You may remember last year when I started our Blog that Carolyn Hindes, a pretty amazing woman in her own right, was our first featured client. Now it’s time to meet her charismatic brother, Ted, and his true love, Dr. Janie (as she’s fondly called).
Meeting Ted is like meeting the Pied Piper. His unbridled optimism and enthusiasm for all things “life” are unparalleled and mischievously infectious. If he says, for example, “Hey, let’s go to the South Pole tomorrow!” you are already mentally packing your bags and figuring out how you’ll get to the airport on time. All of life’s other minutiae just kind of melts out of sight.
Well, he met his match in Janie. Because she’s not just mentally but actually physically packing the bags, but she’s also organizing the 1,600 other details that go into making it happen, including the passports, the shots, the proper gear and clothing not to mention the pet sitters, etc, etc.
So when Ted told me a while ago that he and Janie were selling all their worldly goods, building their own sailing yacht, traveling around the world, and then settling in New Zealand permanently, I admit, I put up a pathetic verbal intellectual sparring match with all sorts of perfectly logical Jewish Mom/Certified Financial Planner sorts of concerns and objections --- but, yeah, you guessed it, I was out classed every step of the way! Knowing when to retreat and lick my wounds, I comforted myself with the knowledge that this was going to make one heck of a great whale’s tale --- but time has passed and while the tale is ready for the telling, the story has definitely changed. Keep reading for one great client story! Enjoy!
Ted and Janie enter the New Zealand town with the longest name in the world!
Ted, I met you while you were still an active professional pilot and shortly before a life changing medical event. If you are willing, can you tell us about your life pre-cancer, the incredible fight you put up battling cancer, and how you think that shaped your attitude and vision for your future.
I moved away from the Bay Area in 1982 to attend prep school in New Hampshire. While a student there, I worked in the school fire department and was the fire chief for 18 months. I attended college at Oklahoma State University as a Fire Protection and Safety Engineering major. In my third year of college, I was told by one of my instructors that I was going to fail calculus. This would have caused me to go on to academic probation, bad on many levels, but especially not good because I was the captain of the sailing team! So I switched my major to Aviation Science. I had already gotten my commercial pilot rating by flying on nights and weekends. This switch enabled me to drop calculus and also still graduate on time.
After graduation, I attended U.S. Coast Guard Officer Candidate School in Yorktown, VA. I served four years on active duty and six years on reserve. Then, in 1995, I joined the Drug Enforcement Administration as a special agent assigned to the Washington D.C. field office. In 1999, I returned to flying as a civilian instructor pilot for the U.S. Air Force in San Antonio, TX. Later on, in 2000, I went to work for AirNet Express flying freight at night in a prop plane. In 2002 I became a Learjet co-pilot. After that I received my first type-rating in the Learjet 35 in 2003 and moved to Dallas and started hauling “self-loading cargo” (people!). In 2004, I transitioned to the Learjet 60.
Ted and the Learjet 60
May of 2005 saw me suffering from chronic nasal congestion. The physicians who saw me treated me for a sinus infection and also allergies, but after the second round of antibiotics with no improvement, I was sent for an MRI. Within a week, I was diagnosed with sino-nasal undifferentiated carcinoma. This necessitated a 12 month cessation in flying as I received chemotherapy and radiation. Two weeks after my diagnosis, I started chemotherapy. I did four rounds of chemotherapy over six months and also had 31 days of radiation. My sister, Carolyn Hindes, came from San Francisco every other week during this period to take care of me. After the first round of chemo, we had 28% shrinkage of the tumor. Then there was a total of 35% shrinkage after the second round of chemotherapy. I was very fortunate that I suffered only minimal side effects, negligible hair loss and did not require any days of hospitalization. I learned during this time of my life that keeping up a good attitude and a smile not only helped those around me – both fellow patients and the treatment providers – but also helped lift my spirits on those days when my burden seemed a little heavy. There are some after effects from the radiation. I have lost most of my sense of smell and developed cataracts and radiation retinopathy in both eyes. The retinopathy has caused temporary losses of vision at times. I have had both cataracts removed and new lenses put in and I am currently being treated with laser and injections for my retinopathy. In April of 2006, I had surgery to remove the tumor and found out I had indeed won my battle against this cancer.
I was happily returned to flying status in June, 2006. In June of 2007, I received my third and final type rating in the Learjet 45. On Halloween day in 2008, I got an email informing me that the company I worked for had gone out of business at 5:00 p.m. that day. At this point I made the decision to stop flying and pursue other career opportunities. After considering, then discarding a few different possible career choices, I started FR8Dog Photography.
Janie and the seagull posse at dinner.
Tell us about meeting Janie, and when you two figured out that you were meant to be together.
I first met Janie in 2003 when I moved to Dallas. I brought my dog, Ebbitt, to her veterinary clinic for vaccinations. I liked the way she and her staff interacted with Ebbitt, as well as me! Over the years, we struck up a friendship and even bonded a little over a life-saving emergency surgery she performed on Ebbitt. In December of 2005, I noticed she was collecting various things to send in care packages to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since I had friends down range, I wanted to do something to thank her for making such an effort on behalf of our troops. I had purchased a package of hockey tickets earlier in the season and still had some games left. Since I knew she was a hockey fan, I offered her a choice of the remaining games. She picked a game in January, a little over a month away. When I stopped by the clinic about a week before the game to confirm, it came up in conversation that we were both currently single. I found out later that she considered not attending because she was worried it could be construed as a date. While she often saw her clients socially outside the clinic, she did not “date” clients. While neither of us considered the outing a date, there was an unexpected spark and both of us did consider it a date by the end of the evening. I even got a good night kiss. We have been together ever since.
Janie and her Kiwi friend.
Janie, from your perspective, tell us a bit about your life journey before meeting Ted and how your life path brought you two together.I was born and raised in Amarillo, TX. I attended Texas A&M University on a National Merit scholarship and was accepted into veterinary school after only three years of undergraduate study. I moved to the Dallas – Fort Worth area upon graduation and worked in a three doctor practice for six and one-half years before opening my own veterinary clinic, Valley View Pet Health Center, in Farmers Branch, TX. In 13 years, I took it from a single doctor practice with only two employees to a three doctor practice with over 20 employees.
Ted and Janie sailing Doubtful Sound.
Okay, so now let’s switch gears and talk about the fun stuff and why this Blog is titled TED AND JANIE’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE! One day --- I’ll never forget this --- I got that call from you, Ted, announcing that I should hold onto my chair because you had decided to build a ship (for a LOT of money I might add in my defense!), sail it around the world, and end up in New Zealand where you and Janie would be living from then on, including the idea of dual citizenship. Describe to us your vision at that time --- why you wanted to build a ship, and why you wanted to reside in New Zealand?There were many reasons we wanted to build a yacht and sail for two years before ending up in New Zealand. Janie was ready to sell her clinic and possibly work a little less. I was ready to sit down from flying and we were not happy with the direction the country was moving in. However, after my battle with cancer and with both of us having lost our mothers to cancer or related conditions, we realized that life is just too short. We were looking for a life-changing adventure. We wanted to live on a sailboat because of the measure of freedom it would bring. Since our house would be portable, we could live almost anywhere. We made a list of all the places we would like to visit on our sailing odyssey and then tried to decide where we might like to end up. We considered several places in the U.S. and other parts of the world, but always found some reason why it would not do – i.e. too hot, too cold, state income tax, etc. Eventually, we settled on New Zealand. The country is beautiful, the climate is nice, there is lots of coastline on which to park a boat, the Kiwis (New Zealand citizens) are very friendly and forthright and at the time, it had a relatively stable economy. We developed a three year exit strategy and put it in motion. This included each of us making monthly contributions to a savings account to build a war chest for this project.
So, as they say, life happens while we are busy making plans --- and stuff definitely happened! The plans changed a bit, and morphed to the “simple” notion of moving to New Zealand and becoming residents there. What caused that change in plans, and what were your newest plans at that point?
Then the collapse of the mortgage market and several banks happened. With the economy and our net worth taking an unexpected dive, we decided it would be foolhardy to sink what would be a LOT of money into an asset like a cruising class sailboat that would depreciate considerably. At that point, it was decided to skip the two year world sail and go straight to New Zealand.
Ted and Janie, the planning and life changing events you experienced preparing for this move would daunt most of us. Walk us through all the pre-planning of the practical steps you had to take to unwind your U.S. based life and existence.
With the advent of the internet, the world has become much smaller. We did not have to worry about changing financial advisors, banks, etc., because so much could be accomplished online with Skype or even Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones such as Magic Jack. We could still keep in touch with friends and family and also handle any business that might come up. The hardest part of preparing for the move was deciding what to take halfway around the world with us, and what to give away, throw away or sell. We became experts at putting each of our possessions through that decision-making matrix. It was surprisingly hard to part with many things that we did not use, but that each of us had been dragging around with us for years. Also in the process, Janie got to be very good at selling things on eBay and Ted helped with several things on Craig’s List. In addition, we had participated in a community garage sale and then a year later had a big garage sale with two other families. We already had Skype, but also purchased a VoIP phone. In addition, we opened a bank account in New Zealand and transferred money for a vehicle and living expenses for four months.
200 pounds of luggage and three carry-ons – and that was just Janie’s stuff!
What was your vision of what awaited you in your new life as New Zealanders? Where did you intend to settle? What were your work plans and what were the requirements in New Zealand for American citizens to be allowed to live and work there?
Our plan was to spend four months living in four different areas on the North Island. We planned to “interview” each area for three weeks then decide which one we liked the best. Then we were going to use our last month to find more permanent housing there and hopefully jobs. We then planned to return to the U.S. for a month to six weeks to finish packing up the house, having a final garage sale and either renting out the house or putting it on the market depending on the economy. We were very fortunate to catch a good friend of the family between residences and he agreed to housesit for us for the four months as well as care for our cat, Sweet Cheeks. The cat had his blood drawn for rabies titer testing and he would be able to go to New Zealand with us once his six month waiting period was over.
We were not too worried about finding work or getting visas. New Zealand offers a skilled migrant track for immigrants with skills that are in short supply in the country. Veterinarians are on the skilled migrant list. (Pilots were also on the list until 2010). With a Skilled Migrant visa, Janie and a domestic partner could live and work in New Zealand without going through too much red tape. At this point, Ted was already planning on starting his photography business and so could concentrate on getting that up and running. Janie did actually spend the day at a veterinary clinic in the Hawke’s Bay area after meeting the owner at a local winery. With the exception of a few drugs that are not yet approved in the U.S. and the Kiwis’ charmingly accented English, the clinic was very similar to those here in the United States. They offered Janie a job at the end of the day.
So, we said a fond farewell to you in January as you two headed for a totally different part of the globe. Tell us about arriving in New Zealand, the time you spent there, and how and why your plans changed.
We arrived in New Zealand after a “short” 13 hour flight from San Francisco. We had already picked out a wonderful vehicle on the internet, a 2011 Land Rover Defender. The salesman from the dealership picked us up at the airport and drove us to Hamilton (about one and one-half hours away) so we could complete the purchase of the vehicle. We then went to a local branch of our bank and got EFPOS (similar to debit) cards. This enabled us to pay for food, lodging, etc. in New Zealand dollars rather than use our credit cards and pay a foreign transaction fee on each purchase. And finally, we checked into a local hotel. That first day was quite long, but very productive.
Ted and the Beast!
We had reserved a self contained (furnished with a kitchenette) apartment in the Wellington area for our first three week stay. We wanted to live more like locals and cook for ourselves, etc. to closer approximate what we would do if living there permanently. We immediately noticed that food prices were much higher than we expected. In fact, in many cases, they were almost double what we pay in Texas. We expected gas and housing prices to be more expensive than here in the U.S. but the food prices really surprised us as they were not that high when we visited New Zealand in 2009. We hoped that this was just confined to the Wellington area since it is New Zealand’s capital, but we found when we relocated to the Hawke’s Bay area three weeks later that food was just as expensive there. In addition, after talking with several people we found out that while food prices had risen dramatically over the last 18-24 months in New Zealand, wages had remained stagnant for about four years. Janie found out that she would have to work more days each week and take emergency call several nights each month to barely make the same amount of money she was making here in the U.S. with no night duty and working only four days a week.
Janie, “Kiwi,” and Ted hiking in the rain forest.
The country was just as beautiful as we had remembered it and the people were just as wonderful, but we soon realized that our dream of moving to New Zealand and having a better, slower-paced lifestyle and possibly some land with a few cows and sheep was just not going to be financially feasible. Instead, we could very easily see our lifestyle changing for the worse as we became cash poor and struggled to make ends meet while trying to start this new life.
What was the best part of these past six months? What did you learn about yourselves? And would you do it all again --- and if so, what would you change?
There were several best parts about the past six months. The first best part was making a point to reconnect with friends and family before we went so far away. We went on something of a “farewell tour” to various parts of the United States for the specific purpose of visiting all of our friends and family that do not live locally and that we had not seen in quite some time.
The next best part was the excitement of the realization that, “Wow! We are really doing this! All the hard work and saving and planning is coming to fruition.”
Believe it or not, one of the best parts was the vehicle we purchased in New Zealand. The Land Rover Defender has been around forever. It is claimed that it was the first car seen by 60% of the world’s developing population. They do not export them to the U.S. because they do not have any of the required safety features such as air bags, safety bumpers, etc. We adored that vehicle and affectionately nicknamed it “The Beast.” It carried us many places most other vehicles could not go such as across beaches as the tide was coming in and along primitive cliff-side roads. We also gathered many appreciative stares while going through town. When we decided to leave New Zealand, we investigated bringing it back to the U.S. with us. However, because of the lack of required U.S. equipment, we were not allowed to bring it into this country. We miss you Beastie!
Ted preparing for a hike and photo shoot.
The last best part of the last six months was the 32 days we spent on the Queen Mary 2. After we made the very difficult decision to not immigrate to New Zealand, we decided to use the money we had saved to move all of our household goods to New Zealand, for a vacation instead. We were not sure we would have the money or the time off again for a long while. We found a great deal on the last 32 days of the Queen Mary 2 World Voyage for 2011. We joined the ship in Singapore and then visited Thailand, India, Dubai, Egypt, transited the Suez Canal, Italy, Monaco, Spain and England before disembarking in New York City. We enjoyed our balcony room with breakfast delivered each morning, all the great activities on board and, of course, each of the countries we visited.
Ted’s birthday aboard the QM2.
The most important thing we learned (or at least reaffirmed) about ourselves is that we can make the hard decisions when we have to. We planned this adventure for 38 months and then six weeks in, we find out it was just not what we were hoping for. We could have dug in and gotten stubborn and put ourselves through a lot of anxiety and misery. Instead, we had the courage to admit that things in New Zealand were not as we had planned and we needed to change our plan. We avoided the trap of trying to lay blame and we came out of the experience on the other end with much confidence in ourselves and our decision-making abilities.
As far as would we do it again, HELL YES! Obviously, we lost money having to sell our wonderful vehicle so soon after we had bought it, but even that decision we would not change because having The Beast carry us around to all of our New Zealand adventures brought some intangibles with it that money can’t replace.
So, what’s next for our true globe trotters?
We are going to stay put at least for a little while as we figure the next part out. We do not think we want to stay in a place that gets so hot in the summer and would love to be on the water somehow. We are thinking about how to incorporate sustainable living at our next place with growing some of our own food and not being quite so connected to the urban hustle and bustle. To that end, we are working on increasing our financial freedom by trying to increase our passive income. Ballou Plum will be a significant partner in helping us achieve this. Travel will still be a huge part of our lives as our recent adventures have really only whet our appetites for more. By using home swap programs and/or staying in self-contained rentals, we plan to decrease our travelling expenses allowing us to spend more time in each area we visit.
Ted, tell us about your new photography venture, and where can readers follow your work?
I am doing travel, portrait and event photography. You can see my work at www.FR8DogPhoto.com or to buy images go to www.SmugMug.com and search for FR8DogPhoto. You can also follow FR8DogPhoto on Twitter and “like” us on Facebook.
Photo taken and postcard created by Ted for Awatea Lodge.
I’m sure readers are going to want to talk to you. If that’s okay, please indicate how they can reach you.
Ted: Ted@FR8DogPhoto.com
Janie: DrJanie@me.com
So, readers, if you are inspired by Ted and Janie to embark on your own excellent adventure, I know they’d love to hear from you as you make plans. And who knows, maybe they’ll join you! In fact, if we can talk them into running their own tours, I’d say “look out Rick Steves!”
Be well, have fun, and follow your passions, too!
