East County world travelers stop home for the holidays

Mike and Sandy Sobzack used to be creatures of habit. In retirement, they’re nomads. 

Both worked for Wells Fargo. She was in human resources, and he was in project management. They owned the same East County home for 26 years.

Mike Sobzack, 53, used to play pickleball every morning at Longwood Park. 

He no longer plays daily, but since March, he’s played pickleball in Morocco, Mongolia, Nepal and Bhutan.

The couple left their jobs, sold their assets, made a list of the Top 20 countries they wanted to see and took off, but there’s no place they would rather be for the holidays than home.

Since they sold their house, the couple is staying at an AirBnB. But Mike Sobzack rated the holiday trip’s importance as a “10 out of 10.”

“That’s the plan every year,” Sandy Sobzack said. “We’ll continue to come back for November and December.”

The remaining travel plans are taken leg by leg, year by year. Whether it takes two years or 30, the pair will travel until they’re “tired of it.” 

The Sobzacks next leg kicks off in January. They’re flying to Buenos Aires to take a 17-day cruise to Antarctica. They’ll spend the next six months touring South America, but will return for a pit stop in Indianapolis at the end of May. 

“Every year, we went to the Indy 500,” Mike Sobzack said. “We didn’t this year, and we missed it.” 

After that, the plan is to hit Greenland, Iceland and Norway before next Christmas. 

Spending weeks to months in each destination has provided both unique experiences and challenges. 

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While staying in Bhutan, they were invited to a religious ritual at a private home. Monks played drums while chanting scriptures. 

Sandy Sobzack described the rite as one of the most incredible experiences she’s ever had in her life, and one that can’t be found on a tour bus. Traveling independently allows the couple the time and space to form relationships with locals. 

“It was a whole day's event,” she said. “They bring in people to play instruments, and they build little temples in their homes. And all the food they made was phenomenal.” 

The other side of once in a lifetime experiences is the chores of everyday life. Figuring out how to wash their clothes has been an experience in itself everywhere they’ve stayed. 

The washing machine in Nepal was four floors down outside in the yard. Instead of squirrels scampering through the trees, there were monkeys. 

Instead of pressing a button and walking away, the laundry had to be soaked, spun and rinsed by hand, then hung on a line upstairs on the roof.

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Everything they did required Google Translate. Mike Sobzack rated the app at an eight or nine out of 10. Even still, it could take the very capable couple up to three hours just to grocery shop. 

The constant newness has come easier to Mike Sobzack than to his wife. 

“I knew I was going to grow,” Sandy Sobzack said, “But I didn’t realize just how rigid I was, how many expectations I really had, how many rules I had.” 

While staying in a guest house in Mongolia, the owner of the home prepared a picnic for her family and invited the couple along. She prepared a beautiful lunch, but after cutting up the meat, she cut up the watermelon using the same unwashed knife.

“I told myself to just be chill about it,” Sandy Sobzack said. “It helped me. I’m not as freakish (about germs) after that day.”