Wandering Money Pig - A journey of early retirement and FIRE (financial independence retire early)

  Quebec City, Canada (View of Chateau Frontenac) The first time my wife and I drove into Quebec City , admiring the undeniably majestic Chateau Frontenac, we thought we were transported to any number of beautiful and historic European cities like Vienna, Heidelberg, or Salzburg.  The charming buildings decked out in colorful roofs, the cute flowers placed in outside window boxes of many homes, and busy alfresco cafes/restaurants really set the mood for a trip like no other.  We fell in love with the city at first sight… That was exactly 20 years ago.  Upon leaving Quebec City after a two night stay, we knew in our hearts that we would soon be back.  That didn’t quite turn out to be true, as it took all of 20 years to go back. In the month of July 2022, we literally had the opportunity of a lifetime to revisit the city, as we were staying two months in the northwest part of Maine.  The US/Canada border was only about 30 miles away from our place in Stratton...

  Casino de Charlevoix, Canada (hotel) One of my favorite things in the world is visiting new places, whether that’s a new city, a new park, a new restaurant, or a new hotel/motel/lodging.  There’s just something special, exciting, and anticipatory about going to a new place. My heart races at the thought of finding a new place to explore.  As I’m researching a place, I get a kick out of reading various reviews of fellow travelers, as well as looking at photos of places to explore.  The anticipation builds after I actually book our lodging, wondering what the trip would be like… I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again:  There’s nothing quite like traveling to explore somewhere new.  My brain is tingling with the thought that I’ll be getting new stimuli, and the anticipation reaches a climax when we’re leaving for the trip that departure date. My wife and I always loved exploring all sorts of places on a new trip.  It could be new restaurants, muse...

  Montmorency Falls, Quebec, Canada My wife and I always had fond memories of Canada, thanks to its delectable cuisine, wonderful world class cities like Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, and friendly people.  It had been close to 20 years since we last set our foot in Canada, and we were itching to get up there when the right time came. After we retired (2020), we were planning to go up to Canada, but the stubborn Covid-19 had other plans. The border crossing and the quarantine requirements were a bit too much for us, especially with our Pomeranian Toby in tow.  The animal quarantine requirements were actually worse than for us humans, so we had been putting off visiting Canada until recently. With the passing of our Toby in March of 2022, we finally decided the time was right to revisit one of our favorite places in all of Canada, Quebec City .  The last time we were in Quebec City was in October 2002.  We had stayed at the Hilton Hotel overlooking the ...