Before leaving El Nido, we have to mention Squidos, our absolute favorite restaurant. (In all honesty, it’s the only restaurant we’ve eaten at). The French owner Jean-Marc and his Filipino wife Narcel have quickly included us in their circle of friends, and eating at their restaurant feels more like meeting old friends over a home-cooked dinner.

The food at Squidos is simply fantastic. And it’s no wonder they serve killer meals considering Narcel’s killer instincts. This woman can dish it out. Anyone who can get away with – well, not murder – but with punching a cop, deserves a thumbs up. That’s right. Narcel slapping a corrupt police officer has become my favorite dinner time story. When the outraged cop threatened to arrest her, Narcel simply pulled out her phone and called a famous Philippine crime-busting reality show. And, suddenly, she was free to go.

I would trust that woman anytime – and most definitely with my meals. If you don’t believe me, try Squidos’ scrumptious fried chicken or the finger-licking seafood curry platter. With their French taste for food, Filipino hospitality, and warm welcome, Jean-Marc, Narcel and their fun staff- especially Cheky – will be greatly missed.

Early retirees Dave and Bill are the latest nomads we’ve encountered while staying in El Nido. The charismatic English/Scottish couple of 23 years has just recently left their home in cold and rainy Scotland in search of a quieter life abroad. The two are part of a wave of people we’ve been meeting all over Asia. These Contemporary Nomads choose to travel or live in countries much cheaper than their own where they can enjoy a higher standard of living for much less money.

But leaving their busy lives behind wasn’t a small step for the two Brits. Dave was a social worker, Bill owned two hair saloons, and together, they ran an organic farm on their 100 hectare property 20 minutes outside of Edinburgh. They were workaholics. After Dave’s near-death accident on their farm, however, they solidified their plans to retire early. They realized that having successful careers and running a farm was not their ultimate goal, but spending more time together and finding a small home in a warmer climate was.

Clearly, finding a house takes time. Bill and Dave are taking a year to travel through Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Australia and Southern Europe where they eventually want to settling down. Already, we are thinking of paying them a visit after having enjoyed their company in El Nido during our nightly dinners at Squidos. Dave turned out to be quite a storyteller, and Bill with his dry humor and strong Scottish accent constantly cracked us up. (Thanks, Bill, for distracting the drunk Fin who was terrorizing El Nido during our stay).

We are sad to say good-bye, but such is a nomad’s life. I know we’ll see them again, perhaps even along the way.

I have never spent so much time in the water as I have here in Palawan – and I’m loving every second of it! Our friend Olof, who we mentioned was a great photographer, snapped these pictures of Tony, Elin and me while we were goofing around in the beautiful waters off of Shimizu Island.

Image by Olof Larsson

We’ve joined forces with Swedish travelers Olof and Elin to explore the beautiful islands of the Bacuit Archipelago. Luckily, these two enjoy the same relaxed pace of island hopping as we do with time to photograph and explore below the surface as well as above. The four of us also appreciate a good fish feast on the beach.

Experienced divers, Olof and Elin are spending three months diving Malaysia and the Philippines hitting world class sites such as Sipadan, Apo Island, and the wrecks of Busuanga along the way. Besides this couple’s refreshingly relaxed travel vibe, what really caught our attention was the fact that Olof was doing his underwater photography with a digital SLR camera with underwater housing and an external flash.

So what, you might ask? You guys take underwater pictures too. What’s the big deal? We were schlepping around a housing for a G7 point and shoot. Underwater housings for digital SLRs are massive and very heavy. Add to that an external flash and you have a whopping 7 kilo (15.4 pound) camera set-up! That is a dedicated photographer – and his beautiful pictures justify the effort. This photo of a frog fish is one of his craziest pics!

After hearing about the tragic loss of our G7 in Puerto Galera and the limits of our temporary replacement camera, Olof and Elin were gracious enough to allow us to use some of their excellent photos in our article on the Wrecks of Busuanga. They also generously gifted us with a precious, personally written evaluation of all the sites they’ve dived along their way including reviews of the dive shops they’ve used! After our negative experience with Capt’n Gregg’s in Sabang, this was an especially valuable resource.

Thanks guys, you both are awesome!

If you can read Swedish, or you would like to see more of their pictures, check out their excellent blog nittiodagariparadiset.blogg.se, which translates as “90 Days in Paradise.”

There are two ways of looking at retirement: a scary void in your life or unlimited time to follow your passion. For Sally and Peter, their passion seems to have always been traveling. And even now, at ages 65 and 70, they are fully embracing their freedom. Yes, the baby boomer generation is quickly aging, but they seem to be aging gracefully, and I love that we are seeing more and more backpackers in their sixties, seventies and even eighties doing their thing. They definitely set an example for all of us “young ones” who missed the hippie trail by quite a few years.

We first got to talk to the Milwaukee couple at the Scandinavian Bakery in Luang Prabang, Laos where they told us all about their travels through Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India in the 70’s. It seems that public transportation then was even worse than it is now. (Hard to imagine in India.) Fed up with power-tripping bus drivers, they decided that exploring the world by bicycle was the only way to go. They’ve been doing just that ever since. And it shows. Looking at the photo, would you ever guess that Tony is 30 years younger?

Retirement and old age are no excuse for settling down (especially if you are healthy and have some pocket money to spend). So what if your children need you to babysit? We, the younger generation of travelers, need you too. We need to hear your stories, we want to learn from your experience, and we need to know that seeing the world and having adventures shouldn’t stop when you turn 60. Sally and Peter represent a new generation of older backpackers who still take to the road. As the baby boomers and hippie trailers age, we’ll hopefully be seeing more and more senior travelers dragging their bikes through the mud or balancing precariously on top of a speeding bus.

After we randomly bumped into Peter and Sally a few more times, our last encounter being in Chiang Rai, Thailand, we said our good-byes. They were off to Borneo for a month-long bike trip while we were headed for the Philippines via Bangkok. Having biked the Philippines multiple times, they gave us some last-minute advice on the best beaches. Clearly, amid all that biking, Sally and Peter have also made time for some R&R – and deservedly so.