[Michael Juster]

I'm going on a long trip starting tomorrow morning (October 4), and I won't be back until October 12. See ya then.

[Michael Juster]

...and now I'm off to Europe for a long stretch.

[Sharon Passmore]

Can I stow away in your suitcase?

[Michael Juster]

Gosh...I don't think my wife would approve...

[Terese Coe]

Travel used to be so healthy, Michael, and I hope it's still so for you. Of course it depends where you're going.

I've always wanted to retire to Nepal, for example, though it doesn't sound like a healthy place at present. I still have several friends there who assure me that foreigners are safe...yet I'm simultaneously informed they don't stray from home as often as they used to.

Where, in your opinion, are the safe and cheap areas for a poet in retirement from the need to earn a living, though of course not from the need to write? (This isn't happening any time soon, though.)

Terese

[Michael Juster]

I'm exhausted and cranky from being treated like cattle by airlines, so it doesn't feel healthy. If you're talking outside the United States, Costa Rica, New Zealand or Chile would probably be high on my list. Inside the US, probably some of the college towns away from the coasts--Asheville, Oxford, Sewanee, Austin.

[Carol Taylor]

Forget Austin. The cost of living used to be low because students could subsist on minimum wages and the town was flooded with students. Not the case anymore. Still lots of students, but the general population has grown. I think for its size category Austin's pretty far up the list in cost of living, whereas wages are still low. Traffic's out of control, too, because of all the people trying to get into town to work from the towns thirty miles away.

Carol

[Michael Juster]

Yeah, same thing happened to Charlottesville.

[Terese Coe]

Thanks, Michael! They all sound delightful. Of course, if there were a Greek island that wasn't too touristy, that would do the job nicely!

New Zealand and Chile are gorgeous; it's great to hear they're not overpriced as well.

Love the Austin music, but there must be an awful lot of retired people in Texas. Though I do love that drawl.

Terese

[A. E. Stallings]

The cost of living in Greece, unfortunately, has skyrocketed with the euro.