Do or don’t. There is no try.
Master Yoda
So, I want to be an expat.
There, I said it. I admitted it. I think that’s the first step, right? Acknowledging and admitting the issue/problem – or in this case, the truth.
This isn’t new. A couple of years ago, I was reading a travel blog that covered a vacation spot we were looking at. The couple who wrote it retired early and traveled full time during their first year of retirement. They went throughout Europe for around $36,000 for the year. They tracked every penny they spent and explained how they did it.
Tragedy struck. My computer rebooted and I lost their site. I have never found it again, but that blog, that couple and the idea of traveling during retirement has never left my heart.
I first brought up the idea of being an expat to Jason right after I read that article. We want to retire in our mid 50s. That should give us enough time to be active and travel. Both of us had parents that passed away at an early age, and we are fully aware that life goes by way too quickly. We need to capture all of the experiences that we can.
***His initial response to me was lukewarm at best.*** What the heck?
Fast forward a couple of years, and we have a few more international trips behind us. I revisited the idea with him and now he can see how far the dollar can stretch in some of these countries. We have no chance of maintaining that lifestyle and retiring early if we stayed in D.C.
How did we come to this conclusion?
The majority of our overseas trips are to places where we could stretch the dollar. We felt the biggest bang for our buck after visiting Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia and the Canary Islands.
Actually spending time in these places and seeing how much we spent living day to day as tourists really opened up Jason’s eyes to the thought that being an expat at an early age was very achievable. Of course, our trips to Iceland, Paris and Brussels showed him that not every place in Europe was a bargain!
After we returned from our last overseas adventure, we buckled down and started the research on the specific steps we needed to take to become expats in 5 years.
Join us as we create our five year plan.
- We have five years until our son finishes high school and completes college
- We have five years to complete our financial plans
- We have five years to address all of our household goods, figure out medical insurance, sell our cars and find a place to live!
- Put away a fine bottle of champagne and celebrate with us when we say hello to the exciting life of being an expatriate! F
- Here’s looking at you, Summer 2023.
I want The Thoughtful Expat blog to be a place of research and documentation of the process. We’ll have successes and learning opportunities. We’ll change our minds a good half dozen times, and we’ll learn a lot from you – our readers!