In 22 Days, I Will be Homeless 🛣

In 22 days, Jonathan and I will no longer have a home. We will no longer pay for utilities, or be tied to any material possession. We are going to be traveling with our Tesla Model 3, staying in Air BNBs throughout the United States. I am nervous, and stressed, but more than anything I am excited for this next chapter in my life.

Here is how we ended up deciding to give up everything, what we have left to do, and where we plan to go.

Quarantine Reflection 🔮

In May of 2020, Jonathan and I were planned to travel to Paris France for a ten-day excursion. You know the rest of this story, right? COVID canceled not just our plans, but those of entire nations. Countries banned U.S. citizens from crossing their borders. We were responsible and stayed home, to do our part to prevent the spread of the virus.

While we were forced into quarantine, we did more than just sulk about the situation (although I personally did do that 😅). We talked about our dreams of seeing the world, not just over a week vacation, but really living and experiencing it for the long term. We fantasized about immersing ourselves in different cultures. To try new food, dance to new music, see new horizons.

Simultaneously we also were forced into working remotely. I have been working remotely for 14 months, and Jonathan worked remotely for about 6 months during 2020. This really made us realize that our jobs can be done from anywhere with an internet connection that we could bring our laptop. The nomadic dream was born, and we began planning.

Stuff Doesn’t Matter. Experiences Do. ✌🏼

The most difficult thing, in my opinion, is to get rid of every single thing that I own. We originally considered that we would pay for a mobile storage unit to save our most favored furniture and items. After receiving a few quotes from different storage providers, we really had to reconsider. Is the furniture and items that we own WORTH paying thousands of dollars to store away? Our answer was no!

So we had to sift through all of our belongings deciding what we should sell, keep, or donate. I have been selling items on OfferUp and Facebook Market Place. I could probably write another post just about those experiences (did you know people are fucking crazy? 😏). All of our non-replaceable precious belongings were packed into two boxes and sent to our parents to store. Everything else is going to be gone!

If/when we decide to settle down somewhere else, it will be exciting and easier for us to buy new items at that point. We would rather spend our money on experiences, plane tickets, and coffee than paying a storage facility to hold onto our goods.

Everything we own can now fit into two carry-on suitcases and one checked suitcase. This is the most liberating feeling in the world. We are no longer tied to any material possessions!

All We Have To Do…. Say GoodBye! 😫

Saying goodbye to all of our friends and family that we have in Illinois is going to be difficult, but, we hope everyone understands this won’t be goodbye forever. In a lot of the places we are planning to travel to, we will have a spare bedroom for people to come and visit us and join us in the adventure! That being said, we still hope that in our next 22 days we can find time to meet up for dinner or drinks with all of our friends and family.
P.S. please ask me out to get sushi with you. I will take literally any reason to eat copious amounts of rice and tempura shrimp. 🤪🍣

Where Are You Going? When Will You Be Back? 🧳

I get asked this 100% of the time I explain our decision to travel. The first question is easy, the second not so much.

We are going to start our travels in the southwest U.S. We promised each other to be flexible and spontaneous and to not book more than two or three months in advance. We had to have some planning involved to make it economical and to find good AirBNBs, but we also want to go with the flow.

JUNE 2021

• St.Louis, Missouri 6/1 – 6/12
• Amarillo, Texas 6/13
• Phoenix, Arizona 6/14 – 7/13

JULY 2021

• Las Vegas, Nevada 7/14 – 7/18
• Palm Springs, California 7/19 – 8/21
• Tentative: Yellowstone National Park 8/22-8/29

When will we be back? We don’t know yet. I anticipate that we will travel for at least a year, but we are really free-falling into our new life and not setting a return date. I plan to continue to update my travels with more content as I learn more about traveling across the country in an electric vehicle, hike multiple national parks, and live in AirBNBs and VRBOs full-time.

Until next time,

CHEERS! 🥂