Earth Vagabonds on cleveland.com

Ted and Ellen Kortan are living out their dream. For many years, they both worked in local TV news. He was a videographer at WEWS Ch. 5 and she was a producer there and at other stations. In 2015, after years of careful planning and frugal living, they retired at ages 52 and 43, respectively. The couple has been traveling the world ever since, visiting more than 20 countries across 4 continents.

… the trio was on its way to Boracay Island, the kind of tropical paradise that comes to mind when you think of exotic Southeast Asia. But as concerns over the coronavirus pandemic hit a crescendo, their travels came to a halt.

“On the same day we tried to take the ferry from Caticlan to Boracay, the provincial government ordered a lock down,” the couple writes, via email. “People were frightened of us foreigners, and many local hotels were not accommodating.”