Should we stop traveling right now?

Things are getting a bit nutzo

2027 is complicated.

We plan about six months ahead, blocking off our travel usually around when repositioning cruises move in April and October. Instead of flying, we make sure we’re on a cruise going from the northern hemisphere to the southern or across the Atlantic or Pacific.

Conceptually, our calendar looks like this:

April-May: Cruising

May-October: 72 degree’ing

October-November: Cruising

Nobember to April: 72 degree’ing.

Thanks Gemini for conceptualizing our year

It’s not perfect, but the structure guides us in our decision making. Repositioning cruises work really well when going from Europe to the Americas or from North America to Japan or even when going from Europe to Southeast Asia via the Suez Canal, But then the Suez Canal closed in 2022 and getting to the East from the West via cruising is not practical or possibly even an option.

Our current itinerary in 2026 leaves us in Greece in December with a wish to go to India in January.

But as Brent and Michael predicted acurately and I’ve been saying for two years, 2027’s travel is a going to be messy because of Trump’s War and anything else his mess might manufacture in the next six months.

U.S. Foreign Policy is Becoming a Huge Problem For Travelers — Especially Americans

I can hear the naysayers of our lifestyle saying, “Don’t you wish you still had your place in the USA?”

Should We Just Go Home?

So let’s answer that question.

Heck no. The tension in the US between its own citizens is far scarier to me than the fear of uncertainty in global travel. I may get a negative comment from a local resident in Spain (I haven’t), but I don’t fear getting shot in the local Lidl in Atlanta.

What I do fear is how the globe’s contraction right now. Our freedom to roam is getting smaller, and our ability to blend in is getting starker. We see evidence of scarcity on the news, yet we hear from other nomads who are in those places that the news is overblowing the story. The contradiction makes decision-making difficult.

Which brings me back to India.

We’d like to fly to Indonesia, do some snorkeling, skip over to Sri Lanka to hike the Pekoe Trail, and then meander through southern India’s Backwaters and Kerala. Ideally, we’d end up back in Greece in April then head to New York for our son’s graduation. On the to and fro, we’d stop over in the middle east in Oman, Qatar or Dubai to break up the travel.

You Can’t Get There From Here

There are two problems with the above agenda; 1) the safety of it and 2) the privilege of it.

Let’s talk about the safety first. Of course, safety can never be assumed, but there are times when travel is more safe than others. We check the goverment websites, whether airlines maintain flights, and confirm with insurance. The insurance agents track these risks, and when things become untenable, they cancel their coverage in those locations. Thus, travel becomes even riskier for those who decide to not follow their insurance provider’s guidance (let alone their country’s.) We follow rules.

Afterall, we like a little adventure, but not too much.

So we’ll keep our eyes on the safety aspect of our itinerary and make changes to it based on warnings and alerts from those entities who track these things. Right now, our best flight options from London to Bali include 32 hours of travel and a travel advisory on top of it. Things will certainly change. January is 8 months away, but the plan for it is imminent.

Routes and Their Challenges

At first blush, taking a look at the routing from Heathrow to Bali draws up awful flights and layovers.

Google Flights from London to Bali

Because these itineraries are whack-a-doodle (or we could fly a non-stop 13 hour flight from London to Signapore), we’d rather take 2, 7-hour flights, stopping in the middle east along the way. But with travel alerts as they are, staying in one of the layover cities isn’t safe at the moment.

The middle east travel warnings for Americans on 3/16/2026

The Privilege of This Discussion

The other problem with our itinerry is the shear privilege of it. Our intention while traveling is to keep the privilege aspect of it as minimal as it can be, doing our best to not take advantage when our race offers a step up. I remember telling friends when we launched that the last thing I wanted was to be perceived as “rich white American.”

Well, here we are.

I do my best to counteract my privilege everywhere we go:

• I buy local currency

• I attempt local language

• I support local business

• I wear appropriate clothing

• I honor elders

• I eat the local food.

Afterall, these are the reasons we travel; not to support large American conglomerates who turn ancient sites into well-situatated hotel rooms.

Yet even though these actions help pay down my privilege, just the fact that I can take the trip and write the story is the privilege I can’t escape. Yet I think what’s important to point out is that I am living a Nomad Life, not a life of perpetual vacation with a home awaiting my return.

By definition of my chosen lifestyle, I must take planes, stay in hotels, and eat at restaraunts. These, certainly, are my choices, and I do my best to make my selections as locally-focused as I can. In other words, I am doing as much as I can to limit my impact on the world while also trying to do good. And I could always to better; an annual goal.

Should We Go to India?

Thus, should we go to India? If it’s safe, yes. And while we’re there, we’ll continue to live our Nomad Life by

1. Limiting our carbon footprint via walking, public transit, light luggage and vegan eating

2. Staying local, buying local, and using local currency

3. Offering community through language exchange, writing respectfully, and photographing with permission.

Because I have privilege, I choose to make less-privileged choices, and that alone, is a paradox in itself. I’ll keep doing better. What tips might you have?