Travel with Kevin and Ruth

Meeting with friends

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 12:39:42 +0000

Our time in Ottawa always goes by quickly, but we're enjoying it while we're here. Still, we'll be ready to leave when our time is up in two and a half more weeks!

The weather has been great, although the mornings are getting chilly. Supposed to go down to 5C (41F) tonight!

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This is going to be a tough hike!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 13:19:49 +0000

Our son tells us that we're not getting any younger. And he's totally correct. So we had better get a move on with some of the things on our bucket list that are only going to get more difficult as we age.

One of those things is this hike in the country of Georgia!

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Declined due to fraud

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 12:49:43 +0000

I had mentioned last month that I'm going to buy a new phone.

Don't misunderstand though... I love my phone! It's been three years since I bought my Honor Magic 5 Pro, and if not for the battery starting to deteriorate, I would be perfectly happy to keep it.

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A gorgeous day at Charleston Lake Provincial Park

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 11:58:16 +0000

We were up early, packed a lunch, and hit the road at 8:30am Friday morning. It was a two hour drive to Charleston Lake Provincial Park where we were meeting friends Bob and Denise for a day of hiking!

And there wasn't a cloud in the sky all day!

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A typical day

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 11:42:19 +0000

I hesitate to post when nothing's going on... it feels too much like work, and we certainly don't want to get to the point where writing the blog feels like work. If that ever happens, there will be no more blog!

And really, there's been nothing exciting going on this week... until today.

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Not a bad place

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 12:36:01 +0000

I mentioned yesterday that the place we're staying is like a bachelor apartment. And it is, but it's not in an apartment building. I think it was originally built as a granny suite for a family who owned the house.

Now, the house is corporate owned, which had I known that at the time I may not have rented it.

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Getting settled in

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 12:51:09 +0000

We've got a small bachelor apartment sized Airbnb for a month here in Ottawa. It's actually set up really nicely, but it's still pricey for what you get. Welcome to Canada, I suppose.

We're paying $1,850 CAD ($1,340 USD) for the month.

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It was all about the horses...

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 21:46:15 +0000

This is one of the rare posts from me, Ruth! While Kevin was having a fun time with his friends in Newfoundland, I made my way from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Hamilton, Ontario to visit with my younger sister, Lesley.Click here to read more...

We're back!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Sun, 06 Sep 2026 22:26:13 +0000

I think that's the longest blog break in many, many years!

I went to Newfoundland with my buddies for four nights, and Ruth has been with her sister in Hamilton, Ontario. Neither one of us felt the desire to write a blog post... so we didn't!

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August Expenses... no real surprises

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 10:46:06 +0000

We had a budget of $3,300 CAD ($2,380 USD) for the month of August, and the total came in at $3,375 CAD ($2,430 USD).

So that's not bad. I always make the budget pretty conservative to give us something to strive towards, so we're almost always over by varying amounts, but this one was particularly close.

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The birthday weekend is over

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 12:27:14 +0000

Only one more sleep and I'm off to Newfoundland with my friends and Ruth is off to Hamilton to visit her sister.

We've been really lucky with the weather here near Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Highs of around 23C (72F) and very pleasant.

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Speaking of snakes...

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 12:28:27 +0000

Just an update of our activities the last two days.

On Thursday we drove a half hour or so over to the town of Windsor to meet friends Aron and Owenita. This is one of the couples that was on our last RV caravan to Mexico in the winter of 2019-2020.

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The swimming hole

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:23:52 +0000

Growing up where I did in Ottawa, there was no nearby popular outdoor swimming area. We didn't have one where we brought up our kids either. Ruth was lucky in that regard, with a swimming hole in the river that was walking distance from her house.

She says she remembers many great summers spending time at the swimming hole.

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Finally bought a VPN

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 12:15:44 +0000

We're not really planning on doing very much while we're here. Just kind of helping out around the house when we can, and driving the kids to various places.

On Monday, I drove granddaughter Sadie (will be 13 on Saturday) to a friends cottage. She'll be up there for two days and should return this afternoon.

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Well that was a long 21 hours!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 11:45:43 +0000

We just drove from Gravenhurst, Ontario to Wolfville, Nova Scotia in one shot! A distance of 1,928 kms (1,200 miles)!

It took us 21 hours start to finish. We left at 1:00am Sunday morning and arrived at 11:00pm Sunday night. With a one hour time zone change.

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The gang's all here!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 18:09:26 +0000

It was a gorgeous day yesterday here in the Muskoka region of Ontario.

This area, about two hours north of Toronto is known as "cottage country" because of its roughly 1,600 lakes, rocky granite shields, and thick pine forests.

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That was a long 20 hours...

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 14:34:34 +0000

A couple of weeks ago on our daily walk, we were passing a guy out washing his truck, and we said good morning. He stopped us, and said in English "where are you guys from?". So we ended up talking to him for a few minutes. It turns out he spent 25 years in the state of Georgia, but recently returned here to Mexico to "retire".

Instead, he ended up opening a taco shop to keep busy! So before we left for the airport, we took our friend Chago out for lunch.

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And we're off!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 14:12:53 +0000

It's been a nice relaxing time for us here at the house in Mexico over the last four weeks. We met some new friends, kept up with our daily exercise program, and got all of our internet projects complete.

And today, we will take the bus into the big tamale (Mexico City) and fly to Toronto overnight tonight.

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Our upcoming flight to Toronto

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 14:56:39 +0000

I never told you this story.

Our flight to Toronto tomorrow is with Aeromexico. But (against my better judgement), I had originally booked with Air Canada. I won't make that mistake again.

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No wonder retirees move to cheaper countries

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 14:58:00 +0000

I follow a few facebook and youtube groups of expats and retirees who use their government retirement benefits to make a better life for themselves in a less expensive country, and some have posted their income from those sources.

I noticed that the Americans seem to get a lot more income than Canadians, so I did some digging.

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Our upcoming Canada trip

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Sun, 16 Aug 2026 14:40:44 +0000

Our five hour AeroMexico flight departs at 11:15pm on Wednesday the 19th and we arrive in Toronto at 6:20am the morning of the 20th.

Then we take a local GO bus from the airport to the Ontario Northlands terminal for our 9:30am departure to Gravenhurst, Ontario where our son will pick us up. That's a two and a half hour bus ride.

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Was it worth it?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 14:26:51 +0000

When we return to Mexico on October 5th, we will have had our house here for one full year. So now we can do the math as to whether or not it was worth it to us from a financial perspective... and from an enjoyment of life perspective.

We're headed back to Canada on Wednesday for six weeks, so we now know how many nights of that one year we will have spent in the Mexico house.

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Just an update

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:33:10 +0000

Not much happening around here. We continue to do our morning 5 km (3 mile) powerwalk, and our daily exercise routine.

And we've been watching a lot of Blue Jays baseball... they've not had a good season, especially compared to last year but they've won 10 of their last 15 games, so maybe things are turning around in time to manage a playoff spot by the end of September.

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Could we live there?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 14:18:30 +0000

One of the ways we rate a country and our experience there is by asking the question "could we live there?"

So, we've just been to three new countries... China, Hong Kong, and Japan, and here is the answer to that question regarding these countries...

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Have never been to a Mushroom Festival before

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 14:47:41 +0000

Our friends Fernando and Jessie invited us to go with them to a mushroom festival in the indigenous villages of San Simon and San Antonio, in the mountains about 20 kms north of here.

And they also invited some new friends, Chris and Michelle, an American couple who live here in Valle de Bravo.

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