Meet the Characters from the Stories in Before the Kids and Mortgage, Part 3 of 3

My book Before the Kids and Mortgage is an uncommon and inspiring memoir. 

If you like humorous interactions, whirlwind tours, and eye-opening revelations, then you’ll love my extraordinary trek.

As I travelled the world with my wife Odelia, we met all kinds of characters. 

Read my past blog posts about how we met Freddie the Belgian, Michael the Boss and Muhammad of India, and Noshad and Mustafa.

Here’s the story of Doug

Towards the final half of our travels, we landed in Broken Hill, Australia. 

The famous and deserted outback part of Broken Hill feels like an old US western movie,  a lawless kind of a place.

At the inn where we planned to stay, we met innkeeper Doug. 

Doug had myriad rules and regulations that I’m sure he had reasons for. But for us it seemed like they were meant to make the inn guests’ life miserable. 

Some of Doug’s rules were “2-minute showers” and “you can watch the TV until 10:00 PM only” and “If you use any dishes in the kitchen, you must wash and dry them AND put them back in the cabinet.”

Odelia “broke” one of his rules. She forgot to put back the dishes we used and washed. 

Doug and Odelia had a staredown showdown between both of them. 

Doug asked, who left the dishes out to the inn guests sitting in the TV room area? 

Tense silence ensued. Finally, Odelia said, I did. 

The intense staredown between Doug and Odelia continued. Odelia said, well, what happens now? Doug grimaced and walked away. 

Odelia survived the showdown!

Here’s the story of the wanderers 

We also met the “real wanderers,” people like Dennis and Howard. 

They made wandering and travelling the world their life’s pursuit.  

We left the “regular” world for one year. 

These vagabonds had been travelling and “living off the grid” their entire adult life.  

They do not share in the often-exaggerated stories of other backpackers, they were loners. 

And both of them were very highly intelligent, perceptive people.

It’s inspiring to learn about people’s lives and the different paths they take. Especially the ones that go off the beaten track.

Read about all the places we visited and the amazing people we met in my book Before the Kids and Mortgage, available here on Amazon.