Our Second Bloggerversary – Reflecting on Being Foot Loose and Home-Free

It was two years ago, this week, that Diana and I chose to start sharing our Adventures, Challenges, and Insights in Early Roving Retirement. Our home-free adventure is bold and exciting for some and just plain scary for others. But we are definitely fulfilling our dream of a roving retirement. This post reflects on the last two years and where we might yet boldly go.

A Brief History of Time

Context is one of my “strengths”, according to Now, Discover Your Strengths, so it makes perfect sense to give you an overview of the last two years that we have been blogging.

Having achieved FI in 2018, we chose to exercise the RE option of FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) when our kids graduated from college in May 2019. We sold the house and started Our Big Trip (OBT) with a flight to the Great Barrier Reef. The longer-term plan involved visiting family after completing OBT, followed by winter skiing in the Alps and a long, slow Mediterranean road trip in search of a home base from which to launch further European forays.

Adventures

Diana will undoubtedly have her own highlights of the past two years, but for me, they are mostly about new vistas and experiences. I felt enriched from our time in Nepal and Japan. Those countries seemed the most foreign to me, so having the opportunity to visit them was especially rewarding. Safaris in India and Kenya were also wonderful.

Madly driving the narrow hedgerows in Cornwall and meeting new cousins in nearby Sussex,  where our common ancestors were born, was invigorating. Immediately following that with visits to distilleries, moors and the birthplace of golf in Scotland was a special treat.

And the Food

Dining our way through Japan, Southeast Asia, India, Mexico, and Nice is also worthy of special mention. I look forward to returning to these places for the food alone. Our current stay in Hawaii has also afforded some great meals and provided a pleasant paradise to prepare for our next adventures.

Challenges

The Fall in Victoria Falls has been a sizable setback for Diana. Mostly recovered now, I believe it played a part in her subsequent torn ACL, adding injury to injury. Finding available medical help while being on the road has been a lot of work for her, as have the many PT sessions, finding gyms, and dealing with insurance. Being Home-Free adds an extra level of difficulty and discomfort to addressing any medical issues.

The night train to Aswan and being bedridden in Edinburgh seem pale in comparison, although they certainly were no fun at the time.

Like everyone else, we have had to navigate around Covid protocols and multiple lockdowns. In many ways, we’ve had it easier than a lot of people since we don’t have kiddos or jobs to manage. Being Home-Free has made hunkering down more difficult, but it has also allowed us to seek out safer and more enriching places to stay while awaiting greater normalcy.

We’ve had some unusual challenges, like quickly trying to find a place in France to stay for the first lockdown and returning to the US just as that lockdown was ending. We barely made it back to France last September to validate our long stays visas, only to be locked down again.

Insights

Perhaps the biggest takeaway for me is how valuable it is to make your own luck. We have weathered our challenges better and reaped more rewards simply because we didn’t let doubt stop us from trying to continue our roving lifestyle. Some failure is inevitable, but we can’t score if we don’t get in the game. I am grateful that Diana is willing to take those risks with me. We are more resilient together.

Our blog has largely worked out as I hoped, a cure for brain rot. The desire to post weekly has grounded us in some degree of “work” regularity. We have been helped by your recommendations and comments and supported in times of distress. Our intent to provide interesting and helpful content has driven us to explore and observe more than we might have otherwise. We will cherish our online journals for years to come.

More recently, we have connected with a group of similar nomads, our tribe. The tribe provides help and support for those with our unusual lifestyle. Interestingly, we are on the frequent mover side of the spectrum. Most other nomads are embracing “slow travel”, changing venues no faster than one month and frequently staying somewhere for up to a year. I’m learning about the benefits of slow travel from them and we will likely adapt ourselves to a slower pace going forward.

To Infinity And Beyond

“It’s an Adventure” is what we say to each other as we encounter the various Adventures, Challenges, and Insights, mostly during the challenges. But we love it. We are privileged to be able to pursue this lifestyle and plan to be nomads for at least the next few years.

We plan to traipse around Spain and Portugal this summer (fingers crossed), in search of a place to call home for a while. Such a location would make it easier to explore more of Europe while providing somewhere to hunker down when needed. We have always planned to squat in Europe for a while in early retirement, soaking it all in.

We also plan to visit Costa Rica and Panama at some point to see if they would be suitable for eventually settling down. The warmth, cost of living, and cost of healthcare make these countries possible targets.

Who knows? Tomorrow is ripe with possibilities. We choose to embrace them. Thanks for joining us on our wild ride!

What would you like to hear more about in our coming posts?