Can totally relate to your endless hours of research. Try adding a bunch of dietary restrictions to the mix and you end up with hours of 'food research' on top of everything else (restaurant menus, reviews, etc.) Cooking at 'home' helps of course, but it's important to try the local foods too. My newest strategy is searching 'buffet' in each city.
@@fidelcup Smart idea! Buffets should provide lots of range and you can take your pick. Definitely travelling with food restrictions adds a whole other layer of complexity but good to know that it's not a limiting factor for you.
GREAT video! I'm new to the nomadic lifestyle, having sold my house and car and donating almost everything else back in August. I've started my journey in Turkey, so it was great to see so many references to Turkey in your video. This video addressed a lot of the issues I've become aware of in my short time so far as a nomad. The planning issue really resonated with me, since I am actively planning travel in SE Asia in the first half of 2023. What I've decided to do is only work on the planning for future trips on the weekends. I've found in retirement that the weekends are the time when things are the busiest, so I tend to not visit sites, museums, do grocery shopping, etc. on the weekends. Instead, I do those things during the week. So that frees up the weekends to spend time inside the apartment and do trip planning, reading, etc. It seems to be working for me so far. I hope you keep on making videos like this one. They are really helpful! Happy travels!
Jim, would love to hear your south Asian plans as we are starting our journey in Jan. Of 2024 starting where ever the cheapest one way flights brings me near thaliand or Vietnam. My plan is to see Vietnam - Thailand - Bali then hoping on a cruise in Perth for 18 days which includes New Zealand finishing off hopefully the gold coast hope to see the great barrier reef! All this should take about 90 days, looking for ideas and things to do in South Asia. Thanks for anyone inputs!
@@tcmazz Great to hear you will start your journey in Asia. That itinerary is pretty ambitious for only 90 days. Perth is a great city to spend some time in. And then after you take your cruise and arrive in New Zealand, you'll definitely want to spend some time there. Beautiful country. Adding in the Gold Coast and Great Barrier Reef, you could easily need 60-90 days for just the Australia/New Zealand part of your trip. Vietnam has a 30-day limit for their visa, so you can't spend more than a month there. For your first time in Thailand, see Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Bali...well, no matter how long you decide to spend there, you'll wish you had planned for more. LOL
@@nomadjim thanks for your reply, we are only cruising thru New Zealand the lower part of the island with only two stops in New Zealand its part of the cruise. The cruise ends in Sydney. We are definitely planning to come back to New Zealand and do a proper month long vacation there. We are budgeting $15K for the whole trip with $8K going to Australia for a month (18 days is the cruise - $4500) leaving about $3500 for 12 days in Australia. So I'm projecting $7K for two months to go to Thailand - Bali and if its possible (Vietnam). Yes a bit ambitious for sure while at the same time getting our feet wet in a part of the world we never been in!
Very smart! I really like the idea of weekend planning when everyone else is out visiting sights. I guess that's the beauty of early retirement -- lots of time during the week!
We've thought about slowing down the pace to perhaps three months in each destination. But I think that strategy is still in the future as we're excited to explore lots of different places in South America.
Wow girls, this is one of the best videos I’ve seen on your channel. You’re so brave to share the realities behind the instagram moments that almost everybody hides. Great to see you’re learning, defining your lifestyle and helping us on our way to reach our goals in life.
Glad you liked it! The past few years have presented us with a lot of challenges and learning opportunities and we're happy to pass along those hard-won lessons. 😊
Interesting video - looking forward to your next trip! I am a planner both by personality profession, so I (mostly) enjoy it, but it can be very time-consuming and stressful at times. A couple tips that you probably already know, but may help others: 1) Create a travel planner or outline that can be re-used for all destinations. This would contain the categories of all the things you need to research (visas, vaccinations, insurance, weather, currency, sim cards, local transportation, nearest clinic/hospital, etc.) 2) If you have a partner, divide the tasks up, based on each person's likes and strengths. For example, I'm the detail guy so I get the boring stuff. My wife focuses on flights, accommodations, things to do.
Excellent tips - thanks for sharing. We've started on a weather planner to help us line up destinations with best times of year. I can easily see adding the other points you mentioned. Gillian is also the details person so I happily leave the logistics and other fine points in her capable hands. 😂
Gabe the traveler.. he has his own blanket that he travels with. Sometimes, you want the place you lay your head to smell and feel familiar… maybe that’s an options for making a place feel like home anywhere you are.
I love this honest kind of video. My plan is to travel the world with my wife too. But I feel that will be an issue too, she loves talking to other human beings 😂... so I think we should build a small house in a land we own in Puerto Rico where our entire family lives. And we should go back there at least 3 times a year. Thanks for sharing. these are my favorite kind of honest videos! 🔥
That sounds like a great plan. We're also thinking of bumping up our visits home to three times a year. It's all about finding a balance between discovering the world and spending time with the people you care about.
I agree about the loneliness! During my 6-month trip around the world this year, I got SO lonely. My channel is small, so I never had a chance to meet any subscribers. I did make a couple of friends in Thailand by reaching out to my favorite UA-camrs and meeting them, which helped. But 6 months was enough, I'm happy to be home. I'll be going on shorter trips in the future (like 1 month at a time).
I've worried about the loneliness and wondered about creating a small tribe of like-minded women that travel to the same locations together. I'm not interested in buying a tour but creating a tribe where sometimes we share the planning and the sightseeing and other times we're off on our own. I just watched one of your videos and think you're type of woman that would be great in a group like that. I'll keep looking for others and see if I can make it happen.
It certainly takes a lot of work to build a community and also just to fill the weekend social calendar! But when you do find a few people who happen to be in the same destination at the same time, it really adds to the quality of the experience.
We cannot believe we've been travelling full time for over a year now:)We also return to Toronto to see our adult kids and attend medical appointments etc. (and because we want to keep our Ontario health Insurance)but we agree that it's also nice to be surrounded by familiar things for a while. I write this sitting in our camper van on Manitoulin Island where I am visiting my sister and nieces. Next we plan to drive back down to Mexico where we purchased a little condo and spend the winter. I've found that having different ways of travel have been the best for us. Sometimes we take planes and stay in airbnb's, sometimes we drive and stay at hotels or campsites. We started housesitting (this is our strategy for staying in Toronto) and are working that in as well. Our only real horror story was when we had just arrived in Mexico and locked ourselves out of our Airbnb in our swimsuits and no phones. Thankfully, we'd made friends with our neighbours who helped us. I am much more careful now!
My goodness - stuck outside in a bathing suit has to top the list of horror stories. 😂 It sounds like you've found a good balance with your travel, although I imagine a work in progress, much like our travel has been. Enjoy Manitoulin Island -- we hope to get there one day.
We just finished six months of travelling around the world and I also found researching the next place took up a lot of time, along with deciding what accommodation to book and booking flights and trains etc. As good as it was being away, we appreciated being home for nearly three weeks before setting off again. Looking forward to seeing what your new plans are 😊
Good to hear we're not the only ones. And we're also finding that as we shift away from month-long Airbnb rentals to shorter stays, the planning requirements really ramp up! We'll see how our strategy evolves as we get into this next leg of travel.
We haven't found the perfect solution yet unfortunately. Travel for two weeks or two months requires a lot of planning. We're now focusing on putting the fun back into the planning process.
Hi Stephanie and Gillian: I really enjoy ALL your videos, and your total honesty. My husband and I are retired nomads and have been traveling full time since Nov 2014 (6 years on our boat and now 2 years via planes). We truly love it and can't imagine doing anything else. Our current nomad approach is one country at a time for a full 3 months (US citizens from Chicago, San Diego and Miami Beach / Schengen rules of 90 days in 90 days out). We also stay in Airbnb's and always take advantage of the incredible 1 month discounts. We have a list of "must haves" for each stay which always includes a great kitchen, as we try to eat in about 3/4 of the time. We tend to select large cities with good public transportation and we also LOVE to be in walkable neighborhoods. My husband loves to cook, and I do all the travel planning. We tend to select Airbnb's close to the largest outdoor markets and grocery stores. Life is good! Have fun with your future travels and I hope our paths cross someday :) Pam
Tell us more! Do u stay 3 months in same rental or do you move around the same country during the 3 months? What are your favorite cities for multi-month stays?
Incredible - you are very seasoned travellers! It's inspiring to know that you've been living a nomadic life for so long and still really enjoy it. Your current approach is one that we've discussed quite a bit and might be in our near future. Please keep in touch and let us know how your adventures are going. 😊
Always fun to listen and watch you two! I look forward to the next chapter of your travel. Thank you for sharing your world with ours. I enjoy the planning process, but I spend hours and my husband never has an interest until something does not pan out the way he wanted it. I say come and look and let me know if this looks good to you..and he has no interest...then when we are getting up at 4am to catch a 7am flight...he has an opinion...LOL
Too funny! We find that it's better for our marriage that both people are involved in travel decisions so there can be no finger pointing when things go wrong. 😂
Great video! We can relate to everything you talked about. We had a similar medical emergency in Argentina that we weren't prepared for, and we understand the amount of planning needed for this type of lifestyle. We look forward to following your adventures in South America!
Of course, we got a lot of inspiration for our South American travels from our conversations with the two of you! And we're looking forward to seeing how your new home base in Izmir works out.
Loved this one! Totally relate to pretty much all of them 😅 especially feeling like jumping around Airbnb’s and maybe feeling a little too nomadic! Looking forward to seeing what’s next for you two!
Hey you two, glad you enjoyed! Hopefully Vanlife will be a nice change of pace since you have your "home" with you wherever you go. We've actually just kicked off a few months in Ecuador and your videos were super helpful for our planning. Wishing you guys happy travels. 😊
Traveling has been great for me this last 4 months but I agree about going back to your home town for a break helps rejuvenate your desire for travel. Being able to find the things you need easily and seeing family is needed. Love the videos
Yes, totally agree. Going "home" -- whether or not we have an actual home there -- really helps us recharge and get ready for the next round of travel.
As always a fantastic, relatable video! Much of what you mentioned was totally why we shifted back to having a homebase! I found that as much as I LOVE the travel, I love it so much more when I know I'll be in my super dark bedroom with the softest bed in the world waiting for me at the end of a month long trip! But then, we always say we make decisions for now! It's great to adjust as you go-nothing is set in stone. So glad to hear your mom is OK!
We also really appreciate the flexibility of our lifestyle. We don't have a home base right now but who's to say when that might change. As amazing as travel can be, it would be nice to have someplace familiar to come back to regularly.
I find that i need space in between trips. Especially travelling with a cat. he is good natured and easy but he weighs 12 lbs. We just came back from 4 months in Vancouver and as a zine editor i wanted to take part in a zine fair this year. I missed Canzine Toronto as it was in October and it took forever for the organizers of ExpoZine in Montreal to announce if it was happening or not. So when Canzine Ottawa was announced for November 6, i registered, despite the fact we were flying home on November 3. We travel a lot from our home near Quebec City to Vancouver BC and forth, and that trip involves taking a taxi, a city bus, a 4 hour train ride, a 5-6 hour flight, a 30 minute subway ride, and another city bus each way. Yes, my cat is a hero LOL. We arrived yesterday at 5 PM and despite having all of today to rest, i am NOT ready to leave again tomorrow at 6AM, even if that is just a 4 day stay, i was looking forward to goin gback to Ottawa for the first time since 1997, and my our AirBnB host was super nice and accomodating to my cat and me. I decided to cancel and take the time to land and be home. I'm 45 years old and it's hard to keep up still living like you're 22. I don't have the energy right now and i am late in editing my videos, i am hoping to rebook this trip at some point. ExpoZine IS happening in Montreal in 3 weeks so we are going there and will be recharging until then :)
Thank you for given honest feedback. Totally agree about the planning involved in travel. What tips do you have? Does longer stays help? Do you split up tasks? How do you decide on exact neighborhood for rental??
Longer stays in one city certainly help cut down on the planning time. Once we book an Airbnb for a month, we're basically done with the tough decisions. We do split up some tasks but always have both people involved for final big decisions, like buying flights, to cut down on potential for error. We also have a playlist that covers some of the issues in choosing Airbnbs and neighbourhoods: ua-cam.com/play/PLcCPFj7b6VbaM24cTTSJ2kdIt-psaUPnt.html Hope that helps! 😊
sorta new to your channel and have been binge watching (subscribed a while back but haven't really kept up)... figured out today we are in your same apartment in Tirana ..... we are "lurkers" who travel full time as well ..... faleminderit for all you do !
Welcome back to the channel! So great that you're in that cute apartment in Tirana. We really enjoyed our time there, especially some of the great food options close by. Have an amazing time! 😊
Such a great video. We moved to Portugal and have been here for a year and a half. I have experienced loneliness as a couple and am working on that. We do not travel full-time, but we travel a lot and spend so much time planning! Right now we are slowing down travel, after we complete the next trips we already have planned, and also reflecting on our life changes and travel to make adjustments to improve our quality of life and happiness. I am looking back and thinking through the magical moments of travel and trying to travel in a way that will recreate those types of memories and feelings.
Thanks for sharing! Like you, we've found that this lifestyle is very much a work-in-progress. We're constantly trying new approaches to travel and evaluating what's working and not working. Good luck with your future adventures! Touring the Caribbean sounds amazing 😊
Hello G & S, thanks for the insights of slow traveling!. Enjoying your videos! Wishing that i could also take off someday and do some SLOW traveling like you guys!
Of our travels in the past year, we really enjoyed Antalya on the coast of Turkey and also Mexico City. And also Seville...it's hard to choose just one! The bill came out to roughly $3,500 USD.
We definitely splurge a bit on the Airbnbs. When it is going to be your home and not just a place to crash on a vacation, the comfort and amenities matter more.
Thank you so much for the effort and time you put into these videos. So informative and enjoyable. Regardless of how long you continue to travel full time, your videos and lifestyle are inspirational. Cappuccinos on us one day. Hopefully somewhere warm.
Thank you sharing your honest thoughts! I looooove your channel, but always felt like it’s not “slow” travel. It looked like you were always in a rush to your next destination. Have you considered staying longer in one spot?
Great question. We have been in somewhat of a hurry to see the world! Potentially the future might look like staying longer in a few places but we're not quite ready for that yet.
Loneliness as a slow traveler has been an unexpected challenge. It is difficult to meet people, especially with only limited foreign language skills. Even if you stay somewhere for a couple of months (this is how we are traveling), it is not likely that you'll be invited into someone's circle of friends. Returning home for a couple of months has been a way to satisfy that need.
Agreed. I'm dealing with the same thing. I actually have a lot of family and friends visiting me so far the second half of the year, so that is helping at the moment.
Agree. We've found that it's a little easier to make acquaintances with expats and other travellers as they are often receptive to meeting people. Connecting with locals across a language barrier is very difficult, especially when our time is quite transitory in each destination. Definitely staying closely connected with family and friends makes a difference to loneliness on the road.
Another excellent video! It’s no joke how much time and mindspace future travels require of us. It’s a constant juggling act. On one hand, there are so many places we want to visit and won’t have time for all of them. On the other, we need lots of time in a place to accommodate all that planning and enjoying what there is to do. Like you in SA now, we have a busy 4 months in Asia in a few months. We have 3 months in SMA now and 2 2-month house sits on the back end so we’ll shift into “vacation” mode in Asia and enjoy the ride. 🙏🙏🙏 Something that’s recently surprised me…we’ve started telling our community where we’re heading in advance and inviting them to join us. I’ve put it out 3x and expected no one jump in. I was wrong…we have fantastic groups in Kuala Lumpur, Bali and on a transpacific cruise. All the work you’ve put into your videos and community means you have a fabulous gang of friends ready to meet you wherever you are.
You've done such an impressive job building a real community with the GoWithLess FB group. I think it's really smart to let your community know in advance what your plans are and then you have a ready-made circle of friends to connect with upon arrival. Definitely we need to take a page out of your book! Looking forward to catching up virtually soon 😊
@@OurFreedomYears Thank you! It turns out that all the time we've spent on UA-cam has paid off in unexpected ways...certainly not financially! 🤣🤣🤣 In every single location, we do have a ready-made circle of friends, and they become friends with one another, too. Your community will be the same whenever you're ready.
Boy can I relate. I had a minor fall that resulted in a very serious tibia plateau fracture in Thailand in January. Surgery, a plate/9 screws, one week in the hospital with barely any English spoken and 5 months of recovery there! Thank God for insurance, but still. I've been doing this for about 5 years and the burnout is REAL!
We loved this video! We related to it so much. Even tho my husband and I have only been traveling full time for 7 weeks now (seems so short) and have plans to travel for ame entire year, we have felt the same stresses about planning the next place and being in the moment. I’m so glad we’re not alone and there’s other people out there with similar struggles.
Welcome to the world of full-time travel! Yes, you are definitely not alone in finding travel to be somewhat stressful. But hopefully you're also enjoying the excitement of discovering new places. 😊
Your videos are always inspirational and interesting to watch. And especially this one, thanks for sharing and being so honest about full time travel. It gave me a lot of food for thoughts. Looking forward to your new plan! All the best❤🎉🎉
Appreciate the honest reflections! We are in our countdown for Fall 2023 and are thinking about all those things you mentioned so its helpful to hear how things are actually going. There is another retired youtuber that doesnt book ahead- he books 1-2 weeks of accommodation then he walks around and finds a neighbourhood and place that he likes for the longer, 1-3 months. We might experiment to see which works better for us. Psychologically, planning and anticipation can be a positive part of the journey- maybe reserved for the evenings- before or after a fun day out where you are. I would do that to relax instead of netflix any day! ;) Because of your comments, we will probably be booking flights home more regularly. Thanks!
@@OurFreedomYears try it sometime. The only way to become risk resilient is to step out of your comfort zone:). And if there was ever a situation to do that, early retirement roaming would be one ;) . But that's also your 'freedom'/to choose your risk. Fun times!
Hi Jillian and Stephanie, I've just started watching your videos. Do you mind sharing the location of the trail (in your video) you took in lake Como? Thank you . V
An excellent reveal on the realities of a full time travel lifestyle. Of course you move on every month so a great deal of planning is needed for each choice of location and Air BnB etc etc. Cheers from Canada
My wife and I are retiring and our plan is to take 3-5 years and slow travel from Mexico to Argentina. She hopes to do another 2-3 years around SE Asia afterwards. I think we might be tired of travel by then but who knows. We are currently 55 and 60. Not sure if we will get burnout…time will tell.
Congratulations -- sounds like an exciting plan! The great thing about retiring and having so much freedom is that your plans can always evolve. You can try out the slow travel lifestyle and see if it suits you.
Thanks for telling it like you feel it. I find travel to be hit and miss, and sometimes I'm glad to get home. Occasionally I've had a fantastic time, but on other occasions I felt really a long way from home. I went to Thailand for the first time and had a great time, met wonderful people and if I'd been rolling dice they would have come up 6's. Then my mum passed away and I was feeling sad, so I went to Thailand again hoping for a holiday to lift me out of the doldrums. But that trip, if I'd been rolling dice would have come up 1's and 2's. I was away for a month and glad to get back home. Nowadays I think I'm good for up to 2 weeks away, then I start to miss my comfy bed and all the comforts I've made for myself at home.
Thanks so much for sharing. Certainly your travel experience depends a lot on your mindset as well. It can be hard to enjoy discovering a new place when you've experienced a personal loss. I've found the same as well.
Thanks guys for all your information! My husband and I have been following your adventures for quite some time! You've been SOOO helpful. We have been here in Europe for a few weeks after selling our house and everything, resigning and moving overseas to travel. We have our goldendoodle here with us from the states and want to know what the regulations are to get our pup on the ferry over to Albania and then back into the EU after? Help! We can't seem to find these answers anywhere. We are in Italy and plan to hop over to albania and Croatia before we head into Greece in the spring. Thanks y'all!!
Glad you're finding our videos helpful! If you plan to travel through multiple countries in Europe, you might consider getting an EU pet passport for your dog. We got pet passports for our little guys as soon as we landed in Europe and it makes such a huge difference for moving in and out of EU countries and also other European countries like Albania and Croatia. Also, I always check the country's dog import requirements on the IATA as a starting place for further research: www.iatatravelcentre.com/customs-currency-airport-tax-regulations.htm#
By travel insurance, I'm guessing that you mean coverage for delayed/cancelled flights, lost bags and that type of thing. We don't purchase extra insurance for that purpose because we have coverage through our credit cards. And in fact we have successfully made a claim related to delayed luggage through our credit card (although it took a lot of paperwork to process that claim!).
This was an informative video. My daughter watches the videos with me. She said that you inspire her wants to travel like you both when she gets older. She is 12. She said that you both are a really cute couple. :)
Another awesome video, I was wondering are you keeping a tally for what its has costed you guys for the past 3 yrs? Maybe scale back to only travelling for 6-8mths a year. We are also from Toronto and we are going to start next year with three months of course in the winter and then return back to Toronto until September and venture off for either a month or two before the month of December. So this way we would be getting the best of both worlds while still staying in the loop with family and friends. Of course being from Canada we need to flock to warmer temperatures. Does this make me a snowbird? Maybe but we will be an adventurous snowbird not just parking our behinds in Florida. As to accommodations in Toronto will the prices are still ridiculously high north of a million but there's always smaller towns which are still also ridiculously high Maybe a home with an inlaw would work out it's a tough call for anyone living in this part of the world. Wish we could buy a home for 300-400K like they can in other parts of the world. Good luck always looking forward to your next adventure
Oh yes, we are definitely counting every penny as we go! It's helpful for our cost of living videos and also for our own budget tracking. We're talking about increasing our visits to to Toronto to three times a year...but that would probably land us in Canada right in the middle of winter - not an appealing thought! I guess we're also becoming snowbirds. 😂
Question : What would happen if you are the one who need medical care? Do local hospital expect you to go to an ATM? So glad everything is fine with your mom!
It was truly quite a surprise that the hospital wouldn't accept either a credit card or a letter of guarantee from the insurance provider. But apparently that's very common in smaller places.
The question i was about to ask u answered before i finished typing it hahaha, but i am just curious how you are able to sustain it, financially, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Keep safe. Take care.
It's certainly a lot to sustain, financially, physically, mentally, etc. I think that being willing to reassess and change our plans as our needs evolve has been really helpful.
I’m really interested in how you overcame planning for the next destination and not focusing on the one you’re in? I spend so much time planning a holiday let alone life on the road.
Great question...and the answer is that it's a work in progress! We haven't managed to limit the time we spend planning -- but we are trying to enjoy it more and stress about it less. Essentially trying not to be perfect with all our plans and just roll with the punches.
Did you contact the nearest Canadian consulate when your mother broke her wrist? I wouldn't be surprised if there was one in Oaxaca, even if it was just an individual with consular status, but there would certainly have been one in Mexico City and perhaps Cancun. Consulates (unlike embassies) are there to help the citizens of the home country - in your case, Canada - when they have problems in other countries. They might have been able to help you communicate with the hospital staff and find an easier way to pay for the treatment.
It actually never occurred to us to contact the consulate but this is an excellent suggestion and we will add it to our new emergency protocols. Gillian did her best with limited Spanish but it certainly would have helped immensely to have more support.
@@OurFreedomYears Consulates can be very useful, particularly in developing countries. You mentioned getting lonely on your travels; consulates often have movie nights and other get-togethers and in an emergency - like a health crisis, a robbery or trouble with the police - they're the ones to call first. Since you're going to be in a place for a month, you should probably at least register with the nearest consulate. When my father died, I was in Geneva and my passport had been sent to the embassy of, I think, the Niger in Germany (because the Niger had no embassy in Switzerland) for a visa. At the time, the US Consulate in Geneva was famous for never answering the phone so I called the embassy in Switzerland. They faxed me travel documents that got me home, minus my passport (with help from Swiss Air, which sent someone to walk me through to the gate with explanations). Back in NY, I was taken to a room where everyone but me was shackled to the furniture, but the people were very nice and I was soon cleared for re-entry. Your taxpayer dollars at work!
@@victoriaguerin2851 What a story! Great to know that you were able to find support during such a difficult time. Thanks for the tip about registering with the consulate -- very good idea for our next month long stay.
I was in Paris with my mom and daughter. My son had just left to go back to Rome where he was living. We were grabbing a Starbucks on our last morning there before going to the airport. Three 7-foot Somalian guys who appeared to be running from the police (given the sirens and flashing lights some distance behind them) ran by with a possibly stolen briefcase, and saw my then 14-year-old daughter. They followed us into a Starbucks and literally took my daughter and started pulling her away. I said she’s 14 and she isn’t going anywhere. They said if we can’t have the daughter then we will take the mother. I was eye level to their chests. I pulled my daughter behind me and got ready to fight like a Mother. The male Starbucks employees slid down behind the counter. My mother managed to distract them, and they finally left. This happened on a quiet Sunday morning in the 6th Arrondissement, one of the nicest areas in Paris. It occurred to me after this that I had no idea what 911 was in France. Please make sure you know the emergency number to call in every country you travel to.
Thank you so much for sharing your story. This sounds like it was an absolutely terrifying experience and I'm very relieved that it ended relatively well, although I'm sure you were shaken for days after. Personal safety should never be taken for granted in any country -- even in the so-called nice areas. Excellent reminder to always be aware of how to get help in a foreign country.
Travel is hard. The longest I have traveled is 2 weeks. And certain countries get on my nerves more than others. I can only do a long trip in Mexico. Europe is 10 days maximum. Nothing better than sleeping in your own 🛏️ bed!
Great video about many of the things I've wondered about. It would be great if you did an indepth video on each issue and the way you overcame it. I haven't started traveling yet but I have worried about selling my house and not having a home base to come back to, especially because I live in an area where the housing costs are very expensive. What do you recommend for creating face-to-face connection with others in the countries and locations you're traveling to? Also, a video on how to pick a place to stay, the tools you used and the warning signs of a place that looks good on paper but should probably be passed by.
So many great questions here! For meeting up with others, we would recommend looking into Facebook groups like GoWithLess and local expats and also Meetup.com. We have a few videos related to picking Airbnbs; here's a playlist to check out: ua-cam.com/play/PLcCPFj7b6VbaM24cTTSJ2kdIt-psaUPnt.html Hope that helps as a starting place! 😊
Hi girls. I’ve loved your videos. I would get to where you are now a lot quicker. However, I am a Christian and would probably be able to plug into a local community. It’s pretty universal. I wonder what other ways one can plug in and gain instant community. Perhaps expat communities. Since they all are in the same boat and don’t have roots there.
Great point and likely expat communities are a good angle for those looking for local connections. It can take some work to find like-minded people but definitely worth the effort.
I am sorry that your travel , making youtube video and writing blog etc becoming a stress as new job. Make me think of my FIRE process. Look like this human brain will never be settle down in any life-style.
We found that having some self-imposed responsibilities and deadlines really helped us make the transition from work to FIRE. After working eight hours+ a day for so long, we really needed a substantial project beyond just playing tourist. Likely we'll continue to evolve our approach as the years go by.
Travel is fantastically overrated...I’ve discovered its basically humans wandering around spending LOTS of money looking at stone, water, soil and the skies. Humans have an urge to seek happiness and peace in other places. Travel doesn’t enlighten you, it doesn’t give you any higher knowledge, it doesn’t make you a more educated or better person, it merely occupies and distracts you. A holiday or even a day trip can top up your wanderlust a lot more efficiently than taking off to explore the world. The real magic lies within finding peace and happiness in the mundane. Trust me, the world is VERY “samey” unless you go live with tribes or discover an island you’ll realise we’re all humans with the same problems, some of just speak and eat differently. ..oh, and some places are hotter.
Traveling with four legged family is going to add to the planning exponentially. I wander around with just my backpack. I'm not fussy about my surroundings and can sleep through almost anything, so I wind up doing a combination of hostels and airbnbs. And I'm flexible - if something happens I can pack the backpack and go somewhere else. I also bought a small apartment in México to use as a base. Travel. Back to the apartment. Travel. Back to the apartment. That really helps with the burn out! Great video! Thanks!
That sounds like real freedom - amazing! Nice that you've set up a home base in Mexico. Yes, it certainly adds a lot of complication to bring two dogs along but they're worth it...most days. 😂
Those were a few of our misadventures on the road. What about you? We'd love to hear your travel horror stories...
Can totally relate to your endless hours of research. Try adding a bunch of dietary restrictions to the mix and you end up with hours of 'food research' on top of everything else (restaurant menus, reviews, etc.) Cooking at 'home' helps of course, but it's important to try the local foods too. My newest strategy is searching 'buffet' in each city.
@@fidelcup Smart idea! Buffets should provide lots of range and you can take your pick. Definitely travelling with food restrictions adds a whole other layer of complexity but good to know that it's not a limiting factor for you.
GREAT video! I'm new to the nomadic lifestyle, having sold my house and car and donating almost everything else back in August. I've started my journey in Turkey, so it was great to see so many references to Turkey in your video. This video addressed a lot of the issues I've become aware of in my short time so far as a nomad. The planning issue really resonated with me, since I am actively planning travel in SE Asia in the first half of 2023. What I've decided to do is only work on the planning for future trips on the weekends. I've found in retirement that the weekends are the time when things are the busiest, so I tend to not visit sites, museums, do grocery shopping, etc. on the weekends. Instead, I do those things during the week. So that frees up the weekends to spend time inside the apartment and do trip planning, reading, etc. It seems to be working for me so far. I hope you keep on making videos like this one. They are really helpful! Happy travels!
Jim, would love to hear your south Asian plans as we are starting our journey in Jan. Of 2024 starting where ever the cheapest one way flights brings me near thaliand or Vietnam.
My plan is to see Vietnam - Thailand - Bali then hoping on a cruise in Perth for 18 days which includes New Zealand finishing off hopefully the gold coast hope to see the great barrier reef!
All this should take about 90 days, looking for ideas and things to do in South Asia. Thanks for anyone inputs!
@@tcmazz Great to hear you will start your journey in Asia. That itinerary is pretty ambitious for only 90 days. Perth is a great city to spend some time in. And then after you take your cruise and arrive in New Zealand, you'll definitely want to spend some time there. Beautiful country. Adding in the Gold Coast and Great Barrier Reef, you could easily need 60-90 days for just the Australia/New Zealand part of your trip. Vietnam has a 30-day limit for their visa, so you can't spend more than a month there. For your first time in Thailand, see Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Bali...well, no matter how long you decide to spend there, you'll wish you had planned for more. LOL
@@nomadjim thanks for your reply, we are only cruising thru New Zealand the lower part of the island with only two stops in New Zealand its part of the cruise. The cruise ends in Sydney. We are definitely planning to come back to New Zealand and do a proper month long vacation there. We are budgeting $15K for the whole trip with $8K going to Australia for a month (18 days is the cruise - $4500) leaving about $3500 for 12 days in Australia. So I'm projecting $7K for two months to go to Thailand - Bali and if its possible (Vietnam). Yes a bit ambitious for sure while at the same time getting our feet wet in a part of the world we never been in!
Very smart! I really like the idea of weekend planning when everyone else is out visiting sights. I guess that's the beauty of early retirement -- lots of time during the week!
U can slow down the travel to 6-12 months at each place to decrease the stress of planning and packing.
We've thought about slowing down the pace to perhaps three months in each destination. But I think that strategy is still in the future as we're excited to explore lots of different places in South America.
Wow girls, this is one of the best videos I’ve seen on your channel. You’re so brave to share the realities behind the instagram moments that almost everybody hides. Great to see you’re learning, defining your lifestyle and helping us on our way to reach our goals in life.
Glad you liked it! The past few years have presented us with a lot of challenges and learning opportunities and we're happy to pass along those hard-won lessons. 😊
Interesting video - looking forward to your next trip!
I am a planner both by personality profession, so I (mostly) enjoy it, but it can be very time-consuming and stressful at times.
A couple tips that you probably already know, but may help others:
1) Create a travel planner or outline that can be re-used for all destinations. This would contain the categories of all the things you need to research (visas, vaccinations, insurance, weather, currency, sim cards, local transportation, nearest clinic/hospital, etc.)
2) If you have a partner, divide the tasks up, based on each person's likes and strengths. For example, I'm the detail guy so I get the boring stuff. My wife focuses on flights, accommodations, things to do.
Excellent tips - thanks for sharing. We've started on a weather planner to help us line up destinations with best times of year. I can easily see adding the other points you mentioned. Gillian is also the details person so I happily leave the logistics and other fine points in her capable hands. 😂
Gabe the traveler.. he has his own blanket that he travels with. Sometimes, you want the place you lay your head to smell and feel familiar… maybe that’s an options for making a place feel like home anywhere you are.
A security blanket -- love that idea! We sort of already travel with two security blankets...their names are Jasper and Huxley! 😂
I love this honest kind of video. My plan is to travel the world with my wife too. But I feel that will be an issue too, she loves talking to other human beings 😂... so I think we should build a small house in a land we own in Puerto Rico where our entire family lives. And we should go back there at least 3 times a year. Thanks for sharing. these are my favorite kind of honest videos! 🔥
That sounds like a great plan. We're also thinking of bumping up our visits home to three times a year. It's all about finding a balance between discovering the world and spending time with the people you care about.
I agree about the loneliness! During my 6-month trip around the world this year, I got SO lonely. My channel is small, so I never had a chance to meet any subscribers. I did make a couple of friends in Thailand by reaching out to my favorite UA-camrs and meeting them, which helped. But 6 months was enough, I'm happy to be home. I'll be going on shorter trips in the future (like 1 month at a time).
I've worried about the loneliness and wondered about creating a small tribe of like-minded women that travel to the same locations together. I'm not interested in buying a tour but creating a tribe where sometimes we share the planning and the sightseeing and other times we're off on our own. I just watched one of your videos and think you're type of woman that would be great in a group like that. I'll keep looking for others and see if I can make it happen.
There’s a “go with less” vloggers who have a Facebook page and there are quite a lot of meet ups around the world
It certainly takes a lot of work to build a community and also just to fill the weekend social calendar! But when you do find a few people who happen to be in the same destination at the same time, it really adds to the quality of the experience.
@Kirsten - Sounds like a great concept!
@Carol - Great tip! The GoWithLess FB group is an excellent resource for making connections.
We cannot believe we've been travelling full time for over a year now:)We also return to Toronto to see our adult kids and attend medical appointments etc. (and because we want to keep our Ontario health Insurance)but we agree that it's also nice to be surrounded by familiar things for a while. I write this sitting in our camper van on Manitoulin Island where I am visiting my sister and nieces. Next we plan to drive back down to Mexico where we purchased a little condo and spend the winter. I've found that having different ways of travel have been the best for us. Sometimes we take planes and stay in airbnb's, sometimes we drive and stay at hotels or campsites. We started housesitting (this is our strategy for staying in Toronto) and are working that in as well. Our only real horror story was when we had just arrived in Mexico and locked ourselves out of our Airbnb in our swimsuits and no phones. Thankfully, we'd made friends with our neighbours who helped us. I am much more careful now!
My goodness - stuck outside in a bathing suit has to top the list of horror stories. 😂 It sounds like you've found a good balance with your travel, although I imagine a work in progress, much like our travel has been. Enjoy Manitoulin Island -- we hope to get there one day.
We just finished six months of travelling around the world and I also found researching the next place took up a lot of time, along with deciding what accommodation to book and booking flights and trains etc. As good as it was being away, we appreciated being home for nearly three weeks before setting off again. Looking forward to seeing what your new plans are 😊
Good to hear we're not the only ones. And we're also finding that as we shift away from month-long Airbnb rentals to shorter stays, the planning requirements really ramp up! We'll see how our strategy evolves as we get into this next leg of travel.
So….what is the solution to not spending so much time planning. I retire the end of May and I’m a big planner so this is one of my fears.
We haven't found the perfect solution yet unfortunately. Travel for two weeks or two months requires a lot of planning. We're now focusing on putting the fun back into the planning process.
Hi Stephanie and Gillian: I really enjoy ALL your videos, and your total honesty. My husband and I are retired nomads and have been traveling full time since Nov 2014 (6 years on our boat and now 2 years via planes). We truly love it and can't imagine doing anything else. Our current nomad approach is one country at a time for a full 3 months (US citizens from Chicago, San Diego and Miami Beach / Schengen rules of 90 days in 90 days out). We also stay in Airbnb's and always take advantage of the incredible 1 month discounts. We have a list of "must haves" for each stay which always includes a great kitchen, as we try to eat in about 3/4 of the time. We tend to select large cities with good public transportation and we also LOVE to be in walkable neighborhoods. My husband loves to cook, and I do all the travel planning. We tend to select Airbnb's close to the largest outdoor markets and grocery stores. Life is good! Have fun with your future travels and I hope our paths cross someday :) Pam
Tell us more! Do u stay 3 months in same rental or do you move around the same country during the 3 months? What are your favorite cities for multi-month stays?
Incredible - you are very seasoned travellers! It's inspiring to know that you've been living a nomadic life for so long and still really enjoy it. Your current approach is one that we've discussed quite a bit and might be in our near future. Please keep in touch and let us know how your adventures are going. 😊
Well, the newsletter brought me here to a video I've seen already seen before but enjoyed again. 😊❤
Thanks! Glad it held up for another round 😂
Always fun to listen and watch you two! I look forward to the next chapter of your travel. Thank you for sharing your world with ours. I enjoy the planning process, but I spend hours and my husband never has an interest until something does not pan out the way he wanted it. I say come and look and let me know if this looks good to you..and he has no interest...then when we are getting up at 4am to catch a 7am flight...he has an opinion...LOL
Too funny! We find that it's better for our marriage that both people are involved in travel decisions so there can be no finger pointing when things go wrong. 😂
@@OurFreedomYears I need you to speak to my husband..LOL
Great video! We can relate to everything you talked about. We had a similar medical emergency in Argentina that we weren't prepared for, and we understand the amount of planning needed for this type of lifestyle. We look forward to following your adventures in South America!
Of course, we got a lot of inspiration for our South American travels from our conversations with the two of you! And we're looking forward to seeing how your new home base in Izmir works out.
After 3 years we haven't gotten to the burnout stage yet. But we do miss the comforts of our own home when we get sick.
We both had colds while we were at the beach in Ecuador and seriously missed all the comforts of home (especially easy access to chicken soup!).
Loved this one! Totally relate to pretty much all of them 😅 especially feeling like jumping around Airbnb’s and maybe feeling a little too nomadic! Looking forward to seeing what’s next for you two!
Hey you two, glad you enjoyed! Hopefully Vanlife will be a nice change of pace since you have your "home" with you wherever you go. We've actually just kicked off a few months in Ecuador and your videos were super helpful for our planning. Wishing you guys happy travels. 😊
Girl, you’re my future me. I am already close to FIRE and you are answering a lot of my questions and doubts. I hope you know how valuable you are.
Thank you so much - that means a lot. Glad to know that we can provide some food for thought along your journey.
Traveling has been great for me this last 4 months but I agree about going back to your home town for a break helps rejuvenate your desire for travel. Being able to find the things you need easily and seeing family is needed. Love the videos
Yes, totally agree. Going "home" -- whether or not we have an actual home there -- really helps us recharge and get ready for the next round of travel.
As always a fantastic, relatable video! Much of what you mentioned was totally why we shifted back to having a homebase! I found that as much as I LOVE the travel, I love it so much more when I know I'll be in my super dark bedroom with the softest bed in the world waiting for me at the end of a month long trip! But then, we always say we make decisions for now! It's great to adjust as you go-nothing is set in stone. So glad to hear your mom is OK!
We also really appreciate the flexibility of our lifestyle. We don't have a home base right now but who's to say when that might change. As amazing as travel can be, it would be nice to have someplace familiar to come back to regularly.
I find that i need space in between trips. Especially travelling with a cat. he is good natured and easy but he weighs 12 lbs. We just came back from 4 months in Vancouver and as a zine editor i wanted to take part in a zine fair this year. I missed Canzine Toronto as it was in October and it took forever for the organizers of ExpoZine in Montreal to announce if it was happening or not. So when Canzine Ottawa was announced for November 6, i registered, despite the fact we were flying home on November 3. We travel a lot from our home near Quebec City to Vancouver BC and forth, and that trip involves taking a taxi, a city bus, a 4 hour train ride, a 5-6 hour flight, a 30 minute subway ride, and another city bus each way. Yes, my cat is a hero LOL.
We arrived yesterday at 5 PM and despite having all of today to rest, i am NOT ready to leave again tomorrow at 6AM, even if that is just a 4 day stay, i was looking forward to goin gback to Ottawa for the first time since 1997, and my our AirBnB host was super nice and accomodating to my cat and me. I decided to cancel and take the time to land and be home. I'm 45 years old and it's hard to keep up still living like you're 22. I don't have the energy right now and i am late in editing my videos, i am hoping to rebook this trip at some point. ExpoZine IS happening in Montreal in 3 weeks so we are going there and will be recharging until then :)
So good to have a very patient pet who puts up with all the travel!
Great video. Thanks for sharing your experiences/reality from travel over the past three years. It’s very helpful. ✈️🌏
Glad to hear it! Thanks for taking the time to comment - we really appreciate it. 😊
Thank you for given honest feedback. Totally agree about the planning involved in travel. What tips do you have? Does longer stays help? Do you split up tasks? How do you decide on exact neighborhood for rental??
Longer stays in one city certainly help cut down on the planning time. Once we book an Airbnb for a month, we're basically done with the tough decisions. We do split up some tasks but always have both people involved for final big decisions, like buying flights, to cut down on potential for error.
We also have a playlist that covers some of the issues in choosing Airbnbs and neighbourhoods: ua-cam.com/play/PLcCPFj7b6VbaM24cTTSJ2kdIt-psaUPnt.html Hope that helps! 😊
sorta new to your channel and have been binge watching (subscribed a while back but haven't really kept up)... figured out today we are in your same apartment in Tirana ..... we are "lurkers" who travel full time as well ..... faleminderit for all you do !
Welcome back to the channel! So great that you're in that cute apartment in Tirana. We really enjoyed our time there, especially some of the great food options close by. Have an amazing time! 😊
Such a great video. We moved to Portugal and have been here for a year and a half. I have experienced loneliness as a couple and am working on that. We do not travel full-time, but we travel a lot and spend so much time planning! Right now we are slowing down travel, after we complete the next trips we already have planned, and also reflecting on our life changes and travel to make adjustments to improve our quality of life and happiness. I am looking back and thinking through the magical moments of travel and trying to travel in a way that will recreate those types of memories and feelings.
Thanks for sharing! Like you, we've found that this lifestyle is very much a work-in-progress. We're constantly trying new approaches to travel and evaluating what's working and not working. Good luck with your future adventures! Touring the Caribbean sounds amazing 😊
Hello G & S, thanks for the insights of slow traveling!. Enjoying your videos! Wishing that i could also take off someday and do some SLOW traveling like you guys!
It can be in your future as well! Like any dream, it just takes a lot of planning and persistence to make it happen. 😊
What was your favorite country / city, if you had to choose 1 and what was your mother's hospital bill ( if you don't mind sharing )?
Of our travels in the past year, we really enjoyed Antalya on the coast of Turkey and also Mexico City. And also Seville...it's hard to choose just one! The bill came out to roughly $3,500 USD.
We definitely splurge a bit on the Airbnbs. When it is going to be your home and not just a place to crash on a vacation, the comfort and amenities matter more.
Exactly! The longer we travel, the more we want from our Airbnbs...and usually that drives up the price.
I appreciate your candor. I always enjoy your videos. Thank you.
You are so welcome! Glad you enjoyed this one. 😊
Thank you so much for the effort and time you put into these videos. So informative and enjoyable. Regardless of how long you continue to travel full time, your videos and lifestyle are inspirational. Cappuccinos on us one day. Hopefully somewhere warm.
Wonderful! Looking forward to that cappuccino! 😊
Thank you 🙏- love your videos and can’t wait to get going! Thank you for being so open and honest it is so very appreciated ❤
You are so welcome! Glad to hear that our videos are helpful. 😊
Thank you sharing your honest thoughts! I looooove your channel, but always felt like it’s not “slow” travel. It looked like you were always in a rush to your next destination. Have you considered staying longer in one spot?
Great question. We have been in somewhat of a hurry to see the world! Potentially the future might look like staying longer in a few places but we're not quite ready for that yet.
Loneliness as a slow traveler has been an unexpected challenge. It is difficult to meet people, especially with only limited foreign language skills. Even if you stay somewhere for a couple of months (this is how we are traveling), it is not likely that you'll be invited into someone's circle of friends. Returning home for a couple of months has been a way to satisfy that need.
Agreed. I'm dealing with the same thing. I actually have a lot of family and friends visiting me so far the second half of the year, so that is helping at the moment.
Agree. We've found that it's a little easier to make acquaintances with expats and other travellers as they are often receptive to meeting people. Connecting with locals across a language barrier is very difficult, especially when our time is quite transitory in each destination. Definitely staying closely connected with family and friends makes a difference to loneliness on the road.
Another excellent video! It’s no joke how much time and mindspace future travels require of us. It’s a constant juggling act. On one hand, there are so many places we want to visit and won’t have time for all of them. On the other, we need lots of time in a place to accommodate all that planning and enjoying what there is to do. Like you in SA now, we have a busy 4 months in Asia in a few months. We have 3 months in SMA now and 2 2-month house sits on the back end so we’ll shift into “vacation” mode in Asia and enjoy the ride. 🙏🙏🙏
Something that’s recently surprised me…we’ve started telling our community where we’re heading in advance and inviting them to join us. I’ve put it out 3x and expected no one jump in. I was wrong…we have fantastic groups in Kuala Lumpur, Bali and on a transpacific cruise. All the work you’ve put into your videos and community means you have a fabulous gang of friends ready to meet you wherever you are.
You've done such an impressive job building a real community with the GoWithLess FB group. I think it's really smart to let your community know in advance what your plans are and then you have a ready-made circle of friends to connect with upon arrival. Definitely we need to take a page out of your book! Looking forward to catching up virtually soon 😊
@@OurFreedomYears Thank you! It turns out that all the time we've spent on UA-cam has paid off in unexpected ways...certainly not financially! 🤣🤣🤣 In every single location, we do have a ready-made circle of friends, and they become friends with one another, too. Your community will be the same whenever you're ready.
Great video. Come to Ecuador! A great community here in Cuenca, gorgeous scenery all over, and you have a bed in my apartment if you wish.
We're here in Ecuador now and loving it! We'll be making our way to Cuenca next week. Really looking forward to seeing Ecuador's most beautiful city.
You just answered my biggest question: what to do in an emergency? thanks
Glad it was helpful! 😊
Boy can I relate. I had a minor fall that resulted in a very serious tibia plateau fracture in Thailand in January. Surgery, a plate/9 screws, one week in the hospital with barely any English spoken and 5 months of recovery there! Thank God for insurance, but still. I've been doing this for about 5 years and the burnout is REAL!
Ouch! That sounds absolutely terrible. I'm glad you got through it and out the other side. Emergencies are a real lesson in the downside of travel.
We loved this video! We related to it so much. Even tho my husband and I have only been traveling full time for 7 weeks now (seems so short) and have plans to travel for ame entire year, we have felt the same stresses about planning the next place and being in the moment. I’m so glad we’re not alone and there’s other people out there with similar struggles.
Welcome to the world of full-time travel! Yes, you are definitely not alone in finding travel to be somewhat stressful. But hopefully you're also enjoying the excitement of discovering new places. 😊
Your videos are always inspirational and interesting to watch. And especially this one, thanks for sharing and being so honest about full time travel. It gave me a lot of food for thoughts. Looking forward to your new plan! All the best❤🎉🎉
Great to hear - thank you so much! Travel is a lot harder than most people realize so we like to show what goes on behind the scenes.
Appreciate the honest reflections! We are in our countdown for Fall 2023 and are thinking about all those things you mentioned so its helpful to hear how things are actually going. There is another retired youtuber that doesnt book ahead- he books 1-2 weeks of accommodation then he walks around and finds a neighbourhood and place that he likes for the longer, 1-3 months. We might experiment to see which works better for us. Psychologically, planning and anticipation can be a positive part of the journey- maybe reserved for the evenings- before or after a fun day out where you are. I would do that to relax instead of netflix any day! ;) Because of your comments, we will probably be booking flights home more regularly. Thanks!
Sounds interesting
Which youtuber are you referring too?
@@tcmazz vagabond awake. He seems to make it work for them.
Sounds like an interesting strategy for some! I'm so risk averse that I would be pretty nervous to land in a city with only a couple weeks booked.
@@OurFreedomYears try it sometime. The only way to become risk resilient is to step out of your comfort zone:). And if there was ever a situation to do that, early retirement roaming would be one ;) . But that's also your 'freedom'/to choose your risk. Fun times!
@@Jmcivor777 Definitely now is a good time in life to experiment and get out of that comfort zone! Let's see what South America has to offer. ☺
I love your videos. This a great one. Thank you!
And thank you! We really appreciate the positive feedback 😊
Hi Jillian and Stephanie,
I've just started watching your videos.
Do you mind sharing the location of the trail (in your video) you took in lake Como?
Thank you .
V
Hey there, we were staying in the Colonno, and the trail was right out our back door up to a little village called Corniga. 😊
You two are lovely, I really like how real you both keep it!
Thank you so much! We like to share the downsides of the travel lifestyle along with all the good stuff.
An excellent reveal on the realities of a full time travel lifestyle. Of course you move on every month so a great deal of planning is needed for each choice of location and Air BnB etc etc. Cheers from Canada
Hi Ron, it does take a lot of planning but is so worthwhile for all the amazing experiences. 😊
My wife and I are retiring and our plan is to take 3-5 years and slow travel from Mexico to Argentina. She hopes to do another 2-3 years around SE Asia afterwards. I think we might be tired of travel by then but who knows. We are currently 55 and 60. Not sure if we will get burnout…time will tell.
Congratulations -- sounds like an exciting plan! The great thing about retiring and having so much freedom is that your plans can always evolve. You can try out the slow travel lifestyle and see if it suits you.
@@OurFreedomYears
Agreed ! You never know, we may fall in love with San Cristobal de las Casas and never leave ! 😀
@@bananapatch9118 Exactly!
Thanks for telling it like you feel it. I find travel to be hit and miss, and sometimes I'm glad to get home. Occasionally I've had a fantastic time, but on other occasions I felt really a long way from home. I went to Thailand for the first time and had a great time, met wonderful people and if I'd been rolling dice they would have come up 6's. Then my mum passed away and I was feeling sad, so I went to Thailand again hoping for a holiday to lift me out of the doldrums. But that trip, if I'd been rolling dice would have come up 1's and 2's. I was away for a month and glad to get back home. Nowadays I think I'm good for up to 2 weeks away, then I start to miss my comfy bed and all the comforts I've made for myself at home.
Thanks so much for sharing. Certainly your travel experience depends a lot on your mindset as well. It can be hard to enjoy discovering a new place when you've experienced a personal loss. I've found the same as well.
Thanks guys for all your information! My husband and I have been following your adventures for quite some time! You've been SOOO helpful. We have been here in Europe for a few weeks after selling our house and everything, resigning and moving overseas to travel. We have our goldendoodle here with us from the states and want to know what the regulations are to get our pup on the ferry over to Albania and then back into the EU after? Help! We can't seem to find these answers anywhere. We are in Italy and plan to hop over to albania and Croatia before we head into Greece in the spring. Thanks y'all!!
Glad you're finding our videos helpful! If you plan to travel through multiple countries in Europe, you might consider getting an EU pet passport for your dog. We got pet passports for our little guys as soon as we landed in Europe and it makes such a huge difference for moving in and out of EU countries and also other European countries like Albania and Croatia. Also, I always check the country's dog import requirements on the IATA as a starting place for further research: www.iatatravelcentre.com/customs-currency-airport-tax-regulations.htm#
What about travel insurance? Do you buy it? Why or what not?
By travel insurance, I'm guessing that you mean coverage for delayed/cancelled flights, lost bags and that type of thing. We don't purchase extra insurance for that purpose because we have coverage through our credit cards. And in fact we have successfully made a claim related to delayed luggage through our credit card (although it took a lot of paperwork to process that claim!).
This was an informative video. My daughter watches the videos with me. She said that you inspire her wants to travel like you both when she gets older. She is 12. She said that you both are a really cute couple. :)
That's amazing! So glad we can provide a little inspiration to the next generation of travellers! 😊
Another awesome video, I was wondering are you keeping a tally for what its has costed you guys for the past 3 yrs?
Maybe scale back to only travelling for 6-8mths a year.
We are also from Toronto and we are going to start next year with three months of course in the winter and then return back to Toronto until September and venture off for either a month or two before the month of December.
So this way we would be getting the best of both worlds while still staying in the loop with family and friends.
Of course being from Canada we need to flock to warmer temperatures.
Does this make me a snowbird? Maybe but we will be an adventurous snowbird not just parking our behinds in Florida.
As to accommodations in Toronto will the prices are still ridiculously high north of a million but there's always smaller towns which are still also ridiculously high Maybe a home with an inlaw would work out it's a tough call for anyone living in this part of the world.
Wish we could buy a home for 300-400K like they can in other parts of the world.
Good luck always looking forward to your next adventure
Oh yes, we are definitely counting every penny as we go! It's helpful for our cost of living videos and also for our own budget tracking.
We're talking about increasing our visits to to Toronto to three times a year...but that would probably land us in Canada right in the middle of winter - not an appealing thought! I guess we're also becoming snowbirds. 😂
Question : What would happen if you are the one who need medical care? Do local hospital expect you to go to an ATM? So glad everything is fine with your mom!
Dont they take credit cards?
@ Apparently not in smaller hospitals in Mexico.
It was truly quite a surprise that the hospital wouldn't accept either a credit card or a letter of guarantee from the insurance provider. But apparently that's very common in smaller places.
The question i was about to ask u answered before i finished typing it hahaha, but i am just curious how you are able to sustain it, financially, physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Keep safe. Take care.
It's certainly a lot to sustain, financially, physically, mentally, etc. I think that being willing to reassess and change our plans as our needs evolve has been really helpful.
I’m really interested in how you overcame planning for the next destination and not focusing on the one you’re in? I spend so much time planning a holiday let alone life on the road.
Great question...and the answer is that it's a work in progress! We haven't managed to limit the time we spend planning -- but we are trying to enjoy it more and stress about it less. Essentially trying not to be perfect with all our plans and just roll with the punches.
Making mistakes keeps the mind young and active
Absolutely! We must have very active minds by now after making so many mistakes.
Did you contact the nearest Canadian consulate when your mother broke her wrist? I wouldn't be surprised if there was one in Oaxaca, even if it was just an individual with consular status, but there would certainly have been one in Mexico City and perhaps Cancun. Consulates (unlike embassies) are there to help the citizens of the home country - in your case, Canada - when they have problems in other countries. They might have been able to help you communicate with the hospital staff and find an easier way to pay for the treatment.
It actually never occurred to us to contact the consulate but this is an excellent suggestion and we will add it to our new emergency protocols. Gillian did her best with limited Spanish but it certainly would have helped immensely to have more support.
@@OurFreedomYears Consulates can be very useful, particularly in developing countries. You mentioned getting lonely on your travels; consulates often have movie nights and other get-togethers and in an emergency - like a health crisis, a robbery or trouble with the police - they're the ones to call first. Since you're going to be in a place for a month, you should probably at least register with the nearest consulate. When my father died, I was in Geneva and my passport had been sent to the embassy of, I think, the Niger in Germany (because the Niger had no embassy in Switzerland) for a visa. At the time, the US Consulate in Geneva was famous for never answering the phone so I called the embassy in Switzerland. They faxed me travel documents that got me home, minus my passport (with help from Swiss Air, which sent someone to walk me through to the gate with explanations). Back in NY, I was taken to a room where everyone but me was shackled to the furniture, but the people were very nice and I was soon cleared for re-entry. Your taxpayer dollars at work!
@@victoriaguerin2851 What a story! Great to know that you were able to find support during such a difficult time. Thanks for the tip about registering with the consulate -- very good idea for our next month long stay.
I was in Paris with my mom and daughter. My son had just left to go back to Rome where he was living. We were grabbing a Starbucks on our last morning there before going to the airport. Three 7-foot Somalian guys who appeared to be running from the police (given the sirens and flashing lights some distance behind them) ran by with a possibly stolen briefcase, and saw my then 14-year-old daughter.
They followed us into a Starbucks and literally took my daughter and started pulling her away. I said she’s 14 and she isn’t going anywhere. They said if we can’t have the daughter then we will take the mother.
I was eye level to their chests. I pulled my daughter behind me and got ready to fight like a Mother.
The male Starbucks employees slid down behind the counter.
My mother managed to distract them, and they finally left.
This happened on a quiet Sunday morning in the 6th Arrondissement, one of the nicest areas in Paris.
It occurred to me after this that I had no idea what 911 was in France.
Please make sure you know the emergency number to call in every country you travel to.
Thank you so much for sharing your story. This sounds like it was an absolutely terrifying experience and I'm very relieved that it ended relatively well, although I'm sure you were shaken for days after. Personal safety should never be taken for granted in any country -- even in the so-called nice areas. Excellent reminder to always be aware of how to get help in a foreign country.
Travel is hard. The longest I have traveled is 2 weeks. And certain countries get on my nerves more than others. I can only do a long trip in Mexico. Europe is 10 days maximum. Nothing better than sleeping in your own 🛏️ bed!
Yes, nothing beats coming home and having a familiar environment. 😊
Great video about many of the things I've wondered about. It would be great if you did an indepth video on each issue and the way you overcame it.
I haven't started traveling yet but I have worried about selling my house and not having a home base to come back to, especially because I live in an area where the housing costs are very expensive.
What do you recommend for creating face-to-face connection with others in the countries and locations you're traveling to?
Also, a video on how to pick a place to stay, the tools you used and the warning signs of a place that looks good on paper but should probably be passed by.
So many great questions here! For meeting up with others, we would recommend looking into Facebook groups like GoWithLess and local expats and also Meetup.com.
We have a few videos related to picking Airbnbs; here's a playlist to check out:
ua-cam.com/play/PLcCPFj7b6VbaM24cTTSJ2kdIt-psaUPnt.html
Hope that helps as a starting place! 😊
Hi girls. I’ve loved your videos. I would get to where you are now a lot quicker. However, I am a Christian and would probably be able to plug into a local community. It’s pretty universal. I wonder what other ways one can plug in and gain instant community. Perhaps expat communities. Since they all are in the same boat and don’t have roots there.
Great point and likely expat communities are a good angle for those looking for local connections. It can take some work to find like-minded people but definitely worth the effort.
Thanks for the honest video. Sounds like next year will be your last with full time travel.
Hard to say right now...guess we'll know by the end of the year! 😂 We're still (largely) enjoying traveling but definitely craving stability as well.
@@OurFreedomYears My theory is that about three years is what most folks with means can handle.
Travelling with dogs is beyond nuts 😞
Indeed! 😂
I am sorry that your travel , making youtube video and writing blog etc becoming a stress as new job. Make me think of my FIRE process. Look like this human brain will never be settle down in any life-style.
We found that having some self-imposed responsibilities and deadlines really helped us make the transition from work to FIRE. After working eight hours+ a day for so long, we really needed a substantial project beyond just playing tourist. Likely we'll continue to evolve our approach as the years go by.
Travel is fantastically overrated...I’ve discovered its basically humans wandering around spending LOTS of money looking at stone, water, soil and the skies. Humans have an urge to seek happiness and peace in other places. Travel doesn’t enlighten you, it doesn’t give you any higher knowledge, it doesn’t make you a more educated or better person, it merely occupies and distracts you. A holiday or even a day trip can top up your wanderlust a lot more efficiently than taking off to explore the world. The real magic lies within finding peace and happiness in the mundane. Trust me, the world is VERY “samey” unless you go live with tribes or discover an island you’ll realise we’re all humans with the same problems, some of just speak and eat differently. ..oh, and some places are hotter.
We've been really enjoying these years of travel and have found it to be quite enriching to be exposed to different cultures and values.
Traveling with four legged family is going to add to the planning exponentially. I wander around with just my backpack. I'm not fussy about my surroundings and can sleep through almost anything, so I wind up doing a combination of hostels and airbnbs. And I'm flexible - if something happens I can pack the backpack and go somewhere else. I also bought a small apartment in México to use as a base. Travel. Back to the apartment. Travel. Back to the apartment. That really helps with the burn out! Great video! Thanks!
That sounds like real freedom - amazing! Nice that you've set up a home base in Mexico. Yes, it certainly adds a lot of complication to bring two dogs along but they're worth it...most days. 😂