Blog

How to Travel Full-Time

How did you get started traveling full-time?  It’s a question that we get asked a lot, but it’s not a simple straightforward answer.  So, we wanted to share how it all happened from what influenced us, how we could afford to do it, and why we decided to make such a drastic change in our well-established lives. 

We went from being over worked, with three jobs, and no days off, to having the freedom to go where we want, when we want, and to live our dream of seeing the world. You can watch our vlog or read our story below.

We’re from Nashville, TN which is know as Music City, USA. We both started our careers in Nashville working in clinical trials research as our nine to five.  We also had our side jobs of selling real estate, teaching English as a second language online, and teaching salsa dance to supplement and hopefully one day replace our 9-5’s. 

Being salsa instructors was by far our favorite job and was a true passion for both of us.  We loved the music and enjoyed how partner dancing made us feel so deeply connected to other people.  We made powerful friendships through dance and with each class we taught we were growing a community, creating new dancers every single week.  It was a beautiful thing to be a part of. 

But even as our businesses grew, we could never seem to drop the nine to five.  It was a like a security blanket that we were terrified to let go of. 

We were each working three jobs and getting burned out.  We knew we couldn’t continue at that pace forever.  We just weren’t sure of how to change it at the time.

Our Inspiration

So what inspired us to make such a big change?

There were 4 big contributors. 

1. Our love for travel:  Over the years of our marriage, we were becoming more and more addicted to travel.  We started with just  one international trip a year, and then two trips year, and then three, and then four.  It eventually felt like traveling should be our real life.  The rest was just an elaborate system to finance our travel. 
2. Travel Vloggers: I was always watching travel videos trying to get good ideas for our next trip and then we stumbled upon videos of vloggers talking about how they were living abroad full-time, very economically on $1000 a month or traveling full-time on $2000 a month. My mind was blown by this.  Many of the vloggers had less resources than we had yet they were living our dream life and we weren’t.  I thought why not me? The only thing that they had more of was courage and disciple.   Courage to do what they want to do no matter what and the disciple to live frugally and under a budget.
3. Thailand: In 2019, we took a 2 week tour of Thailand. It was probably our most influential trip.  Thailand was the first time we went to a foreign country and said without a doubt, “we can live here.”  We loved the temples, the beaches, the food, and the very kind Thai people.  Everyone is so calm and peaceful here.  I’ve never experienced a more relaxed country before in my life.   When we finally came back home to the US after our two week tour, we started to notice things we never noticed before.  We noticed how angry people were all the time, how much they complained, and how anxious they were. Slowly by surely we noticed that their anxieties were causing us anxiety, and their anger was causing us anger.  Thailand was the first country we ever went to where we didn’t feel other people’s anger or anxiety.  It was a revelation to me.
4. Meditation: I learned about meditation in Thailand and really found it helpful.  It really helped me quiet my mind, find a little bit of peace, and decrease my fears, anxiety, and worries.  I had a lot of anxiety about losing my job, losing my house, and having financial hardship.  I was working 3 jobs not because I needed to, but because I had fears and anxieties that were holding me back.  Once the fear decreased, I was able to see all the possibilities in front of me.  To read our full article on how meditation changed our life click here!

One day, I decided it was time to let go of my worries and be brave.  I asked David  “What do you think about selling the house, quitting our jobs, and travelling full-time for a couple of years?”  David said without a doubt, “When do we leave?”

I really wasn’t expecting that answer.  I thought he would take some convincing, but no. David had no fears, doubts, or hesitations.  It was an instant yes for him, so all that was left to do was execute on the dream.

Our Plan

We knew that the equity in our home would be enough to finance our travels.  So, our main focus was getting the house market ready, by decluttering, donating things to Goodwill, and making repairs.

We put it on the market and waited.  David was cool as a cucumber, but I was so nervous each day that passed because our dreams couldn’t start until the house sold, so I was praying for the house to sell. Within 20 days though, we had a full price offer, and we could finally exhale.  We bought the house at 135K and sold a 284K which gave us more than enough to go on a trip of a lifetime. 

Selling off the rest of our possessions we easy.  Most of the items that we had would have no use for us in the future that we wanted to create, so we thanked each item and let it go.  We didn’t even need a storage unit. 

Living it

We took all our possessions down to two pieces of luggage which is so freeing.   We can literally be packed and ready to go anywhere on the planet in under 30 minutes.     

Our new lifestyle is not without it’s challenges.  We weren’t expecting a full blown pandemic when we left.

We weren’t expecting every border to close. 

We didn’t expect to be stranded in Thailand. 

We have no idea where we will be next month or what will happen, but we do not regret our decision in the least. 

We are really happy being the eternal fish out of water with new adventures every day.  Now, the whole planet is our muse and we love to capture her beauty in all our photos and videos.  

Want to know what it’s like to be stranded in Thailand? Check it out at the links below!

• Krabi Beaches
• Koh Samui