When hearing that Shae and I travel full time, I think a lot of people assume that we’re on a permanent vacation. That couldn’t be further from the truth though.
If anything, our life is the opposite of a vacation. Sure, we get to travel around and experience a lot of things that many people only dream of, so I’m certainly not complaining and I’m completely aware that we’re incredibly fortunate to live the life that we lead.
It’s not a vacation though, or not how I picture vacations anyway. Vacations are a time when you get away from everything. When you relax. When there’s no (or less) pressure to go and do. When you pause your everyday life and take a breather. When you can reflect on things and get re-energized.
Our life on the other hand has very little in common with how I picture a vacation. We’re not really getting away from anything as this is our life now. The way that we travel isn’t particularly relaxing, although there are the odd days here and there where Shae and I look at each other and say “I wish every day were like this!” There’s always pressure to go and do as we’re only in each location for a few days. There’s no stopping and taking a breather as we’re constantly on the move. I’m always working on something, so I don’t really stop to reflect on things or get re-energized.
You know how moving home is supposed to be one of the most stressful things you’ll ever do in life. Imagine doing that 40-50 times a year – that’s our life! Again, I’m not complaining as this is something we’re actively choosing to do (and full-time travel doesn’t have to be like that), but it’s certainly not relaxing or a vacation.
It’s not like we’re even in an RV either, where we can just put it in gear and move somewhere else. We live in hotels and Airbnbs and drive around in a 2004 Toyota Corolla.
Moving every 5-7 days therefore involves unpacking and packing every week, driving to somewhere new, learning about that area, discovering what there is to do there, finding out where the cheapest place to go grocery shopping is, researching accommodation for the coming weeks and months, etc., all in the midst of me working on various websites and Shae teaching online.
All that to say, Shae and I are currently on an actual vacation! We arrived in Bali a few days ago after all kinds of flight antics that tried conspiring to prevent us from getting here on time. We’re staying at a nice resort for 10 days and it’s been incredibly relaxing so far. I’ve managed to minimize the amount of work I’ve been doing too; it’s been a weird sensation, but I’m sure it’s good for me!
We’re celebrating our 15th anniversary tomorrow and Shae’s birthday a few days after that. We have a few things planned for our time here, but we’ve decided to mainly just relax rather than trying to fit in as many touristy things as possible. On the one hand it feels like we might be missing out on some amazing activities, but we can always come back in the future if we want.
We get back mid-August, so hopefully we’ll be revitalized and ready to explore Virginia – the next state on our 50 state road trip. Virginia is where we lived for about 7 years before setting off on the road trip, but there’s so much there to see and do, we’re devoting about 6 weeks to the state. Some of the activities we’ve experienced before and are looking forward to returning to so that we can share it with you, while other activities will be completely new. I’m also hoping it’ll be an abnormally cool summer as there’s lots of beautiful hiking in Virginia, so doing that in 90+ degree temperatures doesn’t sound too appealing!
Now that I have this post scheduled, it’s time to continue enjoying our vacation 🙂
Leave a Reply