By the author of The Ultimate Guide to Frugal Living and What to Eat When You’re Broke
Imagine a simple dinner made from a potato that has just been dug out of the earth. You have fresh butter and fresh sour cream, made over the last week. You don’t have much in the way of exotic spices, just a bit of locally smoked paprika, some sea salt, and some black pepper. You don’t have fancy air fryers, 947 different cooking vessels, or gadgets to cut it into fancy shapes.
You have your potato, some olive oil, some tin foil, and your oven.
You bake your fist-sized potato after slathering it in fragrant, dark-gold olive oil (plus a couple of extra ones for future meals.) You cut it open, slather it with the fresh, yellow butter, and season it with your salt, pepper, and paprika. Add a dollop of sour cream, then sit down at your table. You’ve spent about 50 cents total on this, or perhaps you grew every single bite yourself.
The potato is tender, flaky, and earthy, delicately flavored with butter, filling your tastebuds. The skin is crisp. The sour cream topping is a cool, delicious contrast. The flavors imparted by the simple seasonings are delicate, yet rich at the same time.
This is what happens when you say, “I had a delicious, fresh potato loaded with delicious things” instead of “I only had a potato for dinner.”
Lessons from living differently
As many of you know, I’ve taken off to spend some time in Europe, and things are a lot different here. I’m here for a few months, on a temporary basis, to do some writing. But while I’ve been here, I think that there are some lessons we can take away from this that may help us prepare for the economic crisis that looms over us.
As most of you know, Greece suffered its own economic collapse in 2009 that worsened over the course of the next five years or so. (I wrote about it here.) It was a terrible time here, but gradually, the country recovered to some degree. However, people still don’t really make enough money to survive easily in the economy, taxes are exorbitant, and the infrastructure has become badly degraded. Because of the economic crisis, things are less “advanced” here than they are in the US. There’s less dependence on technology, a fact that is in unison welcome (less surveillance) and frustrating (you can’t do everything online here.)
But there are some things that we can use to help us through hard times. No, I’m not saying that Greece is “better” than the US – I’ll always be an American, no matter how far I might wander. I’m just saying that people are people, no matter where in the world you are. And the way others have adapted can sometimes help us find our way.
People here have less than people in the United States, but many of them have turned “less” into everything they need to be healthy, happy, and content.
Local economies
First of all, you see lots of local economies. I am in Athens, a large city. When I say “local” I am referring to my neighborhood. Each neighborhood seems to be built around various circles with a small park in the center and businesses surrounding it. Just up the road from me, I can find all sorts of specialty stores: a fruit stand, a vegetable stand, a butcher shop, a dairy store, a bakery (for bread and savory goods), a pastry shop (for desserts), and a store that focuses on dried goods like beans, pasta, rice, and seasonings.
The people running the shops are quite proud of the origins of the food they sell. One man tells me of the farm his uncle owns, where his vegetables are grown. “My uncle grows things; differently, he touches each plant himself,” he confides. Each vendor wants you to know why their product is so much better than anything else that you’ll find. There’s a certain pride in this, and everything you purchase is of the utmost quality. After a few weeks of returning to the same shops and seeing the same people, you begin to build a relationship and a rapport. A bevy of shopkeepers enthusiastically cheer on my attempts at learning their language, correcting me, and having me say the word back properly.
But it’s not only that.
Every week there’s also something called a laiki, where farmers from the outlying areas come into town and pop up their orange tents selling their current harvest. These happen all over the city, and each neighborhood has a different day on which their laiki occurs. I’ve gotten delightful fresh goods here, and it’s absolutely incredible food. The price is mind-blowing. I handed a two-Euro coin (about $2.12 USD) to a man standing behind a mountain of fresh potatoes the other day and ended up with almost more than I could carry home. I got olive oil decanted into a container that looks like a plastic water bottle. I have honey from a farm that grows thyme. If it grows from the earth and is in season, you can find it there.
People here tend to pay cash because the taxes are so extortionate. They build relationships. They scoff at the chain grocery stores and their pale offerings in comparison to the rich, fresh goodness you can get on your street.
Perhaps this is something we could all look for. Maybe we could find farmers and vendors who take pride in their offerings because they’ve seen it through from start to finish. Perhaps we could go back to the basics, the things that don’t come from packages, and buying from people, not corporations.
Thrift as a way of life
Ever since the collapse (and perhaps before, I never visited previously) thrift is a way of life. Here, you don’t always have hot water. You have to turn your water heater on about 20 minutes before you need it. This saves on electricity because you’re only heating up the water for 20 minutes a day. If you’re careful, enough water will remain in the tank for you to wash your dishes and have at least warmish water for handwashing during the rest of the day.
Nobody has dryers and every street you walk down has laundry on lines flying like flags from apartment balconies. There’s no HOA nonsense here. Every balcony is loaded with laundry, tomato plants, and herbs. Rooftops have solar panels and water tanks. Electricity is used in the smallest amounts possible at all times.
Part of this is that the price here has skyrocketed. Now, it’s all relative. I was pleasantly surprised when my first electric bill was just 43 Euros ($46.50 USD), but if I only made 800-1000 a month, the typical wage for a Greek, that would be pretty devastating.
If you were to leave your water heater on all day or your heat or air conditioner on while you stepped out, locals would look at you as though you’d completely lost your mind.
Small pleasures
One of the major guilty pleasures here is having coffee. Greeks will sit outdoors at one of the many cafes here and sip coffee as a social event, a break from their workday, or on a date. Instead of dropping $10 on dinner or lunch, or $30 on drinks at a bar, the social outing here is a $2 latte. And what’s more, coffee is to be savored, sitting in one place. You don’t get up and walk around with your coffee. You certainly don’t drive through to get it. You sit in a chair, at a table, like a civilized person. It’s an entire ceremony.
A beautiful day might be spent on a park bench, watching your children at a playground or reading a book. There’s a park nearby loaded with orange trees. You can smell the faint whiff of citrus in the air, and benches are everywhere, placed to take in the views.
Walking is not just transportation – it’s a joy. You walk wherever you can because a) traffic is a nightmare, and b) parking is a nightmare. But it’s not a grudging thing – there are lovely shop windows to peruse, beautiful balconies dripping with flowers and vegetables, plump stray cats hissing at you from low branches like the guardians of the trees, and the glorious sights of ancient Athens. Due to this, most people are fit and healthy and truly love being outdoors and walking to their destinations.
Simplicity
Then there’s the simplicity. The meal I described above is quite basic but the freshness of the ingredients made it delicious. I have no kitchen gadgets, few spices, and just one skillet and one baking sheet. It’s a far cry from my well-equipped kitchen back in North Carolina. But the meals I make here is savory and decadent because every single component is as fresh as possible.
Another common meal here is fascia gigantes which translates to “giant beans.” You can find these on nearly every menu of a restaurant boasting home-cooked food from Yiayia (Grandma) and it’s a frequent main dish in home kitchens. These are simply large white butterbeans cooked in tomato sauce. The sauce contains chunky tomatoes, good olive oil, garlic, onion, celery, and carrots and it’s seasoned with oregano, thyme, bay leaf, and the tiniest dash of cinnamon. It cooks all day long until the beans are tender and it’s served with fresh, crusty bread dipped in more olive oil or slathered in fresh butter. (Here’s a recipe that’s pretty close to what I’ve had.)
Meals at home are generally very simple but there’s tons of attention to detail and the best possible ingredients.
Life here isn’t a neverending binge-watch of Netflix or television. People sit outside and enjoy the weather. They talk to their neighbors. They go for coffee (as mentioned above) and the many parks and greenspaces are a testament to their love of nature. I love to sit in a park and read a book with the spring sunshine sparkling through the olive trees above me.
I rarely see people arguing about politics or yelling about anything other than the (stupid) way another person is driving, and it’s all forgotten within seconds, with no hard feelings. People watch the birds feeding in their gardens, and nearly everyone feeds the stray cats and offers them water on the hot days of summer.
No place is perfect, but our attitudes are everything.
Now, this may sound like an ode to Athens, and I suppose it is in a way. But the things I see here don’t have to be unique to a different part of the world. We could all focus on the simple perfection of that ideal dark red strawberry or the tenderness of the beans in our soup, or the fresh smell of the plants surrounding us as we wander through a place of nature, trying to identify the different fragrances and apply them to the proper flora.
We can focus on what we do have instead of what we don’t have. We can stop and look at the world around us and savor it. We can connect with other people and find things in common and a reason to laugh together.
I’m not naive. I know that we have deep problems and rifts that seem impossible to bridge in the United States. But if we start in our own neighborhoods to build those bridges and find some common ground, perhaps that could spread. Maybe we can make our own little corners of the world better just by appreciating them. It could take effort because we’re used to having so much more, but a conscious attempt to try, to take in every delicious, luxurious, decadent detail of a piece of fresh bread dripping with butter will make that bread the feast of kings.
As we scale back our lifestyles to manage this economic chaos we’re facing, we can take a few notes from the way others have done so. We can learn from them, and we can embrace the things that we’re left with. Who knows? It could turn out that your life actually becomes better once you get off the frantic hamster wheel.
Having less doesn’t have to be a bad thing. With the right appreciation and attention to detail, less can magically become everything that you need.
What are your thoughts?
Have you ever had to scale back your lifestyle? Did it work out to be better in the long run? What are some of the small things you like to savor? Have you ever learned something about attitudes when traveling that you’ve applied to your life later? Let’s talk about it in the comments section.
About Daisy
Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, adventure-seeking, globe-trotting blogger. She is the founder and publisher of three websites. 1) The Organic Prepper, which is about current events, preparedness, self-reliance, and the pursuit of liberty; 2) The Frugalite, a website with thrifty tips and solutions to help people get a handle on their personal finances without feeling deprived; and 3) PreppersDailyNews.com, an aggregate site where you can find links to all the most important news for those who wish to be prepared. Her work is widely republished across alternative media and she has appeared in many interviews.
Daisy is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books, 12 self-published books, and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses at SelfRelianceand Survival.com You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Gab, MeWe, Parler, Instagram, and Twitter.
Greece is definitely a country I’ve wanted to visit so I’m happy to hear more about it. Much of what you report reminds me of Israel. People tend to live in small apartments because space is at a premium; not uncommon to have 4 kids in a 2-bedroom 4th floor walk up apartment. The food is amazing. Most of the fruit and veggies are local and seasonal so when it’s strawberry season you buy the most luscious strawberries but they won’t be found out of season. Same with figs or mangoes, citrus etc.
Hot water generally comes from solar. If it’s been really cloudy or too much is used you can use electricity to heat the tank but it’s expensive; I avoided that.
Parks and playgrounds abound. Cafes are everywhere and people sit and drink coffee and socialize.
When I lived there I didn’t have a car(very expensive) but I mostly didn’t need one; could walk to most places I needed to go to or take public transport.
It’s considered a reasonably affluent developed country but taxes are crazy high and most stuff costs more than in the US etc; taxes on a car purchase close to double the price of a car for example. But in any event, it just made the World’s Happiest Countries list at #4; this metric btw includes all of the residents, not just Jewish ones. And it’s average lifespan is way higher than in the US.So I know for sure that what you speak of is important. Just being able to afford to order whatever you want online and buy tasteless raspberries out of season isn’t the key to happiness.
Ik had echte vrienden in Israël doorheen de laatste 2 jaar zijn 7 van onze 9 vrienden door hun Holocaust gegaan 5 zijn intussen overleden en de laatste 2 weet ik niets meer van ps.. deze Holocaust waren hun eigen woorden…na 1 a 2 minuten waren zij weg… evenals mijn Twitter account.. permanent geschorst omdat ik dat door wilde sturen… mooie verhaaltjes van Daisy zijn niet voor deze tijden..het is oorlog…overal met dank aan….vul zelf maar in..
I grew up that way, in the US, in NYC. My mom was from Hungary, and my dad died when I was a little kid. I used to think negatively about a lot. I now realize it was a blessing, and the Lord simply was giving me lessons on how to live. I didn’t realize what was coming, and what I’ll face now in my older years. He knew.
Amazing what we miss when we are focused on what we don’t have. My dad used to say that youth is wasted on the young. I understand that better now as I have a few years under my belt!
This resonates with me because I just moved to a mountain cottage in TN where I am the caretaker for my oldest friends. I have had to make all sorts of adjustments. One working phone, no radios, no TV, no WiFi. The accoutrements of rural life include the weather… In my journal, The Road Never Traveled, I note how I have had to tweak everything to adapt to a minimalist life. But I love it, despite the frustration at times. Gardening planned so I have seeds. Watering six seedling cups daily and three have sprouted.
Sounds like heaven to me! Gonna make those giant beans too???? How lucky you are to experience the community and people there.
People are far to busy here in the states to actually sit down and enjoy their coffee. I opt out of that rat race whenever I can and boy does it feel good!
Enjoy your time and thank you for sharing it with us????
Tank you for a very charming view of what our lives could be if we slow down and let go of some of the “conveniences” that have crept in to inspire us to live more complicated lives. We live in an isolated rural community in a much colder climate than Greece or N.C. Telephones and electric services were not common until the 1960’s, and a couple of years ago we got upgraded to one fiber optic cable supplying about 75 families party-line style. We have met and are in regular contact with many of our neighbors. I grew up in the tropics, and remember how enjoyable the slower pace and community economy it had. We chose a property that is not zoned for water pressure, so we hand pump our water and have intentionally practiced a lifestyle that relies as little as practicable on power, while preparing to live without some of the little luxuries we chose to utilize. We also look ahead to the possibility that access to commercially processed food will diminish or become inaccessible. This used to be an area where dairies were common, and home flocks of goats and family cows are now becoming more common. The climate does not support much in the way of oil crops, but we are thinking that we can turn butter into ghee for a good, healthy high burn temperature cooking oil (ghee is often referred to as butter oil.). It also has a much longer shelf life than seed or nut oils. Our region is dominated by hardwood forest, so high btu firewood is available, and we are honing our skill with manually felling and cutting our own logs. We use a manual hydraulic splitter, one of our little luxuries (and great for managing the Winter waistline!). I am a little late with prepping our open areas for growing forage and grain for ourselves and our livestock, but have the seed. We are seniors, and may not be able to farm enough to feed ruminants, but my husband is very skilled with hand tools and repair work. We have discovered our neighbors are often not attuned to mechanical work or small appliance repair, so we anticipate the opportunity to barter once the dust settles and we all have less distractions. We shoveled at 6 feet of snow this year, which works out to be many tons of snow. We have a nifty northern tool known as a Yooper Scooper invented north of us in the U.P. (Upper Peninsula between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan where lake effect snow had bred many inventive and hardy workers. I think you have a well developed sense of adventure, and so do I, an invaluable outlook when regularly stepping out into the unknown.
I meant to say before thats its all perspective. Not necessarily what you choose is right/wrong but perspective☺️
This is one of my favorite posts of yours! Beautiful and encouraging, wish I was there with you ????
I agree. I came back to re-read it!
I love the idea of the neighborhood market… we have farmer markets where I am on a weekly basis in the summer but it’s about commerce. People run in, wait on a line for their favorite food, grab it and run out. To be able to wander through a food market, chatting with the vendors about where the food came from, and getting good food at reasonable prices would be amazing.
My nearest neighbor is five miles, so socializing is basically non-existent for me. I do not have a TV set or radio. I do have one computer that I share with my husband. We are off grid, since the telephone/electrical line does not come past us. Eating out is only when we have to travel to shop or doctors, both of which is 100 miles for us. Cell phones don’t work at my home so we have VOIP through our computer and a satellite dish for our internet which is hard wired to our house. We don’t waste money on the latest electronics or fashion. I have my chickens, ducks, dogs and cats to tend to. I miss my dairy goats. I have a garden and house to tend to. We also only eat simple meals. I don’t need ingredients that I would only use once in a blue moon.
You must have Star Link, I have Hughesnet satellite Internet and VOIP will not work with it. Not enough upload speed.
Lovely article, Daisy. This is the aspect of a financial collapse that I am totally ready to embrace – the simplifying, the move from rampant consumption, the frugality, self sufficiency, sense of community etc…however, older cities like Athens that were built pre-cars will be much more walkable than where I live, which is hilly, and no cafe or shop in easy walking distance. We do have a baseball/dog park that could act like a “village green” in some ways, with slopes that are begging to become terraced community gardens.
I gladly defy our HOA by having rigged up a washing line that cannot be seen from the street. We have solar (sadly not off-grid) and a dryer, but I prefer line dried and want to get off as many “systems“ as I can before things get harder.
We have Farmers Markets here that are undoubtedly crap compared to your farmers produce, but I see a glimmer of hope that it could evolve to some degree. So far it is artisan soaps, fancy $$$ boba teas, unaffordable honey and some organic veg
For those with the right attitude, this paring back to a simpler lifestyle may be even be somewhat positive (down with Netflix!), but I fear the vast majority will not cope, and will instead turn to looting and violence. Many will be too lazy or unskilled to go back to the old ways that will be needed for long term survival, and are definitely not ready for frugality.
I read an article once, a tourist went to a Greek pastry shop, wanted 20 of something, couldn’t bridge the language gap, and splayed all his fingers out twice… 10, 10. And the owner almost came over the counter at him. Turns out it’s an insulting gesture in Greece. Just a side note, something to avoid.
Maybe harder times will bring back the local, ordinary people farmers markets instead of the stuff we have around here. Right now every place charges you a lot to be able to set up a table. More than is reasonable if you are just a person wanting to sell extras instead of a “farm” business doing your hustle. So that makes all the foods sold there costs more than the grocery store which means people of limited means don’t shop there. When every cent counts you can’t spend extra just because its local.
Last year ordinary folks started getting around the market fees by making free posts on the local area groups on Facebook saying what they had available.
Excellent tip regarding the water heater! Our solar power is off-grid but water heater (220V) is our nemesis. Going to secure water heater power in the evenings and turn it back on for 20-30 the next day when hot water is needed. Will be interested to see impact on monthly electric bill which is only $45 right now.
Reading a little bit of history of the 1930s Great Depression years turned up some interesting tidbits. Before rural electrification came along in the late 1930s it was very common to heat up water for bathing or laundry in an oblong tub that fitted over two burners on top of a wood-fired stove. In those years some people shut down their telephones because of the monthly bill … but kept their battery-operated radios that had been paid for only once.
Once Prohibition ended in late 1933 and making and using alcohol was legal again, many workers could again bring their little alcohol burners to job sites again in order to heat up lunch.
Today we’ve learned about some other ways to get things done in less costly ways not generally known back then. The use of solar for cooking and battery recharging is one such practice. Even though the sun is often obscured by overcast skies (let alone nighttime), daytime sunlight is generally available for about 2/3rds of the year. That means that solar is an excellent way to get things done by minimizing the need for subscription-based electricity and minimizing the need to use stored fuels … whether propane, butane, wood, wood pellets or whatever.
Some solar gear is highly portable while other designs are too large but work well at home. Some of the portables that have traveled the world include solar designs such as the type based on a folding umbrella with parabolic reflector pieces inside. Another type is the folding panel cooker called the Copenhagen design via retail or DIY (see YouTube for how-to examples).
The mention above about cooking beans being an all day process triggered my memory of Rita Bingham’s book “Country Beans” in which she explains that while dried beans can be stored reliably for decades, beans freshly ground into flour can take only about 3 minutes to become edible. While a kitchen countertop grain mill works fine at home, it’s really too big and heavy for traveling. At least at home the savings of time and stored or subscription fuels can be substantial.
With the results of health research in the last couple of decades on aluminum dangers regarding food preparation, I’ve stopped using aluminum cookware (even with non-stick inner coatings that have multiple ways of failing) and aluminum foil. The autopsy research about finding excessive aluminum in the brains of deceased Alzheimer’s patients was scary enough. So I use only cast iron or stainless steel cookware these days.
–Lewis
Actually, I am living that lifestyle now, since retirement.
My pension and Social Security is less than half of my former income, but now I have time to garden and raise a few chickens.
Breakfast is often hash browns made from home grown potatoes and a cheese omelette from just laid eggs, with slices of toast from bread I baked myself.
At night I hear the wild geese flying overhead as I fall asleep.
During the day I look out on the mountains and smell the scent of pines.
Beauty is where you find it, be it in a city or in the country.
I think the secret to joy is awareness, which begats gratitude.
God has been good to me.
I love your post. I hope my retirement years can resemble yours.
I’m going at this comment a little differently than most. I have spent the past two years participating in the local farmers’ market and one of the problems that I have seen is that there are plenty of people who would like more local food, there’s just not enough of it to go around. My philosophy is be the change you want to see, so I have added more to my garden space and have been selling veggies at farmers’ market, and have since added my books (some fiction, some related to the subject of gardening and our area). I also sell cookies which makes a certain autistic boy I know smile every week (and getting him to smile is a challenge that I love.).
There are things we don’t grow well at our place, but there are others at farmers’ market who do those things well. Last year we got blueberries and blackberries by going to a friend’s farm and picking our own, enough for the whole year!
The problem with our farmers’ market is that there are not enough growers for the visitors we get. Therefore, I have a challenge for everyone who gardens. Grow what you can for you and your family and grow a little more to take to farmers’ market every week. Chat with the other vendors, do trades when possible. Help other locals who you know are truly in need. Be the change you want to see.
Agreed! This is my goal too (not there yet). We definitely all need to become producers as much as possible, not just consumers and get those Farmers Markets to a better place.
I would love to go to my local farmers market but I’ve noticed no one
can tell me that their produce is organic. I won’t buy unless it is since I am still healing from leaky gut. I know it’s a process to be certified but I certainly don’t want anything sprayed heavily.
I have to say you made that baked potato sound like the best potato ever! Lol. My husband and I both grew up in extremely small communities where you know everyone and people help in times of need. We also had a clothes line and it was common to have one. Where we live now, not so much. We do have local farmers markets but only during warmer months. I do like to make whatever I can myself. We rarely eat out simply because we like to know what we’re putting into our bodies. I just started making my own sourdough bread and boy is it rewarding. I’ve opted to knead the dough by hand instead of using my fancy mixer and it definitely gets your arms heated up! I also started brewing kombucha and water kefirs. Trying to increase fermented items for the health benefits. I do grow some herbs and sprouts as well. We are currently looking for land in TN to build where we can have a large garden and possibly chickens. If we were to move to a more populated area we would want it to be like you’ve described of Athens.
Kombucha & kefir…yum & so good for you!
Fasolada gigantes (giant beans), do take a long time so you have to soak them overnight, but with crusty bread, feta cheese drizzled w/ olive oil and oregano, & white wine (Greek retsina, pine resin wine) it’s a ????! Cooking garbanzos, lentils, fava are other favorites simple to make but ever so good, nutritious & fairly inexpensive.
Family lived in Greece under German occupation so frugality was necessary as their army cleared any food stores of anything to feed the occupiers. So got raised to be careful w/ spending as you never know what tomorrow might bring, but tough in yet doable in today’s consumerist society.
As WEF Sociopath elites tamper with our energy grid, food supply, our health & financial system etc. & coming at us from All angles we need to be prepared for the unexpected. Thus the importance of Daisy’s blogs:)
Daisy,
I loved this article! Traveling and seeing other parts of the world is a wonderful experience. So is appreciating what you have in your own part of the world. I could envision Greece the way you describe it. I’d love to visit that part of the world someday.
Greece learned to deal with change – as in the retirement age changing. Yeah, lots of turmoil and hand wringing at first but the citizens learned to deal with it. Change – those who adapt survive, those who don’t perish.
To have more want less
Love the simple life, don’t want for much except good health, good friends/family, good books and good weather lol.
What a wonderful article. Thanks!
I lived on the border of Slovenija and Croatia in the late 90s, and know just the lifestyle you’re describing. In Slovenija, I learned to cook what I could get, not what I planned, and one of my favorites was a roasted onion, filled with butter, and salted. I could eat that every night.
(We delivered sailboats from the Adriatic to the Aegean and those little Greek fishing villages east of Athens were my favorites.)
I think Greece sounds wonderful. Minus all the people so close. 😉
Attitude is everything. We have gotten spoiled with all the conveniences & niceties of life.
Stel je woont in België..uw gebuur is een Turk, Pool, Bulgaar, Marokkaan, Roemeen..of erger nog een Brusselaar…hoe ziet u dit verhaal aflopen..???????
Ps ik woon in Antwerpen België geen tuintjes hier..helaas.. alleen beton..
This is a lovely article, but I sure hope the WEF doesn’t get wind of it…
What a beautiful post Daisy, thank you for your wonderful perspective on how good life is when it’s simpler. For me a true luxury in life is the scent of sheets dried outside on the line. You can’t duplicate that scent from any chemmy laundry product. These kind of posts take fear and turn it into something beautiful.
Great article, Daisy. Thanks. The mediterranean lifestyle is so healthy (though difficult to replicate the walking locally aspects) and I really appreciate your focus on enjoying what you have and appreciating what’s around us. Enjoy your stay!