2022

An Epic 2 Nights in the Jungle at Rambala Jungle Lodge

An Epic 2 Nights in the Jungle at Rambala Jungle Lodge

6 Comments / Travel and Vacation, Health and Fitness, Life in Early Retirement, Panama / /

Wow. I knew this was going to be something different. But who would have thought that a stay at the Rambala Jungle Lodge in the middle of the jungle would be so awesome?! My wife, Lisa, found out about this place and thought it would be something unique to do. A stay in an open-air bungalow in the middle of the jungle… sounds good to me! So she booked our stay at the Rambala Jungle Lodge a month or so […]

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Stop Counting Pennies and Focus on the Dollars

Stop Counting Pennies and Focus on the Dollars

33 Comments / Spending, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Saving / /

I have this problem where I’m always counting pennies in my head. Not literally, but rather that I’m always conscientious of all our spending… to a fault. Don’t get me wrong, being mindful of what you’re spending is a good thing. If you don’t know what you’re spending, it can become very difficult to get ahead. The problem, however, is that counting pennies isn’t as important as focusing on the bigger money. In other words, saving a few extra dollars

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Holy #$%*... I Just Hiked up Volcán Barú!

Holy #$%*… I Just Hiked up Volcán Barú!

32 Comments / Life in Early Retirement, Health and Fitness, Motivation, Panama / /

Volcán Barú, a volcano that stands 3,474 meters tall (that’s 11,398 feet!)… and I just hiked to the top and back in less than half a day. I’ve heard of people doing this since the day we moved to Boquete, Panama in August 2019. Even so, I just thought the idea was a little crazy. But then we did the 4×4 tour to the top with our friends, Steve and Courtney, back in October. On the drive down, our guide

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A Beautiful Hike, a Cemetery, and a Flower Festival…

A Beautiful Hike, a Cemetery, and a Flower Festival…

6 Comments / Panama, Life in Early Retirement / /

It’s crazy to think that we’re only going to be living in Panama for less than 3 more months before moving back to the U.S. (with a couple of weeks in Mexico first!). In the meantime though, we’re cramming everything from a cemetery to a flower festival into our plans. It’s been a wonderful adventure over the past 2 ½ years here so far – we definitely feel like this is home. But we have our reasons for heading back

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Strength Training – One of a Few Big Workout Changes I’ve Made

Strength Training – One of a Few Big Workout Changes I’ve Made

2 Comments / Health and Fitness, Life in Early Retirement, Motivation / /

That’s right, baby – I’ve now switched my workouts from bodybuilding to strength training. That’s just one of the changes that have come up for me in my fitness track this past year. Welcome to another workout update! Over the past few years, I’ve tried to provide you with status reports and some other facets of working out that have been helpful to me that I thought were worth sharing: Although I post about fitness a few times a year,

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Why Early Retirement Isn’t Just About Escaping a Sh*tty Job

Why Early Retirement Isn’t Just About Escaping a Sh*tty Job

20 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), General Thoughts, Kids, Life in Early Retirement, Motivation / /

It seems that more and more folks in the FIRE (financial independence / retire early) community are jumping on the bandwagon of bashing the idea of early retirement… because early retirement now somehow conveys a negative connotation. I even heard some of my favorite hosts talking about this recently on a very popular podcast. The message was basically that early retirement is bad and if you don’t like your job, early retirement isn’t the answer – find a job you

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Psst… Can You Do Me a Quick Favor?

Psst… Can You Do Me a Quick Favor?

8 Comments / Blogging / /

Hello, Route to Retire reader! I hope you’ve been enjoying the content on this blog that I’ve been sharing for almost 7 years now. I want to ask you for a small favor though… As some of you know, I’ve been working with Ezoic on my site and I love the partnership that we have. They’ve helped to speed up this website and make it more efficient. They’ve also helped me increase the amount of ad income the site generates.

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Going to the Movies in Panama: 5 Interesting Lessons Learned

Going to the Movies in Panama: 5 Interesting Lessons Learned

8 Comments / Panama, Life in Early Retirement, Spending, Travel and Vacation / /

I’ve always been a little curious about going to the movies in Panama. How much different would it be from going to the movies in the U.S.? Are there subtitles in English or Spanish? Are the movies dubbed over in Spanish? Is it cheaper than what we’re used to seeing? What is the experience like in the theater – are the Panamanians talkers during the movie? We’ve lived in Boquete, Panama since 2019 and only finally went to see our

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