The Budget Savvy Travelers (@thebstravelers)

You know, back in the spring of 2020, when the world hit pause and everyone was learning how to bake sourdough and hoard toilet paper, we did something a little different. From March through June, we packed up and drove Route 66. The Mother Road. Town after town, silent. Neon buzzing over empty diners. Gas in Oklahoma? A buck ten a gallon. I haven’t seen that since I was 16. Motels were dirt cheap, too. We were practically the only people out there, and everything had to be "COVID clean." And then came the Grand Canyon, the day before it closed. One day. Just us, standing on the rim, staring into that massive, ancient hole in the Earth, with no one else in sight, and a gentle snow began to fall. It felt like we had the whole country to ourselves, and for a little while, we kinda did. Then, come October, we decided to really lean into it as liberal Americans were becoming just too much to deal with, so we packed our bags and escaped to the Albanian Riviera. A place most people couldn’t find on a map but should absolutely try. We rented a little apartment for eighteen bucks a day, that’s with electricity, internet, and everything. And get this: a rental car for seven dollars a day. Seven. We spent about nine months there, eating at seaside restaurants that were practically empty, swimming in turquoise water so clear you could see your future in it, and watching sunsets that made time irrelevant. That’s who we are. Not the kind to stay put when the world goes quiet. The kind who hits the road, finds the empty places, and lives a little louder while everyone else is standing still.