The TRUTH about Full-Time Travel: We Tell EVERYTHING!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มิ.ย. 2024
- Ep.84 If you've ever come back from a vacation and wished you could stay longer or wondered what it would be like to quit your job and travel the world, this episode is for you. We sold/donated everything we owned in 2022 to travel as digital nomads. There are good things… and not so good things about this "road less traveled." We give you the real scoop about all of it.
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WHAT WE PACK in 2024 as Full-Time Travelers • WHAT WE PACK in 2024 a...
Surgery while Traveling Overseas • Surgery while Travelin...
Slow Travel or No Travel! Why we have to stay longer • Slow Travel or No Trav...
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Chapters:
00:00 - Start
00:54 - Exploring New Places 👍
02:14 - New Places Can Cause Stress 👎
03:39 - Meeting New People/Building Relationships 👍
05:43 - Missing Family/Expensive Trave to the USA 👎
07:21 - We're Always Learning 👍
09:36 - New Places Can Take A Toll 👎
12:16 - Having More Travel Flexibility 👍
14:56 - Constant Travel Can Be Exhausting 👎
16:54 - Letting Go of Our Stuff 👍
18:55 - Making Tough Packing Choices 👎
19:37 - Positive Role Models for our Kids 👍
20:25 - Getting to Create Content to Help Others 👍
Finding Gina Marie is where we share our lives as full-time travelers and the connections we make along the way.
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#findingGinaMarie #worldtraveler #worldtravel #livingthedream #slowtravel #digitalnomad #digitalnomadlife #europetravel #retireearly#retireearlyandtravel
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📝COMPANION ARTICLES ON OUR WEBSITE: Overcoming Homesickness, Overwhelm and Travel Challenges: Life as a Full-Time Traveler
findingginamarie.com/articles/homesickness-overwhelm-and-travel-challenges-life-as-a-full-time-traveler
📝A kindness in Chiang Mai, Thailand: findingginamarie.com/articles/a-kindness-in-chiang-mai
Just read your overcoming homesickness article. What a warming article to read. Thank you for sharing that you've both had doubts or were not sure sometimes. That's what makes your channel (I like to say adventure...😊), so wonderful and real. Other channels show only "good" & say "everything is perfect", all the time.. which is not reality no matter where you go.
Have you had anyone with family or friends that was not supportive with you traveling full time?
@owlscoffeecats We will be the first to admit that we somewhat rushed into our decision to travel full time. We knew that our current situation wasn't ideal because we couldn't retire in San Francisco. Our original goal was settling in Italy and then we were exploring Portugal when we learned that we couldn't be full-time in Italy until my dual citizenship comes through (Italy's visa process is tough to get) and when we decided Portugal wasn't right, we had our feet straddling full-time travel and relocating to London. There was a lot of trusting our guts and not wanting to make big plans that we only talked about and never executed on. We know a lot of people wouldn't be comfortable with how we did things. And yes, we had family and friends who had cautionary tales for us and were worried about medical care, selling everything, and "giving up" family. But we really felt inspired to do this and trusted that it all would work out, and that new opportunities would present themselves if we needed to pivot. We wouldn't be the same people who left the comforts of home. I think now that some people still could never see themselves doing what we did, but they know we are happy and so they are happy for us. We know they miss us and we miss them. But our lives are amazing and we have had so many cool and wonderful experiences that we can't imagine our lives any other way now. -Judy
I totally concur with your assessment about travel-related exhaustion. We used to go, go, go, go, go when we would travel. Because Americans must travel long distance to visit other countries, we feel compelled to pack in as much as possible, which diminishes our enjoyment in some respects. A few years ago we shifted our goals and changed our travel style and I’ve never been happier or enjoyed our travel more as a result of those changes. We always plan downtime so that we can relax while on our trips, choose carefully what sites we will visit and let go the sites we don’t visit. Some places we will be going back to, others we may never get back to, but that’s okay. Flexibility is so important.
I think you are so wise to build in down days. Over the years when we've vacationed, we've ended up canceling a tour or two because we've been oversubscribed. Although we don't regret prioritizing our need to rest, we wish we'd budgeted in those days so we didn't waste money on tours we didn't use. You've got it exactly right! Thanks so much for watching and for sharing your valuable experiences! -Judy
Excellent video! Yes, downtime is very important. Allowing yourself to get out of "vacation mode" is the best way to adjust to this lifestyle. I had the same experience with Cambodia...wasn't on my list but absolutely loved my time there and definitely will return. Health care really is amazing in other countries. I go to Malaysia for my annual health screening because it's so much better than in the US. I think the nicest thing about full-time travel is that you can do it however you want, at whatever pace you want. Everyone has their own idea of what makes them happy. Just because someone does it that way doesn't mean you have to do it that way. I've finally given up on trying to see everything in a place, and it feels great! And letting go of stuff is so liberating, too. Happy travels!
We love this, Jim! Thanks so much for watching! I'm sure we put some pressure on ourselves about seeing more because we have a TH-cam channel, but we are learning to let go after 14 months on the road. It gets expensive and takes more time than we sometimes have in a place at the expense of a rest, which we do need sometimes! Our plans for 2024 are nearly all finalized and are trying to breathe a bit more. We'll have a few videos from Cambodia coming out soon (next Saturday?). And we're here in Thailand getting health screenings tomorrow! Love your comment and insights! -Judy
F*^king nailed it with this video. So well done. After a couple years of this, you will know what it is like appreciating slow travel. This is a concept that so many people have so much trouble to wrap their head around.
Hi Garth, thanks for watching! We are converts. We wrote about the issues with slow versus fast travel last year and this was a followup video to it. We've been working very hard to avoid fast travel as much as we can and we already are converts. We have some upcoming travel that will have to be a little faster, but the majority of our plans for 2024 (which are all lined out already) have us staying a month in most places. We've stayed 5 weeks in Thailand and 6 weeks in Japan, and highly recommend it over fast travel. -Judy
Slow travel or no travel?: th-cam.com/video/LrLGJ-X6I4A/w-d-xo.html
Article (explains benefits of slow travel): findingginamarie.com/articles/homesickness-overwhelm-and-travel-challenges-life-as-a-full-time-traveler
Good one folks, thank you. Our full time travel journey just like yours starts in just over 1 month.
How exciting and wonderful! Let us know if you have any questions as you ramp up. We hope you love it as much as we do! Thanks for watching! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie we're just getting into the final stages and countdown. I'm sure you can relate!
Yes! Boy those days were stressful and exciting all at once! Best of luck! -Judy
“Down days” - this is it! The most important thing to do when traveling full-time or even over a long period.
Yes! It's an absolute necessity! And even after 8.5 years in San Francisco and 29 years in Houston, we didn't come remotely close to seeing "everything"! Not sure why when we're on vacation (or even traveling full-time 😉) we would think seeing as much as possible is necessary. We love down days, and had one today in fact! Thanks so much for watching, Martin! -Judy
My dad used to say, "Travel is the great educator." Seems like you two are PhDs! Great channel, really enjoy your videos. especially about your time in Eygpt, which is still on my bucket list.
Hi Mia, thanks so much for watching and for your very kind words. We are having an amazing time and living our very best lives! We hope you make it to Egypt because we absolutely loved it there. It's rough in parts and chaotic, but there is something that still entices us. Take good care of yourself, and I hope your recovery from surgery is going well! -Judy
“ meeting with new people/ building relationships “
that’s one of the awesome part ..
I’ve been raised that hospitality and helping visitors is so important, it’s built in our culture in many parts here in the Middle East..
So much to say about communication between civilizations..
1400 years ago, Ali ordered his appointed governor to Egypt:
“Know that People are of two kinds, either your brother in faith or your equal in humanity.”
Keep on travel, keep on reporting 💐
Sorry for the long comment 🙏🏻
No apologies necessary, Muhammad. Such great wisdom! -Judy
Six weeks into an Australia vacation my friend said “I need a vacation from my vacation!” Great endurance doing this!
We are loving it so much. There may be downsides, but the upsides more than make up for it! And you do really need to give yourself some down days. It also helps us to have routines so it's not completely dizzying and so that you don't have to make quite so many decisions every day. Thanks, as always, for watching and for taking the time to comment! -Judy
We love your videos and all the information you provide. We found your channel while preparing for our trip to Egypt last summer. Do's and Don'ts in Cairo and showing the visa on arrival process were VERY helpful. We typically take our teenage kids with us, and immersion education is very valuable; we have noted the following:
Travel Helps Kids Become More Culturally Aware - increasing their tolerance and respect of other cultures and ethnicities.
Traveling Kids Fare Better at School - awakening their intellectual curiosity and opening their minds to receive information in a different way.
Traveling Kids Learn Skills for the Future - helps the development of a variety of soft skills that can be useful in the future, like problem-solving, independence, decision-making, and adaptability.
KEEP THE VIDEOS COMING!!! WE LOVE THEM!!!
Thank you so much for watching and for letting us know that our videos were helpful. We LOVE that your kids travel with you. We could not afford to travel overseas with ours, and we are disappointed that we focused on stuff more than making memories at the time. I think it's a lot of work for parents, but it is such a gift for the family and for children/teens who have such an expanded world view as a result of travel. We agree with all of your points! -Judy
Great perspectives!
Thank you so much for watching, Claudia. We appreciate you so much! -Judy
Fantastic video!
Thank you so much for watching, BW! We are so happy living this lifestyle regardless of the downsides! -Judy
I love you guys!
Thank you so much for watching, Mohammad! We love having your support! -Judy
You're both SO BRAVE! ♥♥♥♥
So glad you think so, Enrique! We actually are having the time of our life and it doesn't seem brave at all. Just a bit different, but also amazing. Thank you for watching and for giving us so much encouragement! -Judy
HUGS 😍@@FindingGinaMarie
♥️♥️♥️
Love your vlogs...I have recently retired and love traveling and plan on doing month stays at some of my favorite places...inspiring.
Thank you so much, Kathy! We'd love to hear of any favorite places you have. Although we mostly are completely planned out for 2024, we're willing to rejigger our plans if there's a must-see place. Otherwise, we are adding them to our 2025 travel, which honestly is filling up fast, too! Some of our playlist about navigating full-time travel may be useful to you, even if you won't be traveling full time. Here's a link: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH.html
Have a wonderful and safe time traveling! -Judy
Just finished watching your video. Just had to subscribe. Well done.
By the way. It is 1 AM here and I have to work in the morning. Well done again.
Thank you so much, Garth! We are honored! -Judy
We appreciate it so much. We'll send you good energy for a rejuvenating sleep! -Judy
Great video! Do you use any type of travel insurance and what are your recommendations?
Hi Rich, Thanks so much for watching. Great question! We occasionally/rarely pay for cancellation insurance through Airbnb, but overall, we do not have travel insurance. We have global health insurance through Cigna, but I don't think that's what you mean. Safety Wing has reached out to us and we need to see if that's an affordable option to merge with our health insurance. At our age, requiring travel insurance twelve months of the year (meaning for repatriation, canceled plans, etc.) is fairly expensive-it's typically based on age, so we're reluctant to add it. We offset some costs by booking Airbnbs and hotels that have a good cancellation policy and we don't always book our flights too far in advance (we try to hit the sweet spot before prices go up). If that changes, we'll let you know! We know that there are people who wouldn't travel without travel insurance, but we stlil need convincing. -Judy
I picked up your channel few months ago when planning a trip to Egypt. I enjoyed both your honest and unpretentious opinion. Thank you! I am in my late 50s and my husband his early 60s, and time to start thinking about our retirement plans. I agree with you we should not live the way people think we should live. Lately, I have been looking at some Grand Voyages via cruises, ie. >90days. Do you both have thoughts to do those? Or maybe when you get older?
Thank you so much for watching and following along with us and for this very kind comment. We have a video about being mindful of health versus wealth, which is linked below. We typically prefer to stay in a place and experience the local foods versus taking a cruise, but that's not to say that's something we'd never do. We know a lot of people who absolutely love cruising, but so far that bug hasn't bitten us. We've looked at taking a repositioning cruise just to experience one, but we haven't found the right one yet. Some of those longer cruises look very luxe. Probably a bit above our budget, but it's a nice, worry-free way to spend time in your retirement! -Judy
Health versus Wealth-a frank discussion: th-cam.com/video/6avQGFbXa2I/w-d-xo.html
Do you still have to pay US and state taxes? We lived overseas for three years and had to pay both plus taxes for the country we were living in. We are now traveling for a year. We spent 2 months traveling in the Balkans and found the healthcare exceptional in Serbia. We took buses from country to country and made Sundays our travel day because those countries all but shut down that day. Banks, gov offices/services, many businesses, restaurants and grocery stores are closed. But the people have it figured out. Sundays are a time for friends and family. Thank you for sharing your perspective and tips. It’s fun, interesting and helpful to hear what other travelers experience.
Hi Tam, we haven't done our taxes yet for 2023, and for 2022 we still had been working full time. We have yet to put pencil to paper, but the money we earn from TH-cam is minimal and we aren't earning any other income, so it would primarily be from our investments. I'm so glad to hear that you had a positive experience in Serbia. The locals treated us very well there. And yes, Sundays were tough in the beginning when we didn't realize that so much would be shut down! But prioritizing family and friends is a great way around it. Thanks so much for watching and for sharing your experiences. We love hearing them! -Judy
It's always great to see you. Have fun and if you go to Africa go to Ethiopia and Eritrea. I think you're gonna like. It is very inexpensive and the food is good and they do have Italian food because used to be Italian colony.😊😊😊
Hi Sophia, Thank you so much for watching! Our biggest problem with Africa is how big it is and how much it costs to fly between there are other places. We have been crunching numbers to visit Cape Town and Zambia and Senegal, but sheesh moving around is super costly. We plan to visit Morocco this year and have other parts of Africa on our bucket list. We aren't familiar with Eritrea, but we will add it to our list as well as Ethiopia! Thanks for this great information! -Judy
They should watch your channel!
We agree, Claudia! Our sons have no interest in traveling and our daughter has a TikTok or #shorts attention span, so our videos can't keep her attention, even about places she may want to travel to! 🤦♀️🙄🤣 -Judy
Another great video, love hearing the good and bad of this lifestyle. Some bloggers paint such a rosy picture, so it’s good to know that it isn’t all good all the time.
As we are on our countdown to April set off what advice could you give if and when one of us get home sick, exhausted or have that feeling of this is all too hard as I’m sure we’ll feel this at some point? As much as I’m excited to set off I’m scared that I’m going to get homesick and pull the pin and want to return home. Yes the doubts are creeping in….the longest we’ve been away is 7 weeks and I do recall counting down the days till it was time to go home. Did you ever have these feelings? If so Can you share how you resolved these feelings.
Thank you so much for watching, Annette! We really appreciate you so much. I think I'll turn this answer into a blog post! Certainly it depends on the issue. If we're homesick, we'll reach out to family with calls and texts and even Facebook, so we don't ever feel really lonely. It was hard to say goodbye to our daughter when we visited her in Japan, but we made a plan to reconnect in Italy in June. She didn't live in our same state so it's not as though we saw a lot of her anyway, but yes, it's a cheaper/shorter flight if we still lived in the US. For us it's enough to visit once per year and generally we try to do it when we're repositioning (so in October, we went back to the US from Europe before heading to Southeast Asia). Some people choose to visit twice per year or to always plan to visit at Christmas. I think it can help to know you have scheduled time to see family.
In the case of exhaustion or feeling this is too hard, we do a few things. We've found that staying in a place for a full month is a good amount of time. If there weren't so many places still on my bucket list, we'd probably find a sweet spot at five or six weeks at a time. It's definitely much more exhausting to travel faster than that. Also, we try to stay in the same basic region so we don't have a lot of long-haul flights. It's cheaper and we explore more of the area that way. It's also somewhat less jarring than going from Asia to Africa to Europe in a short space of time because cultures and lifestyles can be very different. We don't overschedule ourselves, either. We often wait until we arrive to see how we feel before jumping into any formal tours just so we have a chance to decompress a bit from the stress of travel. Also, if you're planning to cook a lot while traveling, give yourself permission to eat out on those days so that you don't have the stress of going to a grocery store and trying to scope out familiar foods or navigating how to cook. Even if dinner ends up being a burger or some other Western food, give yourself grace. We download books to our phones and have an Apple TV for evenings when we just want to chill. When it's your life and not a vacation, you need to give yourself time to recuperate. We also try to establish routines like finding a great coffee shop and making friends there for a month. Whatever it is, make some choices so you are on autopilot for some things. There are plenty of decisions you need to make, so keep the easy things easy.
We plan our travel for nearly the full year, but planning fatigue is a real thing. We don't overplan beyond having an Airbnb and a flight. And sometimes we know very little about places before we arrive there. We have viewers that don't plan at all. There's an app called "Skyscanner" that will allow you to choose "everywhere" as your destination and it will give you choices leading with the cheapest destination. There's nothing wrong with looking at the list and making last-minute moves.
As far as "this is too hard," Kevin had that issue on a few occasions: arriving into a very poor part of Egypt, which we learned to love after we gave it a little time; and then freezing in Lecce in February. We tell ourselves that we're only in this place for a month and we can put up with a lot for that short amount of time (actually Lecce was just two weeks, so that was even easier). But when we weren't feeling it in Ho Chi Minh City, we decided to cut our losses and shift to Hanoi. Give yourself everything you need to practice self-care.
And you need to communicate with each other most of all. If one of you isn't happy, it's important to talk through it so that you can work on a reasonable solution. That's how we ended up in Hanoi. Kevin mentioned it just enough that I decided it just made sense to shift to somewhere else. That was the only time we've done that in 14 months on the road, so that's a pretty good track record.
Most of the time, though, we pinch ourselves that we get to live this lifestyle. When we step outside our Airbnb and we're near Greek ruins or impressive temples or medieval buildings, etc., we are very grateful and there's rarely a dull moment, even when we're doing absolutely nothing but sipping aperitivi in Torino! It does help that we've worked hard to choose places to travel to that really excite us. We weren't sure how well we were going to like Southeast Asia, so we didn't plan very far out in case we wanted to pivot. We've been really enjoying it, so we extended our time here and rejiggered our plans. And at one point in our planning for 2024, I just wasn't feeling the latest iteration of places we were going to visit, so I tweaked our plans. It helps. We don't always book flights super far in advance except for places we know that we must visit (e.g., visiting the US for my birth mother's birthday in July). And our Airbnbs are nearly all ones that have a robust cancellation policy so we have the freedom to adjust if something really special comes along.
Also, there are always other fellow full-time travelers you can reach out to (like us!) who completely understand the unique feelings that not a lot of other people can relate to. We are here for you if you need it at any step along the way! I hope this helps, but if not, don't hesitate to let us know! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie oh Judy thank you so much for such a well thought out reply. It actually bought a tear to my eye. 🙏🥰
I’m sure my feelings are normal leading up to our launch date and felt by most about to do the same thing.
We will have to leave our awesome sons, daughter in laws (one of which is pregnant with their first baby…a girl after we had 2 boys and another 2 grandsons) that will be very hard to miss although we are planning a couple of weeks back home in September. We have also learnt that our beautiful 42 year old niece has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and only been given months to live. Will be so hard to say our goodbyes to her. Just as our time gets closer it’s getting harder but we’re still determined to make it work.
It certainly would be a great topic to make a video about…
I love the raw no sugar coating content and honesty so really loved this video…although all your videos are great!
Thank you for the offer of being there for us as you can relate as that’s so true. None of our friends are in the same boat as us with plans of early retirement and full time travel so it’s hard not to be able to vent as they don’t relate to our feelings…so thank you Judy 🙏
How sweet you are, Annette. And yes, your feelings are very normal! I didn't feel that way until the first night on the road when it dawned on me that I'd never sleep in my own bed (or have a bed) for the foreseeable future. But then we arrived in Naples, a neighboring town to where my birth family is from, and the thrill of experiencing it drowned out all my cares and worries (at least for a few days)!
Grandchildren are very hard to leave behind. We don't have any, but I can appreciate that they steal your heart! We have viewers who've mentioned that they FaceTime with family in the mornings and evenings, so it's not as though they won't know you. And yes, it would be nice to be able to lend a hand, but you have no idea that their lives won't shift and they'd move away from you while you put your dreams on hold.
We're so sorry to hear about your niece. That has to be so hard. But we think that staying in touch with calls and even postcards can be very special. For one of our nephew's birthdays, we did a video from the burial grounds of Aswan and sent him that. He was THRILLED. So there are ways you can be even closer because you're sharing unique experiences with your niece and other family members. I'm sure your niece would love postcards from the road as something to look forward to. The reality is that for us we didn't see our loved ones nearly as much as we would have liked. They all were busy with their own lives. Wouldn't it be a shame to live your one life for everyone else and when it came time to live for yourselves the opportunity is no longer available to you because of your own poor health? That's the thing we hold closest in our minds when we feel guilt about leaving behind the people we love. And we meant what we said about wanting to be role models for our kids. We want to encourage them to create their own lives however they want to live them without any obligation that they "should" live a certain way. We are so excited for you and are here every step along the way if you need us or just want to chat or vent! It's one of the reasons we built our La Famiglia forum for fellow travelers and full-time travelers. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie thanks again Judy for a lovely reply and great suggestions and putting things into perspective.
I love your La Familia forum and am a member of it…love your videos too. We have booked Turin and Genoa after watching your videos on them.
Anyway thanks again, happy travels and will keep in touch x
Earth 🌎🌍🌍 World is beautiful ❤️ only Politicians Government sometimes destroying with wars.
Sadly, you are right about power hungry and greedy politicians. But we are so happy to be living this nomadic life and experiencing kind and wonderful people everywhere we travel. Thank you for watching! -Judy
Great video again guys! I really enjoy watching you two because you’re so down to earth and open.
The bit I don’t get with full time travel, is doesn’t it make it less special to travel, if that’s all you do? You lose the special times anticipating a holiday, in fact you can’t go on holidays anymore, technically a holiday for you would be to settle down somewhere for say two years? Is there any tarnishing of the specialness of the holiday, if holidaying is all that you do?
Another thing sorry, I wonder about the wisdom of selling up everything. A lot of people would have paid off their house by the time they decided to full time travel, and will rent out their property to pay for the ongoing costs of the trip. Do you have a financial fall back position in case suddenly get sick of travelling, or if someone gets sick or injured?
Thanks, Dan! When I ran my own companies, I loved everything I did and often didn't take time for vacations. Then after working at Apple for a few years, the shine was wearing off and vacations were my salvation.
Now that we've retired from Corporate America, we have more time to appreciate the small moments. I fondly remember finding tiny tables in a Torino park where a nearby restaurant served aperitivi. Judy and I went there a few times to soak up the calm of our surroundings. That's our holiday.
We find a coffee shop, park, restaurant, or waterfront to spend time away from our TH-cam production and travel planning. So instead of waiting 6-8 months for a vacation, we now take one whenever we feel overworked.
As for a financial backup plan, I've started 5 companies and have always trusted the universe - and our skills - to provide when things don't go well. If the need arises, I'll come up with a Plan B. ;) Cheers!
- Kevin
Hi Dan, thank you so much for watching and for your kind words. They mean so much to us! Speaking for me since Kevin also wants to respond, I actually love to fly and transition from one destination to another. So getting to do that frequently is great, especially since it's not to get to a work trip where if there's a glitch I have to scramble or stress. Yes, holidays aren't as special, but our lives have changed. When our kids were growing up, everyone was in the same place and that made those times special. Now our kids and family are all over the country, so our holidays got much smaller. Our son in Austin doesn't like to travel and our daughter sometimes would be spending holidays with her boyfriend's family. We also have family in Houston, San Francisco, and Palm Springs. Where to spend time without leaving out several people? We ended up usually having quiet holidays on our own with our son who lives in San Francisco but who does not like big or fancy celebrations. We still had a nice dinner out for Christmas and Thanksgiving (well, not this year where we didn't even realize it was Thanksgiving!). But that's okay. We are excited by all the destinations we plan for ourselves, and if not, we change them up so that we are. That means 12 or more times per year, we get excited by being someplace new and having cool new experiences. There is something extremely gratifying about waking up and passing the Trevi Fountain on the way to get coffee or passing ancient ruins in Greece, or having jaw-dropping architecture or temples at every turn. We don't take those things for granted.
As far as selling everything goes, we didn't want the responsibilities of our previous life. And we found that after getting rid of some things, that we started to feel so much freer than when we had so much stuff. And the lighter things got, the lighter we felt. We believed that after having an experience like this we would have different priorities. We don't plan to ever need as much stuff as we had even once we settle down. And with family everywhere, we didn't want to be tied to a home that would keep us stuck somewhere. There still are taxes and repairs that we didn't want to deal with. We lucked out when we sold our home in Houston and were at the top of the market. BUT only a few short months later there was a downturn and some people were stuck with homes that they wanted to sell but couldn't get enough of their money out of to be worthwhile. Even when we settle somewhere somewhere down the road, we don't want to be at the mercy of the market or have to limit our choices because we're tied down somewhere.
We have kept our minds completely open that during this time of full-time travel there may be somewhere that we want to settle in. We don't know that we'll ever move back to the US. I am midway (I hope) with my application for dual citizenship with Italy, so we expect that will be a place we settle in. We don't love the winter weather there, but except for San Francisco, which we still love but which is crazy expensive, there aren't a lot of reasonably. priced places to live in the US that have moderate weather. So we are keeping our options open. Right now we have so much freedom that we aren't very eager to give it up! Thanks for the great, thought-provoking questions! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie I think I get it now mate. In your response above, and in all of your videos, it’s blatantly obvious that you’re both still madly in love. It’s refreshing to see, and it must also be one of the keys to your happiness. If it wasn’t for good company, those holiday moments in the cafe would seem hollow.
I also get the work burnout syndrome. You must have worked seriously hard, I hope you didn’t miss too many special moments but sometimes it’s inevitable to miss the odd one😅
@@FindingGinaMarie that really helps explain it, adding to Kevin’s thoughts. One of the things I was missing was the separation of the kids and family, to all parts of the US. That explains a lot to me, because it’s one of the few things my wife and I have been able to talk our kids into - settling down in our local area. We have really lucked out so far on this front, I didn’t realise it could have been an issue for you and Kevin.
I look forward to your 2024 adventures, I’ll be particularly looking forward to your previously hinted Spanish tour. Hopefully in 2025 you’ll find time to tour the Czech Republic, because it’s one of the few countries that avoided the horrors of the war. Not just WW2, but they fared really well in the earlier wars too. Cz is europes hidden gem, but so far travellers have only discovered Prague. Cz is superior to visit compared to countries like France, Italy, Spain, imho, because the majority of the buildings that you see are really older than 150 years, and not just rebuilt recently after the wars. You can use Prague as a base for a few months, and you’ll be blown away with all of the places that you can daytrip to from Prague. No other place in Europe can offer as much. Eg Kladruby, cesky Krumlov, Marianske laszne, Kutna Hora, orlik, Bratislava, Karlovy Vary, and so many more.
One day you’ll eventually settle somewhere in Italy, I look forward to watching you guys pick through the choices. Verona would be a good possibility. Have you considered the Sorrento region?
Thanks Dan. You are right, we've been married 40 years and we still are madly in love. We met when I (Judy) was 14 and Kevin was 16, and we've been together ever since. We don't take that for granted or our ability to travel like we are. We pinch ourselves every single day. Kevin's work was a bit more balanced than mine, but towards the end he was absolutely miserable. And I realized too late that I was killing myself for a company that had no regard for me and that we both were giving up days, weeks, and months of our lives for jobs that weren't serving us beyond a paycheck. It took the pandemic to help us take stock that no future days are guaranteed to any of us and that maybe working so hard was giving up too much of this one life we each have to live. It was a defining realization. You might have seen our Health versus Wealth video, where everything came to a head for us. We didn't miss the special moments, but we did miss too many of the ordinary days, and I'd argue those are equally important. For us we think that there would be a different shine to our travels if something happened to the other of us. However, our daughter is single and we tell her not to wait to travel and experience the world. It's waiting for her regardless of whether she has a partner to share it with her. I think if you're in the right mindset solo travel can also be exhilarating and you can open yourself up to new friends through your travels if you don't feel "less than" for traveling alone. We wish you well! -Judy
Health versus Wealth: th-cam.com/video/6avQGFbXa2I/w-d-xo.html
Would you say that by staying one month at a time in one city makes traveling easier? That way you're not always picking up and going going going. Or would it get boring?
Hi Lynda, This is a great question and we actually have a blog post about this very issue: findingginamarie.com/articles/slow-travel-and-why-we-do-it
We find that rather than get boring, it actually prevents burnout. I'm sure you're familiar with the saying "I need a vacation from my vacation." This is especially true when you're a full-time traveler. Let me know if you have any additional questions after you've read the article. We are very happy with our lives on the road! -Judy
💳 wondering with credit cards that will expire eventually, have you had to use the virtual mailbox for this yet and get them sent to you? I know I'm thinking waaaay ahead but expiring cards within 2 yrs or so can go quick while traveling, I'm sure you feel this sometimes. Not sure with some things like that are you thinking come back to get them or try to have them mailed when you are in a place you feel comfortable having a delivery? Although the virtual cards are becoming more and more widespread but not everywhere yet. Thank you!
Hi Carolann, So far we haven't had to receive a credit card to our virtual mailbox, but we expect that could happen. What I'd suggest is calendar your expiration dates so you don't lose sight of them. We know our travel schedule well in advance. Certain places are easier for us to receive mail than other places, so we would ideally be calling our bank or credit card company enough in advance to arrange for our cards to be delivered to us internationally at that address. I don't really like to have anything delivered somewhere if we're only staying a few days because there are all sorts of things that could go wrong. If we waited until they sent the replacement cards automatically (which is usually a few weeks or months ahead of us) and they went to our virtual mailbox, it could potentially work, but we might not be in a place to easily receive mail. I'd rather proactively arrange for the card(s) to be delivered at a time that suits me. I don't think it's practical to guess when the cards nearing their expiration will be mailed because there's always some trigger date that banks use that isn't automatically known to us. Kevin and I have two credit cards that we share jointly and I have a card that's exclusively mine. The chances of not having any card work at all is pretty remote, and I don't carry all of my cards with me (I leave a card behind in my suitcase in our accommodations in case we are pickpocketed while out and about). We also have Apple Pay on our phones and watches, so if we had a virtual card number, in a pinch that could work while we are awaiting a new card to be delivered. I would feel much more comfortable with a physical card, however! -Judy
Thank you both! Yes, all part of the traveling adventure 😊
This was a great question and I just posted an article that encapsulates this answer with a tiny bit more color. You can read it here: 📝 findingginamarie.com/articles/how-to-handle-expiring-credit-cards-as-a-full-time-traveler?rq=credit
This was great 👍🏻 thank you both.
I did this with my husband who died in Jan. 2024. Now I wonder if I can do this alone.
We are so sorry about the loss of your husband. I can't imagine your grief and how hard it has been for you. I think travel looks different for a solo than for a couple, BUT we tell our single daughter that she doesn't need a man for anything. They are nice to have, but you are complete just as you are. I'm sure that if you were together a long time, there's a hard adjustment period. But you still deserve a rich, full, satisfying, and rewarding life as a solo. We don't have a ton of resources for you since we've been together since I was 14 and Kevin was 16, so we haven't spent time alone. When you don't have someone working with you for the planning or for directions or navigating unfamiliar places, you need to give some space in your travels so that you aren't under pressure and have the gift of a little extra time. We have a free private forum and we know there are a few single people looking for travel companions (platonic) and looking to get and receive help and recommendations about how to travel solo. Here's a link if you are interested in joining. Some people are a little shy, but I think people will help if you reach out. -Judy
findingGinaMarie.com/join
@@FindingGinaMarie Merci! I live in France.
Would you be willing when you have time to put together a list of airports, airlines you truly enjoyed and ones you would rather never go back to again? Feeling safe, having an easier time with customs or gates & comfort and pricing for the airlines would be some interesting topics for this. 😊 ✈️ 🧳
Hi Carolann, It's a great idea, but I think sometimes the travel experience and other things we are trying to do while we're in the airport haven't lent themselves to our taking the best notes from our various experiences. The size of our luggage has never been an issue, but the weight has. Vietjet requires luggage to be weighed (fortunately not typically our backpacks), which is a bummer because then we have to check those. Edinburgh has some of the most stringent security agents-it's where I had to dump some of my liquids that were in clear bags touted as being "TSA approved," but which I later learned isn't actually a thing, so that was far from ideal. RyanAir and EasyJet don't always have jetways, which means you have to lug your suitcase up the stairs of their planes. eDreams offers discounts, but when a flight was canceled through Greece they required us to chase down the airline ourselves to get it sorted out versus them reimbursing us directly. We still use them, but they are far from perfect. However, we only knew about the cancellation of our Aegean Airlines flight through eDreams. Aegean never contacted us, which seemed somewhat surprising. American Airlines runs late more than United or Delta. ANA is an amazing airline if you're flying to Japan. Try to avoid Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport when you are trying to get a connection because that's a huge airport that takes forever to get through passport control. Egypt Air charges for you to bring your rolling luggage on the plane, but it's free to check.
It's been interesting because we have not done a lot of long-haul flights anymore because we use geographic arbitrage to stay in the same areas longer and that means that we are using much smaller carriers. Our long-haul flights so far have been to/from the US, and we only do those once per year. Great question though! -Judy
Thank you both for taking the time to respond. What airline do you both feel comfortable with for SEAsia? Loved your hospital visit in Thailand. That was so kind of both of you to share so much information. That is hard to do with the world & my husband & I are thankful that you shared it. Have you been to an optometrist or dentist in SEAsia?
@@owlscoffeecats We've been mostly at the mercy of the discount carriers that fly in this part of the world, which have been Vietnam Airlines, VietJet Aviation, Thai AirAsia, China Airlines, and Tigerair Taiwan. We haven't flown the last two yet, and we are really reluctant to fly China Air, but it was the most reasonable price compared to everything else. We liked Vietnam Airlines over VietJet, but again, sometimes price wins out. Vietnam Air didn't nickel and dime us for everything, and they had good food (we were traveling from Japan to Vietnam). ANA from the US to Japan is something we'd highly recommend. We loved their La-Z Boy type footrests that were in our economy plus seats and the food and amenities were very nice for that class of seating.
We bought glasses in Japan, but their process is much different than in the US. They have machines, etc. that are primarily to get you in the right prescription, but they don't do glaucoma testing or any of the advanced testing that we get in the US, including anything that would dilate your eyes and actually check the health of our eyes. We had hoped since an eye exam process was included in our Thailand medical testing that it would cover the gap, but it really didn't. The general physician used a flashlight in our eyes, did a manual test where you have to follow the movement of a pen to check your periphery, and there was the standard eye chart. We were underwhelmed with that process as well. We had intended to get our teeth cleaned in Thailand as well, but we didn't make that happen. We will be in South Korea and will plan to have cleanings done there. We bought some dental tools to scrape and clean our teeth between dental visits, but we are behind on formal dental appointments, so we are eager to catch up.
We actually are very happy to share these types of experiences with our viewers because it's information that would have been valuable to us before becoming full-time travelers. We had watched a few videos to know about medical tourism, which helped us to respond to friends and family who were concerned about us living as digital nomads. -Judy
I hope you both know how much your information is appreciated. My husband & I can't thank you both enough. 😊
Trust that we mean it when we tell you how happy we are to have you on this journey with us! -Judy
Do you wish you spent an entire month in Krakow? We are planning to spend all of July there this year.
Hi M&T, congratulations to you! We would love that! We spent a lot of time in Asia/Southeast Asia and there will not be enough time for us to spend in Europe this year, especially in temperate weather. But we do plan to prioritize the EU in 2025. We hope you have an absolutely amazing time in Krakòw! If you have recommendations for us afterwards, please let us know! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie Thanks. will do. We enjoy your channel.
Thank you so much. It means so much for us to hear this! -Judy