Why we are leaving it all.
The decision to pick up and live a nomad or remote lifestyle is definitely shocking to some. For us, it is a means to the end where we live in freedom and can experience our best lives.
For the last five or so years, we have been talking about living in Mexico or somewhere else warm. In 2014, we went to San Jose del Cabo for the first time. In 2016, we went again and stayed right in town at a new resort. Being in town allowed us to explore the town, travel to local beaches, shop in the stores, and experience a more authentic Mexican living experience. Obviously staying in a resort is not authentic but we got to have a controlled experience. On this trip, we read The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris. This is when Jenn cried about how “we are living our lives wrong”. Kendall threatened to take away the book. This was all on the beach. There may have been beverages involved.
Anyways, reading that book sparked the thought process for how we could get away, start up something online, and move anywhere we wanted. For three years, we rattled ideas around for living more remotely.
During our honeymoon in May 2019 and again reading The 4-Hour Workweek, the ideas started to flow. We visited San Jose del Cabo again and spent more time off the resort. At a margarita bar in downtown San Jose, we signed a pact on a napkin (very Meredith and Derrick like), that we had witnessed by our waiter. The pact was simple: we would put our belongings in storage and move down to San Jose for one year in the next 2-5 years.
Then in the summer of 2019, we went to visit Kendall’s family in Prince Edward Island (PEI). Right before we left for our trip, one of Jenn’s coworkers experienced a devastating loss; her husband suddenly died after they had built and moved into their dream home. This loss reverberated through us as well and shined an ugly spotlight on the fact that life is short and unpredicatable.
While driving around looking at family’s cottages on the beach, we light heartedly talked about summering in PEI in a travel trailer. Kendall’s sister does this, so why couldn’t we? Suddenly, Jenn was on the phone with her Mom who was conveniently selling her travel trailer. The next day we went to the RV dealerships in town and started looking at options. Then, we started talking about how Roxie and Toffee would absolutely love the beach and how they would cry from the excitement. It was settled. By the time we went back to Alberta, we had planned to take a leave of absence from our jobs, drive out to PEI the following summer, and spend eight weeks in our trailer. We would then leave the trailer and fly back yearly to spend the summers.
From this point on, things have picked up speed and snow balled. As soon as we got back to Alberta, we purchased Jenn’s Mom’s trailer, got it down to Calgary, and upgraded it (stayed tuned for that blog). As the time went by, things spiralled further. The plans got bigger. Cue watching Tripped by Tim and Fin. In their RV series, they planned to drive from Florida to Alaska and then down the PanAm highway. Well, that sounded fun.
All of a sudden, Jenn was refusing to come home after the summer in PEI, the timelines got longer; we decided to travel down the eastern part of the USA and then would head back. Then, we thought: why not travel down to Mexico? Why did we have to come home at all?
From when we got home, until now when we launched Dashboard Drifters, we have been working on online income sources and developing other remote working options so we have the freedom to not come “home”; we can simply take our home with us. And the best part is, we can take the girls with us.
At the end of the day, the motivation to pick up, move into a tiny home, and travel is fueled by our simple desire to live life in a more simple way. We want to wake up to the sunshine, drink coffee overlooking somewhere beautiful, and live a life on our own terms. The end goal isn’t to not work, but to work for ourselves and not have to clock in to a job.
Follow along as we prepare for June 2020 @dashboarddrifters
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