I’m not retired yet. Layoff 3x in 3 years. Heaven is telling me it’s time to take that travel I’m dreaming since birth!! Yep, we’re starting 3 weeks in Asia then Europe. Thanks for fueling my long lost dream ❤❤
We are so sorry that you've had to deal with multiple layoffs. That must be exhausting and frustrating. So glad to see that you are getting out there and experiencing travel, despite the career challenges. We have a few episodes we think might be helpful and then a full series for full time or extended travelers. We wish you all the best. -Judy 🎥 Health versus Wealth: th-cam.com/video/6avQGFbXa2I/w-d-xo.html 🎥 How we thought unconventionally to retire early: th-cam.com/video/ttyh4NXrbfs/w-d-xo.html 🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX.html 🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH.html 🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads): 📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
While traveling, I would have been ok with a base outside the US. However, it took me a little bit of time (after signing a year-long lease) to realize that I didn't want any base. Thank God, with 30 days' notice, I can break the lease. Perhaps I might change my heart later, but for now, traveling full-time is for me.
It's good news that you were able to break your lease. We feel the same that maybe someday down the road we will change our minds or not be able to travel, but we are absolutely having the time of our lives without worrying about stuff or a home base. Enjoy and safe travels! -Judy
Hi Diana, we are very happy to be back on the road and even happier that we'll be in one place for a month soon. However, we met up with two of our viewers in Colmar, France, and just arrived today in Paris. It's hard NOT to enjoy ourselves under those circumstances! -Judy
You hit on such an important point: You're allowed to change your mind!! So many people think they're stuck with their initial decisions. It's okay to learn, explore, and change course.
EXACTLY! We thought we'd be expats in Europe originally. And even though we decided not to change our timeline, we managed to get rid of everything and travel the world. We know we will be happy with so much less than we thought when some day in the far distant future we decide to slow down or have a home base. Thank you so much for watching! -Judy
Thank you so much, John! They aren't hard to add, they take nothing away from our video by including them, and they make it so much easier for someone to find what they're looking for (although we always hope people are interested enough to watch our entire videos, we realize that's not always the case). We appreciate you noticing! -Judy
Kevin - I used to enjoy your Whiskey Riffs videos. I’m wondering what you did with your guitars. Did you sell them? Did you stop playing guitar? If so, don’t you miss that?
Thanks for watching both channels. I still post to @WhiskyRiffs, just much less often. I sold my Epiphone UpTown Kat to a friend and the other three are in storage. I do miss playing guitar and keyboard, which I was learning before leaving San Francisco. Every so often, I drift into a music store just to play an instrument, but it's the biggest sacrifice that I've made for full-time travel. I'll get back to playing music once we have a home base again. No telling when that will be though. Cheers!
We just arrived in Tirana Albania and we absolutely love it! We will be here for a month. It is very affordable and the food and restaurant options are endless. I would rank it slightly higher than Türkiye or Greece which we loved.
Hi! Judy & Kevin, What a lovely & helpful video! We liked the reminder that all travel issues are usually temporary & can be resolved. We learn so much from both of you from your words & your actions. Thank you! Marion & Jan 😁❤️👍🏼
Thank you so much for taking the time to watch our video and for your kind words, Marion & Jan. We wish you all the best on your travels and hope at some point that our paths will cross! -Judy
I’d love a video explaining how you actually got rid of all your stuff before stating this journey. Also, how do you handle banking and passport renewals? Thanks as always for the informative and entertaining videos!
Hi James, We have a new video in the works about getting rid of our stuff and some hard lessons we learned. In the meantime, we have a few of our older videos from when we were clearing out our stuff thinking we'd be expats living in Europe that might be helpful in the meantime. As far as banking, we've kept our US phone number and verifications go to it versus getting local eSIMs. We use T-Mobile's Magenta plan and we pay for monthly international data. If we receive checks through our virtual mailbox, we can request that they deposit them for us. Our US bank works easily and we aren't charged foreign transaction fees. We are looking into a Charles Schwab debit card to save on some of the fees for using a bank out of our network, but we don't use cash a ton and haven't felt like those fees have been unreasonable. Schwab will reimburse all of your ATM fees, but then you do have to shuffle money around. So far we haven't needed to renew our passports. I applied for a new one during the pandemic, and Kevin renewed his just before we launched. We always suggest renewing it much earlier than necessary (US Department of State suggests renewing it nine months before the expiration date) and ALSO keeping an eye on the number of your blank passport pages. We would either plan to renew them using the urgent service (less than two weeks before international travel) during our next visit to the US, or if necessary, we'll find an embassy in a country where we'll be for plenty of time-at least two months, probably the UK or Western EU in case there are issues. I hope this helps! -Judy ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: 🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX.html 🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH.html 🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads): 📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
I have made notes on this to keep for later to help me when I start my travels..it has the answers I will want to hear when I am feeling a little lost. Thank you .. this video will help me through my travels on those uncertain times ❤
Thanks for watching, Nella. Your kind words mean a lot to us, and we truly hope you take comfort in this video. We know that many people plan and plan and plan and worry about missing something important, but if you don't step onto this path blindly, there's a lot you can figure out once you've already started. -Judy
This is such a great video, guys. I often watch your videos and wonder how you handle the every day obstacles. Just vacationing in Italy the few times I've been has presented issues that we've had to overcome. You can look at it as being a hassle, or part of the adventure. I got Covid in Italy, I got pickpocketed while in Florence (not the same trip), it all worked out in the end. Super helpful info for anyone thinking of doing what you're doing. I really admire your determination in making this HUGE lifestyle change. Good for you both! Ciao!
Thank you so much, Diana! Those are not easy circumstances you've dealt with to keep a smile on your face, so good for you! While our lifestyle might sound scary and we might seem brave, actually, we have to pinch ourselves whenever we think about how we are living. We don't pretend that everything is sunshine and roses every day, but our bad days are pretty far and few between. We are so grateful for how we are living and there's rarely a dull moment-in fact, we're trying to figure out how to sneak a few of those into the mix! -Judy
Great tips in this video, thanks again guys. I was wondering how much it actually costs, say per annum, for your style of travel? Would you mind please indulging with some overall cost figures please?
Hi Dan, We don't typically share our full cost of living since while we have a budget, we aren't budget travelers and don't want to discourage anyone from traveling full-time even if they can afford less than we can. Of course, there are many people with bigger budgets than ours, too! We'll certainly put together this sort of video sometime this year. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie I’m more interested to see the range of cost actually, I’m not trying to pry about your personal finances. I’m after some figures I can compare to Aussie pension pay,ents
It's not a worry at all, Dan. We understand that it's helpful for other people to have an idea of what to expect financially since that's such an important thing to be thinking about. -Judy
Hello there, I just recently discovered your channel a few days ago and I absolutely love it!! I’m wondering if ya’ll have a series on breaking down the cost more less of what you guys spent monthly just to give us an idea? Is there one already on this topic or maybe in the near future? Thanks for the great tips!!!
Hi Sara, Thank you so much for watching! We just had a few very heavy travel days, so sorry for the delay in responding. Our regular travel videos typically show the cost of our Airbnb, the food we showcase in our episodes and the activities we do in order to give an idea of how much a city costs. Since we're on a budget but not budget travelers per se, we haven't done that, but we are open to doing it. We just don't want to put off people who think they need to spend what we do in order to live this lifestyle. -Judy
Thanks for another great video. The slow v fast travel is something we are still working on. Too slow is kind of boring but too fast is exhausting. We are still searching for the sweet spot. S America is a great choice for the winter. You definitely won’t freeze there.
Hi Stan, I think because we are working on TH-cam, slow travel of a month or so is a great fit for us because we aren't exploring every day. We might feel differently if we were juggling less. However, I think we personally could spend more time planning, relaxing, maintaining and cultivating friendships, and even volunteering if we had extra time, so for us the pace probably wouldn't change. But you both are doing a lot and seem very happy, so it's working for you! I know after five weeks of fast travel, we are delighted to be in Albania for a month and almost would like it to be longer, but we do still want to see new places, which keeps us from extending most of our stays. You'll figure it out! And thank you for the encouragement. It's pretty hot here now-I feel like I'm in SE Asia! But we definitely don't want to freeze. This will be our first time in South America, so we are really looking forward to it! Thanks so much for your kind words! Safe travels! -Judy
Each person has their own pace and budget, and although we have found your point to be true for us, we know that some people thrive on a faster pace and have a bigger budget than ours! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie for sure. For us, regardless of cost we prefer slow travel. We do have some quick stops coming up later in the year and I am not looking forward to moving every 4 days.
@@JayandSarah Ohh. Every four days. Not ideal. We'll send you positive energy during that time. Sometimes it has to be done, and even when we enjoy it-because those days are worth it-they can be tiring. Hopefully afterwards you'll have a good break to decompress. -Judy
Thanks for your insights. We’re happy to have discovered your channel and will be watching your Vietnam video after this one. We couldn’t agree more about travelling light. We too only have a small carry on bag and once you get used to it, it’s really very liberating,also travelling slow and seeing more by moving less is as you say a wonderful thing. We travel using home exchange and if I could suggest anything to your viewers I’d say give it a go. Anyway, looking forward to travelling alongside you. All the best from Madeira island. Your new subscribers Yvonne and Mike
Thank you so much for joining us, Yvonne and Mike! We are so happy to have you here! I have an aunt that was very happy using home exchange for some of her travels. It's hard for those of us who don't have a home base, but otherwise, it's a fabulous idea! We've been to Portugal, but we haven't been to Madeira Island yet! We have an entire series from Vietnam. Fair warning, our location in Ho Chi Minh City wasn't our favorite, but we really loved Hanoi and Hoi An. Had we stayed in another part of HCMC, we think we would have had a much better experience (and we talk about that in one of our videos). We ended up spending a month and then another three weeks there. We hope you have a wonderful time! -Judy 🎥 Vietnam video series: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF0w1OZR1ZwgqGRPRMKXZaNB.html
@@FindingGinaMarie Hi there Judy, thanks for taking the time to reply. I'd def' recommend a trip to Madeira and it's lovely levadas, (not to tout but we have quite a few videos there if you're wondering what it's like?) We'll def' be checking out your Vietnam series as that'll be our next trip. Thanks for all your hard work and look forward to tagging along virtually on your world travels.
Thanks for the encouragement, although we don't need much because we are very curious about other parts of Spain! And we subscribed to your channel. You have an interesting approach to your videos. We know a lot of people who really do appreciate knowing what walking the streets of a place is like before they arrive or as incentive to arrive! We hope you have a great experience through Vietnam! Safe travels! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie It's lovely to have connected with you. Madeira is Portuguese, but if you look on the map you wouldn't know it, as it's closer to the Canary Islands and Morocco. It's a hard place not to fall in love with, so if you do ever come, I'm sure you won't be disappointed. We split our time between here and the UK. We've backpacked for many years, so we understand your love of travel for sure. Hope our paths might cross one of these days. Anyway thanks again for your lovely channel and look forward to following many more of your adventures.
We'll actually be in Morocco on our next stop. If we didn't already have all our details locked in, it would have been a smart idea for us to detour there. Bummer. Do you agree that staying in Funchal is our best plan? We give you a lot of credit for backpacking. We do like a few more creature comforts these days! We've added it to our wish list! -Judy
Thanks so much for letting us know, Ellen! We will be working on it! In the meantime, we have some old videos that we filmed when we were first going through it. Our channel was very early and we were just finding ourselves, but those episodes may be helpful. -Judy 🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX.html 🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH.html 🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads): 📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
Thank you so much, Rebecca! It was rainy when we arrived, but we were so glad to be visiting there again. We had no idea that it had been seven years since we last were there. Our time in every part of France was way too short! Hope you are enjoying your time in Switzerland! -Judy
South America from Nov onwards ? Great, look forward to it ! More than 10 yrs ago, I was in Costa Rica and Nicaragua for 1 week. In CR, I was staying alone in a house. On my 1st night, I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night to very loud sudden shaking. The whole roof of the house was shaking violently and I thought it was going to collapse on my bed! But after a few seconds, the shaking stopped. I then went to look out of the window, but the outside was eerily quiet and the air was strangely very still. Due to jet lag fatigue, I then went back to bed and slept like a baby 😅 The next morning, my office colleagues asked me how was the EARTHQUAKE experience!😮. It turned out that after the shaking stopped, they all rushed out of their houses to gather at a safe area. In the library of our office building, all the book shelves were overturned, and books were all over the floor :). My 1st earthquake experience 😊 Will you be going to Cancun and Buenos Aires? Unfortunately, my wife is not interested in South America because of all the news about the drug cartels and gang violence 😢. I am of course more adventurous, having survived the biggest earthquake in CR’s history (exaggeration intended) !
Thanks for the great comment, Mike. We've finally settled in Tirana after five weeks of fast travel and it feels good to be able to breathe! Yes! We'll start in Buenos Aires and then spend a few days in El Chaltén, Argentina, which is part of Patagonia. Next we'll be in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to close out 2024 and then Santiago, Chile in January and February in Peru. Costa Rica has been on our bucket list since our kids were in middle school, but we've not made our way there yet. I'm not sure if we're going to get there yet, since it may be prohibitively hot there in March and/or we may want to get back to Europe by then. We're starting to sort our 2025 plans, though, so who knows! Earthquake experience! How unnerving to experience your first earthquake in an unfamiliar place. Although we had a big one in Taipei, we were semi prepared for it thanks to a few smaller quakes when we were in San Francisco. And of course, back then, we immediately went to Twitter to see if it was an earthquake and whether others had felt it too! I can't imagine not knowing what it was but being unnerved by it (well, most of us would have been!). Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this. Wow! We have a lot of bucket list places in mind for 2025, including Malta, Sardinia, hopefully Australia and New Zealand and more places in Europe as best we can sort out. We are trying to get to South Africa, but we may not be able to do both Oz and Africa in the same year. We've actually been to Cancun when our kids were little and took a fascinating day trip to Chichén Itzá. So while we'd love to go again, it may not be someplace we visit for a while. There's a likelihood we'll be in Mexico in 2026 though! -Judy
Yes - I'd be really interested in a video with tips and advice, from your experience, on downsizing to prepare for full-time travel! Thanks so much for all your helpful videos!
Thanks so much for letting us know, Beth! We have a series of videos from when we were in the thick of it and considering living as expats in Europe that are in this playlist linked below, but we have some fresh ideas we want to add, so stay tuned for those videos. -Judy 🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX.html ➡️ Ep.16 How do we fit 50 years in 5 suitcases? ➡️ Ep.17: This is the easy stuff? 50 years in 5 suitcases ➡️ Ep. 19: How to get rid of our expensive stuff - 50 years in 5 suitcases
Thanks so much for watching, Erin! Not sure if there's anything new here for you, but we know how intimidating it can be for some people to take the plunge. We hoped in a small way we could help set aside some of the worst fears about not having all the answers or worrying if you've made a grave mistake. If you have learnings to share, we'd love to hear them! -Judy
Please please talk about missing family or grandkids. We really want to travel, but being away from grandkids more than a month is breaking my heart. ❤️
Hi Catherine, This isn't what you want, but in the meantime this article addresses some of what you are talking about dealing with homesickness. We have some tips for you that we'll definitely share. For reference, are your grandchildren all in the same city, and is that place where you are currently living or do you travel more easily to see them than what you think will happen when you are traveling full time? We know some people that read bedtime stories to their grandchildren from wherever they are and they preserve the time as part of their schedule. Others FaceTime before they head off to school or when they get home. It's hard with time zone differences, but it's possible if you are determined to make it work. The other option is to plan more trips back to the US to see family, which sometimes is hard, but possible if that's your priority. You may find that you might be spending more time with them this way, but it depends on whether you just want to hug them or are okay with keeping your relationship with them intact or growing. -Judy 📝 Overcoming Homesickness, Overwhelm and Travel Challenges: findingginamarie.com/articles/homesickness-overwhelm-and-travel-challenges-life-as-a-full-time-traveler?rq=homesickness
We are downsizing and oh boy could I use any advice to help. We have been doing 7 weeks away in the past. But this year it will be taking 5 months trip. I am a be prepared for all contingency options, primarily for my husband, because I learned being raised in a big family to "roll with it", but my husband freaks out if he doesn't have what he needs 😜. We will be in Spain for Fall, winter in Thailand and spring in Germany. So bathing suit, and long johns...and pack light, ha hahaha 😆 😅 🤣.
I promise it's possible! Our bags aren't light, but they still are a carry-on and a backpack apiece for three seasons worth of weather. And your husband may be one of those people who needs to learn the hard way and pack a bigger suitcase. Today was a travel day for us from Colmar, France to Paris. Our train require us to drag our suitcases up three steps and in our Strasbourg train we had seats on the upper deck, so we had to navigate a series of steps. When we arrived in Paris, we needed to go down into the metro, which required us to go down three flights of stairs or we could have wandered around looking for an elevator that was not easy for us to see. There were escalators that brought us up to the main underground level when we arrived at our station, but then there was a flight of stairs to get to street level. Again we could have searched out a less convenient exit that had an elevator, but it wasn't worth the hassle. Do that enough times, and he may be looking to lighten his load! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie That exact kind of trip last year has us rethinking our packing to lighter. We did, Paris, Barcelona, Vienna, Venice, and Stuttgart. Stairs upon stairs. He says pack light, do carry-on. Then we start packing and I hear, I need 2 pr long johns, 3 long sleeve shirts, sweat suit, sandals, hiking shoes, sneakers, winter coat,hat, gloves. Oh yeah and clothes....then why are these suitcases so heavy?? I do 1 checked, and a backpack, and a crossbody bag/purse. I pack his, checked bag, then he has electronics filled backpack. I pack all toiletries in checked/ or my backpack. He wants carry-ons but realistically doesn't want the limitations. I carry my bigger suitcase, and heavier backpack on my own, and I agree the stairs are a pain. We just have to make plans with only 1 season, no winter weather. He freezes below 40 when we travel, yet fine at home at 5 degrees??!! I am trying to travel and have less stress, still figuring things out.
@@elizaC3024 Hi Eliza, Could you consider waiting on the winter coat, hat, and gloves and possibly buying them in Germany in a second-hand store when you need them? I'd actually consider those to be four-season gear, not three. Also, if your husband is open to trying wool, he could potentially get by with fewer items. There are long pants that can function as a base layer that can also be used as loungewear/sweatsuit and two long-sleeved shirts instead of three. Kevin wore two short-sleeve button down shirts for the entire time we were in Asia/SE Asia (seven months!!!). Because they were wool, they didn't need to be washed as often, despite the sweaty weather. Wool regulates temperature very well! Getting sneakers with good tread could replace the need for hiking shoes. We follow people who have done through hikes (AT, Pacific Crest Trail, etc.) and get by fine with trail runners, which are much lighter and easier to pack! Are there electronics that you can trim? Kevin's entire backpack is loaded with gear for our TH-cam channel, but if you don't need to bring two cameras, a light kit, and a couple of tripods, could you make do with less? BUT if your husband doesn't enjoy traveling as much as you and packing the kitchen sink is the way to remove or lessen his obstacles, then maybe that's what you end up doing. It could be the compromise you need. -Judy
Hi Alana, Thank you so much for watching and for your kind words. We know that it's so easy to get caught up in wanting to have all the answers, so we tried to convey that it's okay to learn some things as you go. -Judy
Hi Ginger, thanks so much for letting us know! When we were originally leaving San Francisco, we filmed some videos from when we planned to downsize to live in Europe as expats before we decided to travel full time. Our goal was to bring 5 suitcases worth of stuff. It's not quite the same, but it will give you some ideas while we pull together this new episode series. We've been thinking about our process of downsizing and have some ideas we think will be helpful. There also are some other videos in this series you might enjoy in the meantime as well.. -Judy 🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX.html ➡️ Ep.16 How do we fit 50 years in 5 suitcases? ➡️ Ep.17: This is the easy stuff? 50 years in 5 suitcases ➡️ Ep. 19: How to get rid of our expensive stuff - 50 years in 5 suitcases
Wow, Christine! That has come up pretty fast! I know you've been a follower of our channel for a while, so some of this might be repeat information, but here's a compilation of our resources (so far)! 🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX.html 🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH.html 🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads): 📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
Loved this video Kevin & Judy. It’s all such a learning curve….we’re still finding our groove but so glad we made the decision to just into this lifestyle. Working out our sweet spot and think it’s a week to 2 weeks in a place. Been in Istanbul for 4 weeks and we’ve been a bit bored and itching to move on. But you need to figure it out yourself and everyone is different. We are so looking forward to heading home in under 2 weeks so we can cull so much stuff we thought we’d need…some of which have been recommended on other videos. Love your tip that we can buy things all over the world…now we’ve certainly learned that! Haha. Off to Japan & SE Asia in September…Will have to rewatch your Japan videos. Happy travels to you both ❤
Hi Annette, Another full-time couple has said they they also are trying to get in a rhythm. When we first started traveling, the cost of moving so much was also prohibitively expensive for us. And I guess because we also are working, we really do need more time in one place. Right now, we are so far from bored! LOL. We like a lot of our stuff, but we have a one in/one out rule and still would like to lessen our load, but we are reluctant to give up certain things. I'm close to getting rid of my puffy jacket and my bathing suit! They are the "just in case" items I can pick up at some point, but they won't save me appreciable weight and they are convenient, but the last time I wore my bathing suit was Cyprus in mid March 2023! Enjoy your time back in the US. How exciting for you to be visiting Japan and SE Asia! We have videos from Chiang Mai, cities in Vietnam, and Siem Reap in SE Asia in addition to Japan if you need any additional ideas! Have an absolutely wonderful time! -Judy 🎥 Japan travel series: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF0V4Brx4J0uWJdQENFZKWBT.html
Thanks for the suggestion, Catherine! We can do this! In the meantime, you can take a look at our website (by destination) and see all the locations that we've been as full-time travelers. The list is mostly complete with the exception of Ireland (Cork, Middletown), Canada (Montreal, Toronto), Australia (Sydney), Mexico (Cancun), Italy (Siena, San Gimignano) that we visited before we became full-time travelers. Other places that we've visited have been places we've traveled back to as full-time travelers (London, Scotland, France, and Italy). But we can totally put together a highlight reel of our favorite places (although we've actually enjoyed nearly everyplace we've traveled, but we can share our favorites). -Judy
You folks are great. We are about the same age as you and one-month (at least) stays are what work for us. It’s likely more cities will begin to regulate Airbnbs stays of less than 30 days. Long early mornings walks every day is our most important routine. Thanks.
Hi M&T, We will be in Albania in a few days and will be overjoyed to be staying for a month. We've had fast travel for the last five weeks and it's not our favorite way to travel. We love that routine! We haven't been able to be consistent with those because Kevin does like his morning cappuccino, but we've done them in several places-Cagnes-sur-Mer, Athens, and Broughty Ferry, and they are such a great way to start the day. We have stayed in some less walkable cities, but I assume you research it and know before you go so you can find a place or a plan that can work. Love it! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie Yes. We always try to locate ourselves next to parks or hiking trails. Enjoy Albania, we haven’t been south of Croatia in the Balkans yet. We enjoyed Mostar last May.
@fell214: Mostar is on our list of places to visit. We enjoyed Serbia and after even a few days here in Tirana, Bosnia and Herzegovina seem like places we want to see as well! -Judy
@@Fell214 Ugh! Don't tell me that! We are so close that we could actually detour there after Tirana. However, we think we need to wait until next year, unfortunately. We're headed to Morocco, Buenos Aires, and then Rio de Janiero to close out 2024. But we definitely have it in our bucket list! -Judy
Hi Nipa, We probably aren't the best people to share that information since we enjoyed getting rid of everything and not having the responsibility of a home base. At some point in the distant future, we may want one again, but that time is a long way off. When that comes, we certainly will document it! Thanks for your feedback. We always want to hear what our viewers want to see from us! -Judy
We leave this weekend for our first longer term travel adventure (2 mos). We just sold our business and have a one year consulting agreement so in the meantime, we’ll do these 2-3 month travels. We have hopes of doing it more full time so it’s great watching your videos for some practical advice, tips and tricks 😊
We are so excited for you, Russ and Sherri. Two to three months will give you an opportunity to refine what you pack and have a different experience than a vacation. Here's a link to some additional resources that might be helpful, regardless of whether you are traveling full-time or have extended travels. -Judy RESOURCES: 🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH.html 🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads): 📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
Hello Judy and Kevin. We found your videos just recently and enjoy watching it every Saturday morning. We have been thinking to retire a couple years earlier and quite frankly we are mentally ready to make this move! We have a couple of questions though which, I think, you didn’t cover in your videos . 🤔 1. Schengen visa allows you to stay in Europe up to 3 months. So being full time travelers you are moving from Schengen countries to other countries every 3 months, going back and forward? 2. How hard is it to get funds from your US banks to the country you’re staying in without losing too much in the currency exchange? Thank you so much for your positive and very helpful videos. We almost ready to lift our anchor and start our new journey. Looking forward for your answer and new videos! Thank you. Chris and Inna
Hi Chris and Inna, So sorry for the delay in responding. We've been on a run of fast travel and finally have been able to catch our breath. Thank you so much for watching! 1. We are doing what's called the Schengen shuffle (three months in and three months out), but we also are traveling to other parts of the world besides Europe, which can get expensive. Also, there are fewer non-Schengen countries than ever after Bulgaria and Romania were just added last fall. We spent seven consecutive months in Asia/Southeast Asia (last October to mid May). We'll spend four months in South America over the winter, and have traveled to Africa as well. We've about expended our allotment of Schengen days and took a break by going back to the US for three weeks, are currently in Albania for a month, and heading to Morocco for 40 days. We originally intended to go back to Europe at the end of October, but decided that we don't want to freeze, so off to South America we'll head, where it'll be much warmer and a bit cheaper. 2. A lot of places allow you to pay by card, so we don't typically get a ton of cash. We aren't finding that we lose a ton of money in the currency exchange process. ATMs are everywhere, and if you get a Charles Schwab credit card, they'll reimburse all ATM fees. Our credit cards already get no foreign transaction fees, so that's not an issue. Also, whenever we pay at the register, we tell them we want to pay in local currency (with our credit card), and then our bank will figure out the currency versus the vendor doing it for us. Ditto when we pull money from the ATM. The best way is to choose the option to have it convert by local dollars, not your country of origin. We'll be covering more topics about full-time travel in addition to memorializing our travel adventures, but we also have an entire catalog of videos talking about when we were considering being expats and downsizing as well as an assortment of tips for being full-time travelers. We also have a load of content on our website. Here are links. Thanks for watching and best of luck. We're excited for you! -Judy RESOURCES 🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX.html 🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH.html 🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads): 📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
@@FindingGinaMarie oh wow it’s really valuable information. Thank you so much for taking your time and answering our questions. We really appreciate you. Tomorrow is Saturday and we are going to watch your videos again! Your videos for us are like a cappuccino for Kevin. 🤩Your fans from Katy, Tx.
@@Anthrofun882 That's high price if you've seen how important cappuccino is for Kevin! And what a small world! Our daughter just moved away from Katy after living there for the last four years! We lived in The Woodlands for 29 years before we headed to San Francisco and then becoming full-time travelers. We love hearing from our viewers, so don't worry about asking us questions! -Judy
We've learned a lot, but there still are so many parts of the world that are new to us. Every day is a delightful adventure! We are eager to head to South America later this year. -Judy
@@bw5911 Yes, but sometimes that's part of the excitement. We never expected to spend seven months in Asia/SE Asia, but we really enjoyed it and plan to return and explore more (probably not until late winter 2025 or early 2026, but we will do it!). We're hoping that we feel the same about South America! -Judy
@@PravashLama-i9g Our plans are fairly locked in for the remainder of the year, but we'd love to make it to India at some point in 2025 if we can! -Judy
Hi @jgill1964, We haven't had to renew our passports yet. Fortunately mine was renewed during the pandemic and Kevin's was renewed just before we left the US. However, we are watching the number of pages we have left very carefully. We'll probably plan to set up an "Urgent" appointment when we're in the US with the San Francisco Passport Agency and bring them in versus mailing them in order to have expedited service. As far as the paperwork is concerned, since the federal government considers your last-known address as your address for voting, I would use that address as my physical address but have my virtual mailbox address as my mailing address. -Judy 📝 Voting While Living Abroad (As a US Citizen): findingginamarie.com/articles/voting-while-living-abroad-as-a-us-citizen "Urgent" passport appointment: travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast/passport-agencies.html
Hi Gauravi, I'm not sure I understand why you think we stay more than 90 days in the EU. We don't. We're full-time travelers, but we are traveling throughout the world, not just the EU. And even though the EU does have countries that are outside of Schengen, we've been outside the EU for much of our time as full-time travelers. Last fall we began a tour of Asia/SE Asia and spent seven months there. -Judy
Thank you so much for the great information! We recently started traveling more because we became semi-retired. Our passion is cruising! Since I found my afternoons free I needed another challenge and we just started our own TH-cam channel @TravelTuna. Making videos has definitely been a challenge and a learning curve. I love that I'm learning every day! If you do check out our channel just know that we've just started and the videos will only keep getting better. Maybe we'll see each other along our travel journeys. Anna
Thanks for watching! Best of luck to you and congratulations on becoming fellow content creators. Having a TH-cam channel is a lot of work, but the community and encouragement and learning have been so enriching! We get so much back that we can't imagine how quiet our lives would be without it! We just met up with a couple of our viewers yesterday and are meeting a few more next week! Our experience with cruising has been our Nile River cruise, and that's about it. People rave about repositioning cruises, so you might want to talk about those if you have experience with them. We'd love to meet up if our paths cross. We'll be leaving soon for Albania for a month! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie You are very welcome! Thanks for the advice! The repositioning transatlantice cruise that we went on is what we started doing our videos about. It has done well. I bet the Nile River cruise was great! We have really been enjoying it and all the wonderful people we are already meeting. Have a great time in Albania! Anna
We have tried to book only one place in a city for our entire stay in order to get the biggest discount. But in situations like our time in Japan where we shifted from city to city, we have done that. We stayed in three different parts of town in Kyoto and two in Tokyo. -Judy
You both are truly an inspiration… I do have a Q, since you mentioned you both don’t keep a home base in US, what address do you use for your CA DL? Just trying to keep notes as my husband and I are planning to slow travel for good in the next 2 years.
Hi Angelique, We have a virtual mailbox that we use for all our mail. My driver's license is up for renewal next month and DPS told me to update my mailing address first and then renew my license online. You may have to renew in person, but that's every eight years, so I have some time. Here's an article about how it works and also everything you need to know about voting while living abroad. -Judy 📝 How to Stay Connected to Your Mail While Traveling the World: findingginamarie.com/articles/how-to-stay-connected-to-your-mail-while-traveling-the-world 📝 Voting While Living Abroad (As a US Citizen): findingginamarie.com/articles/voting-while-living-abroad-as-a-us-citizen
Hi Marla, We'd say Japan, Canada, Portugal, Scotland, and South Korea felt the most safe. We think that there are some very safe cities even if we might not recommend the entire countryl. But at the same time, we've rarely felt unsafe, especially if you are staying aware of your surroundings, not flashing expensive things, staying in well-lit areas, taking precautions with your valuables, the usual stuff. Thanks so much for watching! -Judy
Hello Judy and Kevin, Have you ever had a family pet? We couldn't imagine not having a family dog, which a big factor in not traveling full-time, but a few weeks a year. Thanks, Joe
We've had dogs most of our lives. Our last dog crossed the rainbow bridge while we were living in San Francisco. We decided we don't want the responsibility (and heartache of losing a dog) right now. A lot of people who have no pets choose to housesit for others' pets as a way to spend time with our furry friends and get cuddles without having to care for one full time. But we also know of travelers who are able to make it work with pets. They're no longer doing full-time travel, but ourfreedomyears.com/long-term-travel-with-a-dog/ have videos that showcase how they travel with their two dogs! But of course, it's fine to be an armchair traveler if you have a large dog or a pet that doesn't travel well. There is nothing wrong with forsaking extended travel in exchange for time with your pets. -Judy
@FindingGinaMarie That's where my wife and I are at right now. Our dog just passed and now we are travelling for a while before we're settled enough for a pet.
Hello, JUDY and KEVIN! That was definitely worthwhile and informative to me. What I really liked was your HONESTY about the process and how it can go awry. Thanks!
Thank you so much, Enrique! We know that perspective and a good sense of humor is key to make this lifestyle work, especially when everything turns upside down everyplace you go. For the most part, we try to not sweat the small stuff and are just grateful that when things go sideways we get to do them in cool parts of the world. We SO appreciate your support and encouragement! -Judy
I’m not retired yet. Layoff 3x in 3 years. Heaven is telling me it’s time to take that travel I’m dreaming since birth!! Yep, we’re starting 3 weeks in Asia then Europe. Thanks for fueling my long lost dream ❤❤
We are so sorry that you've had to deal with multiple layoffs. That must be exhausting and frustrating. So glad to see that you are getting out there and experiencing travel, despite the career challenges. We have a few episodes we think might be helpful and then a full series for full time or extended travelers. We wish you all the best. -Judy
🎥 Health versus Wealth: th-cam.com/video/6avQGFbXa2I/w-d-xo.html
🎥 How we thought unconventionally to retire early: th-cam.com/video/ttyh4NXrbfs/w-d-xo.html
🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX.html
🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH.html
🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads):
📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
While traveling, I would have been ok with a base outside the US. However, it took me a little bit of time (after signing a year-long lease) to realize that I didn't want any base. Thank God, with 30 days' notice, I can break the lease. Perhaps I might change my heart later, but for now, traveling full-time is for me.
It's good news that you were able to break your lease. We feel the same that maybe someday down the road we will change our minds or not be able to travel, but we are absolutely having the time of our lives without worrying about stuff or a home base. Enjoy and safe travels! -Judy
You both are so relaxed and enjoying your selves! Love watching!
Hi Diana, we are very happy to be back on the road and even happier that we'll be in one place for a month soon. However, we met up with two of our viewers in Colmar, France, and just arrived today in Paris. It's hard NOT to enjoy ourselves under those circumstances! -Judy
You hit on such an important point: You're allowed to change your mind!! So many people think they're stuck with their initial decisions. It's okay to learn, explore, and change course.
EXACTLY! We thought we'd be expats in Europe originally. And even though we decided not to change our timeline, we managed to get rid of everything and travel the world. We know we will be happy with so much less than we thought when some day in the far distant future we decide to slow down or have a home base. Thank you so much for watching! -Judy
Love you guys! Plus you’re one of the VERY few travel couples who bother to include Timestamps! ❤❤❤
Thank you so much, John! They aren't hard to add, they take nothing away from our video by including them, and they make it so much easier for someone to find what they're looking for (although we always hope people are interested enough to watch our entire videos, we realize that's not always the case). We appreciate you noticing! -Judy
Kevin - I used to enjoy your Whiskey Riffs videos. I’m wondering what you did with your guitars. Did you sell them? Did you stop playing guitar? If so, don’t you miss that?
Thanks for watching both channels. I still post to @WhiskyRiffs, just much less often. I sold my Epiphone UpTown Kat to a friend and the other three are in storage. I do miss playing guitar and keyboard, which I was learning before leaving San Francisco. Every so often, I drift into a music store just to play an instrument, but it's the biggest sacrifice that I've made for full-time travel. I'll get back to playing music once we have a home base again. No telling when that will be though. Cheers!
We just arrived in Tirana Albania and we absolutely love it! We will be here for a month. It is very affordable and the food and restaurant options are endless. I would rank it slightly higher than Türkiye or Greece which we loved.
@jameshall2299 we are retired and have slow traveled to Tirana. We’ve
been here 3 weeks. It’s a great town!
@@dianamartin9558 do you have any favorite restaurants in the blokku neighborhood?
@@jameshall2299 Era was traditional and good. We prefer Oda which isn’t in Blokku for traditional food.
@@dianamartin9558 we dined at Olivetta and loved it and also Bella Napoli for amazing pizza.
@@dianamartin9558 thanks for the recommendation for Era as our place we had picked was closed and for sale when we arrived.
Hi! Judy & Kevin, What a lovely & helpful video! We liked the reminder that all travel issues are usually temporary & can be resolved. We learn so much from both of you from your words & your actions. Thank you!
Marion & Jan 😁❤️👍🏼
Thank you so much for taking the time to watch our video and for your kind words, Marion & Jan. We wish you all the best on your travels and hope at some point that our paths will cross! -Judy
I’d love a video explaining how you actually got rid of all your stuff before stating this journey. Also, how do you handle banking and passport renewals? Thanks as always for the informative and entertaining videos!
Hi James, We have a new video in the works about getting rid of our stuff and some hard lessons we learned. In the meantime, we have a few of our older videos from when we were clearing out our stuff thinking we'd be expats living in Europe that might be helpful in the meantime.
As far as banking, we've kept our US phone number and verifications go to it versus getting local eSIMs. We use T-Mobile's Magenta plan and we pay for monthly international data. If we receive checks through our virtual mailbox, we can request that they deposit them for us. Our US bank works easily and we aren't charged foreign transaction fees. We are looking into a Charles Schwab debit card to save on some of the fees for using a bank out of our network, but we don't use cash a ton and haven't felt like those fees have been unreasonable. Schwab will reimburse all of your ATM fees, but then you do have to shuffle money around.
So far we haven't needed to renew our passports. I applied for a new one during the pandemic, and Kevin renewed his just before we launched. We always suggest renewing it much earlier than necessary (US Department of State suggests renewing it nine months before the expiration date) and ALSO keeping an eye on the number of your blank passport pages. We would either plan to renew them using the urgent service (less than two weeks before international travel) during our next visit to the US, or if necessary, we'll find an embassy in a country where we'll be for plenty of time-at least two months, probably the UK or Western EU in case there are issues. I hope this helps! -Judy
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX.html
🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH.html
🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads):
📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
I have made notes on this to keep for later to help me when I start my travels..it has the answers I will want to hear when I am feeling a little lost. Thank you .. this video will help me through my travels on those uncertain times ❤
Thanks for watching, Nella. Your kind words mean a lot to us, and we truly hope you take comfort in this video. We know that many people plan and plan and plan and worry about missing something important, but if you don't step onto this path blindly, there's a lot you can figure out once you've already started. -Judy
This is such a great video, guys. I often watch your videos and wonder how you handle the every day obstacles. Just vacationing in Italy the few times I've been has presented issues that we've had to overcome. You can look at it as being a hassle, or part of the adventure. I got Covid in Italy, I got pickpocketed while in Florence (not the same trip), it all worked out in the end. Super helpful info for anyone thinking of doing what you're doing. I really admire your determination in making this HUGE lifestyle change. Good for you both! Ciao!
Thank you so much, Diana! Those are not easy circumstances you've dealt with to keep a smile on your face, so good for you! While our lifestyle might sound scary and we might seem brave, actually, we have to pinch ourselves whenever we think about how we are living. We don't pretend that everything is sunshine and roses every day, but our bad days are pretty far and few between. We are so grateful for how we are living and there's rarely a dull moment-in fact, we're trying to figure out how to sneak a few of those into the mix! -Judy
Great episode! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much for watching, Linda! We appreciate all of your support! -Judy
Great tips in this video, thanks again guys.
I was wondering how much it actually costs, say per annum, for your style of travel? Would you mind please indulging with some overall cost figures please?
Hi Dan, We don't typically share our full cost of living since while we have a budget, we aren't budget travelers and don't want to discourage anyone from traveling full-time even if they can afford less than we can. Of course, there are many people with bigger budgets than ours, too! We'll certainly put together this sort of video sometime this year. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie I’m more interested to see the range of cost actually, I’m not trying to pry about your personal finances. I’m after some figures I can compare to Aussie pension pay,ents
It's not a worry at all, Dan. We understand that it's helpful for other people to have an idea of what to expect financially since that's such an important thing to be thinking about. -Judy
Hello there, I just recently discovered your channel a few days ago and I absolutely love it!!
I’m wondering if ya’ll have a series on breaking down the cost more less of what you guys spent monthly just to give us an idea? Is there one already on this topic or maybe in the near future? Thanks for the great tips!!!
Hi Sara, Thank you so much for watching! We just had a few very heavy travel days, so sorry for the delay in responding. Our regular travel videos typically show the cost of our Airbnb, the food we showcase in our episodes and the activities we do in order to give an idea of how much a city costs. Since we're on a budget but not budget travelers per se, we haven't done that, but we are open to doing it. We just don't want to put off people who think they need to spend what we do in order to live this lifestyle. -Judy
Thanks for another great video. The slow v fast travel is something we are still working on. Too slow is kind of boring but too fast is exhausting. We are still searching for the sweet spot. S America is a great choice for the winter. You definitely won’t freeze there.
Fast travel as a full time travel will burn you out in no time and also increase costs significantly.
Hi Stan, I think because we are working on TH-cam, slow travel of a month or so is a great fit for us because we aren't exploring every day. We might feel differently if we were juggling less. However, I think we personally could spend more time planning, relaxing, maintaining and cultivating friendships, and even volunteering if we had extra time, so for us the pace probably wouldn't change. But you both are doing a lot and seem very happy, so it's working for you! I know after five weeks of fast travel, we are delighted to be in Albania for a month and almost would like it to be longer, but we do still want to see new places, which keeps us from extending most of our stays. You'll figure it out! And thank you for the encouragement. It's pretty hot here now-I feel like I'm in SE Asia! But we definitely don't want to freeze. This will be our first time in South America, so we are really looking forward to it! Thanks so much for your kind words! Safe travels! -Judy
Each person has their own pace and budget, and although we have found your point to be true for us, we know that some people thrive on a faster pace and have a bigger budget than ours! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie for sure. For us, regardless of cost we prefer slow travel. We do have some quick stops coming up later in the year and I am not looking forward to moving every 4 days.
@@JayandSarah Ohh. Every four days. Not ideal. We'll send you positive energy during that time. Sometimes it has to be done, and even when we enjoy it-because those days are worth it-they can be tiring. Hopefully afterwards you'll have a good break to decompress. -Judy
Thanks for your insights. We’re happy to have discovered your channel and will be watching your Vietnam video after this one. We couldn’t agree more about travelling light. We too only have a small carry on bag and once you get used to it, it’s really very liberating,also travelling slow and seeing more by moving less is as you say a wonderful thing. We travel using home exchange and if I could suggest anything to your viewers I’d say give it a go. Anyway, looking forward to travelling alongside you. All the best from Madeira island. Your new subscribers Yvonne and Mike
Thank you so much for joining us, Yvonne and Mike! We are so happy to have you here! I have an aunt that was very happy using home exchange for some of her travels. It's hard for those of us who don't have a home base, but otherwise, it's a fabulous idea! We've been to Portugal, but we haven't been to Madeira Island yet! We have an entire series from Vietnam. Fair warning, our location in Ho Chi Minh City wasn't our favorite, but we really loved Hanoi and Hoi An. Had we stayed in another part of HCMC, we think we would have had a much better experience (and we talk about that in one of our videos). We ended up spending a month and then another three weeks there. We hope you have a wonderful time! -Judy
🎥 Vietnam video series: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF0w1OZR1ZwgqGRPRMKXZaNB.html
@@FindingGinaMarie Hi there Judy, thanks for taking the time to reply. I'd def' recommend a trip to Madeira and it's lovely levadas, (not to tout but we have quite a few videos there if you're wondering what it's like?) We'll def' be checking out your Vietnam series as that'll be our next trip. Thanks for all your hard work and look forward to tagging along virtually on your world travels.
Thanks for the encouragement, although we don't need much because we are very curious about other parts of Spain! And we subscribed to your channel. You have an interesting approach to your videos. We know a lot of people who really do appreciate knowing what walking the streets of a place is like before they arrive or as incentive to arrive! We hope you have a great experience through Vietnam! Safe travels! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie It's lovely to have connected with you. Madeira is Portuguese, but if you look on the map you wouldn't know it, as it's closer to the Canary Islands and Morocco. It's a hard place not to fall in love with, so if you do ever come, I'm sure you won't be disappointed. We split our time between here and the UK. We've backpacked for many years, so we understand your love of travel for sure. Hope our paths might cross one of these days. Anyway thanks again for your lovely channel and look forward to following many more of your adventures.
We'll actually be in Morocco on our next stop. If we didn't already have all our details locked in, it would have been a smart idea for us to detour there. Bummer. Do you agree that staying in Funchal is our best plan? We give you a lot of credit for backpacking. We do like a few more creature comforts these days! We've added it to our wish list! -Judy
Yes! Would love to hear about your downsizing /purging story
Thanks so much for letting us know, Ellen! We will be working on it! In the meantime, we have some old videos that we filmed when we were first going through it. Our channel was very early and we were just finding ourselves, but those episodes may be helpful. -Judy
🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX.html
🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH.html
🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads):
📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
Different and very good information
Thank you so much for watching and for this thoughtful/kind comment. We appreciate it so much! -Judy
This was such a timely video based on our conversation. So glad you made it to Paris!
Thank you so much, Rebecca! It was rainy when we arrived, but we were so glad to be visiting there again. We had no idea that it had been seven years since we last were there. Our time in every part of France was way too short! Hope you are enjoying your time in Switzerland! -Judy
South America from Nov onwards ? Great, look forward to it ! More than 10 yrs ago, I was in Costa Rica and Nicaragua for 1 week. In CR, I was staying alone in a house. On my 1st night, I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night to very loud sudden shaking. The whole roof of the house was shaking violently and I thought it was going to collapse on my bed! But after a few seconds, the shaking stopped. I then went to look out of the window, but the outside was eerily quiet and the air was strangely very still. Due to jet lag fatigue, I then went back to bed and slept like a baby 😅
The next morning, my office colleagues asked me how was the EARTHQUAKE experience!😮. It turned out that after the shaking stopped, they all rushed out of their houses to gather at a safe area. In the library of our office building, all the book shelves were overturned, and books were all over the floor :). My 1st earthquake experience 😊
Will you be going to Cancun and Buenos Aires? Unfortunately, my wife is not interested in South America because of all the news about the drug cartels and gang violence 😢. I am of course more adventurous, having survived the biggest earthquake in CR’s history (exaggeration intended) !
Thanks for the great comment, Mike. We've finally settled in Tirana after five weeks of fast travel and it feels good to be able to breathe! Yes! We'll start in Buenos Aires and then spend a few days in El Chaltén, Argentina, which is part of Patagonia. Next we'll be in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to close out 2024 and then Santiago, Chile in January and February in Peru.
Costa Rica has been on our bucket list since our kids were in middle school, but we've not made our way there yet. I'm not sure if we're going to get there yet, since it may be prohibitively hot there in March and/or we may want to get back to Europe by then. We're starting to sort our 2025 plans, though, so who knows!
Earthquake experience! How unnerving to experience your first earthquake in an unfamiliar place. Although we had a big one in Taipei, we were semi prepared for it thanks to a few smaller quakes when we were in San Francisco. And of course, back then, we immediately went to Twitter to see if it was an earthquake and whether others had felt it too! I can't imagine not knowing what it was but being unnerved by it (well, most of us would have been!). Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this. Wow!
We have a lot of bucket list places in mind for 2025, including Malta, Sardinia, hopefully Australia and New Zealand and more places in Europe as best we can sort out. We are trying to get to South Africa, but we may not be able to do both Oz and Africa in the same year.
We've actually been to Cancun when our kids were little and took a fascinating day trip to Chichén Itzá. So while we'd love to go again, it may not be someplace we visit for a while. There's a likelihood we'll be in Mexico in 2026 though! -Judy
Yes - I'd be really interested in a video with tips and advice, from your experience, on downsizing to prepare for full-time travel! Thanks so much for all your helpful videos!
Thanks so much for letting us know, Beth! We have a series of videos from when we were in the thick of it and considering living as expats in Europe that are in this playlist linked below, but we have some fresh ideas we want to add, so stay tuned for those videos. -Judy
🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX.html
➡️ Ep.16 How do we fit 50 years in 5 suitcases?
➡️ Ep.17: This is the easy stuff? 50 years in 5 suitcases
➡️ Ep. 19: How to get rid of our expensive stuff - 50 years in 5 suitcases
Great discussion and info. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much for watching, Erin! Not sure if there's anything new here for you, but we know how intimidating it can be for some people to take the plunge. We hoped in a small way we could help set aside some of the worst fears about not having all the answers or worrying if you've made a grave mistake. If you have learnings to share, we'd love to hear them! -Judy
Please please talk about missing family or grandkids.
We really want to travel, but being away from grandkids more than a month is breaking my heart. ❤️
Hi Catherine, This isn't what you want, but in the meantime this article addresses some of what you are talking about dealing with homesickness. We have some tips for you that we'll definitely share. For reference, are your grandchildren all in the same city, and is that place where you are currently living or do you travel more easily to see them than what you think will happen when you are traveling full time?
We know some people that read bedtime stories to their grandchildren from wherever they are and they preserve the time as part of their schedule. Others FaceTime before they head off to school or when they get home. It's hard with time zone differences, but it's possible if you are determined to make it work. The other option is to plan more trips back to the US to see family, which sometimes is hard, but possible if that's your priority.
You may find that you might be spending more time with them this way, but it depends on whether you just want to hug them or are okay with keeping your relationship with them intact or growing. -Judy
📝 Overcoming Homesickness, Overwhelm and Travel Challenges: findingginamarie.com/articles/homesickness-overwhelm-and-travel-challenges-life-as-a-full-time-traveler?rq=homesickness
We are downsizing and oh boy could I use any advice to help. We have been doing 7 weeks away in the past. But this year it will be taking 5 months trip. I am a be prepared for all contingency options, primarily for my husband, because I learned being raised in a big family to "roll with it", but my husband freaks out if he doesn't have what he needs 😜. We will be in Spain for Fall, winter in Thailand and spring in Germany. So bathing suit, and long johns...and pack light, ha hahaha 😆 😅 🤣.
I promise it's possible! Our bags aren't light, but they still are a carry-on and a backpack apiece for three seasons worth of weather. And your husband may be one of those people who needs to learn the hard way and pack a bigger suitcase.
Today was a travel day for us from Colmar, France to Paris. Our train require us to drag our suitcases up three steps and in our Strasbourg train we had seats on the upper deck, so we had to navigate a series of steps. When we arrived in Paris, we needed to go down into the metro, which required us to go down three flights of stairs or we could have wandered around looking for an elevator that was not easy for us to see. There were escalators that brought us up to the main underground level when we arrived at our station, but then there was a flight of stairs to get to street level. Again we could have searched out a less convenient exit that had an elevator, but it wasn't worth the hassle. Do that enough times, and he may be looking to lighten his load! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie That exact kind of trip last year has us rethinking our packing to lighter. We did, Paris, Barcelona, Vienna, Venice, and Stuttgart. Stairs upon stairs. He says pack light, do carry-on. Then we start packing and I hear, I need 2 pr long johns, 3 long sleeve shirts, sweat suit, sandals, hiking shoes, sneakers, winter coat,hat, gloves. Oh yeah and clothes....then why are these suitcases so heavy?? I do 1 checked, and a backpack, and a crossbody bag/purse. I pack his, checked bag, then he has electronics filled backpack. I pack all toiletries in checked/ or my backpack. He wants carry-ons but realistically doesn't want the limitations. I carry my bigger suitcase, and heavier backpack on my own, and I agree the stairs are a pain. We just have to make plans with only 1 season, no winter weather. He freezes below 40 when we travel, yet fine at home at 5 degrees??!! I am trying to travel and have less stress, still figuring things out.
@@elizaC3024 Hi Eliza, Could you consider waiting on the winter coat, hat, and gloves and possibly buying them in Germany in a second-hand store when you need them? I'd actually consider those to be four-season gear, not three. Also, if your husband is open to trying wool, he could potentially get by with fewer items. There are long pants that can function as a base layer that can also be used as loungewear/sweatsuit and two long-sleeved shirts instead of three. Kevin wore two short-sleeve button down shirts for the entire time we were in Asia/SE Asia (seven months!!!). Because they were wool, they didn't need to be washed as often, despite the sweaty weather. Wool regulates temperature very well!
Getting sneakers with good tread could replace the need for hiking shoes. We follow people who have done through hikes (AT, Pacific Crest Trail, etc.) and get by fine with trail runners, which are much lighter and easier to pack! Are there electronics that you can trim? Kevin's entire backpack is loaded with gear for our TH-cam channel, but if you don't need to bring two cameras, a light kit, and a couple of tripods, could you make do with less?
BUT if your husband doesn't enjoy traveling as much as you and packing the kitchen sink is the way to remove or lessen his obstacles, then maybe that's what you end up doing. It could be the compromise you need. -Judy
A great video, very useful and no nonsense advice. I have watched a lot of tips for retirement and travel videos and yours is the best . Thanks 😊
Hi Alana, Thank you so much for watching and for your kind words. We know that it's so easy to get caught up in wanting to have all the answers, so we tried to convey that it's okay to learn some things as you go. -Judy
I’d love to hear more about downsizing!
Hi Ginger, thanks so much for letting us know! When we were originally leaving San Francisco, we filmed some videos from when we planned to downsize to live in Europe as expats before we decided to travel full time. Our goal was to bring 5 suitcases worth of stuff. It's not quite the same, but it will give you some ideas while we pull together this new episode series. We've been thinking about our process of downsizing and have some ideas we think will be helpful. There also are some other videos in this series you might enjoy in the meantime as well.. -Judy
🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX.html
➡️ Ep.16 How do we fit 50 years in 5 suitcases?
➡️ Ep.17: This is the easy stuff? 50 years in 5 suitcases
➡️ Ep. 19: How to get rid of our expensive stuff - 50 years in 5 suitcases
Im about 2 months out from our start of full time travel and the timing of this video is perfect. Thank you!
Wow, Christine! That has come up pretty fast! I know you've been a follower of our channel for a while, so some of this might be repeat information, but here's a compilation of our resources (so far)!
🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX.html
🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH.html
🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads):
📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
@@FindingGinaMarie even if I've seen them probably worth a rewatch! Thank you.
Loved this video Kevin & Judy. It’s all such a learning curve….we’re still finding our groove but so glad we made the decision to just into this lifestyle. Working out our sweet spot and think it’s a week to 2 weeks in a place. Been in Istanbul for 4 weeks and we’ve been a bit bored and itching to move on. But you need to figure it out yourself and everyone is different. We are so looking forward to heading home in under 2 weeks so we can cull so much stuff we thought we’d need…some of which have been recommended on other videos. Love your tip that we can buy things all over the world…now we’ve certainly learned that! Haha.
Off to Japan & SE Asia in September…Will have to rewatch your Japan videos.
Happy travels to you both ❤
Hi Annette, Another full-time couple has said they they also are trying to get in a rhythm. When we first started traveling, the cost of moving so much was also prohibitively expensive for us. And I guess because we also are working, we really do need more time in one place. Right now, we are so far from bored! LOL. We like a lot of our stuff, but we have a one in/one out rule and still would like to lessen our load, but we are reluctant to give up certain things. I'm close to getting rid of my puffy jacket and my bathing suit! They are the "just in case" items I can pick up at some point, but they won't save me appreciable weight and they are convenient, but the last time I wore my bathing suit was Cyprus in mid March 2023! Enjoy your time back in the US.
How exciting for you to be visiting Japan and SE Asia! We have videos from Chiang Mai, cities in Vietnam, and Siem Reap in SE Asia in addition to Japan if you need any additional ideas! Have an absolutely wonderful time! -Judy
🎥 Japan travel series: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF0V4Brx4J0uWJdQENFZKWBT.html
Please please share where you’ve traveled and what locations were your favorites.
Thank you in advance
Thanks for the suggestion, Catherine! We can do this! In the meantime, you can take a look at our website (by destination) and see all the locations that we've been as full-time travelers. The list is mostly complete with the exception of Ireland (Cork, Middletown), Canada (Montreal, Toronto), Australia (Sydney), Mexico (Cancun), Italy (Siena, San Gimignano) that we visited before we became full-time travelers. Other places that we've visited have been places we've traveled back to as full-time travelers (London, Scotland, France, and Italy).
But we can totally put together a highlight reel of our favorite places (although we've actually enjoyed nearly everyplace we've traveled, but we can share our favorites). -Judy
You folks are great. We are about the same age as you and one-month (at least) stays are what work for us. It’s likely more cities will begin to regulate Airbnbs stays of less than 30 days. Long early mornings walks every day is our most important routine. Thanks.
Hi M&T, We will be in Albania in a few days and will be overjoyed to be staying for a month. We've had fast travel for the last five weeks and it's not our favorite way to travel. We love that routine! We haven't been able to be consistent with those because Kevin does like his morning cappuccino, but we've done them in several places-Cagnes-sur-Mer, Athens, and Broughty Ferry, and they are such a great way to start the day. We have stayed in some less walkable cities, but I assume you research it and know before you go so you can find a place or a plan that can work. Love it! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie Yes. We always try to locate ourselves next to parks or hiking trails. Enjoy Albania, we haven’t been south of Croatia in the Balkans yet. We enjoyed Mostar last May.
@fell214: Mostar is on our list of places to visit. We enjoyed Serbia and after even a few days here in Tirana, Bosnia and Herzegovina seem like places we want to see as well! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie Mostar is one of the most interesting places we have visited.
@@Fell214 Ugh! Don't tell me that! We are so close that we could actually detour there after Tirana. However, we think we need to wait until next year, unfortunately. We're headed to Morocco, Buenos Aires, and then Rio de Janiero to close out 2024. But we definitely have it in our bucket list! -Judy
Please do make a video about keeping the home base!
They didn’t keep one.
Hi Nipa, We probably aren't the best people to share that information since we enjoyed getting rid of everything and not having the responsibility of a home base. At some point in the distant future, we may want one again, but that time is a long way off. When that comes, we certainly will document it! Thanks for your feedback. We always want to hear what our viewers want to see from us! -Judy
Really great video and reminders! Thank you.
Hi Russ and Sherri, thank you so much for watching! Are you full-time travelers as well? -Judy
We leave this weekend for our first longer term travel adventure (2 mos). We just sold our business and have a one year consulting agreement so in the meantime, we’ll do these 2-3 month travels. We have hopes of doing it more full time so it’s great watching your videos for some practical advice, tips and tricks 😊
We are so excited for you, Russ and Sherri. Two to three months will give you an opportunity to refine what you pack and have a different experience than a vacation. Here's a link to some additional resources that might be helpful, regardless of whether you are traveling full-time or have extended travels. -Judy
RESOURCES:
🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH.html
🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads):
📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
Hello Judy and Kevin. We found your videos just recently and enjoy watching it every Saturday morning.
We have been thinking to retire a couple years earlier and quite frankly we are mentally ready to make this move!
We have a couple of questions though which, I think, you didn’t cover in your videos . 🤔
1. Schengen visa allows you to stay in Europe up to 3 months. So being full time travelers you are moving from Schengen countries to other countries every 3 months, going back and forward?
2. How hard is it to get funds from your US banks to the country you’re staying in without losing too much in the currency exchange?
Thank you so much for your positive and very helpful videos. We almost ready to lift our anchor and start our new journey.
Looking forward for your answer and new videos! Thank you.
Chris and Inna
Hi Chris and Inna, So sorry for the delay in responding. We've been on a run of fast travel and finally have been able to catch our breath. Thank you so much for watching!
1. We are doing what's called the Schengen shuffle (three months in and three months out), but we also are traveling to other parts of the world besides Europe, which can get expensive. Also, there are fewer non-Schengen countries than ever after Bulgaria and Romania were just added last fall. We spent seven consecutive months in Asia/Southeast Asia (last October to mid May). We'll spend four months in South America over the winter, and have traveled to Africa as well. We've about expended our allotment of Schengen days and took a break by going back to the US for three weeks, are currently in Albania for a month, and heading to Morocco for 40 days. We originally intended to go back to Europe at the end of October, but decided that we don't want to freeze, so off to South America we'll head, where it'll be much warmer and a bit cheaper.
2. A lot of places allow you to pay by card, so we don't typically get a ton of cash. We aren't finding that we lose a ton of money in the currency exchange process. ATMs are everywhere, and if you get a Charles Schwab credit card, they'll reimburse all ATM fees. Our credit cards already get no foreign transaction fees, so that's not an issue. Also, whenever we pay at the register, we tell them we want to pay in local currency (with our credit card), and then our bank will figure out the currency versus the vendor doing it for us. Ditto when we pull money from the ATM. The best way is to choose the option to have it convert by local dollars, not your country of origin.
We'll be covering more topics about full-time travel in addition to memorializing our travel adventures, but we also have an entire catalog of videos talking about when we were considering being expats and downsizing as well as an assortment of tips for being full-time travelers. We also have a load of content on our website. Here are links. Thanks for watching and best of luck. We're excited for you! -Judy
RESOURCES
🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX.html
🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: th-cam.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH.html
🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads):
📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
@@FindingGinaMarie oh wow it’s really valuable information. Thank you so much for taking your time and answering our questions. We really appreciate you. Tomorrow is Saturday and we are going to watch your videos again! Your videos for us are like a cappuccino for Kevin. 🤩Your fans from Katy, Tx.
@@Anthrofun882 That's high price if you've seen how important cappuccino is for Kevin! And what a small world! Our daughter just moved away from Katy after living there for the last four years! We lived in The Woodlands for 29 years before we headed to San Francisco and then becoming full-time travelers. We love hearing from our viewers, so don't worry about asking us questions! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie thank you Judy, it means a lot to me! Thanks again. 🤗
Love this and you guys!❤
Thank you so much for watching, BW! We hope our tips resonated with you, especially being a more experienced traveler than we are! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie I need to slow it down for sure. You guys are very experienced too!
We've learned a lot, but there still are so many parts of the world that are new to us. Every day is a delightful adventure! We are eager to head to South America later this year. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarieNew places are always a challenge!
@@bw5911 Yes, but sometimes that's part of the excitement. We never expected to spend seven months in Asia/SE Asia, but we really enjoyed it and plan to return and explore more (probably not until late winter 2025 or early 2026, but we will do it!). We're hoping that we feel the same about South America! -Judy
Hello namaste. I really enjoyed your video. You are welcome here in my hometown Darjeeling. Please enjoy your journey
Namaste! We would *love* to make our way to India, and Darjeeling looks very interesting. Thank you so much for watching! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie you are most heartily welcome if you need itinerary for Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya please do let me know. Thank you
@@PravashLama-i9g Our plans are fairly locked in for the remainder of the year, but we'd love to make it to India at some point in 2025 if we can! -Judy
When traveling full time, what address do you use for passport renewal?
Hi @jgill1964, We haven't had to renew our passports yet. Fortunately mine was renewed during the pandemic and Kevin's was renewed just before we left the US. However, we are watching the number of pages we have left very carefully. We'll probably plan to set up an "Urgent" appointment when we're in the US with the San Francisco Passport Agency and bring them in versus mailing them in order to have expedited service.
As far as the paperwork is concerned, since the federal government considers your last-known address as your address for voting, I would use that address as my physical address but have my virtual mailbox address as my mailing address. -Judy
📝 Voting While Living Abroad (As a US Citizen): findingginamarie.com/articles/voting-while-living-abroad-as-a-us-citizen
"Urgent" passport appointment: travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast/passport-agencies.html
EU does not allow you to stay more than 90 days without a visa. How did you get around that?
Hi Gauravi, I'm not sure I understand why you think we stay more than 90 days in the EU. We don't. We're full-time travelers, but we are traveling throughout the world, not just the EU. And even though the EU does have countries that are outside of Schengen, we've been outside the EU for much of our time as full-time travelers. Last fall we began a tour of Asia/SE Asia and spent seven months there. -Judy
Thank you so much for the great information! We recently started traveling more because we became semi-retired. Our passion is cruising! Since I found my afternoons free I needed another challenge and we just started our own TH-cam channel @TravelTuna. Making videos has definitely been a challenge and a learning curve. I love that I'm learning every day! If you do check out our channel just know that we've just started and the videos will only keep getting better. Maybe we'll see each other along our travel journeys. Anna
Thanks for watching! Best of luck to you and congratulations on becoming fellow content creators. Having a TH-cam channel is a lot of work, but the community and encouragement and learning have been so enriching! We get so much back that we can't imagine how quiet our lives would be without it! We just met up with a couple of our viewers yesterday and are meeting a few more next week! Our experience with cruising has been our Nile River cruise, and that's about it. People rave about repositioning cruises, so you might want to talk about those if you have experience with them. We'd love to meet up if our paths cross. We'll be leaving soon for Albania for a month! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie You are very welcome! Thanks for the advice! The repositioning transatlantice cruise that we went on is what we started doing our videos about. It has done well. I bet the Nile River cruise was great! We have really been enjoying it and all the wonderful people we are already meeting. Have a great time in Albania! Anna
Have you ever moved around in one city?
We have tried to book only one place in a city for our entire stay in order to get the biggest discount. But in situations like our time in Japan where we shifted from city to city, we have done that. We stayed in three different parts of town in Kyoto and two in Tokyo. -Judy
You both are truly an inspiration… I do have a Q, since you mentioned you both don’t keep a home base in US, what address do you use for your CA DL? Just trying to keep notes as my husband and I are planning to slow travel for good in the next 2 years.
Hi Angelique, We have a virtual mailbox that we use for all our mail. My driver's license is up for renewal next month and DPS told me to update my mailing address first and then renew my license online. You may have to renew in person, but that's every eight years, so I have some time.
Here's an article about how it works and also everything you need to know about voting while living abroad. -Judy
📝 How to Stay Connected to Your Mail While Traveling the World: findingginamarie.com/articles/how-to-stay-connected-to-your-mail-while-traveling-the-world
📝 Voting While Living Abroad (As a US Citizen): findingginamarie.com/articles/voting-while-living-abroad-as-a-us-citizen
@@FindingGinaMarie thank you so much for your reply. I will check these out.
Thanks for the great content. What are the safest countries in your opinion to travel for a solo female?
Hi Marla, We'd say Japan, Canada, Portugal, Scotland, and South Korea felt the most safe. We think that there are some very safe cities even if we might not recommend the entire countryl. But at the same time, we've rarely felt unsafe, especially if you are staying aware of your surroundings, not flashing expensive things, staying in well-lit areas, taking precautions with your valuables, the usual stuff. Thanks so much for watching! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie Thank you for the prompt response. Good Luck.
Hello Judy and Kevin, Have you ever had a family pet? We couldn't imagine not having a family dog, which a big factor in not traveling full-time, but a few weeks a year. Thanks, Joe
Warren Knox has a nice channel where he and his wife share their travels with a car and dogs in Europe. He actually bought a home.
@@GaryMalcolm Thanks Gary!
We've had dogs most of our lives. Our last dog crossed the rainbow bridge while we were living in San Francisco. We decided we don't want the responsibility (and heartache of losing a dog) right now. A lot of people who have no pets choose to housesit for others' pets as a way to spend time with our furry friends and get cuddles without having to care for one full time. But we also know of travelers who are able to make it work with pets. They're no longer doing full-time travel, but ourfreedomyears.com/long-term-travel-with-a-dog/ have videos that showcase how they travel with their two dogs!
But of course, it's fine to be an armchair traveler if you have a large dog or a pet that doesn't travel well. There is nothing wrong with forsaking extended travel in exchange for time with your pets. -Judy
@FindingGinaMarie That's where my wife and I are at right now. Our dog just passed and now we are travelling for a while before we're settled enough for a pet.
Hi @GaryMalcolm, we are so sorry to hear about the passing of your pet. That's a very hard thing. We wish you comfort and healing. -Judy
Hello, JUDY and KEVIN! That was definitely worthwhile and informative to me. What I really liked was your HONESTY about the process and how it can go awry. Thanks!
Thank you so much, Enrique! We know that perspective and a good sense of humor is key to make this lifestyle work, especially when everything turns upside down everyplace you go. For the most part, we try to not sweat the small stuff and are just grateful that when things go sideways we get to do them in cool parts of the world. We SO appreciate your support and encouragement! -Judy