#87 July 2, 2022 Nomad Diary. We Begin Our 4 Month UK Travels. How We Afford our Travels.

On Sunday, June 26th, we walked to this waterfall outside of Skjolden, Norway. Here we also saw the furry cows.

View on our Friday, July 1st, drive looking toward Eastbourne and the English Channel. On our way to Pevency Castle and the our airbnb in Tonbridge, Kent.

Saturday Activities. This is our first wake up in Tonbridge in Kent. It's a sunny day. We prepare our breakfast with foods we purchased yesterday evening downtown. Darrell has muesli and I have avocado on sourdough toast, soft eggs and coffee. 

We shopped and stocked our favorites. Milk and more provided by our host. 

We learned how to use the single cup coffee maker and the washing machine, handwash dishes, and hang out jeans to dry. 

Our comfortable airbnb. There are 2 doors in the hall, one to outside and one to the bathroom. 

 Darrell spent the morning on our pc getting some needed details on his retirement account and our bank account, then we walked about 15 minutes to downtown for lunch. 

High St in Tonbridge. 

Familiar church building on our walk to shops.

We also went to the grocery and bought a Thai meal for dinner.  We walked uphill to our airbnb.  I took a nap while Darrell purchased our Two Together Rail card for discounts on all of our train tickets.  He also inquired to Google Fi about our ongoing use of our phones while out of the US. 

Week's Highlights.

Sunday. Our cruise stopped at Skjolden (pronounced Sholdon), Norway.  Walked to two falls outside of this 250 person town.  We had an afternoon bus tour up into the snow-topped mountains.  

High mountains bus ride from Skjolden. 

These cows! Skjolden. 

Monday. A sea day.

Tuesday. A sea day.

Wednesday. Cruise ship comes into Southampton port at 6am.  

Southampton from our ship balcony. 

Us and our luggage. 

We are off the ship by 8 am, and go in a Taxi with Wayne and Chris to get a rental car at the airport.  Wayne wants to drive for the two days we are here in England together.  Driving is very different here from driving in the US.  The roads are very narrow.  There are traffic circles every few miles.  We drive toward our BnB in Seaford along the coast.  On the way we stop at a museum called Fishbourne Roman Palace.  At Fishbourne there is a number of 1st century beautiful mosaic floors that have been excavated.  

Roman mosaic floor..

Beautiful corner Mosaic floor. 1st century Roman. 

The story, and artifacts and grounds are all amazing.  We drove on to Seaford and checked into our BnB.  Darrell and I took a walk up the hill to overlook the English Channel over the white cliffs.  The view was stunning.  The weather was sunny and breezy.  We slept well and were served a lovely breakfast for this night and the next.

Stunning views up the hill from our Seaford airbnb. 

Thursday. The 4 of us went to Battle where there is the story and history of the Battle of Hastings in 1066.  Within 20 years of this event, William the Conqueror built an Abbey as penance for the bloodshed.  In the 1500's the Abbey was mostly destroyed during the disallution of the monasteries. There is a shell of the abbey and a castle and many 13th century buildings. 

William the Conqueror's Abbey shell.

Battle where this castle and Abbey shell tell the 1066 story.

We walked the museum display around the supposed battlefield and read the displays.  We had lunch in the town that serves many tourists.  On our drive toward Battle we went through Alfriston and had to stop and walk around because it was a quaint and historic village with many 13-14th century houses, a church and buildings. Darrell and I stopped for tea and enjoyed the very short doors and the local hospitality.

Smugglers Inn in Alfriston a 14th century town.

Short doors in Alfriston!

Friday. 

Breakfast served at our Seaford airbnb. 

 We had another delicious breakfast at our BnB as we checked out and drove to Pevency Castle to tour there.  Here there is a 3rd century Roman wall ruin.

  Inside the perimeter of the old Roman Wall is a 14th century castle ruins.  

Pevency Castle. 

Near to the outside of the wall is an 11th century Norman church that has one original wall and stained glass window.  

Norman Church, well one wall and one stained glass is original. 

The old window. Inside church.
We enjoyed the day with the lovely sunshine and travel to our Airbnb in Tonbridge in Kent.  Wayne and Chris dropped us off and we said our good-byes as they headed off to Heathrow Airport to turn in their car, spend the night and fly home.  Meanwhile, Darrell and I get unpacked, and get acquainted with our host Mick.  We walk 15 minutes to the grocery and get some food we like.  We haven't shopped or cooked since May in Fort Lauderdale!  It feels good to select foods and a bit overwhelming at the same time.

Nomad Notes. A friend of ours IM'd me and asked how we are able to afford our travels as she would love to also travel. This contemplation has many thoughts and directions I can go, and trying to figure out exactly what she's asking or needing to know for her situation. Here's the barebones beginning:

1. Ask yourself, " how much does it cost to be you?" We began tracking all the details of this question for our situation. Then we figured how much money we were spending each month and each day. A big chunk of our income was put into owning and maintaining our house and our stuff. 

2.  We are affording our traveling way of living because (a) we sold our house and our stuff with the exception of our truck and what it holds. (b) we live within our budget and we have learned to seek out bargains on cruises, airbnb's and most recently we added pet/house sitting as an experience to try while we are in the UK for 4 months.