Pyramid time! It's our second visit to Egypt and we tackled Cairo on our own as independent travelers—unlike our first time as part of a tour group. It's totally doable, enjoyable and rewarding! There were some twists and turns in our generous week-long visit! We visited a couple new places (Wadi El Rayan and the Faiyum Oasis) and some simple favorites from our first visit like having lunch at Khan El Khalili Restaurant & Naguib Mahfouz Cafe in the lively central Cairo bazaar. And of course we ascended the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid to the King's Chamber. Listen to the podcast for a tip on how you can get a VIP-like private visit on the cheap! No need to pay the special access fee for some privacy! We also visited Luxor (and Dendera and Abydos) covered on a separate podcast. See our Egypt page (https://www.hotelguys.com/egypt-2025) for details on our hotels, some 2025 pricing and a list of helpful people (with WhatsApp contacts) if interested. hotelguys.com insta: hotelguys1 FB: Global Hotel Guys

Our friends John and podcast host Nancy join us for an intimate discussion about death in Oregon, USA. Almost all 50 US states have State-supported home funeral options. Home funerals can address and honor a complex emotional time that fosters family and community to come together to create a unique and meaning experience of saying goodbye to our loved ones. John opted to have his Mother's funeral at home, with assistance from death doula and our friend Nancy Ward. John shares the story of his Mother's 2023 illness and death using hospice followed by a home funeral he designed with his family, with assistance from Nancy. We also share a conversation about the end of life and home funeral and natural burial for our Doberman, Dino, who died nine years ago.

Our friends John and podcast host Nancy join us for an intimate discussion about death in Oregon, USA. Almost all 50 US states have State-supported home funeral options. Home funerals can address and honor a complex emotional time that fosters family and community to come together to create a unique and meaning experience of saying goodbye to our loved ones. John opted to have his Mother's funeral at home, with assistance from death doula and our friend Nancy Ward. John shares the story of his Mother's 2023 illness and death using hospice followed by a home funeral he designed with his family, with assistance from Nancy. We also share a conversation about the end of life and home funeral and natural burial for our Doberman, Dino, who died nine years ago.

Rich has been away from the United States for over a year and will be returning later this summer, along with hubby Paul, to a country our podcast host Commissioner Nancy Ward says is in turmoil and will be unrecognizable. We're uneasy about going home! We talk at length about recent outrageous, oddly un-American political developments in the United States. A hasty departure from our troubled America will be followed by a month in northern Italy and two weeks in Egypt. We're going around the world in 85 days. In this podcast we preview our careful planning.

Malaysia sits at the crossroads of our SE Asia playground. After our wonderful visit last year we decided to return for a longer visit at our same Airbnb in Kuala Lumpur. Shopping, medical services and alopathic and alternative healing was a highlight throughout. We enjoyed a second visit to Malaysia's second city of Ipoh, known for it's lively food scene among other charming features. Rich took a solo getaway to Cameron Highlands too and lived through his slip and fall mishap to enjoy the region's fresh strawberries and cooler temperatures.

Our friend Nancy Ward talks to us about living abroad through the poltical missteps in the United States. We share highlights from our recent two week visit to India. We’re hiding out on the beach in southern Thailand.

Paul is solo on this podcast, without Rich, answering questions about our travel lives from dear friend Commissioner Nancy Ward as she guest-hosted with Brady Preheim on the program Odd Friday on KOHI radio in Scappose, Oregon, USA. Topics discussed include Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority, the view of America from abroad, practical considerations when traveling like safety, money, medical tourism and more.

We surprised ourselves and spent three months in Indonesia in 2024! Our initial visit in the spring included two weeks in Bali and two weeks in Java. Then, after a month each in Sri Lanka and India, we came back and spent two full months just in Bali. We love it and we tell you all about it in this podcast!

After our month in Auroville (see Part 1 - podcast #18), we stopped on our way back to the Chennai airport to visit the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram. As one of India's popular tourist sites, Mahabalipuram is a UNESCO World Heritage Site of 7th- and 8th-century Hindu monuments. We then spent the night at the wonderful Trident Hotel Chennai near the Chennai airport. This is our third visit to India. It’s such a welcoming country. We love the food, the culture and the people!

We arrived for a one month’s stay in a wonderful Airbnb apartment in Auroville, Tamil Nadu — just north of Pondicherry and about three hours south of the Chennai airport. This is our third visit to India. So much felt familiar and we felt an excitement because such a fast moving society was likely to have changed significantly since our last visit in 2020. It’s such a welcoming country. We love the food, the culture, the people — and the cows who were just as likely to be sauntering down the middle of the highway as they were to be grazing in the gorgeous green open space behind our apartment building. We didn’t even mind that walking to dinner our first night, in the dark along the main Auroville Rd., our village hometown this month, that Paul squarely squished a fresh cow pie (shit) under his left shoe. That’s India. Take it in stride. By the way, our US$8.50 dinner of veg paneer with gravy, masala chicken, jeera rice, phulka and sweet lassis that night was intoxicating. More please. https://www.hotelguys.com/ Instagram: hotelguys1 Facebook: Global Hotel Guys

We arrived in Sri Lanka in late May 2024. It was our second visit to the pearl of south Asia and we stayed a month including two weeks of relaxation on Nilaveli beach, north of Trincomalee, on the eastern coast — an area we did not include on our first visit in 2018. Our itinerary also included some familiar spots worthy of a return visit. We wanted to see again the exquisite 4th century BCE Dambulla caves filled with beautifully preserved Buddhist carvings. Our good friend Ayesh, a young Sri Lankan man we met six years ago, was our host and guide the entire month.

We visited Bali, Indonesia for a month in April and May 2024. It’s a great time of year south of the Equator to enjoy Asia! This is our second visit to Bali, and a first time visit to Java, including the ancient and mysterious megalithic site near Jakarta of Gunung Padang. Most of the spots on Bali were clothing optional. All on Java were historical or spiritual. We started in Denpasar and exited from Jakarta. Affordable paradise! We’ll be back to Bali in mid-July 2024 visiting all the clothing optional places again as we loved them all!

In late March 2024, we arrived in Tokyo for a second three-week visit, to this alluring, gorgeous country. In addition to visiting Tokyo we took a Shinkansen (bullet train) south to Naoshima, a destination commonly known as Japan’s art island and also enjoyed several spots around Osaka/Kobe.

We recap the end of our 2023 South American travel with stories from the wine country of Mendoza, Argentina to celebrating Mardi Gras in Brazil and our visit to Iguazu Falls ending with a retelling of our experiences on Easter Island. We start with our incredible emergency plane landing story! We started traveling together from the moment we met almost 17 years ago. And now, we’re on an ambitious, it would seem for the time being continuous, excursion traveling the world! As of the beginning of this tour — our eighth — we’ve vacated our Portland, Oregon USA home and are officially itinerant! Bring it on! There are natural inflection points where one tour stops and another starts. The Naturale Tour started December 2023, right on the heels of the Discover Tour. Now we’re in Indonesia for a whole month with Sri Lanka on deck. We’re learning so much and loving our nomadic retirement lifestyle! Our Naturale Tour aspiration? Can we be naked a third of the time? We’re working on it! See our website for more hotelguys.com. Instagram: hotelguys1 Facebook: Global Hotel Guys

We turned to the Swedes for inspiration and practicality as we drastically downsized our personal belongings and freed ourselves from the burden of too much stuff!

Listen in as we reflect on recent travels in Turkey, Peru and more. We’re wrapping-up our year-long Discover Tour. Listen to our informative and lively conversation below. Moderated by Nancy Ward.

Our Heart-to-Heart tour began September 2019 in Darjeeling, West Bengal near the end of the regions persistent monsoon. So charming. With sweeping Himalayan vistas. Surrounded by lush tea plantations!  In Darjeeling, we met Rajiv Mitra a dynamic local tea merchant. Darjeeling produces the oft-described champagne of teas. Rajiv purveys only single-estate, premium teas at teaemporium.net. We became good friends. Listen to our informative and lively conversation.

Who are we? Get to know the Hotel Guys! Listen to our more in-depth introduction podcast.

The Hotel Guys are on the road again! Our six month visit to India in 2017 left us yearning for more. More. More! We’ll drink tea in Darjeeling. Take a river cruise in Assam. Visit remote carved temples. Ride rickshaws in teeming cities. We’ll see old friends and undoubtedly make many new ones. After three months touring incredible India, we’ll push on to Thailand to integrate on the beach in the south and then meander the old city of Chiang Mai in the north. By February 2020 we’ll still have more than three months of our “Open-Hearted” excursion remaining. Enjoy listening to our podcast now and then join us throughout our adventures! Keep traveling!