Roaming Lifestylers

1:06 So we actually tried to record this the other day, but something came up out of our conversation that I wanted to dive into a little bit more today and make this the official first chat with Nat sitting on the couch, and just reflecting back over our roaming lifestyle. And I guess the differences of our backgrounds. But the first topic that really sort of struck me out of our previous conversation was, I believe our roaming lifestyle is not so much focused on based on the travel component. You actually mentioned about your desire for variety is probably more of a driver.  1:46  Yeah, it's interesting. We've had a travel lifestyle since 2013. And when I have reflected on it, it really is less about travel. And it's more about my absolute need for variety in my life. So different places, different experiences, different paradigms, different thoughts, different challenges, always driven by that. Yes, so I have dubbed after speaking to Hannah, I sort of had this realization that, you know, her and I have probably been running lifestyle as all of our life. I mean, I spent grade five in three different schools across two different states. And pretty much was on the move all the time, like even in the most stable period of my life, of going to high school in one area. So I live on Gold Coast in Queensland for nearly 10 years, nearly 10 years. But during that time had lived in like four different houses. And it was quite funny to think that the first trip overseas I did that little rite of passage that many Australians do when they can go and get a work visa in the UK, is having spent 12 months away I came home and my parents had lifted up so they had to come back to as such. So yeah, my roaming lifestyle has has sort of been inbuilt in me. And I don't consider it to be anything but normal to always be on the move. Yeah. Whereas you had a totally different background. I sure did. Yeah, my mom and dad were in the same house for 58 years, or I grew up. It wasn't until we went home in May 15 2015. And they moved up. It's like, Oh, crap, I actually have no home now. So yeah, it was really quite strange to drive past it with you and show you for the first time the house but then somebody else in it and their car and the garden was different. Cool. This is really weird. Yeah, 50 years in the same house now that moved up to Queensland, like everybody seems to do when they retire. But yeah, it's definitely was definitely the case. Very stable childhood. family was everything. And still is to mom and dad. So the home was it, it was the family place that everybody gathered, and dad worked the same job for 40 plus years in the same company. It changed hands about 100 times, but it was still there. So just real stability in our, you know, offering. Yeah. Alright, so if you've got the stability in that sense, and we talked about even while having this more nomadic experience that we've had now for nearly eight years at the time of this recording, is we find stability somewhere. And you and I together have found stability in our relationship. But if we go back to kind of your growing up, the stability was in the family home and in the family itself. So therefore you're you're kind of reached out of variety came through your work. 4:43   Yeah, definitely. Yeah. I always saw jobs that had different variety. I was in the federal police starting to place for 13 years. So it was very much about being on the move. Like I hated being in the office. I do everything to get out of the office and have jobs that were out there. During things, so I did like VIP protection for seven years. So that was out all the time. Protecting VIPs I went to East Timor for six months and work with the UN. So it was always looking for, again, that variety. I just could not sit behind a desk, it would drive me insane. So I think it was more driven by that again, then that need for travel. Although I traveled a lot with my job, which actually was really good. Like, I really enjoyed that aspect of it. The most unfair thing is that you've been on privately jet planes already and I haven't. 5:36   Okay. 5:39   But the other side of variety and I guess and even the creativity is when you did some undercover work. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, that was another Yeah, huge for playing different characters, maybe myself. That's how much variety I needed. Which is really funny because those different skill sets and even after you left the place and a few of the things that you got into like the screenwriters and and acting and doing some one of the cool extras work. 6:09   Yes, like the extra 6:09   stuff that was really fun. And that was on Home and Away. So for anybody who knows home 6:16   in the hurricane season. 6:20   Cycling industry. 6:23   Yes, in a cyclone episode, yes. 6:26   But that all that kind of life experience and both the police work and the acting and undercover thing. And all that was sort of one of the things that actually first enabled you to get by? Yeah, yes. So when we did leave Australia, after we just got together, we I was offered a job over there was a police training company. So off we went, but yeah, so that was that was the main driver for going to Dubai in the first place. The whole idea came about because of that. So we also instigated a few programs there with like, the role playing as a way to extra teach the police was with role playing. So a lot of creative is like, my brain stuff mixing together. That's been really fun. I think that's the part I enjoy, I probably had less of that in the place, because I didn't even really know about the left and right brain. But it was the jobs that I was doing very left brain was very in the formalities and everything had to be exact the way it needs to be. So there was definitely less creativity. But I guess creativity is always showing up somewhere. So it's just becoming more aware of it. I've really bought into my work. And I love sort of that left and right brain going backwards and forwards sees all balance. Yeah. Well, there's a big gap between you leaving the Australian physical place, and you and I meeting at a consciousness, I guess, is probably the best way to describe workshop that we went through. So there was probably a good, a good six or seven years in between and tell me about that time. Like, where was your variety in that time? Oh, I was pretty lost a loved one curry. I wandered a little bit. I went to New Zealand, I moved over there because a friend of mine who had been in Australia was going back over to New Zealand, again to the South Island. So I went back with her to her tiny little town called timaru, which is beautiful because it was right on the ocean. But it also had a view of the mountains to sign up on it. So I was there for about nine months really couldn't find my feet, I was just lost basically for three years, really trying to find myself and do a lot of personal development and seeking inside. So then I ended up taking up a career job, which was really odd. But my brother was working for the company and I helped out a little bit in the office. But he said I do want to do some career driving. And I jumped at it sort of funny, it was one of those weird jobs that I'd sort of looked at people before and go, I'd be really fun job to do at some stage types drive around all day. And just just deliver parcels and so I ended up doing was actually really cool. We've been doing it for quite a while when I came on the scene and I went on a couple of rounds with you. And I was watching you just Bluetooth thing talking to your friends all the way going and chatting to people as you delivered the things if there were there if there weren't. And I was like, This is like the ultimate job because you just you socializing all day in your own little world. You can listen to your music or you can talk to your friends for as long as you like. Yeah. And you getting to drive all over Sydney. So I guess the only downside would be traffic. Yeah, occasionally on a Friday afternoon really annoying me but most of the time I think I got to the stage where I went, if I'm going to be worried about traffic actually doing this job, but then I might as well not do it because it's just going to drive me insane otherwise, so I just let it go. And I just enjoyed it like a massage just cruise into my own little world. It's 9:58   quite a meditative Kind of spiritually. 10:01   Yeah. And I was doing I was going through a real sort of stages of that sort of Who am I stage and I think it just those hours in the car just gave me a chance to really meditate, just say and look inside. So that was good. You say, again, coming back to the topic of is our roaming lifestyle around nomadic existence based on travel. And I kind of feel like it's actually more based on geography because we both have an interest in geography, 10:32   geography and environments and climate 10:34   climate seasons. That's, 10:36   I think it's weather. Like I know, everybody talks about the weather, when they got nothing else to talk about. Our whole family is so fascinated by weather, it's ridiculous. It's like, no, it's actually a genuine interest. It's not just small talk, you actually like prop is like full on for an hour or so talking about weather in different places. Yeah, mine is definitely very with a driven, I'd love to experience different seasons all the time, I get really bored with the same if I go out every day, and the sun is just shining. There's not a cloud in the sky. Most people would be like, dying, like, That's amazing. I just get so bored. It's like, what's your rain? Like, you always know me. I was like, What am I gonna write? And what is it gonna have big messy thunderstorm? And like, I just like the drama of it, I think. 11:19   Yeah, well, 11:20   that, yeah, that season thing in geography. So like, even right down to recently, we've just completed six months worth of passing. And it here in Mexico, and this is during 2020 in COVID. lockdown. And because the house itself sort of dried up a little bit, we've decided to rent. And the only other place that we've rented in our first seven and a half years of full time International House sitting with back to back 95% for a combination has been going on watch it without Becky renting it. So there's a sense of familiarity. But one of the reasons why we came back here. And I'm really going to probably put you on the spot now is that I wanted to go to Mexico City, because we've got friends there. And I really wanted to go and I had that sense of wanting something new. Whereas you kind of when No, I want to just I don't want to have to think about things. And I think it was very driven by my work at the time because I felt like I had so much work on I just didn't want to feel overwhelmed by having to take on so much other stuff like you go to a new place and everything's different. We get absorbed by two we get we like get distracted. And yeah, I can because we're going into checking out and going out and doing things. That's right. And you're sort of finding feet, and we have to find an apartment there. Whereas just here was actually a lot easier in that way. Because we already knew the real estate and we just had to get in contact with them. That would find a place for us. So yeah, I did. I was actually funny. And now I'm partially regretting would be really nice to actually go and check out another place. But I had told myself a story. This is like just so true of what happens. You tell yourself a story of why can't do something and I fell for it. Like I was like, Oh, I'm really busy right now, I can't take on too much outside stimulus of things that were different, like I have to focus. Well, this is where the funny part came in is that once we actually again tune back into the geography aspect is we didn't realize that Mexico City is has altitude. And coming from Australia. I think probably one of the I mean, maybe because I grew up listening to john Denver, I don't know. But for some reason, I've always known that Denver, Colorado is known as the Mile High City. And that became like a kind of a bench or a bar to you know, compare everything to so when I looked up the altitude of Mexico City and see that it's higher than Colorado in the races. I was like, Oh my god, and then your interest piqued. Oh, the weather would be different. And then you started wanting to go there. But anyway, we're here and we're here. We'll get there at some stage I think that's the thing like it's always like you never miss out I don't feel like I myself like no matter decision be here for six months and then we can always go there like anytime whenever we 13:59   get to go visit anyway. Yeah, 14:00   yeah, that's true. That's some there's always the next place you know, there's always the next experience. Well, again, I've experienced I guess to sort of wrap this this session up now and you know, we've got plenty more chances not to come in future. But to reposition after that it's not really about travel for you and me. It's about experiencing seasons. It's about experiencing different or being fascinated by the geography of a place like we love mountains we love you know, working on altitude and how do we cope with altitude where the desert meets you know, the sea or the ocean and, and kind of everything in between. And no, love the snow and I people think are a bit mad. Maybe it's a bit crazy to try to leave the snow every year and really, but I think it comes down to that environmental thing. Like you know, Sydney definitely can be colder than southeast Queensland where I grew up, but at the same time, I mean I grew up not knowing what a fireplace was, you know, like 15:03   it doesn't exist in where I come from. Yeah, 15:09   maybe we could have done one with one in Sydney freezing they would have places like being run on the A GNC in Greece and you know building a fire every day. Amazing. I think the the weather in the environment actually brings a different experiences like that where you've got to find from get firewood and now you're going to build fires, keep yourself warm, and just different stuff you never did as a growing up. So I think that's why I like it so much. And the snow, you know, like going to Canada in the dead of winter when everyone else is gone. It's like, yeah, I never had that experience as a kid because you can't do that in Australia. So it's some it brings with it its own unique experiences, which I just want. Absolutely. It's an we I think we both we both get, like, so curious. And this is gonna sound really sad. But literally one of the funnest things to do we get to new places go to the grocery store. I'm glad that other people have said that. That's one of their favorite things. I always thought was a bit weird, but some other people was fun to go. I love doing that too. Yeah, I think the grocery store strangely is sort of very indicative of the culture like it. It really sort of defines how culture actually is when you go and see what's on the supermarket shelves, what you can get, like, can't get. I was like, Oh, wow. And it's 16:26   a supermarket. This is sometimes we've actually like in 16:28   drew we're doing the full blown markets with 16:31   Yeah. Pigs heads. Yeah, actually 16:33   carving up. Yep. meat in front of you fresh meat. Yep. Straight in that day. And it's like, well, it's different. 16:41   Just push your buttons at times. 16:44   But yes. 16:46   Anyway, I think I'll leave it there. I think that we've clearly defined that our driver. So maybe ask yourself, What is your driver? Is it about, you know, bucket list, ticking off tourist attractions, whatever? Or is it just the curiosity of life? And the elements? What what interests us is geography interest you to seasons and climates? And, you know, our fascination with the snow was how do people leave in like, you know, those negative temperatures? Yeah, cuz we work in Celsius. And we were fascinated because we needed to go and experience it ourselves. Yeah. To have a knowing. Yeah, right. And experience. Yeah, definitely. I think that's what it's about come either way. Whatever drives you, I think you can't not have the experience yourself. Like, that's the thing that changes you. So is that direct experience, read about it, or like, even watch about it, watch it on the TV as much light but so you actually there. You know, how you're gonna cope with it, and how you're 17:42   gonna exist there? That's sort of Yeah. 17:45   All right. So with more chats with net coming up in future, we might do a little bit of reflective on specific locations that we've been in experiences that we had, so you can live vicariously through us. But it's not so much about, we can share our stories and hopefully they'll be entertaining to you and informative. But you know, at the end of the day, you need to go out of your own. So you do. Thanks for listening. Thanks for being here, Matt. It's a pleasure. I know where to find you. Come back and get 18:13   in the next room. 18:16   We'll see on the next episode. Bye for now. 18:22   I hope you've enjoyed getting to know a little bit more about Nat and myself and what drives our roaming lifestyle. In future chats with Nat episodes, we'll be sharing more stories from our many years of nomadic living. Next up though, I catch up with the dynamic genius Suzanne and discover how her Thailand vacation turned into an entrepreneurial roaming lifestyle, a journey that actually helped me create this very podcast. We'll see you in episode nine. Transcribed by https://otter.ai/referrals/Y007ORN6

Eden Rudin started her digital nomad roaming lifestyle as an Expat living in Central America with her Nascar loving retired husband.  They've been full-time house sitters since 2015 and blog about their experience at ReallyTrulyLiving.com Eden has also launched a new House Sitting Platform dedicated to Hawaii.  You can join as a member at HouseSitHawaii.com PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION & TIMESTAMPS: 1:22 I can't believe it's taken this long to actually catch up with my birth year, twin. We both had our milestone birthdays this year in a year that is probably never ever going to be forgotten. Aiden Rudin, thank you so much for being here. And please tell me where are you? Oh, my God. 1:38   We are in Hawaii. We're in Politico Hawaii 1:41   right now. And a four month How's it? Excellent. So how did your birthday plans go? 1:47   Out the window? Well, mine was in April, early April. So things weren't quite so crazy. We're in Las Vegas at the time, I had planned on going out for a nice dinner or doing something fun and the whole town was shut down. It was just 1:59   kind of crazy. Well, I did hear a little bit about I was listening to a podcast earlier on recently with Nomad topia, and I heard a bit of a bucket list experience was going to be in an RV. So you've manifested it just not the way you thought. Exactly. Exactly. 2:16   2020 has been that right? The whole the whole thing? Yeah, we had, I had been wishing on staying in RV for a little bit. So we thought maybe for my birthday, we do like three or four nights. Just not a moving one, but just a fixed one. And it turns out this whole COVID thing, my daughter had one up in Montana that we could stay in. And we spent a month in it, which was crazy. 2:39   So it was fabulous. Alright, so talking about the 2020 impact is the reason you went to Montana because a much much desired house. It had to be canceled. 2:49   Yes, our our whole trip we had five months in Egypt. And that was all down the drain the whole trip. I mean, it was just a month to get there. And the five months it was just the whole year was planned till October. And yeah, COVID just squash all those plans. So we run a five week layover at my mom's house in Las Vegas, just kind of chilling out and caught up on things and then saying goodbye to her for five, six months, when this all came crashing down. So we ended up being at her place for two months, which when you're living in your mom is lovely, but it's a little crowded. So we're looking for something to do to somewhere to go and my daughters of Montana and said, Hey, we have this RV here. You can come stay here. And we're like, oh, really. And then I just was I was just giddy is a little girl because I had really, really wanted to do this, though to be able to experience it and have my daughter right there also who we could cook dinners with and, you know, enjoy her the experience with her. And her boyfriend and just enjoying life was fabulous. 3:51   Total Win win. 3:52   Yeah. And then while we were there, we Canadian house sitter had reached out and said, Hey, we can't take a house if it's scheduled for the summer. And because we're Canadian, we can't get there. But if any of my American friends looking for it, and it was in Hawaii, and we had not sat in Hawaii before. So we said yep. And it was a two It was a two and a half month originally. And now we're going it'll be four months by the time they get back. 4:15   Oh, so they've extended? 4:16   Yeah. twice, two months, basically. 4:19   Yeah, that's amazing. So this is your first time in Hawaii as well as first time housesitting, or no my fourth 4:25   time in Hawaii Denny's first time. And then our first time how sitting here? Yeah. 4:29   Well, I was gonna say before we get into this other thing. I'd like to kind of wind back to the Egypt house it because I mean, I guess a lot of people would sort of be sitting there listening to this going, really you can house it in Egypt. And is that possible, but this was going to be a return trip for you 4:46   as a return to the town and it was a new we hadn't started these people's home but we had sat at their neighbors just last winter. So I guess it was winter 2018 already. It's coming by so quick. So But they were their neighbors and really anywhere that ex pats live. There are honestly how sitting opportunities. I mean, it's just it's amazing. But yeah, Egypt was we were really looking forward to going back there. We're actually thinking about spending six months of their a year, we really fell in love with it when we were there for the two months. And then this five month house, it came up. I was like, Oh my gosh, really. And then it went away. But we are they're still talking about next year. Going back. They still need us at some point. We just have to get there. And and he talks about 5:28   having like a month trip going over, which is going to include some of Europe. And was it a relocation cruise you're going 5:35   through? Yep. The repositioning cruise? 5:36   Yep. All right. 5:38   And then a week in Portugal, in a week in Spain, and then fine from Spain to Egypt. So it was basically gonna take us a month to get there. Okay, so 5:45   are you out of pocket for any of these changes? Because that's like a huge change. 5:49   Yeah, we're out of pocket about about $500 total looks so bad. Yeah, no, we didn't, we got back. The cruise, we went through the credit cards and asked for refunds, and then the deposit I made with our debit card, so I don't get that back. So we're out that we have some airfare in what happened, I cancelled our reservations. And I should have just waited and let them cancel. And so the ones that were they canceled, we got our money back. But the ones that I cancelled, I just have credit hanging out. So I count that as out. Because I may never use that airfare. I still have credit. So I guess we could use it. But well, most of them are coming with timeframes. I mean, the one that we had to cancel, had a timeframe, but I did ring them recently. And they extended that time frame, which was really good. Yeah, but I'm just not sure like ours was Copa airline, which flies Panama to places because we're flying Florida, Panama to get the cruise. We don't go to Panama, and we don't really spend that much time down in Latin America. So I don't know that well. Would you ever use that mic. And another one was tap Portugal, which is a Portugal airline to go to Spain. And once we're over in Europe next year, we won't be using that so. 6:58   Well, I guess the whole point of being a nomad is being very flexible and adaptable. 7:04   Man, that is that is the word of the year flexible. I tell you, it's 7:09   the other word of the year that I heard was somebody was saying that 2020 is in future going to be used as an expletive. 7:17   It's like, no, that's the year I turned 50 I can't do that. No, I know. It'll be a memorable year. But yeah, it's it's definitely Uh oh, 7:27   just so wild. It's it's really big pictures point. It's just unfathomable people. If you look at your own everybody's individual immediate area where they're impacted even you especially housesitters looking at it, but then you think that is global. It's not just your immediate area, it's global, the whole planet has stopped us. 7:46   Well, talking of insane. I kind of think that with the amount of businesses and people that have actually, you know, losing jobs and all sorts of crazy things through this year. I because of your experience of getting to why you bought and started a brand new business. 8:03   Another it just did not even on the radar never even thought of wasn't like like rvng where I've been pondering it for a year or two. This just came out of the blue while we when we got to Hawaii, we realized that it's really is a unique place. How sets do come up here. But it's a very the people that live here have to leave. It's not like you can just get in a car and drive down the state. They literally have to fly away. So we started house@hawaii.com and we've started housesitting platform, which I just can't believe I still am kind of in chocolate. We did that because no plans of making a business from housesitting had never really been in the had been never really been in the books like I did a housesitting course last year, I'm going to run it again this year, but not really like really going out like you guys did with the Academy. It wasn't like I'm not like and then then he says we should start a platform just for Hawaii. And I really think and we're doing it 9:03   it's very exciting. It's exciting because I think the the future of hustling in itself is it's definitely about getting regional and getting specified. Because that's when you can actually be of service to both sides of the homeowners and the house sitters and you're so customer service driven it's just going to be amazing. 9:22   Well that's the thing is that you can relate to what they're going through like so somebody's house sitting in France, I you know, unless I've been there what but then the country is so different also, right? Hawaii is pretty much these five islands are pretty much the same. They I mean, there's they each had their own individualities but there's not you don't just need sneak close in one area. And you know, it's not it's the climates all all very similar. So yeah, and I really do think that with the changes, economic changes and people being grounded right now that the need to go and go for longer than they usually maybe they go for three weeks and now they'll stay for a month and a half and maybe you're not going to go to Back to mainland us, maybe you're gonna go ahead and head to Vietnam and that trip that you want because every the world's gonna be on sale, right? I mean, the prices of things are going to be once they start opening up, everybody's so desperate for tourism, and things are going to be on sale. So people are gonna want to use that money to get the experience that they can. Alright, this 10:20   is this is exciting, I'm going to differently pencil in a future date to chat with you, particularly as the world starts opening back up again. Because I think that that forecast is the kind of topic that I want to talk about to, you know, bring up the side of things of there's going to be a lot of fear in place, you know, we don't know what's going to happen. So I think these are the conversations would be good. But it'd be really nice to check in to see how has it Hawaii as a platform and as a service providing is going because yeah, everyone who's listening, this is going to be able to go along and join out. Yeah, 10:51   and and you know, people realize that now they don't have to be home for the for as a house sitters. You don't if I can work on the computer now. I don't need Why do I need to be in this house? Right? Why am I renting? Like, you know what, maybe I could go do something else? Or, you know, so I think I really think 2020 has evolved people's mind expanded their horizons, you know, some, you know, obviously, there's some negative field, but I honestly, I'm very positive person. And I really do think there's a lot of expansion, globally. That is just going the next five years, we're going to see a lot of changes. 11:23   Absolutely. All right. So let's just finish off in with exactly what you're talking about. There's been so many changes in people's minds opening up and a lot of people have been experiencing working from home. So for them to shift into that mindset of working from anywhere, what would be that kind of one tip that you could give people research? And then just do it. 11:46   Just Just Nike do it. 11:49   Don't wait around. It's, you know, every day to do it around as a day gone by? And how do you want to live your life? Exactly. And like your blog, really, truly living? That's what this lifestyle is about? Absolutely. Thank you so much, Aiden and look forward to catching up with you again very soon getting an update on house it Hawaii. And yes, this is let's just say the rest of 2020 out with more positive vibes and views and amazing things happening. I hope so. I sure hope so. All right. Take care, honey. 12:20   Bye. Bye. Bye. 12:25   Thank you so much for taking part in this special launch miniseries. I hope you've enjoyed getting to know each of my amazing guests, and we'll follow up with them online. First place to start is Aiden's brand new house selling platform. How set hawaii.com to get all the show notes and website links from this miniseries plus all future updates into roaming lifestyles.com I've also put together a library of resources to help you become a roaming lifestyle. And you can access all of these at rooming Jodie j o die.com. forward slash library. The reading lifestyles podcast will now move to regular episodes, starting with a story of how netten I woke up to realize everything we wanted was what we already had, despite the complete financial devastation we'd experienced during 2012. So I look forward to seeing you on the next episode soon. Transcribed by https://otter.ai/referrals/Y007ORN6

Vanessa Anderson is the founder of the hugely engaged House Sitting Lifestyle Facebook Group.  In 2019 Vanessa & her partner Ian Usher hosted the worlds first House and Pet Sitting Conference in the UK.  Together they publish the House Sitting Magazine which helps sitters and owners stay connected, inspired and well informed.  Be sure to subscribe to the Magazine at:  HouseSittingMagazine.com and join the Facebook Group. PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION & TIMESTAMPS 1:24 Alright, so first of all, I need to explain a term of endearment that I have for Vanessa Anderson. It is fish says because her birthday is a day before mine, and we're both pisceans. So the lessons are, where are you and where would you have been if plants hadn't rolled out as they should have? 1:42   Okay, well, we're currently in sunny Sheffield. We're up at Ian's brothers at the moment. We should have been just coming back from the Caribbean. So we would have actually been in England now. But we would have had a bit more fun in between. 2:01   Yes, and I remember that Caribbean as it was going to be. I mean, you had that plan for a good couple of years, didn't you? 2:06   Yeah, it was a repeat. So we couldn't do it that year after we first did it. But we promised we go back the second year. So we were meant to go to New York City for five weeks, then do a bit of a road trip around the states, fly down to the Caribbean, then come back and do our camper burn, which we have actually done. 2:25   So well. nearly finished. 2:28   Well that's it. I mean, we've got some some good with the unfortunate side of 2020. But before we get into that, can I just ask, do you remember because it was so long ago now, when your last fixed address was when you 2:44   had a stable home? I can't actually yeah, it was in Wales. So it was just before I met Ian. So I had a lovely little Victorian cottage on the edge of the canal in the Brecon Beacons. So it really was a nice little house, but end of relationship end of house. So 3:04   seven years ago now. Very cool. Very cool. 3:08   Okay, so let's, let's get into the topic of this conversation, which is the impact of 2020. And the thing that I'd like to ask you is not just your own personal impact business as well. But because you you represent, and, and really do hold space for such a huge community, with the house and pet sitting, you know, individuals, families, couples out there, and you've just seen so much more, I guess, impact than say, perhaps what I have, it was really strange, actually, because 3:39   both Ian and I were aware something was up in February because we've still got connections in China. So we were hearing stuff out of China about the virus and we started looking at it, I think, before a lot of other people. And we had our masks ordered back in February. So we you know, we were well on the case. But we were house sitting we were continuing to house it came to the end of a house that got down to my mom's and it started to really kick off. And it really kicked off in the Facebook group. And we started to hear from loads of house sitters that were struggling, how sets ending travel restrictions, so many problems. And we just, I think we just sort of gave up on ourselves through it. And we spent two weeks solidly answering questions, helping people on messenger just trying to work through and give people as much advice as we can find online. But what happened then, of course, was we totally forgot about ourselves and found that like three days later, there was going to be a lockdown. We've got anywhere to go. Yeah, 4:45   this is before you got the camera, wasn't it? You were still sort of? 4:48   Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So so we we suddenly had to sort of reverse and do a call out for ourselves on Facebook and say could anybody help us could anybody find Somewhere for us to stay for the next three months through the lockdown. And fortunately, we've got a lovely place down in Cornwall. So we actually had a really nice lockdown. But yeah, the impact on others was was incredible. And it all happened so quickly. I think that was, that was the thing. People just weren't prepared for what was coming. Really? 5:19   Yes, I know. And there's there's some people out there that are like, if I hear the word unprecedented one more time. Yeah. 5:28   Yeah, it's one of those 5:32   actual plans, because you were due to, you know, fly across the pond. So are you able to think or out of pocket on anything? 5:40   No, funnily enough, we managed to get everything back. So we just kept holding on and not canceling anything and just waiting for them to cancel the flight. So we got all our Norwegian flights, refunded. Caribbean Airlines Flight. So yeah, we weren't expecting to get it back. But we did get everything back. So that was great. You know, I've heard some people have had problems. But yeah, we did. Okay. 6:09   Well, at least that went straight into buying the camper van. So how's that little advance? 6:15   Well, that's, that's some that's actually been a very expensive project. Because we decided in the end that, you know, having around was maybe going to be something that would help us as we went forward. So we started to get sets again from July was once the restrictions eased. But we could see that sets were changing all the time. So we have three sets through the summer, all of those canceled, we managed to replace them with other ones. But of course, the timings are slightly different. And we thought, Well, if we get the band on now, we've actually got something that we can live in between sets, if there's a cancellation, we've got somewhere to be. And it gave a level of protection for homeowners. So if they were a bit worried about you staying in the house with them, we could stay out in the drive in the camper bad. 7:01   That's another consideration, isn't it? It's almost like a mini lockdown every time there is old handover. 7:07   Yeah, and I think we've been more careful than most Not, not because we necessarily, we obviously want to be careful. But we've been extra careful, because we know that if we get sick, we're going to impact the plans of others down the line. So you know, we see people and they sort of assume we've been out, you know, been out to restaurants, but not pubs. Maybe while it's been been open. We haven't been anywhere. We had one drink audience birthday, and that's and one meetup with some other house sitters. And that's it. That's all we've done in sort of three months. So I think Yeah, we've, we've really had to make ourselves safe for others. Oh, yeah. 7:47   So what sort of impact has it had on business? I mean, both yours as well as I mean, because really, a lot of your income has been generated from the hassling platform. Yeah, is that all died off, or How's it going? 8:01   It just disappeared for two months, it basically disappeared. But again, we sort of had the forethought on this, that that will happen. So back in March, we got in touch with our old school in China. And we reinstated our contracts to do online teaching. So as the sort of affiliate income fell off, we were able to replace it with teaching. And we had plenty of time to do it through lockdown. But then, as it only lasted about two months, so after two months, the the affiliate income starts to come in again. But I can see that going again over the next few months. So it's going to be a bit of an up and down thing like that. That's my sort of thoughts on that. 8:43   Yeah. Well, you've also got your finger on the pulse with the platforms, like how are they going? Is there anyone sort of struggling? Or are they they're just sort of seeing it through? 8:51   Yeah, I think they're all struggling to be honest. I mean, nobody's obviously going to sort of talk about their business, in depth in that way. But, you know, it has to be struggling, the whole travel industry is is is impacted by this. So you know, I feel for the smaller platforms really, because I think Unfortunately, the bigger ones are going to take more and more of the, of the business because they've got more sits at the moment. So I think the smaller ones need some support as well. And I think it's the time where we really need to be maybe signing up to a variety of sites, so not just sticking with one, you know, take as many else take as many memberships as you can afford, really across the sides, just so you've got plenty of options there because it's definitely competitive now. I mean, I had a situation where I'm so used to just guessing practically every city that we applied for, and I got refused for two and it was like 9:47   What the hell's going on? 9:50   I saw somebody else 9:51   with like loads of experience, so that as well as like that and I actually haven't done any applications at all. made today. decision that we want to rent, but But yeah, it's like seeing these people with these, like, huge resumes and always just getting it 10:08   is your humility, experience? 10:10   Yeah, definitely. 10:13   So yeah, I think we just all got to be really flexible, we've got to look at all options like you guys renting. And we were thinking that, you know, we might go back to renting through winter again, because it's quite stressful, you know, you suddenly lose a fit. And, you know, you're applying for seats that you might not necessarily normally want. You know, they might be, you know, outside your sort of normal criteria, I guess. But, you know, you've got very limited choice. So you sort of have to take what? 10:46   Who knows, I mean, maybe, maybe if he can get over to Europe and head sort of South, you might be able to just get the van through at least some of the winter now, it still gets cold in the south. But 10:54   yeah, yeah. I mean, we were meant to be heading off to Scotland this week. So we were going to do the NC 500. But it's with all the restrictions in Scotland. Now. It just feels like you know, it's a bit of a risk going up there. So. So the plan is, hopefully to go to Europe. And we've got homeowners down there. There's plenty of people that have said, they've said, you know, we've got land, you can just park the van up, hang out here for the winter. So we're just sort of weighing everything up at the moment and trying to decide what's the best thing to do. And because of the parents and family, it's, you know, so mommy's moving house, she sold her house, you know, I promised 11:32   I'd be there to help her and you think, Oh, 11:35   is that all gonna happen? So there's lots of lots of considerations, I think. But yeah, it's just adapt, be adaptable, be flexible. and have it I mean, it is it is bringing lots of sort of change and spontaneity, all the things we say we love. Yes. They're all 11:53   these Ellie's object adjectives as sort of a middle name and stuff as well. But one thing I caught up with Mike and Anne Howard, and because they got, they got trapped into in Poland, when lockdown first happened, and they're in a camper van. And when they they had that experience over there for two months, end up back in the states in their own camper van and they call it their quarantine mobiel. Because they could just go wherever they want they completely separate from everybody. 12:20   Yeah, I really do think that the camper van I did. I mean, you know, it's not cheap grew. And I guess it's not gonna be for everybody. But for us, it does feel like we've now got a little mini home again. And it's, I mean, I'm just blown away by what Ian's done. You know, he always he always amazes me with his skills in producing things. 12:42   Well, I think that I will definitely book you guys in together and we can maybe maybe leave it for another couple of months, we get a little bit of a campaign ready to go with your house sitting stories and you're owning a lot owning an island in the Caribbean at one stage. 12:59   Oh, that just seems so long ago. Now. last, 13:06   last thing I want to ask, just be before we wrap this up is for all the people out there that have you know, that there's been some people that have experienced not so great situations with their work and their employment, etc. But for those who literally just now had a taste of working from home, can you just give a brief kind of what it's like to work from other people's homes when you're a housing petsitter? It's like, would you suggest that they they consider this as an 13:36   option? 13:37   Definitely. I mean, we've been doing that for the last you know, for all our full time housesitting, so five years now, full time flowers fitting, we've been working at home. And I think what we do is when we get somewhere we we quickly sort of scope it out. So it's where it's going to become the office where you know, and two of us we've got two of us that have got to be accommodated. So that that takes a bit of planning. I think I've told the 14:00   story before we're once we had Ian on the ironing board. 14:04   So you've again, you've got to be a bit flexible. 14:08   But it's just working your your your routine around the pets, because you've got to, you know, you can't neglect the pets, obviously. So the pets got to come first their routine comes first and then we just sort of slot ours and our work time around that. And we we've realized it's important that you've got to set some space aside because at first we were just working sort of whenever we wanted to, we were getting very little time off, we were probably working more than we were before we set off on this journey. And now we actually say what we'll do two days or two days off, and we work like that. So we actually get time to relax and live the life we wanted to live in when we started out. But definitely i you know i i love the light. I still love it. You know, I know it's hard at the moment but I'm still really enjoying Doing it as you know, Ian is to you know, we keep checking out with each other and you know, we wouldn't change it and and teaching it teaching while we're on the road is great because you've got the pets the pets can become part of the lessons, you know, the kids love that. So yeah, I definitely I would housesitting, remote working work very well together, I think. 15:24   Yeah. I just love that whole idea is anybody just say it's like, oh, yeah, work from home is an idea. But we work from lots of homes all over the world. 15:33   Yeah, exactly. different views, different outlooks. And it is funny now that you know, like, I'm here, his brothers, they're both working at home. So they're downstairs at the moment, the dining room has become the office. And people are starting to say, you know, this is quite nice working at home. You know, we wouldn't mind doing this more. I think that's why the you know, they're struggling to get people back to work in England anyway. So So, you know, people are coming around to the lifestyle you and us and others who've been living for the last 10 years? That's right. 16:04   Well, that's kind of what this podcast is about. Because I do believe that, you know, even if you're not living a life of travel, you know, it's a life philosophy. It's literally about having a choice and it might only be for a short period, it might be for a longer period. But yeah, either way, it's it's a choice and it's it's it's an aspect of a freedom mindset. So that's what I'd love to talk to both you and Ian about because Ian kind of started on this path way before you and I did. Yeah, we just need to get that story. So thank you so much for this I and yeah, 16:36   good luck with the camper van. Thank you, and lovely to chat to you again. 16:41   And we'll see you on the next episode. 16:43   Okay, take care. 16:47   This episode is possibly the most important one in our impact 2020 miniseries especially for casting community net and I have worked closely with Vanessa and Ian for years and appreciate how much they do for international houses like us. Coming up in our last episode in this impact 2020 miniseries, how it changes plans sparked a new business idea Transcribed by https://otter.ai/referrals/Y007ORN6

Tim & Amy Rutherford from GoWithLess.com officially retired in 2015 at the young ages of 46 & 48. They started travel hacking shortly after but had to wait 5 years for their youngest to finish school before they could hit the road.  Be sure to subscribe to their YOUTUBE channel for weekly updates on their FIRE budget, FIRE stands for financially independent retire early. PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION & TIMESTAMPS: 1:20 When I last checked the calendar, I was blown away to think it was four and a half years ago that we met in Breckenridge, Colorado. Team, thank you so much for being here. Tell me where you are at the moment. 1:31   Thank you. So we are in Washington State in a in a Skagit County, which is near the Canadian border. 1:38   Oh, that's that's really high up then. 1:41   It's actually at the sea. So it's beautiful. 1:45   Also on the Pacific Coast, I can sort of wave up and down. 1:50   I can see you. 1:52   So I've been asking some of my other interviewees for this special 2020 impact series. Just when was the last time you had a fixed address. But you guys are literally going to be the closest I believe, 2:05   oh, my goodness, well, then I'll take that one. In January of 2020. We sold our only home because our third and last child left the house and we had been waiting for her to launch she launched and off we went January 2020. I'm gonna say 2:21   we actually have still have a fixed address. As a matter of fact, we are domiciled in Texas and so we sold our home so we don't own a home. But we do have an address in Texas 2:31   basically farm. 2:32   Yeah, that is actually a really cool thing. And that's something I want to talk to you about when we get a chance to talk a little bit further about this whole roaming lifestyle experience. Because those are the little challenges that many of us actually have to come across and work out. So Texas just take note of that everyone listening Texas is a good one. Okay, so let's get into 2020. I believe you guys had probably one of the roughest starts to nomadic living than any other person that I know has been doing this for however many years. Take us through the experience of January. Letting go of your house, where did it start? Where did it go pear shaped. 3:10   So when we our house sold really quickly, and it closed very quickly. We were closing over the holidays. And we expected it to be delayed Well, it was sped up. So all of a sudden we were without a home sooner than we expected. And that was a great problem to have. So we made our way down in our last car, and we drove down to became residents of Texas and we'll get into why that was at a future time. But we were able to hop on a cruise like a last minute cruise that we got at a great price because it was like two weeks notice. So we hopped on this great cruise and went around the Caribbean and Mexico. And on the cruise we got a little bit sick. This was in the middle of January we both got colds on the cruise. And for that from that time on we have been we had been sick, as sick as I've ever been in my life for two solid months. And during those two solid months, we got off the cruise in New Orleans we flew to San Francisco and did a house it in the San Francisco area. We got on a plane and went to Maui for a week for a house it we got back on a plane went to back to San Francisco for a week. And we went we had maybe five houses. During this time we had several houses cancel that had nothing to do with COVID. So while we've been house sitting since 2015, we had never had a house at cancel, but we had three of them cancel having nothing to do with COVID at the very beginning of our journey. And during all of this we were really really sick. So we've made some really big mistakes by filling in with just things that were too short and too much hustling and it made it even worse because at that point our car was in storage done in New Orleans when we were back on the west coast. And we were sick of dogs. 4:46   And then we flew to New Orleans baton was at 4:49   that we flew back March 14, and 4:51   that's when COVID actually happened. And that's when basically the rest of everything fell apart. We had over 200 days booked in sits and For the year, and almost every single day of that didn't happen. And so 5:05   it happened. We just had a substitution 5:07   with a sitz. abroad or in the US. 5:10   Yes, we had so 14 of our houses cancelled in 2020. And we had six in Scotland in Provence in another repeating in Maui for two months. Koala Lumpur. I mean for it 5:24   to be in Madrid, not for ship, but for an 5:26   Airbnb. So we had 14 sets, and we were supposed to be in Europe, Asia and North America in 2020. All right, and I'm sure you've 5:33   been asked this before as well. But do you think any of your illness coming off a cruise had anything to do with COVID? 5:40   Oh, oh, so Amy. Amy is convinced that she had COVID. We were tested. We had the antibody test and in North Carolina in June, and we both came back negative, 5:50   but that doesn't mean we didn't have it. So the real answer is we will never know. The differences is I had a very funny cough and they inserted Tim and the dry cough is there the Hallmark sign of COVID we did not have a dry coffee and a Flemmi cough. Otherwise, I was as sick as I've ever been in my life. And I also during that time, tested positively for influenza a for sure. So finally, after five weeks of it, I kind of relapsed. And I went in for to get tested. So yeah, so we made it we will never know. And we didn't know that COVID was was here then. And obviously it was 6:22   alright, I've got to ask them is cruising on your radar soon. 6:27   So I would go on, we're two different people. 6:31   We're not going to hop on one, obviously for a while, but I think we'll be on cruises again. 6:35   That's what Tim says, I don't know, I'm not. I'm not so sold. So we love cruises. But I mean, after our experience and seeing what's happened, the answer is I ended up with not for a while 6:48   we have a friend who's was in the Navy, he basically dug in, he says that, it basically that being on a ship is like just a big petri dish. And so when you're there, it's just that people are so close. And so anybody is sick. Oftentimes, everybody gets sick. So having been really sick, I don't want us there. Again, I think that the cruise industry is going to be a lot more in tune with making sure people aren't sick before, they are trying to make sure that people who are sick don't get on board. But 7:17   I have a feeling that those cruise ships are going to get cleaned from top to bottom immaculately before anybody starts getting on board again. 7:25   I think the problem though, is the air ducks. So we there's nothing you can really do if somebody is coughing into into the air. That's the problem. And that's why I think I'm concerned. So I So the good news is, is there are all we don't have to get on a cruise ship, there are so many other opportunities. And the world is our oyster still, even though it's limited, there's still plenty to do. 7:44   Alright, so we're gonna catch up next time, I definitely want to dive in a bit more to the mindset shifts that you've experienced during your first year. So maybe I'll wait off until towards the end of the year. So you can get like a full calendar year under your belt. But just to round this out, you guys are fire. People, please explain that very briefly. And from the aspect of what has happened in this in this incredible year, where more and more people have got the ability or have had at least the direct experience of working from home? What advice could you give both from the financial independence and retiring early and working from home. And now they're actually, you know, you're making a little bit on the side too, with your YouTube channel, 8:32   a very little bit. So. 8:35   So, but financial buyer stands for financially independent, retired early. And so there's this movement that's sort of happening. And so basically, it just means that you're you, you have the means to support yourself and you don't have to work. And you Some people choose to work in fire. As a matter of fact, a lot of people who are in this movement, or in their like young 30s, and they leave their work and or they choose not to leave their work, they continue to work. But the idea is that they don't have to work if they don't want to. So we've chosen to leave the army part. We are retired early, we're just traveling full time. And that's part of the beauty of being the situation we're in. And so part of the challenge with the timing of this is, I don't know So when did you want to check? 9:21   Okay, back in 2015, Tim and I did leave our careers I was 46 Tim was 48 years old. And we still we had three kids to wear off out of the house already. One was still at home and coming to this fire with the COVID happening. I had a sales quota I was in sales with a really intense weekly and monthly quota. And what I would think of during the the peak of COVID like the news and the fear the really bad stuff happening at the beginning of middle of March is ever been able to do my job right now. Thank goodness that we made this decision, like we were thrilled that like, I don't understand how my coworkers in my past life, were still doing their normal hustling for their quotas and, and things like that, because there was nothing that would stop that. You wouldn't just say, let's just take off two months and not do any sales, you would still have to be working and hustling hard, which I could not fathom. So I think that what we have learned is, first of all, we were happy that we retired when we did, but there's, I think financial independence is more important than ever now, with people losing jobs that they thought were their choice to keep or not, maybe it's not their choice anymore. Maybe things change a lot. And and where people look at their the shift of now they're working at home, and maybe that's a little bit like early retirement because you're at home. I'm gonna say it's nothing like early retirement, because I think early retirement is about freedom. And I wouldn't say anything about this past year has really been about freedom. Because if you're not able to go out and live your vibrant, fabulous life wherever you want, in whatever way you want to be with whomever you want to do with Well, that's not freedom. So so you being stuck at home is not anything like what early retirement is about. 11:04   Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And so there was a lot of conversation going on with this. This Cogan thing hit about, well, this is exactly what it's going to be like when you're fired, you're going to be stuck at home watching television and stuff like that is crazy. That is nothing what our retired life is like. So like Amy said, I don't have any idea how we we had time to work. So it's like we have so many things to do. There's also this, I think, a conversation about this retirement in general, nothing to do with fire. But the idea is you're just going to be somehow bored in retirement, that is insane. We have no clue how people can be bored in their retirement. So in our nomadic life, it's the next next level in terms of things to do. So we spent the past, I guess, two days sort of planning our next couple of weeks. And so we have unlimited amounts of things to do. So it's in mind. I mean, that's right. 11:54   Yeah, what I love is the fact that I mean, you know, in round figures, you guys have retired at least 20 years earlier than most. So it's like saying, this is your second chance at life. This is a whole new version of your new adult life. And there's going to be using this adult life than what there was in the previous life if you take your teenage years off, so 12:13   and We sure hope that you're right. But But as we since we've been retired for just over five years, they've also been the best years of my life. So we realized that we weren't getting any younger and now this is another thing that COVID told us tomorrow we already knew this. But we really now had hammered home that tomorrow is really not guaranteed. So what we figured is we can make some changes to our lesson big changes to our lifestyle, we can make some big changes, they weren't hard changes and while we might have thought they were sacrifices upfront, turns out that they're actually not really any big deal and in some ways we enjoyed them even more. So we enjoyed our life that was more frugal than what we used to have we enjoy it more so so I think that is the idea of tomorrow isn't promised like get out and live your life while you have your health in your and you're not getting any younger. Some people who watch our channel will say that your life sounds like it's it's what's the word that we typically deal with the it's more work than I would want to sign up for so this nomadic lifestyle 13:14   is sort of crazy. It's like why would anybody want to do that? And I think that that is there's a sort of they're missing the messaging of fire and that well you can wake up tomorrow and do whatever you want if your fire if you're financially independent, you don't have to go and travel this is just what we've chosen to do. So the beauty of fire is that you wake up tomorrow if you want to work you choose to work you don't want to work you go do what it is you want to do. So there's a there's what we were doing is not what everybody has to do if you choose to follow 13:40   and therefore I dub the roaming lifestyle as as well as fire. It is a mindset it's a mindset that goes beyond just having a travel lifestyle. It's actually a mindset to have choice. Yes sir. Thank you so much for your time I look forward to chatting again and getting to your your first one year medic anniversary. And yeah, 14:04   it'll be in 2020 beginning of 2021 We're excited to share that we've learned a lot this year we learned a lifetime of Nomad lessons in a short time 14:14   is the fast track. 14:17   I'm waiting for my super Nomad cape to come in now 14:19   we realized we were designed for this lifestyle so making it through all of this if it weren't for me so it's a 14:26   we we still are happy by the way. We're still happy we sold our house who would have wanted to have no home by choice at this time of year of what's going on. Well we we are right there. So the fact that that we still don't want to house lets us know this was our life. This is the way we were supposed to go. Transcribed by https://otter.ai/referrals/Y007ORN6

Hannah Dixon is a creative, an entrepreneur and of course, a digital nomad roaming lifestyler.  Once a VA herself, Hannah first started teaching others to do what she was doing back in 2014.  Her 5 Day VA Challenge continurd to launch successful  Virtual Assistant Freelancing careers.  Be sure to register for her next 5 DAY VA Challenge at RoamingIncome.com/va if this roaming income makes the most sense to you.  PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION & TIMESTAMPS 1:20 You know, what I think is amazing is that we've actually known each other online for I don't know, six, seven years or something. But it took right through to last year to finally meeting up. And we don't just do it once we do it twice in two countries. Yay. 1:36   I'm glad we got it in just before. 1:40   I know I know. And actually to think about it, because our second meetup where our first meetup was in Bangkok, when you were living there, and in a relationship. And then our second meetup was in New York at the start of 2020. That's true. Well, your world it already changed. So maybe that was a sign of things to come for 2020? 2:00   I think so. Yeah. 2:05   I don't even know if the question of When was your last fixed address is even relevant? Because that would be like eons ago? 2:14   Yeah. Um, my last fix address well, is where I am right now. I actually just signed the lease. 2:24   Um, 2:25   I guess like, I've stayed for like, a year in some places. So I don't know if that counts. That's the case then Bangkok last year? 2:31   Yeah. Well, what I realized was actually sort of, you know, what I know about you and I started looking at at my own life. And I thought, ah, the thing that I've got in common with Hannah the most is that before the idea of being nomadic, you and I have actually been roaming washed all of our entire lives. Yeah. You know, like you You grew up in how many countries and even when you started your working life, how many times did you move around? Like, it's just Yeah, 2:59   yeah, it's always been a priority is that same thing, case view. 3:02   I don't even know. I've never even shined the light on kind of Was it a priority, wasn't it? It was just like, it was just my, like, always. 3:12   I think that I don't know about you. But I had a moment. I definitely had a moment where I realized what I was doing. And then was like, Oh, I can choose to not do this. I'll carry on doing this. And I was like, Well, of course, I'm going to carry on doing this. So then it felt very intentional from that moment forward. But yeah, I think 3:26   before it kind of just felt like the default. Alright, so what would probably be a more appropriate question for lifetime roaming lifestyle is like you and me, would actually be like, when did you maybe take ownership of the word Nomad? 3:38   I guess as soon as I heard that term, actually, I wasn't aware that the time existed, especially like digital nomad, definitely never heard of that. And when I started working online, because I wasn't working online before I was just traveling. When I started working online, and I discovered this term, I just instantly was like, Oh, that's what I'm doing. That's what I am. And it was really easy to explain to people what I was doing and get into the community. 4:01   Yes, that makes a lot of sense. I was actually chatting with Trevor Sherry And I'm pretty sure he was one of the first guys that brought the the term location independence to me, because I hadn't actually kind of heard that either. But yeah, definitely resonate with digital nomad that sort of feels more like my, my vibe for sure. So getting into the 2020 side of things with lockdown, what's what's like, has it actually had an impact on you personally, and what about business wise, but 4:31   in different ways, good ways, bad ways, neutral ways. 4:35   To know where to start, I guess we'll start with the personal stuff. Obviously a massive change to the lifestyle. This was not what I planned to be doing this year. I'm currently in Austria, I've just signed a lease on an apartment so I'm kind of intending to stay here for at least a year. Also never saw myself in Austria, random place to be. But I'm pretty happy here. Even though I'm still itching like I think that I don't know about you. But when I've traveled so much, and I do stay somewhere for a while, I do enjoy that. But I always have this part of me that's like longing to be in places I've been before. And I think it's like, I know, it sounds really cheesy, but I do feel like I've left my heart in some places. And I think that this year is kind of showing me that I can be happy anywhere and be in love with the place, I'm at anywhere. And I don't need to be somewhere else to get that feeling. And that's something I've learned on a personal level this year is I can get that from one place. In fact, actually, just yesterday, I was talking to someone. And I said, I was just thinking in my head, you know, you Daydream and you have a good feeling. And then you go into a different thought and your cause I'm thinking about before that was good. And I was like, it was about a place and I was really happy in that place. I was like I was here. I was thinking about walking to the lake here. And I was so happy. It was that same feeling I got from when I travel more like you know, quickly. And I thought that was pretty cool. So I definitely had some personal revelations with the actual physical like staying still. That's pretty cool. That's huge. I think that's really huge. That's that's actually a pretty cool, like, kind of what those little millimeter shifts in a win. 6:06   Absolutely, yay, I'm gonna try that. 6:09   What I what I do is we're gonna take on a longer house, it's we've both met, and I have found that we have this sort of cutoff point that somewhere between three and four months, we start looking at leaving, as opposed to staying present where we are and enjoying the rest of the time. Yeah, 6:25   yeah, totally get that. 6:27   All right. So on a business level, what's been going on? 6:30   I'm having my best year in business ever. I'm not gonna lie, quite proud of it. 6:36   Um, well, I mean, I train virtual assistants. And there's so many people at work right now. And so many more people coming through my doors. And I'll be honest, I'm getting just as many rejections in terms of buying my offers. As as I am people actually buying. It's interesting, like, but also having like, 6:53   quadruple even more than that 6:55   people come to me. So I am busier than ever, I'm stretched to full capacity. But I'm making the most money I've ever made. I'm helping way more people I've ever helped. I'm having to restructure and make new products. So it's like there's a lot of transition. But ultimately, it's already positive. And I just, I actually feel really grateful that I am in a position where I have work right now. Not only do I have work, but I have work that's helping other people get work, which I think is really cool in terms like now. So yeah, I'm doing really good business. 7:27   Well, from the perspective of, you've got like the two pronged approach to business, you've got the helping people become virtual assistants, but then you actually are talking to companies and entrepreneurs and businesses that require virtual assistants. So has that been on the increase as well? 7:44   Yes, I'm getting less people. So I have like a paid matchmaking service, I'm getting less people go through the paid matchmaking service, but more people coming to me to hire us is interesting. So what I've done is I've actually made that free now. And so I've been posting a lot more opportunities into my student group. And I actually asked my students recently, because I've got all these opportunities coming through, but like, are they actually hiring these people afterwards? Because I'm not involved in the process anymore. And so I asked him, where I was like, how is business going for this year, like, I'm really interested. And like business is booming for most of them. Like there is a big demand. And I think that people think there wouldn't be, but there are so many companies, companies that have to get online very quickly right now. And they require and maybe it's not ongoing view assignments. But there's a lot of like consulting from VA is going on. Like, here's how you get online. Here's how you use these tools here. How do you communicate remotely? So like, yeah, it's booming. It's really booming. 8:40   And I don't I'm at the point now where I don't necessarily need the money for that service anymore. So I've made that free, because there's just so much going through that. So yeah, I think being a virtual assistant right now is a really, really good profession to be in, like I'm seeing the impact of blindness. It's pretty awesome. Absolutely. And you change the focus from being I mean, you still got digital is the home base for everything, but by calling your business, next level virtual assistants, or at least that community side of things. Have you found that? I mean, outside of travel restrictions right now, but have you been attracting just as many work from home people as well as those interested in travel? 9:19   Yeah, absolutely. In fact, a few of my few of my newer students have been sharing what I'm offering and some, like unemployment groups, like in the states in different states. There's one in New York, we had, like, 2000 people come through our doors just from that group. Um, so yeah, definitely. It's probably about equal right now. 9:36   Oh, my God, I'm so happy for you. That is amazing. I can totally understand that. The need to kind of restructure and like Yeah, right. Yeah, your cup is full and overflowing. 9:56   So Wow. Like this is this is probably the most amazing 2020 impact story that I've had, because it's like, things have flowed for where you want to live, you know, realizing who you are in the world, you businesses Great. So yeah, it's not 10:14   all doom and gloom like, has there been? 10:16   Has there been any kind of aspects to even just social distancing and wearing masks and all that kind of stuff that like to just feel normal? Or you kind of like, Oh, we should be over now. 10:31   Obviously, I wish it would be over by now. Because I do want to travel. Don't get me wrong. I've got a place if I intend to do lots of European travel. And I think for me, personally, I think I've just, I felt a lot of heaviness this year. And I think that's just a collective heaviness that's going on. Knowing that there's so much fear in the world knowing that there's so much and I'm feeling it, too. I don't think anyone isn't feeling it. I think that would be silly to assume that anyone's fine right now. Because I think subconsciously, there is this fear going on. And we're all operating from, from that fear in some degree. And I think that's the thing that gets me a little bit as I look at, you know, you've got people protesting, you've got so much division in so many different areas of the world, right now you've got Black Lives Matter going on, you've got the bloody American elections, apparently, the rest of the world has to care about all time. We've got COVID-19, we've got people who say it's not a real thing, we've got government's doing this stuff. And it's just like, a lot of division. And I feel like that's pretty heavy. And I feel, you know, sometimes, I've been known to like a conspiracy theory or two in my time. So I think I sometimes get sucked into stuff a bit. And then like, my head gets a bit like, I don't know what's happening. And I hate the uncertainty. But I'm living I'm like, learning to just be like, you know what, I have to just hope that whatever is happening, and whoever's in charge, has everyone's best interests at heart. And I know that I'm fine in my little world. And maybe that's a very selfish way to look at things. But I think that's the only way I can right now. So yes, I think like, emotionally it's had a toll on me. But I think overall, the good is outweighing the bad, for sure. 12:05   Yeah, absolutely. Look, thank you so much for your time today. I definitely want to have you back on and talk about this a little bit more, because you've brought some really really good stuff up there. And, and even just the word selfish to me is like actually, the bubble that each of us all live in, like when we actually look at kind of this is our reality right now, like does all the other realities even exist? Because there is outside of things like fake news conspiracy theories, it's kind of like, We're finally in control of what we can see feel touch in our little sphere, then that's all we really need to focus on. So you've been raised some really cool points, and you are helping heaps of people, as you said, so I don't think there's any selfishness there whatsoever. 12:46   Thank you. Thanks for having me. It was great. 12:54   Isn't Hannah just awesome. Be sure to register for her next five days be a challenge at roaming income.com forward slash VA if this roaming income makes the most sense to you.  Transcribed by https://otter.ai/referrals/Y007ORN6

This episode kicks off our launch mini series about the Impact 2020 has had on Roaming Lifestylers.  Mike & Anne Howard are the authors of National Geographic's Ultimate Journeys for Two, (a book that Nat & I also appear in), authors of Falcon Guides Comfortably Wild and Travel Bloggers at Honeytrek.com. They are known as the worlds longest honeymooners and are literally the most well travelled couple we know.  They embrace all that world travel has to offer and you can discover what they've done, where they've been and all the different types of travel they've experienced when you visit their award winning travel blog HoneyTrek.com.   PODCAST TRANSCRIPT: 1:19  Mike & Anne how the devil are you and where the devil are you? 1:24   Oh, man, we are doing good. We're doing good. We're still on the road. We're actually we've been now three and a half years and buddy that camper and we're in Minnesota, which is our 49 states so we're super pumped to get one more week we'll be in Wisconsin. 1:38   Yeah. That's really cool. Say has this been a plan for a while like it? Yeah, 1:43   it's really been an eight year journey since we like quitter jobs sold our stuff and set out around the world. And that was really five years of backpacking and how sedang and then we bought the camper which we still do pair with some house sitting we also ditch the camper and, and go abroad. But the camper and both house setting really helpful because we written two books in the process. So that's been good to kind of settle down. But meanwhile, we have a house on wheels. So we move pretty much every day, even through the pandemic we've been moving. 2:13   Well, I was gonna actually ask when was the last time you had a fixed address? December 2011 was like our last apartment, or fixed address anywhere. 2:24   Brilliant. And now of course, you just got the house on wheels. Fantastic. So in this actual episode, I do want to talk about the impact that 2020 has had on roaming lifestyle is I mean, we're an unusual breed as it is. But this has been a crazy year. So take me back to what the original plans were when it was still February in March. We were actually 2:45   I know you're down in Baja. Now we were in Baja, in January and February. And then right towards the end of February, we had a big road trip around Baja. And we got invited to speak in Sicily in early March. So like the second week in March, and at a big travel bloggers conference. So we basically sped out of Baja, our flight was out of Austin because we then needed to get to another conference we were speaking at in, in Louisiana. So we drove we flew out of Austin we spent up there, got on a plane when we got on the plane The conference was on. And when we landed in Germany, which was the first leg of the trip, the conference had been cancelled. So we basically got stuck there decided to rent a camper van we went with this company, Indy campers, and we're gonna do like a two week road trip around Eastern Europe while the whole pandemic thing you know, everybody's 3:41   waiting. And you know, it was just really an Italy thing. At that point, we thought, you know, well, you have to think on your feet, right? When you're like having the roaming lifestyle, like things change all the time. So we're like, conference cancelled. We have a three month ticket in Europe. Let's not waste that make the most of it. Let's take a camper van trip around Europe because we've been loving it around North America. Let's try a new continent. So we thought we had like the world by the tail and Eastern Europe where 4:08   we're gonna do like six countries that on March 16 or 17th the borders shut and we got locked in Poland. For two full months we were in this RV in Poland because flights were just so crazy expensive. And it was a fun adventure. I mean, fun is in air quotes there. 4:24   But yeah, it was just it was total mayhem because like Yeah, all the services were shot right not not a hotel, a campground couldn't get water like everything was completely shut. So we had to be incredibly self sufficient, which I feel like we're well suited for having been RV years and world travellers. We were ready for, you know, just the total chaos that was but lemons to lemonade. Yeah, it was actually a great three months in total in Europe. 4:47   I knew I'd read some of your story because your blog is incredible. The You know, I'm literally if you listen to this for the first time, you've never met my command before. You've got to follow honey trick. We've got the most credible writers and photographers here. So in an upcoming episode, we'll definitely get more into your story and how will they started for you. But I remember reading that blog post going, what I mean, we had it so easy. I mean, our home and I got stuck in, we're in Canada in Quebec at home and got stuck in Canary Islands. We're like, oh, let's talk some again, everything just fell into place really easily. We got everything covered and hooked down to Mexico, on Easy Street, six months where the houses, you guys were literally the polar opposite. 5:28   Totally. And now that we're back in the States, we got back on June 1, we've actually been to 15 different states, but we're kind of in our little quarantine mobiel. Because even though it's a camper, it's kind of our little home on wheels. So we're still out there exploring and but that's been its own crazy, you know, craziness. While many people aren't travelling, and we're like, still kind of, 5:46   I mean, we're fortunate that we knew how to do the RV lifestyle. We also love the outdoors. So it kind of was like, well, not honestly, that much changed for us, because we were still able to travel because we had our own wheels and housing. And we love kayaking and hiking and biking and we're not big city people. So you know, we definitely made the most of it and just got deeper into nature this summer because we weren't doing the, you know, restaurants and concerts and such. So it's worked out okay, but yeah, you have to be resilient for sure. 6:17   I mean, one thing I would point out to any of your audience that is thinking about like shaking up their life or you know, changing things up with COVID and looking for a new way to do it. The RV lifestyle you know, I want a smaller viewer and a 21 footer but we've been in it for three and a half years full time together. And yeah, we might take a hike and is in a different direction every once in a while. But it's so cool to do and it's so affordable like our burn rate is under $1,000 a month and most of that is gas because we explore like crazy people but we you know we stay on BLM land we cook our own meals we're vegan so that like keeps our costs down and is a very affordable way to live and still explore or write or run your side hustle from the back we basically were sitting in honey trek headquarters right now both our laptops are here usually we turn on the Wi Fi hotspot and we work away 7:08   we charge off of that so we don't even need to be tethered into a campground or plug because we were self totally self contained. It's you know a pandemic definitely prove that that is more as self sufficient as you can be the better because even normal RV years had problems because campgrounds are closing well you don't need campgrounds and you got your own bathroom shower water. We didn't need anything from anyone 7:30   but we do still house it like you'll be happy to know that you know an RV still doesn't come with its own dogs and cats and you know fun spices in the cabinets. So we've done how sitting in Honduras since we've had the RV we did an awesome one in Utah for two months last winter. So we'll either will either park that camper in the homeowners you know driveway and go enjoy some pets for you know, a few weeks or a few months or we'll park it at a long term storage for 100 bucks a month and hop on a flight like we did we went Honduras Guatemala El Salvador for three months last winter so it's not like you're tied to it which we thought it was gonna be like a ball and chain but we just leave it and hop on a plane. 8:08   Yeah, that's cool with the Was there any kind of compensation or anything while you're in Europe though like because you were paying for your your camper there but he didn't go overseas, but 8:19   he can just now have the turning radius for the mediaeval streets, unfortunately, but that company 8:23   handicappers, who like we just can't praise them enough because they were so good to us like it was a two week rental. At the end of the two weeks, we were like, Hey guys, we're still locked in Poland, they're like, keep it another week, your safety is most important end of the three weeks, we still couldn't get out of Poland that went on until the eighth week, when they didn't even have, they were like, oh, we're gonna start to rent it soon. So whenever you can get it back. So we basically they gave us an extra six weeks to have it just like they were so good about that. And then the cost of like food is gonna be anywhere. We didn't we drove a 8:54   lot of getting so little like marketing social media as of as as a thank you. So what's it like to witness will be the case for everybody. But you know, we've been running a social media business for a year. So we worked it out. They were incredibly kind and very easy to work with. It's just lovely people with really sweet cameras like a 2019 versus my 1985. I got a little slow. 9:14   That's awesome. All right. So I just yet I'm really glad you clarified that that was like a battery exchange DLS which, of course is something that for anybody interested in who hasn't already become a lot of running lifestyle, the path that you guys have gone down with regards to building your blog, building your social media audience building your following bilinear influence has enabled you to have some of these contra deals. 9:39   Yeah, no, totally. And it's it's a two fold thing in the beginning. You do it, maybe it is a barter, we still do barter to this day. If it's something awesome like a road trip that we just think of on a Thursday and pick up our camper on a Sunday. And other times we get paid to do it but in the beginning, you definitely do it as a boarder for that amazing experience and then maybe that turns into your business or You're running another business while you're having these cool experiences. So, you know, it's a hybrid, it's not you just don't jump in and make money on it right off the bat. 10:07   And you can't get into any of this for money anyway, you truly have do it for the love of travel. And like, when things come your way, it's great, but you know how to, like have adventures on your own and live simply and keep your burnout low. So it doesn't matter if like hangings don't come all the time because you know how to live a simple lifestyle and still have fun. 10:24   Okay, so to round this out, final piece of advice for anybody who is who's had to be forced into working from home during lockdown of 2020? would you suggest taking it outside of just the home and working from anywhere? 10:43   Yeah, for anybody who has ever been thinking about a new business wanting to either house it or get an RV or travel full time or be a writer or whatever you want to be? This is the best thing that ever could have happened to you. Because not only do you learn that you can work from home, but your boss then learns that you can work from home my brother just took 11:03   home. Yeah, you can redefine home. Just because you have to work from home does not mean it seems to be your normal address, you should absolutely take the time to get a new view a new, you know, you can be inspired by a whole new change of scenery. And you should do it because maybe we do all have to go back to work. Well, some of us hopefully not, or we won't. But anyway, January 1 could come and it could be like be back at work on Monday, you better use this time to get out there because it might not be like this. Again, we hope the world heals. And for various reasons. We hope it gets better, but seize the moment for what it is and go out there and try a new location. 11:36   Absolutely. Well, I hope you'll come back and chat with me again, not just about your incredible experiences over these last What is it eight, nine years now of being a completely location independent rooming lifestyle super couples still on their honeymoon? I'd love to actually get your opinion on what's going to happen with the world borders. So can we keep that as a as a tease for next time? Oh, yeah, we will look forward to it. You let us know when? Awesome, thank you so much, guys. Have a great time. And congratulations on getting to your 50th state what within the next couple of days. 12:16   See you guys on the road. 12:22   I hope you enjoyed this first episode of our impact 2020 miniseries, Mike and Howard I literally the most well travelled couple that we know. They love embracing all that world travel has to offer. And you can discover what they've done, where they've been, and all the different types of travel they've experienced over the years when you visit their award winning travel blog, honey trick.com. Next up, my special guest is the host of the top reading travel podcast, extra pack of peanuts. Yes, it's Travis Sherry. And even though he missed out on the summer full of international travel, he actually gained a whole lot more. So we'll see you in Episode Two. Transcribed by https://otter.ai/referrals/Y007ORN6

Ana & Sergio from Naranjarte.com are puppeteers and circus performers who've been on a world tour educating kids for the last 3 years.  2020 has seen them shut down one of their businesses and open up a whole new opportunity to return to the workforce in a foreign land. We loved meeting up in Malaysia in 2019 with two of the most caring and incredibly talented performing artists. If you'd like to know more about their world tour of performance education, please visit Naranjarte.com. PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION TIMESTAMPS: 1:22   Ana and Sergio, it's so good to see you again. I can't believe it's been over a year since we were together in Malaysia. 1:29   That's right. 1:30   Yeah, we were actually commenting on that. Like, we're so lucky to finally meet us like face to face. 1:37   It was amazing. And I was thinking oh my gosh, you were teaching us tricks and illusions. And then we met one of your characters. And anyway, where are you now? That's the most important thing. Where are you right now? 1:51   We're here in New Zealand in North Island. A very close to Cambridge, close to Hamilton. That's right. 1:59   Why New Zealand? 2:01   New Zealand was our chosen country after our our finished World Tour.  2:07   Yeah, we started traveling in 2017. arrive here for the first time in 2018. Just with like a tourist visa, we're performing around doing lots of house sits and we loved it. We came back for a project at the end of every second year and beginning of 2020. We're landing in again here in January fifth 2020. But we didn't know we were going to be here for so long.  2:39   so before we get into that, I do need to ask I'm just for a very quick background. If anybody hasn't met you as yet. Tell us about your performances that you do. 2:49   Yeah, well, we are we are a puppeteer circus company. And we started a project research around the world schools in September 2017. And so far, we have done more than 200 shows around different schools, venues, events, and visited 14 different schools for the research in 14 different countries in four continents in these three years. Now we're writing a book of all this process. 3:21   That's amazing. All right. So now that brings us to the 2020. So the 2020 impact. So we of course met through housesitting, we have a house sitting course and you have a house sitting course. But of course everything changed with 2020. So what happened for you guys? And how have you been allowed to stay in New Zealand considering you have Spanish passports? 3:44   Yeah, that's right. So we arrive in January. So COVID didn't hit yet. Right having here. So um, all the people that arrived in that day in had an extension of basis until the 24th of September. So yeah, that in that, at that point was like, oh, okay, so we don't have to go out from here. So we can, we decided to cancel our trip to Australia. We were about to leave. Yeah, we've got a house sitting in Australia. We cancelled that definitely. And then we say okay, let's see what's going on here. What am let's, let's strive for a longer visa. And then we will realize that we could apply for a work visa. And that's why we 4:35   we decided to Yeah, we decided to stay to settle down a little bit in New Zealand because we love this place as well. We had already some friends and we thought well if we because traveling was going to be possible for a long time. We thought let's better stay in this very safe place, which is New Zealand and lots of changes of course. We had an online course that you said about traveling, travel hacking. So it was directly affected. We recently had to close the company that we had opened last year as well in Asia. So it was lots of challenge, lots of challenges decision making, but I think 5:19   quick decisions. Yeah, 5:21   like being normal gave us like the opportunity or the chance to be resilient, in a way so we adapt to changes and try to get the best out of it. And here we are now, 5:33   and just definitely, as you said, with a Spanish passport we just released in March, we read a Yeah, news that, that said that, like more than 54 countries just don't allow then the entrance to Spanish people and another 54 countries that just like we need a quarantine just for being astonished, you know, 5:55   and it just it just crazy, because you hadn't even been back to Spain, and you'd been in Asia for a year you'd be in Australia and New Zealand. But because of that passport, you were being blacklisted. But But COVID was was a hot spot in Europe to start with. So I mean, obviously, you had no desire to go back either. No. Dia. Alright, so from the project standpoint, because you do a lot of performing in the schools, but the school shut down too. So you couldn't even do that. 6:29   Yeah, actually was quite well, planning. It was like at first the 15th of March, we did our last performance like a next weekend, we Charlie went to level level four before the highest restriction here in New Zealand. We had some other shows programs programmed in events and markets that were canceled, of course. So it was like suddenly, in one month, all our income plans, everything room went down. And thanks to as well like living in a way no monthly and being house eating for two months in a previous house. The homeowners talk to their son, there's some callers, you have, you have a house on the beach, you go to my house. So we're living in our van, and they say you get the keys, the keys are hidden there, you know, behind the bush. So we went there, then they lend us a beautiful house in front of the beach for three months. So we were super lucky. Again, the magic of Yeah, good people. And when you move all the time as well, do you mean wonderful people, and if you've been a house IT team for some time for a long time to get to be to build a trust. And it was, well one of the best experiences with all these changes, like thousands of people were dying in our country. Every day, the news were terrible, at least we had our bubble up base of mine and in nature in a common place to think about everything and to not to decide what to do what not to do. And yeah, 8:09   that's amazing. And New Zealand literally has been one of the safest places. Yeah, because they look down so early. So I do recall seeing you actually helping entertain some of our nomadic community with your videos. So with with the pivot of all these things happening, you know, were you able to pivot with your business or you've just sort of focused on getting a job for the visa? What what's been your primary focus? 8:32   Yeah, Brandon, my focus was to get to get to stay here. So that was just through the work visa. So we start like gathering all the paperwork to get their work base and seeing what how many. Yeah, I was I was doing all that process. You know, I was helping her but then 8:52   I was we mainly had to decide like for 8:55   a month, right? 8:57   Yeah, because for digital nomads, we couldn't get a visa. Yes. So only if you are like an intrapreneur. With big business with lots of money from you can get a visa in the country. So we realize like with our small still online business, but it was it was what we were getting for the last year our incomes from and everything. But of course, it wasn't like a huge business for to enter our country. And to get a visa, we realized we needed to a normal visa work visa and to get back for some time to other kind of job opportunities. But because of the older research educational purposes and everything, we realized that there was like a demand for teachers in the country. And because I'm a teacher qualified teacher in Spain, we thought, Okay, let's try this way. And it was amazing idea and I ended up in a very innovative school. So we are kind of still developing what we started initially and it's I don't know it's like closing this circle we thought, well, it's kind of Yeah, closing the circle we already started. And yeah, as I said, taking the best out of a dancer if you are a circus performer and started developing the online more towards our initial project, the artistic one. So he's been working as well, part online and also developing some projects for schools to be able to work as an artist in some schools here in New Ceylon and doing some farming jobs and yeah, so really, I'm picking us Paraguay also begun asparagus, you adapting, adapting you? 10:39   Like you say, it's the resilience, flexibility. I mean, that's what this lifestyle brings and said, Yeah, I have to say, Your English is spectacular. Now. 10:50   You have console. 10:55   Glad to tell that because, you know, I'm taking the exam, I think in a few months, and I had to make a I had to give it a boost. You know, let's say cool. 11:05   No, well done. No, I New Zealand New Zealand suit you guys. Thank you. Alright, so can you say yes to me for a longer interview, we can catch up about some of your experiences next time. 11:21   Oh, Lovely. 11:23   Lovely. Honor. Like if you wouldn't be for it would it wouldn't have been for you? Yeah, not, I don't know, we wouldn't have discovered this magical world No, of Joe's sharing a house, living with animals and a whole new world that they have to guess where we are now. So everything is related. And you are very, very important part of it in our journey. 11:51   Thank you so much as absolute pleasure knowing you and having you in our lives as well. So we look forward to seeing you on our next interview. Just one final word for anybody who has been forced into experiencing what it's like to work from home. would you suggest that they try working from anywhere? 12:09   Yes. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Try. Always dare to try. 12:16   Be prepared for certainty and freedom. 12:20   Oh, I love that. Yes. Thank you so much, guys. 12:24   Thank you Jodie 12:30   I hope you enjoyed this episode with two of the most caring and incredibly talented performing artists. If you'd like to find out more about their world tour of puppetry and circus performance education, please visit patreon.com that's in a ranjt.com. In the next episode, I catch up with a digital nomad whose business has exploded in 2020 and seen her in mist in Austria to write out these bizarre times. Transcribed by https://otter.ai/referrals/Y007ORN6

Travis Sherry from the Extra Pack of Peanuts podcast, travel hacker extraordinaire and co-founder of Location Indie and Lifestyle Launch Academy shares his silver lining experience of world lockdown in this second episode of our Impact 2020 launch mini-series. Outside of all his business accomplishments, Travis really is a boutique brewery buff and we do look forward to sharing a beer flight with him and his lovely wife Heather in the near future (to meet his adorable kids as well).  Travis has provided a great resource for anyone looking to start a side hustle that can replace your job and allow you to have complete location independence.  You can download the guide at locationindie.com/side PODCAST TRANSCRIPT TIMESTAMPS: 0:57   Alright, so I'm having this weird relationship with time right now because it was like, okay, it was any couple of years ago that the last time we spoke was on a live stream and funnily enough, I was in Mexico, but then I realised Travis Sherry, who is the boutique brewery King, we did a big flight in Breckenridge five and a half years ago. 1:41   Wow. No, I can't I in time, you know, I have Heather around me. She's an amazing wife. But one of the things she's best at is helping me remember either how long ago things were or not how long ago things are. If you're talking time, Jodi, I am probably worse than you. I'll be like, Oh, yeah, that was like a couple months. Guys. Like that was three years ago. Whoops. Okay, well, so five and a half years, five and a half months, five and a half days ago, it all seems the same to me. 2:07   What the craziest part is that your life has been completely changed around like, you know, a dad of two. Congratulations. 2:17   Thank you. Yeah, that's, that's probably the biggest I mean, that is the biggest change for sure is, you know, when we were meeting five and a half years ago, and then when we hung out in Breckenridge a few other times closer to that, and all that. Um, yeah, no kids and kind of just flying by the seat of our pants and going where we want wherever the wind blew us similar to you and and that but you know, we weren't house sitting at all the time. But yeah, now we have two kids who are a little more bumped in, compared to normal people, you know, God, like, they're like, right, you're bumped in this is you're plugged in, but for us, that's, uh, you know, we're we're nesting a little bit. But um, yeah, things have changed to kids. They're great. They're crazy. But yeah, lots of good stuff on the business side, lots of good stuff on the travel side. And of course, on the family side, too. So it's been a good five and a half years since we last had that beer. 3:04   That's crazy. We got to do it again soon, because I really want to meet those two little gorgeous babies, as they are just beautiful. So the thing that this little episode, I know I'm going to get you back here because you've got so much to talk about cuz roaming lifestyle is for me is a philosophy. And something that I realised are catching up with Hannah Dixon actually, was that there is a point at which you kind of take on another label of Okay, am I a digital nomad? But I also remembered that you were the one of the first people that first brought the term location independence to me, and that was kind of like, Oh, yeah, okay, that makes sense. And it goes, you can talk all about location India in a moment, but the element of being a roaming lifestyle and having that philosophy, I feel you're a little bit the same too, because sort of like going way back before you even first went to Japan. Was this kind of like part of your DNA? You think? 3:54   It's funny? I know, it's that nature nurture question, right of like, was I born a certain way or, because for me travelling wasn't really that much of my lifestyle up until, let's say, really, when I was 27, and I went to Switzerland to do an internship after getting a master's degree, and that's the first time I lived abroad. And then like you mentioned, that kind of snowballed, and we're living in Japan and we started travelling, start a travel site, all that it's, I don't know, I don't know, because I have a twin sister. This is interesting, who then moved to Spain and live there for six years, but neither of us grew up travelling, you know, other than a few occasional trips in the US. Our parents weren't big travellers. They like travelling and they travel a lot now because they come to see us and we kind of push them do it. They enjoy it. But it wasn't like both of us ended up living in different places and having these roaming lifestyles, because that's how we grew up. It was very far from how we grew up. So I guess in that case, maybe it is more nature versus nurture, right. Both of us as twins ended up doing it. A few other siblings who have travelled a little bit, but not as much as my sister. Nice. So I guess I guess it is DNA how I got it? I don't know. Well, 5:09   it's gonna be interesting in the next 10 years, let's say to ask that question to your son, because I believe he's got quite a few passport stamps already. His little sister's missed out a bit because of 2020. I'm assuming 5:20   she has Yeah, she's been out of the I mean, she's been to Canada, I believe. And that's it. So yeah. COVID has kind of, you know, waylaid her passport stamps and a bit of her international travel. But I likewise, I'm very interested Jody to see like, what's it like, if you grow up in a lifestyle, where travel is the norm, or living abroad or live or, you know, kind of having a home base and going off of that, which is what we do now? Is the norm for them? How will they react to that, and, you know, getting to see how much they like it. And of course, when they're older, they can tell us, hey, maybe we don't want to do this. And we're gonna have to take their opinions into, at least into consideration. So we'll see. It's an interesting experiment. Let's call it that. 6:03   I love it. Well, let's focus on the topic of the 2020 impact. Because I guess from you know, not just the travel side of things, but there's a lot that's gone down this year. So from an impact from both personal standpoint being, you know, the parents of a new little baby as well, and the business side of things. So what, can you summarise it for me, 6:26   I will try to summarise it as best as I can, or anyone can summarise that the craziness has happened. But I would ultimately say if we're looking from a big picture perspective, it has been a positive experience for us. Now, that's not to say there haven't been hard things. And thankfully, we've all been healthy and and my family and AWS has been healthy. But looking at it as how it's affected us. I'll start with a business one, we have two businesses, two main businesses. One is a travel website called extra pack of peanuts, and the travel podcast, the other teaches people how to be location independent and build and grow location independent businesses, so that they can leave their nine to five and transition into something that gives them more freedom. So if you look at those two things, you're like, well, I can guess which one might have had a positive growth and which one might have had a negative growth, right, the travel site. Thankfully, the podcast has stayed pretty steady. But you know, I haven't even checked the traffic to the travel site. And one of the positive things about that is that I was already trying to balance two things. And this gave me the opportunity to step back from that a bit and say, Alright, the stuff you're going to do, or you felt like you should, that's like an entrepreneur's curse, right should do with extra pack of peanuts. Well, because COVID is here and people aren't travelling, who cares, you don't need to do it now, shift focus over to helping people build location independent businesses remote work, which obviously is becoming a huge buzzword and all that. And so we were already looking to maybe transition some of our mental energy and our time over there. And this just gave us a nice clean break. And so we have seen a really big, dramatic increase in the stuff that we're doing. And we launched a new course. And we've run challenges and all that good stuff that had COVID not happened and kind of forced us to go after the things we were proud when it's privatised anyway, might not have happened that quickly. And so from a business perspective, that has been really nice. It's it's focused my mental energy, from a travel perspective, almost in a positive way as well, like we had planned to basically be Go Go going from April, all the way through October, wedding in Panama, a couple conferences in the US, we're going to be in Bulgaria in August, we're going to be in South Africa right now in September. All that's great. And, you know, we chose to do all those things, but because we couldn't, again, it's helped the business grow. Because it's given us more time to sit and be calm and focus on that. But we also then put a house at the beach here in North Carolina, which had was a dream for us and probably not, would not have been realised how do we begin Go Go going because we would have been out of the country not had the mental energy to do it, maybe not have the financial wherewithal to do it. So I'm looking at it as a positive thing. It's slowed us down in a lot of ways. And I need that sometimes to happen. And you know, it took COVID to maybe make me realise that 9:23   I love it. You did a fantastic job at summarising all of that, and both sides and even wearing the T shirt. If you're just listening. It says side hustling. And so perfect. So with regards to that sort of side hustle side of things, have you found that the people being attracted to the idea of being location independent, the people that want to or were already being forced into working from home that are maybe thinking Oh, if I'm working environment, I'm kind of used to or the bosses letting me be here. You know, do I do a side hustle or do I just sort of become location independent and take this further? 9:56   Yeah, I think this has been a really cool way that it's crispy. lives in our head and also in a lot of people's heads. So, you know, I didn't have the opportunity to side hustle necessarily, I had a full time job, I got put in a position where I ended up quitting pretty spontaneously because I was promised something and they went back on it, I was just like, I'm done with this, I'm going to become an entrepreneur. And, you know, five years later selling vacuum cleaners door to door saying, like, well, this isn't exactly what an entrepreneurs lifestyle look like to me when I said I was going to do this. And so a lot of time and effort and money, and I made a lot of painful mistakes, it took a while to kind of grow out of that and build something that now I'm super proud of, and, and does well for us and I get to do what I love. But what I've came come to realise is that, man, there is no better way to do it than starting something on the side while you have your job while you are in a similar situation. So you're not uprooting everything and saying, yep, I'm taking this crazy leap. And let's hope it works. You're not pulling the safety net out, you're saying, Let me start something up. And this is what our programme does now is like, let me start something up on the side with a plan to transition out of my nine to five or, you know, people are listening, they're like, well, nine, nine to five in out of your, what your life looks like now, to say, Alright, in two years, I want it to look like this. And here's the plan to get there. I you know, I didn't have that plan. I didn't have that kind of system in place when I started and it was much harder. And so what we've seen happen, because of COVID is a lot of people are getting a little taste of that maybe like, Oh, you know, I always knew I wanted more freedom. And I wanted a roaming lifestyle. But I I didn't ever think was possible. I had no idea what it even felt like I just knew I didn't want this cubicle work, right. And now they're like, oh, I've got a taste of it. Because I'm working from home and I don't have to commute. Well, that's cool. But there's also these other parts of it, I don't like I might not like my boss, or that I have to work a certain schedule, or the work I'm doing I'm doing it for a big company. And that doesn't really fulfil me. And so it's like, well, let's keep removing the pieces that you don't like, and filling them in with things that you do like, so that instead of maybe a five or six out of 10. And I use those numbers God because when we ask people when they come into our ecosystem, like how satisfied are you with your current job? And a lot of people I thought would say like one or two out of 10 I don't know why even assume that because even in my job when I was a high school teacher, I was like a six out of 10 there was stuff I liked and stuff I didn't like. And most people are falling in that five or six level. And you know, if you're one or two fine, if you're seven fine, but we feel a lot of people are like I'm content to a point, but I want more. And so we just say okay, cool, you're five or six, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, and like start from scratch and be at a zero and have to build up to attend. Take the things you like about what you're doing. Keep them start removing the pieces you don't like and because of COVID Some people have already got to see some of those pieces they didn't like removed, whether it be a commute that was you know, awful. Whether it be I just don't like going in the office every day. Or like, you know, I could do this work from a different location. And now I'm able to so yeah, it's really helped people realise that they can start a side hustle and get it moving and come up with a plan so that when they eventually quit their job, it's not like you went from zero to step 15. All at once, it's step 14 to 15, because you've taken those other 14 steps over a year or two, however long your plan is. And now it's just the culmination of it. Not this crazy leap. You know that that's the biggest thing I had, I had this massive aha the other day in 2012. I remember reading an article that said by 2020 now just like take yourself back in time to 2012 guy, man 2020 seems so far away. And it said that by 2020, up to half of the US workforce could be location independent, or remote working. And bang, here it is. It's like this amazing destiny path that created this opportunity for people exactly. Like I say, get a taste of it to be able to say, Well, if I can do it here, what would stop me from doing it from the other side of the country? Or perhaps in the next country down? Or Yeah, it's just incredible. It's, it's awesome. I mean, it stinks that COVID COVID had to happen to make this a realisation. But like, we know there are a lot of positives that come out of things that are disastrous. And this is probably if I'm looking from from my vantage point, at least, probably the biggest thing that people will take away is just that oh my gosh, all the structures when it around work that we thought were necessary. So many of them aren't the biggest one being, hey, you have to come into an office and you have to be around people. You know, that's not necessarily the case for a large majority of people. And what I think is pretty neat about coming up with a plan to is like you've got a taste and you're like alright, I want that. Now I want I want the roaming lifestyle that Jodi's talking About, but you know, I again, I don't want to I've got family or kids, I don't want to take this huge leap. What's neat is you've got a taste of it, you've set up a plan. And what I've seen happen with people who have been able to successfully transition then to a location independent lifestyle is that you know, your job that used to seem so kind of claustrophobic and awful. When you have a light at the end of the tunnel, even if that tunnel is two years in the future, or three years in the future. All of a sudden, you have this lighter feeling of like, Alright, well, I'm not in here for 30 years, like, hey, it's actually not that bad because I'm planning for something else. And so for a lot of people are saying, God, I'm sure it was. Alright, that light at the end of tunnel was the two week vacation or the three week vacation and then taking it was just enough to get them there. And then they went on vacation, they came back like, Alright, I'm a little refresh that can make it another 11 months, but it was a slog. And now the lighter then a tonne, I was like, Well, listen, you're not going back to that, like this light is brighter, because when you get here, now you've got a full break from that old lifestyle. Absolutely love it. 16:00   Or I'm going 16:00   to finish it off there. Because we need to have a new session to really dive into this psychology of stuff I find it's so fascinating. It's the stuff that I'm the most interested in as well. But in that next conversation, if you say yes to me, will you explain extra pack of peanuts to us? 16:18   The the name behind extra pack of peanuts, I will surely surely surely explain to you. You're right. We don't have enough time to do it. Now. It's a little bit in depth. But of course, 16:29   of course, it would be amazing. Thank you so much. I'm sorry. I mean, I think you I don't even need to ask your advice on what you would say to people that are considering this because you've already laid it out so beautifully. This is whether it's nurture or nature, like you say it is possible. And I think that's the opportunities now are absolutely endless to be able to be location independent. Transcribed by https://otter.ai/referrals/Y007ORN6

Welcome to the Roaming Lifestylers Podcast! You're about to embark on an inspiring and insightful journey into knowing what it's really like to live a life of location independence. That means having the ability to live and work from wherever you choose.  I'm your host Roaming Jodie, and I'll Often be joined by my amazing wife Nat to share stories about our experiences from our first 8 years of living all over the world as happily homeless digital nomads. You'll also hear from many other Roaming Lifestylers, each living their own style of location independence.  Some have a home base and others gave up having a fixed address long ago.  Some only travel once or twice a year while others are on the move constantly.  Each Roaming Lifestyler has an inspiring story to tell and an abundance of tips and insights into the plethora of rewarding experiences this way of living brings. And if living this way is still just part of your future plans, I'll also be sure to bring to your awareness some of the challenges you'll likely have to face, so you know to to possibly avoid them altogether or least know how to find the gifts and lessons sometimes buried deep inside events like what 2020 has dished out!In fact, I'm kicking off this podcast with a series of short interviews with a few of my kindred spirits to learn just how 2020 has impacted their roaming lifestyle. After this short launch series you can expect to have a 2-3 new episodes delivered every week, at least one will be a chat with Nat for our 'Remember When' episodes while others will be with more of the wonderful people we've met over the years, especially with those who, like us, still need to make a living while we roam around the world :) I truly hope Roaming Lifestylers becomes one of your favourite podcasts because it is layered with transformative mindset shifts around how each and every one of us get to choose how we live our lives. I look forward to reading your review and seeing how you rate us.  So go ahead and subscribe  so you never miss out on any episode. For now, dig into the 2020 Impact mini series starting with my interview with the worlds longest honeymooners, Mike & Anne Howard from Honeytrek.com