Meet the seniors who saved up $20,000 to ditch work and journey the world

Nonetheless working full-time, Hazelip as a hospice medical director and Hamby as a medical mission director, the 2 have been prepared for a a lot wanted break. Hazelip, who says she hadn’t taken actual day off in 45 years and had turning 80 on the mind, proposed to Hamby: “Wouldn’t it be fun to go around the world in 80 days at age 80?” Having traveled properly collectively earlier than, Hamby instantly agreed. 

Impressed by Phileas Fogg’s 80-day journey world wide, they deliberate to go to among the identical cities because the famed fictional character, all seven continents (together with Antarctica), and as lots of the Wonders of the World as doable (see: the Northern Lights). 

With tickets booked and their eightieth birthdays on the horizon, they have been able to go—till the pandemic slammed the brakes on all the pieces. “COVID shut it down,” Hazelip says. “But COVID did not shut us down.” They lastly launched into their journey in January, on a $20,000 finances and with a brand new theme: “Around the world in 80 days at 81, and still on the run.” 

A friendship with nice mileage

Hazelip and Hamby first met 23 years in the past on a medical mission, however weren’t as tied to the hip as they’re now. 5 years later, Hazelip rang up Hamby; she needed to reside close to the apply she labored at in Abilene, Texas, which occurred to be the place Hamby was primarily based. The 2 struck a deal: If Hamby gave Hazelip a spot to remain two or three days every week, she’d take Hamby out for dinner. Hamby, a photographer whose husband not too long ago handed away unexpectedly, took her up on the provide. 

“Tthat was 18 years ago, and that’s how our friendship started,” Hamby says. Nonetheless upholding their conventional weekly meals, Hazelip claims that Hamby might order appropriately for her if she’s operating late. “I can even buy clothes for her now,” she jokes. 

Hazelip recollects telling her grandson after assembly Hamby that she’s “the only woman I have ever met who can work circles around me. I think we can be good friends.” Hamby felt equally: “Most of the time we just outran our friends, we were always wanting to do more than anybody…all of a sudden we [found] each other. And wow, we struggle to keep up with each other.”  

Within the years since, they’ve since taken many a mission journey and 5 private journeys collectively, shortly discovering they have been appropriate on the highway. The 2 are sport for nearly something, which made Hazelip really feel Hamby was the proper journey companion for a global journey.  

”We’re each strong-willed women however we respect one another’s stance on issues,” she says, explaining that she acknowledges her companion’s must rise early for images. In Hamby’s case, that may appear to be attempting extra dangerous issues that her pal is into, like driving camels or letting a snake slither round her torso. 

‘Second class travelers’ 

The duo lined each inch and cranny of the globe, bopping in every single place from Easter Island to the Nice Barrier Reef, and spending time in every nook, together with Antarctica and Australia. They forewent luxurious stays and lounging by the seashore, choosing journey over trip—as they put it, in case your fingers are well-manicured you won’t wish to journey with them. Most of their $20,000 finances went in direction of worldwide flights, they are saying. “We did about the cheapest you could do,” Hamby provides. 

The common price of their resort was $29 an individual, though Hamby says they use the phrase “hotel” very loosely. One among her favourite locations to remain was a $13.50 per night time resort in Cairo, Egypt, which had a modest breakfast and no foyer or elevator. However it got here with a “million dollar view,” she says—for those who went to the rooftop, you might look proper out on the pyramids and watch the sunshine present everybody else was paying for.

Calling themselves “second class travelers,” Hamby says their inexpensive journey fashion is extra enjoyable and makes it simpler to fulfill new individuals. It’s all about priorities, Hazelip provides: “Some people spend their money on boats, and being members of the country club and a new car every year. Those people who bought a new car, they spent more money than I spent on my 80-day trip.”  

“This is a budget car, too,” Hamby quips.

They discovered that exploring cities was additionally typically extra inexpensive and pleasing after they get native suggestions from the place they have been staying. Whereas they already deliberate some excursions, like driving sizzling air balloons, they’d additionally ask the concierge if the resort had a driver that would take them round to native websites. 

That’s how the 2 ended up exploring Bali’s fields of orchids and rolling mountains. As they journeyed up the mountains, they noticed an indication for a “happy swing” and requested their driver to tug over. With no vacationers in sight, they boarded a swing on the sting of the cliff above a paddy area. Such spontaneity makes “travel fun, because you can do those unexpected things,” Hamby says.