That could have been me writing that. Similar experience. Living/working in the Middle East, then Hong Kong and then Singapore I too only managed to get back to the UK about once a year, and not long enough to really appreciate how much I was missed. Parents are no longer around, and now I'm just a brief trip across the channel away. So sad.
History almost rewriting itself. I'm now settled in France and our son has been settled in Montreal Canada these last 20 or so years. I used to love travelling, but the joy has now worn off, as since retiring I wanted nothing more than to leave airports behind and forget about them, especially as my work in aviation demanded airports to be almost a second home. Fortunately our son gets to visit us usually once a year, and I'm reluctantly pursuaded to make a Canada visit every other year, and I'm told it's this Sept! Always pleased when I'm there though, but the real pleasure is returning home!

An old friend of mine hitched from London to Singapore back in 1964/5 with a Japanese friend he met along the way. From there, they flew to Tokyo, where Graham hitched around Japan before heading home to Australia. Is anybody on BE interested in reminiscing about their travels in yesteryear? Or in their father's or grandfather's travels, come to that.

I've got my house on the market, and one of the things that's making it difficult to sell is that it's not fully air-conditioned. Only the bedrooms. Back in the day (1940s), in the Queensland bush, we didn't even have electric fans! When we were hot, we used hand-held paper fans. In bed at night, we sweated it out under the sheets. (Well, I slept under the sheets so that the snakes wouldn't get me; I was deathly sure there were some under the bed.)

We did have electric lights, from a bank of batteries Dad kept in the shed, but only three ceiling lights (40 watts, probably) were allowed to be on at the same time! Even in Toowoomba in the 'fifties, we didn't have air-con. And we still always turned the lights out when we left the room!

Since my last posting, I've moved to Ecuador to be with my son and daughter-in-law. Here, because the dams are empty and the electricity is all generated by hydro, the populace (at least where we live) has blackouts every day, of ten or twelve hours. Gosh. Just like old times! The blackout times are announced the day before, usually. Yes, well, usually announced and usually accurate...

Several years ago working in southern Colombia close to border with Ecuador there was a rule one could import petrol without any checks for up to 40 miles inside Colombia- many homes had in front yard a few barrels of petrol they sold at a discount. There was virtually no immigration/customs controls crossing into or out of Ecuador, we used to cross over regularly for meals. While not am Expat mecca that part of Ecuador, an Expat could live very well on $1,000 a month- and a lot safer than southern Colombia.

Hello Morpeth - good to see you again! If your "that part of Ecuador" was Loja Province, it's still very easy to live well on $1000 a month for a couple, and probably still a whole lot safer than southern Colombia. There are certainly more gringos here now than there used to be. Several of them have made YouTube videos of their lives here, and some seem to have become property agents. I've not been here long enough to assess the social inter-mixture, but the recent forest-fires have "forced" the formation of a cordial alliance of all the ethnic groups in the area devoted to deal with the menace. All I need to fit in, is the ability to speak Spanish!

I have noticed the same in Colombia also <<<SNIP>>> becoming property agents- invariable selling over-priced properties.

You're probably right about "selling overpriced properties", but... over-priced properties are usually open to negotiation. Our property here in Ecuador was originally listed at $350K, but sold for much less for cash on the nose. "Don't ask, don't get", as they say. My place in Cayman is probably overpriced, as are most places there. But it all depends on the sellers' circumstances at the time, and their urgency.

Quite agree there is room for negotiation.

Further to my earlier comment... I had a chance to measure the "social inter-mixture" here last Sunday at a first-time afternoon dance-party down the road from us. My son and daughter-in-law identified 16 nationalities in the 30 or 40 adults present. And at least ten different ethnic groups represented. Mostly gringos, and the language was mostly English or Spanish, but the extent of the variety surprised me. 16 nationalities! 10 ethnic groups! Even Cayman would be hard put to gather as many.

The gathering brought back memories of the three months I, my wife and our two-year old son spent in a camping ground in Corfu in 1976; and Linda's and my three years in the Island of Efate in what is now Vanuatu, earlier in the 1970s. Ah... back in the day!

Working in Bolivia several years ago, I was surprized to come across back pack young people ( usually Europeans) , or sometimes in the capital in restaurants the type of variety you mention.

What and where were you working in Bolivia, and when? What took you there? This (my present visit) is my first time in South America. My wife and I got as far as Panama once - back in the day - and she later went there alone to suss it out as a place to retire. But we decided to retire in Cayman instead. Did you do any local travel when you were based in Bolivia?

Mainly the two major cities meeting with government officials, then different mining sites outside of the cities , not much personal travel and for personal travel I would think Argentina or Colombia better for travel .

For retirement depending on one's criteria Argentina. Uruguay, some parts of Colombia, probably better bets than Bolivia though Bolivia quite inexpensive. Panama though is easier and more friendly to Expat retirees . Though in recent years I know quite a few people who choose southern Portugal over Latin America for various reasons.

Medellin has fantastic weather, not too expensive, very friendly people, and contrary to perceptions, most parts generally safe.

Morpeth. I'm interested to know a bit more about your life in Bolivia, all those years ago. I called this thread "Back in the Day", after all! Where were you working and living, and what sort of life did you lead, and how did you (and your family, if any) adapt to the local culture?

Bolivia isn't on every BE member's radar, even in the multi-cultural world that exists today; but that's not to say that they're not interested observers. The number of reported visitors to this thread can't all be robots!

Cheers, GB

I was just there on assignments, not with family.

Interesting place,but not much to talk about in terms of travel interest. It is much more indigenous that Columbia or Argentina or Chile,which is reflected in the daily culture.

La Paz very high up- at the hotel in the lobby there were oxygen machines, the Japanese were always crowded around them.

I found much of the landscape unappealing.