What Traveling Through Africa Taught Us About the Second Half of Life

Reflections After Returning Home to Madeira

After a whirlwind four-part journey through Uganda, we’re finally back in our seats — and back home in Madeira, Portugal. Travel has a way of doing that: you return physically, but something inside you has shifted.

This trip was intense, beautiful, challenging, and deeply rewarding. It surprised us. It changed us. And it reaffirmed many of the reasons why we chose to retire early, move abroad, and intentionally design a better second half of life.

If you haven’t watched our Uganda series yet, we highly recommend it. But today, we want to slow things down and reflect on the big lessons we took away from traveling through Africa in our 50s — and what coming home to Madeira reminded us of.

Lesson One: Why We Travel in Our 50s

One of the strongest lessons from this trip was a reminder of why we travel at this stage of life.

The word that keeps coming up is perspective.

Sometimes you have to step completely outside your comfort zone — and even outside your continent — to see the world, and your own life, more clearly. Traveling through Africa forced us out of our “safety bubble” and gave us fresh eyes on things we don’t control, things we often take for granted, and ways of life very different from our own.

We felt this same shift years ago when we left North America and moved to Portugal. Now, five years into life in Madeira, traveling to Africa layered yet another perspective on top of that experience.

With perspective comes gratitude.

Gratitude for our life in Portugal. Gratitude for the simplicity we’ve created. Gratitude for safety, health, opportunity, and freedom. Seeing how others live — often with far less — has a way of recalibrating what really matters.

Another powerful takeaway was urgency.

Life is short. We all know it, but trips like this make it undeniable. Africa had been on our bucket list, and it reinforced something we strongly believe: there is no “someday.” Whether it’s moving abroad, changing your lifestyle, or finally taking that trip — this is the time to do it.

We hear it all the time: no one in their 60s or 70s regrets what they did in their 50s. They regret what they didn’t do.

Lesson Two: Travel Tests You — Madeira Restores You

Travel, especially travel like this, shakes up your routine — and that’s a good thing.

Daily routines are important. They ground us, support our health, and create stability. But occasionally, they need to be disrupted. Uganda did exactly that. It pushed us outside our comfort zone in the best possible way.

But then we came home.

Returning to Madeira reminded us why this island is such a perfect base for our second half of life. From the moment we landed, it felt like being welcomed home — and we truly mean that. Madeira has a warmth, an ease, and a sense of belonging that we don’t take lightly.

Coming home amplified our appreciation for the low-stress lifestyle we’ve built here. Madeira restores us. It gives us calm after challenge, comfort after growth, and balance after adventure.

The biggest realization here was simple but powerful:

Travel tests you. Madeira restores you.

We couldn’t have chosen a better home base — a place that allows us to explore the world while always returning somewhere safe, peaceful, and grounding.

Lesson Three: Gratitude, Simplicity, and What Real Wealth Looks Like

Every trip changes you, but this one changed us in a deeper way.

Spending time in Uganda — seeing both beauty and hardship — made us profoundly grateful. For our family. Our health. Our safety. Our opportunities. These are things it’s easy to overlook in daily life.

This trip also reinforced something we’ve been moving toward for years: simplicity is real wealth.

Traveling with one backpack, one plan for the day, and a focus on what’s right in front of you strips life down to its essentials. And what’s left is what truly matters — experiences, health, curiosity, and shared moments.

In our second half of life, wealth isn’t about accumulation. It’s about simplicity. It’s about reducing stress, staying healthy, and intentionally choosing how we spend our time.

Living in Madeira supports that beautifully. The safety, the security, the calm pace of life — these aren’t luxuries we overlook anymore. In a world that often feels chaotic and unpredictable, there’s something incredibly grounding about living somewhere you can breathe deeply, walk freely, and feel at ease.

A Bigger World Than Our Comfort Zone

Perhaps the most important reminder from this journey is that the world is bigger than our daily comforts.

Staying curious — about how others live, what they value, and how they find joy — keeps life interesting. It keeps you engaged. And most importantly, it keeps you young.

Curiosity is essential in the second half of life.

What’s Next on Track Us Down

Now that we’re home, we’re diving back into Portugal and Madeira content — including lifestyle, cost of living, real estate, and important conversations around residency and citizenship changes.

We’ll also continue sharing intentional travel from our base here in Madeira. There are so many places still to explore.

If a recent trip changed you, we’d love to hear about it. Leave us a comment and tell us which journey impacted you the most and why.

Thank you, as always, for spending some of your time with us.

And don’t forget to check back in and Track Us Down.