Naples, FL (Winter ‘22)

 FAQs

1. Where do you stay? In an RV? A tent? In other people’s houses, mostly. We rent homes through airbnb/vrbo or short-term leases made directly with owners. In Colombia, we lived in a great apartment (airbnb). In Chile we stayed in a mix of airbnbs and inns/cabins. Greg is the mastermind of finding our homes. If he didn’t have this skill, we wouldn’t be doing this because I have zero patience for trolling listings to find the good ones. Combing through the “cats and dogs,” as Greg calls it.

2. How far in advance do you plan out? B.C. (Before Covid) we had a rough sketch of where we wanted to go a year ahead, but the ‘vid threw a major wrench in that kind of planning. With the unexpected country shutdowns and changing requirements, it made it impossible to plan. We were generally booked 6 months in advance during the vid, but due to the fact that so many more people started working remotely (in airbnbs!)—scooping up the rental inventory and driving up prices—it complicated things. Thanks to Greg’s super sleuthing and planning + some combo of luck, intuition, and good juju, we’ve lived in some amazing places. #follow-the-weather

3. What’s the most challenging part of living like this? Well, first off, let’s all agree that EVERY life comes with uncertainties, potholes, road blocks, turns, and twisters. Throw vagabonding into the mix and the uncertainties are sometimes magnified, but that’s also part of what makes it exciting! Every new place we land, we start over: new grocery stores, new farmers markets, new gyms, new people to cut hair (if we cut hair), new landlords, new neighbors (if there are neighbors- sometimes we are pretty remote), new addresses for shipments, new houses, new appliances, new recycling/trash policies, new furniture to trip over on the way to the bathroom, new f#*(@$#$@ smoke alarms. (OMG, smoke alarms.) Every time we get to a new place, there’s an adjustment period and, sometimes, just when we feel adjusted, it’s time to pack up and move. We’ve learned a lot about over-riding the software code that wants to lean into the familiar. Living like this requires being in the moment and constantly embracing the unknown.

4. What’s the funniest thing that’s happened? Lots of funny things. A top contender was in New Hampshire when a momma and baby bear broke into our kitchen window early in the a.m. and stole Greg’s bag of organic almonds and walnuts off the table. Greg chased momma bear out of the house by banging 2 pots and pans together… in his boxers. Runner up was when Greg went for a haircut in Medellin. Greg doesn’t speak Spanish but brought a picture of the haircut he wanted. I couldn’t go with him to translate because I was at class. He tried to tell the guy (with pointing and charades) that he didn’t want a “fade,” the popular cut in Colombia. He came out looking like the Fonz from Happy Days, except with the sides shaved off. (Sad to say: we have no picture of this haircut. We aren’t always good at remembering to take pics of ourselves. Getting better at it tho.)

5. What keeps you going? A deep-down call to adventure, following our excitement, and trusting intuition. We’ve learned the more we trust the intuitive flow of ourselves and the less we listen to narratives the mind spins, the easier it is to roll with the inevitable challenges. In the micro sense: we prioritize good health and have a few routines we stick to no matter where we are.

6. What’s your favorite place so far? Impossible to say. Every location offers a different energy, different creatures to enjoy, different plants and trees, different cloud formations, different accents, different ways of being. We have appreciated them all. But Patagonia was pretty super epic!

7. How do you stay healthy? I was wondering about this one before we hit the road, thinking it might be a problem. But, like most worries, it has turned out to be mostly a non-issue. We build our trips around nature and outdoorsy stuff, hiking, biking, kayaking. If we are in cities, there’s a lot of walking. So some sort of exercise is always happening. We also join gyms for strength training where we can and it’s a good way to be part of the local culture. When all else fails, there’s an app for that! I’ve done burpees all over the planet. As for food, there was incredible fresh food and produce in Colombia/Chile and we had no trouble finding almond milk (lactose intolerance here) and other healthy options wherever we went. Ultimately, with a little sleuthing and commitment, staying healthy vagabonding is 100 doable. And a top priority for us. Without our health we couldn’t do this. Funny fact: we are both more on top of doctor’s appointments than before traveling because we have to plan them way out in advance and take care of them when we stop through D.C.

8. Where do you get mail? We use a virtual mail service called Traveling Mailbox. We have one address where all of our mail goes, gets scanned in, and sent to us by email as PDFs or forwarded to us, if need be. Works great. Otherwise, for shipments, we use the addresses where we live.

9. What does Greg do with himself while you are working? Ha! This one always makes me laugh. Most people know I’m still coaching, writing, and doing creative work but “what does Greg do?” now that he’s retired, people ask. The reality is that living like this is its own full-time job. Outside of constantly adjusting to our new locations and finding the things we want to do and see in each place (including, sometimes, doing nothing at all if that’s in order), we’re always on the hook for deciding on our next location(s), researching, booking homes, etc. We’ve found a balance with it but, without a doubt, none of this happens by itself. Like anything worthwhile, it takes work. Gratefully, Greg is our full-time Mastermind Researcher/Planner and I pinch hit.
   
   And that’s all she wrote, folks. Thanks for coming along for the journey. If you have any other questions/topics you’d like to hear about, shoot us an email and let us know. I’ve toyed with the idea of writing a travel blog but not sure that idea excites me enough to see it through at the moment. In the meantime, we post somewhat regularly here:

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/2vagabonders

Have mercy: we’re new to the social media stuff and not entirely sure how we feel about it, but we’re giving it a go!