Grateful to early-retirement.org. Retired in our 30's, traveling the world

[gocurrycracker]

Hola everybody

About 10 years ago, I started getting this crazy idea that I wanted to quit working and travel the world. I ended up at Early-Retirement.org and was able to learn from the tremendous amount of knowledge of the good people here. Somehow I even managed to meet up with the Kaderlis in Thailand, and my wife and I met up with Nords in Hawaii (Hello! ) What we learned helped accelerate our retirement

I wanted to pop back in here, say hello, and express our gratitude. We retired about 6 months ago while still in our 30's, sold everything we owned, and set off to see the world. So far so good. We are currently in Puerto Escondido, Mexico, enjoying the sun and the sea, progressing in our Spanish, and living a pretty good life for not much $

We are headed south through all of Latin America, with a general idea that we will go to Europe after. We don't really have an itinerary, we are adapting as we go. I had fond memories of the Travel section here, and will likely post some of our experiences there from time to time as well as see what insights it holds for our future destinations.

Hopefully our experiences can help the next generation of FIRE hopefuls

Thanks again

Jeremy

 

[ShortInSeattle]

Wow! That sounds wonderful. If you don't mind the question, I'm curious how much you decided to save before cutting lose. Do you plan to travel indefinitely to keep costs low?

SIS

 

[gocurrycracker]

Hey SIS, I think the best way to answer that is "enough"

More important than how much we saved though is how much we spend. We live a pretty luxurious lifestyle on $2k-$3k a month at the moment. It is likely to go lower the further south we go and then go up when we head to Western Europe. I publish all of our spending in great detail if you want to know more.

We were in Seattle too in the U-district/Ravenna, we loved it there. Before we pulled the plug we wanted to be sure we could sustain our US lifestyle, travel is a preference not a necessity. It is possible that we may return someday in 10, 20,... 50 years, who knows. I can't say I miss the winter though

Cheers

Jeremy

 

[omni550]

Welcome (out of the lurking shadows), gocurrycracker! Congrats on your early retirement.

I look forward to hearing about your story of how you got here and your travels going forward.

omni

 

[obgyn65]

This sounds like the life I always wanted to have but have not been able to achieved yet. Congratulations, and enjoy.

 

[LitGal]

Congratulations, Jeremy!

Yes, you must publish more of your story. Most of us could have only dreamed to do what you are doing! And, of course, you probably have many peers who wish they could do the same.

Bon Voyage, et Bonne Chance!

 

[REWahoo]

For those of you wanting more information about expenses, travels, etc., you can find GCC's blog web address by clicking on his name > View Public Profile > About Me.

 

[aida2003]

Wonderful, congrats! Sounds that you were DINKs. I'd love to find and read some blogs of families (parents and small children) doing the same thing: unplugging and travelling all over the world and how they deal with all the challenges with raising children and educating them while traveling (which is an education in itself), and expenses of such life.
Not that we'd be brave to unplug ourselves, but would be inspirational for me.

 

[truenorth418]

Hopefully our experiences can help the next generation of FIRE hopefuls

Jeremy

Thanks for this. I look forward to following your travels on your website. I intend to travel internationally more beginning next year including possibly a few months in Mexico.

 

[gocurrycracker]

Welcome (out of the lurking shadows), gocurrycracker! Congrats on your early retirement.

Congratulations, and enjoy.

Bonne Voyage, et Bonne Chance!

Wonderful, congrats!

Thank you all for the warm welcome!

 

[gocurrycracker]

Sounds that you were DINKs. I'd love to find and read some blogs of families (parents and small children) doing the same thing

I think we were more SINKs, as my wife hasn't worked for quite some time. She has been pursuing more creative interests, and is our resident photographer, painter, and chef

One of my favorite travel with kids blog is Bumfuzzle. They are also currently in Mexico

I used to follow a blog of a South African family that was sailing full-time and homeschooling, but can't recall what their site is. My sister is planning on doing something similar (except on land) with her 3 kids in about 2 years.

 

[gocurrycracker]

Yes, you must publish more of your story. Most of us could have only dreamed to do what you are doing! And, of course, you probably have many peers who wish they could do the same.

Thank you for the kind words. Our story is a pretty modest one, I think. Here is the short version

We knew we wanted to travel without working and that meant saving a high percentage of our income. Typically home, car, and food are the biggest expenses in a household, so we focused on those areas first

We picked our small apartment in Seattle based on walkability and easy bus access. walkscore.com was a good start, but it focuses on things like restaurants and coffee shops, where we cared more about being able to walk for groceries, the library, and parks. After living in a 1200 sq. ft. apartment in the main hipster neighborhood (too big and loud), a 400 sq. ft. apt in Chinatown (too small and sketchy neighborhood at night), we finally settled on a place near the University in a 1930's era building. We were a block from Safeway, a block from the weekly farmers market, 5 blocks from the library, and 6 blocks from a large park and forest with walking trail.

With location like that we didn't need a car, and I biked to work regularly and bussed the rest of the time. Depending on route, I would either bike 8, 21, or 23 miles one way, although on the 20 mile days I usually only biked one way. Being outside with the wind in your face is a great way to get the day started. I actually find owning a car to be more hassle than its worth... traffic, parking, getting gas in the rain... walking, biking, and busing are so much more convenient and relaxing, and the bus is a great place to read

We both have a strong Do-It-Yourself attitude, and learned a lot of skills that save quite a bit of money. Cooking is one example, but also I spent 10 minutes doing our average complexity taxes this year since its pretty easy once you know how. It only took me 6 or 7 years to get it figured out This attitude also carried over into investing, and after some trial and error we ended up mostly with index funds through Vanguard. I figure that twice as much money won't make us twice as happy so there isn't a desire to try to beat the market

DW is an amazing cook, so seldom did a meal out rival what we could do at home for a fraction of the price. A couple years ago she went through a cookbook a month with regional themes: French, Italian, etc... She's really come into her own as an innovative chef. A lot of meals out in the US we both felt that things are too greasy/salty/sugary and with low quality ingredients, although we certainly had our favorite Seattle chefs

I think we were living a pretty luxurious lifestyle, it was a pretty abundant and rich period of our life. If we were still in Seattle, we would continue to live the way we did just without the job. The only problems with it were the time and mental energy the office required, and limits on how much we could travel due to work.

Do let me know if you have any other questions

All the best

Jeremy

 

[gocurrycracker]

For those of you wanting more information about expenses, travels, etc., you can find GCC's blog web address by clicking on his name > View Public Profile > About Me.

Thank you REWahoo

One of the things I had a difficult time putting together was an estimate for how much full-time travel cost, so I figured I would just publish every dollar of our spending so others could use it for their own planning

Several of my former co-workers have softened their stance from "I could never do what you are doing" to "Well, maybe I could do that, it isn't as expensive as I thought" just from looking at our numbers

 

[gocurrycracker]

Thanks for this. I look forward to following your travels on your website. I intend to travel internationally more beginning next year including possibly a few months in Mexico.

No problem truenorth. We are loving Mexico. Originally we were only going to be here a month, but 3.5 months later... still here We still have a few more places to visit before going to Guatemala, so we'll be here awhile yet

I'm happy to share our Mexico experiences if you have any questions about it

Cheers

Jeremy

 

[teekaymn]

Wow! Your story is inspirational, Jeremy! I've started reading your blog and I'm hooked. Your writing and Winnie's photography immediately grabbed my curiosity to learn more about your story. Both DW and I are home from w*rk today due to a lovely April blizzard moving through the Twin Cities, so I'm going to settle in for a cozy read and another cup of cocoa. Our pipe dream is to make the jump in a couple more years and head south to Mexico/South America.

 

[gocurrycracker]

Wow! Your story is inspirational, Jeremy! I've started reading your blog and I'm hooked. Your writing and Winnie's photography immediately grabbed my curiosity to learn more about your story. Both DW and I are home from w*rk today due to a lovely April blizzard moving through the Twin Cities, so I'm going to settle in for a cozy read and another cup of cocoa. Our pipe dream is to make the jump in a couple more years and head south to Mexico/South America.

Thank you teekaymn, I'm glad you like it!

I'm originally from Minnesota, most of my family is around the Minneapolis area. We were there at Christmas and the day we left it was -17 degrees

My brother posted this picture of his drive in to work today on Facebook. I definitely don't miss that!

 

[FUEGO]

Just found this thread! I didn't know you had posted at ER forums. It's been fun exchanging emails outside of the forum in the last couple weeks.

Always good to see someone who's doing something innovative and doing it well. And for less than a typical lifestyle with less perks here in the states.

 

[gocurrycracker]

It's been fun exchanging emails outside of the forum in the last couple weeks.

Always good to see someone who's doing something innovative and doing it well. And for less than a typical lifestyle with less perks here in the states.

Justin! It has been fun exchanging emails, let's keep it up.

We are certainly enjoying our time outside the US. We are living large for a fraction of the price of our lifestyle back in Seattle. We share all of our spending into too to help people do their own cost of living analysis

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I love the $1,000 a month rental pictures on the blog. Way cool!

 

[FUEGO]

Justin! It has been fun exchanging emails, let's keep it up.

We are certainly enjoying our time outside the US. We are living large for a fraction of the price of our lifestyle back in Seattle. We share all of our spending into too to help people do their own cost of living analysis

I always enjoy the cost of living reports from Mexico and elsewhere like Thailand.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

The cost of living in some resort areas outside the U.S. is certainly intriguing. We were watching a House Hunter show on a couple buying a vacation home in a resort area of Spain last night. It was a lovely place for the price.

 

[Sarah in SC]

The cost of living in some resort areas outside the U.S. is certainly intriguing. We were watching a House Hunter show on a couple buying a vacation home in a resort area of Spain last night. It was a lovely place for the price.

If you've ever seen the one about the couple in Lima Peru, looking for a house to make into a B and B, we've stayed with them. They really enjoyed being on the show. I've never seen it myself.

 

[robby152]

Just added your blog to my rss feed. Great stuff!

 

[gocurrycracker]

I love the $1,000 a month rental pictures on the blog. Way cool!

Thank you, it is a great house. We love it. Winnie is a semi-pro photographer so we usually get some good photos

The cost of living in some resort areas outside the U.S. is certainly intriguing. We were watching a House Hunter show on a couple buying a vacation home in a resort area of Spain last night. It was a lovely place for the price.

Prices outside the resort areas are pretty nice too
We like to mix it up.

Just added your blog to my rss feed. Great stuff!

Thanks Robby!

 

[AnIntentionalRoad]

Congrats

Great job taking control of your life, GCC. And at a young age.

We just returned from a year sailing the Bahamas with our two kids (we left 5 days after my last day of work). I wouldn't trade that year for all the money in the world.

There are so many families out there traveling by boat. Most are out for 1-2 year sabbaticals but we also met several who were committed to raising their families aboard.

Cheers,
AIR