed to your writing voice. Also great to hear how people are dealing with the current situation in different parts of the world. I have heard that Spain is allowing children to go for a walk with their parents now, looks like things are starting to move in the right direction. The Spanish lockdown has been so strict, it is very hard particularly for children who live in an apartment with no garden. I bet Frederico is enjoying sharing the cooking with you? Looks like you are doing very well indeed in the kitchen. Keep up with your Spanish homework.
Haha! Bet l sound completely different than what you pictured :-). It has been quite horrible for the kids the last couple of months with most of them, at least in the city not being outside of their apartment for the whole time. Bet it was even worse for the parent though. It’s a bit livelier outside now, but still subdued compared to how it was. I think parents are still exercising caution which makes sense. There is still so much we don’t know. Yes, I think Federico is definitely enjoying me pitching in with the cooking. My Chinese cooking skills are pretty good now. The baking…still kind of iffy, but they taste good even if they don’t look good. 🙂
I’ve been enjoying your podcast series Kemi and can strongly relate to many of the themes that have come up. Like Glenn and Jacqueline, we took a year to prepare and sell things off from the time we made the actual decision to travel full-time to the date we took off, September 11, 2012. I believe that taking the time to methodically prepare, research a myriad of details and think about various scenarios (good and bad) is essential to making the lifestyle change to a traveler and nomad. (And also, the f**k you money which can give one more options and solve so many of the problems that can crop up!) I loved your discussion of the community of friends you meet, mutual acquaintances and the random paths that cross and recross. It’s a huge world out there but travel and nomadic life seem to make it smaller somehow and can equip you with many skills including flexibility, thinking outside the box and most especially problem solving as you and Glenn discussed. This time of uncertainty and feeling of waiting and being in limbo requires a lot of patience as well as trying to keep an optimistic outlook but one thing I know for sure, our future travels will most be certainly impacted by the Covid-19 virus. Keep smiling and stay well!
Thanks so much for the feedback. It’s so nice to hear. Definitely what you say is true and we has been proven time and time again. If you don’t have your plans worked out , you will surely be in for a world of pain. There is so much online to cull from. The ability to pivot and make new plans is also very essential. Yep! You can’t beat that F**k you money. :-).
Meeting virtual friends in real life is so awesome and is one of my favorite parts about blogging. Right you are about the world being big and small at the same time. This thing is so much bigger than us, than everyone put together even and it’s going to be a lot of clawing to get back to the resemblance of old. It may not be a bad thing even in some aspects.
Let’s all hang in there, and keep enjoying your huge space :-).