Reid & Robie

There is a time in late September when the leaves are still green, and the days are still warm, but somehow you know it’s all about to end – as if summer was holding its breath, and when it let it out again, it would be autumn.

– Sharyn McCrumb

September is a time of change. It starts slow and hot, gradually picking up the pace until day and night split equally and the month ends with a cool breeze and a warm drink. September is the start of football season – the American kind, tailgating, back to school and remembering workers and heroes.

For two permanent nomads, it’s also a season of change. When the days grow shorter and cooler, Robie and I are reminded that it’s time to move on.

Catching up with other nomads

This month we welcomed some roving retiree friends for a day in Aberdeen.

After meeting Drew and Melodie in February 2025 we quickly realized the four of us were on parallel paths. While we left the States in August 2024 and flew to the UK, they sailed across the Atlantic on Queen Mary 2 arriving in England in October. As we departed Liverpool for Ikaria, they traveled overland to Greece. Then we all ended up in Albania and met on a hike hosted by Sarandё’s expat community.

After Melodie and Drew left Albania for Montenegro, we visited them in Kotor. Then for more than a year we kept up with their wanderings. They went to Bulgaria and Romania. They spent two months roaming Türkiye then were in Crete for the winter. After returning to Romania, they traveled to Belgium. Crossing the English Channel, they boarded a Holland America cruise ship and made three consecutive sailings visiting the Baltics and fjords of Norway, circumnavigating England and Ireland, and sailing west to Iceland and Greenland for last month’s total solar eclipse. Back on land, they rented a car and started wandering around Scotland, stopping for a few days in Aberdeen.

We look forward to keeping up with their onward travels. About the time we return to Europe next month, they’ll head to West Virginia. While we explore Africa next year, they’ll be in South America. When we plan to arrive in Southeast Asia, they’ll land in Japan.

We hope our paths cross again soon. For anyone interested in following their journey, check out Drew’s photography website, Unsung Images at unsungimg.myportfolio.com.

Sporting events

In September we went to see the Aberdeen Dons host the Kilmarnock Killies. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and we got to the stadium early to watch ‘batting practice’.

We met Angus the Bull, and Robie tried his first mac & cheese pie from the concession stand. Though the stands were empty when we arrived, they filled quickly for kick-off. Unfortunately, the home team played poorly. Though the better team, they couldn’t get their passing game going, and the Killies came away with a point in the 0-0 tie. The crowd wasn’t happy about it, which went a long way toward explaining why beer isn’t sold at matches.

Travels

We left Aberdeen mid-month and spent two days in London offloading most of our things at a storage locker near St. Pancras. Then we flew to Florida.

The British Airways flight from Gatwick to Orlando was full up front but practically empty in the back of the plane. Robie had a 10-seat row all to himself. Reid’s row had only one other person seated near the window. Behind us was an empty row and in front were only two people. It was the most amazing long-haul flight we’ve ever been on!

We visited Robie’s mother and sister then reunited with friends at the WYNF 94.9 staff reunion. After a busy week, we traveled to Arkansas to spend time with Reid’s parents. Everywhere we went we were reminded of how much we’ve all aged – friends suddenly housebound with medical issues, grey hair and beards.

The images confirm why we do what we do. At some point our bodies won’t be able to handle a life of constant travel. If we want to see the world, now is the time. ‘Someday’ won’t stick around forever.

Cravings

Adventures in our Aberdeen oven continued, as did trips to our favorite chippy, a restaurant specializing in crispy fish ‘n chips. Plus, we found Travancore, an amazing South Indian restaurant just up the road.

At Travancore we enjoyed uthappam, considered the “pizza of Southern India” made with fermented fine-ground rice and lentils. Our ‘supreme’ came topped with onions, tomatoes and green chiles plus different sauces for dipping. Robie fell in love with the lamb kurumulugu, a spicy dish of meat cooked in onion, black pepper, ginger and green chiles. Reid enjoyed vegetarian dishes like cheera panner curry made with spinach and chenna masala, a hearty dish of chickpeas simmered with tomato, ginger, garlic, onions and traditional Kerala spices. With every meal, we paired the dishes with flaky coconut rice and chapathi, an Indian flatbread.

Once we landed in the States we set out to eat all the foods impossible to find overseas. In Florida we grilled steaks and burgers with family, ate Cuban sandwiches and wiped our chins dry from delicious grouper sandwiches at Dockside Dave’s. We also visited Ted Peter’s for their famous fish spread and of course, ate a lot of Mexican food!

Trip Planning

Other than getting ready for our trip Stateside, we didn’t plan much this month. After booking our flights to Cape Town next March, we mostly worked on laundry, packing and contacting friends and family to see as many as we could.

Already we have things planned for our return to Europe next month – Eurostar tickets to Paris, trains to Dijon then Lyon, and finally a cruise on the Rhone River before we resettle at the end of the month in Nimes and finish 2026 in Southern France.

Under the category of what no one asked, but we’re sharing anyway

This month we got an interesting offer from our credit card company. Seems Capital One is paying attention to our purchases, and they sent us an offer for 5% cash back on all hotels and rental cars. Since we use their card for almost every purchase, the deal seemed worth investigating. The catch? We had to book our travels through their in-house travel agency, Capital One Travel.

It was an interesting proposition. I knew the agency would earn 10-15% commission on anything we booked despite the increased incentive, yet I was still intrigued.

When I got on their website to look around, I found apartments on Capital One Travel starting at $61/night for our proposed dates in Nimes. With the 5% cash back offer this would earn $3.05 a night or come to a net total of $57.95/night. That was still nearly $16 a night more than we booked at a comparable apartment.

In January we’ve booked a lovely condo on in Paphos on Cyprus for a month at a rate of $52/night. In the same neighborhood, Capital One Travel offered nothing less than $66/night, meaning even with the cash back deal we’d end up paying close to $11 a night more.

While the deal looked good on paper, the numbers didn’t add up. We’ll keep checking to see if their offer makes sense elsewhere. Until then, I’ll wonder how many people chase rewards over savings.

Budget and Finances

We started September with a hefty spending budget thanks to the transatlantic trip. We ended up spending $5,601.55 which should be our second most expensive month of the year behind October. As expected, 46.4% (or $2,598.53) was for travel. This included half our roundtrip air, hotels, car rental, transfers as well as taxis and trains to the airport.

We had a lower than usual grocery bill ($251.98) thanks to cleaning out the fridge in Scotland and staying with family in Florida, Arkansas and Texas. On the flip side, our dining charges increased ($878.35) as we ate out in London and took family to lunch or dinner to thank them for letting us stay in their homes.

It was all worth it.

Conclusion

September was a busy month, and we loved seeing family and friends across the US. We look forward to visiting Dallas before heading to France in October!