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Discover Local Customs Cultural faux pas adds some spice to this couple's cruising life.

Discover Local Customs Cultural faux pas adds some spice to this couple's cruising life. By Josh Holloway There are many ways to immerse yourself in a new culture. Some people read books. Some hire guides. Others unknowingly commit minor social crimes and wait for the consequences to be explained to them in a crowded hut. Cultures can clash over something as simple as a beach barbecue — one never knows if the sticks on the sand may be needed for a different purpose. The Meeting Hut Incident A hush consumed the entire maneaba, a Kiribati meeting hut. My lovely wife, Heidi, and I sat crisscross on the dirt floor, fidgeting awkwardly, keenly aware that all the villagers were staring at us in disapproval. A few moments earlier, Heidi and I had been chatting enthusiastically about our previous day’s fishing catch, and how we had enjoyed cooking it up over a beach fire in the nearby cove. A villager had asked, “Where did you get your wood?” “From the be...
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Cost of Living in Costa Rica (2026): A Real Family Budget — No Sponsored-Resort Nonsense

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend gear we actually use and abuse. Thanks for supporting Nomadventure! Four winters in. Still not sure if we're thrifty or just feral. Cost of Living in Costa Rica (2026): A Real Family Budget — No Sponsored-Resort Nonsense By Nomadventure  |  Updated April 2026  |  9 years of actual receipts Short answer: A family of five can live in Costa Rica for $1,500–$2,500/month — if you live like a local, embrace gallo pinto as a lifestyle, and resist the siren call of the $18 avocado toast at the expat café. Fortunately we’ve found that everything we “need” is relatively cheap here! We've been wintering in Costa Rica since 2016. Long enough that our kids speak Spanish, we know which roadside vendor has the best papayas (three for 1,000 colones, or about $2), and we've had opinions about bus routes t...
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Prologue: Untraditional by Design

A Serialized Pacific Voyage  ·  Nomadventure.org Prologue ← Home   ⚓   Next: Chapter 1 → ⚠️ A Word Before We Begin: The Disclaimer Nobody Asked For But Everybody Needs This is a true story. Or mostly true. True enough that the people involved remember it — though they don't always agree on the details, and memory, it turns out, is not a court-admissible document. Here is the thing you should know before you read any further: some of the things I did in this story are not legal. Some are not sanctioned by any recognizable authority. Some are not wise, advisable, insurable, or covered by the warranty on your common sense. I slept in places I wasn't supposed to sleep. I ate things I caught in ways that may or may not have required a license. I sailed boats I was not fully qualified to sail. I made decisions that a reasonable person — presented with the same information, the same conditions, and the same complete absence of a backup plan — would...
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Chapter 1: Raw Fish — The Key to One Woman’s Heart

A Serialized Pacific Voyage  ·  Nomadventure.org If Honeymoons Were Like This, They Wouldn't Be a Thing — Heidi Chapter 1 ← Home ⚓ Next Chapter 2 → A note on how this story is told: Heidi documents our life with a small voice recorder held just below her chin. She has always been the one with the presence of mind to capture things as they happen — recording moments, preserving details, keeping a running archive of memories I would otherwise let slip away. This account is mine, but it exists because of her voice. The alarm on my wristwatch sounded at five o'clock, and my eyes shot open. I had been waiting all night for this moment. This is either a sign of deep personal purpose or operating off the rails, depending on how you feel about pre-dawn spearfishing. I had been doing it every morning for months — rolling out of the hammock I attached to the rear of...
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Chapter 2: In Which a Sunset Ruins My Reasonable Life Plans

A Serialized Pacific Voyage  ·  Nomadventure.org If Honeymoons Were Like This, They Wouldn't Be a Thing — Heidi Chapter 2 ← Previous Chapter 1 ⚓ Next Chapter 3 → A note on how this story is told: Heidi documents our life with a small voice recorder held just below her chin. She has always been the one with the presence of mind to capture things as they happen — recording moments, preserving details, keeping a running archive of memories I would otherwise let slip away. This account is mine, but it exists because of her voice. There is a specific kind of evening in Maui that should probably come with a liability waiver. The sun drops into the ʻAuʻau Channel in a slow, indulgent blaze. The trade winds ease off just enough to feel like forgiveness. And somewhere in that light, whatever reasonable instincts you had been using to navigate your adult...
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