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In 2016, while on our honeymoon in the Dominican Republic, my hubby read the book The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris, which forever changed his life. In the book, Ferris mentions how to live your best life to travel more often and to not postpone enjoyment of life til retirement.
This sparked an interest in my husband to quit his job in 2017 to pursue work he enjoyed, as well as to travel more often. Some of the people he had met once he started working for himself mentioned that they worked all summer in Canada, and then went home to see family in other countries during the cold months. He started to wonder if this was something we could try one day as well.
My hubby has always wanted to visit Bali, Indonesia; it’s the top place to visit on his Travel Bucket List. Everyone you see online shares how much they enjoy living or visiting Bali; the warm weather, the low cost of living, the villas by the beach. The issue is that it is about a 24-hour journey to fly to Bali, so if we were going to visit Indonesia, it needed to be for an extended period of time.
Others are Travelling…
In 2020, we welcomed our daughter and enjoyed time together at home as a family of 3. We could not do any travelling during that time, so we were confined to walks around the block in our Toronto neighbourhood. My husband had a friend who was fed up with the COVID-19 rules, and said friend packed up his family and moved to Costa Rica for 5 months during the winter. This friend was just another person who inspired us to try to live abroad once the world of viruses settled down a bit.
Fast forward to 2021, my husband came up with the crazy idea of going to Bali, but for a few months at a time – and perhaps even for the rest of the winter! By this point, I was working online as a Virtual Assistant. I could continue to work online while we travelled, and my husband would use some of his savings so we could make this idea a reality. Between the two of us, we would explore and enjoy our time with our toddler.
Unfortunately, Bali is best visited from April to September, which are predominantly warmer months in Canada anyways. What would be the point of going away during the summer? Instead, I did loads of research and we settled on visiting Thailand first for a few months, and then heading over to Bali after. My husband was delighted that I was finally on board with the idea of moving abroad for a few months. He was truly so tired of the cold, Canadian winters that often brought on Seasonal Affective Disorder. Moving somewhere warm during the winter months was a no-brainer!
Making Travel Plans
About a month before we made all of our plans definite, I discussed with my VA clients the idea of continuing to work remotely from Thailand and Bali, they gratefully agreed to keep me on. I did not want to be away from our families for Christmas, as it was a tradition that I thoroughly enjoy! We informed our families during the Christmas break about our plans to go away come January 2022.
Most of the family thought it was a great idea to explore the world; and were happy that we were going to travel more often while our daughter was still young. My in-laws did however ask us to leave our daughter with them! Anyone who didn’t agree with our wild idea only pushed my husband to want to move away even more… If he’s told no, he’s more likely to try it out for himself to see what all the hype is about.
Travel Plans on Hold
During Christmas 2021, the government decided that COVID-19 was still rampant enough. By January 2022, both Canada, Thailand, and Indonesia had too many COVID-19 rules in place for travel. We get it, safety first… But we weren’t willing to fly all the way to Southeast Asia and risk a 14-day quarantine in a hotel. All the hard work I had put in was out the window! The quarantine hotel stays, the PCR test bookings, the special travel insurance, and the visas we’d paid for… It was all for nothing – what a waste!
We needed to come up with an alternate plan, and one that wouldn’t cost us an arm and a leg. We are budget travellers, so we needed a country we could visit that also still provided a low cost of living option. In came a new plan and a new set of research; we decided to go somewhere else that had tropical climate, was close to home, and no quarantine mandates in place.
Next stop: Mexico
Mexico ended up being our top choice, loads of Canadians and Americans were fleeing to Mexico because of their laid-back COVID-19 regulations. No PCR tests are needed to enter, easy visa on arrival, cheap flights, and no mask mandate while outside of the home. What was not to love?
By the first week of January, we cancelled all plans to visit Southeast Asia, and instead booked flights to Mexico that same week. We packed our bags, and shortly thereafter we nestled into an Airbnb in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
I was able to continue working without any hiccups as there was no time change difference. The only real change was that I was working from the sunny rooftop patio, a beachside cafe, or the comfort of the couch with the air conditioner blowing. All of the above-mentioned had us in the right places at the right time to inspire us to try a different way of living.
Since Canada is so expensive with inflation and the cost of living, spending winters abroad seems perfect.
Stay tuned to see what else we get up to since we began our journey to becoming part-time nomads.