Almost every time I take a trip, I end up in a terrible pickle. I fall in love with a new place, and swiftly decide to move there right away. I have dreamed up many hair-brained schemes to try to end up elsewhere. In my mind, Paris desperately needs another apartment-style bed and breakfast, (run by yours truly, bien sûr). Then there was the 1960's motel near the Georgia coast that just needed the right renovations, (I could totally get my Southern accent back, y'all). And at one time I was certain I would be going to graduate school in Italy (and eat my way into the most glorious nightly food coma). But how to choose? There are so many fantastic places in the world, and you can't move everywhere at once, right?
Or can you?
A little over a year ago, my husband and I spotted a small window of opportunity in our lives. We starting thinking seriously about full-time travel and how we could go about making it happen for us. Could we give up our apartment and most of our belongings but keep our 9-5 schedules in different cities around the globe for a month or two at a time?
Working from home is becoming more common in many fields, and we figured if we could make that happen for us, we could be productive anywhere that has a solid WiFi connection and a decent cup of coffee. My husband is in the tech industry, so making that leap was a fairly easy one for him. On the other hand, there would be bigger changes in store for me. I had been working in museums for most of my career, and though the work was enriching and challenging, the schedule just wasn't as flexible as the life we were planning needed to be. After a little over a year of saving money, number crunching and serious research, it was time to leave my job and jump into the freelance world, liberating us to roam.
In October 2011, we packed up our apartment, sold most of our things and said goodbye to Chicago, our home for the past 10 years. We visited family and friends throughout the U.S. for a couple of months and then came to Buenos Aires for warmest the holiday season I've ever experienced! We plan to stay here for about two months, practicing Spanish and enjoying this vibrant city before heading north to visit friends in Panama and Costa Rica. Our loose plan is to spend about three months abroad and then three months around the U.S. and continue going back and forth until we get tired of moving around. We're just as excited to explore the States as we are the rest of the world. It's a high priority for us to stay in touch with family and friends, attend weddings and visit the new babies in our lives as well as to discover some of the exceptional places in our home country.
My hope is that this new series of posts can become a resource to anyone looking for interesting ways to experience a new place beyond the usual tourist attractions. I'll be keeping you updated with stories from the road, home tours, inspiration in unexpected places, local resources and what's going on in the design world of each of the cities we visit. Perhaps I'll be coming to your city (or somewhere you've been) and you can offer up suggestions for me and for future visitors. I want to hear from you, to know what you've experienced and how travel, transitions and unusual working environments can effect all of us. I'm so excited to share this adventure and these stories with you as we begin to make a home where there is no home.
Stay tuned!
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My husband and I have been doing this for the last 5 years. Our family thinks we are nuts and we have never enjoyed our lives more. We can both work from anywhere with a good internet connection. Some of our previous locations have included San Miguel de Allende Mexico, Dijon France, Yachats Oregon, Cape Cod, Mazatlan Mexico, Toronto Canada and Cedar Key Florida. Starting next week wee're spending a month in Northern CA next followed by 3 1/2 months on Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, Mexico. We haven't decided what to do after that... but believe me it'll be wonderful!
It is a lifestyle choice and once you've made it I bet you won't want to go back....
I've always dreamed of doing this (: I think you're both so adventurous to just pack up, sell everything and go! We get tunnel vision with careers, children and soccer games and forget that it's a big old world out there to be tasted! (: Can't wait to see more...
I have often thought about a life like this! I'm excited to live vicariously through you! Can't wait to follow your journey!
We picked a country without visiting it and made the move for good. Here is our place www.costaricamountain.blogspot.com
How exciting! Can't wait to read about all your adventures and learning! If you end up in Austin, Texas we'd love to show you our favorite spots! Blessings!
Very cool. Keep writing. :)
I'm looking forward to updates.
Looking forward to reading about your adventures. We spend our summers teaching and traveling, and love it! www.peacefulones.blogspot.com
How wonderful. Please keep writing. I am sure that many of us will look forward to your adventures. Have thought of doing the same many times but for serious health issues it would not be practical. It sounds amazing and thanks so much for sharing with those of us who can't. It means the WORLD.
About a year ago my family experienced for the first time a road trip to the US coast for over two weeks and we just fell in love with the experience. I dream of living this carefree lifestyle one day. Happy travels and I will sure follow up your adventure.
Oh what a dream! I can't wait to hear more about it.
Good for you! My husband and I got rid of everything we owned, sold our place (in Chicago as well) and live fulltime in our Airstream. This country's a beautiful thing to see! Good luck!
What an exciting adventure! Kudos to you for making the move. I can't wait to follow along and learn how you decided which places to explore next.
Just awesome! I can't wait to experience your adventure vicariously through your posts on Apt Therapy.
Thank you for sharing your adventures. This is definitely something I would love to do but being in the architecture field where projects take years to complete makes it difficult to move around every 2-3 months. What kind of work are you doing now? I would love to find a way to make travel and work one in the same... Looking forward to hearing more!
This is a great introduction to your new series and your new lives. My husband and I have always wanted to do the same but haven't found our opportunity yet. I can't wait to hear how its going and hopefully pick up some tips from your experiences!
I dream of this every time I travel! I too work in museums and always look for new adventures. Can't wait to read your future posts!
Is that first picture of the Lion's Gate Bridge in Vancouver Canada?
Very gutsy of you to do this adventure of a lifetime and I can't wait to read of your travels.
It's "hare-brained" (you know, a brain akin to that of that rabbit-like creature), not "hair-brained."
And some say it's one word, no hyphen -- "harebrained." Not to split hairs.
This will be fun for all of us!
So looking forward to your posts!
I'm from Buenos Aires and have been following Apartment Therapy for quite a while now. My girlfriend is an interior designer, so we both love this stuff.
In case you're new to BA and if you're up for a beer or anything, we'll be glad to show you around. I guess my email must be somewhere through your DB.
Chau!
@BZB Congrats! It's nice to hear of others who have been at it for a long time. It really is inspiring to hear that it can be done long-term!
@S.J.P. Yes- Vancouver!
@sarahjeanbaker As a matter of fact, we'll be in Austin in the spring, and I'll take you up on that. I'd love to see your favorite spots!
@Joaco Muñoz I don't have access to the email addresses here, but please do look me up on Twitter. I'm @SmithSchwartz and I'd love to hear from you.
Thanks to everyone for your comments. It means so much to have the AT community along for the ride. Also thanks to everyone who shared their blogs and personal stories. I'm looking forward to following you as well!
BZB,
Where in northern California will you be?
Kathryn
That sounds fun! What do you fill in as your address for tax purposes? Or do you just pick a friend/family member's house and go with that?
i want to do this now!!
Good for you guys, safe trip (s).
I traveled for 2 years outside the US, stopping the longest in Afghanistan and Pakistan and decorating my temporary homes everywhere I went. Later I traveled to places like India and China and around the US for work, rearranging and decorating hotel rooms during my stays. Yes, they WILL remove the extra bed ! Fabric stores and textile flea markets have wonderful packable decor that can alternately be gifted when you move on. I had some of the MOST wonderful canopied beds ! The journey outside the US changed me in ways that resonate to this day. I look forward to your posts.
So fun! My husband and I own a web design company, and have the same "problem" with wanting to live everywhere we visit. Definitely considered doing something similar this last year, buuuut then we went with our other dream, which is to have a farm and grow deep roots. Talk about bi-polar. :) But now we're in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with sheep, goats, and chickens and are loving it. I'm looking forward to following your journey and would love to hear some of the nitty gritty details - like dealing with taxes, finding reasonably priced places to stay and such. You know...just in case we decide to sell the farm. ;)
Wow, congratulations! Dreams only happen if you make them happen - inspiration for the rest of us! :)
Wow. Good for you. Travel safe
@ERIN I totally understand! We definitely thought about moving to a farm pretty seriously for a few months. I definitely have equal and opposite desires to be totally mobile and also to plant serious roots. I'm hoping through all of this somehow to find a balance if it's possible!
My boyfriend and I just got back from a ten month trip in October. We both quit our jobs and traveled with the money we had saved. We'd love to figure out a way to make our jobs mobile and do it long(er) term. Can't wait to hear more!
I share your dream and am very excited to hear your stories! I am currently located in Costa Rica and would love to help with suggestions and anything you might need! :)
ps, you can email me at dianazuleta at gmail
suerte!
Atlanta has really exploded with amazing restaurants, fun mixologists and little microbrews. Plus, the interiors of some of these places are SO delightful. If you come to Atlanta, we'd love to show you a few of our favorite spots. It would be such a good time! Congrats on your new adventures!
Bravo to you! I have dreamed of living abroad for a year at a time, switching from place to place. So glad you are making this a reality! Lucky you! I look forward to this soon also!!
You need to come to Brazil... There are so many beautiful things to see! I wish you happy times ahead!
Ah. Buenos Aires! My (2nd) favorite city in the world. I moved to Buenos Aires for 3 months earlier this year when I lost my job. There are two lunch/brunch/dessert spots that are near and dear to my heart. Check them out: Farinelli in Palermo Chico and Baraka in Palermo Soho. Oh, and the milonga off Corrientes near Medrano...god, I forget what it's called.
Disfrutes su tiempo en Buenos Aires. Es un lugar muy hermoso. Y tambien...espero que entiendes la forma "vos" (en actualidad, la forma es muy facil que aprender)...jaja. Chau!!!
I was hoping this post was going to be accompanied by a photo of a modded out Airstream. ;) Anyway, bon voyage et bon chance!
(i should have said buen viaje y buena suerte, but I was stuck on Paris).
My Dream life!! So very excited and look forward to all your adventures.
HI! Love this article. I've done a lot of living abroad (teaching in Costa Rica, backpacking Europe alone for 10 months, among various study abroads), and now I'm traveling SE Asia before settling in Australia for a year. This time around, I'm hoping the lifestyle will be more permanent, as before I always went back to the USA to get a "real" job in order to save up and then had to repack, say goodbye, and do it all again. Am very interested to know more about what you both do as far as your careers and how you will do it abroad. PS Argentina is one of my favorite places in the world. Enjoy it!
Wow! That sounds like the life :) My wife has been running a successful art school that is growing like gang busters and we're thinking of the same sort of lifestyle. I currently am a software engineer, but my income will be "optional" by the end of this year along our current projections. We plan on taking our first 3 month "hiatus" beginning this year and leaving her art school in the hands of our trusted teachers. We test drove this just recently by taking days off together (a rarity these days) and during a 3 week vacation to Thailand. Anyway, good luck and I look forward to reading about your experiences!
I love it. Do it! Six years since leaving my corporate design job in Atlanta I've lived in some pretty amazing areas, and racked up life experiences I never would have during the normal paid vacation time. As another reader said, there's very little more important than seeing as much of our world as you can. There are personal connections of course, but you'll get plenty of those even on the road. Happy travels.
Sounds like an awesome series. I will be closely following as I'd love to do something similar. Excited for you. Safe travels.
I'm really excited to read your future posts! I lived in Japan for six years and now I'm in Macedonia. Living abroad is a life changing experience for sure. You can vacation lots of places, but actually living in a foreign land is a different experience all together. The rewards and challenges will make you view life differently and make you a better person (at least that was the case for me). I can't imagine any other way of living now. It's an addiction that can never be satisfied once it takes hold. Enjoy your adventures!!!
I don't think you'll ever regret going the unconventional route. My family and I lived in three different countries this year. Not all by choice-- we dropped everything, sold everything and moved to Germany, but my husband lost that job just a few months after we arrived. Back to the States for 5 months, then on to the UK, where we are now settled (hopefully for longer!) But it's been a great experience, and we are thrilled to be able to show our daughter the world. We miss having close community, but that will come, and it's really cool to make unexpected things happen, rather than just going with what's easiest. Good for you! Looking forward to future posts.
P.S. I also blog about these adventures at and-here-we-are.blogspot.com
3rd&Brown... You mean "La Catedral"? That´s the milonga over there ;) BTW, I´m from BA :)
oh! I have the same issue -we did a house swap with a couple in Brittany France and of course I now what to live there
just want to say that i am so excited for this series! and also very jealous and happy for you!
My husband and I are retiring early to also travel the country too. Our plan is to sell or give away just about everything. We are buying a Tiger Provan RV to have a home on wheels for part of our journey, but will also be renting furnished homes around the country from VRBO or Homeaway. We hope to stay in different places for months at a time to get a feel for the people, town, lifestyles, etc. Since we will no longer own a home in NJ, we are choosing a domicile state that has low taxes, which will be Texas. We just got a booklet called "How to Be a Texan" that guides us in the process. I think there are alot of people out there doing just this. We can't wait. Good luck on your
journey and keep posting! We'd love to follow along.
In future, can you tell us the locations of the photos, not just who took them?
Oh yes, I'm extremely jealous, too. I just want to know where it is that I wish I was. (smiley face)
I'm so excited to read this. Life is so much more than going to work five or six days a week. Inspiring!!
Just awesome... Me and my husband decided to do something very similar couple months ago , we bought a camper , and in the process of selling everything and hitting the road beginning of April . First we are gonna spend few months in my country Turkey , and once we are back to US , our goal to travel from Alaska to Patagonia for as long as we can afford. Best of luck to you with your journey , I look forward to read your adventures. We might run into each other one day.
This is exactly what I've been doing (but at a smaller scale), this past year, and plan on doing it more and more in future years. !!!!!
How do people afford to do this?
This is something we would like to do but it seems only attainable by those in the "tech" field. How much does it really cost to do, I would love to see a breakdown of how one can afford places to stay, the traveling and food.
Amazing! I love the idea but I don't think I would ever be brave (or organised) enough to do this... I look forward to reading all about it.
My husband and I are musicians which means a lot of travel for us both separately and together. For the last three years, we have been on the road together, working on the same project. We travel 10 months a year, traveling to Europe, Asia and South America. We sold our home and have been living on the road and in temporary housing when we have time off. I would love to hear more about your travels and what you think of negotiating the details of living on the road!
I second the query about how to afford this. My husband's a techie but it's all hands on deck every day where he works. Where *are* these telecommuting jobs?
For those doubting the telecommuting jobs, I work with programmers and web designers who are in my area but I have never even met. They work exclusively on the internet or via phone or skype. So this is completely doable with that kind of work.
Quick question, how do you handle banking? Do you set up a new account whereever you go? Also do you set up a paypal for invoicing? That's one part of this I can't seem to figure out. Is there a bank that allows you to go global? Would be great if you addressed that aspect in future articles.
Great inspiring article. Good luck to you and your husband.
Seriously, this is my dream job, to have my fiance and I both self-employed, working remotely, and traveling the world with our 12.5 lb dog. I envy you two so much. I need to figure out how to make this happen.