Travel
Byron has always enjoyed travel. The odometers of his vehicles have a lifetime total of 430,000 miles. Most were west of the Mississippi, except for four years in north-eastern Virginia. When living in San Luis Obispo, CA, he'd take Saturday bike rides up Big Sur to Monterey.
Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Bangkok
Byron attended many international festivals. The Berlin International Beer Fest features over 1,800 different brews. The Dresden Damphlok (steam locomotive) Fest has 20 steam engines fired up and pulling tour trains. The Harbin, China, Snow & Ice Festival has a 20 acre park with two dozen 100 ft. tall replicas of famous buildings, all made of ice. He's joined New Year's Eve celebrations at London's Trafalgar Monument, Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, Moscow's Red Square, and Beijing's ultra-mega fireworks, each of them were more wild than New York's Times Square.
Big Sur Coastline, California
He has had multi-year residency visas in six foreign countries: Thailand, Egypt, Russia, Senegal, Germany and China. Vacations, often by car or train, used those opportunities to visit neighboring countries.
Dresden Damplok Steam Engine Festival
Snow & Ice Festival, Harbin, China
His lifetime totals are 51 foreign countries for one week or more, and 84 foreign cities for one week or more. It takes at least several days to gain a feeling for the character of a place, to walk the streets and shop the markets.
Streets of Shinjuku, Tokyo
So Now, What About Travel?
With full caution, and precautions, Byron Smith never suffered any crime overseas. Not even a pickpocket. However, watchfulness was wearying, so his primary concern for retirement, with the whole world to choose from, was to find someplace SAFE, some place where he could RELAX.
He chose his own hometown, his parents' and his grandparents' hometown. He retired into the home he'd helped his parents build for their retirement fifty years ago.
Little Falls, MN - Aerial View
Safe? Relaxed? OOPS!
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How could he have guessed that violent teen-aged thugs had turned Little Falls into "CRIME CITY".
How could anyone have guessed that American law enforcement and so-called "justice" would consider protecting greedy, violent, and repetitive attackers more important than protecting a victimized good citizen homeowner?
With years of experience in each country, Byron Smith states:
"Homeowners are far better protected in Russia and China than in America"
Some countries are smart enough to know who does productive work, pays taxes, and supports community programs; and they know that it's good to protect those good citizens. Too bad America can't figure out something that's so obvious.
Russian "Dacha" - Country Home
Chinese "Courtyard Home" - multi-generational residence