One Year Living On The Road!

We left on October 1st, 2021 to be nomads. Live on the road. Travel full time. Still not sure exactly how to explain '“where I live” to strangers, but it’s been a year of it. We spend 1-2 months per city in short term rentals (mostly Airbnbs) and we are on our 7th city.

This started as a dream over 6 years ago and then, through a series of events, we made it.

Can I tell you something??

Sunset in Sandestin, FL - our first stay on the trip (and a magical stop… it was just golf cart rides and beach sunsets and new adventure feelings the whole time).

I am SO FREAKING glad we did.

It has been better than I expected.

I am a bit of a realist so my expectations aren’t always high, but still.

There are days we’re tired. Days I wish I could find the grocery store without my map app. Days I miss routine and am so sick of moving all our stupid stuff that I just want to go ‘home’.

But you know what else? There are also so, so many days that we cannot believe we get to do this. We land in a new city and start exploring and it’s just the best.

So in honor of our 1 year nomad-life anniversary, here are a few things I’ve learned… and updates on what’s next for us.

Our month in Balboa Island was amazing - so was nearby Laguna Beach

A few things I’ve learned living on the road

• I don’t need most of the stuff I thought I did

Narrowing down my clothes was the hardest thing for me. And don’t get me wrong, I still miss having options. But after our first few months, we ended up ditching about 25% of what we originally brought with us. I LOVE having less things. It feels freeing and has really challenged me to buy fewer, nicer things.

• Spending 1-2 months per city was the right call

One of our early goals with this trip was to really learn the cities. Some travel families move around constantly and there are some fun pros to that - they see way more than 7 cities in a year, for example.

But for us, this has been one of the best parts. We really learn the areas we go to. I feel like I’ve actually lived in all the cities and got the vibe of the people, too. I love that.

We drove up the coast between Balboa Island and Vancouver… it was a memory

• Traveling with a toddler is the best

My biggest fear when we made this leap was that we would ‘mess up’ Rohry during the process. He was 2 when we left and change is hard on toddlers.

But all the mentors in our life told us that we are his constant, and they were right. He has his moments (but we all do!), and sometimes the changes get to him. But he has become the best little traveler. He loves finding new parks and seeing new things, and we have all become more creative because we have fewer toys. We also spend a LOT of time together and he just lights up on our adventure days. He has spent a third of his life on the road and we have no regrets about that.

• You don’t have to be 20 with a backpack to see the world

Honestly, you just need a plan. It may look different than you imagine, but if what you want is to travel more we are here to tell you it’s possible. In fact, we’d argue you should. Should you quit your job without a plan in order to make it happen, like I did? No. Well, maybe. Probably, now that I think about it.

• Life is happening now

You may not be able to sell your home and live on the road tomorrow. It took us 6 years to get around to this thing. But if you have something you want to do, make a plan and go for it. It may not work out, but also - it may be the coolest year of your life.

Mountains in Park City, UT (AKA, Kyle’s happiest place)

The big question we get - What’s next?

When we left, we only booked a few months at a time. We had so much to learn and we just didn’t know how long we’d want to do this.

We still only book a few months at a time, but now we know we love it. Also, our stuff is already in storage. Oh, and our toddler doesn’t have to be in school yet (or really anywhere, for that matter).

So we’re thinking we’re going to keep going for most, if not all, of 2023.

We still have a long list of places we want to ‘live’ in, and we’re daydreaming of jumping across the pond. We’ll see what lands.

Are we in love with downtown Vancouver? Yes. Yes we are. I will convince you to go. I will write that blog post soon but the summary is this - if it wasn’t so far from our families, we would never have left.

Oh, and we still don’t know where we’ll live after all of this.

And we’re fine with that.

Most days.