On this week’s episode of The Secure Retirement Podcast, Ken Armstrong joins us. Ken is a lifetime learner who is passionate about seeking new horizons.
Ken says, “I challenge my friends to seek new horizons every day whether retired or not… if we’re not seeking new horizons we’re standing in one place... not moving.”
At 73, Ken is preparing to embark on the next big step in his quest to seek new horizons, the adventure of a lifetime. He’s planning a trip that will take him across 6 continents, 45+ countries, 100+ cities, and 50,000 miles in 22 months.
Listen as he shares:
Why now? He’ll share why NOW is the right time for him to sell his “stuff” and head out on this adventure
Where he’s spending 10 weeks (hint: it’s the best place in the world to learn or improve your Spanish)
How a jigsaw puzzle played a role in helping him plan his itinerary
How he’s preparing mentally, physically, and financially
The place he’s looking most forward to visiting
And much more… including how you can follow Ken on his travels
Mentioned in this episode:
Transcript
John Curry: Hello, this is John Curry. Welcome to another episode of the Secure Retirement podcast. Today I have a gentleman sitting across the table from me, Jay and I do. Jay Wolfe's with me, Ken Armstrong. Ken, welcome.
Ken Armstrong: Thank you.
John: Good to see you. I'm looking forward to hearing again, some of your story about your plans for the future. But first, if you would, please, Ken, tell people who you are your background, a lot of people listening this will know you from United Way days. But please take over and just tell us who the real Ken Armstrong is.
Ken: Well, I'm a learner. My first career was higher education administration. So lots and lots of learning going on there. And then I stumbled into United Way world in Dallas, for what I thought would just be a year or so before I went back into higher ed. And instead that turned into almost 20 years. 16 of which were here in Tallahassee, and starting to ponder retirement at that point, but ended up learning the trucking business, because because I came became the CEO of the Florida Trucking Association. And I'm just now retiring from the Florida Trucking Association. So I've learned a lot. It's been fun.
John: Well, you are a lifetime learner. We share that in common. And I've always enjoyed our conversations about what's new for you. And today, we're gonna talk about seeking new horizons. You want to tell us how you came up with that idea. As a title?
Ken: Sure, I have been trying to find a few words, which I guess you would use the phrase tagline, to describe my outlook, my approach, my future. And the words New Horizon started coming to me. And as I thought about it, New Horizons don't just apply to travel, they apply to anything in your life. Psychologically, emotionally, marriage, spiritually, etc, etc. And clearly, to me, the main significance there is that I'm going to travel, which is what we'll be talking about today.
So the New Horizons piece was rattling around in the back of my brain, and, and then eventually, I put the word seeking on the front of it, because I'm seeking new horizons. I would like to challenge my friends to seek new horizons every day, whether they're retired or not, whether they're traveling or not. In whatever part of the, of the world of their operating or whatever part of their lifetime they're operating. If we're not seeking new horizons, then we're, we're standing in one place. We're doing one thing, because if the horizon looks the same as a week ago, or a year ago, then you're not seeking new horizons, and you're not, you're not moving.
John: I love that thought. So let's expand on that before we share your itinerary because I'm looking forward to you sharing that. So you mind talking about how old you are?
Ken: 73.
John: 73. Okay. So you don't look 73.
Ken: I don't feel 73.
John: You're fit, you take care of yourself. So why at 73 did you decide to take this worldwide travel expedition that you're about to share?
Ken: I've been a traveler since young and have had the opportunity to go to what I think most of us would consider maybe exotic places but usual places. The London's and the Rome's and the Venice's and Israel's, and so forth. And I immensely enjoy that. I love new cultures. I love history. I love archaeology. Israel's amazing because whether you're in no matter what you're interested in. I mean, if it if it's history, or religion, or geography or economy or whatever Israel has it, and the old, the oldest in the world probably or close to it. So I've always been interested in it.
And so the time came when I find myself at a point in my life where I could go to all the places that I haven't been. And so this is sort of an off the beaten track tour. This is to the places, I'm going to spend a fair amount of time in Great Britain, but it's not going to be in London. I mean, it'll be in Wales and it'll be in Scotland. Armstrong's are Scottish. And so I'll go to the to the old country, as they say. And Bolivia and Myanmar and Nepal and Tibet. So this was this is my fill up a passport with a bunch of places that I don't already have stamps on any of my old passports.
John: That's cool. That's cool.
Jay Wolfe: This is fascinating to me, because he said three things earlier about your outlook approach, and then your future. And I think that all three of those and what you were just talking about correlate with each other. Because being 73 years old, your outlook on life is that, okay, I'm going to retire, I'm going to go do the things I want to do. Your approach is planning that out, which obviously, we'll hear in a minute how that is, which is ultimately going to dictate your future. So it'll, it'll dictate the things you see the places you go, and ultimately, the experiences and the New Horizons that you'll see, which is interesting to me.
Ken: I didn't really have a tagline before. From now on, you know, that I'll be signing my blogs and seeking new horizons. But the closest thing I had to a tagline previously was, it is not ourselves, but our responsibilities, we should take seriously. So I've tried not to take myself too seriously. I mean, I, I cut up and but my responsibilities I do take very seriously. So here I am at 73. And I don't have those same responsibilities that I've had for 50 or 60 years. So it's, it's really it is a new approach a new outlook, it is seeking new horizons because I don't have to be responsible for the payroll or for the program or for the success of this or the failure of that or so it's a it's a it is a new outlook. It's fun.
John: Well, what you have is you have time freedom and money freedom, and relationship freedom. You're in a position now where you can do what you want on your terms. There are certain guidelines and social rules regulations you have to live by, but you are to a point of where you have the money necessary to fund what you want to do. You now have the time. I see people who they have time, but no money to do the traveling and do things they want to do. And others who have just neither one. So they're stuck. So you're you're in a position of where you can create your future. And you're doing it.
Ken: Well, that's sort of interdependent. When people hear about the trip, I'm going to take. Dollar signs start flashing in their eyes. And that's just not true. I, the places I'm going this time, I'm not I'm not staying at hotels. I'm staying in communities and local b and b's, and so forth. I'll be in Bolivia for three months, and my place costs $465 a month.
John: Before you go there. Let's back up for a second. Give us the big picture first. How long you'll be going totally. And because you touched on the money side. So what I heard you say, you didn't say it directly, what I got from it is it doesn't take as much money as you think folks to be able to travel and do the things you want to do. So take it from there.
Ken: And the reason for that is the places that I'm going. I'm in Bolivia and Peru, Malaysia and so forth, you can live for a fraction of what it costs to be in the United States. And it so happens that those are places that I'm staying multiple months. So my budget, when I get back, I will be in a similar financial condition that I would be if I'd stayed in Tallahassee for this whole time. The whole time is 22 months. I'll go to six continents. I'll go to 45 countries, 100 cities. And as I said before, these are not your primary tourist places. It's Bulgaria and Belarus and Latvia and Cambodia.
John: I don't even know where some of these places are! I should have kept my globe here.
Ken: It's going to be a great adventure.
John: Okay, so let's do this. We've we've we've teed this thing up. So just start with where you're going. Why, just as much as you're willing to share with us, please.
Ken: On January, January the 12th COVID permitting. I will get on a bus here in Tallahassee. I won't mention the name of the bus line because they haven't sponsored me. But I'll take a bus to Miami, which is a great leaping off point particularly for South America, which is where I'm starting. And I'll go to Bolivia for three months. Not La Paz. La Paz is too big a city for me. Sucre, Bolivia is where I'll be going and it's a great place to place to polish your Spanish. There, it's one of the oldest universities in the new world is in Sucre. And just over the years, their reputation for Spanish language instruction is among the best in the world. So I'll take my rudimentary plus or minus a little bit Spanish.
And over the course of 10 weeks or so turn it into pretty darn good Spanish. And then I'll go to Peru. And I'll be in the, what they call the sacred valley of the Incas, which on one end is Machu Picchu. And on the other end are all number of other things. I did have the opportunity to go to Machu Picchu a while back, and will certainly do that again. But there's another last city of the Incas called Choquequirao, and it is really in the boondocks. So it's five or six day trek to go to Choquequirao and back. On any given day, there may be 30 or 40 people at Choquequirao. And Machu Picchu would have 1000s and 1000s. 5000 people a day, maybe.
So you really feel like you have discovered this lost city of the Incas. And then on to Cuenca, Ecuador, and Medellin, Colombia, which is become one of the world's great cities. It's amazing that in last 20 years, it has turned from the drug center of the world into one of the most amazing cities in the world. So sometime in Medellin, and then Panama, and the coastal city of Mazatlan, Mexico. And that will all consume about 11 months. And obviously the Spanish language is important to me in that section of the trip. And then I'll head west.
John: Before you go there timeout for a second. All these different places you've chosen. Tell us why these picker places. Because you had to plan something. You didn't just say, I'm going to throw a dart at the map and pick one. Or maybe you did knowing you.
Ken: Well, there are some spots on the trip. One place I'm going as Carcassonne, France. And the reason I'm going there is because I worked a jigsaw puzzle. And the jigsaw puzzle was of this little village at the base of a cliff and a huge castle looming at the at the top of the cliff. And I thought that's just the most fantastic scene. And I discovered that it was in Carcassonne, France. So Carcassonne is on my on my itinerary.
John: Courtesy of the jigsaw puzzle.
Ken: So there's a little bit of dart throwing involved. But I grew up as a kid in Pasadena, California. So the Mexican, Hispanic culture has always appealed. So I'm I'm interested in Central and South America. Bolivia feels to me sort of like the undiscovered Peru. It's a landlocked country, one of only two and the South American continent that's landlocked. It's not spoiled, which is the primary reason I wanted to go there. I wanted to spend more time in Peru, have not been to Ecuador. And that seems like a like a good place to go. Did a lot of reading about Ecuador and multiple people say that Cuenca Ecuador, not Quito. But Cuenca, Ecuador is the place where you feel transported back of some centuries.
John: What do you mean by not spoiled?
Ken: Not touristy. Yeah, that side. Maybe it's a stereotype to think touristy equals spoiled, but that's what I meant basically.
John: Okay. Okay, so back back to the the other part you said going west then.
Ken: So Moffat lon will be my launching point. I'll actually have to probably have to pop into LA to LAX. I will fly to New Zealand from there. I'll do both the North and South Island in New Zealand for two weeks. And then Sydney, Melbourne and Perth for 16 days in Australia. And then I'll head north to Malaysia. From there Malaysia is a place I want to stay for a good long while. British colony. Penang, Malaysia is a small island and just off the coast north of Kuala Lumpur a little bit that the town is is Georgetown which, like so many British colonies around the world are Georgetown. And that's I'll spoil myself in Malaysia, I will be in a high rise condominium overlooking the ocean. And I'll be paying $650 a month in rent for a fully furnished place. All all utilities and everything included. I mean, what's, what's the deal with that?
John: So here's a question that pops up. And I guarantee other people are asking this, as I hear you. Okay, how in the world do you logistically make this work? Because obviously, they got to get a bus or train a plane, something. So how do you make sure that you're not late or miss one?
Ken: Well that's, well, everything's in the planning. You know that the planning is not all going to go right, it just can't. So I think I'm pretty adaptable, and have traveled enough to have the skill to change course, you know. Turn on a dime, so to speak. Most of the places I'm going are going to be close connections, I'm going to be staying for a little bit. And so if I need to stay over for another day, or whatever, I can probably make that work. The only place on the trip that is sort of time critical is Nepal, and Tibet. If you get there, a little bit too late. There are too many people. If you get there a little bit too early. It's too cold. Basically, the the Himalayas haven't opened up if you will, by then.
So sort of my whole trip aims to get me into Kathmandu, Nepal, in early to mid May. And then I'll have a couple of weeks to go to Everest base camp and to the various Tibetan temples and towns and so forth in Lhasa. And then I will, you're right, I'll be using bus, air, ferries, I'm not going to cruise. I will use ferries back and forth from several different places. Probably take the train from Lhasa, Tibet, to Xi'an China, which is where the warrior the terracotta warrior army is, with, with the 1000s of terracotta figures buried with the with the Emperor and their horses and so forth. So it's it is a big logistical challenge. And I've done all the planning myself. I haven't haven't used a travel agent.
John: You made a comment about being prepared and planning. Talk a little bit about what you've done from the standpoint of the mental preparation, but also physical, are you doing anything as far as physical fitness or anything changed to be better fit or anything along the way?
Ken: I will go on a campaign. Right now. I'm very busy wrapping things up at work, have another couple of weeks or whatever at work and I'm finishing up the renovations on a townhouse that I'm working on. But I will go on a fairly vigorous get ready campaign, which will just include a lot of walking. Making sure that my oxygen exchange, I don't know the technical terms for it. But that I'm producing the maximum amount, amount of fitness out of my muscles and out of my lungs.
Because the first part of my trip is going to be high. La Paz is the only place that I'll be 14,000 feet. But but all through the Andes there whether it's Sucre and then up into La Paz and Lake Titicaca and Cusco and Glinka and so forth are all the Andes. So you're talking nine or 10,000 feet living in all those places and a lot of climbing, a lot of going and hiking and trekking and so forth. So by the time I leave, I'll be ready for that.
John: I'm just wondering how you're going to look when you get back how fit, you'll be from all this. So we'll do a follow up when you get back.
Ken: I'll be very.
John: Okay. All right. So continue on with the other places. I'm intrigued. Did you say 45 countries earlier?
Ken: I did. Probably 15 of those I've been to before. So most of these countries are going to be new to me, from Xi'an, China, I'll fly to Dubai, in the United Arab Arab Emirates. And I there's not I think as much of a sense of history there as there are in most of the places but it's an amazing culture. And I've not been there before.
John: I'll make a quick comment. Folks, as we're sitting here talking the three of us at this table with a microphone between us. Ken does not have any notes in front of him. There's nothing all of this is coming out of his head. He's planned it so well.
Ken: Well, I can tell you, whether I'm six days in Dubai and four days on Xi'an I, it's 680 days all together. And I know where I'm going to be every day.
John: I heard this when you're in here about six weeks ago, and I'm still fascinated by it.
Ken: Oh, it's it is talking about seeking new horizons, I mean, this, this is it. So on to Egypt, which will be a new place for me. Eager to, to do the Nile and the Valley of the Kings, obviously, the Sphinx and the pyramids, and so forth. Then up to Cypress, which will be the first place that I'll really intersect with the journeys of Paul or any historical biblical sites, stay in Paphos, Cyprus, and spend almost a week there in Cyprus. On to Greece, where I have had the opportunity to go before but it was decades ago. And so I'm looking forward to that. I'll ferry across to Turkey, and my first stop in Turkey will be Ephesus, which, which is going to be fun for me for faith reasons.
John: Will you expand on that?
Ken: Well, when obviously, the Paul and the other apostles founded churches will Laodicea and Ephesus, Antioch and so forth are all in modern day Turkey. At the time, they were called Asia Minor, right. So if you, if you've studied Bible, it was the Asia Minor cities, Philippi, and so on, and so on. But Ephesus is the sort of in the western part of Turkey. And so I want to do some exploring there. And then we'll head up to Istanbul, which will be my first time and spend eight days in Istanbul.
Which is the sort of the was the center of the world, essentially, and every culture, whether it was Christianity, or Jewish or Muslim or whatever, had an interest in Turkey. And then I'll do the Eastern European countries, the Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, up into Hungary, Vienna, someplace that I wanted to go for a long time. So I'll do the Bucharest and the Budapest, and then then over into Poland, to Warsaw, and Minsk, Belarus, and then wrap up up in Estonia before I ferry across to the Scandinavian countries.
John: Wow, let's go.
Jay: That's a very detailed trip.
John: And we're not done yet.
Ken: No, we're about by this point, we're about two thirds of the way into the trip, probably. Less time in Europe because of, of having traveled there some before. So Helsinki, Stockholm and Oslo, and then down into Copenhagen, where I was briefly when I was 16 years old. So it'll be fun to compare my reactions there to now.
John: You're doing this alone, correct?
Ken: Yes, I am.
John: By yourself, right? Very good.
Ken: Unless Jay wants to carry my luggage.
John: He was bragging earlier about carrying furniture around. So Jay, load up.
Jay: Get my bags packed.
Ken: The luggage is one of the most interesting aspects of this. I mean, I've I've started my list. And already I feel like my list is bigger than a suitcase. So so I'm gonna have to be doing a lot. I'm not backpacking, obviously. But you can tell I'm not taking a suit coat. And you know what my formal wear, right? So that's going to be a big piece of the adventure.
John: It's going to be very important because I remembered even going a few times to Philmont Boy Scout Ranch, and they made sure that you they did an inspection of everything in your backpack. Because if there was anything at all, you didn't need this, they said you better leave it behind because after two or three days, you'll wish every ounce was accounted for.
Ken: A lot of these places that I'm going don't have elevators. So if I'm staying in a third floor walk up in Christchurch, New Zealand, you know, I'll be carrying that 23 kilogram. How much is 23 kilograms?
John: I don't know.
Ken: 50 pounds. I'll be carrying that suitcase upstairs and I'll have a backpack on my back that away almost as much I imagine.
John: So I'd recommend part of your fitness routine is the Stairmaster.
Ken: I have a rowing machine to the rowing machine exercises all those parts.
John: Sounds good. That's good. Okay.
Ken: So now I'm in Copenhagen and we'll do five cities in Germany, and then crossover into Amsterdam. And I've discovered that the best thing to do there, originally, I was planning to do the Great Britain swing at the end of my trip. But I'm afraid that it might be a little bit too chilly, then, because but at that point, I'll be into November. So I'm actually going to go from Amsterdam to I'll fly to Belfast and do 11 days in Northern Ireland and Ireland.
And this is these are the only places I'll rent a car are in Ireland and in England slash Scotland. So I'll do 11 days in Ireland, ferry over to Liverpool, get another car there, and then do two weeks in Scotland. Head north and then head back south and, and finish up with five days in Wales, which is going to be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to Wales, and then back to Liverpool and from.
John: Time out. Time out. I saw the big smile on your face. Back up. So you said good time in Wales. Why? Why is it special? I saw it in your face.
Ken: The topography of the of the country. It's quote, English speaking, unquote. But it's it's very foreign in the way it looks, and I think and the way it acts. I don't know that for a fact. So the Welsh people are very, I think idiosyncratic. And I guess we're all idiosyncratic, but, but I'm really looking forward to meeting the people in Wales and taking their perspective on life and comparing it to other people. And then I'll hop back over into the mainland of Europe, and do half a dozen places in, in France. Avignon, Leon Bio, which is Normandy.
I've not been in Normandy before, so I'll do that and Mont Saint Michel, the, the island that when the tide is in, it's an island and when the tide is out, that you can walk out and there's a castle right in the middle of the little circular island. You've seen pictures of it. Mont Saint Michel, and and then I'll end up France in Carcassonne the jigsaw town. And then go to Almunecar, which is in the southern part of Spain. And is a place that I've had a chance to spend a couple of weeks I want to spend a full month in Alumnecar. And then I'll go to Morocco. And we'll do Tangier, Marrakesh and Casa Blanca, all in Morocco, and I will fly home from Marrakesh and land in Miami on November the 22nd 2023, having been gone for 22 months.
John: Wow. November 22nd, and are you going to take the bus back or fly back to Tallahassee?
Ken: I haven't decided. I have no idea. I've planned as far as I can go.
Jay: January 2022, to November 2023.
Ken: Right.
Jay: Wow. Any nerves or anything about going by yourself?
Ken: No nerves. I think travel is both easier and harder with a person or people. The easier part is that you don't have to take their wishes into account.
Jay: You can do what you want to do.
Ken: Exactly. The harder is there are some things that are more difficult or more expensive to do as a single than then as a as a couple. So if there were a like minded and like positioned person, like me. Male, female, white, black, Democrat, Republican, I would be interested in spending all our part of the trip with somebody just because I think you enjoy having a chance to bounce back and forth. But almost nobody is positioned like I am. Almost everybody has a family member that they feel responsible for. Or they they have things holding them back. I'll sell my car. I won't own any property. My furniture is going to be sold. To John I'll bequeath all of my suits to you.
So a little 10 by 10 storage unit here in Tallahassee, will will be all there is of homebase. So when I say I'm, when I get back into Miami in 2023, I don't know what I'll do at that point. I may have discovered that there are places that I I'd like to sufficiently on this trip that I know I want to go back and spend three months in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia every year or not. I may be less fed up with American society that I am now. I mean, I'm pretty fed up with the way American society looks right now. So it'll be interesting to see what my outlook is. Whether I'll still be seeking new horizons or what.
John: You may decide not to come back.
Ken: It's conceivable. I'm sure that last leg of the trip from Marrakesh to Miami could turn into Marrakesh to Myanmar.
John: Where was it? You said you were going to spend a month?
Ken: I'm going to spend at least a month in Sucre, Bolivia. Sacred Valley of Peru Cuenca Ecuador, Mazatlan, Mexico, Penang, Malaysia, and Almunecar, Spain.
John: So you'll stay long enough that you can truly get to know the area.
Ken: Yes.
John: And the people and not be rushed.
Ken: Correct. And I'll actually stay long enough that if David and Renee, my my buds from Tampa, say we've always wanted to go to. I'll, anywhere that I'm staying an extended period of time, I'll stay in a place that has multiple beds. So I can I can say, you know, come come and travel New Zealand with me or come stay with me in Malaysia or come stay with me and Ecuador, or whatever. And so I'm open to having visitors.
Jay: Would you say the majority of your trip is going to Central and South America? Is that where you're going to spend most of your time?
Ken: That's almost exactly half. That's almost exactly half.
Jay: That's what it sounded like. Are you already fluent in Spanish?
Ken: No. No, I'm I can get by in Spanish speaking countries. But I want to get to the point of fluency, which is what the Sucre Spanish school will be responsible for doing.
Jay: Pretty cool.
John: Exciting.
Ken: So I've, in response to people's question, how are they going to keep up with me? I've created a website, it is Kentracker.com. So that so people can track where I am, what I'm doing. Now I'll use that, that for my blogs. I'll use that for posting photos that I think are are exceptional. So effective immediately. Although I don't leave till January the 12th. There, Kentracker.com is live and I'll some of the blogs that I'm posting are about the itinerary or about why did I retire now or so there will be a few blog posts before I go. But mostly I'll be using that while I'm away, to tell people what the Uyuni salt flats are really like.
John: Any plans to maybe come back and from your experience or along the way write a book?
Ken: I don't think so. I mean, the book feels to me like responsibility. And so I doubt it. I'd be surprised.
John: You know what just popped in my head. I just had a thought. My first book is right over there. Remember the book signing that we did? And the proceeds went to United Way when you were president?
Ken: Absolutely! You betcha.
John: That was December. As a matter of fact, that was my birthday. December 9.
Ken: Absolutely good. Memory.
John: Wow. Because you were so gracious to, to introduce me. And then, if so many people bought then we made a nice contribution.
Jay: On the book comment, your blog is almost doing that for you, I would say. You're documenting everything about your trip, the pictures, just the things you've experienced. And that's going to be there in place for you to really go back and reference to and say, oh, I can remember that. Such a good time. And then really, we will know, when we check into this website, what countries you are fond of most, because I'm sure we'll get more information and pictures than others.
John: Electronic book, right.
Jay: I'm glad you're doing that though. That is a very neat way to document your trips and your travels.
Ken: I'm an expressive person. And it would feel weird to me not to have a way to express. I'm not a great photographer by a long shot. But I like to take photos of things that I'm seeing and then to express in words. So that will be fun. Kentracker.com.
John: Thanks for sharing that. Yeah, that's good. Anything else you want to talk about and share before we wrap up? Make a couple comments, then we'll close?
Ken: I don't think so. I think we've covered it as well as we can in August.
John: Okay. Here's what I want to talk about. I want to talk about the mental preparation of getting ready for this. You made a comment, so I promise you some people are listening to this and go, wait a minute. Did he sell he say selling his car, his selling the house. Everything. So talk about that a minute. So many people, we're so attached to things, this is my stuff. I'm going through it now. Because after the amputation, I've had to remodel the house. And going through questioning everything in there. Why do I have this book? Why do I have this bookcase? So talk about that for a minute. Was it difficult for you to reach that point of saying it's got to go?
Ken: Well, let me let me start by saying I'm not trying to convert anybody. Right? I'm not trying to suggest to anybody that that my horizon should be their horizon.
John: Thank you for saying that. Because I would never want to imply that we're trying to convince people that whatever you do, Jay does or I do is where they should do it. Right. Even though it is perfect. You know?
Ken: So you have been as you've been doing that weeding out? You have been deciding what is permanent and what is lasting? I'm sorry, what is important and what is lasting? And I'm doing the same thing. I also have faced the fact that my car is worth, you know, x thousand dollars. Would I rather for the next two years, or three or five or however many years of my life? Have that 20, 30 $40,000 sitting tied up in that vehicle?
Or would I rather have it available to me that if when I'm in Egypt, I meet some people and they say we just did this amazing thing in St. Petersburg, Russia. And we got to go here and see the hmm and when they visit the hmm and da da da da. And it cost us four or $5,000. But it's something like you never do in the world. And me be able to say I might as well. So here's here's my here's my tagline for that. Purge so I can splurge.
John: Purge so I can splurge.
Jay: And let's put it in perspective, really, because with you being as gone as long as you are, if nobody is going to drive the vehicle anyways, it's going to be of no good. So why not use it to create money to fund things that you want to.
John: If so I was thinking that too. It's either gonna sit up and have some issues because it was sitting up for almost two years, it's not good for it. Or somebody is gonna have to drive it. And now it's got to be insured and all that stuff. So I like your thinking. Okay, so beyond the beyond the vehicle, what else? Has there been anything where you go, dammit, I don't really want to give that up.
Ken: Well, I'm not going to tie myself in knots on that. Like I said, I'm going to have probably a 10 by 10 climate controlled storage unit, which I have right now that has some stuff in it, some of that stuff will go. Most of that stuff will go. But if if I have this photo, if I have this keepsake. If I have this, whatever. I've got room in a 10 by 10 storage unit to have that. And my guess is that two years from now, I'll have an even more different perspective on what's valuable. What's important, what's permanent, than I do now. And I'll probably come back and get rid of three quarters of the stuff that's there.
John: I wonder what what kind of vehicle be available in two years the way things are going.
Ken: There's no telling, but I'm not even sure I'll need a vehicle by that point.
John: So let's fast forward past the two years. You come back to be either 75 or getting close to being 75. Probably would have turned 75. So what is life look like for you at 75 and beyond? Based on what you know, so far after going on this fantastic journey.
Ken: My parents are are both almost 95. I consider that I've probably had better health care and probably a better living environment than they. I'd be surprised if I didn't live to be 100 years old unless somebody takes advantage of me and while I'm in the airport in Lima, Peru or something like that. But I am planning to be 100 years old, but I'm also planning on being able to still be going and doing and my 90s.
I completely expect to still be out and around. So so it is important to me that I not blow all of my resources. And it's also important to me that I discover places either in the world or here in the United States that I can live less expensively than my lifestyle has been. So I need to conserve my resources. But I fully expect to not change my seeking new horizons outlook because I hit the landmark of 75, or the landmark of 80 or the landmark of 85, or whatever.
John: I love it. You've heard me talk enough about living to age 100. And the role models Kirk Douglas. And I just think in terms of why do we, why would put a cap on ourselves, and say I'm going to wait to this magic age to retire. Do things along the way. And then when you're ready to go do something, put yourself in a position to do it. But it takes time freedom and money freedom to be able to do that.
Jay: Yes, but and keeping yourself active is a big thing, too. And a lot of these trips are going to do that for you. The places you're going to go, the things you're going to do that is going to keep you active. And what's even better about it is was just like you said earlier, you're going to find the places that you're really going to enjoy that you may find in the future, that you're just going to take a specific trip there and go there for four months, six months, whatever it may be. And then the key is, is because you're doing that you're staying active, you've got the brain going, you've got the body going.
So I fully believe that you will live into your 90s and close to 100 because you're staying so active. And that's what people you know, really don't do in retirement. Sometimes they don't have a schedule to abide by. They don't have things that they create themselves to do. So they end up being stagnant if they don't find any new horizons and life withers away from them.
John: Those of us who've known Ken for a long time, like I have. We're kinda wondering about that brain thing.
Ken: Yes we are!
John: Ken Armstrong, thank you for sharing this. And we look forward to the kentracker. And I'm serious, when you get back. I would love to do this again. Of course we'll see you again for you're gone. But folks, I hope you've enjoyed this as much as we have. And my mind is still blown. 22 months, six continents 45 countries, and I think I wrote down 100 cities.
Ken: Yes.
John: Wow. It's amazing. Ken, thanks again.
Ken: Take care.
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