We are British born and in 2004 moved to Florida where we have been for the last 20 years. In April we sold everything, house, business, car…..and retired at 51 and 54 to start our full time travel life! I loved the USA but you have hit the nail on the head as to why staying was no longer achievable for our life goals. We are also more active, eat better and are throughly enjoying our new lifestyle! Thanks for the great content and insights!
Congratulations on living as full-time travelers. I don't know what we expected when we set off on this lifestyle, but we are so happy and fulfilled. Perhaps initially we thought we'd have some regrets if we hated it-and there was a chance that Kevin was going to not retire and instead take a job in London. Fortunately that fell through, but we had some non-furniture items-necessities like cold weather clothes and some essentials that we stored just in case. We got rid of all that last October when we knew this is what we wanted to be doing. It was a hassle to deal with closing out the small storage unit, but when the job offer came around again, we had no problem turning it down! Thank you so much for watching! I love the catchphrase for your channel! -Judy
Hi Sam, We realize this! We've been together since I was 14 and Kevin was 16 and have been married over 40 years. My mother used to joke that Kevin practically raised me, so it's no surprise we're compatible. I wrote an article about navigating full-time travel for people who may not be as well aligned. It's linked below if you're interested in it. -Judy 📝 Navigating Love & Travel: findingginamarie.com/articles/what-if-your-spouse-doesnt-want-to-travel-full-time
You're right; it gets harder and harder. But the choice we made to travel the world has brought us so much joy! I've linked our video about how we decided to retire early to travel full time. Thanks so much for watching. -Judy 🎥 How we retired early and are traveling full time: ruclips.net/video/ttyh4NXrbfs/видео.html
I'm American, in my 60s, and a digital slow traveler in UK/Europe. I've just spent 3.5 weeks in Carcassonne, France (I'm now in Brussels). I was so surprised that while in France, I was able to have a bowl of cereal with milk every single day with no dairy issues. No upset stomach, no bloating. Also surprised that my ankles weren't as puffy as they are in the U.S. As you mentioned. it seems US food has so many additives, sugar, and salt, and it really affects people's health. The food here in Europe seems healthier and more wholesome. Of course there is fast food here in Europe, but it's not so in your face like it is in the US. Also, fruit and veggies are so mush more flavourful in Europe. I watch all of your videos, but this one really resonated with me! Thanks so much for sharing your experiences and insights with us! 🙂
Hi Kat, we recognize your name from previous comments, so thanks for letting us know that this episode resonated with you. We're currently in Lyon, France for another week or so and are loving it. What is your opinion of Brussels? It's on our list of places to visit. We are finding in Europe that you need so much less seasoning on food because of how flavorful fruits and vegetables are on their own. I'm sure it's because growers in Europe are focused on crops that are flavorful versus ones that have an extended shelf life and larger sizes like they are in the US. Thank you so much for watching! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie Hi Judy, Brussels is really nice! everyone is so kind and friendly. The Grand Place is magnificent - you need to see it. This has been a short visit for me as I'm traveling back to London tomorrow. But I'd really like to return to Brussels and see more of its offerings. I have a client here and was able to stay in his apt while he was in the States. I think in the US the fruit is picked too early for transportation purposes. So a lot of fruit tastes sour/unripe/bland. And yeah, the focus seems to be longer shelf life and big sizes. I don't need an onion as big as my head! It's ridiculous. Also don't you find that in addition to more flavourful food, the food prices in general in Europe are cheaper? It's astonishing how expensive food is in the States. Kat
Thank you so much for letting us know you enjoyed Brussels. How wonderful to stay in your client's apartment. That is a great bonus! We've heard mixed things about Brussels, so it keeps falling off our radar. But when I was a little girl my aunts (who are deceased) visited and gave me a handkerchief made from Brussels lace, so I've always had a soft spot about visiting. Yes, you are right about food costs in the US. Part of that issue is that unless you are going to local markets, the grocers are often using corporate farmers versus locals. That may be because grocery stores want food that has a longer shelf life, etc., etc. -Judy
@@travelingthediaspora7996 Agree! The Cité is a fantastic place to see. I really enjoyed venturing down the small alleys and imagining life during the medieval era.
As someone who has been able to travel abroad in the last few years, I truly appreciate your point of view on living in the US. Everything is super expensive, food is unhealthy, and the culture is vastly different. I love so much about the US but wish more people could see what opportunities lie beyond our borders and experience the beauty and dynamics of other cultures. Every time we return from our travels I see things through different eyes and can't help but compare. Also I am learning to "Live with Less to Have More"- the more stuff we own, the more it begins to own us and bring us down. Thanks for sharing your travels and knowledge, it is much appreciated. Safe travels!
Hi Jodie, Thank you so much for watching! We mean no disrespect to the US. We are grateful for all the opportunities we have had because of being American citizens. But we feel the same as you. We agree also regarding the Live with Less to Have More mentality and wish it was a mindset we had when we were much younger. We actually have a full series on downsizing to help people in retirement or who just want to stop being owned by their stuff! -Judy 🎥 Downsizing for Retirement or Full-Time Travel Series: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF2xRusfMEQvN-5LZZqdnQIf
Thanks for watching, BW! Visiting is even expensive, so we don't typically return more than once per year (so far). It's a little tricky because we have some older family members and initially it wasn't looking like we'd be back in the US before November 2025. We may have to adjust that, but it is a hassle to fly back to the US when it isn't always convenient to do so-primarily meaning taking an expensive flight that's a detour from where you want to be or have been. But it is still important for us to spend time with our family, who we really love. -Judy
What you’re doing is so thought provoking! The idea of a nomadic lifestyle and living with only carry-on baggage is on one hand very appealing but on the other hand very intimidating. I’m torn between my own love of travel, imminent retirement, and liking the idea of having a home base. Thank you for providing such rich food for thought.
Thanks so much for watching and for taking the time to walk through your situation with us so we can understand a bit more. If it helps to know it, when we first left San Francisco, there was a small chance that Kevin was going to take a job in London, so while we got rid of all of our furniture, we kept some things like winter clothes and some practical things like kitchen stuff. It didn't take us long to know that we definitely didn't want to come back, so we got rid of everything on our next trip back to the US. We felt that even if we decided to live as expats somewhere versus traveling full time, we wouldn't want to own or continue to accumulate stuff and would need so much less than we had while living in the US. It has been the most freeing thing ever. We'd love to know what you decide to do when you figure it out. -Judy
you can try it out for a year or two then either keep going or return to establish a home base... I think re-establishing a home base is not hard at all so that option is always there. One additional thought is that if you get tired of traveling you can simply hunker down for even a few months in a particular location that you like and make it your home base... the decision to keep going is yours alone :D
@sbkpilot1 We agree with you about re-establishing a home base. I would like to believe that our values and priorities will have shifted during our time of travel and we will find that we need a lot less stuff to be happy than we did before embarking on full-time travel. We're open to eventually slowing down and spending three months somewhere versus only a month, but even that's a ways away for us personally. -Judy
We sold it all to be nomads. Best decision ever. We are from Canada but have no desire to return there full time after seeing so much of what the world has to offer, at a fraction of the cost.
Thank you so much for watching, Christine! We had so many of our family and friends continue to question our decision and wonder when we planned to return that we felt it was necessary to clarify some of our key reasons for choosing to live outside the US. -Judy
Congratulations to you both! We had explored Italy and Portugal as potential options. I'm currently working on my Italian Dual Citizenship, but I'm more than two years in and only halfway through the process. Portugal didn't suit us and although we thought we might be interested in London, the cost of living is too high without having jobs there, and by then we decided we wanted to retire! We have an entire series talking about our beginnings and how we made the decision to become full-time travelers instead of expats. And we have a new series on downsizing if you're interested in that as well. Best of luck to you both! -Judy RESOURCES 🎥 8 Critical Questions for Downsizing: ruclips.net/video/oqYfZ98r7R8/видео.html ✅ Downsizing Prep Worksheet: findingginamarie.com/request-downsizing-prep-worksheet 🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX 🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH 🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads): 📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
I’m recent retired and in my sixties. I love to travel but I am a solo female and though I have cruised and travel solo I was always on guard and sometimes lonely. I love what you guys have decided to do with your retirement and I will so make a decision on my new chapter of life. 😍
Hi Bonita, I can understand about being on guard. Even though we were in a safe area, when Kevin was in the hospital in Serbia, I was on my own for the first time outside of taking walks with him waiting for me in our Airbnb or hotel. It was a weird, uncomfortable feeling. We've been together since I was 14 and he was 16 and have been married over 40 years, so neither of us has been on our own at all. BUT life is so short and living in fear is a hard way to live. Giving up your dreams is hard, too. I think most paths to happiness require some uncertainty and a bit of fear. Someone I highly respect has done some impressive things, but she "did them scared." She makes decisions every day that are uncomfortable but also incredibly rewarding. She's truly an inspiration. As a single traveler, you could choose to stay in a private room in a hostel where you can have privacy and lock your door, but still interact with the backpackers and young people who I know would be super inspired by you and your decision to travel. We wish you all the best as you figure out what your own next steps are. ♥️ -Judy
@@bonitak8483 Tirana is a very safe city. Our air B&B owner lives below us. He says there’s little to no crime in this town. We have felt safe the 5 wk we have been here. We have seen numerous single girls walking along at night. We have also seen girls ages 6-8 years walking alone during the day. You should come check it out. The food here is so cheap. Traditional food $6. Pizza $6-8. Pitas $2.20 . Beer $1, carafe wine $3. Pasta $5. Dental cleanings $35. We cook a lot of meals: 2 large chicken breast $4. Macchiato $2. ❤️👍
Your experiences and observations are spot on. There are wonderful things about living in the US, but there are definitely shortcomings. The walkable cities, fresh produce markets, history, culture, lower cost of living, and easy transportation make the EU a great place to visit and/or live. Congrats to you both for figuring all this out for yourselves and choosing your own path, plus sharing all of this and possibly helping others to look at all the options out there. For now, we're trying to have the best of both worlds....
Thank you so much for your kind words, Dan. We have really appreciated all your support of our channel. It means a lot to us, and we're glad to hear our conversation resonated with you. We wish you all the best. Everyone's path is their own! -Judy
We just finished 1 year of full nomad travel in Mexico after retiring early at 54 and 57. Leaving for Europe in 2 weeks! We feel the same about the US. Only plan to go back to visit family and friends every few months. It's too expensive, etc. Happy travels!
Thanks for watching, Kenny! How terrific to have a year under your belt. We've vacationed in Mexico, but we haven't slow traveled through it yet. If you have recommendations for us, we'd love to hear them. We hope you have a blast in Europe. After spending 7 months in Asia/SE Asia, Europe's prices were a bit of a culture shock for us in 2024. Enjoy your time in Europe regardless. It's beautiful. Where are you headed? We leave for Albania next week. -Judy
Living in France for 18 years. My husband died 7 months ago. I will be leaving France. I just don’t know where to go at my age, 78, and also I would be a solo female traveler. Like you were, I am left with 38 years of stuff we collected during our marriage to sell. I am in shape and healthy. I do know I don’t want to return to the USA for the same reasons you expressed.
Thank you so much for watching and for sharing your story with us. We're sorry about your husband. I can't imagine how hard it would be for me to lose Kevin. But I would hope that I would continue to travel and thrive having new experiences. Traveling solo can be more expensive in some ways, but if you are open to a private room in a hostel, it can still be affordable and you can meet some great people. Even though there may be a large age gap at times between you and most of the other people staying in hostels, I know that they would find you cool and be super impressed and inspired by you! Getting rid of stuff is hard, but at the same time it is incredibly freeing. For sentimental things, I took pictures and they pop up in my stories, so I can keep the memories close without the clutter. We had some lovely and expensive furniture (specifically a dining room table and buffet) that we sold at a great price to a couple who had just purchased their first home. They told us they were going to be hosting Thanksgiving in their new home and sent us a picture of the furniture once they had moved it in. Rather than be heartbroken about giving up my favorite things, we treasured the idea that our well-loved pieces would continue to bring happy memories for another family. We wish you all the best! -Judy
We lived a year in Chiang Mai as an Expat, got kind of lonely and now we're heading back to the US to be near family. I think the way you're doing it is better than being an Expat.
Hi Mike, we absolutely love our lives as full-time travelers. We aren't building a ton of relationships in one place, but we are making many all across the miles. It's especially hard when you don't speak the language, so we are working hard to learn Italian since that's a likely far-down-the-road country for us to live in since I am working on my Italian dual citizenship. But we're planning that for the distant day ahead when one or the other of us is physically unable to travel. We are enjoying our lives too much right now to be tied down and we know that if we're burned out at all, we can slow down our travel a bit more than we're doing. We have room for that if we need it (but so far we really don't!). Thanks so much for watching. We're sorry to hear that your time as a Chiang Mai expat wasn't great. We did enjoy the country and could possibly see ourselves spending time there in the winter for the warmer weather. -Judy
Hi CafeLu, you are so right! However, everyplace we've been outside of the US has been very walkable or has great metro transportation. I don't know why the US doesn't embrace more of it (except that Americans love their cars!). Thank you so much for your kind words! -Judy
Tirana is very walkable. We’ve been here 5 weeks. The town is flat has everything we need. Grocery stores,veggies stands, restaurants, coffee shops, in every block. Price are so affordable. We met a 69year Old American that just moved here. He is highly educated and has traveled the world. 70%Albanian speak English.
Hi @dianamartin9558, You are right. It's been so great so far and all we've done is eat, walk, and work! 😉 We have been loving getting fresh produce every day from the many street markets that are everywhere! We are looking forward to meeting up with you! -Judy
Just Discovered your Vlog- LOVE IT! Keep up the great work- love the selling of your things and house and travelling- life is short- you are doing life right!!
Thank you so much for watching and for your very kind words! We have ZERO regrets over getting rid of everything we own. It was cathartic, but also we could pass off some memorabilia or special things to our children (mostly our daughter-our boys wanted almost nothing!). A family came and purchased our dining room table and buffet that had very special memories for us, but they had just bought their first home and would be making their own memories with those things. We felt like we were passing on good karma versus holding on to stuff that we didn't need anymore. Those items served us well for many years, so passing them on was easy. -Judy
Hi Daniel, We hear you there. It wasn't one of our top reasons, and the next several months will be tough. No place is ever perfect, especially when it comes to politics, unfortunately. However, there is a greater sense of the world at large because most countries aren't as big as the US and need to get along with its many diverse neighboring countries. Thanks for watching. Not sure if you are traveling full time or becoming an expat, but we have a lot of resources that might be helpful, including the video at the top of the list. -Judy 🎥 Our 5 Travel Secrets for Retirement as Full-Time Travelers: ruclips.net/video/Oc4tZ4M1v0w/видео.html 🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX 🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH 🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads): 📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
Great video, great points! I can relate with every one of your talking points. We're starting year 2 of our travel lifestyle. We're going to reevaluate things at the 2 year mark. We would never take back a day of our experiences traveling -- but there's also a part of us that misses our old life as well - especially w/regards to family. Also Costco! lol
Congratulations on nearing the two-year mark! We have a few articles on our website that might help you regarding family. Have you considered potentially visiting more frequently as an easy solution? Right now our visits of once per year are working, but it helps that our daughter has met up with us two additional times this year. Our sons don't like to travel, so we don't see them or some of our other family members as often. We do try to find out when family is traveling and make plans to see them internationally versus making a visit home, which also helps. But we completely understand that some people prefer having roots, and that's okay. The best part of it all is that you're able to change your mind at any time! As far as Costco, we didn't really go there, BUT our jaws dropped at being reminded of the variety of what was available when we were in Whole Foods when we were in the US. We also couldn't get over how big it was. And Costco dwarfs Whole Foods! What's different for us is how overjoyed we are when we find something we're craving. For me it's always peanut butter with salt and nothing else added. Kevin is practically giddy when he can find chocolate covered raisins. We appreciate the little things so much more! Thanks so much for weighing in and sharing what it's been like for you. We'd love to know what you decide to do. -Judy 📝 Overcoming Homesickness and Other Travel Issues: findingginamarie.com/articles/homesickness-overwhelm-and-travel-challenges-life-as-a-full-time-traveler 📝 Sending Mailed Cards...With a Twist: findingginamarie.com/articles/sending-mailed-cards-with-a-twist
@@FindingGinaMarie The selection in U.S. grocery stores can be overwhelming. We know Whole Foods well. In the States, it's so much easier to support "specialty" diets, likely spawned from the overall SAD American diet and resulting health issues. I'm a sucker for avocado or olive oil potato chips! The only other place I found them was in Portugal, and I think France..
I did a recent holiday to the usa and agree that unless you are in a big city then a car is required. Also many times we would have walked to places but there wasnt the footpaths to use.
Yes, we agree. I'm not sure what the US's obsession is with its cars, but we really don't love that aspect. I'm sure it's tied to independence, but it actually can make you a prisoner of your surroundings. -Judy
Thanks so much for watching. This week we shared our 5 secrets that are rarely talked about regarding full-time travel if that's something that you've ever thought about. I've linked it below. By the way, you have a very interesting channel and career! -Judy 🎥 Our 5 Travel Secrets for Retirement as Full-Time Travelers: ruclips.net/video/Oc4tZ4M1v0w/видео.html
Another great video Kevin and Judy, we can relate to so many things you’re saying. Although our hometown is Sydney Australia our suburb is an hour walk return to a grocery store so we always took the car. Our life on the road involves walking everywhere which we do love, although being in Europe in the summer it’s been tough in the heat. But we love how there are grocery stores everywhere. Usually never more than a 5-10 min walk. We have noticed there is way way less junk foods in these grocery stores so we’re not as tempted to eat junk foods. Although we still miss and crave our sweets. We will ensure on our 3 week trip home in 3 weeks time we will enjoy all the treats we’ve missed over the last 5 months. No idea how long we’ll travel for but we’re absolutely loving our lives full time travelling. Looking forward to you guys exploring south America as it’s on our radar but we know little about it.
Thank you so much, Annette! Perhaps because we were dealing with more stress than usual in dealing with family dynamics, we actually craved certain fast foods that we hadn't eaten while we were actually living in the US. I'm sure it was comfort food as a coping mechanism! Although we love our family, sometimes trying to see everyone and hearing the latest goings-on can bring on stress that we don't have to deal with while traveling abroad. We hope you have a wonderful time seeing family soon. I'll be curious to know if you're eager to get back on the road like we were or if you would prefer to stay longer because of things you may be missing that you don't realize during the busyness of traveling. We're eager to finally get to South America as well! There still are so many places in the world we want to see and experience! Safe travels! -Judy
Hearing you with the consumerism. I'm an Aussie but increasingly this US style of consumerism creeps into everyday life here. I don't want to be owned by my 'stuff' - thanks for that thought.
Hi Andy, It's very easy to get caught up in it, especially when you can shop at the push of a computer button and get an instant dopamine hit. But we have so much freedom at not even really having the option to shop. A new bar of soap or toothpaste? Not the same blast of excitement! I'd rather have my fun come from the cool places we get to experience! Thanks for watching! -Judy
I agree with you about the rampant consumerism in the US. I see so many acquaintances who get caught up in the continual yard and home decorating and redecorating for all the seasons and holidays. Whatever floats their boat! For us, the cost of health care in the US is outrageous.
Thanks for watching, Merrill. We had to get a prescription in the US that cost a full 2x of what it cost anywhere else in the world we've gotten it filled. There's a lot of things we love about the US, but there is a lot to love about the entire world, and we are so happy to be able to experience all of it. -Judy
We have been traveling full time now for 6 months. I have purchase one thing in those 6 months, a new pair of shorts. For 5 months straight I have worn shorts in nice warm climates. Cost of living is very low and we have no reason to buy stuff, there is no place for it… we have no permanent home and the backpacks are only so big.
@travelingthediaspora7996 I've actually read that there's a dopamine rush when someone hits the "buy" button when they're doing online shopping. BUT they don't actually get the same rush when their product arrives at their doorstep! -Judy
Thanks for this. You've summed up very concisely all the reasons we're leaving the US. Next time anyone gets on my back about our plans, I will just forward them this video.
Hi Jamie, Thanks so much for watching. We're glad to hear our video resonated with you. Are you planning to be full-time travelers or be expats somewhere? And when do you leave? We wish you all the best! You might get some value out of a few of our playlists if they are appropriate for your situation. -Judy 🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX 🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH 🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads): 📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
Hi Kari-Evan, congratulations on making that decision. We have a ton of resources for you that might be helpful. I'll link them below. Do you plan to keep a home base? 🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX 🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH 🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads): 📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
Absolutely EVERYTHING you've said about living in the U.S. is spot on and I'm so happy that you are enjoying this new chapter. You've peaked my interest. :)
Hi Janet, Thank you so much for watching! You might enjoy our most recent video where we share some of the rarely talked about ideas regarding full-time travel as well as some of our playlists about our lifestyle (versus our travel videos showcasing the places we visit). -Judy 🎥 Our 5 Travel Secrets for Retirement as Full-Time Travelers: ruclips.net/video/Oc4tZ4M1v0w/видео.html 🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX 🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH 🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads): 📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
I am American and have lived in So of France for 25 years now and although all my family is in USA I don’t think I can ever live there again. Agree with all your points.
Hi Lisa, thank you so much for watching! South of France, oh my! We currently are in Lyon and loving it. Once you realize that the world has so much to offer, it's hard to go back to living in a box. Our family doesn't understand it, but our 31-year old daughter is choosing a much different life for herself that's less focused on stuff and more focused on travel and a job that will allow her to work remotely. We wish we would have thought outside the box earlier than we did! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie My family (siblings and parents) don't understand it either. My sister tells me I am always negative about the USA but I am not really, I am just positive about the healthier eating and walking and life in general in Europe as you mentioned. I raised my two children here and like you said about travel, they have been so far to 16 capital cities at only 20 & 21 years old. I am often in Italy (where I have dual citizenship from my grandparents) and also Sweden. Good luck with your citizenship! It is a lot of work but sooooo worth it.
Wow, you are so lucky, Lisa! I am at year three with my dual citizenship, in part because getting documents from New York State, where my family is from, has been taking 9+ months apiece, and of course some of them need to be ordered sequentially versus concurrently. I've found that people don't really need to understand. It was a little hard because I had only found my birth family a short while before we made this decision and my birth mother especially was disappointed that we decided to leave the US. In part, our priorities shifted after finding them and realized how little time we had spent prioritizing ourselves over our jobs. We met right as the pandemic closed everything down, so we had some time during lockdown to get to know one another. But we felt that our lives are the only ones we have to live and we'd have major regrets if we made decisions based on other people's opinions and their decisions and preferences versus our own. And YES, regarding how much easier it is to travel from Europe versus the US. Things in the US are very tilted towards the US, partly because it's so expansive, but also nationalism. Europe has foreign neighbors much closer than the US has nearby states, so Europe has to adopt a broader world view and understanding and appreciation for other countries that the US escapes. This was super evident many years ago when Kevin was visiting Ukraine (before the war) and was watching the Olympics. He saw so many different races and stories about a wide variety of athletes from around the world. When he was back in the US, all he could see were events that starred American athletes and all the back stories were only about Americans. I understand pride, but it's also important to recognize that the US is not the center of the universe. It's interesting that after all this time in France you do not have citizenship there as well. Sweden is on our bucket list, but it's a very expensive country, too! -Judy
Amazing story. Thank you for telling the story. My wife and I ARE living the life you are living now. We love every moment of it. YOU SAVED ME THE TROUBLE OF MAKING THE SAME VIDEO.😊
Haha, thank you for watching and for this great comment. It's pretty sweet, isn't it?! We know that this is not the lifestyle for everyone, but if you truly like to travel and experience new things, this is an incredible way to live! -Judy
Hi Lori, thank you so much for watching and for letting us know that this may give you confidence about going forward in the future. In case you missed last week's video about thinking outside the box, I've linked it below. It was our unconventional thinking that gave us the courage to leave the US for a life of full-time travel. Best of luck as you work through your own future plans! -Judy 🎥 How we thought unconventionally to retire early: ruclips.net/video/ttyh4NXrbfs/видео.html
I admire your ability to leave it all and travel. I would love the slow travel life but I have a family I cherish with 3 grandchildren. I can not imagine not being a part of their life just so that I can wander the streets of Italy. What are you doing with your winter clothes? Is there a storage like system in Europe where you stash them?
Thank you so much for watching. We don't have grandchildren, but we know people who aren't in the same city or part of the country as their grandchildren, but they are able to make it work by visiting the US more frequently. They FaceTime, including reading books to them, and when they are a little older, they bring them along on some of their travels. It doesn't have to be forever if you don't want it to be, either. But also, there are ages when grandchildren have busy lives of their own and waiting for them to be available may not be the most satisfying use of your lives, either. It doesn't have to be selfish; it can also inspire your grandchildren to have dreams and desires they might not have ever thought about. But of course, everyone has to decide for themselves, and full-time (or even extended travel) isn't for everyone. We don't have grandchildren and don't know what the situation will be with our own children as they get older (they're 31, 33, and 35 and none are married yet). We carry everything with us for three seasons and typically don't travel to extremely cold climates. If we decide to head to a specific location that would require heavier clothes, we'd buy what we need and donate them when we're done. Kevin did this when we were in Italy in February 2023. He was freezing, so he bought a winter coat in Lecce and then donated it a few months later when we realized we'd have an extended period where he absolutely wouldn't need it (it's been over a year and he still hasn't needed one!). We don't have a place to drop clothes that aren't in season, so we are very intentional about everything we carry. We typically buy wool because it can work in a variety of weather conditions and offers great heat regulation. Thank you so much for watching! -Judy
My husband retired at 58. We are from northeast Ohio and spend the winter at our condo in Cancun, Mexico that we've owned for 18 years. We do a lot of traveling, but can't seem to bite the bullet and sell our home and "stuff". Our adult children are against us selling the family home... they don't live near home, but want to have the family "home" to visit at Christmas and other holidays. Also, we both have elderly, but active parents in their mid to upper 80s that we feel guilty not being there for. Thanks for your very informative content - someday we might have the courage to do it!
Getting rid of stuff can be very scary, but it also is so incredibly freeing! It might be easier to start to streamline your possessions so that when you decide you're ready, you don't have to deal with things you actually no longer even care about and which just create clutter. It's a hard decision. My birth mother just turned 80 and Kevin has two sisters that are 78 and 79. But his mother lived until 94. For us we worried that if we waited until everything else in our lives were perfect, we might find that we waited too long and we could end up with health or mobility issues that could derail our plans. But if you already are traveling a lot, have a place to spend the winter, and enjoy seeing your family on a regular basis, I'm curious what the draw is to full-time travel for you. You certainly can admire the idea of it without living it for yourself. However, if you want to make the move but feel too much guilt from your family, you might want to remember that this is your life and it's the only one you have. We certainly didn't want to have regrets on how we lived our lives because we didn't do things out of fear or guilt. Some of our family can't understand why we made the decision we did, but that's okay. Although our daughter sometimes wishes we were nearby, she's still moving around herself and has met up with us in Portugal, Japan, and Italy, so she's experiencing the world in a way she wouldn't have with us safe and comfy in our home base. We wish you the best as you sort it out, but in the meantime we hope you continue to live your best life! -Judy 📝 Ditching the Safe Bet: Embracing the 'What Ifs' of Full-Time Travel: findingginamarie.com/articles/what-if
@@FindingGinaMarie Thanks for your wonderful and thoughtful reply! What draws me to full time travel is that I just don't want to take care of stuff... a home, yard, etc... living in Cancun...in a small, studio is heaven to me. No stuff! We just have everything we need. So, I think I've answered my own question. Thanks again, Judy. You're helping me manuever through my feelings.
@@MojitosMommy Our daughter didn't like when we gave up our house in Houston to move to San Francisco and she was disappointed when we got rid of everything. BUT she now travels with us, she visited us TWICE when we were getting rid of everything so that she could claim what she wanted AND now no one has to go through a lifetime of stuff that we acquired at some point when we eventually die. We scanned old photos so they are digitized and available on our phones, now everyone has a copy of them accessible versus filed away in old albums that we never pulled out to look at. It's surprising how well everything works out! -Judy
@@MojitosMommy I got rid of so much of my stuff, I don't miss it one bit. All I have left is some childhood treasures and a few other things that I couldn't part with.
Wow, thanks for the great content. We're 56 and 61, based in South Africa, retiring early, and converting a 1986 Mercedes Bullnose to drive Southern Africa for the next six years or so. We're about to sell up everything and really appreciate your insights and humour.
Thank you so much for your kind words, Mary-Kathryn! We really wanted to visit South Africa this year but we couldn't make it work. It's on our list for 2024. If you have any tips or suggestions, we'd love to hear them. We aren't keen on renting cars overseas, however, and we have found that traveling by plane between countries is very expensive. So we admire your plan to drive through South Africa during that time! If you know of any reasonably priced tour companies you would recommend that you or others have used in the past, we'd love to know about them (for a safari or for getting between cities). We have some early videos on our channel from when we were first leaving the US that might be helpful, and we'll be doing an updated episode and article about some of our best advice for getting rid of everything. Exciting days for you are ahead! Do you have a date on when you're setting out? I'm sure converting your vehicle will take you a bit of time, too. Wishing you all the best! -Judy 🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX 🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH 🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads): 📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
Hi Jorge, thank you so much for watching and for sharing this kind comment with us. I'm not sure if you saw our video from last week about thinking unconventionally, but I'm linking it below in case it's helpful for you if you need some help thinking about how to get started. -Judy 🎥 How we thought unconventionally to retire early: ruclips.net/video/ttyh4NXrbfs/видео.html
Exciting news, Tom! We just released an episode this past week about the five secrets that are rarely talked about regarding full-time travel. Will you be expats, or do you plan to travel with/without a home base? We wish you the best of luck! -Judy 🎥 Our 5 Travel Secrets for Retirement as Full-Time Travelers: ruclips.net/video/Oc4tZ4M1v0w/видео.html 🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX 🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH 🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads): 📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
Thank you for this video Kevin and Judy. My partner Andrew and I just finished our first month of a 5+ year slow travel lifestyle transition and are also in France - Strasbourg to be exact. You covered so many of the reasons we are choosing to do this even though we have a home in a US city that in our opinion most closely resembles the European lifestyle you described, Savannah, GA. Hopefully our paths will cross one day and until then, we’ll keep watching and learning. Safe travels, Christine & Andrew
This is the Andrew half of that comment. I couldn’t agree more with what Christine said and I want to add that at 57 years old, retirement is meaning fun, adventure and the great unknown (mental stimulation) vs living in the grounds hog day scenario that we’ve watched claim the minds and energy of so many of our older and retired friends. We plan on working while traveling, at least until I turn 62 and have access to my retirement accounts and Social Security. Thanks again…
@christinesacramone3925: Thank you so much for watching and recommending Strasbourg to us, Christine. We are so excited for you to be in your first month of slow travel. What an exciting time that was for us. Although we were so thrilled, we also had some dread in our first city when we acknowledged that we would never be sleeping in "our own" bed or have our "own" pillows. At times it does sneak up on us, but we truly couldn't be happier and we appreciate all the little things so much more than we ever dreamed. You might get a laugh out of the article we wrote during our second month of full-time travel (from Athens), which I've linked below. It's early for you, but we also have a funny article memorializing some of our early shower experiences! How much in advance are you doing your travel planning? Not sure if you need it, but below is a link to the spreadsheet we use to help us out. If you have suggestions to improve on it, we'd love to hear them! We'd love to meet up if our paths overlap! -Judy ✅ Full-time/extended travel planner: findingginamarie.com/request-planner 📝 Epiphany in Athens and a Surprising Twist: findingginamarie.com/articles/what-an-epiphany?rq=dryer 📝 Shower Chronicles: From Cramped Rome to Soaked Cairo: findingginamarie.com/articles/spring-showers
Hi Andrew! So nice of you both to weigh in. We know that this lifestyle is bonkers to a lot of people, but we are challenged every day in fun and exciting ways as you have stated so well. For as much as I loved working, my job turn a hard right turn and I could no longer stay without losing my mind. Kevin had intended to try to work remotely, but it didn't work out. Apple decided everyone needed to go into the office several times a week and that wasn't going to work. Fortunately our RUclips channel is helping out. It's certainly not paying the bills, but it's helping to offset what we need to take out of savings. Although our channel is very time-consuming, it is incredibly rewarding and we absolutely love doing it, especially because it's put us in contact with cool people like you and Christine. We would love to meet up at some point if it can work out. It's one of our favorite things to do! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarieThanks Judy, we are currently in Basel airport getting ready to fly to Bristol, UK. Our daughter is moving to Dundee Scotland to begin her PhD, so the next 3 months are all about the UK, and then we head to the Algarve for up to 3 months. We really appreciate your kind / generous response(s) and are going to look at the articles / resources you shared. Merci! Chris went remote in 2014 and I started in 2018, so we have been preparing for this for 6 years. When the pandemic hit, we sold our home in NY and travelled the US for 8 months… it was glorious. A month in 8+ states, so we knew we were built for this. We bought our second condo in Savannah while on the road and renovated it. Having rented both as of July 15th, we immediately took off and aren’t looking back. Just as an fyi, Chris and I both have tech / marketing in our backgrounds so we try to watch every video, including commercials, and will engage as much as possible to help your algorithm. Much love, Andrew & Chris
How awesome for your daughter and for you both! We spent a month in Broughty Ferry, which is the cutest place and super accessible to Dundee! We haven't made our way to the Algarve yet, but we hope you have an amazing time. Remote work is absolutely the thing to do if you can. You were fortunate to be able to sell your home during the pandemic. We on the other hand moved into a bigger apartment because people were leaving San Francisco in droves and we could get a better price on a larger home with all of us home (our 30+ year old son was also living with us in our one bedroom apartment, so we needed more room!). Your journey sounds fascinating. We stayed very homebound during the pandemic, but it did cause us to reassess our priorities, so we're very grateful for that. We've heard that the southern US has had a resurgence and prices for buying a home there are up, which is great news if you're a homeowner and renting it out! We so appreciate your support and encouragement. If you have any suggestions on how we can improve, we always have a listening ear. It's always great for us to learn more about our viewers, how they travel, and what they're interested in, so thank you from the bottom of our hearts for sharing about yourselves! -Judy 🦻 Got Feedback? We want to hear it! findingginamarie.com/feedback 🎥 Don't visit Scotland without Spending Time in Broughty Ferry: ruclips.net/video/nXhR8A8Ga0oh/видео.htmlttps://ruclips.net/video/nXhR8A8Ga0o/видео.html
We have thought of traveling more and have thought about moving somewhere outside the US like Europe. It seems overwhelming to think about how everything would work and making such big changes. We have thought about the better food choices in other countries and thats very appealing since we are health minded. I have heard Europe and places like Germany are lightyears above the US in healthcare. I hate the healthcare system and food sources/quality here in the US. We dont have a lot of savings so its really overwhelming to think about it, but really really want to see if its possible somehow.
We have savings, but definitely not the amount that some financial planners would tell you that you need. So we built a RUclips channel to help offset some of our expenses, to share our travels, and to connect with other people who enjoy travel as much as we do. It's been a lot of work, but it's a win/win and it's helping us live our dreams. There are tons of things you can do online to earn extra money. There are places like Trusted House Sitters, which allow you to stay in someone's home for free while they vacation in exchange for taking care of their home and/or pets. There are a myriad of ways to make life outside of the US work if you are willing to think unconventionally. We share some of those ideas below. You don't need as much savings in other parts of the world as you do in the US. Part of Europe can be very expensive, but the entire world has some safe and very affordable places, too. We don't have a home base anywhere so that all of our money can support our lifestyle versus paying rent or a mortgage for someplace that we are in only a few times a year. We wish you all the best as you sort it out. -Judy 🎥 How we thought unconventionally to retire early: ruclips.net/video/ttyh4NXrbfs/видео.html 🎥 Health versus Wealth: ruclips.net/video/6avQGFbXa2I/видео.html 🎥 Life is Short...An Emotional Pause: ruclips.net/video/YiEFHz1WWHI/видео.html
I’m only 28 and I’m already feeling the same about all the topics you discussed (especially car dependency). We should be set to retire in 8 years but I wonder if it’s worth just selling my house (because I have a ton of “stuff” as well in it) or using it as a base.
Hi Ryan, you might consider downsizing all your stuff first and see whether the home you have still suits you or if it's much bigger than you need. You might discover you can retire even earlier. Having no home base also will extend your runway. Even a home that's paid off still will require maintenance and taxes. But some people need the security of a home base, so it's something you have to decide for yourself. For us, we know that whatever home we decide to settle in when we're no longer able or willing to travel will look much different than when we had a ton of stuff because our priorities will have shifted so much. -Judy
Erin and I are nearing one year of travel and we are both loving it. We have no intention at this point in settling down anywhere, at least for the foreseeable future. It is an open question where we might eventually settle. I would rather that it not be in the U.S. for many of the reasons that you described, but Erin is on the fence. Luckily, we have lots and lots of places to see before we begin to think about that. So far we really have liked Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Madrid, and Bristol, UK. We will be adding many more to the list as we go.
Hi Stan, thanks so much for watching and for sharing your thought process at this point. It's hard to believe it's already been nearly a year for you! It helps us to have the hope of Italian dual citizenship, but it's still not a lock. We liked Asia for the winter, but we're still keeping an open mind about places in Europe, and Italy especially. Although the focus of our travels isn't where we are going to eventually settle down, we do keep it in mind during our travels. And we have a lot more travel we want to do! In fact, we head to Buenos Aires in November, so we're looking forward to checking it out! -Judy
Very interesting video, and I love your channel. I get the impression you both really think things through, so when you mentioned in this segment that "we have about 6 years left before we really need to retire...", and since you clearly outline the disadvantages of ever coming back to the US, do you have a future plan or thoughts on what you would end up doing when you actually feel the need to stop and retire - calling a place your final home? This decision worries me a bit. Leaving family aside for the moment, would you guys actually pick another country and call it your final home and go through the residency process and feel the health care and even potentially elder care is up to par and affordable. Curious if you have given any of this future planning any thoughts, and maybe this would be a good future video topic. I assume after the many years of travel, you guys would have found a few candidate countries for this potential final destination.
Hi Steven, We may not have been clear about our timeline. We want to travel for as long as we are physically able. Our point about six more years is more tied to the fact that we currently have a long list of places we know we want to see, but that list keeps growing (and we wouldn't be opposed to returning to places we've seen and exploring more). We have left several cities-in addition to countries-that we wish we could have explored more thoroughly. I am working on my dual citizenship with Italy, which has taken three years so far, but will realistically be at least another two before it's sorted. We have a bit of a strong leaning towards Italy and you can see from one of our early videos that we have fallen in love with Verona (and since then also Torino). But we are continuing to look at other Italian cities and other places in the world. For us having an easy(ish) option of being able to establish residency so easily is a big draw, but of course, we'd have to love it. We're interested in the northern part of Italy, which we've been hearing has better healthcare than Southern Italy. I don't think we can count on our children to take care of us in our elder years, but gosh, being in a nursing home or extended care facility in the US is outrageously expensive. We acknowledge that those are less popular in Italy, but there likely are other places in the world that offers those types of facilities should we need them versus what the US offers. Also, two of our children also are pursuing dual citizenship along with me, so they would be able to visit for extended periods of time or live there/near/with us should that be something they would ever choose to do. I feel better about Thailand's medical care, but Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia are candidates for places to spend winters since they are more temperate than Italy. I'm not sure if we'd choose to do that, but it certainly is something we are open to doing. We probably wouldn't settle down in Vietnam or Cambodia when we can no longer travel, however. We hope this helps. Thank you so much for your comment and for watching our videos. We haven't done any research yet about countries that have good elder care, but it's definitely something that we'd be open to checking into and then covering as an episode to open a dialogue about it. Thank you so much for the suggestion! -Judy
20 years and counting since we left the Bay Area for some of the same reasons you did. The question we asked ourselves was this: Why maintain an expensive home base in the US when all we wanted to do was to travel the world? 52 countries and still hungry for more. It was a leap of faith, but we're so glad we thumbed our noses at the conventional "good life" in the US of A. Didn't even bother signing up for Medicare Part B-D either. Haven't been happier!
Hi @miles2smile, We are so grateful for the time we spent in San Francisco and don't regret a minute of it. At the same time we do wish we would have started this lifestyle much sooner. We are at slightly more than half that number of countries, but we aren't close to done yet. We are so happy for you! We talk about living unconventionally in the first video below and also share about "secrets" to this lifestyle that no one talks about. Do you have any home base at all? We're currently talking about our downsizing process and would love to know if you have any tips to share with our community about your process. Congratulations. You are living the life! -Judy 🎥 How we thought differently to retire early and travel full time: ruclips.net/video/ttyh4NXrbfs/видео.html 🎥 Our 5 Travel Secrets for Retirement as Full-Time Travelers: ruclips.net/video/Oc4tZ4M1v0w/видео.html 🎥 8 Critical Questions for Downsizing: ruclips.net/video/oqYfZ98r7R8/видео.html
This is my dream, to travel full time and move slowly from country to country exploring the world. I am about 3.5 years from retirement. My partner, however, wants to have a "home base" in the US, which would be a nice house, filled with "stuff" that ties us down. She has two sons in college, and I have one son in college. We assume there will come a time when they have kids, and we will want to come back for that, but I don't know why we can't stay with them, rather than having our own home and have everyone stay with us. It's been a bone of contention between us, and I'm not sure how it will shake out, but at least we have a few years to figure it out. This video is VERY helpful in making my argument. 🙂 Thanks!
Hi Eddie, thanks so much for watching. It can be very hard when partners aren't aligned. We've loved the freedom of not having a home base, not having to worry about maintaining it or worrying about it when there are weather issues, etc. We also appreciate having the extra money that we have from not having that space AND we are completely disinclined to make purchases while traveling to outfit that home base. We've never been much for souvenirs, but we would always buy a Christmas ornament from everyplace we'd been, and I could see that it could be fun to buy things that I'd send home to decorate or for cooking. It has been SO freeing not doing those things and instead just being in the moment for everyplace we are. BUT we know for a lot of people having the stability of a home base is important. We also feel that you can have a home base later on if you get tired of traveling and it may end up looking quite a bit different than what you have currently (severely downsized because your values, etc. have changed from spending time on the road). We have an episode coming this Saturday about 5 Secrets No One Talks About Regarding Full Time Travel that might also be useful. Good luck! -Judy
Hi Eddie. My husband is the block. Home is a place for him. For me it’s not necessarily the case. He also comes from a family of pack rats and likes “stuff”. I find it a little sickening. I solo traveled this year for five months because he refused to go. I’m planning to go next year for the whole year.
@travelingthediaspora7996: Unfortunately, being misaligned regarding a desire to travel is not uncommon. I wrote an article that may be helpful, but you may have your own ideas to share. I'll include links to some of our resources regarding full-time travel, which can work equally well for someone who is an extended traveler. Best of luck to you. -Judy 📝 Navigating Love and Travel: findingginamarie.com/articles/what-if-your-spouse-doesnt-want-to-travel-full-time 🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH 🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads): 📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
Like you in San Francisco, we have stayed explicitly in Seattle _because_ it's a walking environment and we can live without a car. That said, it is comparatively SO much more expensive. I wish more urban development in the US focused on walkable neighborhoods and towns, but sadly those are the rare exception. With your health-care access in other countries, how difficult has it been for you to manage the language differences?
Houston was the worst. I think there’s a an area in Katy, Texas that has something like 17 lanes of traffic. It’s absolutely unreal. We’ll be visiting Paris in a week or so and are excited to see some of its transformation to a greater focus on pedestrians and cyclists from the last time we were there. What’s interesting is that it is entirely possible for a city to lessen its focus on cars. I’m not sure how it’s been in Seattle, but SF is full of slow streets that are closed to through traffic and more restaurants that have parklets. These changes were primarily made during the pandemic but they’ve chosen to keep them in place. I can’t recall if I’m repeating myself to you, so forgive me if so! We have had zero issues regarding healthcare in other countries, including when we’ve needed to visit a pharmacy for prescriptions. In both Thailand and Serbia, we had an English-speaking liaison that took us from appointment to appointment within the hospitals to ensure we were well taken care of. The cardiologist in Serbia was even a doctor who did exchange work in Texas! His English was impeccable. When Kevin stayed overnight in the hospital, I could communicate sufficiently with his nurses as well. Granted, we haven’t been in a super small, remote town where we would have needed healthcare. But for everything else that we have needed to do, translator apps work very well. Among the well educated, there typically are people who speak English. -Judy
I feel the same way! Lived in 4 overseas countries while in the military and loved it. Now retired from Active Duty, but having to see our son through his final 3-years of High School then we are leaving.
Thanks for watching and for sharing your plans and brief backstory. Good for you to be making plans now. If you will not have a home base, it's not too early to start to downsize! We accumulate so much more than we think we do! -Judy
OMG! Nail hit squarely on the head (doubly so because I just caught-up and watched your previous video). We are also a fully-retired couple who are semi-full time travelers. We happily wander away from our “stuff” for a month plus at a time. It’s ok to be away from “stuff” except for one nagging issue: our plants! Those require the occasional watering visit from friends. So be it. I commend you for your commitment to a base-free traveling life! Congrats! Yet, there’s a key point about all of this … you can change your mind at any point pick a different plan with zero repercussions either way. Lucky you!
Thanks so much for all your support and encouragement, @mahtin! We have learned so much from you over the last two years! And you are absolutely right about being able to pivot whenever things stop working for you. We've made so many small adjustments and anticipate there will be many more that we tweak in the years ahead as we know ourselves more or our preferences change. Your plants issue is one we've never had to deal with. I have a black thumb, so nothing ever lived for me anyway! Safe travels and we hope you know how much we appreciate you! -Judy
My husband and I are travelers and in our early 50s; we are not retiring here in the US. :) Speaking of which, we are going to Lyon in December 2024. Do you recommend the old town as a good base?
Hi Robin, We hear you! I would HIGHLY recommend the Old Town (Vieux Lyon) as a good base in Lyon. We were so happy with our location. It was very easy to cross the bridge to the other side of town and convenient to everything we wanted to do. And we also could do a quick pitstop at our Airbnb when we needed to ;) We have a video that will be coming out soon from there and we're excited to bring it to you! -Judy 🎥 Our 5 Travel Secrets for Retirement as Full-Time Travelers: ruclips.net/video/Oc4tZ4M1v0w/видео.html
Great video, so glad I came across your channel! My husband and I are in our late 50s and just sending our younger daughter to college next week. The past 4 weeks, we have been thinking of retiring in China, starting after the year she graduates. We know we can’t continuously stay in that country on tourist visas so we will travel other countries in Asia to resolve that. We thought we will still have to keep a house in the US for our kids and us to gather on holidays, but the expense of that isn’t so attractive. What you did, selling everything, is making me optimistic! So do you guys just rent an apartment in the US? Also, what did you mean that your world health insurance pays for 3 months in the US and the rest elsewhere? What company is that? Thank in advance.
So glad to hear you found us! Oh boy, congratulations on getting your daughter off to college. That's a huge accomplishment! We have family that is spread out, so having a home base somewhere wasn't practical for us and also would pinch into our travel budget. Living in Asia would certainly help with that, but I will tell you that not having the responsibilities and maintenance of a place in the US is very freeing. We have a son in San Francisco, a daughter and most of Kevin's family in Houston, and another son in Austin. My birth mother, who I just found before the pandemic, lives near Palm Springs in California, and I have siblings in Buffalo, New York. So there's no perfect place that we'd stay if we spent extended time in the US. We typically stay in hotels when we're in the US. It's expensive, but (1) our sons aren't the neatest for us to stay with them; (2) our daughter lives on the other side of town from Kevin's family, so it's not ideal; (3) because our time in the US is hectic and expensive, we want our own space versus staying with family or friends. We are introverts, so we often need to regroup and recharge away from everyone. Our health insurance is Cigna Global Health. It's international private health insurance for travelers. You can choose coverage, which was prohibitively expensive for us, that gives you coverage everywhere. What we have is a Worldwide excluding USA option. We still are covered for emergency treatment on an inpatient or day-patient basis during short trips to the USA and on an outpatient basis if you have purchase the International Outpatient additional coverage option. Coverage in the US is limited to a maximum period of 3 weeks per trip and a maximum of 60 days per period of cover for all trips combined. Our cost is approximately $5,700 per year for us both. I want to say that including the US would have more than doubled our premiums. Since we have found that healthcare outside of the US is significantly cheaper than in the US, we are fine to focus on non-US healthcare. We both are under 65 and not eligible yet for Medicare, but we'll probably pay for that when we are eligible just to hedge our bets, especially since the US charges a penalty for each year you don't have Medicare once you're eligible for it. But we'd prefer to focus on living in a country with socialized medicine and pay for private insurance there if we feel that's necessary -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie Wow, thank you for your detailed reply! Can’t wait to follow your footsteps! Will watch your older videos too and I’m sure I’ll have more questions later. Take care and enjoy!
We will always be happy to answer your questions! In fact, we typically will create our website articles or video topics based on some of the popular questions we get asked! Best of luck to you! -Judy
We got rid of nearly everything, Manish. We scanned our photos (although we still have a box we have to finish the next time we are in the US that our son is holding for us, along with a small box of documents like birth certificates, etc.). We have no other memorabilia left. We took pictures of our most special things and gave away, donated, or trashed everything else. We have an episode coming out today (Tuesday) regarding how we downsized all of our sentimental items if that's helpful for you. -Judy
I'll be visiting San Francisco, my hometown, in November, and also will visit Ventura for a few weeks to see friends. But I moved to Thailand 15 years (13 years now in Chiang Mai). I've traveled a lot in Asia and Europe, and while I do visit California every now and then , I have never regretted even for one moment retiring in Thailand.
You said that perfectly, Mike! We've been in a few places recently (Busan, South Korea and An Hoi Beach) that gave us small vibes of San Francisco and had us missing home. But we don't regret our lives of traveling full time one bit! Thanks so much for watching and for your comment! -Judy
When we decided we probably would need to leave San Francisco if we left our jobs, there was literally no place in the US we wanted to live that wasn't fairly expensive (NY, Boston, Chicago) (or cold, which we also didn't want!). Thanks for watching, Rebecca! -Judy
We do love Manhattan, but it's as expensive as San Francisco! And although other parts may not be walkable, there is at least public transit, which is too rare in other parts of the US.
Love your videos guys! Very informative and objective. Judy, are your working on obtaining Italian citizenship by descent? Just curious as I have considered doing that, however its seems to be a rather time consuming and potentially daunting task if pursued by on one's own. And using the services of a lawyer/consultant to handle the process can be quite expensive. Wondering what method you are utilizing?
Hi Leonardo, thank you so much for your kind words! Yes, I'm working on Italian dual citizenship through a 1948 case (through the Italian courts through my Italian grandmother). I'll be honest, it is a long process and it can be quite expensive if you are paying for someone to help you through the process (it cost me approximately $9,300 plus expenses through Italian Citizenship Assistance). It will be close to a 5-year process if all goes well. There are many people on Facebook groups that will help you if you want to go through the process on your own as well. The process with ICA (also known as IDC, Italian Dual Citizenship) has been a mixed bag. For the most part it's been useful, but there have been some bumps in the road that have been disappointing. We are at the tail end of paperwork gathering and will hopefully be embarking on getting our documents apostilled and translated and submitted to the Italian court before the end of the year. 🤞 Happy to answer any other questions you may have regarding the process. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie Thanks Judy! Appreciate you sharing insight into your Italian citizenship quest. When you first engaged ICA did they make you aware of the approximate cost and timeframe upfront and were they accurate, or has $9+K and 5-ish years been a shocker? Hope it all wraps up well, and soon, for you.
@@Leonardo-cq4zd They actually were very upfront about the costs for the most part. I think the one thing that was somewhat of a surprise was the cost of hiring a lawyer in NYS to file a lawsuit to obtain my grandmother's birth certificate since the State of New York restricts who it releases those to (I think only to the person whose birth certificate it is). That was an additional $1800 plus expenses. They didn't give an exact time frame since that's very dependent on how responsive and successful they are in finding and obtaining documents. There have been some missteps from their end that have been frustrating (the lawyer they recommended filed the case in the wrong court and it took 9 months to get a notification back from NYS that it was filed in the wrong court and needed to be refiled, so it was a lot of lost time unnecessarily. Some of the timing issues have been because vital records from NYS all take about 9 months and requests have to be filed sequentially versus concurrently. But also, while they are responsive to emails, they do things in a very turnkey way, regardless of how much sense it makes, so there are delays when I don't think it makes sense for that to happen. I had specifically chosen to pay to have someone who does this on a regular basis help with the process because I didn't want to make mistakes. But they've made some as well, so that's been a bit disappointing. For instance, they originally told me I obtained the proper birth certificate, but now two years later they are claiming that it's in the wrong format, despite my specific request for confirmation that it was in the proper format. They finally submitted a request to the records department of the city where I was born and I am crossing my fingers that they sent it to the right place. Otherwise, it will be another 9 months (versus a month). We'll see how it shakes out. I will say that I was attracted to them because it does not benefit them to assist with 1948 cases that they don't think they will win, so I'd rather have all the documents be accurate than be rejected. Thank you so much for your encouragement. I do think it's worth pursuing and it can be done on your own if you don't want to incur the expense. The time will pass either way, so why not get it done and have an affordable location in Europe to retire to that also has a national healthcare system. -Judy
Not sure if you caught our previous video of how we took an unconventional path to be able to travel full time and retire early. Are you interested in being an expat or traveling full time like we're doing now? Thanks so much for watching! -Judy 🎥 How we retired early to travel full time :ruclips.net/video/ttyh4NXrbfs/видео.html
Hi @2010katak, Sounds like a great plan if you have dual citizenship or plan to go back and forth every three months. I'm working on my Italian dual citizenship, but it's a slow process, unfortunately. We're three years in with probably another 2.5 years to go. Best of luck! -Judy
I just spent one night/ 2 days in the hospital in NJ. Bill so far is 33k. That doesn't include soon to come seperate doctor bills, radiology bills, etc. Should add up to between 40k to 50k...for one night!! Had zero surgeries or procedures, only an ekg, heart monitor, & a cat scan. Owe over 5k myself & basically got nothing "fixed." If you're not reallly sick when you go into the hospital, you will be when you get out & see your bill...and I pay 24k a year for "health insurance." This healthcare system is a joke...that isn't very funny. They're forcing working "citizens" to leave the US.
Wow. That's unfortunately very believable. And yes, it may take six months or more before you're able to account for the full cost. I'm sorry that nothing got fixed, and I hope you're okay now. I remember many years ago that Kevin woke up in the middle of the night with terrible pains at 3am. We agonized for a while about whether it was bad enough to visit the hospital because we knew it would be a huge bill. They never did find anything, either, but it cost enough that we had to make payments for it over time because we couldn't afford it, even with health insurance. It's terrible that people avoid or delay getting treatment because they're worried about cost. -Judy
I totally agree with your assessment of leaving the U.S., as there's so much outside of the U.S. that offers equally the same. The cuisine (quality-wise) and being surrounded by people of different ethnicity, and just being out there and exploring the world.
Thank you so much for watching, Ann! We don't expect everyone to think the same way as we do, but it is revolutionary for some people to be told that they don't have to live in the way that their family and friends all have been living in order to be happy. But it is validating to hear that you see it the same way we do! -Judy
Thank you, I appreciate your insight. I agree with you. I live in the Bay Area (California) and we’re moving oversea with my family in 2025. I’m retiring in 2025, finance and health insurance savings will be a game changer….and give our kids their life experiences.
Small world! We loved San Francisco, but we couldn't afford to retire there. We wish we had traveled more with our kids. We eventually opted for Christmas trips versus a bunch of presents under the tree, but it wasn't until our kids were older. But it's been wonderful to have our daughter join us on some of our trips now, even as an adult. Best of luck! -Judy
Hi Lydia, Thanks so much for sharing that. You are right that wheat and other grains can be problematic in the US. One issue is that wheat grain has been altered to provide crops that are more resistant to drought and bake more easily. I'm not sure if that's everywhere, but it's a worry. TThank you so much for watching! -Judy
I would like to add an extension to your thoughts. I’ve lived in 15 countries, am currently in the Middle East, and before that - Europe. Walkability and plenty of transportation options with intermodal connection is not only freeing in terms of cost of living - but it is inherently community-building. On public transit people connect with each other. As we travel together there are always many opportunities for chatting (helps that we often were on buses with our dog who is very cute and an excellent bus traveller). The short conversations on local transit and the longer ones on inter city transit create connections a community - a society - needs in order to work well. And human connection makes us more considerate of others and the entirety of our society and governmental organizations. The geographic isolation that is built in to the USA: our homes, our towns, neighborhoods, our daily lives is dehumanizing, and from way over here in our current (temporary) home in the Middle East, after two fantastic years in Scotland , after a lifetime (am 66) spent with more years outside the USA than in it, I see so clearly the troubles we have in the USA are deeply woven in to our systems and huge geography. In the states, one walks into the connected garage from the house, presses a button, the door opens, drive out, push a button the garage closes, then we drive in our capsule/car to a store, a mall, a park, a cinema., the gym. Park. Walk in, take care of our business, then hop back into our car, drive home…. Yada yada in reverse. All with minimal interaction with people. And if buying groceries, rarely even interact with a sales clerk and hardly ever with a cashier - so much is “self serve”. . Pretty de-humanizing. Honestly though - here in the Middle East it’s very similar. Especially our current country. The two years we lived in Scotland we did not own or (other than the first month) even rent a car. We traveled by bus, train and foot. Also, at lest in Scotland - super dog friendly. We are near life long expats, in Middle East right now, but still own a home in the USA and I love it and my little community there and look forward to returning. Maybe.
There's a lot of truth to what you are saying. When we lived in our little bedroom community in north Houston, people lived in their houses or their backyards and the streets and neighborhoods were often a ghost town. All the kids were part of organized activities and were never playing in the streets (even our little cul-de-sacs). It's easy to become siloed. Thanks for sharing your experience and perceptions. -Judy
Hi @janetpartyka5968, Yes, it's very unfortunately. And for us after the pandemic, we had gotten so accustomed to being inside that we had to question why we were paying such high rent to live in a city we weren't spending time exploring. It's very easy to get into your comfort zone and be isolated. -Judy
I am thrilled to have found you two and your channel! You are living the life I aspire to live. However, I still need to figure out a few details. I lived in Germany for 20 years and 💯% agree with every word of this video. I was married to my first husband and had my first child (now grown) in Germany. I have now long since been back in the USA and remarried. I am 57, and my husband is 60, and I have two snags. Firstly, I have yet to convince my husband to have an international lifestyle. Secondly, and imo even more challenging, We have an eighteen-year-old severely autistic son. He is my 5'11" three-year-old, who does not handle change well. He scheduled to graduate in 2026. Maybe by then, I will have it worked out.
Thanks so much for watching and for taking the time to tell us about your goals and life, Anngelina. We are pretty fortunate in that Kevin and I have been fairly aligned and supportive when someone comes up with an idea like mine about traveling full time. I wrote an article that hopefully will be at least a little bit helpful regarding getting your husband on board. Your other issue is much more challenging. We have two sons in their 30s who are on the spectrum, but they are able to live on their own. One is self-supporting, but the other requires our financial support. Both have extreme anxiety and other struggles. But the situation you are dealing with is much different. We have a young nephew with extreme autism, and if your son is at all like him, we don't have any advice but wish you every blessing as you work towards figuring it out. Our nephew has a live-in caregiver while my niece works full time. We truly wish you all the best as you navigate the right solution for your family. In our video from last week we talk about thinking unconventionally. I have no way of knowing what that could look like for your family, but perhaps in talking with experts, you will find an answer. -Judy 🎥 Navigating Love and Travel: findingginamarie.com/articles/what-if-your-spouse-doesnt-want-to-travel-full-time
For my 1st job in the 80s, I was posted to the US (Rockford, IL) for 1 year. It was my 1st time in the US. I enjoyed it tremendously, because restaurant prices were quite affordable, even considering my low salary :). I ate out everyday for lunch and dinner ! About 10 years ago, I again came to the US to work and live, this time in Reno, NV for 2 years. Again, I ate out everyday for lunch and dinner ! However, it now seems that US restaurant prices are now unaffordable for average earners ??? I also recently checked the AirBnB prices in the US, and they are so high😮. When I was in Reno last time, I only paid USD 600-800 for my monthly rental. I stayed in various nice apartments, including beside a very nice river park downtown, and up in the mountains :) One disadvantage of the US is the need to drive a car even to the nearest grocery store. As I get older, I prefer to walk and to take public transport. So, I can completely understand all the points that you are making in this video :)
Hi Mike, as always, we so appreciate your comment and insights! Prices are going up everywhere, not just in the US, but they are pretty high when taken in total. I don't know why Airbnbs are so outrageously priced in the US, but you are right about them. We stayed affordably in a small casita near Palm Springs while visiting my birth mother and it was $102 per night. But nowhere else have we seen anything affordable, which is pretty disappointing. The car thing really takes us over the edge. We are tired of driving and the cost is so prohibitive. When we were in California (outside San Francisco), we were paying $6.19 per gallon. It was significantly cheaper in Texas, about half that price or so, but these both were cash prices and credit card prices were even more! I don't begrudge restaurants for charging prices that make life affordable for their staff so they don't need to get second or third jobs, but so much of the costs everywhere in the US goes to support a rich CEO at the top of the metaphorical food chain. While some mom and pop restaurants still exist in San Francisco, after their 40-year leases expire, they can't afford to stay in their spaces and the only places that can are chain restaurants. It's not cool. -Judy
Question. When the time comes that you need to physically slow down and not travel so much or (God forbid) war breaks out, where would you probably settle? What’s your favorite country so far for something like that scenario?
We still are fans of Italy, especially because I am working towards dual citizenship there, but we really liked how friendly Cambodia was and would consider Thailand and parts of Vietnam. There are a lot of people living as expats in Seville, Spain, so we'd consider looking there, and we really liked Kraków and parts of Romania. Those areas might be trickier for a variety of reasons. We always are on the hunt for places that we could consider far down the road as places to live permanently. War is a different situation since everywhere, including the US is volatile these days. We wouldn't necessarily feel safer living in the US than in other parts of the world. We are sad that so many countries these days bring a lot of baggage with them. We have always loved the UK, but it might be too cold even if their politics got sorted out. -Judy
To get a visa in most of Europe , it’s really best to be poor, or lower to middle class. Having done well isn’t going to be good for your finances. France has decided to create yet another wealth tax, this time 90% on savings, income and inheritance above certain amounts. Taxation is the issue and it will invade all of Europe over time. Europe is flat broke like USA
We have zero interest in K-Pop. That's not why we visited and it's not anything we focused on in any way. There's a lot more to South Korea. Of course, if you see it in your face everyday and it isn't something that resonates with you, I can see why you would be disillusioned. It's a shame that Seoul wasn't a place that was a good fit for you, but hopefully you found somewhere else that fits what you're looking forward to in the country in which you're living. -Judy
On the topic of seafood, one of the things that frustrates me in the US (I'm American) is that you can be on the coast and find the same farmed and imported seafood that you'd find in the center of the country, instead of fresh, local seafood unless you're at an extremely expensive restaurant that may require a reservation well in advance. In contrast, in the parts of Europe where I've traveled, local seafood was the norm at restaurants in coastal cities and towns.
This is so true, Beth! We've at least seen asterisks on the menus saying previously frozen, but that's so depressing when you are going out for seafood in an area that should really have only locally caught and fresh seafood. We found this a few weeks ago in San Diego! If there is a reason beyond why restaurants do this, we'd love to know! -Judy
We took photos to remember certain items. Also, we asked family members if they wanted some of the things that were special. I sent a few boxes of items to my two nieces and my daughter and donated the rest. We found that many things weren't family members' taste, or they didn't need or want it because they already had too much of their own stuff. Those things served us and were special to us, but it didn't make sense to keep them just for the sake of keeping them. -Judy
Also, car prices in the US have skyrocketed to astronomical levels, even used. And since one needs a car in the US there is no way to avoid that expense. Pre pandemic rentals were quite affordable, now they are 2x or 3x what they were
You actually are so right about that, and you're not even mentioning car insurance. We just want to be able to walk everywhere and take public transportation to the places that are a bit farther out. And sure, I'll take the occasional taxi or Uber/Lyft/Bolt if I absolutely have to, but that should be once in a blue moon. We try to only ever stay in walkable cities and somehow we can do that everywhere in the world except the US (at least so far). -Judy
Thanks for your great videos. My husband and I are working on our Swedish death cleaning right now. If you were to go for a home base overseas, what countries would be top on your list?
Hi Jade, Hmmm. Italy is at the top of our list for many, many reasons, but one of the primary ones is that I'm eligible for dual citizenship there and am working on that now. It's a time-consuming process and although I'm already three years in, it will probably be another two years for it to finally come through. But it's cold there, so we might also consider someplace in Vietnam, Cambodia, or Thailand for the winter. We didn't expect to enjoy those countries as much as we did (although we weren't fans of Saigon, we really liked Hanoi and Hoi An). Kraków, Poland was affordable and we really liked it and the food was delicious, which is an important criteria for us that we didn't realize we had! The UK is maybe a bit out of our price range, and again they have freezing winters, but London has always held a special place in our hearts, so it's on our list, but due to cost, maybe not at the top of it. So far where we've stayed in Spain and France haven't been affordable enough to consider, but we haven't visited some of the less pricey locations in those countries. We still have a lot of places we want to visit, so we are keeping an open mind. We have a video series where we talk about preparing to leave the US and all of the decision making we did to opt to travel full time instead of being expats somewhere. In fact we strongly considered Portugal, but it didn't resonate with us when we visited. It may not all apply to you, but you might find some episodes in there that resonate. Congratulations on your Swedish death cleaning. We hope that has been an amazing experience for you and that you are finding joy in owning less stuff! -Judy 🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX
Where do you plan to be? We are so curious about the Philippines and tried to get there this year, but we couldn't make it work. We need a place to stay for a month versus traveling all around the islands that has great wifi. At one point we considered Cebu City and locating ourselves in the IT Park, but we worried that would be too full of digital nomads and not enough of a local experience. If you have suggestions for us, we'd love to hear them! -Judy
We travel a lot as well. 72 countries so far. Mid sixties. Grew up in Brownfield Texas. Live in Tyler now. Where in west Texas did you live. Btw love your videos.
Wow, you are well traveled, Mark! What a small world! We weren't raised there, but two years after we were married we lived just north of Houston, Texas, for nearly 30 years where we raised our three children. Thank you so much for watching! Do you have a country or place you'd recommend? We have only made it to 26 countries, so we have a long way to go before catching up to you! -Judy
I completely agree about the food being healthier abroad. We do a whole food approach to our meals. We do single ingredient season recipes. We preserve foods that are fresh and in season to have healthier foods. We haven't made the final choice to walk away from the US....yet. But we agree with your thought process. We are getting rid of our material items and streamlining our lives. Once we get further through it, we will have more freedom. Are you on Medicare yet?
Hi Eliza, We still eat out a fair amount in most of the countries we visit, especially during our seven months in Asia, where it was practically cheaper to eat out than it was to cook. But we've been cooking more in Europe for sure. I cooked nearly always from scratch when we lived in the US, but we did order takeout a few times per week. There is so much freedom when you can lighten your load, although it can be challenging to break free from some of your stuff, especially initially. It was so freeing that we don't want to settle down and risk accumulating stuff again. Our packs require us to swap out something anytime we buy something new. We are not on Medicare yet since I'm only 59 and Kevin just turned 62. We use Cigna Global Health medical insurance with a high deductible ($3K) and pay out of pocket for everything except catastrophic health issues. Fortunately we haven't had to do that. Our annual cost is approximately $5,700 and covers both of us. Of course, it's cheaper the younger you are. -Judy
@ParisianThinker If you are referencing travel health insurance, there are providers who will cover people over 79. I haven't checked to see if the pricing is prohibitively expensive, but it does appear to exist. -Judy www.imglobal.com/travel-medical-insurance/globehopper-senior - www.comparethemarket.com/travel-insurance/content/over-80s/ - www.visitorscoverage.com/travel-insurance/travel-insurance-for-over-80/
@@FindingGinaMarie I made a call to our Medicare provider and they cover out of network. We have to pay for the service and submit for reimbursement. We will be doing dental cleaning this winter in Thailand and we will submit it. Not sure if we will need any medical care, only 5 months away.
@elizaC3024 That's actually surprising, but great news. I didn't think that Medicare covered things outside the US. Even if you had to pay on your own, dental care in Thailand is pretty affordable, especially something as basic as a cleaning. Have a fun and fabulous trip! -Judy 🎥 Thailand video series: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF3cqPH8_O_WDVYgoT13KJRq
Hi Nick, We loved Kraków and need to figure out when to get back to Poland and explore more of that beautiful country. How long have you been traveling? We wish you all the best. It's a great way to live! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie We've been traveling since 2022. We spent the first 1.5 years in the US. Then we sold our car and jumped on a cruise ship for a month. After that Mexico City for 3.5 months and now we're in Krakow for 3 months. We adore Kraków and Poland in general. It's definitely found it's way into our hearts and we'll be back. Headed to Istanbul after this. We actually just started a RUclips channel to share our experiences! @slowtravelwithus
Congratulations! What an incredible journey you've had so far! We wish you the best of luck on your channel. It is a lot of hard work, but it is incredibly rewarding. We hope you find it to be that way for yourselves. -Judy
We plan to live in Puerto Rico 4-6 months and travel 6 months month per year the other 1-2 months we will be visiting family in the USA. We have a feeling some family will be moving to PUerto Rico with us and others will start their own travel. US is not an option for long term residence. ❤ we love being Americans, but the cost is too much. Keep sharing stories we love it!
Thanks so much for watching, Iramis and Gerry, and for sharing your plans for the future with us. I think it's a great plan. Offhand, we don't expect anyone in our family to settle down with us anywhere, but we're okay with that. It's easy enough for them or us to hop on a plane to see each other in some of the cool destinations we visit. Our daughter has joined us in Lisbon, Japan, and Italy so far and she definitely has the travel bug. One of our sons has no interest in travel and one is interested in dual citizenship with Italy (along with our daughter) and are with me in working through that process, so he may surprise us some day and relocate there, but we'll consider it a nice surprise if he does. The cost is too much and there are so many wonderful and affordable places! You've already traveled more extensively than we have, so we are trying to make up for lost time. We didn't prioritize international travel until 2011 and steadily increased the number of trips we took over the years before we finally decided to retire early and travel full time. We wish you the best of luck on your RUclips channel and have subscribed! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie OMG! You just made my year. Truly amazing 🥲 Your subscription means so much to us. We have been watching you since you had 3K subscribers and we are so amazed what you have accomplished. We are 47 & 49 and we want to be like you both. I hope one day to meet and if you EVER want to visit PR let us know. Our house will be finished in 12-14 months and we will be happy to have you discover PR. Safe travels back to your “new home” 🇵🇷💗 🙏🏽 GRACIAS! THANK YOU!
You've been watching since 3K subscribers? Thank YOU for supporting us all this time. It means the world to us as well. We wish we were so focused on retiring early, but back then we were acquiring a lot of stuff and living in a big house. We wasted so much time and money. Thank you so much for the offer regarding Puerto Rico. We have a friend from there and he's said so many wonderful things about it that we would love to visit at some point. As Kevin mentioned, we have SIX full years of full-time travel to see the highlights of what we want to see, so we expect to be exploring the world for many more years to come! We are currently in Lyon, France, which is very beautiful. In fact we are in France in order to meet up with one of our viewers! So if you are traveling and happen to be nearby, give us a shout and we'll do our best to meet up. We'd been to France a few times already, so we hadn't originally planned to be here now, but we had some Schengen days left and decided to pivot and make this trip work. Good luck with the construction of your new home and we'll be watching your channel as it continues to grow! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie yes. 3K We did not have a channel then. We were also busy living a different life. Full of stuff and people we did not need. We are using my channel as a record of our life and to help us keep to our dream. Alzheimer’s runs in my husband family and he wants this as a way to keep his memories just in case we can’t find a cure in the next 20 years. 💗🇵🇷🙏🏽 Enjoy, France!
We understand all about stuff we didn't need. We were okay with the people, but the jobs we were content to leave behind. Hopefully there will be cure for Alzheimers. Surprisingly, I heard that the semaglutide drugs may be able to help with that. No idea whether that's actually true or not because it's possible that they are being used for a variety of off-label uses, but it's promising to hear it! Here's a link, but take it with a grain of salt: www.alzint.org/about-us/funders/corporate-partner-novo-nordisk/#:~:text=Semaglutide%20is%20thought%20to%20work,clinical%20progression%20of%20Alzheimer's%20disease.
Sounds correct, but I feel stuck in San Francisco area, weighed down by so much stuff. How did you dispose of your stuff? Just dump it, and take a loss ?
Hi David, Thanks so much for watching! We have some videos where we talk about our downsizing process when we were in the thick of it. We'll do an update video soon because we learned so much in the process. I'm currently working on a draft of an article on this topic as well. The short answer is yes, we took HUGE losses to get rid of our stuff. Should we have done things differently? Perhaps, BUT we have no regrets because stuff is stuff and was only tying us down. We considered it sunk costs and moved on with our lives. We didn't give ourselves a huge lead time when we made the decision to decide to sell everything and travel full time, so we put ourselves in a bit of a bind. I still wouldn't change anything! You do need to be fairly ruthless in getting rid of things. We also weren't prepared to lose so much money-in San Francisco, people are used to cobbling together things on the cheap, so they didn't appreciate or care about how expensive our stuff was. We had a brand new (9 months old) neutral $10K sofa that we practically gave away for $2K and had to sweeten the deal with end tables and a coffee table. We had someone fall through and this was our last-minute backup person. We were leaving the next day, so we were in a pinch and they knew they had us over a barrel. There is SO much freedom that comes from downsizing. We have zero regrets. It's one small reason we don't want to settle down anywhere for the foreseeable future. It's very easy to get caught up in stuff and we don't want to allow ourselves to fall into that trap again! -Judy 🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX
Saving up and living outside the US makes a lot of sense, you’re just going to get more for your money outside the US. The car culture and attitudes about trains and bicycles in the US is just infuriating and quite sad, it’s not going to change much in a lifetime. Even without a commute I spend a lot of time in a car which is just very low quality time. Looking forward to your South America trips and how you get around. I also agree on the food quality, a lot of food out in the US is processed, low quality and not handled well.
Thanks so much for watching! It's great to hear from you again! We are visiting Paris again in another week or so and are excited to see it after it made modifications to become even more of a bike and pedestrian city than it used to be. While we found Amsterdam to be a bit challenging because of the sheer number of bicyclists that we had to watch out for, we will always admire a place that deprioritizes cars. We are excited about visiting South America! Originally we talked about waiting until January, but we decided to start in November because we wanted to avoid the cold weather in Europe. It's interesting that even something as basic as butter is tons better in Europe than US brands. We were buying imported for a while in San Francisco. We've found that fruits and vegetables are tastier when they aren't grown for shelf life and size but rather for taste, a rarity in the US! -Judy
As a couple it sounds like you're having a great time. As a widow I enjoy traveling twice a year to foreign destinations but I have animals and family who need me here. I also live in a mid sized to small city in North Carolina which is more affordable. I'll stay here.
Hi Frances, We are having a great time, so I'm glad our video reflects that. We haven't gotten tired of our lifestyle in the slightest, especially after adjusting our travels to be mostly traveling a bit slower than we did last year. Family and pets are so important and we are glad that you understand your priorities. Our last dog passed away when we were in San Francisco, and those losses are hard to bear, so Kevin especially isn't eager to start over with a new pet. Also, if your home city is giving you everything you want and yet you still have the means to travel a few times per year, then it sounds like you have a good thing and have no reason to rock the boat! Thanks for weighing in and for watching! -Judy
Yes, we have been thinking about moving out of the US. The thought of slow travel does interest us. Next month wr off to London, Paris and Spain to wxplore some options.
Hi Danielle, How fabulous for you! Where will you be in Spain? London and Paris are two of our favorite cities. In fact, we detoured to Paris for a few days less than a week ago just to say hello to some of our favorite haunts! Best of luck! I'll link to some of our resources that might be useful for you. -Judy 🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX 🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH 🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads): 📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
Oh fabulous, Danielle! Thanks for letting us know. We were recently in Madrid and Barcelona and for a hot minute we thought we might head over to Seville or Granada this year, but we opted to wait until next year. There's so much of Spain we would love to see. Have a great trip! -Judy
Hi Suzy, One of the reasons we slow travel is to avoid those things. We specifically talk about it as it was occurring for Kevin when we were in Genoa, Italy. It can be a lot of work to plan where you're going to be, so by moving every month versus every week or two makes it much more manageable. We don't do the typical sightseeing every single day, but even on our down days or days when we are working on RUclips, we still take interesting walks and try to notice and appreciate the areas where we're living. That's why we prefer to stay in the heart of a place. The cost might be a little higher at times, but we can more easily bump into interesting architecture and beauty than if we stayed in the suburbs. The pace and what we do is so much different than taking a vacation, and that's also why we choose to stay in Airbnbs over hotels for much of the time. Having a couch and a kitchen and a dining table normalizes life for us since we do spend much more time in our Airbnb than we might on vacation. We're travel planning, keeping up with phone calls to family, balancing our budget-all the everyday parts of life-just from different parts of the world. -Judy 🎥 Slow Travel or No Travel! Why we have to stay longer: ruclips.net/video/LrLGJ-X6I4A/видео.html 🎥 Our 5 Travel Secrets for Retirement as Full-Time Travelers: ruclips.net/video/Oc4tZ4M1v0w/видео.html 🎥 What Do We Do All Day?: ruclips.net/video/q3kSQMptyEU/видео.html **(this is from our second month of full-time travel!)**
True! But we do think that you're always allowed to make changes if something isn't working for you. We don't ever think you should feel stuck or unhappy. Thanks for watching and good luck with your channel! -Judy 🎥 Our 5 Travel Secrets for Retirement as Full-Time Travelers: ruclips.net/video/Oc4tZ4M1v0w/видео.html
Well said and agree. We are in a similar trajectory but younger and are planning on leaving the USA sooner rather than later. Geographic arbitrage to higher quality of life locations seems like a no brainer to me. Especially after building some savings from a SF USA income!
Yes, congratulations! You're from Walnut Creek? Well, as you know, that part of the world also brings a fairly high cost of living. We wish we had started sooner. Thanks for watching and good luck! -Judy
I’m planning my escape now. Hopefully Oct 1 will be my departure date. I’m 65 and have decided to take a gap year with my 18 yr old granddaughter who just graduated H.S. I’m calling it my post menopausal gap year. Choosing ‘health over wealth’. I’m scared to stay in the U.S given the high cost of living and the health care. Btw I’m from Houston ; went back recently and no thank you!
How fabulous for you and your granddaughter, Sara! That's such a fantastic idea! We visited Houston and Austin for seven days. It's not quite been a week since we left. It was great to see family and friends, but we drove so much we couldn't stand to do it longer. How long are you planning to stay in each location? Have you sorted that out yet? Doing it for any length of time is amazing, but when you're only giving yourself a year, I'm sure you want to really be super intentional about the places you pack into that time. We wish you the best of luck! We have a lot of resources on our website and videos in two of our playlists linked below that might be helpful to you. 🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX 🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH 🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads): 📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
Hi Scott, that's an excellent question! Up until our visit to Rome with our daughter, he was wearing a Series 5 Apple Watch, but he was tired of it telling him when to stand and the fitness app constantly breathing down his throat! 😉 He ended up buying an Italian brand, Perseo. The specific model is the Buccaneer Classic. It was a HUGE splurge for him, but he fell in love with the fact that it was an Italian brand and the exclusive watch of the Italian State Railways for timekeeping. It combines his love of Italy with engineering precision, and also is an appropriate souvenir from our travels/travel experiences. Below is a link to it if you want to read more about it. -Judy www.perseo-watches.it/orologi/gentleman/buccaneer-automatic-black/
I totaly agree. I li live in Rio de Janeiro and just got back from a trip to the US. All foods were sweet, and fried, and expensive. We ate fried chicken and fries for the same price as sushi in Rio.
Hi Marcela, We are headed to Rio de Janeiro in December! If you have any recommendations or suggestions for us, especially ideas that our viewers will love that are less touristy, we'd love to hear them! This will be our first time to be in South America and we are SO excited about it! -Judy
We completely agree. While it's difficult to say for sure what the future holds, for all the reasons you outlined so eloquently, we will continue living and travelling abroad for the foreseeable future. We have had nearly identical experience with quality healthcare, fresh/seasonal food, affordable accommodations, and the excitement of waking up to new adventures every day. The other day we were wondering what we would be doing if we were retired but still living in Washington. We certainly wouldn't be outside exploring local neighborhoods like we currently do, and we would likely be heavily reliant on the "all important" automobile. Our lifestyle (and yours) is certainly not for everyone, but we are so glad we committed to making it work. We're living a life that many people dream about, and at a fraction of the cost that we would be paying to live in the US. As always, thanks for sharing your stories.
Steph and Chris, we so appreciate your kind words and all your support. We are grateful to have your friendship as a perk of us all living this way. For as unconventional as living this way might be, it is so rewarding, gratifying, and joyful. We are happy to hear that you are having as fun of a time as we are. We wish you all the best and hope our paths cross again soon! Safe travels! -Judy
Hello--my wife and I enjoy your videos! We are also from Texas--originally from Houston, now living in Austin. We are curious about your banking--are you using a US-based bank, or one abroad? I imagine the bank would require an address--do you have a PO Box somewhere? Do you keep a PO Box somewhere to receive mail? Or is all your correspondence via email/electronically?
Small world, Greg! We are originally from Buffalo, New York, but we left shortly after we got married and lived in The Woodlands for 29 years before shifting to San Francisco for Kevin's job with Apple. Two of our children now are living in Austin! We still use Chase in the US. We have an entire article that might be useful for you regarding our virtual mailbox. It's in North Carolina because it was the cheapest location for this vendor, but we are very happy with it. It doesn't change our voting district, which still is in San Francisco or our residency-our driver's licenses both are still California licenses (mine is up for renewal next month and I'm able to do it through the mail, fortunately). Even though we don't plan to live in the US, we still pay US taxes, so we want a say in voting and want to keep an active US driver's license for when we visit. Hope these answers and links are helpful! -Judy 📝 How to Stay Connected to Your Mail While Living Abroad: findingginamarie.com/articles/how-to-stay-connected-to-your-mail-while-traveling-the-world 🎥 We talk about it during our Q&A video as well, and the pertinent section is where this link starts: ruclips.net/video/E6L8Wh_zMc8/видео.html 🎥 How to Vote While Living Abroad: findingginamarie.com/articles/voting-while-living-abroad-as-a-us-citizen
@@FindingGinaMarie Thanks so much for the quick and informative reply! I'll investigate the links you sent, as well as continue to follow your adventures! We are exploring dual citizenship into Italy(EU) via family bloodlines!
@@greggiacona238 I've been working on my Italian dual citizenship for the last three years. Unfortunately, I am a 1948 case because my birth mother was born in 1944 and her father had already naturalized by then, so we are going through her mother and my grandfather in Italy. We know it will be worth it when it finally comes through. At a minimum, it will allow us greater mobility throughout the EU and Schengen. As more countries join Schengen, it gets harder for us to leave and come back since we'd prefer to see new countries if we can. We wish you the best of luck on Italian dual citizenship. Do you have thoughts about possibly retiring there? At some point in the distant future, we are considering Verona or Torino, but we are continuing to explore other parts of Italy as well. We're visiting Sardinia in the spring and have a few videos coming out in the coming weeks from our Italy travel with our daughter! -Judy 🎥 Italy video series: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1Tj_VCjUNQTJBMtKpkz5Sk
@@FindingGinaMarie Here's the funny thing-my dad was born in Palermo Sicily. He came to America (Galveston TX) in 1959, met my mom, got married in 1960. He became a naturalized US citizen in January 1964--I was born in October 1964--so I cannot got through my dad's ancestral lineage! :-(. I believe in 1994 Italy permitted its citizens to retain their Italian citizenship if they acquired another. Anyway--turns out we have another avenue-my wife's great-grandparents were from central Italy, and immigrated into Texas in the early 20th century! We are confirming her great grandmother did not naturalize formally (she did via marriage but we think not officially). She never learned English so we think she did not formally naturalize here (there's a language test). So, if all goes to plan, we will soon pursue Italian passports for our family--wife, myself and our 8yo daughter. The idea would be to possibly move to the east coast in a few years (Raleigh area maybe, I have a sister there) and purchase a smaller house--and then look for a small home in Italy--probably the north to find the cooler weather. Living on the east coast of the US is an easier launch to Europe than from TX. We would use it as s summer escape until we could possibly retire there full-time. We also like the idea of a free college education in the EU for our daughter, and the lifestyle/healthcare benefits. We love the US--I'm hugely patriotic, but we are exploring all avenues for future options!
Thanks for sharing this background with us, Greg! I'm a September 1964 birthday, so we are practically twinning! It would be worth inquiring into whether your father is able to reclaim his Italian citizenship and then likewise you! If you acquire your citizenship through marriage, you have to pass a language test. Which technically is fine since learning the language allows you to assimilate more easily. My fingers are crossed for dual citizenship for one or the other of you! We agree that the East Coast is an easier launch to Europe. We love your thinking. Italy is a hard place to get a job, especially one that pays well, but if you're retired or able to live remotely in Italy with an American job and good pay, your life is so much easier. -Judy
We loved South Korea, but we don't trust North Korea and how safe it would be there long term. Unfortunately, there are a lot of places that could end up being volatile, and that includes the US. -Judy
Hi Keith, we aren't ruling it out. I am working on my Italian dual citizenship and have a few places in mind there, but we are keeping an open mind while we're traveling to see what else may resonate with us. And we acknowledge that we might not be tired of living out of a suitcase, but there may be health circumstances that might also stand in our way down the road. Of course, we are trying to take care of our health, but we know that something unexpected could happen at any time. that's one of the many reasons we retired early. Thanks for watching! -Judy
It varies by month, but we do our best to average about $4K per month. We look at our budget across the year and stay in low cost places to offset the more expensive places we visit. We spent four months in Asia/Southeast Asia in 2024 and three months there in 2023 (for a total of 7 months in that part of the world). Some of that time helped to offset our more expensive costs of three weeks in the US and some of our time in Europe. We are FAR from points gurus, but we usually can get one or two flights for free with miles. Our goal is to spend $1600 or less per month in accommodations costs. We try to break down our travel costs during our travel videos so that you can see what average meals cost when we travel. -Judy
Thank you so much, Leo. We agree, but we think that the desire for high profits in the US typically trumps health benefits (and most other things, unfortunately). There are a lot of lobbyists and self-interest groups that work hard to ensure that money is the highest priority. -Judy
We are not experts, but healthcare is a profitable industry in the US. Complex systems with multiple payers lead to increased billing and administrative expenses. There's a lack of price regulation for medical services and pharmaceuticals; more malpractice suits, which drives up costs; higher salaries in the US for healthcare professionals; and a lack of universal coverage can result in delayed care and more expensive emergency treatments are some of the reasons. -Judy
My biggest concern regarding retiring in the EU is god forbid I need nursing home care. I’ve seen vids on how great it is in Asia but haven’t seen expats address this issue for the EU. I don’t plan on retiring to Asia. My goal is Italy. And I am definitely not coming back to US to live in their horrible nursing homes…😨😨😨. I hope you make a vid addressing this topic.
Hi Kat, We haven't looked into nursing home care, but it's a valid topic for us to explore. One thing about Italy is that there is a lot of multi-generational living, so nursing homes are less common than in the US. There's a preference to "age at home" with ideally a personal care assistant (PCA). This is an interesting article that might be helpful for you. It doesn't appear that social services typically include nursing home facilities in Italy: wellnessshepherd.com/2023/12/30/aging-in-place-senior-care-in-italy-a-snapshot-from-tuscany/ There's a lot to consider. -Judy
We are thinking of moving to Sicily at age 70+ . We are probably crazy but our money will last longer and so will our lives hopefully. I'm just waiting for my Italian Citizenship to come through.
Hi Christine, I wish you all the best with your dual citizenship! Mine has been three years in the making and I am hopeful that I'll have it in the next two years. It's not a quick process, unfortunately. Is there a place in Sicily that you're interested in? What makes it special to you? All the best! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie I am on year 2.5. I have my codice fiscale just waiting for the kids and grands to get theirs. Sicily is the home of my dad's parents, Abruzzo area from my mom's side. We want Sicily or southern Italy. I am not a winter person. Haha. We are exploring Sicily this Oct so we will have more of an idea.
We aren't really winter people, either! We were planning to head to Sardinia in November and chickened out. For what it's worth, we were in Sicily in November/December 2022 and were pretty cold, but October should be a bit milder. We are so excited for you, and October will be here before you know it. Figuring it all out is actually part of the fun! -Judy
Following the Balkan War in the early '90s, my family made the decision to permanently leave our home country. We ultimately ended up in America, which I believe was the biggest mistake of our lives, even after 28 years of living in the US.
Oh wow. There was so much unrest, so I'm sure your family was trying to take care of their family the best way they could. If life in the US is no longer serving you, can you begin to take steps to do things that will make you happier? One thing that we try to remember is that, "wherever you go, there you are." So changing geographies doesn't always change everything because you're still the same person. If you're not in a position to retire yet, can you take steps to get there or at least find things you are passionate about and pursue them in the meantime? One thing we'll say for the US is that it's one of the best paying places to live, even if there's a lot wrong with it. We might not have the funds we do had we not been in US jobs. -Judy
Hi Paula, Thanks for watching. We still have all our banking in the US and we have an international data and phone plan with our original US number tied to T-Mobile that allows us to get verification codes without any issue. It costs a little more than buying localized eSIMS, but it's been easier and more straighforward to maintain connections in the US. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie I was referring to investment accounts with brokerage companies, not banking. Forgot that you don't reside anywhere international yet, so you must have some US address on your Fidelity, Vanguard, or Schwab. Once you go to live overseas, there are complications with maintaining your investment accounts while you reside in the EU. Brokerage companies actually have been known to drop their EU resident customers, because they do not want to have to comply with EU regulations.
Yes, we have a virtual travel mailbox in the US that allows us to maintain a US mailing address, even though it's in a different state than where we are considered as "residents" for the purpose of voting and having a driver's license. That is interesting information that we fortunately haven't encountered yet. We'll have a lot of due diligence to do when we eventually (far into the future) decide to settle somewhere. Hopefully things will have changed by then, but we'll look into it. We know that some people have difficulties with transferring money from their brokerage accounts while traveling abroad, and that's what we thought you were asking about. Thanks so much for clarifying. -Judy 📝 How to Stay Connected to Your Mail While Traveling the World: findingginamarie.com/articles/how-to-stay-connected-to-your-mail-while-traveling-the-world 🗳️ Your Right to Vote While Living Abroad (As a US Citizen): findingginamarie.com/articles/voting-while-living-abroad-as-a-us-citizen
So glad you have made your decision and want a permanent expat life. I've been watching your channel from.the beginning. However, I've just listened to 20 minutes of you dumping on the United States. You say at the very end that you don't dislike the US, but an objective listener would disagree. You don't have like living in the US anymore, that's fine but wow. Your videos are usually not this negative Nancy. Good luck to you and keep enjoying your travels. You guys are taking it all in and enjoying retirement.
We're sorry to hear that you think we dumped on the US. Our video was only 14 minutes long. Our reasons had to do with the very high cost of living, the challenges of a country that requires a car practically everywhere, unaffordable healthcare, and foods that aren't as healthy as in other parts of the world. We thought we took the high road in this video with our reasoning, so it's disappointing to hear that you felt we dumped on the US, especially if you've watched us from the beginning and know our personalities. As we mentioned, we had just spent three weeks in the US and friends and family had all been asking about our future plans and wanted to know why we weren't planning to eventually settle down in the US. We do love traveling full time and don't intend to settle down anywhere for the foreseeable future. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMariewe didn’t feel you dumped on the US. As fellow RUclipsrs we get criticized for explaining the differences also. You did a good job!👍 keep putting out your enjoyable videos! Can’t wait to see you in Albania!
@@FindingGinaMarie it's just honest feedback. My husband wandered in while I was listening to the video, he doesn't watch y'all like I do, and asked "who pissed in their post toasties about the US?" I will refrain from giving honest feedback in the future. I hope you continue to enjoy your travels. We love our travels also.
@TravelswithLlama We certainly welcome honest feedback. Our response was never meant to say that you aren't entitled to your own opinion. We just thought there were so many ways we could have gone off the rails and didn't that your opinion surprised us. -Judy
Thanks for watching. We've typically gotten COVID boosters when we've been in the US, but if we can get them while traveling, they're often cheaper outside the US. We also needed some vaccinations before heading to Cairo. We use international travel doctors in the country we're in at the time, and so far it's worked out great. Here's a video about it linked below. -Judy 🎥 Why we got vaccinated in Rome before heading to Egypt: ruclips.net/video/ZJG4MI76u58/видео.html
Hi Tim, for the foreseeable future, we want to continue traveling. But we realize there may come a time when we may not physically be able to travel or are ready to slow down significantly. In that hopefully far-off future, we are considering places in Italy (I'm working on dual citizenship there) and possibly places in Asia during the winters. Part of our travels include considering whether the places we visit could be options for us far down the road. We still want to prioritize affordable healthcare and a reasonable cost of living where consumerism isn't as valued as much as building relationships. Thanks so much for watching! -Judy
We agree. We probably wouldn't ever have made as much money elsewhere, but we think there are alternatives to retiring in the US for all the reasons we state in our video. Thanks for watching! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie I hope that the US will improve. What things about the USA do you think should change be fore you would consider returning to the USA? Any examples?
We don't want to own a vehicle, and I don't see that changing in the US. It also isn't an affordable country if you want to live in a major city with access to culture. We have a good but not great retirement account and it will last much longer and we'll live much more comfortably living outside the US. Healthcare costs in other parts of the world are more affordable for us than in the US. This video pretty much itemizes our reasons. -Judy
We are British born and in 2004 moved to Florida where we have been for the last 20 years. In April we sold everything, house, business, car…..and retired at 51 and 54 to start our full time travel life! I loved the USA but you have hit the nail on the head as to why staying was no longer achievable for our life goals. We are also more active, eat better and are throughly enjoying our new lifestyle! Thanks for the great content and insights!
Congratulations on living as full-time travelers. I don't know what we expected when we set off on this lifestyle, but we are so happy and fulfilled. Perhaps initially we thought we'd have some regrets if we hated it-and there was a chance that Kevin was going to not retire and instead take a job in London. Fortunately that fell through, but we had some non-furniture items-necessities like cold weather clothes and some essentials that we stored just in case. We got rid of all that last October when we knew this is what we wanted to be doing. It was a hassle to deal with closing out the small storage unit, but when the job offer came around again, we had no problem turning it down! Thank you so much for watching! I love the catchphrase for your channel! -Judy
Congratulations 🎊
You are fortunate to have each other and such compatibility.
Hi Sam, We realize this! We've been together since I was 14 and Kevin was 16 and have been married over 40 years. My mother used to joke that Kevin practically raised me, so it's no surprise we're compatible. I wrote an article about navigating full-time travel for people who may not be as well aligned. It's linked below if you're interested in it. -Judy
📝 Navigating Love & Travel: findingginamarie.com/articles/what-if-your-spouse-doesnt-want-to-travel-full-time
Who can afford to live in the US as a retiree? Good thing there's a world out here.
You're right; it gets harder and harder. But the choice we made to travel the world has brought us so much joy! I've linked our video about how we decided to retire early to travel full time. Thanks so much for watching. -Judy
🎥 How we retired early and are traveling full time: ruclips.net/video/ttyh4NXrbfs/видео.html
I'm American, in my 60s, and a digital slow traveler in UK/Europe. I've just spent 3.5 weeks in Carcassonne, France (I'm now in Brussels). I was so surprised that while in France, I was able to have a bowl of cereal with milk every single day with no dairy issues. No upset stomach, no bloating. Also surprised that my ankles weren't as puffy as they are in the U.S. As you mentioned. it seems US food has so many additives, sugar, and salt, and it really affects people's health. The food here in Europe seems healthier and more wholesome. Of course there is fast food here in Europe, but it's not so in your face like it is in the US. Also, fruit and veggies are so mush more flavourful in Europe. I watch all of your videos, but this one really resonated with me! Thanks so much for sharing your experiences and insights with us! 🙂
Hi Kat, we recognize your name from previous comments, so thanks for letting us know that this episode resonated with you. We're currently in Lyon, France for another week or so and are loving it. What is your opinion of Brussels? It's on our list of places to visit. We are finding in Europe that you need so much less seasoning on food because of how flavorful fruits and vegetables are on their own. I'm sure it's because growers in Europe are focused on crops that are flavorful versus ones that have an extended shelf life and larger sizes like they are in the US. Thank you so much for watching! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie Hi Judy, Brussels is really nice! everyone is so kind and friendly. The Grand Place is magnificent - you need to see it. This has been a short visit for me as I'm traveling back to London tomorrow. But I'd really like to return to Brussels and see more of its offerings. I have a client here and was able to stay in his apt while he was in the States.
I think in the US the fruit is picked too early for transportation purposes. So a lot of fruit tastes sour/unripe/bland. And yeah, the focus seems to be longer shelf life and big sizes. I don't need an onion as big as my head! It's ridiculous. Also don't you find that in addition to more flavourful food, the food prices in general in Europe are cheaper? It's astonishing how expensive food is in the States. Kat
Thank you so much for letting us know you enjoyed Brussels. How wonderful to stay in your client's apartment. That is a great bonus! We've heard mixed things about Brussels, so it keeps falling off our radar. But when I was a little girl my aunts (who are deceased) visited and gave me a handkerchief made from Brussels lace, so I've always had a soft spot about visiting. Yes, you are right about food costs in the US. Part of that issue is that unless you are going to local markets, the grocers are often using corporate farmers versus locals. That may be because grocery stores want food that has a longer shelf life, etc., etc. -Judy
@katmartinez3737. I spent a week in Carcassonne in April! I visited the Citi. It was a travel dream trip and it was lovely!!
@@travelingthediaspora7996 Agree! The Cité is a fantastic place to see. I really enjoyed venturing down the small alleys and imagining life during the medieval era.
As someone who has been able to travel abroad in the last few years, I truly appreciate your point of view on living in the US. Everything is super expensive, food is unhealthy, and the culture is vastly different. I love so much about the US but wish more people could see what opportunities lie beyond our borders and experience the beauty and dynamics of other cultures. Every time we return from our travels I see things through different eyes and can't help but compare. Also I am learning to "Live with Less to Have More"- the more stuff we own, the more it begins to own us and bring us down. Thanks for sharing your travels and knowledge, it is much appreciated. Safe travels!
Hi Jodie, Thank you so much for watching! We mean no disrespect to the US. We are grateful for all the opportunities we have had because of being American citizens. But we feel the same as you. We agree also regarding the Live with Less to Have More mentality and wish it was a mindset we had when we were much younger. We actually have a full series on downsizing to help people in retirement or who just want to stop being owned by their stuff! -Judy
🎥 Downsizing for Retirement or Full-Time Travel Series: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF2xRusfMEQvN-5LZZqdnQIf
Amen! I never plan on going back except to visit.
Thanks for watching, BW! Visiting is even expensive, so we don't typically return more than once per year (so far). It's a little tricky because we have some older family members and initially it wasn't looking like we'd be back in the US before November 2025. We may have to adjust that, but it is a hassle to fly back to the US when it isn't always convenient to do so-primarily meaning taking an expensive flight that's a detour from where you want to be or have been. But it is still important for us to spend time with our family, who we really love. -Judy
What you’re doing is so thought provoking! The idea of a nomadic lifestyle and living with only carry-on baggage is on one hand very appealing but on the other hand very intimidating. I’m torn between my own love of travel, imminent retirement, and liking the idea of having a home base. Thank you for providing such rich food for thought.
Thanks so much for watching and for taking the time to walk through your situation with us so we can understand a bit more. If it helps to know it, when we first left San Francisco, there was a small chance that Kevin was going to take a job in London, so while we got rid of all of our furniture, we kept some things like winter clothes and some practical things like kitchen stuff. It didn't take us long to know that we definitely didn't want to come back, so we got rid of everything on our next trip back to the US. We felt that even if we decided to live as expats somewhere versus traveling full time, we wouldn't want to own or continue to accumulate stuff and would need so much less than we had while living in the US. It has been the most freeing thing ever. We'd love to know what you decide to do when you figure it out. -Judy
you can try it out for a year or two then either keep going or return to establish a home base... I think re-establishing a home base is not hard at all so that option is always there. One additional thought is that if you get tired of traveling you can simply hunker down for even a few months in a particular location that you like and make it your home base... the decision to keep going is yours alone :D
@sbkpilot1 We agree with you about re-establishing a home base. I would like to believe that our values and priorities will have shifted during our time of travel and we will find that we need a lot less stuff to be happy than we did before embarking on full-time travel. We're open to eventually slowing down and spending three months somewhere versus only a month, but even that's a ways away for us personally. -Judy
@@sbkpilot1 Great ideas!
We sold it all to be nomads. Best decision ever. We are from Canada but have no desire to return there full time after seeing so much of what the world has to offer, at a fraction of the cost.
Appreciate you articulating all these points.
Thank you so much for watching, Christine! We had so many of our family and friends continue to question our decision and wonder when we planned to return that we felt it was necessary to clarify some of our key reasons for choosing to live outside the US. -Judy
Great video and thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much for watching. I just subscribed to your channel. Best of luck to you both! -Judy
Great video! My husband and I are considering retiring somewhere in Europe for all the reasons you shared.
Congratulations to you both! We had explored Italy and Portugal as potential options. I'm currently working on my Italian Dual Citizenship, but I'm more than two years in and only halfway through the process. Portugal didn't suit us and although we thought we might be interested in London, the cost of living is too high without having jobs there, and by then we decided we wanted to retire! We have an entire series talking about our beginnings and how we made the decision to become full-time travelers instead of expats. And we have a new series on downsizing if you're interested in that as well. Best of luck to you both! -Judy
RESOURCES
🎥 8 Critical Questions for Downsizing: ruclips.net/video/oqYfZ98r7R8/видео.html
✅ Downsizing Prep Worksheet: findingginamarie.com/request-downsizing-prep-worksheet
🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX
🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH
🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads):
📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
I’m recent retired and in my sixties. I love to travel but I am a solo female and though I have cruised and travel solo I was always on guard and sometimes lonely. I love what you guys have decided to do with your retirement and I will so make a decision on my new chapter of life. 😍
Hi Bonita, I can understand about being on guard. Even though we were in a safe area, when Kevin was in the hospital in Serbia, I was on my own for the first time outside of taking walks with him waiting for me in our Airbnb or hotel. It was a weird, uncomfortable feeling. We've been together since I was 14 and he was 16 and have been married over 40 years, so neither of us has been on our own at all. BUT life is so short and living in fear is a hard way to live. Giving up your dreams is hard, too. I think most paths to happiness require some uncertainty and a bit of fear. Someone I highly respect has done some impressive things, but she "did them scared." She makes decisions every day that are uncomfortable but also incredibly rewarding. She's truly an inspiration. As a single traveler, you could choose to stay in a private room in a hostel where you can have privacy and lock your door, but still interact with the backpackers and young people who I know would be super inspired by you and your decision to travel. We wish you all the best as you figure out what your own next steps are. ♥️ -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie Thank you ♥
@@bonitak8483 Tirana is a very safe city. Our air B&B owner lives below us. He says there’s little to no crime in this town. We have felt safe the 5 wk we have been here. We have seen numerous single girls walking along at night. We have also seen girls ages 6-8 years walking alone during the day. You should come check it out. The food here is so cheap. Traditional food $6. Pizza $6-8. Pitas $2.20 . Beer $1, carafe wine $3. Pasta $5. Dental cleanings $35. We cook a lot of meals: 2 large chicken breast $4. Macchiato $2. ❤️👍
I agree wholeheartedly, @dianamartin9558! We are loving our time in Tirana! -Judy
Your experiences and observations are spot on. There are wonderful things about living in the US, but there are definitely shortcomings. The walkable cities, fresh produce markets, history, culture, lower cost of living, and easy transportation make the EU a great place to visit and/or live. Congrats to you both for figuring all this out for yourselves and choosing your own path, plus sharing all of this and possibly helping others to look at all the options out there. For now, we're trying to have the best of both worlds....
Thank you so much for your kind words, Dan. We have really appreciated all your support of our channel. It means a lot to us, and we're glad to hear our conversation resonated with you. We wish you all the best. Everyone's path is their own! -Judy
We just finished 1 year of full nomad travel in Mexico after retiring early at 54 and 57. Leaving for Europe in 2 weeks! We feel the same about the US. Only plan to go back to visit family and friends every few months. It's too expensive, etc. Happy travels!
Thanks for watching, Kenny! How terrific to have a year under your belt. We've vacationed in Mexico, but we haven't slow traveled through it yet. If you have recommendations for us, we'd love to hear them. We hope you have a blast in Europe. After spending 7 months in Asia/SE Asia, Europe's prices were a bit of a culture shock for us in 2024. Enjoy your time in Europe regardless. It's beautiful. Where are you headed? We leave for Albania next week. -Judy
Living in France for 18 years. My husband died 7 months ago.
I will be leaving France.
I just don’t know where to go at my age, 78, and also I would be a solo female traveler.
Like you were, I am left with 38 years of stuff we collected during our marriage to sell.
I am in shape and healthy.
I do know I don’t want to return to the USA for the same reasons you expressed.
Thank you so much for watching and for sharing your story with us. We're sorry about your husband. I can't imagine how hard it would be for me to lose Kevin. But I would hope that I would continue to travel and thrive having new experiences. Traveling solo can be more expensive in some ways, but if you are open to a private room in a hostel, it can still be affordable and you can meet some great people. Even though there may be a large age gap at times between you and most of the other people staying in hostels, I know that they would find you cool and be super impressed and inspired by you! Getting rid of stuff is hard, but at the same time it is incredibly freeing. For sentimental things, I took pictures and they pop up in my stories, so I can keep the memories close without the clutter. We had some lovely and expensive furniture (specifically a dining room table and buffet) that we sold at a great price to a couple who had just purchased their first home. They told us they were going to be hosting Thanksgiving in their new home and sent us a picture of the furniture once they had moved it in. Rather than be heartbroken about giving up my favorite things, we treasured the idea that our well-loved pieces would continue to bring happy memories for another family. We wish you all the best! -Judy
Mexico.
Why leave France? Isnt it perfect? ;) I mean it’s turned into utopia in the last deacade or so.
So sorry to hear about your husband. Hang in there, there's still a lot of life to be lived.
@@acajudi100 cartels
We lived a year in Chiang Mai as an Expat, got kind of lonely and now we're heading back to the US to be near family. I think the way you're doing it is better than being an Expat.
Hi Mike, we absolutely love our lives as full-time travelers. We aren't building a ton of relationships in one place, but we are making many all across the miles. It's especially hard when you don't speak the language, so we are working hard to learn Italian since that's a likely far-down-the-road country for us to live in since I am working on my Italian dual citizenship. But we're planning that for the distant day ahead when one or the other of us is physically unable to travel. We are enjoying our lives too much right now to be tied down and we know that if we're burned out at all, we can slow down our travel a bit more than we're doing. We have room for that if we need it (but so far we really don't!). Thanks so much for watching. We're sorry to hear that your time as a Chiang Mai expat wasn't great. We did enjoy the country and could possibly see ourselves spending time there in the winter for the warmer weather. -Judy
This is the biggest struggle of leaving and going overseas. I am surprised you were lonely in chiang mai with so many other expats there.
Another good one! I am living in SF now and keep thinking about moving but would never want to give up this walkability!
Hi CafeLu, you are so right! However, everyplace we've been outside of the US has been very walkable or has great metro transportation. I don't know why the US doesn't embrace more of it (except that Americans love their cars!). Thank you so much for your kind words! -Judy
Tirana is very walkable. We’ve been here 5 weeks. The town is flat has everything we need. Grocery stores,veggies stands, restaurants, coffee shops, in every block. Price are so affordable. We met a 69year Old American that just moved here. He is highly educated and has traveled the world. 70%Albanian speak English.
Hi @dianamartin9558, You are right. It's been so great so far and all we've done is eat, walk, and work! 😉 We have been loving getting fresh produce every day from the many street markets that are everywhere! We are looking forward to meeting up with you! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie we sent you an email with my what’s app #
It was such a pleasure to meet you both and get to know you better! - ♥️ Judy & Kevin
Just Discovered your Vlog- LOVE IT! Keep up the great work- love the selling of your things and house and travelling- life is short- you are doing life right!!
Thank you so much for watching and for your very kind words! We have ZERO regrets over getting rid of everything we own. It was cathartic, but also we could pass off some memorabilia or special things to our children (mostly our daughter-our boys wanted almost nothing!). A family came and purchased our dining room table and buffet that had very special memories for us, but they had just bought their first home and would be making their own memories with those things. We felt like we were passing on good karma versus holding on to stuff that we didn't need anymore. Those items served us well for many years, so passing them on was easy. -Judy
Leaving US next year. Tired of all the division and conflict
Hi Daniel, We hear you there. It wasn't one of our top reasons, and the next several months will be tough. No place is ever perfect, especially when it comes to politics, unfortunately. However, there is a greater sense of the world at large because most countries aren't as big as the US and need to get along with its many diverse neighboring countries. Thanks for watching. Not sure if you are traveling full time or becoming an expat, but we have a lot of resources that might be helpful, including the video at the top of the list. -Judy
🎥 Our 5 Travel Secrets for Retirement as Full-Time Travelers: ruclips.net/video/Oc4tZ4M1v0w/видео.html
🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX
🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH
🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads):
📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
Thank you for the video
Thank you so much for watching and for taking the time to leave us a comment! -Judy
Great video, great points! I can relate with every one of your talking points. We're starting year 2 of our travel lifestyle. We're going to reevaluate things at the 2 year mark. We would never take back a day of our experiences traveling -- but there's also a part of us that misses our old life as well - especially w/regards to family. Also Costco! lol
Congratulations on nearing the two-year mark! We have a few articles on our website that might help you regarding family. Have you considered potentially visiting more frequently as an easy solution? Right now our visits of once per year are working, but it helps that our daughter has met up with us two additional times this year. Our sons don't like to travel, so we don't see them or some of our other family members as often. We do try to find out when family is traveling and make plans to see them internationally versus making a visit home, which also helps. But we completely understand that some people prefer having roots, and that's okay. The best part of it all is that you're able to change your mind at any time! As far as Costco, we didn't really go there, BUT our jaws dropped at being reminded of the variety of what was available when we were in Whole Foods when we were in the US. We also couldn't get over how big it was. And Costco dwarfs Whole Foods! What's different for us is how overjoyed we are when we find something we're craving. For me it's always peanut butter with salt and nothing else added. Kevin is practically giddy when he can find chocolate covered raisins. We appreciate the little things so much more! Thanks so much for weighing in and sharing what it's been like for you. We'd love to know what you decide to do. -Judy
📝 Overcoming Homesickness and Other Travel Issues: findingginamarie.com/articles/homesickness-overwhelm-and-travel-challenges-life-as-a-full-time-traveler
📝 Sending Mailed Cards...With a Twist: findingginamarie.com/articles/sending-mailed-cards-with-a-twist
@@FindingGinaMarie The selection in U.S. grocery stores can be overwhelming. We know Whole Foods well. In the States, it's so much easier to support "specialty" diets, likely spawned from the overall SAD American diet and resulting health issues. I'm a sucker for avocado or olive oil potato chips! The only other place I found them was in Portugal, and I think France..
I did a recent holiday to the usa and agree that unless you are in a big city then a car is required. Also many times we would have walked to places but there wasnt the footpaths to use.
Yes, we agree. I'm not sure what the US's obsession is with its cars, but we really don't love that aspect. I'm sure it's tied to independence, but it actually can make you a prisoner of your surroundings. -Judy
Thank you for the video. Great points that me and my wife have been thinking about.
Thanks so much for watching. This week we shared our 5 secrets that are rarely talked about regarding full-time travel if that's something that you've ever thought about. I've linked it below. By the way, you have a very interesting channel and career! -Judy
🎥 Our 5 Travel Secrets for Retirement as Full-Time Travelers: ruclips.net/video/Oc4tZ4M1v0w/видео.html
Another great video Kevin and Judy, we can relate to so many things you’re saying. Although our hometown is Sydney Australia our suburb is an hour walk return to a grocery store so we always took the car. Our life on the road involves walking everywhere which we do love, although being in Europe in the summer it’s been tough in the heat. But we love how there are grocery stores everywhere. Usually never more than a 5-10 min walk. We have noticed there is way way less junk foods in these grocery stores so we’re not as tempted to eat junk foods. Although we still miss and crave our sweets. We will ensure on our 3 week trip home in 3 weeks time we will enjoy all the treats we’ve missed over the last 5 months. No idea how long we’ll travel for but we’re absolutely loving our lives full time travelling.
Looking forward to you guys exploring south America as it’s on our radar but we know little about it.
Thank you so much, Annette! Perhaps because we were dealing with more stress than usual in dealing with family dynamics, we actually craved certain fast foods that we hadn't eaten while we were actually living in the US. I'm sure it was comfort food as a coping mechanism! Although we love our family, sometimes trying to see everyone and hearing the latest goings-on can bring on stress that we don't have to deal with while traveling abroad. We hope you have a wonderful time seeing family soon. I'll be curious to know if you're eager to get back on the road like we were or if you would prefer to stay longer because of things you may be missing that you don't realize during the busyness of traveling.
We're eager to finally get to South America as well! There still are so many places in the world we want to see and experience! Safe travels! -Judy
Hearing you with the consumerism. I'm an Aussie but increasingly this US style of consumerism creeps into everyday life here. I don't want to be owned by my 'stuff' - thanks for that thought.
Hi Andy, It's very easy to get caught up in it, especially when you can shop at the push of a computer button and get an instant dopamine hit. But we have so much freedom at not even really having the option to shop. A new bar of soap or toothpaste? Not the same blast of excitement! I'd rather have my fun come from the cool places we get to experience! Thanks for watching! -Judy
I agree with you about the rampant consumerism in the US. I see so many acquaintances who get caught up in the continual yard and home decorating and redecorating for all the seasons and holidays. Whatever floats their boat! For us, the cost of health care in the US is outrageous.
Thanks for watching, Merrill. We had to get a prescription in the US that cost a full 2x of what it cost anywhere else in the world we've gotten it filled. There's a lot of things we love about the US, but there is a lot to love about the entire world, and we are so happy to be able to experience all of it. -Judy
I believe that people do that because they find their lives unfulfilling. And think those things will make them happy.
The health care costs are highway robbery!
We have been traveling full time now for 6 months. I have purchase one thing in those 6 months, a new pair of shorts. For 5 months straight I have worn shorts in nice warm climates. Cost of living is very low and we have no reason to buy stuff, there is no place for it… we have no permanent home and the backpacks are only so big.
@travelingthediaspora7996 I've actually read that there's a dopamine rush when someone hits the "buy" button when they're doing online shopping. BUT they don't actually get the same rush when their product arrives at their doorstep! -Judy
Thanks for this. You've summed up very concisely all the reasons we're leaving the US. Next time anyone gets on my back about our plans, I will just forward them this video.
Hi Jamie, Thanks so much for watching. We're glad to hear our video resonated with you. Are you planning to be full-time travelers or be expats somewhere? And when do you leave? We wish you all the best! You might get some value out of a few of our playlists if they are appropriate for your situation. -Judy
🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX
🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH
🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads):
📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
Good for you guys, sticking to what works and feels good for you at the moment. We hope to give nomad life a try next year.
Hi Kari-Evan, congratulations on making that decision. We have a ton of resources for you that might be helpful. I'll link them below. Do you plan to keep a home base?
🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX
🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH
🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads):
📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
Absolutely EVERYTHING you've said about living in the U.S. is spot on and I'm so happy that you are enjoying this new chapter. You've peaked my interest. :)
Hi Janet, Thank you so much for watching! You might enjoy our most recent video where we share some of the rarely talked about ideas regarding full-time travel as well as some of our playlists about our lifestyle (versus our travel videos showcasing the places we visit). -Judy
🎥 Our 5 Travel Secrets for Retirement as Full-Time Travelers: ruclips.net/video/Oc4tZ4M1v0w/видео.html
🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX
🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH
🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads):
📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
I am American and have lived in So of France for 25 years now and although all my family is in USA I don’t think I can ever live there again. Agree with all your points.
Hi Lisa, thank you so much for watching! South of France, oh my! We currently are in Lyon and loving it. Once you realize that the world has so much to offer, it's hard to go back to living in a box. Our family doesn't understand it, but our 31-year old daughter is choosing a much different life for herself that's less focused on stuff and more focused on travel and a job that will allow her to work remotely. We wish we would have thought outside the box earlier than we did! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie My family (siblings and parents) don't understand it either. My sister tells me I am always negative about the USA but I am not really, I am just positive about the healthier eating and walking and life in general in Europe as you mentioned. I raised my two children here and like you said about travel, they have been so far to 16 capital cities at only 20 & 21 years old. I am often in Italy (where I have dual citizenship from my grandparents) and also Sweden. Good luck with your citizenship! It is a lot of work but sooooo worth it.
Wow, you are so lucky, Lisa! I am at year three with my dual citizenship, in part because getting documents from New York State, where my family is from, has been taking 9+ months apiece, and of course some of them need to be ordered sequentially versus concurrently. I've found that people don't really need to understand. It was a little hard because I had only found my birth family a short while before we made this decision and my birth mother especially was disappointed that we decided to leave the US. In part, our priorities shifted after finding them and realized how little time we had spent prioritizing ourselves over our jobs. We met right as the pandemic closed everything down, so we had some time during lockdown to get to know one another. But we felt that our lives are the only ones we have to live and we'd have major regrets if we made decisions based on other people's opinions and their decisions and preferences versus our own.
And YES, regarding how much easier it is to travel from Europe versus the US. Things in the US are very tilted towards the US, partly because it's so expansive, but also nationalism. Europe has foreign neighbors much closer than the US has nearby states, so Europe has to adopt a broader world view and understanding and appreciation for other countries that the US escapes. This was super evident many years ago when Kevin was visiting Ukraine (before the war) and was watching the Olympics. He saw so many different races and stories about a wide variety of athletes from around the world. When he was back in the US, all he could see were events that starred American athletes and all the back stories were only about Americans. I understand pride, but it's also important to recognize that the US is not the center of the universe.
It's interesting that after all this time in France you do not have citizenship there as well. Sweden is on our bucket list, but it's a very expensive country, too! -Judy
Amazing story. Thank you for telling the story. My wife and I ARE living the life you are living now. We love every moment of it. YOU SAVED ME THE TROUBLE OF MAKING THE SAME VIDEO.😊
Haha, thank you for watching and for this great comment. It's pretty sweet, isn't it?! We know that this is not the lifestyle for everyone, but if you truly like to travel and experience new things, this is an incredible way to live! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie This is the ONLY way to give fully!🙂
Thank you for this video. Your experience makes me keep rethinking my own future plans. ❤
Hi Lori, thank you so much for watching and for letting us know that this may give you confidence about going forward in the future. In case you missed last week's video about thinking outside the box, I've linked it below. It was our unconventional thinking that gave us the courage to leave the US for a life of full-time travel. Best of luck as you work through your own future plans! -Judy
🎥 How we thought unconventionally to retire early: ruclips.net/video/ttyh4NXrbfs/видео.html
I admire your ability to leave it all and travel. I would love the slow travel life but I have a family I cherish with 3 grandchildren. I can not imagine not being a part of their life just so that I can wander the streets of Italy. What are you doing with your winter clothes? Is there a storage like system in Europe where you stash them?
Thank you so much for watching. We don't have grandchildren, but we know people who aren't in the same city or part of the country as their grandchildren, but they are able to make it work by visiting the US more frequently. They FaceTime, including reading books to them, and when they are a little older, they bring them along on some of their travels. It doesn't have to be forever if you don't want it to be, either. But also, there are ages when grandchildren have busy lives of their own and waiting for them to be available may not be the most satisfying use of your lives, either. It doesn't have to be selfish; it can also inspire your grandchildren to have dreams and desires they might not have ever thought about. But of course, everyone has to decide for themselves, and full-time (or even extended travel) isn't for everyone. We don't have grandchildren and don't know what the situation will be with our own children as they get older (they're 31, 33, and 35 and none are married yet).
We carry everything with us for three seasons and typically don't travel to extremely cold climates. If we decide to head to a specific location that would require heavier clothes, we'd buy what we need and donate them when we're done. Kevin did this when we were in Italy in February 2023. He was freezing, so he bought a winter coat in Lecce and then donated it a few months later when we realized we'd have an extended period where he absolutely wouldn't need it (it's been over a year and he still hasn't needed one!). We don't have a place to drop clothes that aren't in season, so we are very intentional about everything we carry. We typically buy wool because it can work in a variety of weather conditions and offers great heat regulation. Thank you so much for watching! -Judy
My husband retired at 58. We are from northeast Ohio and spend the winter at our condo in Cancun, Mexico that we've owned for 18 years. We do a lot of traveling, but can't seem to bite the bullet and sell our home and "stuff". Our adult children are against us selling the family home... they don't live near home, but want to have the family "home" to visit at Christmas and other holidays. Also, we both have elderly, but active parents in their mid to upper 80s that we feel guilty not being there for. Thanks for your very informative content - someday we might have the courage to do it!
Getting rid of stuff can be very scary, but it also is so incredibly freeing! It might be easier to start to streamline your possessions so that when you decide you're ready, you don't have to deal with things you actually no longer even care about and which just create clutter. It's a hard decision. My birth mother just turned 80 and Kevin has two sisters that are 78 and 79. But his mother lived until 94. For us we worried that if we waited until everything else in our lives were perfect, we might find that we waited too long and we could end up with health or mobility issues that could derail our plans. But if you already are traveling a lot, have a place to spend the winter, and enjoy seeing your family on a regular basis, I'm curious what the draw is to full-time travel for you. You certainly can admire the idea of it without living it for yourself. However, if you want to make the move but feel too much guilt from your family, you might want to remember that this is your life and it's the only one you have. We certainly didn't want to have regrets on how we lived our lives because we didn't do things out of fear or guilt. Some of our family can't understand why we made the decision we did, but that's okay. Although our daughter sometimes wishes we were nearby, she's still moving around herself and has met up with us in Portugal, Japan, and Italy, so she's experiencing the world in a way she wouldn't have with us safe and comfy in our home base.
We wish you the best as you sort it out, but in the meantime we hope you continue to live your best life! -Judy
📝 Ditching the Safe Bet: Embracing the 'What Ifs' of Full-Time Travel: findingginamarie.com/articles/what-if
@@FindingGinaMarie Thanks for your wonderful and thoughtful reply! What draws me to full time travel is that I just don't want to take care of stuff... a home, yard, etc... living in Cancun...in a small, studio is heaven to me. No stuff! We just have everything we need. So, I think I've answered my own question. Thanks again, Judy. You're helping me manuever through my feelings.
@@MojitosMommy Our daughter didn't like when we gave up our house in Houston to move to San Francisco and she was disappointed when we got rid of everything. BUT she now travels with us, she visited us TWICE when we were getting rid of everything so that she could claim what she wanted AND now no one has to go through a lifetime of stuff that we acquired at some point when we eventually die. We scanned old photos so they are digitized and available on our phones, now everyone has a copy of them accessible versus filed away in old albums that we never pulled out to look at. It's surprising how well everything works out! -Judy
@@MojitosMommy I got rid of so much of my stuff, I don't miss it one bit. All I have left is some childhood treasures and a few other things that I couldn't part with.
@janetpartyka5968: Congratulations! It's a great feeling, isn't it?! -Judy
Wow, thanks for the great content. We're 56 and 61, based in South Africa, retiring early, and converting a 1986 Mercedes Bullnose to drive Southern Africa for the next six years or so. We're about to sell up everything and really appreciate your insights and humour.
Thank you so much for your kind words, Mary-Kathryn! We really wanted to visit South Africa this year but we couldn't make it work. It's on our list for 2024. If you have any tips or suggestions, we'd love to hear them. We aren't keen on renting cars overseas, however, and we have found that traveling by plane between countries is very expensive. So we admire your plan to drive through South Africa during that time! If you know of any reasonably priced tour companies you would recommend that you or others have used in the past, we'd love to know about them (for a safari or for getting between cities). We have some early videos on our channel from when we were first leaving the US that might be helpful, and we'll be doing an updated episode and article about some of our best advice for getting rid of everything. Exciting days for you are ahead! Do you have a date on when you're setting out? I'm sure converting your vehicle will take you a bit of time, too. Wishing you all the best! -Judy
🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX
🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH
🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads):
📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
Thank you so much for sharing your story. I am so inspired by the two of you.
Hi Jorge, thank you so much for watching and for sharing this kind comment with us. I'm not sure if you saw our video from last week about thinking unconventionally, but I'm linking it below in case it's helpful for you if you need some help thinking about how to get started. -Judy
🎥 How we thought unconventionally to retire early: ruclips.net/video/ttyh4NXrbfs/видео.html
Great inspiration to think abroad. Thank you for sharing your experiences. My wife and I plan to do this full time in 2026.
Exciting news, Tom! We just released an episode this past week about the five secrets that are rarely talked about regarding full-time travel. Will you be expats, or do you plan to travel with/without a home base? We wish you the best of luck! -Judy
🎥 Our 5 Travel Secrets for Retirement as Full-Time Travelers: ruclips.net/video/Oc4tZ4M1v0w/видео.html
🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX
🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH
🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads):
📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
Thank you for this video Kevin and Judy. My partner Andrew and I just finished our first month of a 5+ year slow travel lifestyle transition and are also in France - Strasbourg to be exact. You covered so many of the reasons we are choosing to do this even though we have a home in a US city that in our opinion most closely resembles the European lifestyle you described, Savannah, GA. Hopefully our paths will cross one day and until then, we’ll keep watching and learning. Safe travels, Christine & Andrew
This is the Andrew half of that comment. I couldn’t agree more with what Christine said and I want to add that at 57 years old, retirement is meaning fun, adventure and the great unknown (mental stimulation) vs living in the grounds hog day scenario that we’ve watched claim the minds and energy of so many of our older and retired friends. We plan on working while traveling, at least until I turn 62 and have access to my retirement accounts and Social Security. Thanks again…
@christinesacramone3925: Thank you so much for watching and recommending Strasbourg to us, Christine. We are so excited for you to be in your first month of slow travel. What an exciting time that was for us. Although we were so thrilled, we also had some dread in our first city when we acknowledged that we would never be sleeping in "our own" bed or have our "own" pillows. At times it does sneak up on us, but we truly couldn't be happier and we appreciate all the little things so much more than we ever dreamed. You might get a laugh out of the article we wrote during our second month of full-time travel (from Athens), which I've linked below. It's early for you, but we also have a funny article memorializing some of our early shower experiences! How much in advance are you doing your travel planning? Not sure if you need it, but below is a link to the spreadsheet we use to help us out. If you have suggestions to improve on it, we'd love to hear them! We'd love to meet up if our paths overlap! -Judy
✅ Full-time/extended travel planner: findingginamarie.com/request-planner
📝 Epiphany in Athens and a Surprising Twist: findingginamarie.com/articles/what-an-epiphany?rq=dryer
📝 Shower Chronicles: From Cramped Rome to Soaked Cairo: findingginamarie.com/articles/spring-showers
Hi Andrew! So nice of you both to weigh in. We know that this lifestyle is bonkers to a lot of people, but we are challenged every day in fun and exciting ways as you have stated so well. For as much as I loved working, my job turn a hard right turn and I could no longer stay without losing my mind. Kevin had intended to try to work remotely, but it didn't work out. Apple decided everyone needed to go into the office several times a week and that wasn't going to work. Fortunately our RUclips channel is helping out. It's certainly not paying the bills, but it's helping to offset what we need to take out of savings. Although our channel is very time-consuming, it is incredibly rewarding and we absolutely love doing it, especially because it's put us in contact with cool people like you and Christine. We would love to meet up at some point if it can work out. It's one of our favorite things to do! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarieThanks Judy, we are currently in Basel airport getting ready to fly to Bristol, UK. Our daughter is moving to Dundee Scotland to begin her PhD, so the next 3 months are all about the UK, and then we head to the Algarve for up to 3 months. We really appreciate your kind / generous response(s) and are going to look at the articles / resources you shared. Merci! Chris went remote in 2014 and I started in 2018, so we have been preparing for this for 6 years. When the pandemic hit, we sold our home in NY and travelled the US for 8 months… it was glorious. A month in 8+ states, so we knew we were built for this. We bought our second condo in Savannah while on the road and renovated it. Having rented both as of July 15th, we immediately took off and aren’t looking back. Just as an fyi, Chris and I both have tech / marketing in our backgrounds so we try to watch every video, including commercials, and will engage as much as possible to help your algorithm. Much love, Andrew & Chris
How awesome for your daughter and for you both! We spent a month in Broughty Ferry, which is the cutest place and super accessible to Dundee! We haven't made our way to the Algarve yet, but we hope you have an amazing time. Remote work is absolutely the thing to do if you can. You were fortunate to be able to sell your home during the pandemic. We on the other hand moved into a bigger apartment because people were leaving San Francisco in droves and we could get a better price on a larger home with all of us home (our 30+ year old son was also living with us in our one bedroom apartment, so we needed more room!). Your journey sounds fascinating. We stayed very homebound during the pandemic, but it did cause us to reassess our priorities, so we're very grateful for that. We've heard that the southern US has had a resurgence and prices for buying a home there are up, which is great news if you're a homeowner and renting it out! We so appreciate your support and encouragement.
If you have any suggestions on how we can improve, we always have a listening ear. It's always great for us to learn more about our viewers, how they travel, and what they're interested in, so thank you from the bottom of our hearts for sharing about yourselves! -Judy
🦻 Got Feedback? We want to hear it! findingginamarie.com/feedback
🎥 Don't visit Scotland without Spending Time in Broughty Ferry: ruclips.net/video/nXhR8A8Ga0oh/видео.htmlttps://ruclips.net/video/nXhR8A8Ga0o/видео.html
We have thought of traveling more and have thought about moving somewhere outside the US like Europe. It seems overwhelming to think about how everything would work and making such big changes. We have thought about the better food choices in other countries and thats very appealing since we are health minded. I have heard Europe and places like Germany are lightyears above the US in healthcare. I hate the healthcare system and food sources/quality here in the US.
We dont have a lot of savings so its really overwhelming to think about it, but really really want to see if its possible somehow.
We have savings, but definitely not the amount that some financial planners would tell you that you need. So we built a RUclips channel to help offset some of our expenses, to share our travels, and to connect with other people who enjoy travel as much as we do. It's been a lot of work, but it's a win/win and it's helping us live our dreams. There are tons of things you can do online to earn extra money. There are places like Trusted House Sitters, which allow you to stay in someone's home for free while they vacation in exchange for taking care of their home and/or pets. There are a myriad of ways to make life outside of the US work if you are willing to think unconventionally. We share some of those ideas below. You don't need as much savings in other parts of the world as you do in the US. Part of Europe can be very expensive, but the entire world has some safe and very affordable places, too. We don't have a home base anywhere so that all of our money can support our lifestyle versus paying rent or a mortgage for someplace that we are in only a few times a year. We wish you all the best as you sort it out. -Judy
🎥 How we thought unconventionally to retire early: ruclips.net/video/ttyh4NXrbfs/видео.html
🎥 Health versus Wealth: ruclips.net/video/6avQGFbXa2I/видео.html
🎥 Life is Short...An Emotional Pause: ruclips.net/video/YiEFHz1WWHI/видео.html
Great insights. I'm a new subscriber and really enjoy your content.
Thank you so much for your support. We are so delighted to have you as a new subscriber! -Judy
You have made a lot of good points… life is simpler just as you are living it. Enjoying life and keeping it simple❤
Thanks so much for watching and for your kind words, Nella! We are doing our best to do exactly that! -Judy
I’m only 28 and I’m already feeling the same about all the topics you discussed (especially car dependency). We should be set to retire in 8 years but I wonder if it’s worth just selling my house (because I have a ton of “stuff” as well in it) or using it as a base.
Hi Ryan, you might consider downsizing all your stuff first and see whether the home you have still suits you or if it's much bigger than you need. You might discover you can retire even earlier. Having no home base also will extend your runway. Even a home that's paid off still will require maintenance and taxes. But some people need the security of a home base, so it's something you have to decide for yourself. For us, we know that whatever home we decide to settle in when we're no longer able or willing to travel will look much different than when we had a ton of stuff because our priorities will have shifted so much. -Judy
Hernia surgery was charged out at $30,000 in rural NM through Medicare.
That’s absolutely insane, Trina. Thanks for watching and for letting us know. Kevin has had zero issues after the surgery, either! -Judy
Erin and I are nearing one year of travel and we are both loving it. We have no intention at this point in settling down anywhere, at least for the foreseeable future. It is an open question where we might eventually settle. I would rather that it not be in the U.S. for many of the reasons that you described, but Erin is on the fence. Luckily, we have lots and lots of places to see before we begin to think about that. So far we really have liked Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Madrid, and Bristol, UK. We will be adding many more to the list as we go.
Hi Stan, thanks so much for watching and for sharing your thought process at this point. It's hard to believe it's already been nearly a year for you! It helps us to have the hope of Italian dual citizenship, but it's still not a lock. We liked Asia for the winter, but we're still keeping an open mind about places in Europe, and Italy especially. Although the focus of our travels isn't where we are going to eventually settle down, we do keep it in mind during our travels. And we have a lot more travel we want to do! In fact, we head to Buenos Aires in November, so we're looking forward to checking it out! -Judy
Very interesting video, and I love your channel. I get the impression you both really think things through, so when you mentioned in this segment that "we have about 6 years left before we really need to retire...", and since you clearly outline the disadvantages of ever coming back to the US, do you have a future plan or thoughts on what you would end up doing when you actually feel the need to stop and retire - calling a place your final home? This decision worries me a bit. Leaving family aside for the moment, would you guys actually pick another country and call it your final home and go through the residency process and feel the health care and even potentially elder care is up to par and affordable. Curious if you have given any of this future planning any thoughts, and maybe this would be a good future video topic. I assume after the many years of travel, you guys would have found a few candidate countries for this potential final destination.
Hi Steven, We may not have been clear about our timeline. We want to travel for as long as we are physically able. Our point about six more years is more tied to the fact that we currently have a long list of places we know we want to see, but that list keeps growing (and we wouldn't be opposed to returning to places we've seen and exploring more). We have left several cities-in addition to countries-that we wish we could have explored more thoroughly.
I am working on my dual citizenship with Italy, which has taken three years so far, but will realistically be at least another two before it's sorted. We have a bit of a strong leaning towards Italy and you can see from one of our early videos that we have fallen in love with Verona (and since then also Torino). But we are continuing to look at other Italian cities and other places in the world. For us having an easy(ish) option of being able to establish residency so easily is a big draw, but of course, we'd have to love it. We're interested in the northern part of Italy, which we've been hearing has better healthcare than Southern Italy. I don't think we can count on our children to take care of us in our elder years, but gosh, being in a nursing home or extended care facility in the US is outrageously expensive. We acknowledge that those are less popular in Italy, but there likely are other places in the world that offers those types of facilities should we need them versus what the US offers. Also, two of our children also are pursuing dual citizenship along with me, so they would be able to visit for extended periods of time or live there/near/with us should that be something they would ever choose to do.
I feel better about Thailand's medical care, but Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia are candidates for places to spend winters since they are more temperate than Italy. I'm not sure if we'd choose to do that, but it certainly is something we are open to doing. We probably wouldn't settle down in Vietnam or Cambodia when we can no longer travel, however.
We hope this helps. Thank you so much for your comment and for watching our videos. We haven't done any research yet about countries that have good elder care, but it's definitely something that we'd be open to checking into and then covering as an episode to open a dialogue about it. Thank you so much for the suggestion! -Judy
20 years and counting since we left the Bay Area for some of the same reasons you did. The question we asked ourselves was this: Why maintain an expensive home base in the US when all we wanted to do was to travel the world? 52 countries and still hungry for more. It was a leap of faith, but we're so glad we thumbed our noses at the conventional "good life" in the US of A. Didn't even bother signing up for Medicare Part B-D either. Haven't been happier!
Hi @miles2smile, We are so grateful for the time we spent in San Francisco and don't regret a minute of it. At the same time we do wish we would have started this lifestyle much sooner. We are at slightly more than half that number of countries, but we aren't close to done yet. We are so happy for you! We talk about living unconventionally in the first video below and also share about "secrets" to this lifestyle that no one talks about. Do you have any home base at all? We're currently talking about our downsizing process and would love to know if you have any tips to share with our community about your process. Congratulations. You are living the life! -Judy
🎥 How we thought differently to retire early and travel full time: ruclips.net/video/ttyh4NXrbfs/видео.html
🎥 Our 5 Travel Secrets for Retirement as Full-Time Travelers: ruclips.net/video/Oc4tZ4M1v0w/видео.html
🎥 8 Critical Questions for Downsizing: ruclips.net/video/oqYfZ98r7R8/видео.html
This is my dream, to travel full time and move slowly from country to country exploring the world. I am about 3.5 years from retirement. My partner, however, wants to have a "home base" in the US, which would be a nice house, filled with "stuff" that ties us down. She has two sons in college, and I have one son in college. We assume there will come a time when they have kids, and we will want to come back for that, but I don't know why we can't stay with them, rather than having our own home and have everyone stay with us. It's been a bone of contention between us, and I'm not sure how it will shake out, but at least we have a few years to figure it out. This video is VERY helpful in making my argument. 🙂 Thanks!
Hi Eddie, thanks so much for watching. It can be very hard when partners aren't aligned. We've loved the freedom of not having a home base, not having to worry about maintaining it or worrying about it when there are weather issues, etc. We also appreciate having the extra money that we have from not having that space AND we are completely disinclined to make purchases while traveling to outfit that home base. We've never been much for souvenirs, but we would always buy a Christmas ornament from everyplace we'd been, and I could see that it could be fun to buy things that I'd send home to decorate or for cooking. It has been SO freeing not doing those things and instead just being in the moment for everyplace we are. BUT we know for a lot of people having the stability of a home base is important. We also feel that you can have a home base later on if you get tired of traveling and it may end up looking quite a bit different than what you have currently (severely downsized because your values, etc. have changed from spending time on the road). We have an episode coming this Saturday about 5 Secrets No One Talks About Regarding Full Time Travel that might also be useful. Good luck! -Judy
Hi Eddie. My husband is the block. Home is a place for him. For me it’s not necessarily the case. He also comes from a family of pack rats and likes “stuff”. I find it a little sickening. I solo traveled this year for five months because he refused to go. I’m planning to go next year for the whole year.
@travelingthediaspora7996: Unfortunately, being misaligned regarding a desire to travel is not uncommon. I wrote an article that may be helpful, but you may have your own ideas to share. I'll include links to some of our resources regarding full-time travel, which can work equally well for someone who is an extended traveler. Best of luck to you. -Judy
📝 Navigating Love and Travel: findingginamarie.com/articles/what-if-your-spouse-doesnt-want-to-travel-full-time
🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH
🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads):
📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
Like you in San Francisco, we have stayed explicitly in Seattle _because_ it's a walking environment and we can live without a car. That said, it is comparatively SO much more expensive. I wish more urban development in the US focused on walkable neighborhoods and towns, but sadly those are the rare exception. With your health-care access in other countries, how difficult has it been for you to manage the language differences?
Houston was the worst. I think there’s a an area in Katy, Texas that has something like 17 lanes of traffic. It’s absolutely unreal. We’ll be visiting Paris in a week or so and are excited to see some of its transformation to a greater focus on pedestrians and cyclists from the last time we were there. What’s interesting is that it is entirely possible for a city to lessen its focus on cars. I’m not sure how it’s been in Seattle, but SF is full of slow streets that are closed to through traffic and more restaurants that have parklets. These changes were primarily made during the pandemic but they’ve chosen to keep them in place. I can’t recall if I’m repeating myself to you, so forgive me if so!
We have had zero issues regarding healthcare in other countries, including when we’ve needed to visit a pharmacy for prescriptions. In both Thailand and Serbia, we had an English-speaking liaison that took us from appointment to appointment within the hospitals to ensure we were well taken care of. The cardiologist in Serbia was even a doctor who did exchange work in Texas! His English was impeccable. When Kevin stayed overnight in the hospital, I could communicate sufficiently with his nurses as well. Granted, we haven’t been in a super small, remote town where we would have needed healthcare. But for everything else that we have needed to do, translator apps work very well. Among the well educated, there typically are people who speak English. -Judy
I feel the same way! Lived in 4 overseas countries while in the military and loved it. Now retired from Active Duty, but having to see our son through his final 3-years of High School then we are leaving.
Thanks for watching and for sharing your plans and brief backstory. Good for you to be making plans now. If you will not have a home base, it's not too early to start to downsize! We accumulate so much more than we think we do! -Judy
OMG! Nail hit squarely on the head (doubly so because I just caught-up and watched your previous video). We are also a fully-retired couple who are semi-full time travelers. We happily wander away from our “stuff” for a month plus at a time. It’s ok to be away from “stuff” except for one nagging issue: our plants! Those require the occasional watering visit from friends. So be it.
I commend you for your commitment to a base-free traveling life! Congrats! Yet, there’s a key point about all of this … you can change your mind at any point pick a different plan with zero repercussions either way. Lucky you!
Thanks so much for all your support and encouragement, @mahtin! We have learned so much from you over the last two years! And you are absolutely right about being able to pivot whenever things stop working for you. We've made so many small adjustments and anticipate there will be many more that we tweak in the years ahead as we know ourselves more or our preferences change. Your plants issue is one we've never had to deal with. I have a black thumb, so nothing ever lived for me anyway! Safe travels and we hope you know how much we appreciate you! -Judy
My husband and I are travelers and in our early 50s; we are not retiring here in the US. :) Speaking of which, we are going to Lyon in December 2024. Do you recommend the old town as a good base?
Hi Robin, We hear you! I would HIGHLY recommend the Old Town (Vieux Lyon) as a good base in Lyon. We were so happy with our location. It was very easy to cross the bridge to the other side of town and convenient to everything we wanted to do. And we also could do a quick pitstop at our Airbnb when we needed to ;) We have a video that will be coming out soon from there and we're excited to bring it to you! -Judy
🎥 Our 5 Travel Secrets for Retirement as Full-Time Travelers: ruclips.net/video/Oc4tZ4M1v0w/видео.html
Great video, so glad I came across your channel! My husband and I are in our late 50s and just sending our younger daughter to college next week. The past 4 weeks, we have been thinking of retiring in China, starting after the year she graduates. We know we can’t continuously stay in that country on tourist visas so we will travel other countries in Asia to resolve that. We thought we will still have to keep a house in the US for our kids and us to gather on holidays, but the expense of that isn’t so attractive. What you did, selling everything, is making me optimistic! So do you guys just rent an apartment in the US? Also, what did you mean that your world health insurance pays for 3 months in the US and the rest elsewhere? What company is that? Thank in advance.
So glad to hear you found us! Oh boy, congratulations on getting your daughter off to college. That's a huge accomplishment! We have family that is spread out, so having a home base somewhere wasn't practical for us and also would pinch into our travel budget. Living in Asia would certainly help with that, but I will tell you that not having the responsibilities and maintenance of a place in the US is very freeing.
We have a son in San Francisco, a daughter and most of Kevin's family in Houston, and another son in Austin. My birth mother, who I just found before the pandemic, lives near Palm Springs in California, and I have siblings in Buffalo, New York. So there's no perfect place that we'd stay if we spent extended time in the US. We typically stay in hotels when we're in the US. It's expensive, but (1) our sons aren't the neatest for us to stay with them; (2) our daughter lives on the other side of town from Kevin's family, so it's not ideal; (3) because our time in the US is hectic and expensive, we want our own space versus staying with family or friends. We are introverts, so we often need to regroup and recharge away from everyone.
Our health insurance is Cigna Global Health. It's international private health insurance for travelers. You can choose coverage, which was prohibitively expensive for us, that gives you coverage everywhere. What we have is a Worldwide excluding USA option. We still are covered for emergency treatment on an inpatient or day-patient basis during short trips to the USA and on an outpatient basis if you have purchase the International Outpatient additional coverage option. Coverage in the US is limited to a maximum period of 3 weeks per trip and a maximum of 60 days per period of cover for all trips combined. Our cost is approximately $5,700 per year for us both. I want to say that including the US would have more than doubled our premiums. Since we have found that healthcare outside of the US is significantly cheaper than in the US, we are fine to focus on non-US healthcare. We both are under 65 and not eligible yet for Medicare, but we'll probably pay for that when we are eligible just to hedge our bets, especially since the US charges a penalty for each year you don't have Medicare once you're eligible for it. But we'd prefer to focus on living in a country with socialized medicine and pay for private insurance there if we feel that's necessary -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie Wow, thank you for your detailed reply! Can’t wait to follow your footsteps! Will watch your older videos too and I’m sure I’ll have more questions later. Take care and enjoy!
We will always be happy to answer your questions! In fact, we typically will create our website articles or video topics based on some of the popular questions we get asked! Best of luck to you! -Judy
Where did you put all your stuff like photos, memorabilia, documents etc ?
We got rid of nearly everything, Manish. We scanned our photos (although we still have a box we have to finish the next time we are in the US that our son is holding for us, along with a small box of documents like birth certificates, etc.). We have no other memorabilia left. We took pictures of our most special things and gave away, donated, or trashed everything else. We have an episode coming out today (Tuesday) regarding how we downsized all of our sentimental items if that's helpful for you. -Judy
I'll be visiting San Francisco, my hometown, in November, and also will visit Ventura for a few weeks to see friends. But I moved to Thailand 15 years (13 years now in Chiang Mai). I've traveled a lot in Asia and Europe, and while I do visit California every now and then , I have never regretted even for one moment retiring in Thailand.
You said that perfectly, Mike! We've been in a few places recently (Busan, South Korea and An Hoi Beach) that gave us small vibes of San Francisco and had us missing home. But we don't regret our lives of traveling full time one bit! Thanks so much for watching and for your comment! -Judy
Yes, the US is not a “walkable” country. Your sentiments resonate with me!
When we decided we probably would need to leave San Francisco if we left our jobs, there was literally no place in the US we wanted to live that wasn't fairly expensive (NY, Boston, Chicago) (or cold, which we also didn't want!). Thanks for watching, Rebecca! -Judy
Only Manhattan is walkable. We lived there 26 years and sold our cars shortly after we arrived.
We do love Manhattan, but it's as expensive as San Francisco! And although other parts may not be walkable, there is at least public transit, which is too rare in other parts of the US.
Love your videos guys! Very informative and objective. Judy, are your working on obtaining Italian citizenship by descent? Just curious as I have considered doing that, however its seems to be a rather time consuming and potentially daunting task if pursued by on one's own. And using the services of a lawyer/consultant to handle the process can be quite expensive. Wondering what method you are utilizing?
Hi Leonardo, thank you so much for your kind words! Yes, I'm working on Italian dual citizenship through a 1948 case (through the Italian courts through my Italian grandmother). I'll be honest, it is a long process and it can be quite expensive if you are paying for someone to help you through the process (it cost me approximately $9,300 plus expenses through Italian Citizenship Assistance). It will be close to a 5-year process if all goes well. There are many people on Facebook groups that will help you if you want to go through the process on your own as well. The process with ICA (also known as IDC, Italian Dual Citizenship) has been a mixed bag. For the most part it's been useful, but there have been some bumps in the road that have been disappointing. We are at the tail end of paperwork gathering and will hopefully be embarking on getting our documents apostilled and translated and submitted to the Italian court before the end of the year. 🤞 Happy to answer any other questions you may have regarding the process. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie Thanks Judy! Appreciate you sharing insight into your Italian citizenship quest. When you first engaged ICA did they make you aware of the approximate cost and timeframe upfront and were they accurate, or has $9+K and 5-ish years been a shocker? Hope it all wraps up well, and soon, for you.
@@Leonardo-cq4zd They actually were very upfront about the costs for the most part. I think the one thing that was somewhat of a surprise was the cost of hiring a lawyer in NYS to file a lawsuit to obtain my grandmother's birth certificate since the State of New York restricts who it releases those to (I think only to the person whose birth certificate it is). That was an additional $1800 plus expenses. They didn't give an exact time frame since that's very dependent on how responsive and successful they are in finding and obtaining documents. There have been some missteps from their end that have been frustrating (the lawyer they recommended filed the case in the wrong court and it took 9 months to get a notification back from NYS that it was filed in the wrong court and needed to be refiled, so it was a lot of lost time unnecessarily. Some of the timing issues have been because vital records from NYS all take about 9 months and requests have to be filed sequentially versus concurrently. But also, while they are responsive to emails, they do things in a very turnkey way, regardless of how much sense it makes, so there are delays when I don't think it makes sense for that to happen. I had specifically chosen to pay to have someone who does this on a regular basis help with the process because I didn't want to make mistakes. But they've made some as well, so that's been a bit disappointing. For instance, they originally told me I obtained the proper birth certificate, but now two years later they are claiming that it's in the wrong format, despite my specific request for confirmation that it was in the proper format. They finally submitted a request to the records department of the city where I was born and I am crossing my fingers that they sent it to the right place. Otherwise, it will be another 9 months (versus a month). We'll see how it shakes out.
I will say that I was attracted to them because it does not benefit them to assist with 1948 cases that they don't think they will win, so I'd rather have all the documents be accurate than be rejected.
Thank you so much for your encouragement. I do think it's worth pursuing and it can be done on your own if you don't want to incur the expense. The time will pass either way, so why not get it done and have an affordable location in Europe to retire to that also has a national healthcare system. -Judy
I found exactly the same observations in my travels to Europe regarding food and quality of life. I have the same goal.
Not sure if you caught our previous video of how we took an unconventional path to be able to travel full time and retire early. Are you interested in being an expat or traveling full time like we're doing now? Thanks so much for watching! -Judy
🎥 How we retired early to travel full time :ruclips.net/video/ttyh4NXrbfs/видео.html
@@FindingGinaMarieExpat for me! We are thinking once retired to spend half year in Europe with family and half year in the US.
Hi @2010katak, Sounds like a great plan if you have dual citizenship or plan to go back and forth every three months. I'm working on my Italian dual citizenship, but it's a slow process, unfortunately. We're three years in with probably another 2.5 years to go. Best of luck! -Judy
I just spent one night/ 2 days in the hospital in NJ. Bill so far is 33k. That doesn't include soon to come seperate doctor bills, radiology bills, etc. Should add up to between 40k to 50k...for one night!! Had zero surgeries or procedures, only an ekg, heart monitor, & a cat scan. Owe over 5k myself & basically got nothing "fixed." If you're not reallly sick when you go into the hospital, you will be when you get out & see your bill...and I pay 24k a year for "health insurance." This healthcare system is a joke...that isn't very funny. They're forcing working "citizens" to leave the US.
Wow. That's unfortunately very believable. And yes, it may take six months or more before you're able to account for the full cost. I'm sorry that nothing got fixed, and I hope you're okay now. I remember many years ago that Kevin woke up in the middle of the night with terrible pains at 3am. We agonized for a while about whether it was bad enough to visit the hospital because we knew it would be a huge bill. They never did find anything, either, but it cost enough that we had to make payments for it over time because we couldn't afford it, even with health insurance. It's terrible that people avoid or delay getting treatment because they're worried about cost. -Judy
I totally agree with your assessment of leaving the U.S., as there's so much outside of the U.S. that offers equally the same. The cuisine (quality-wise) and being surrounded by people of different ethnicity, and just being out there and exploring the world.
Thank you so much for watching, Ann! We don't expect everyone to think the same way as we do, but it is revolutionary for some people to be told that they don't have to live in the way that their family and friends all have been living in order to be happy. But it is validating to hear that you see it the same way we do! -Judy
Thank you, I appreciate your insight. I agree with you. I live in the Bay Area (California) and we’re moving oversea with my family in 2025. I’m retiring in 2025, finance and health insurance savings will be a game changer….and give our kids their life experiences.
Small world! We loved San Francisco, but we couldn't afford to retire there. We wish we had traveled more with our kids. We eventually opted for Christmas trips versus a bunch of presents under the tree, but it wasn't until our kids were older. But it's been wonderful to have our daughter join us on some of our trips now, even as an adult. Best of luck! -Judy
My daughter is allergic /sensitive to wheat. When we visited Israel she ate wheat and never had stomach issue. Same with all the dairy products!
Hi Lydia, Thanks so much for sharing that. You are right that wheat and other grains can be problematic in the US. One issue is that wheat grain has been altered to provide crops that are more resistant to drought and bake more easily. I'm not sure if that's everywhere, but it's a worry. TThank you so much for watching! -Judy
I would like to add an extension to your thoughts. I’ve lived in 15 countries, am currently in the Middle East, and before that - Europe. Walkability and plenty of transportation options with intermodal connection is not only freeing in terms of cost of living - but it is inherently community-building. On public transit people connect with each other. As we travel together there are always many opportunities for chatting (helps that we often were on buses with our dog who is very cute and an excellent bus traveller). The short conversations on local transit and the longer ones on inter city transit create connections a community - a society - needs in order to work well. And human connection makes us more considerate of others and the entirety of our society and governmental organizations. The geographic isolation that is built in to the USA: our homes, our towns, neighborhoods, our daily lives is dehumanizing, and from way over here in our current (temporary) home in the Middle East, after two fantastic years in Scotland , after a lifetime (am 66) spent with more years outside the USA than in it, I see so clearly the troubles we have in the USA are deeply woven in to our systems and huge geography. In the states, one walks into the connected garage from the house, presses a button, the door opens, drive out, push a button the garage closes, then we drive in our capsule/car to a store, a mall, a park, a cinema., the gym. Park. Walk in, take care of our business, then hop back into our car, drive home…. Yada yada in reverse. All with minimal interaction with people. And if buying groceries, rarely even interact with a sales clerk and hardly ever with a cashier - so much is “self serve”. . Pretty de-humanizing. Honestly though - here in the Middle East it’s very similar. Especially our current country. The two years we lived in Scotland we did not own or (other than the first month) even rent a car. We traveled by bus, train and foot. Also, at lest in Scotland - super dog friendly. We are near life long expats, in Middle East right now, but still own a home in the USA and I love it and my little community there and look forward to returning. Maybe.
I absolutely agree. We stay in our house, watch t.v. or are on the computer and don't always have a lot of communication with others.
There's a lot of truth to what you are saying. When we lived in our little bedroom community in north Houston, people lived in their houses or their backyards and the streets and neighborhoods were often a ghost town. All the kids were part of organized activities and were never playing in the streets (even our little cul-de-sacs). It's easy to become siloed. Thanks for sharing your experience and perceptions. -Judy
Hi @janetpartyka5968, Yes, it's very unfortunately. And for us after the pandemic, we had gotten so accustomed to being inside that we had to question why we were paying such high rent to live in a city we weren't spending time exploring. It's very easy to get into your comfort zone and be isolated. -Judy
I am thrilled to have found you two and your channel! You are living the life I aspire to live. However, I still need to figure out a few details. I lived in Germany for 20 years and 💯% agree with every word of this video. I was married to my first husband and had my first child (now grown) in Germany. I have now long since been back in the USA and remarried. I am 57, and my husband is 60, and I have two snags. Firstly, I have yet to convince my husband to have an international lifestyle. Secondly, and imo even more challenging, We have an eighteen-year-old severely autistic son. He is my 5'11" three-year-old, who does not handle change well. He scheduled to graduate in 2026. Maybe by then, I will have it worked out.
Thanks so much for watching and for taking the time to tell us about your goals and life, Anngelina. We are pretty fortunate in that Kevin and I have been fairly aligned and supportive when someone comes up with an idea like mine about traveling full time. I wrote an article that hopefully will be at least a little bit helpful regarding getting your husband on board. Your other issue is much more challenging. We have two sons in their 30s who are on the spectrum, but they are able to live on their own. One is self-supporting, but the other requires our financial support. Both have extreme anxiety and other struggles. But the situation you are dealing with is much different. We have a young nephew with extreme autism, and if your son is at all like him, we don't have any advice but wish you every blessing as you work towards figuring it out. Our nephew has a live-in caregiver while my niece works full time. We truly wish you all the best as you navigate the right solution for your family. In our video from last week we talk about thinking unconventionally. I have no way of knowing what that could look like for your family, but perhaps in talking with experts, you will find an answer. -Judy
🎥 Navigating Love and Travel: findingginamarie.com/articles/what-if-your-spouse-doesnt-want-to-travel-full-time
For my 1st job in the 80s, I was posted to the US (Rockford, IL) for 1 year. It was my 1st time in the US. I enjoyed it tremendously, because restaurant prices were quite affordable, even considering my low salary :). I ate out everyday for lunch and dinner !
About 10 years ago, I again came to the US to work and live, this time in Reno, NV for 2 years. Again, I ate out everyday for lunch and dinner !
However, it now seems that US restaurant prices are now unaffordable for average earners ???
I also recently checked the AirBnB prices in the US, and they are so high😮. When I was in Reno last time, I only paid USD 600-800 for my monthly rental. I stayed in various nice apartments, including beside a very nice river park downtown, and up in the mountains :)
One disadvantage of the US is the need to drive a car even to the nearest grocery store. As I get older, I prefer to walk and to take public transport. So, I can completely understand all the points that you are making in this video :)
Hi Mike, as always, we so appreciate your comment and insights! Prices are going up everywhere, not just in the US, but they are pretty high when taken in total. I don't know why Airbnbs are so outrageously priced in the US, but you are right about them. We stayed affordably in a small casita near Palm Springs while visiting my birth mother and it was $102 per night. But nowhere else have we seen anything affordable, which is pretty disappointing. The car thing really takes us over the edge. We are tired of driving and the cost is so prohibitive. When we were in California (outside San Francisco), we were paying $6.19 per gallon. It was significantly cheaper in Texas, about half that price or so, but these both were cash prices and credit card prices were even more! I don't begrudge restaurants for charging prices that make life affordable for their staff so they don't need to get second or third jobs, but so much of the costs everywhere in the US goes to support a rich CEO at the top of the metaphorical food chain. While some mom and pop restaurants still exist in San Francisco, after their 40-year leases expire, they can't afford to stay in their spaces and the only places that can are chain restaurants. It's not cool. -Judy
Question. When the time comes that you need to physically slow down and not travel so much or (God forbid) war breaks out, where would you probably settle? What’s your favorite country so far for something like that scenario?
We still are fans of Italy, especially because I am working towards dual citizenship there, but we really liked how friendly Cambodia was and would consider Thailand and parts of Vietnam. There are a lot of people living as expats in Seville, Spain, so we'd consider looking there, and we really liked Kraków and parts of Romania. Those areas might be trickier for a variety of reasons. We always are on the hunt for places that we could consider far down the road as places to live permanently. War is a different situation since everywhere, including the US is volatile these days. We wouldn't necessarily feel safer living in the US than in other parts of the world. We are sad that so many countries these days bring a lot of baggage with them. We have always loved the UK, but it might be too cold even if their politics got sorted out. -Judy
To get a visa in most of Europe , it’s really best to be poor, or lower to middle class. Having done well isn’t going to be good for your finances. France has decided to create yet another wealth tax, this time 90% on savings, income and inheritance above certain amounts.
Taxation is the issue and it will invade all of Europe over time. Europe is flat broke like USA
We have zero interest in K-Pop. That's not why we visited and it's not anything we focused on in any way. There's a lot more to South Korea. Of course, if you see it in your face everyday and it isn't something that resonates with you, I can see why you would be disillusioned. It's a shame that Seoul wasn't a place that was a good fit for you, but hopefully you found somewhere else that fits what you're looking forward to in the country in which you're living. -Judy
On the topic of seafood, one of the things that frustrates me in the US (I'm American) is that you can be on the coast and find the same farmed and imported seafood that you'd find in the center of the country, instead of fresh, local seafood unless you're at an extremely expensive restaurant that may require a reservation well in advance. In contrast, in the parts of Europe where I've traveled, local seafood was the norm at restaurants in coastal cities and towns.
This is so true, Beth! We've at least seen asterisks on the menus saying previously frozen, but that's so depressing when you are going out for seafood in an area that should really have only locally caught and fresh seafood. We found this a few weeks ago in San Diego! If there is a reason beyond why restaurants do this, we'd love to know! -Judy
What did you do with family heirlooms?
We took photos to remember certain items. Also, we asked family members if they wanted some of the things that were special. I sent a few boxes of items to my two nieces and my daughter and donated the rest. We found that many things weren't family members' taste, or they didn't need or want it because they already had too much of their own stuff. Those things served us and were special to us, but it didn't make sense to keep them just for the sake of keeping them. -Judy
Also, car prices in the US have skyrocketed to astronomical levels, even used. And since one needs a car in the US there is no way to avoid that expense. Pre pandemic rentals were quite affordable, now they are 2x or 3x what they were
You actually are so right about that, and you're not even mentioning car insurance. We just want to be able to walk everywhere and take public transportation to the places that are a bit farther out. And sure, I'll take the occasional taxi or Uber/Lyft/Bolt if I absolutely have to, but that should be once in a blue moon. We try to only ever stay in walkable cities and somehow we can do that everywhere in the world except the US (at least so far). -Judy
Thanks for your great videos. My husband and I are working on our Swedish death cleaning right now. If you were to go for a home base overseas, what countries would be top on your list?
Hi Jade, Hmmm. Italy is at the top of our list for many, many reasons, but one of the primary ones is that I'm eligible for dual citizenship there and am working on that now. It's a time-consuming process and although I'm already three years in, it will probably be another two years for it to finally come through. But it's cold there, so we might also consider someplace in Vietnam, Cambodia, or Thailand for the winter. We didn't expect to enjoy those countries as much as we did (although we weren't fans of Saigon, we really liked Hanoi and Hoi An). Kraków, Poland was affordable and we really liked it and the food was delicious, which is an important criteria for us that we didn't realize we had! The UK is maybe a bit out of our price range, and again they have freezing winters, but London has always held a special place in our hearts, so it's on our list, but due to cost, maybe not at the top of it. So far where we've stayed in Spain and France haven't been affordable enough to consider, but we haven't visited some of the less pricey locations in those countries. We still have a lot of places we want to visit, so we are keeping an open mind. We have a video series where we talk about preparing to leave the US and all of the decision making we did to opt to travel full time instead of being expats somewhere. In fact we strongly considered Portugal, but it didn't resonate with us when we visited. It may not all apply to you, but you might find some episodes in there that resonate.
Congratulations on your Swedish death cleaning. We hope that has been an amazing experience for you and that you are finding joy in owning less stuff! -Judy
🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX
Me and my husband will retire in the Philippines 🤗♥️ I would love to travel too ♥️ thanks for sharing your thoughts 😊🙏
Where do you plan to be? We are so curious about the Philippines and tried to get there this year, but we couldn't make it work. We need a place to stay for a month versus traveling all around the islands that has great wifi. At one point we considered Cebu City and locating ourselves in the IT Park, but we worried that would be too full of digital nomads and not enough of a local experience. If you have suggestions for us, we'd love to hear them! -Judy
We travel a lot as well. 72 countries so far. Mid sixties. Grew up in Brownfield Texas. Live in Tyler now. Where in west Texas did you live.
Btw love your videos.
Wow, you are well traveled, Mark! What a small world! We weren't raised there, but two years after we were married we lived just north of Houston, Texas, for nearly 30 years where we raised our three children. Thank you so much for watching! Do you have a country or place you'd recommend? We have only made it to 26 countries, so we have a long way to go before catching up to you! -Judy
I completely agree about the food being healthier abroad. We do a whole food approach to our meals. We do single ingredient season recipes. We preserve foods that are fresh and in season to have healthier foods. We haven't made the final choice to walk away from the US....yet. But we agree with your thought process. We are getting rid of our material items and streamlining our lives. Once we get further through it, we will have more freedom. Are you on Medicare yet?
Hi Eliza, We still eat out a fair amount in most of the countries we visit, especially during our seven months in Asia, where it was practically cheaper to eat out than it was to cook. But we've been cooking more in Europe for sure. I cooked nearly always from scratch when we lived in the US, but we did order takeout a few times per week. There is so much freedom when you can lighten your load, although it can be challenging to break free from some of your stuff, especially initially. It was so freeing that we don't want to settle down and risk accumulating stuff again. Our packs require us to swap out something anytime we buy something new. We are not on Medicare yet since I'm only 59 and Kevin just turned 62. We use Cigna Global Health medical insurance with a high deductible ($3K) and pay out of pocket for everything except catastrophic health issues. Fortunately we haven't had to do that. Our annual cost is approximately $5,700 and covers both of us. Of course, it's cheaper the younger you are. -Judy
Just a note regarding travel insurance. There is no coverage at age 79. @@FindingGinaMarie
@ParisianThinker If you are referencing travel health insurance, there are providers who will cover people over 79. I haven't checked to see if the pricing is prohibitively expensive, but it does appear to exist. -Judy
www.imglobal.com/travel-medical-insurance/globehopper-senior
- www.comparethemarket.com/travel-insurance/content/over-80s/
- www.visitorscoverage.com/travel-insurance/travel-insurance-for-over-80/
@@FindingGinaMarie I made a call to our Medicare provider and they cover out of network. We have to pay for the service and submit for reimbursement. We will be doing dental cleaning this winter in Thailand and we will submit it. Not sure if we will need any medical care, only 5 months away.
@elizaC3024 That's actually surprising, but great news. I didn't think that Medicare covered things outside the US. Even if you had to pay on your own, dental care in Thailand is pretty affordable, especially something as basic as a cleaning. Have a fun and fabulous trip! -Judy
🎥 Thailand video series: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF3cqPH8_O_WDVYgoT13KJRq
My wife and I totally agree! We retired early and are travelers as well. We're currently in Poland. We don't see ourselves living in the US again.
Hi Nick, We loved Kraków and need to figure out when to get back to Poland and explore more of that beautiful country. How long have you been traveling? We wish you all the best. It's a great way to live! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie We've been traveling since 2022. We spent the first 1.5 years in the US. Then we sold our car and jumped on a cruise ship for a month. After that Mexico City for 3.5 months and now we're in Krakow for 3 months. We adore Kraków and Poland in general. It's definitely found it's way into our hearts and we'll be back. Headed to Istanbul after this.
We actually just started a RUclips channel to share our experiences! @slowtravelwithus
Congratulations! What an incredible journey you've had so far! We wish you the best of luck on your channel. It is a lot of hard work, but it is incredibly rewarding. We hope you find it to be that way for yourselves. -Judy
We plan to live in Puerto Rico 4-6 months and travel 6 months month per year the other 1-2 months we will be visiting family in the USA. We have a feeling some family will be moving to PUerto Rico with us and others will start their own travel. US is not an option for long term residence. ❤ we love being Americans, but the cost is too much. Keep sharing stories we love it!
Thanks so much for watching, Iramis and Gerry, and for sharing your plans for the future with us. I think it's a great plan. Offhand, we don't expect anyone in our family to settle down with us anywhere, but we're okay with that. It's easy enough for them or us to hop on a plane to see each other in some of the cool destinations we visit. Our daughter has joined us in Lisbon, Japan, and Italy so far and she definitely has the travel bug. One of our sons has no interest in travel and one is interested in dual citizenship with Italy (along with our daughter) and are with me in working through that process, so he may surprise us some day and relocate there, but we'll consider it a nice surprise if he does. The cost is too much and there are so many wonderful and affordable places! You've already traveled more extensively than we have, so we are trying to make up for lost time. We didn't prioritize international travel until 2011 and steadily increased the number of trips we took over the years before we finally decided to retire early and travel full time. We wish you the best of luck on your RUclips channel and have subscribed! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie OMG! You just made my year. Truly amazing 🥲 Your subscription means so much to us. We have been watching you since you had 3K subscribers and we are so amazed what you have accomplished. We are 47 & 49 and we want to be like you both. I hope one day to meet and if you EVER want to visit PR let us know. Our house will be finished in 12-14 months and we will be happy to have you discover PR. Safe travels back to your “new home” 🇵🇷💗 🙏🏽 GRACIAS! THANK YOU!
You've been watching since 3K subscribers? Thank YOU for supporting us all this time. It means the world to us as well. We wish we were so focused on retiring early, but back then we were acquiring a lot of stuff and living in a big house. We wasted so much time and money. Thank you so much for the offer regarding Puerto Rico. We have a friend from there and he's said so many wonderful things about it that we would love to visit at some point. As Kevin mentioned, we have SIX full years of full-time travel to see the highlights of what we want to see, so we expect to be exploring the world for many more years to come! We are currently in Lyon, France, which is very beautiful. In fact we are in France in order to meet up with one of our viewers! So if you are traveling and happen to be nearby, give us a shout and we'll do our best to meet up. We'd been to France a few times already, so we hadn't originally planned to be here now, but we had some Schengen days left and decided to pivot and make this trip work. Good luck with the construction of your new home and we'll be watching your channel as it continues to grow! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie yes. 3K We did not have a channel then. We were also busy living a different life. Full of stuff and people we did not need. We are using my channel as a record of our life and to help us keep to our dream. Alzheimer’s runs in my husband family and he wants this as a way to keep his memories just in case we can’t find a cure in the next 20 years. 💗🇵🇷🙏🏽 Enjoy, France!
We understand all about stuff we didn't need. We were okay with the people, but the jobs we were content to leave behind. Hopefully there will be cure for Alzheimers. Surprisingly, I heard that the semaglutide drugs may be able to help with that. No idea whether that's actually true or not because it's possible that they are being used for a variety of off-label uses, but it's promising to hear it!
Here's a link, but take it with a grain of salt: www.alzint.org/about-us/funders/corporate-partner-novo-nordisk/#:~:text=Semaglutide%20is%20thought%20to%20work,clinical%20progression%20of%20Alzheimer's%20disease.
Sounds correct, but I feel stuck in San Francisco area, weighed down by so much stuff. How did you dispose of your stuff? Just dump it, and take a loss ?
Hi David, Thanks so much for watching! We have some videos where we talk about our downsizing process when we were in the thick of it. We'll do an update video soon because we learned so much in the process. I'm currently working on a draft of an article on this topic as well. The short answer is yes, we took HUGE losses to get rid of our stuff. Should we have done things differently? Perhaps, BUT we have no regrets because stuff is stuff and was only tying us down. We considered it sunk costs and moved on with our lives. We didn't give ourselves a huge lead time when we made the decision to decide to sell everything and travel full time, so we put ourselves in a bit of a bind. I still wouldn't change anything! You do need to be fairly ruthless in getting rid of things. We also weren't prepared to lose so much money-in San Francisco, people are used to cobbling together things on the cheap, so they didn't appreciate or care about how expensive our stuff was. We had a brand new (9 months old) neutral $10K sofa that we practically gave away for $2K and had to sweeten the deal with end tables and a coffee table. We had someone fall through and this was our last-minute backup person. We were leaving the next day, so we were in a pinch and they knew they had us over a barrel.
There is SO much freedom that comes from downsizing. We have zero regrets. It's one small reason we don't want to settle down anywhere for the foreseeable future. It's very easy to get caught up in stuff and we don't want to allow ourselves to fall into that trap again! -Judy
🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX
Saving up and living outside the US makes a lot of sense, you’re just going to get more for your money outside the US. The car culture and attitudes about trains and bicycles in the US is just infuriating and quite sad, it’s not going to change much in a lifetime. Even without a commute I spend a lot of time in a car which is just very low quality time.
Looking forward to your South America trips and how you get around.
I also agree on the food quality, a lot of food out in the US is processed, low quality and not handled well.
Thanks so much for watching! It's great to hear from you again! We are visiting Paris again in another week or so and are excited to see it after it made modifications to become even more of a bike and pedestrian city than it used to be. While we found Amsterdam to be a bit challenging because of the sheer number of bicyclists that we had to watch out for, we will always admire a place that deprioritizes cars. We are excited about visiting South America! Originally we talked about waiting until January, but we decided to start in November because we wanted to avoid the cold weather in Europe. It's interesting that even something as basic as butter is tons better in Europe than US brands. We were buying imported for a while in San Francisco. We've found that fruits and vegetables are tastier when they aren't grown for shelf life and size but rather for taste, a rarity in the US! -Judy
As a couple it sounds like you're having a great time. As a widow I enjoy traveling twice a year to foreign destinations but I have animals and family who need me here. I also live in a mid sized to small city in North Carolina which is more affordable. I'll stay here.
Hi Frances, We are having a great time, so I'm glad our video reflects that. We haven't gotten tired of our lifestyle in the slightest, especially after adjusting our travels to be mostly traveling a bit slower than we did last year. Family and pets are so important and we are glad that you understand your priorities. Our last dog passed away when we were in San Francisco, and those losses are hard to bear, so Kevin especially isn't eager to start over with a new pet. Also, if your home city is giving you everything you want and yet you still have the means to travel a few times per year, then it sounds like you have a good thing and have no reason to rock the boat! Thanks for weighing in and for watching! -Judy
Yes, we have been thinking about moving out of the US. The thought of slow travel does interest us. Next month wr off to London, Paris and Spain to wxplore some options.
Hi Danielle, How fabulous for you! Where will you be in Spain? London and Paris are two of our favorite cities. In fact, we detoured to Paris for a few days less than a week ago just to say hello to some of our favorite haunts! Best of luck! I'll link to some of our resources that might be useful for you. -Judy
🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX
🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH
🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads):
📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
Hi Judy, we are traveling to Seville, Granada, Cordoba and Madrid. Thank you the links. I appreciate your help and love your channel. Safe travels ❤
Oh fabulous, Danielle! Thanks for letting us know. We were recently in Madrid and Barcelona and for a hot minute we thought we might head over to Seville or Granada this year, but we opted to wait until next year. There's so much of Spain we would love to see. Have a great trip! -Judy
Thank you Judy! My favorite country so far has been Italy so we will see how Spain stacks up.
@@daniellebarron9181 We still prefer Italy, but we've only scratched the surface for Spain. We'd love to hear your thoughts after you get back! -Judy
Does it ever get tiring or physically and mentally exhausting?
Hi Suzy, One of the reasons we slow travel is to avoid those things. We specifically talk about it as it was occurring for Kevin when we were in Genoa, Italy. It can be a lot of work to plan where you're going to be, so by moving every month versus every week or two makes it much more manageable. We don't do the typical sightseeing every single day, but even on our down days or days when we are working on RUclips, we still take interesting walks and try to notice and appreciate the areas where we're living. That's why we prefer to stay in the heart of a place. The cost might be a little higher at times, but we can more easily bump into interesting architecture and beauty than if we stayed in the suburbs. The pace and what we do is so much different than taking a vacation, and that's also why we choose to stay in Airbnbs over hotels for much of the time. Having a couch and a kitchen and a dining table normalizes life for us since we do spend much more time in our Airbnb than we might on vacation. We're travel planning, keeping up with phone calls to family, balancing our budget-all the everyday parts of life-just from different parts of the world. -Judy
🎥 Slow Travel or No Travel! Why we have to stay longer: ruclips.net/video/LrLGJ-X6I4A/видео.html
🎥 Our 5 Travel Secrets for Retirement as Full-Time Travelers: ruclips.net/video/Oc4tZ4M1v0w/видео.html
🎥 What Do We Do All Day?: ruclips.net/video/q3kSQMptyEU/видео.html **(this is from our second month of full-time travel!)**
Makes sense, once your life changes you gotta go with it
True! But we do think that you're always allowed to make changes if something isn't working for you. We don't ever think you should feel stuck or unhappy. Thanks for watching and good luck with your channel! -Judy
🎥 Our 5 Travel Secrets for Retirement as Full-Time Travelers: ruclips.net/video/Oc4tZ4M1v0w/видео.html
Well said and agree. We are in a similar trajectory but younger and are planning on leaving the USA sooner rather than later. Geographic arbitrage to higher quality of life locations seems like a no brainer to me. Especially after building some savings from a SF USA income!
Yes, congratulations! You're from Walnut Creek? Well, as you know, that part of the world also brings a fairly high cost of living. We wish we had started sooner. Thanks for watching and good luck! -Judy
I’m planning my escape now. Hopefully Oct 1 will be my departure date. I’m 65 and have decided to take a gap year with my 18 yr old granddaughter who just graduated H.S. I’m calling it my post menopausal gap year. Choosing ‘health over wealth’. I’m scared to stay in the U.S given the high cost of living and the health care. Btw I’m from Houston ; went back recently and no thank you!
How fabulous for you and your granddaughter, Sara! That's such a fantastic idea! We visited Houston and Austin for seven days. It's not quite been a week since we left. It was great to see family and friends, but we drove so much we couldn't stand to do it longer. How long are you planning to stay in each location? Have you sorted that out yet? Doing it for any length of time is amazing, but when you're only giving yourself a year, I'm sure you want to really be super intentional about the places you pack into that time. We wish you the best of luck! We have a lot of resources on our website and videos in two of our playlists linked below that might be helpful to you.
🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX
🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH
🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads):
📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads
So I’m a becoming a bit of a watch nerd. What watch does Kevin wear?
Hi Scott, that's an excellent question! Up until our visit to Rome with our daughter, he was wearing a Series 5 Apple Watch, but he was tired of it telling him when to stand and the fitness app constantly breathing down his throat! 😉 He ended up buying an Italian brand, Perseo. The specific model is the Buccaneer Classic. It was a HUGE splurge for him, but he fell in love with the fact that it was an Italian brand and the exclusive watch of the Italian State Railways for timekeeping. It combines his love of Italy with engineering precision, and also is an appropriate souvenir from our travels/travel experiences. Below is a link to it if you want to read more about it. -Judy
www.perseo-watches.it/orologi/gentleman/buccaneer-automatic-black/
@@FindingGinaMarieawesome! Enjoy!
I totaly agree. I li live in Rio de Janeiro and just got back from a trip to the US. All foods were sweet, and fried, and expensive. We ate fried chicken and fries for the same price as sushi in Rio.
Hi Marcela, We are headed to Rio de Janeiro in December! If you have any recommendations or suggestions for us, especially ideas that our viewers will love that are less touristy, we'd love to hear them! This will be our first time to be in South America and we are SO excited about it! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie I will make a list and get back to you. I hope you enjoy being here, it's a very beautiful place.
Thanks Marcela! -Judy
Many economic benefits of living abroad and owning a US residence. It's net benefit is $8000/year, not including appreciation.
Maybe so, but there are taxes, upkeep, and responsibilities we'd prefer not to deal with. Thanks for watching. -Judy
We completely agree. While it's difficult to say for sure what the future holds, for all the reasons you outlined so eloquently, we will continue living and travelling abroad for the foreseeable future. We have had nearly identical experience with quality healthcare, fresh/seasonal food, affordable accommodations, and the excitement of waking up to new adventures every day. The other day we were wondering what we would be doing if we were retired but still living in Washington. We certainly wouldn't be outside exploring local neighborhoods like we currently do, and we would likely be heavily reliant on the "all important" automobile. Our lifestyle (and yours) is certainly not for everyone, but we are so glad we committed to making it work. We're living a life that many people dream about, and at a fraction of the cost that we would be paying to live in the US.
As always, thanks for sharing your stories.
Steph and Chris, we so appreciate your kind words and all your support. We are grateful to have your friendship as a perk of us all living this way. For as unconventional as living this way might be, it is so rewarding, gratifying, and joyful. We are happy to hear that you are having as fun of a time as we are. We wish you all the best and hope our paths cross again soon! Safe travels! -Judy
Hello--my wife and I enjoy your videos! We are also from Texas--originally from Houston, now living in Austin. We are curious about your banking--are you using a US-based bank, or one abroad? I imagine the bank would require an address--do you have a PO Box somewhere? Do you keep a PO Box somewhere to receive mail? Or is all your correspondence via email/electronically?
Small world, Greg! We are originally from Buffalo, New York, but we left shortly after we got married and lived in The Woodlands for 29 years before shifting to San Francisco for Kevin's job with Apple. Two of our children now are living in Austin! We still use Chase in the US. We have an entire article that might be useful for you regarding our virtual mailbox. It's in North Carolina because it was the cheapest location for this vendor, but we are very happy with it. It doesn't change our voting district, which still is in San Francisco or our residency-our driver's licenses both are still California licenses (mine is up for renewal next month and I'm able to do it through the mail, fortunately). Even though we don't plan to live in the US, we still pay US taxes, so we want a say in voting and want to keep an active US driver's license for when we visit. Hope these answers and links are helpful! -Judy
📝 How to Stay Connected to Your Mail While Living Abroad: findingginamarie.com/articles/how-to-stay-connected-to-your-mail-while-traveling-the-world
🎥 We talk about it during our Q&A video as well, and the pertinent section is where this link starts: ruclips.net/video/E6L8Wh_zMc8/видео.html
🎥 How to Vote While Living Abroad: findingginamarie.com/articles/voting-while-living-abroad-as-a-us-citizen
@@FindingGinaMarie Thanks so much for the quick and informative reply! I'll investigate the links you sent, as well as continue to follow your adventures! We are exploring dual citizenship into Italy(EU) via family bloodlines!
@@greggiacona238 I've been working on my Italian dual citizenship for the last three years. Unfortunately, I am a 1948 case because my birth mother was born in 1944 and her father had already naturalized by then, so we are going through her mother and my grandfather in Italy. We know it will be worth it when it finally comes through. At a minimum, it will allow us greater mobility throughout the EU and Schengen. As more countries join Schengen, it gets harder for us to leave and come back since we'd prefer to see new countries if we can. We wish you the best of luck on Italian dual citizenship. Do you have thoughts about possibly retiring there? At some point in the distant future, we are considering Verona or Torino, but we are continuing to explore other parts of Italy as well. We're visiting Sardinia in the spring and have a few videos coming out in the coming weeks from our Italy travel with our daughter! -Judy
🎥 Italy video series: ruclips.net/p/PLNT98lWfwdF1Tj_VCjUNQTJBMtKpkz5Sk
@@FindingGinaMarie Here's the funny thing-my dad was born in Palermo Sicily. He came to America (Galveston TX) in 1959, met my mom, got married in 1960. He became a naturalized US citizen in January 1964--I was born in October 1964--so I cannot got through my dad's ancestral lineage! :-(. I believe in 1994 Italy permitted its citizens to retain their Italian citizenship if they acquired another.
Anyway--turns out we have another avenue-my wife's great-grandparents were from central Italy, and immigrated into Texas in the early 20th century! We are confirming her great grandmother did not naturalize formally (she did via marriage but we think not officially). She never learned English so we think she did not formally naturalize here (there's a language test).
So, if all goes to plan, we will soon pursue Italian passports for our family--wife, myself and our 8yo daughter. The idea would be to possibly move to the east coast in a few years (Raleigh area maybe, I have a sister there) and purchase a smaller house--and then look for a small home in Italy--probably the north to find the cooler weather. Living on the east coast of the US is an easier launch to Europe than from TX.
We would use it as s summer escape until we could possibly retire there full-time. We also like the idea of a free college education in the EU for our daughter, and the lifestyle/healthcare benefits. We love the US--I'm hugely patriotic, but we are exploring all avenues for future options!
Thanks for sharing this background with us, Greg! I'm a September 1964 birthday, so we are practically twinning! It would be worth inquiring into whether your father is able to reclaim his Italian citizenship and then likewise you! If you acquire your citizenship through marriage, you have to pass a language test. Which technically is fine since learning the language allows you to assimilate more easily. My fingers are crossed for dual citizenship for one or the other of you! We agree that the East Coast is an easier launch to Europe. We love your thinking. Italy is a hard place to get a job, especially one that pays well, but if you're retired or able to live remotely in Italy with an American job and good pay, your life is so much easier. -Judy
south korea seems ideal, but they do have insanely high tax.
We loved South Korea, but we don't trust North Korea and how safe it would be there long term. Unfortunately, there are a lot of places that could end up being volatile, and that includes the US. -Judy
I am sure at some point you will get tired of living out of a suitcase, and have a home base. Agree, other affordable options worldwide.
Hi Keith, we aren't ruling it out. I am working on my Italian dual citizenship and have a few places in mind there, but we are keeping an open mind while we're traveling to see what else may resonate with us. And we acknowledge that we might not be tired of living out of a suitcase, but there may be health circumstances that might also stand in our way down the road. Of course, we are trying to take care of our health, but we know that something unexpected could happen at any time. that's one of the many reasons we retired early. Thanks for watching! -Judy
What's the average travel cost monthly?
It varies by month, but we do our best to average about $4K per month. We look at our budget across the year and stay in low cost places to offset the more expensive places we visit. We spent four months in Asia/Southeast Asia in 2024 and three months there in 2023 (for a total of 7 months in that part of the world). Some of that time helped to offset our more expensive costs of three weeks in the US and some of our time in Europe. We are FAR from points gurus, but we usually can get one or two flights for free with miles. Our goal is to spend $1600 or less per month in accommodations costs. We try to break down our travel costs during our travel videos so that you can see what average meals cost when we travel. -Judy
Congratulations on your lifestyle! I wish american government change the laws on food safety so people there can live healthier..
Thank you so much, Leo. We agree, but we think that the desire for high profits in the US typically trumps health benefits (and most other things, unfortunately). There are a lot of lobbyists and self-interest groups that work hard to ensure that money is the highest priority. -Judy
Why does Healthcare cost so much in america?
We are not experts, but healthcare is a profitable industry in the US.
Complex systems with multiple payers lead to increased billing and administrative expenses. There's a lack of price regulation for medical services and pharmaceuticals; more malpractice suits, which drives up costs; higher salaries in the US for healthcare professionals; and a lack of universal coverage can result in delayed care and more expensive emergency treatments are some of the reasons. -Judy
My biggest concern regarding retiring in the EU is god forbid I need nursing home care. I’ve seen vids on how great it is in Asia but haven’t seen expats address this issue for the EU. I don’t plan on retiring to Asia. My goal is Italy. And I am definitely not coming back to US to live in their horrible nursing homes…😨😨😨. I hope you make a vid addressing this topic.
Hi Kat, We haven't looked into nursing home care, but it's a valid topic for us to explore. One thing about Italy is that there is a lot of multi-generational living, so nursing homes are less common than in the US. There's a preference to "age at home" with ideally a personal care assistant (PCA). This is an interesting article that might be helpful for you. It doesn't appear that social services typically include nursing home facilities in Italy: wellnessshepherd.com/2023/12/30/aging-in-place-senior-care-in-italy-a-snapshot-from-tuscany/
There's a lot to consider. -Judy
We are thinking of moving to Sicily at age 70+ . We are probably crazy but our money will last longer and so will our lives hopefully. I'm just waiting for my Italian Citizenship to come through.
Sicily is a beautiful place!
Hi Christine, I wish you all the best with your dual citizenship! Mine has been three years in the making and I am hopeful that I'll have it in the next two years. It's not a quick process, unfortunately. Is there a place in Sicily that you're interested in? What makes it special to you? All the best! -Judy
It really is! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie I am on year 2.5. I have my codice fiscale just waiting for the kids and grands to get theirs. Sicily is the home of my dad's parents, Abruzzo area from my mom's side. We want Sicily or southern Italy. I am not a winter person. Haha. We are exploring Sicily this Oct so we will have more of an idea.
We aren't really winter people, either! We were planning to head to Sardinia in November and chickened out. For what it's worth, we were in Sicily in November/December 2022 and were pretty cold, but October should be a bit milder. We are so excited for you, and October will be here before you know it. Figuring it all out is actually part of the fun! -Judy
One problem is public transportation. Most of the US needs better public transit. The US makes everything challenging to get done.
Completely agree. For as much as we love urban areas, they're either overpriced or still lacking good public transportation. It's a shame. -Judy
Following the Balkan War in the early '90s, my family made the decision to permanently leave our home country. We ultimately ended up in America, which I believe was the biggest mistake of our lives, even after 28 years of living in the US.
Oh wow. There was so much unrest, so I'm sure your family was trying to take care of their family the best way they could. If life in the US is no longer serving you, can you begin to take steps to do things that will make you happier? One thing that we try to remember is that, "wherever you go, there you are." So changing geographies doesn't always change everything because you're still the same person. If you're not in a position to retire yet, can you take steps to get there or at least find things you are passionate about and pursue them in the meantime? One thing we'll say for the US is that it's one of the best paying places to live, even if there's a lot wrong with it. We might not have the funds we do had we not been in US jobs. -Judy
How do you handle your brokerage/investments?
Hi Paula, Thanks for watching. We still have all our banking in the US and we have an international data and phone plan with our original US number tied to T-Mobile that allows us to get verification codes without any issue. It costs a little more than buying localized eSIMS, but it's been easier and more straighforward to maintain connections in the US. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie I was referring to investment accounts with brokerage companies, not banking. Forgot that you don't reside anywhere international yet, so you must have some US address on your Fidelity, Vanguard, or Schwab. Once you go to live overseas, there are complications with maintaining your investment accounts while you reside in the EU. Brokerage companies actually have been known to drop their EU resident customers, because they do not want to have to comply with EU regulations.
Yes, we have a virtual travel mailbox in the US that allows us to maintain a US mailing address, even though it's in a different state than where we are considered as "residents" for the purpose of voting and having a driver's license. That is interesting information that we fortunately haven't encountered yet. We'll have a lot of due diligence to do when we eventually (far into the future) decide to settle somewhere. Hopefully things will have changed by then, but we'll look into it. We know that some people have difficulties with transferring money from their brokerage accounts while traveling abroad, and that's what we thought you were asking about. Thanks so much for clarifying. -Judy
📝 How to Stay Connected to Your Mail While Traveling the World: findingginamarie.com/articles/how-to-stay-connected-to-your-mail-while-traveling-the-world
🗳️ Your Right to Vote While Living Abroad (As a US Citizen): findingginamarie.com/articles/voting-while-living-abroad-as-a-us-citizen
So glad you have made your decision and want a permanent expat life. I've been watching your channel from.the beginning. However, I've just listened to 20 minutes of you dumping on the United States. You say at the very end that you don't dislike the US, but an objective listener would disagree. You don't have like living in the US anymore, that's fine but wow. Your videos are usually not this negative Nancy. Good luck to you and keep enjoying your travels. You guys are taking it all in and enjoying retirement.
We're sorry to hear that you think we dumped on the US. Our video was only 14 minutes long. Our reasons had to do with the very high cost of living, the challenges of a country that requires a car practically everywhere, unaffordable healthcare, and foods that aren't as healthy as in other parts of the world. We thought we took the high road in this video with our reasoning, so it's disappointing to hear that you felt we dumped on the US, especially if you've watched us from the beginning and know our personalities. As we mentioned, we had just spent three weeks in the US and friends and family had all been asking about our future plans and wanted to know why we weren't planning to eventually settle down in the US. We do love traveling full time and don't intend to settle down anywhere for the foreseeable future. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMariewe didn’t feel you dumped on the US. As fellow RUclipsrs we get criticized for explaining the differences also. You did a good job!👍 keep putting out your enjoyable videos! Can’t wait to see you in Albania!
Thank you so much, Diana, for sharing your perspective and encouragement. We are looking forward to meeting up as well! We arrive next week! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie it's just honest feedback. My husband wandered in while I was listening to the video, he doesn't watch y'all like I do, and asked "who pissed in their post toasties about the US?" I will refrain from giving honest feedback in the future. I hope you continue to enjoy your travels. We love our travels also.
@TravelswithLlama We certainly welcome honest feedback. Our response was never meant to say that you aren't entitled to your own opinion. We just thought there were so many ways we could have gone off the rails and didn't that your opinion surprised us. -Judy
What will you do when they start the forced so-called vaccines once again?
Thanks for watching. We've typically gotten COVID boosters when we've been in the US, but if we can get them while traveling, they're often cheaper outside the US. We also needed some vaccinations before heading to Cairo. We use international travel doctors in the country we're in at the time, and so far it's worked out great. Here's a video about it linked below. -Judy
🎥 Why we got vaccinated in Rome before heading to Egypt: ruclips.net/video/ZJG4MI76u58/видео.html
where will you live or will you continue to travel?
Hi Tim, for the foreseeable future, we want to continue traveling. But we realize there may come a time when we may not physically be able to travel or are ready to slow down significantly. In that hopefully far-off future, we are considering places in Italy (I'm working on dual citizenship there) and possibly places in Asia during the winters. Part of our travels include considering whether the places we visit could be options for us far down the road. We still want to prioritize affordable healthcare and a reasonable cost of living where consumerism isn't as valued as much as building relationships. Thanks so much for watching! -Judy
There's things about the USA that I think need to Change.
We agree. We probably wouldn't ever have made as much money elsewhere, but we think there are alternatives to retiring in the US for all the reasons we state in our video. Thanks for watching! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie I hope that the US will improve. What things about the USA do you think should change be fore you would consider returning to the USA? Any examples?
We don't want to own a vehicle, and I don't see that changing in the US. It also isn't an affordable country if you want to live in a major city with access to culture. We have a good but not great retirement account and it will last much longer and we'll live much more comfortably living outside the US. Healthcare costs in other parts of the world are more affordable for us than in the US. This video pretty much itemizes our reasons. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie I hope Healthcare Costs & Vehicles improve. I'm working to help make the USA more affordable.
@@FindingGinaMarie Maybe one day the USA will improve.