Podcasts about fulltimetravel

Dating itself can be tricky, but dating as a digital nomad comes with a whole new set of challenges! In this episode, I share mindset shifts, practical tips, and personal experiences that can help you find your soul mate while traveling.  

It's not too late to start investing and building your wealth. Discover how to achieve the freedom that comes with financial independence with Ange Marie, a money coach who helps women grow their money through stock market investing—without the need to work extra hours on a side hustle! Ange Marie outlines three main strategies for building wealth and provides practical approaches to committing to (or recommitting to) your investment journey, helping you secure your financial future.   Connect with Ange Marie Follow Podcast: Building Wealth For Women Follow on Instagram: @thegrowthcorneruk   Other Episodes You'll Enjoy How To Master Trading and Full-Time Travel with Teri Ijeoma - Episode 7 How To Decide If You Are a Short-Term or Long-term Investor  - Episode 97   Read My Books:  Affording Travel Traveling With a Full-Time Job We Are Financially Savvy Travelers    Connect With Danielle Desir Corbett  Join my newsletter: https://thethoughtcard.substack.com/  Website: www.thoughtcard.com  Follow on Instagram: @thedanielledesir Follow on Threads: @thedanielledesir   Work With Me: Email thethoughtcard@gmail.com for brand partnerships and business inquiries.

In this episode of While She's Away, I'm getting personal and sharing what led me to finally settle down and create a home base after years of full-time travel. For the first time, I'm recording from my own room—a space that's all mine—and reflecting on the big shifts that brought me here!   Of course, this transition hasn't been without its challenges. But I've found a new appreciation for balance—loving travel while also embracing the stability of having a home base. Tune in to hear more about this journey and how I'm figuring out what it means to evolve and grow while staying true to my desire to LITERALLY BE EVERYWHERE.   Connect with me on Socials:  While She's Away Instagram  While She's Away Tiktok    What do you wanna hear on the pod?? Whether it's a guest you're dying to listen to or a topic you've been obsessed with lately, let me know! Drop your ideas here, and I'll make it happen ✨   Travel Resources: Get 25% OFF Your TrustedHouseSitters Membership! Get $10 OFF Your Worldpackers Membership    Resources to support Aseel and Palestine: Help Aseel Evacuate Gaza Donate to Provide Clean water and food to families in Gaza Contact Your Reps, Find a Protest & Take Action

In this video, we dive into how we're planning our budget for another year of full-time travel! From daily expenses to fun splurges, we're sharing our tips and tricks. Watch to see how we make every dollar count while living our travel dreams!

Wondering what's next for us in 2025? In this video, we're sharing all the exciting plans and adventures we have lined up! From new experiences to fresh goals, it's going to be an unforgettable year. Don't miss out—come along for the ride and see what's ahead!

In this video, Siddhartha Joshi shares his journey of quitting his 9-to-5 job to travel full-time. Learn about his reasons and how he made the transition to a life of travel and exploration. Siddhartha shares his experiences, challenges, and the transformative power of travel, offering a roadmap for anyone dreaming of a nomadic lifestyle.

Discover why Mexico is the top choice for retirees! With affordable living, stunning landscapes, vibrant culture, and a welcoming expat community, Mexico offers the perfect balance of comfort and adventure. In this video, we explore the reasons why so many choose Mexico as their ideal retirement destination.

Celebrating and reflecting on 5 years of full-time travel with my husband today, from long distance to quarantine to living abroad together! In this episode, I share highlights from the road and lessons learned from this past year of marriage. If you're looking for relationship insights and advice traveling with a partner (even if you're single), tune in!  

Think travel creators have it easy? Think again.Once an engineer, Janelle on a Jet is now a full-time travel creator, known as the Internet's Travel BFF, sharing authentic, relatable, and inspiring travel stories online. Whether it's scoring first-class upgrades, managing cash flow as an entrepreneur, or navigating plus-size travel challenges, Janelle keeps it real while traveling the world in style.In this episode, you'll discover Janelle's journey from her first travel hacks to landing long-term brand deals with companies like Delta. You'll also hear about the ups and downs of leaving a stable career to take a leap into the unknown and why being your true self is the ultimate key to success.Get ready for actionable tips, a behind-the-scenes look at the content creator lifestyle, and plenty of inspiration to fuel your own adventures.Tune in now, and don't forget to share your favorite moment by tagging @DesignHerTravel on Instagram!TOPICS DISCUSSED:Managing cash flow as a creatorFinding empowerment through entrepreneurshipLanding your dream collaborationCONNECT with Janelle: Instagram, Tiktok, YouTube⚡ ROUND RESOURCES:World Travel by Anthony BourdainHot Tub Boats SeattleEPISODE DETAILS:06:51 - Sometimes all you need is the blind confidence12:09 - Being an entrepreneur is empowering13:18 - Saying yes is important, but sometimes saying no is even  more important15:01 - Managing your cash flow26:16 - Sometimes the travel creation world can feel a little like a highlight reel.Want travel tips and a behind-the-scenes look at the podcast? SIGN UP for our weekly newsletter here! It's just the good stuff, I promise. No spam here. Support the showLet's CONNECT! FREE GUIDE: Travel Longer for Less

I'm traveling from Cornwall to London to New York, which means it's essential to have prepared my business for travel and relocation! In this episode, we dive into non-negotiable action items to manage clients, automate workflows, and adapt to changes so you can keep your business running and travel with minimal stress.  

In this episode of the 10Adventures Podcast, we chat with Nicole and Mico, a husband-and-wife team who left stable careers to pursue their dreams of full-time travel and adventure. They share the story of how a one-year travel plan morphed into a YouTube channel and a whole new lifestyle, now accompanied by their adorable dog, Evie. With candid moments and humorous anecdotes, Nicole and Mico discuss the initial leap of faith they took, the benefits of slow travel, and the unexpected joys and challenges of living life on the road.   Be sure to check out Nicole and Mico's YouTube channel for a firsthand view of their adventures, and visit 10Adventures.com to start planning your own journey into the unknown!   Check out Nicole and Mico on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nicoleandmico Follow them on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicoleandmico_/   About Us

Candida Louis, a 28-year-old adventurer from Hubli, South India, embodies the spirit of wanderlust and the pursuit of freedom through motorcycle riding. From a young age, she shared unforgettable rides with her father, sparking a passion that led her to become a motorcyclist herself. Over the past 12 years, she has transitioned from a pillion rider to the one in the front seat, fully embracing the thrill of the open road. A birthday gift of her first motorcycle marked the beginning of an incredible journey that fuelled her dreams of riding around the world. After spending five years working at Oracle and Infosys, she found herself disillusioned with the daily commute and long hours. Looking out of her office window, she envisioned a life on the open road, fuelling her determination to break free. In 2015, she took a three-month sabbatical to ride through North and South India, and the experience solidified her desire to pursue a life of adventure. Following her journey, she resigned from her desk job and spent four months travelling, embracing the confidence and freedom that riding provided. In this conversation, Candida emphasised the importance of following one's passions, stating, “If you love something, if you're very passionate about it, at least try to take that first step... Just take that risk, and it will prove to be the right thing.” This philosophy drives her as she continues to chase her dreams, having recently crossed multiple countries on her motorcycle in a remarkable eight-month journey from India to Australia. With each adventure, she inspires others to embrace their dreams, take risks, and discover the incredible experiences that life has to offer. Candida's journey is not just about riding motorcycles; it's about finding one's true self and the freedom that comes with stepping outside one's comfort zone. As she explores the world on her bike, she encourages others to do the same, reminding them that the journey begins with that first courageous step. *** This episode was recorded live at the Armchair Adventure Festival 25th - 28th July 2024. Buy tickets now for #AAF25 - THE UK'S MOST ADVENTUROUS FESTIVAL. Mt Edgcumbe, Cornwall, 24-27th July 2025, Use TG10 to get a 10% discount on tickets. www.armchairadventurefestival.com. *** Don't miss out on the latest episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast, released every Tuesday at 7am UK time! Be sure to hit the subscribe button to stay updated on the incredible journeys and stories of strong women.  By supporting the Tough Girl Podcast on Patreon, you can make a difference in increasing the representation of female role models in the media, particularly in the world of adventure and physical challenges. Your contribution helps empower and inspire others. Visit www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast to be a part of this important movement.  Thank you for your invaluable support! Shownotes:  Who is Candida Started riding motorcycles 16 years ago Initial career in finance before transitioning to travel and motorcycle riding First motorcycle ride with her dad Family support in pursuing her passion Societal judgments and lack of support from some community members Initial desire to travel but disbelief in achieving financial stability through it Shift in perspective from chasing money to following passion Experience working at a strict IT company and the impact on her mental health Receiving a call from a TV show inviting her to ride around India Overcoming obstacles with her manager to pursue the opportunity Unexpected cancellation of the show and decision to continue the journey solo Reflection on the adventure and challenges faced during the trip Creation of a Facebook page to update family and friends during travels Growth of the page to 10,000 followers during the seven-month trip Transition to Instagram and the rise to 246,000 followers over ten years Opportunities from brand collaborations that provide financial support Investment in real estate (building an Airbnb) to generate consistent income Leading motorcycle tours and the establishment of a tour business The emotional struggle of leaving a stable job for an uncertain path Experience of living with very little money initially Importance of perseverance and believing in oneself despite challenges Societal perceptions of women travelling alone in India Media interviews focused on negative aspects rather than positive experiences Gaining confidence through positive encounters and supportive individuals Delivering laptops and teaching children in Cambodia Desire to combine travel with making a positive impact on communities Upcoming plans for the next six months Increase in female motorcycle riders over the past decade Candida's initiative to train 100 women monthly to ride motorcycles Riding through 42 countries on a motorcycle Personal challenges and medical issues (e.g., dislocated knee) Information on Candida's motorcycles Naming her motorcycles: "Sky" (Bajaj) and "Scarlet" (Triumph) Spending eight months on an incredible journey, crossing multiple countries from India to Australia Candida's desired future destinations Camping vs. hotels Safety considerations for camping in India Preference for hostels and Airbnbs in rainy conditions Experience with motorcycle breakdowns and learning repairs through necessity Cleaning motorcycle for Australian quarantine regulations Carrying essential tools and supplies Experiences that challenged her confidence Safety measures with modern motorcycle gear Overcoming fear and getting back on the bike Social Media Presence Final words of wisdom Encouragement to pursue passions despite challenges Importance of taking the first step   Social Media Website: candidalouis.com Instagram: @candidalouis Facebook: www.facebook.com/candida.louis1  

In this episode of While She's Away, I'm chatting with Geleen, who used to work in neuroscience and healthcare consulting but now lives her best life as a digital nomad. Geleen has this super cool way of looking at travel as a hero's journey, where it's all about really getting to know yourself, planning trips with intention, and finding ways to bring those new experiences back into your everyday life.   We dive into the struggles of using travel just to escape, share some personal stories about growth and figuring ourselves out, and talk about why being vulnerable and reflecting on your experiences matters so much. Geleen even shares some of her resources, like a solo travel workbook, and gives tips on how she helps others find deeper meaning through their adventures. It's a conversation that'll totally make you rethink how you see travel and maybe inspire you to connect with yourself on a deeper level while you explore the world!   Creator Higlight: Newsletter: The Art of Full Living   Connect with Geleen & I on Socials:  While She's Away Instagram  While She's Away Tiktok  Travel Not to Escape Podcast What's your play personality? Take her free quiz Want to make meaningful friendships around the world? Join Passport to Connection Travel Not to Escape Website Geleen Instagram   What do you wanna hear on the pod?? Whether it's a guest you're dying to listen to or a topic you've been obsessed with lately, let me know! Drop your ideas here, and I'll make it happen ✨   Looking for affordable travel insurance specifically made for digital nomads? Sign up for Nomad Insurance which is the first insurance product built specifically for nomads, by nomads!   Travel Resources: Get 25% OFF Your TrustedHouseSitters Membership! Get $10 OFF Your Worldpackers Membership    Resources to support Aseel and Palestine: Help Aseel Evacuate Gaza Donate to Provide Clean water and food to families in Gaza Contact Your Reps, Find a Protest & Take Action

Adrienne Green, Real Estate Investor and Systems Expert, talks about how she went from being a high school math teacher to becoming a successful real estate investor and business owner. She goes into how she built a life of freedom for her family through real estate, leveraging virtual assistants, and creating systems that allow her to run a business while traveling full-time. Adrienne gives insights into how delegating tasks and using the right tools can help entrepreneurs scale their business without sacrificing time with family. Tune in to learn how to build a business that works for you, not the other way around!Chapters00:00:00 - Welcome to Eternal Optimist: Kicking Off with Inspiration00:00:35 - Meet Adrienne Green: From Teaching to Thriving Entrepreneur00:01:34 - The Pivot: How Adrienne Shifted from Math Teacher to Real Estate Pro00:02:15 - Real Estate, Family, and Finding Freedom00:03:00 - Virtual Staffing and Coaching: Unlocking Success00:03:47 - Homeschooling Around the Globe: Raising Kids on the Move00:06:45 - Overcoming Challenges: The Key to Building a Strong Team00:14:06 - From Classroom to Cash Flow: Adrienne's Real Estate Evolution00:17:55 - Start Small, Think Big: Adrienne's First Real Estate Steps00:20:26 - Scaling Up: The Magic of Long-Distance Real Estate Investing00:22:30 - Proven Philosophies for Real Estate Success00:24:24 - Delegate to Elevate: Free Yourself for What Matters00:25:32 - Crafting a Vision: How Adrienne Plans Her Life and Business00:26:20 - Turning Big Goals into Actionable Daily Steps00:27:43 - Time Blocking: The Productivity Hack You Can't Ignore00:28:51 - Shifting Your Mindset: Why Accountability is Everything00:30:42 - Breaking Through Self-Limiting Beliefs: Step into Your Potential00:32:48 - Systems = Freedom: How Adrienne Leverages Processes for Success00:38:03 - Virtual Assistants: The Secret Weapon to Scale Your Business00:39:28 - Meet Workergenix: Adrienne's Solution to Staffing Made Simple00:41:28 - How to Connect with Adrienne Green and Level Up00:43:24 - Lightning Round: Must-Read Books and Favorite Music00:46:30 - Final Thoughts: Embracing Eternal Optimism in Life and BusinessLinks and ResourcesAdrienne GreenAdrienne on LinkedIn Adrienne on InstagramWorkergenix Real Estate Investing SurveyBook RecommendationOutwitting the Devil by Napoleon HillThanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Eternal Optimist? Have some feedback you'd like to share? Connect with us on iTunes and leave us a review!

In today's episode, we've got the amazing Calen Otto back with us to dive into the super cool world of vegan travel. Calen, a queer, anti-speciesist travel blogger and author of The Art of Unruly Travel on a Budget, is here to share their experiences and give us some really practical tips on how to keep up with a vegan lifestyle while traveling and exploring different cultures.   We'll be talking about how cultural practices and ethics can sometimes collide, the role of plant-based foods in different places, and how to explain your dietary choices without making it awkward. Calen's stories—from wild adventures in Ecuador to finding surprising vegan eats in meat-heavy countries like Colombia—show how important it is to stay true to your values, even when you're stepping into totally new environments.   So, grab your headphones and get comfy because we're about to have an enlightening convo that shows you don't have to give up your ethics to explore the world!   What do you wanna hear on the pod?? Whether it's a guest you're dying to listen to or a topic you've been obsessed with lately, let me know! Drop your ideas here, and I'll make it happen ✨   Creator Highlight: The Travel Creator    Looking for affordable travel insurance specifically made for digital nomads? Sign up for Nomad Insurance which is the first insurance product built specifically for nomads, by nomads!     Connect with Me and Calen on Social Media: While She's Away Instagram While She's Away Tiktok  Calen Instagram Calen's Blog: Vegan Section The Unruly Podcast Happy Cow     Travel Resources: Get 25% OFF Your TrustedHouseSitters Membership! Get $10 OFF Your Worldpackers Membership      Resources to support Aseel and Palestine: Help Aseel Evacuate Gaza Donate to Provide Clean water and food to families in Gaza Contact Your Reps, Find a Protest & Take Action    

Upwork and Fiverr can be great starting points for new freelancers, but they're often OVERRUN with people all bidding for the same jobs. It can leave you feeling frustrated and stuck, wondering why you're not making progress. But don't worry! In this episode, I'm sharing four alternative platforms you can start using today to find freelance clients—no need to pay for bids on Upwork!   Where to Find Freelance Clients:  TheHiveIndex.com Harlow  Freelance Opportunities  PodJobs.Net  Bonus Platform (bc ily): Ilovecreatives.com   If you find a freelance client using any of these platforms please send me a DM on Instagram @whileshesawaypod and I'd love to shout you out on the podcast!   Creator Highlight: Eternally Evolving Podcast    Looking for affordable travel insurance specifically made for digital nomads? Sign up for Nomad Insurance which is the first insurance product built specifically for nomads, by nomads!   Connect with Me on Social Media: While She's Away Instagram While She's Away Tiktok    Travel Resources: Get 25% OFF Your TrustedHouseSitters Membership! Get $10 OFF Your Worldpackers Membership    Resources to support Aseel and Palestine: Help Aseel Evacuate Gaza Donate to Provide Clean water and food to families in Gaza Contact Your Reps, Find a Protest & Take Action  

 This week I'm resharing part two of my guest appearance on The Maverick Show with Matt Bowles.   The Maverick Show is all about real, in-depth chats with some of the most interesting world travelers, digital nomads, and location-independent entrepreneurs. Matt Bowles travels the globe full-time, meeting fascinating people, uncovering stories of their wildest adventures, and breaking down the skills, tactics, and strategies they use to build remote businesses and design their lifestyles.    This is Part 2 of my afternoon wine sesh with Matt. I shared travel tips and resources for queer digital nomads and discussed queer dating while living the digital nomad life. We also talked about my experience hosting this podcast, including a memorable interview with a Palestinian guest. I reflected on my journey of learning about the Palestinian struggle and my commitment to supporting their cause both online and in protests!    Creator Highlight: Go Global with Sibu    Want to harness the freedom that comes with freelancing? Join my 90-minute workshop is now LIVE and is designed to help you get your first paid client as a podcast manager. This bite-sized yet impactful session will set you up for success without needing hours of courses. Plus, there's a Q&A session a few weeks post-launch for any burning questions you have.   Connect with Me on Social Media: While She's Away Instagram While She's Away Tiktok  The Maverick Show   Travel Resources: Looking for affordable travel insurance specifically made for digital nomads? Sign up for Nomad Insurance which is the first insurance product built specifically for nomads, by nomads! Get 25% OFF Your TrustedHouseSitters Membership! Get $10 OFF Your Worldpackers Membership   

Join us as we reflect on three years of full-time travel!

I've been traveling full-time as a digital nomad for the past 6+ years and have had so many wonderful conversations with other digital nomads, with my clients, and in my communities about this lifestyle. In today's episode, I share all the pros and cons about digital nomad life. Tune in if you are a new or aspiring nomad and learn if it's right for you!  

Welcome back to the While She's Away Podcast! In this special episode, I'm excited to share some invaluable lessons I've learned over the past year as a freelance podcast manager while traveling the world. I'll be diving into my top four takeaways on mastering project management, transitioning from backpacker to digital nomad, refining pricing strategies, and embracing the joy of freelancing!    Creator Higlight: I'm also thrilled to spotlight the amazing work of Hannah, founder of Digital Nomad Kit and Virtual Excellence Academy, and her incredible LGBTQIA+ remote worker community, Rainbow Remote. If you identify as LGBTQIA+ and exist somewhere on the remote work, entrepreneurship, and travel intersection, you are invited to join this unique corner of the internet!   Want to harness the freedom that comes with freelancing? Join my 90-minute workshop live on September 2nd, designed to help you get your first paid client as a podcast manager. This bite-sized yet impactful session will set you up for success without needing hours of courses. Plus, there's a Q&A session a few weeks post-launch for any burning questions you have.   Connect with me on social media: While She's Away Instagram While She's Away Tiktok    Travel Resources: Looking for affordable travel insurance specifically made for digital nomads? Sign up for Nomad Insurance which is the first insurance product built specifically for nomads, by nomads! Get 25% OFF Your TrustedHouseSitters Membership! Get $10 OFF Your Worldpackers Membership     

In this episode of While She's Away, I'm diving into freelancing as a digital nomad! I'm answering your questions about how to get started, manage clients across different time zones, and find time to improve your skills. I'm also sharing all about the importance of networking and how platforms like HoneyBook can make client management easy! Plus, I'll give you a sneak peek into my upcoming workshop designed to help aspiring freelancers make money while traveling!   Feeling overwhelmed by all the options for creating a digital nomad lifestyle and want the easiest path? My workshop, "Make Money While Traveling: How to Become a Freelance Podcast Manager," is for you, girly! In just 90 minutes, you'll learn everything from building your portfolio to landing your first client. Don't miss out—click here to be the first to know when the pre-sale goes live on September 2nd!   Mentioned in the episode: Sign up for Honeybook Episode 50: From Nannying to My First Paid Client Get notified when Make Money While Traveling: How to Become a Freelance Podcast Manager goes live!     Connect with me on social media: While She's Away Instagram While She's Away Tiktok      Travel Resources: Get 25% OFF Your TrustedHouseSitters Membership! Get $10 OFF Your Worldpackers Membership  Looking for affordable travel insurance specifically made for digital nomads? Sign up for Nomad Insurance which is the first insurance product built specifically for nomads, by nomads!     Resources to support Aseel and Palestine: Help Aseel Evacuate Gaza Donate to Provide Clean water and food to families in Gaza Contact Your Reps, Find a Protest & Take Action

In this episode of While She's Away, I'm sharing my personal journey from being a full-time nanny to landing my first paid client as a freelancer! I'll be opening up about my transformative shift into the digital nomad lifestyle, recounting the steps I took to develop new skills and finally secure my first podcast production client. Plus, I'll give you a sneak peek into an upcoming workshop designed to help you become a freelance podcast producer. Join me as I reflect on my milestones, share insights, and hopefully inspire you to chase your own digital nomad dreams.     Feeling overwhelmed by all the options for creating a digital nomad lifestyle and just want the easiest path? My workshop, "Make Money While Traveling: How to Become a Freelance Podcast Manager," then this is for you girly! In just 90 minutes, you'll learn everything from building your portfolio to landing your first client. Don't miss out—click here to be the first to know when the pre-sale goes live on September 2nd!     Connect with me on social media: While She's Away Instagram While She's Away Tiktok      Travel Resources: Get 25% OFF Your TrustedHouseSitters Membership! Get $10 OFF Your Worldpackers Membership  Looking for affordable travel insurance specifically made for digital nomads? Sign up for Nomad Insurance which is the first insurance product built specifically for nomads, by nomads!     Resources to support Aseel and Palestine: Help Aseel Evacuate Gaza Donate to Provide Clean water and food to families in Gaza Contact Your Reps, Find a Protest & Take Action  

Do you want to become a digital nomad but have no idea how to start or what it entails? I've been a digital nomad for over 6 years now and have seen so many different ways of full-time travel by meeting other digital nomads and within my communities. I explain and share them all with you in this episode. Learn my framework Learn, Plan, Go! So you can start making your freedom dreams a reality! Get SafetyWing Travel Insurance >>  

In this episode of While She's Away, I chat Sojourner White about her journey from career confusion to traveling the world as a remote social worker! Sojourner shares how she switched to a remote social work role during the pandemic and the importance of always learning and being willing to fail.   Sojourner White is a remote social worker, award-winning travel journalist, and train travel queen. Hailing from Milwaukee, Wisconsin she has been a digital nomad, called Spain home as a study abroad student turned English teacher with the Fulbright Program, and spent a summer in Germany as an International Social Work graduate student intern. But now, through her platform Sojournies, she helps 9-5ers fulfill their career goals and bucket list dreams to bask in freedom and flexibility outside the office. Sojourner has been featured in Buzzfeed, PopSugar, The Matador Network, HuffPost, and Thrillist and written for Travel + Leisure, USA Today, Fodor's, Insider, Lonely Planet, Viator, and more.   We chat about juggling a 9-to-5 job with being a travel influencer, making the most of remote work, and dealing with cultural challenges abroad, especially as a black woman. Sojourner also honestly shares about her Fulbright experience in Northern Spain, the value of routines, and the peace she finds in train travel. Tune in to hear how Sojourner's curiosity has shaped her career and inspired others to go after their travel dreams!   Feeling overwhelmed by all the options for creating a digital nomad lifestyle and want the easiest path? My workshop, "Make Money While Traveling: How to Become a Freelance Podcast Manager," is for you, girly! In just 90 minutes, you'll learn everything from building your portfolio to landing your first client. Don't miss out—click here to be the first to know when the pre-sale goes live on September 2nd!   Connect with me and Sojourner on social media: Sojournies Website Sojournies Instagram Sojournies Tiktok Sojournies Youtube While She's Away Instagram While She's Away Tiktok      Travel Resources: Get 25% OFF Your TrustedHouseSitters Membership! Get $10 OFF Your Worldpackers Membership  Looking for affordable travel insurance specifically made for digital nomads? Sign up for Nomad Insurance which is the first insurance product built specifically for nomads, by nomads!     Resources to support Aseel and Palestine: Help Aseel Evacuate Gaza Donate to Provide Clean water and food to families in Gaza Contact Your Reps, Find a Protest & Take Action  

Join us this week as Bea Meitiner shares how she recently made the bold decision to leave her corporate VP job to travel full-time, and she shares her journey of selling all her possessions, ending her marriage, and setting off on a year-long adventure to build her dream travel business. We discuss the challenges and triumphs of balancing work, travel, and social media on the road and designing a work/life balance that works with her travel lifestyle. Bea shares her love of off-the-beaten-path destinations and her focus on immersive travel experiences in Sub-Saharan Africa. We discuss the metrics Bea is using to measure her success as she grows her business. And surprise, they aren't all monetary benchmarks! This episode is perfect for anyone dreaming of leaving their corporate job to explore the world or looking to elevate their dreams to the next level. We discuss setting business goals, embracing new opportunities, and trusting the journey, even when the path is uncertain. Tune in to learn from Bea's experiences and be motivated to design the life of your dreams!TOPICS DISCUSSED:It's hard to make difficult changes when life is goodBalancing work + travelMetrics to monitor in your 1st year How living your dreams makes you feel alive on a whole new levelRESOURCES:Connect with Bea: Instagram & Bea_Adventurous Travel Blog⚡ ROUND:Ten Lessons From the Road by Allistair HumphreySupport the Show.Let's CONNECT! FREE GUIDE: Travel Longer for Less

Join us as we reflect on three transformative years of full-time travel! From launching our YouTube channel, membership, and podcast to managing our time in each destination and budgeting strategies, we share the highs and challenges of our nomadic lifestyle. Discover our criteria for selecting accommodations, ensuring each stay enhances our travel experiences. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or dreaming of life on the road, don't miss this insightful glimpse into the realities of full-time travel. Be sure to subscribe and explore the world with us! 

Brooke Happe is a mom of three who stepped away from her career as a Doctor of Physical Therapy to follow her heart to stay home with her kids. She taught herself to crochet to keep her hands strong, fully expecting to return to therapy once the kids grew older. Other moms asked where to buy her beanie from and her business, b.e.happe, was born. In 2019, the Happe family sold everything to travel the U.S. After 5 years of full time travel and running the business from the road, they purchased a home base in Texas to use between their travels and focus on intentional living.In this episode, Brooke shares what it really takes to live an intentional life, and the joys and hardships her family has experienced over 5 years living on the road. If you're considering making a change or feeling a call to do things differently, I hope this episode gives you the encouragement you need to build a life you love, take risks, and live on purpose.SHOW NOTES: jadeboyd.co/balancing-full-time-travel-family-and-business-with-brooke-happe/ CONNECT WITH GUEST:Website: www.behappedesigns.comInstagram: @b.e.happe CONNECT WITH JADEWebsiteInstagramJoin My Email List LEVEL UP YOUR BUSINESS + PRODUCTIVITYOrganize your Business Digital CourseThe Business Edit™ Coaching ProgramFREE RESOURCESFREE Double your Profit While Working Less MasterclassFREE Task Batching WorkbookFREE Weekly Review ChecklistThe Business Minimalist Blueprint WorkbookThe Business Minimalist Podcast ArchiveMentioned in this episode:Download my FREE Double your Profit While Working Less Masterclass!In this free 30 minute masterclass, I'll show you how to set your business up to scale so you can earn more than ever before while working 4-day weeks, taking real vacations, or even taking the summer off. Visit https://www.jadeboyd.co/doubleyourprofitmasterclass to set your business up to scale today!Join Me Inside the Business Edit Group Coaching Program Today!The Business Edit is a 12-month group coaching program for overwhelmed service providers who want to simplify and scale their business so they can earn more while working less. Learn more and apply at www.jadeboyd.co/coaching!

Read for healthier energetic boundaries? Come to the free masterclass: Understanding Energy. Register at https://www.brendawinkle.com/understandenergy In this podcast episode, Brenda Winkle shares insights from her full-time travel journey, highlighting the impact of excessive belongings on her sense of freedom and well-being. She reflects on her experiences with decluttering, the emotional and physical toll of carrying too much stuff, and the importance of mindful consumption. Brenda discusses her upbringing and how it shaped her relationship with possessions, emphasizing the need to release emotional and physical clutter. She outlines her commitment to making permanent changes, including taking inventory before new purchases and limiting travel items, and announces an upcoming masterclass on understanding energy. Tune in to hear.... Brenda Winkle's experiences and insights from her full-time travel journey Gratitude for kindness and hospitality encountered during her travels The significance of small conversations with people in public service Challenges of adjusting to full-time travel and decluttering living spaces The impact of excessive belongings on emotional well-being and freedom Brenda's upbringing and its influence on her relationship with possessions The connection between physical and emotional clutter Financial implications of excessive consumption and overspending Brenda's commitment to making permanent changes in her life Announcement of an upcoming masterclass on understanding energy Connect with Brenda Winkle Feel Better Fast Customizable PDF Guide - https://www.brendawinkle.com/feelbetterfast Register for the Understanding Energy Masterclass - https://www.brendawinkle.com/understandenergy Learn more about the Energetic Mastery Retreat - https://www.brendawinkle.com/energetic Contact Brenda Website: https://www.brendawinkle.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brendawinkle/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brenda.winkle111 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brendawinkle111 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendawinkle/ Keywords: Full-time travel, Brenda Winkle, Packing and moving, Too much stuff, Hospitality, Solitude, Decluttering, Simplifying, Emotional well-being, Mindful consumption, Excessive belongings, Fear and scarcity, Emotional clutter, Financial implications, Inventory management, Self-reflection, Accountability, Personal growth, Transformation, Masterclass, Understanding energy, Your Yes Filled Life, podcast, Breathwork, Somatic Coach, Identity

Send us a Text Message.3.5 weeks ago I left my home of 4 years in Serbia and set out on a nomadic journey to drive from Serbia to Vietnam with my cat. It wasn't something I planned for long in advance (about a month in between deciding to go and actually leaving), But when my intuition hit and my higher self told me I needed to go, I left.Obviously, I can't work nearly as much as I used to, because I'm busy camping and exploring cities and meeting new people……So on the days when I am working, I'm optimizing my sales strategies for more PASSIVE INCOME. And it's working: I've had passive course sales popping off, Booking in new clients for strategy sessions, And getting recurring income from already-existing clients and past purchases. In this episode, I'm showing you: The 3 strategies I have in place in my business, that are bringing in passive income and consistent client inquiries, AND the energetic mindset you need to dive all in and GO for the big, passionate exciting change you want to make in your business —-> Trusting that your business will bring the income you need to make it possible. Work with me: Private coaching: I only have one (or mayyyybe 2) spaces available for the next several months.So if you've been wanting to work with me, and you know you need help building up your business for compounding income (even when life is busy, or you want to leave everything and go travel), Then send me a dm on Instagram and let me know you're interested. We can chat via voice note or messages and have a no-pressure conversation to see if this is the right fit for you. 

Angie shares her journey from working in corporate to becoming a travel content creator. She dives into the evolution of the content creation industry and the challenges of navigating social media platforms, emphasizing the importance of authenticity and finding what works for you. Angie also discusses her various streams of income from being a full-time content creator, and the struggles she faces that aren't shown online.

Budget for full-time travel with our essential guide on budgeting before departure!   Learn to tackle debt, set a transportation budget, and adjust expenses on the go to meet yearly goals. Prioritize debt repayment to ensure financial freedom while traveling. Stay within yearly financial targets by adapting spending habits during your journey. From finding affordable accommodations to dining smart, we'll equip you with the strategies needed for budget-friendly travel.Cost of living site:  https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/

We didn't just randomly jump into a life of travel - and living a travel lifestyle DOES not mean you have to backpack. How we thought about it and tips for how to consider planning your own jump from a traditional life into a life of travel with Helen of Helen and Tim Travels.

Claire Summers is the voice behind Claire's Itchy Feet and Claire Summers Speaks. A seasoned travel influencer, yoga teacher, and a passionate advocate for conscious parenting and wellness. With over a decade of experience as a content creator, Claire seamlessly blends her journey through motherhood, wellness practices, and adventures across the globe into inspiring narratives and practical advice. As a 400-hour certified yoga instructor and a Reiki master, Claire's approach to life is deeply rooted in mindfulness and spiritual well-being. Her experiences living abroad and exploring diverse cultures enrich her perspectives, making her stories and insights universally relatable. Claire's work extends beyond her blog, encompassing women's circles, wellness workshops, and speaking engagements. Her authentic voice and heartfelt content have made her a strong voice among her community of readers and listeners. Claire's Websites: Claire's Itchy Feet - Solo Female Adventure Travel (clairesitchyfeet.com) Claire Summers Speaks From James: FREE Passive Income Masterclass (profityourknowledge.com)

Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Send me a DM here!Join us for an inspiring interview with Hudson and Emily, high school sweethearts on a mission to become one of the youngest couples to travel to every country in the world! They've been on the road full-time for 8 years, first RVing all 50 US states, and now venturing across 180 countries and counting.Fueled by a life-changing experience, Hudson and Emily's journey is a testament to chasing dreams and living with purpose. From sleeping on a volcano to diving with bull sharks, their stories are packed with adventure and heartwarming encounters with kind strangers.In this episode, we discuss:The transformative power of travel: How exploration broadens your perspective and opens your eyes to the world's beauty.Expanding dreams: How saying "yes" to new experiences can lead you to unexpected and fulfilling adventures.The kindness of strangers: Why unexpected encounters can leave a lasting impact on your travels.Travel as a couple: The unique challenges and rewards of full-time travel with your partner.Ready to get inspired? Tune in and discover how Hudson and Emily are conquering the world, one adventure at a time!RESOURCES:Connect with Hudson & Emily: Website or Instagram⚡ Round Book:  Love Does by Bob GoffSupport the Show.Let's CONNECT! FREE GUIDE: How to Travel Longer for Less - 5 Ways to Travel the World for FREE

Join us as we unveil the 10 ways to avoid burnout while traveling full-time.  No one wants to see their travels halt from fatigue or burnout.  From mastering the art of pacing your itinerary to embracing the joy of slow travel, we've got you covered with 10 foolproof strategies to stay on the road. Say farewell to travel burnout and hello to a world of adventure without the exhaustion!

Are you ready to embrace early retirement and explore the world full-time? In this episode of No Borders with Brian and Carrie, we delve into essential financial steps to prepare for a life of adventure and freedom. Unlock financial freedom as we cover key areas such as budgeting techniques, downsizing, expense tracking, emergency funds, and minimizing expenses.Join us as we break down practical steps and share insights from our experience planning for a life of full-time travel. Start taking steps today and make early retirement and world travel possible. #EarlyRetirement #FullTimeTravel #FinancialFreedom #TravelTips #retireearly Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Please consult a financial advisor for personalized recommendations.JOIN OUR TRAVEL COMMUNITY:  https://patreon.com/brianandcarrie?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

We answered your questions and shared our life update!The AT Trail has changed our current lifestyle. Will and I are currently apart; he is busy editing the delayed vlogs while Largo and I are having the best days of our lives here. However, we want to update you on how things are working for us and share our future plans because some of you may be wondering if our full-time travel life has come to an end. We'll live in this kind of lifestyle for a while, before going back to traveling.Welcome to 'The Why Matters Podcast,' where we explore life lessons, things we often take for granted, and everything in between, gathered from our decade-long full-time travel lifestyle. Each week, we'll delve deep into the 'why' behind the choices we humans make in life and the positive results that stem from a strong sense of purpose.@01:31Where are we?@03:14 World Towning Voyages@10:33 Delayed Vlogs@18:53 Largo's Academics@21:14 The Boat Life@23:44 Taking break from Travels@27:53 Feeling of being apart@34:51 This week's ChallengeLeave us a voice message and send it over to us at info@thewhymatterspodcast.comYou can call us and leave us a voicemail at 424 442 9295.PATREONhttps://www.patreon.com/worldtowningIf you would like to support us in a greater capacity where you can snag some cool swag, plus join us for monthly LIVE chats, and get huge discounts on future group trips. Thank you!GROUP TRIPShttps://worldtowningvoyages.com/Come travel with us! Our company is owned (and 100% guided) by a family of four full-time travelers. Our passion is building bridges between cultures, fueling personal development, and expanding hearts and minds alongside a community of like-hearted individuals.COACHINGhttps://worldtowning.com/learn-2/Are you looking for guidance to accomplish that big goal supporting your why? We are the couple for you. Let's set up a chat to get you started on your dream life, whether it is full-time travel or something else.NEWSLETTERhttps://worldtowning.us14.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=32de323857a58dc5ab35b897f&id=b0760c6efa10 years full-time travel with 2 world schooled kids, currently on a sailboat, writing about a travel lifestyle, education, equality & what it's like to live an unconventional life.MERCHANDISEYes - We have Merch! - https://worldtowningvoyages.com/elements/merch/OUR SOCIALSInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/worldtowning/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/worldtowningFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/worldtowningTik-Tok:  https://www.tiktok.com/@worldtowningSupport the show

In this week's episode, I'm taking you on a very personal journey as I unpack my recent experiences in Costa Rica. Over the past several months I've had some realizations that my constant movement has been a band-aid for deeper issues and a way to cope with life's stresses. Through this self-discovery, I delve into the idea of intentional travel and what it means to truly stay present, even when things get tough. I'll be sharing the raw moments when travel no longer served as my escape and how it forced me to confront what I'd been avoiding. Join me as I reflect on why I've been running and how I aim to change my approach to exploring this beautiful world. Get ready to hear all about my highs and lows, the lessons learned, and how I'm striving to turn travel into a space for personal growth rather than an escape!   Feeling overwhelmed by all the options for creating a digital nomad lifestyle and want the easiest path? My workshop, "Make Money While Traveling: How to Become a Freelance Podcast Manager," is for you, girly! In just 90 minutes, you'll learn everything from building your portfolio to landing your first client. Don't miss out—click here to be the first to know when the pre-sale goes live on September 2nd!   In this episode I vulnerably share... Definition of coping mechanisms and their relevance to travel My realization that travel acted as a coping mechanism Looking back at my initial traveling years How the intentions behind my travels has evolved over the years Encouraging you to reflect on your travel intentions   Resources to support Palestine: Contact Your Reps, Find a Protest & Take Action https://www.instagram.com/jewishvoiceforpeace/ https://www.instagram.com/rabbis.for.human.rights/ https://www.instagram.com/theimeu/ https://www.instagram.com/wizard_bisan1/ https://www.instagram.com/motaz_azaiza/ https://www.instagram.com/eye.on.palestine/   Connect with me on social media: While She's Away Instagram While She's Away Tiktok    Travel Resources: Get 25% OFF Your TrustedHouseSitters Membership! Get $10 OFF Your Worldpackers Membership  Join HostelPass to Get up to 40% OFF Hostels ALL over Europe! Looking for affordable travel insurance specifically made for digital nomads? Sign up for Nomad Insurance which is the first insurance product built specifically for nomads, by nomads!  

In this episode 'Beyond Tourist Mode,' we embark on a journey beyond the typical travel experience. Join us as we share heartfelt insights into the world of full-time travel, revealing the magic of finding the balance between exploration and relaxation. Through our own stories and intimate conversations, we invite you to discover the joy of immersing yourself in communities while nourishing your spirit. From vibrant markets to peaceful hideaways, we'll be your companions on this quest to redefine what it means to truly connect with a destination. Tune in as we embrace the beauty of travel, one authentic moment at a time.Soaring Child: Thriving with ADHDA place where you will learn how to address your child's ADHD symptoms naturally..Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifyNordVPN Stay protected online with NordVPN. A service that offers privacy, protection, and security TrustedHousesitters Save money on accommodations and travel more. Matching homeowners with housesitters it's a win-win!Babbel Learn new languages easily with fun, bite-sized lessonsSafety Wing Travel insurance for all your needs - short and long term Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThank you for being a part of our journey! If you're ready for more adventures and eager to connect with us, here are the platforms where you can find the latest updates, behind-the-scenes fun, and a whole lot more:Brian and Carrie Website www.brianandcarrietravels.comBrian and Carrie YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/brianandcarrieBrian and Carrie Facebook https://www.facebook.com/brianandcarrie21/Brian and Carrie Instagram https://www.instagram.com/brian.andcarrie/

https://atravelpath.com/   Hey Pathfinders! Today's episode felt like a 2-for-1since we got a dose of both Travel Nursing AND Van Conversions. Dakota and Courtney are a young couple who “chase big dreams trying to make it happen.” In this inspiring episode you'll hear all about: Travel Nursing How to get started, how long the process takes, how long you can work an assignment for, and so on. Courtney shares how travel nursing can be quite nerve-wracking at first, but as you become familiar with the process, things get easier. Where to Stay With travel nursing, there are several options available for places to stay. Dakota and Courtney share their experiences at many of them and tell us what they prefer. We also get into detail about why you need to have a paper trail and pay some sort of rent wherever you end up. Van Conversions Along with travel nursing, Dakota and Courtney have (nearly) completed two van builds. The beauty of this episode is that we got to ask them why they sold their first one, and what they are doing differently with this next built. Plus, hear about how it took them over 9 MONTHS to receive the first van they ordered. Costs Dakota and Courtney give us very detailed numbers on how much BOTH of their van builds cost as well as sharing tips on how you can start saving money. They also share their thoughts on how much someone might want to have saved up before traveling.   Chapters ·        00:00 Intro ·        02:30 What is the process of getting into Travel Nursing? ·        07:15 Travel Nure pay and stipends ·        12:30 How are you finding places to stay? ·        15:30 Working with Aya Healthcare ·        16:15 Can you negotiate your terms? ·        20:30 What was the process of acquiring your van? ·        28:30 How did you know what material to buy for your van? ·        29:30 Why did you sell your first van? ·        32:00 What are you doing differently with your current van build?         ·        34:45 What mistakes did you make with your van build? ·        38:15 How long did each van build take? ·        40:15 What has been your coolest travel experience? ·        43:00 How much money should you have saved up before traveling? ·        45:15 How much did your van builds cost? ·        46:45 How can someone get started? ·        49:45 What YouTube channels helped with your van build?   Dakota and Courtney on Social ·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kodaandcourt/ ·        YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kodaandcourt   Nursing: ·        Aya Healthcare: https://www.ayahealthcare.com/ ·        GSA.gov: https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates ·        Regarding if your RV loan counts as a payment, I couldn't find much information besides this forum, so take it for what it is worth and do your own research: https://www.reddit.com/r/TravelNursing/comments/13rjt3n/rv_travel_nursing/   Stays ·        The hospital Courtney started at: https://www.evanhospital.com/ ·        Furnished Finders: https://www.furnishedfinder.com/ ·        Where they Stayed: https://www.facebook.com/TheDeLongVillage/   Van Build Resources ·        Explorist.life: https://explorist.life/ ·        Far Out Ride: https://faroutride.com/   Their Two Vans: ·        Ram ProMaster 136 ·        Ram ProMaster 159   Channels ·        Jimmy and Natalie: https://www.youtube.com/@JimmyandNatalie ·        Wild by the Mile: https://www.youtube.com/@WildbytheMile   Past Episodes Mentioned: Episode 1 with Dylan: https://atravelpath.com/how-to-be-a-digital-nomad/ Episode 13 with Jason and Laura: https://atravelpath.com/road-trip-with-kids/   Most Popular Blogs: ·        Most Popular Travel Hacks: https://atravelpath.com/money-saving-travel-tips/ ·        Travel Gear: https://atravelpath.com/travel-gear/ ·        How to Budget For Gas on a Road Trip: https://atravelpath.com/how-to-budget-for-gas-for-a-road-trip/ ·        Our Favorite RV Upgrades: https://atravelpath.com/rv-upgrades/ ·        How Much We Made Renting Our RV: https://atravelpath.com/renting-camper-van/ ·        Never Run Out of Gas on a Road Trip: https://atravelpath.com/road-trip-tip/   Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/abbynoise/rocky-mountains   *All content from atravelpath.com, including but not limited to The Travel Path Podcast and social media platforms, is designed to share general information. We are not experts and the information is not designed to serve as legal, financial, or tax advice. Always do your own research and due diligence before making a decision.   Transcript Host: Dakota and Courtney, welcome to the Travel Path Podcast!   Guest: Hey.   Host: So you're on Instagram as @KotaandCourt, documenting your travels across 25 states so far, and we're really excited to finally have a travel nurse on the show. You've completed one and are on your second van build, so I can already tell there's going to be a lot of information to uncover with this podcast. But why don't we first start by having you share a little about yourselves?   Guest: Well, we're just two kids from small towns in Missouri. I'm from a little town called Nevada, Missouri, and she's from Shell City, Missouri. She graduated with, like, 13 kids, so very small. Yeah, so not too much. I mean, had 35 cars and I'm 25 years old, so do a lot of that kind of stuff and just, you know, chase big dreams and try to make them happen. Yeah, that's it.   Host: And travel while you can. So I'm sure those 25 you've had are going to help or have helped out with your van conversion.  Um, so we'll definitely get into the van conversion later on in the show. I do want to get into travel nursing. If you've been paying attention to the podcast recently, we've had a few people mention travel nursing. So we're finally able to talk about it and bring it up here. So tell us about that. So obviously with travel nursing, you get your degree in nursing, you find a job with nursing somewhere, and then at some point, the idea of travel nursing comes to your mind. So what's that process of actually getting into nursing?   Guest: Oh gosh, um, it's honestly kind of difficult. It's not difficult, but it's a big process. You have to find, um, sometimes it's, for me especially, it was hard trying to find, like, the right company. Um, you hear good things and bad things, um, obviously with everybody. So I kind of just picked a popular one. I'm with a healthcare. You basically, like, sign yourself up, so it's kind of like a job, um, application. You sign yourself up, you get a recruiter, and then they kind of just, like, help guide you through the process. Um, you have to fill out a bunch of tax forms, go get, like, physicals and labs drawn, um, basically do a bunch of requirements, like a huge checklist they have. And then, you know, obviously, there's a shortage of nurses everywhere, so you can really pick wherever you want to go, which is really cool. You can go to, um, you know, Alaska, Florida. Um, there are even some nursing companies that will allow you to go to, like, Mexico and Canada, like over, like, international travel nursing. So the process is difficult, but once you actually, um, you know, talk to a recruiter and talk to your people, um, it's a fairly simple process. So, um, you know, definitely, if you're trying to be a travel nurse, you know, I'd suggest to anybody. It's really nerve-wracking though, but they need travel nurses pretty, I mean, they want to do anything they can to get you in there, so they work with you pretty well.   Host: Yeah, yeah, so difficult but simple is what it sounded like. In terms of the time frame, how long are we talking between actually getting approved for travel nursing?   Guest: Oh gosh, you have to have your experience first, yeah. You have to, so, technically, for travel nursing, they really recommend you to have one to two years of experience just because when you get assigned to a job, you really only have like one day of training. So, like, you're just expected to know, like, all of these things, and, you know, if you don't, if you just go kind of blind, you know, it can be a disaster. Um, sometimes still is, you know, just 'cause every hospital is different. But I would say probably, I don't know, I started looking, I'd say around April or May, so I'd say maybe two to three months. It kind of just depends on how, you know, it's kind of like a you-driven thing too, you know, and how bad you want it. We kind of were just like, I don't really know if we want to do this, but I'll just go ahead and, you know, sign up and get all my ducks in a row, and then if we become more interested, we can go from there. So I'd say probably two to three months. I had to put in my two weeks, um, my two weeks at my previous job, and then, you know, find a job there. Um, in Pennsylvania was my first assignment, but it's pretty easy afterwards, though, yeah. Super easy, you have connections, you have about four different people who help you get like an experience specialist, you get your recruiter who really just helps you with, um, finding a job. You just have all different kinds of help with, but afterwards, after you get like your first job, then it's a lot easier. So it's like you can pretty much line up a job right after the next one if you want, as long as you have time to get there. So like she quit her last job, we had a week off, and I think it was like two weeks until she started her next contract, so she already signed one while she was working. Yeah, so you can sign with, you know, whatever company or whoever after you kind of get in it, just basically getting, getting your foot in the door, getting a reputation, and then you're able to kind of move wherever you want to go.   Host: You mentioned one day of training. That sounds crazy to me because I've been in hospitals where it seems like it would take a week just to figure out where to go, and you can get lost in some of these places. So that means you're showing up at this job for the first time, you're like maybe like a mini orientation training, getting to know everybody, and then you're kind of fed to the wolves and you're travel nursing and you're doing nursing.   Guest: Yeah, yeah, it's, yeah, it's crazy. The knowledge has to be, um, you know, you just, you kind of just have to go in headfirst. Um, even now, I will say that I still, you know, sometimes don't know where everything's at or even like hospital policies, everything's different. So, you know, just don't be afraid to ask questions, definitely. Um, is my thing, but yeah, just one day of training and you are on your own.   Host: Wow. I would imagine that one day of training, obviously, it's a little bit more difficult to maneuver, and that comes with what we've heard is with travel nursing, there's higher pay rates, and there's the travel sties. Is that still the case today?   Guest: Yes, right, or they're not as high as they used to be. No, definitely not. During COVID, nurses were making a lot of money. Stipends are... I would say that, I mean, even for me, just going from just a low-paying nursing job in drop-in Missouri to now, I say that stipends are really good for me, but if you talk to the next person, they're like, "Oh, this sucks." You know, it's a pretty controversial space because some people will say it's good money, and other people say, "Oh, well, you shouldn't accept a job for lower than this rate," and people get kind of agitated. But the stipends are really what make it worth doing the travel nursing. Yeah, so I mean, the hourly rate has an effect, but the stipends really make it worth it. Yeah, so basically, like, travel nurses get paid, like, a really low hourly rate. Like, if you would know, you would just have to be mind blown. But they get paid a super low hourly rate so that way they can max out your stipends, which are tax-free. So in the end, like, you end up making more money. Sometimes you have to negotiate for those. You have to kind of watch out. And I mean, if you get a good recruiter, they'd be pretty good with you. But you can get on a website like gsa.gov, I think, and it'll tell you kind of what the stipends are in the area that you're at and stuff. We kind of dove into it head first, kind of like buying a car. It's kind of confusing when you first get into it. We didn't really know what we were doing. We dove head first and we didn't realize, you know, you have to do certain things to get, you know, the tax-free stipends. So it's for housing and what stipends are for. And you're supposed to duplicate expenses to get those stipends. So essentially, you're supposed to pay rent back where you are from, like your permanent tax home, right? So you have to have, like, a tax home. And you can look up the requirements for a tax home. And then you also are supposed to be paying rent somewhere else. So like where you're traveling to as a nurse. And those can be, like, shared housing. But you have to be paying, like, both at the same time. So like for us, now that we're getting ready to be in a van, whenever we're traveling somewhere, we have to stay at a campground because that'll be our rent.   Host: Okay, so there's no way around just boondocking the whole entire time. They want to see some sort of rent payment at the campsite.   Guest: Yeah, you have to have a paper trail to show. I mean, now there are people that don't do it, you know, and they say, "Oh, I've never been caught." But I mean, if you get audited by the IRS, you're gonna owe some big money back.   Host: Well, that's a really good tip you bring up, and I'm glad you bring that up about how you have to actually hunker down in a campsite and have proof of spending money on rent somewhere. 'Cause I have two sisters, one of them actually travel nurses. Both of them are nurses. We talked about before the podcast, one of them did travel nurse and the other one was, has been thinking about it. But I kind of told her, "Yeah, just get a van, get a dog, and just, you know, drive and boondock." But so they do want to see some source of income. So if you're listening to this, Jess or Chloe, make sure you're doing that.   Guest: Yeah, and we didn't have any idea. They just asked her where she worked at and where she was from, where we lived at, and they said, "Oh, well, you qualify for the stipends." And they kind of had a sign the paperwork and we had no idea. I think I found like a video, like on Facebook Reels or TikTok or something. I was like, "Hey, do you know about this?" And he's like, "What?" Yeah, so we had, so I had to do a lot of research on it and try to figure it out and, you know, it all worked and had to talk to an accountant, really confused. And this was the first time really we had even done anything like that. So we were like, "We don't even know what to do."   Host: Yeah, no, it's smart to do that. And I'm sure that might vary a little bit depending on your contracts. Do you know if, so I know you built out your van, so I don't think you owe anything on your van?   Guest: Yeah, we do. We financed the van. So we, for the, we, we financed the van.   Host: So I guess my next question was going to be if, if, like, you had a payment on your van or a camper, if that would count as rent. I'm not sure. Do you know if they would consider that?   Guest: I don't think so because, um, one of the people that we were, I mean, it is a good question. I'm not, I'm not for sure, so don't quote me. But, um, the person that we were kind of following off of, um, I believe they had theirs, uh, they had an RV, like a fifth wheel, and I believe, leased or not leased, but they had a lien on it or a loan, whatever you want to call it. I believe they still had to stay at a campground. Now, I mean, that is a good question. I'd have to look into that because I wonder about that.   Host: For sure. And if we can dig that up, I'll put a link in the show notes. So you talked about, I know your long-term play, you have your second van almost built and that's where you're going to be living in while you're travel nursing in the future moving forward. But right now you're signing these three to four-month kind of midterm leases, so they can be tricky to find, at least that's fully furnished. So how are you finding places to stay?   Guest: We go off, there's a lot of different places. But for my first one, we went off of Furnish Finders. So it's just like an Airbnb or like a Verbo for nurses or just any traveling professional. So it doesn't have to be a nurse, but they're marketed towards, you know, people that have, you know, like, I guess, could be like a welder or a nurse or, you know, anybody that works odd hours.   Guest: Yeah, we actually were on the other side of that coin. We have a couple rental properties, and we've rented two with Furnish Finders, travel nurses. We, we had like poets and authors who just come for like those shorter periods, yeah. But it is marketed towards travel nurses.   Host: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what that's what we use. Um, we looked at all avenues. We found Furnish Finders was cheaper than like Verbo, Airbnb, or even like we looked at hotels too, and it was just like thrown out of the picture because that's ridiculous. Um, from the time she decided she was going to do travel nursing, I think it was like two weeks before she signed her first contract, then we were like moving, yeah. And so we packed all our stuff in the back of a Jeep, and we hours away headed out to Pennsylvania. So it was a, was quite a ways. It seems like a lot of the travel nurses that she works with are just from around the area. So like right now, she's in, seems like a lot of people from Kansas. When she was in Pennsylvania, seemed like a lot, yeah. And they were like, "Oh my gosh, you're all the way from Missouri." And, you know, like I have an accent, and they're like, "Where are you from? We know you're from somewhere not around here."   Host: How far in advance have you found, so I would imagine you secure the contract many months in advance. But in terms of actually booking a place to stay, how far in advance are you planning that?   Guest: I mean, from your first one, it was like two weeks. We started looking, and it was like within two weeks, we were up there at a place.   Host: I would imagine does your travel agent help out with that at all in terms of finding places to go?   Guest: Yes, they offer, but I was already like halfway to finding a house before they were like, "Hey, you know, we'll help you if you need it." And I'm like, "That's great," but yeah, a lot of people do use, you know, their people assigned to help to do that. But I, I was so excited about my first assignment. I was just like, I had a house found, like, all these things before somebody even messaged me, and they were like, "Hey, do you need help finding a home?" I was like, "I already have one. I've already, you know, put a deposit down." They're like, "Oh, okay, well, never mind then." That first one we went, what was the population of that town? Like 80 people, something like that, in a very tiny Amish town.   Host: Get to see all sorts of places. And if you end up at a place you don't like that much, you're only there for like three, four months, so you can find another place. You mentioned you're working with Aya, and does that in terms of finding other places to go, are you limited to like hospitals that they own, or how does that work?   Guest: Nope, so every travel company is different. I just, A, is, I don't know, they're really popular, I guess you could say, like among travel nurses. So like, certain hospitals will have contracts with these travel companies, so A has a lot. But for say like, if you go to a different travel company, you know, they may be hiring at like these certain hospitals that don't have contracts with A. So it's different, but A holds a lot of contracts with a lot of hospitals. So I just went with them.   Host: And then how flexible in terms of how long do you want to stay somewhere for? If you want to stay there for like two months, four months, six months, are you able to kind of negotiate that? And then also like your actual hours, if you're working nights, days, how many hours a week, is that all negotiable?   Guest: Yep, so whenever you go to sign up for a job, it will tell you like whether it's a day shift or a night shift job. So I'm a day shift, so I work 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., usually 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. So I really am like a 13, 14-hour shifter. And then as far as like staying at that job for however long, you can actually stay up to a travel assignment for 364 days. You just can't work a full year because if you do, say like, I'm working in Topeka right now, I can stay there for 364 days. But if I stay there that 365th day, it's considered my tax home now, so it just kind of messes up a whole bunch of things. So you can extend at a job, you just let your recruiter know. Usually, they'll message you first and be like, "Hey, are you liking your assignment? Do you want to extend?" And I actually have accepted an extension in Topeka. So I'm there until April 27th. And then from there, if you decide to work the whole 364, all you have to do by law is take 30 days off, and then you can go right back to that same job for another year or 36. I think they cap it. Like, I think you can only do that for two years. There's, there's, I don't know exactly what it is. It's complicated, but there are a lot of like, logistical or maybe it's not logistical, but it's requirements. So you can only do things, I think, in certain states for so long, and every state is different, every state has different, yeah. I think that there's like, make it confusing. Yeah, yeah. But it seems to be that the most common are like 13-week contracts, and then there are some that are what, what's the other one, like eight? Yeah, they do, you can do four weeks if they're like a crisis job, which means that they just need you right away. You can go and sign for a four-week contract. And where you can go, usually the average is 13 to 26 weeks, so that's what I did on my first assignment. And now I'm at six weeks now on my second assignment.   Host: Yeah, I can definitely agree with that. A lot of options to extend. On the landlord side, we made it a point to ask our when we're hosting travel nurses if they're going to extend because we've had several times now where, like, we've gotten a booking after that lease is up but then they'll tell us, "Hey, can I extend?" And, like, oh, sorry, we just booked somebody else. So now we're actually actively asking like, hey, are you looking to extend? And then we'll do that because that does happen more often than not, when travel nurses in particular, they'll extend their stay.   Guest: Yeah, that, that's what our um, our landlord in Pennsylvania did. She like, about halfway through, she said, "Hey, you know, just going to post this up, you know, on Furnish Finders. So just wondering, you know, can I, can I show it to people and post it? Or are you guys planning to extend?" So yeah, that's, it is good that she asked.   Host: Yeah, for sure.   Guest: And your first assignment was a really good one for like, anybody that would want to try to get into it. I mean, if they were looking into like trying to just get their foot in the door and try it out and see if they liked it, I mean, she worked in a hospital in, um, what was it, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania? It's called Evangelical Community Hospital, a small little Community Hospital like 220 beds, pretty easy, tiny. And we stayed at a place called The Dong Village, and the landlords there were wonderful. I mean, and so like if you are looking into it and you're trying to just kind of find something that, you know, is good, know that, it's going to, not it's not going to be hard right off the bat, you're not going to be thrown to the wolves, like some of the other stuff. That's a good, you know, um, that's how we started or how she started, not me.   Host: Well, awesome guys. I think this was a really informative segment on getting into travel nursing. And I think it would be really cool to have you guys back on once you have your van up and mobile and you're actually travel nursing with your van to talk about how you guys are finding places to stay, how you've been acclimating to that lifestyle. But speaking of that, like I mentioned before, you guys have done not one but you're working on your second van conversion. So we can dig into that a little bit now. Before we talk about the actual build, I know you ran into a little bit of trouble actually acquiring the van. So what was that process like just getting your hands on the van?   Guest: Yeah, so I mean, we started the idea I think like four or five years ago that we wanted to do van life. And we were just, I mean, we're really, really young. I remember telling all my family at Christmas time that we wanted to live in a van. They all thought we were crazy. And so, so it took us a while after that to kind of, she had to graduate nursing school to be able to do that. We actually moved out, got an apartment because we lived with my parents until she was done with nursing school. We got an apartment, and we lived in an apartment for six months, and we decided we just were looking at the cost of what it was, you know, adding up to be. We didn't own the place, we kind of wanted to do something else. And I made a joke one night that we could move back in with my parents, and that we could save a ton of money and potentially do van life. And so, you know, it led into more serious conversation. We talked to my parents again, and of course, my parents, they're, you know, really chill, and they agreed, and they said, "Yeah, come on back." And so we moved back in with them, and we started working towards saving up to buy a van, which was kind of tough because she was a, she was a new nurse. I mean, anybody that works at a school tell you that the pay there is pretty low. So we moved back in with them, we started saving up, and we decided we were going to put a deposit down on one. It was, it was hard finding, oh my gosh, try to find, we, we decided we were going to try to get one, and we called, I don't know, probably 50 dealerships across the nation. We didn't really care where it was, we thought, well, we were going to drive anywhere, yeah, we would fly in or drive or do whatever it took. We called like 50 dealerships, you couldn't find them.   Host: Did you have like a specific van you wanted, or were you open to any type of?   Guest: So we wanted a ProMaster because of the cost. I mean, it's cheap. I think that there are better options if you have the budget for them, you know, that's just my personal opinion. A lot of people like, you know, there's Mercedes, there's Ford Transit, but we decided on ProMaster. And so anything that we found during that time, it was, you know, in the height of the pandemic, they had a called a market adjustment where they marked them up about 15 to 20,000. So it was crazy because you could order one, and we found a dealership in Arizona and they were going to order us one for MSRP. And we were initially told that it would take three or four months and we would have the van. And so we thought, well, that work. Ecstatic, we're like, oh yeah, that's great. And so I had just paid off my car the day before, and we didn't have any money. And the lady at the dealership said, "Orders will be closing any time now because they're going to start retooling for the next year." Luckily, I went to my mom for the second time in my life to borrow some money, and she loaned us a little bit of money to put a down payment on it. And that was stressful, and luckily, I got her paid back within two weeks. And so we put the down payment on, and we started buying stuff, trying to, yeah, accumulate all we would need for the van build. I sold the car that I had, that I paid off, and that kind of gave us the money to put towards the van. So we were going to finance the van and just use the money that I had from the car to buy all the stuff for it. We bought a lot of stuff. I think we bought like $10,000 worth of stuff before we even had the, yeah, and so we were waiting and waiting and waiting, and they were like, oh well, it's gonna come next month, oh, it's gonna come next month, it's gonna come next month. And it just started to get to the point where we were nine months in, and they kept saying it, and we didn't know, you know, we didn't know how long it was going to be um so we got really discouraged and I mean I'm really bad about it I I buy and sell vehicles all the time when I get bored and I think it's hard for me to kind of like stay on one thing so my mind was kind of racing on what else we could do and we just decided that we would sell all the stuff and any of the money that we made back from that we put towards you know another vehicle and we were just going to make it really fast so we bought another Mustang we canceled our order and um we had that Mustang for two months and we rolled across the dealership in town and they had a we had ordered a 159 ProMaster and um there was a 136 sitting on the lot of a local dealership and you couldn't hardly find them at the time so um we went and looked in the windows and I said we could really do this uh you know we can we can figure it out we could make this happen and so we looked in it the next day I went and test drove it and the next day after that I had a check in hand from the bank we purchased it the day after that I had contacted a dealership in Oklahoma that bought one of my friends cars and they said yeah we'll buy it so I took it down there and they bought it off of me and we started building our um our first van we had to buy it all over again so we bought all the stuff. Host: That's incredible. So sold your car, ordered a van, ordered all the parts and material for the van, waited 9 months, didn't come in, sold the material, bought another car, and then you found that exact van you wanted for sale two months later and picked and then swapped them out. That's crazy. And I'm glad you bring that up because that's something a lot of people probably won't even consider when they're going to do a van build is actually it might take upwards of a year to actually get the van itself. And you, I know you mentioned you're constantly doing different things but also another thing you guys were excited, you had all this stuff, these parts lying around, you probably had coming up with designs and things you wanted to do and that probably made it more painful having to continue to wait and get the update, another month, another month. So, wow, I can say it's definitely dedication, the fact that you guys stuck it out and ended up finally getting your van. But that's crazy. Is that something you've seen? I know that was during COVID, right? So that's when materials and supplies were crazy. Has that tamed and kind of slowed down? Can it be easier to get one of those vans now, I would imagine?   Guest: Yeah, we just drove by one on the way here, like, to this podcast. We were at a sister's house and just right down the road there's just, we're like, "Hey, look, there's one just sitting out front." And they actually had one in the back, too. So much easier. Yeah, I think the biggest struggle, though, with the whole thing was also watching, like, you know, I think that it's, you know, a lot of the people that do van life don't do it forever. I think that's like an important thing to know when you're getting into it, is that like most people don't do it forever and a lot of people get burnt out with it. There are some people that don't. Kind of got to know what you're wanting out of it. But like when we had all our stuff, I mean, we started buying stuff and looking into doing things, it was a little over a year before that. And so some of the people that we had met and made friends with and we were excited to do it, we watched them build their vans, they had already sold their stuff, too. But as far as like getting ahold of vans, uh, yeah, it's a lot easier now. I think that, I think that the wait times can still be somewhat long depending on where you order it from. On the second van, we just rolled into town, there was one on the lot. And it's kind of crazy because the car market has dropped tremendously. I mean, it fell on spas really. So we looked at our van, it was, uh, 30, 39,000. And when we came back just a few weeks later after she finished her assignment, it dropped all the way down to like 33. So I, it was, it was within a matter of like four to six weeks, the market's definitely changing.   Host: Those inflated prices are finally coming down. I was curious, you bought, so you bought parts and material for the van, how did you know what to buy? Are there like websites or kits you can buy that are custom for like specific van frames? Or how'd you go about doing that?   Guest: Yeah, so a lot of the stuff we bought, um, at the beginning was like electrical stuff, we knew we were going to need that. Um, there are websites. We follow a lot of um, schematics from uh, Far Out Ride is one of the websites. There's another one that does sell more of like kits, um, Explorist.life. I think is what it's called, his Nate Yarbrough. Um, and I mean, he's got a ton of information. You can buy schematics on there. Um, and I've referenced those. I haven't bought any from it. Um, but yeah, we just kind of started sizing up our electrical system, and we went with some of the more expensive components. On our first one, we bought a bunch of Victron stuff, and you know, the wiring, the wire itself can be expensive as well. And then just little stuff that we wanted in it. So we didn't buy any like wood, most of it was just, you know, things you would need to get started. Um, and I don't, I don't even know what all we spent. I mean, we spent a bunch of money on a lot of stuff. I think mostly it was electrical though.   Host: So obviously, so you ended up selling that first van that you converted. Why did you end up selling it?   Guest: Well, it was just really, we found out really fast that when we started it, it was just the two of us and we didn't really, I didn't want a dog, but we ended up with one. And so, and I love him to death. I was never an animal person. We went into a place, my sister was looking at a dog, and my parents wanted to go look at the dogs, and we went in there, and there was this little dog in there, and we just fell in love with him. And now I'm an animal person. So, but found out it was just, it got really tight, really fast with two people and a dog. And then the other thing was, is that we didn't put an air conditioner in it. And so, really hot, a lot of people say, you know, I've heard a lot of people say that they can get by with just two fans, you know, you don't need to spend the money on the air conditioner, and that's great if you can chase the weather and stuff. But we live in the Midwest, and it gets really hot, really hot. And so, by the time we had finished that van, I think we kind of knew we were in trouble because it was just really hot. I mean, we couldn't even barely finish it because we were so hot. It was, you know, it'd be like 80 degrees, 85 degrees outside, and it'd be over 100 degrees in the van. And, you know, you could have the fans on and it'd still be like 96. We just got to thinking, she wanted to do travel nursing and if she needed to take a job in like Arizona or something in the heat of the summer, we needed to be able to, you know, go there and live comfortably. We also needed something that would keep our dog safe as well. And so, we ultimately decided to sell it because we would have needed to upgrade our electrical system, we would have needed, you know, tear out a lot of the ceiling, and at that point, we were just kind of over it. We were just done with building, it took a long time and all of our friends that we had met were like done, so we were just like, we don't, you know, we just, we're done with it too, we were discouraged. So, we just decided to sell it, um we posted up because she wanted to do travel nursing um she had already signed a contract by the time that we posted it for sale and a couple uh flew in from South Carolina and bought it for what we had in it so we didn't make any money off of it it was almost I mean it was like 95% finished and um so they got a good deal on it but uh we just knew we needed something different than that.   Host: Well, at least despite the prices coming down, you didn't take a bath on it, so with the next van, you put the air conditioning in. Were there any other modifications you're doing with this one that you didn't do the first time?   Guest: Yeah, I mean, we're not going to put a shower in this one. Sounds gross, yeah, but we're counting on is we'll try to stay at RV parks that have showers while she's on her contract. We tried to put one like a hidden shower, like a shower and a bench in our last van, and by the time you got the shower pan and then you set the toilet on top of the shower pan, it was like an awkward height, so the bench in there was really uncomfortable to sit on. Really wasn't needed. I mean, you've got Planet Fitness, you've got truck stops, and my buddy is a trucker and he just, we pretty much have unlimited showers at truck stops when we need them, so that's nice. But we weighed out a lot of different options too on like whether we should go with a van. Crazy enough before we even bought this second van we thought we were gonna buy, we were gonna buy an Airstream. I bought a truck actually and I sold it within two days, it's crazy, but I bought a truck and sold it two days later because we decided we were gonna go do a van. So we weighed out the options and really for us a van was the most economical option. By the time you factor in like fuel mileage, so like, you know, there's the three big ones for us was like a class a camper, or RV I guess you call it, or like a pool behind. We looked into even doing like an ambulance, but we even looked at an ambulance New York or Pennsylvania somewhere, yeah, yeah. But by the time you spend fuel on those, it gets to be really expensive. I mean, a half-ton truck, it's like, you know, the older trucks like the one I had was gonna get like nine miles per gallon. A lot of the diesel stuff, it's just high maintenance costs, higher fuel costs, and I didn't know how to work on a diesel. That was a big one for us and so we didn't wanna terrify because if we break down on the road, you know, I'm at the mercy of a mechanic and diesel mechanics are very expensive. So the van just made sense for us, you know, you don't have to have insurance on two vehicles, you just have insurance on the van itself, you can drive wherever you need, now that, that can be a downfall, but we plan to get, like, it's like a dirt bike, a street legal dirt bike later on that we'll use, put a carrier on the back of the van as our secondary Transportation so we don't always have to take it.   Host: Were there any mistakes you made with the first or the second build that you want to share that could potentially save a future listener some trouble?   Guest: Oh gosh, don't overcomplicate it. Yeah, I mean, I was going to say, he knows more about that stuff, I'm kind of just, if you had anything to add, go ahead, but I mean, I think in our first one, we just tried to really pack everything in. We wanted a shower, we wanted, you know, a toilet, we wanted, you know, a kitchen area and stuff. I think that you really find out a lot of stuff when you take your first trip in it. I mean, if you have the money, I know that some people don't have a huge budget to do a van, somebody I'd mentioned this before and somebody said, well, I'd rather take the money that I would use to rent a van, van, and just put it towards my build. But if you have the money to rent a van, I would definitely recommend renting one out and kind of seeing what you use and what you don't, how you like the layout and how you don't, because I think from the first trip that we took, and ours was put together, we realized a lot of things, like our cabinets were really close to our bench and so it made it difficult underneath the sink because we had two cabinets that opened out where you have to be in between them because there wasn't enough room to get past so you were leaning over the cabinet or you had to, you know, wed yourself in there open them up. So there's just a lot of things that you don't think about. Another one was like the shower situation. We thought we were going to put a shower in this one too, our second conversion and we just ultimately decided that we wanted to open feel, we didn't want to feel like we were closed in like our first one, our first van was pretty small was a 136, we've got a 159 now and we just wanted to keep the open feel. Like I said, a lot of the campgrounds have showers, there's a lot of other options, I mean, it just depends on what's important to you. So you know, really think it out, look at other people, ask questions if you can, the best thing you can do is, you know, rent an in or even if you buy one, uh, just try to take a trip in it, you need a lot less than you really think you do.   Host: I think you're totally right about the fact that it's, it's your lifestyle, it's going to revolve around what you're doing, like for example, if you're working at your van, you're boondocking all over the place, you're going to want probably a shower and have those facilities, but if you're travel nursing and you're kind of forced to stay at campgrounds, you're going to be using those facilities anyways so you don't necessarily need those in your van so there's a lot to consider before actually getting started there.     Guest: Yeah, there's a lot of new tech too that is appealing to a lot of people. They're like, "Oh, I want to put this and this and this." So, like, I know, like, a hydronic floor is, like, I think it's hydronic heated floor is what they call it. A lot of people like to put those and they're... they're, to me, they're really complex and stuff. So, like, I don't... I don't need it, you know? It may be something for somebody else. But, you know, the simpler, in my opinion, the better, the less to go wrong, kind of figure it all out too. So, I feel like the heated floor is just one shake in the van away from that wire to come loose and then for it to just not work right.   Host: Well, great, guys. This was a really deep dive into, I guess, not just one but two van builds. I think this is definitely helpful for a lot of people, not just with the build process but also expectations in terms of ordering and the timeline, the overall timeline. So, once you had it, I just want to ask one last question before we wrap up and transition. But how long did that first and second van build take once you actually had the van?   Guest: So, our first one took us eight months. Um, we thought it would take us a lot less. We had originally planned on, like, three to four. Took us eight months. We did it in the middle of the winter too, so there were times we both had full-time jobs. Um, so, a lot of... I mean, we didn't work on it but a couple days on the weekends when I had off. It was kind of hard to get our schedules in line because there were sometimes where she would work on weekends and there's a lot of tasks that just require two people, you know, some of those long boards, trying to put them up on the ceiling or cut them. You know, I didn't have an outfeed table for a saw so I needed somebody to help me hold the boards up while I cut them. So, it was really kind of tough and we didn't work on it for like a month or two on our first one in the middle of winter just because it was so cold and the motivation was very low. Yeah, and you start... the end of it, I mean, towards the end of your first build can kind of be... I don't know, hard. I mean, you can kind of struggle just knowing how long it's taking you.   Host: I definitely don't think people can underestimate the... I guess determination. I can't think of the word but resilience, I guess, in terms of, you know, the mindset of building it, kind of getting demotivated, realizing it's not necessarily the van for you but then, you know, continuing and being resilient and getting another one and doing it the way you want it.   Guest: Yeah, it's... it was tough. Our second one's gone faster. We bought it in October. I don't... I didn't do the math off the top of my head but we're planning to have it done within the next, uh, nine weeks is the plan. Um, we're almost done. I mean, we're... we're on track to finish it. We got, you know, just a little bit stuff we got to make cabinets and, um, just, you know, little stuff add trim and and that kind of stuff.   Host: But like I said you've already taken a few trips in it so it's drivable it's livable just kind of the finishing touches. We'll jump ahead a little bit. Um, what has been the coolest travel experience you guys have had so far? It could be with your van or not with your van.   Guest: So, one of the coolest places we've taken our van, I think the one we enjoyed most was going to South Dakota, which... or, I... we took a couple, so that... I think that was like the first trip that we took when our van was almost completely finished and we met up actually with some friends through Instagram, which kind of sounds a little creepy but they ended up being really good friends. And we actually got to stay, like, on our first, I guess, like, BLM land I guess you say. Actually, we were in a forest. We stayed on BLM land though, so we got to, you know, like, actually, yeah, we did. We got to actually experience that versus, you know, just staying, you know, in a campground or like on the side of a street or something. It was like the full like van life experience. We stayed right on the edge of the badlands, so they have Wall Wall, South Dakota, I think is what it's called where Wall Drug is. A lot of people know what that is. It's like a big General Store. It's really popular, really cool. I mean, there's not, to me, there's not a bunch in South Dakota but the Badlands is kind of the biggest, you know, and that and Mount Rushmore. So, we went up there and that was... that was about the coolest that we got the experience in that and we stayed right on the edge. They had some BLM land. We woke up to cows scratching our head on the back of the van, go... I was breaking in our van, it was rocking back and forth, we weren't sure what was going on but it was awesome. Yeah, it was... it was a neat experience. I mean, we just got to hang out and it just makes you feel like you're living life really freely, like.   Host: That's something I wanted to wake up to, like, just seeing bison or cows or something like brushing up against the van. I would open up and look out and like they're not there yet but that's really cool. So, your van was like shaking cuz there was a cow brushing up against it?   Guest: Yeah, the door hinges on the back, they kind of stick out on and it, they were doing it to like all like we were with, I don't know how many people were there but they were just going down the line like everybody there, I guess it was like a natural alarm, guess? Yeah, which it was wild. We were there for a couple nights and then we didn't see cows, we didn't even know there were cows there and all of a sudden, hundreds, and they were all around, we were surrounded by them. So, that's funny.   Host: That's cool, that's a good experience, yeah. Alright guys, if you could have listened to this podcast when you were first starting out on your van life, your travel nurse journey, and there was a question that you wish I would have asked tonight that I didn't, what would that question be and how would you answer that now?   Guest: Oh, that's a good one, the question. I don't know the answer to that one. Um, I think it... I think I would just be more interested in like, um, like budget, really. I mean, it's so... it's so hard because how much money do you need to have saved up for this? And, yeah, so like, really what people spend on gas, um, you know, that's a big one for me because it's so hard to know kind of what that is. Um, you know, how much you spend. And I know that's different for everyone but um, it's really tough to get like an understanding of what the budget will be like. Even now, we're not really sure what we're going to spend. We're planning to take four months off but we have really no idea what it's going to cost. We try to do some calculations on like how much we're going to drive and the gas prices in those areas and what it's going to be but really like, I think the budget is just the hardest part to know what it's like for somebody that's going to actually travel, not just sit in one place but like, really travels.   Host: In terms of the budget, that's something that completely like blew our socks off was going cross country. We spent way more on fuel than we expected to. And one tip we learned, talking with Dylan in episode one, we actually have a blog post about this I'll link in the show notes, but you take your mileage and you add like a 50% buffer. So, you do your entire trip and add 50% to that because you'll be shocked at how much time and miles you spend driving back and forth, whether National Park Loops or, you know, back and forth of destinations. It was almost like for both of us 50% more than what that Google Maps itinerary told us. That was one good way and then of course, the price of gas varies. I think either way it's going to be more than you expect but if you can, you know, put as much of a buffer on that as you can. We actually had, uh, on episode 13 with, um, Lur and Jason, they were the only guest so far that paid that had money left over after the trip because they... they just anticipated out west to be super expensive, California and just really, really saved up for it and it ended up not being as much as they expected. But there are a few ways you can prepare but it is tough to nail down a price point in terms of budgeting for the van build. Did you have like a number, rough number on how much that cost to build out that you wanted to share?   Guest: Yeah, so our first one, we bought our first van, um, it was a 136 ProMaster. It had about 60,000 miles on it and we bought that for $38,000 and we spent around $17,000 on the conversion. And I think that was more on the high side. We didn't really skimp on anything. I wanted, you know, nice materials. I wanted the cabinets to be made out of like, um, birch. Um, and so we probably spent more than I guess the average person. And then I think on the second one, we bought our van for $34,500. There was some kind of weird markups on there. I know that I said that it was marked down to like $33,000 but it was, it's kind of confusing, I guess you have to have like a trade-in and finance through them. It's, to me, it's like a dealership scam but we end up paying $34,500 for our van and I think we're going to have right around 20 grand in it and that's with an air conditioner, inverter, and two extra batteries. Yeah, we beefed up our electrical system a lot on this one so, you know, you may give or take a little bit. I would probably say anywhere from like 20 to 22. We haven't added it up yet but I think we're right in that range.   Host: Nice, well thank you for sharing that. And then for someone who's listening to this podcast who wants to get into this kind of travel nursing, van life lifestyle but aren't quite there yet, what is one thing they can do today to get started?   Guest: I mean really just cut out all the unnecessary stuff. Like that's the biggest way that we started saving for it was, you know, you can look at your expenses and cut out a lot. I mean, you... you list it all out, um, get rid of unnecessary subscriptions. I mean, heck, even like, um, your vehicle insurance, I mean a lot of people overpay for vehicle insurance and so, you know, you can go through many agencies and get free quotes. I mean, it doesn't do anything, you know, it's just literally a free quote, um, to see if you can save money on that and just really kind of skimping on everything. So, we cut down like our phone bills, we went to straight talk. I mean, it was far less. We just paid for our phones out of pocket. Um, we have less expenses there and just cut out everything we didn't need. What were you saying about the travel nursing part, just how to get into it?   Host: I guess just a lifestyle and obviously with that you would need to, um, have the degree and everything else but I guess the first step probably be just pursuing it.   Guest: Getting in touch with the travel agency or going through the application process. Otherwise, I would say, you know, just do it. I just don't even really think about it, don't overthink about it, just put in your application and get connected with somebody. Just do it. Yeah, it's... it's not a bad... I mean, Courtney was really nervous about getting into it, she wasn't really sure what to think, of course you like we mentioned earlier there's only one day of orientation, you know, she... whether she didn't know enough but and I'm really, I get really nervous, um, like with change so I was, "Oh my gosh, I don't know how I'm going to function like talking to people, like, questions," like, "I'm just going to have to get over that fear," you know, and just... and just do it. So, it's got much better. I still get a little nervous um, before my assignments start but um, it's even compared to the first one, it's gotten much better but it seems like with nursing a lot of it is like that, everybody's still learning all the time. I mean, like, yeah, there's... there's always going to be something that you can learn better with so it, for the most part, iht's from her experience and maybe I'm wrong here, you'll have to correct me, but it seems like they're all willing to help out and you know, help you with things that you might not know if it's something that you've never done before. There's usually somebody there that has, and just don't be scared, you know? Try it. If it's not for you, you know it's not permanent.   Host: Yeah, at least you tried, and you got out of your comfort zone, which a lot of people don't do, so yeah, and you're enjoying it so far. And then yeah, like cutting expenses is never a bad place to start like you said there Dakota. Well, great. Have there been any YouTube channels, books, or other influences that inspired you guys to get on the road and travel?   Guest: Yeah, um, you want me to talk about it or you want to? Okay, you can. Okay, so the second van build we were really inspired by Jimmy and Natalie. Um, I don't know if you know who they are. They have a YouTube channel, I think they have like 45,000 subscribers. Actually, copying their layout exactly because it just seems like it's simple enough, it's not overcomplicated. Yeah, yeah. So, we just thought the functionality worked for us. It had everything we needed. But as far as like first getting started with Van life, there was a lady named Liz Bryant. She has a YouTube, I don't think she really uploads to it anymore, called "Wild by the Mile". She was a solo, like the OG solo female vanlifer, and um, that was the first time I'd ever really seen anybody do van life and that was what really inspired me because it just seemed so awesome, you know? It's wake up by the beach every day and just kind of live life on your own terms and have your own freedom. So seeing that, seeing what she did, it was really inspiring to us. I mean, I think there's good and bad that come with it, but I think the good far outweighs any of the complications that, you know, you have in Van life.   Host: Otherwise, you wouldn't be doing a second van build, right? Thank you guys. I'll put a link in the show notes for those two channels you mentioned there and while our audience is checking out those channels, one more time, where can they find out more about you?   Guest: We have an Instagram, it's @kodaandcourt. And that's really all we have right at the moment. I mean, we have a YouTube channel, but we're a little camera shy, so just getting over the fear of hearing your own voice and you know, that. So, we might, you know, eventually do something with that, but right now we're just kind of not. We're not, we're not like keeping up with Instagram. We post stories and stuff, but I think we're going to post more when, you know, she's not working. So we're trying to work on being better about it. But yeah, any questions, you know, anybody can reach out. I'd love to help people whether it's, you know, car-related stuff, if somebody's having trouble with their vehicle or, you know, travel nursing, or build, you know, van build questions, you know, we're just, we love to answer questions and help people out.   Host: Great, yeah, we'll put a link in the description for your channel as well and camera shy but we could definitely not tell and you guys rock this interview. There's a ton of valuable information here. We're excited to get out and share. Um, last question so our audience doesn't stay in suspense. What are we talking about for part two in travel tips?   Guest: We're going to talk about Juniper Springs, I guess it's in the Okala National Forest, so in Florida.   Host: Alright everybody, keep an eye out for that episode airing in 2 days. Dakota and Courtney, thanks again.   Guest: Thank you.    

www.atravelpath.com   00:00 Introduction 03:45 How Were You Originally Funding Your Full Time Travels? 05:45 How Long Have You Been Traveling Full Time? 06:45 How Long Was Full Time Travel a Goal for You? 08:15 What Was the Biggest Obstacle Before Going Full Time? 09:45 What Are Your Purging and Downsizing Tactics? 13:15 What Are the Biggest Travel Frustrations You Currently Face? 15:45 RV Maintenance and Repairs 19:45 What Tools Should Every RV Owner Have? 21:45 What Do You Love Most About Your Travel Lifestyle? 23:15 Checklists 29:15 How Do You Get Internet While Traveling? 29:45 Past Mistakes 35:45 Charity 38:45 Coolest Travel Experience 40:15 What is One Thing You've Learned You Can't Live Without? 49:45 Knowing Each Other's Roles   It was so great having Phil and Stacy from Today is Someday on our show! Phil and Stacy have been going full time in their Class A motorhome for about 6 years. We asked them how they were able to do it and what life is like for them on the road. They shared all about the importance of checklists and maintenance, and weren't afraid to share the fact that they are spending more time maintaining their RV than they did on their home. When I asked them if they were using the funds of their home sale to pay for their travels, they mentioned they hadn't touched that. They have the foresight to know that one day they will want to hunker down in a stationary home again, so they are keeping money saved up for that. Tune in to learn about even more!   Find Phil and Stacy At: ·        https://todayissomeday.net/ ·        https://www.youtube.com/c/YouMetheRV ·        https://www.instagram.com/todayissomeday_travel/ ·        https://www.facebook.com/todayissomeday   Charity: ·        https://todayissomeday.net/military-charities ·        https://give.ourhfotusa.org/fundraiser/3882334   Phil and Stacy's Videos Referenced: ·        Slap Wrist Checklists: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bArIvXHtDCc ·        Setup and Break Down Checklist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUaxI5X4qHg ·        15 Purging Tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCVixKTokr8&t=356s   Other YouTube Channels Referenced: ·        https://www.youtube.com/@KeepYourDaydream ·        https://www.youtube.com/@LessJunkMoreJourney ·        https://www.youtube.com/@gonewiththewynns ·        https://www.youtube.com/@Rvlove/videos   Show #6 With Jim and Michelle from Airstreamer: ·        https://atravelpath.com/retired-full-time-rv-living/   Applicable Episodes: ·        All About the Banks: https://atravelpath.com/retire-in-an-rv/   Most Popular Blogs: ·        Most Popular Travel Hacks: https://atravelpath.com/money-saving-travel-tips/ ·        Travel Gear: https://atravelpath.com/travel-gear/ ·        How to Budget For Gas on a Road Trip: https://atravelpath.com/how-to-budget-for-gas-for-a-road-trip/ ·        Our Favorite RV Upgrades: https://atravelpath.com/rv-upgrades/ ·        How Much We Made Renting Our RV: https://atravelpath.com/renting-camper-van/ ·        Never Run Out of Gas on a Road Trip: https://atravelpath.com/road-trip-tip/   Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/abbynoise/rocky-mountains   #fulltimerv #rvlife    *All content from atravelpath.com, including but not limited to The Travel Path Podcast and social media platforms, is designed to share general information. We are not experts and the information is not designed to serve as legal, financial, or tax advice. Always do your own research and due diligence before making a decision.   Transcript:   Tyler: Phil and Stacy, welcome to the Travel Path Podcast.   Phil and Stacy: Thanks so much for being here. Thank you for having us.   Tyler: So, we know you from YouTube as Today is Someday, where you post videos on everything from RV adventures, tutorials gears, gadget reviews. You post a lot of destination reviews, which you're not afraid to share your opinion on certain destinations. On your website, you have raised over $170,000 towards your charity, which is amazing. We're excited to dive into that later on. I do want to give a quick shout out to Jim and Michelle from Airstreamer on episode 6; they mentioned they binged your content while they were learning and leading up to their full-time travel life. But why don't we start by having you share a little about yourselves?   Phil and Stacy: Sure, you want to start? Go ahead. Okay. Honestly, our story is very similar to a lot of full-time RVers. We love to travel, and at some point, we decided to sell everything we own: our house, all of our stuff, and buy an RV to travel the country. Phil's retired Navy, and we quickly discovered when he retired that I actually saw him more when he was deployed via FaceTime than when he got home. I was working full-time as a nurse practitioner, and I was working a lot of hours. So, RVing was our way to make a change and try to get some of that time back. Yeah, and for me, that was the biggest thing. I had toured other countries, I had been on many deployments, I missed a lot of the kids growing up. So for me, jumping into this lifestyle, and we had never camped, never done any of that. So for us, it was getting that time back and taking a leap of faith at the same time.   Tyler: Okay, very cool. That answers one of my questions later on about how much experience did you have before you went full-time. So when you had sold your home to take on this full-time travel lifestyle, I imagine you had the proceeds from the sale of your home, I imagine a military pension, any other forms of income that helped support that when you started out?   Phil and Stacy: It was really just my retirement. Well, you were also a Navy contractor when we first hit the road, so he was working remotely. Now, we did not use the sale of our house to fund any of this because, one, if we hated it, we wanted an out. So, all of that we invested to buy another house in the future, and two, we knew someday that we wouldn't be living this lifestyle. So eventually, you know if it going to break enough to where we're going to have to hit a sticks and bricks. So we wanted that money there just in case. So, we used the income we had saved. We are big on not having any debt, so we didn't have any debt except for our house when we came up with this idea. So we didn't have to work really hard like some people do to get out of debt; we were already a step ahead of that. So, really, we just lived off his pension once his job or his Navy retirement once his job ended. Yeah, and we started saving and planning and prepping, you know, probably a good few years before. We didn't know what we were planning or prepping for, but we knew we wanted to do something. So, we had already been on that track to have enough money saved to do whatever we wanted to do. And then it just kind of came to a front, and we sold it and jumped. But I definitely recommend if somebody's thinking about doing something like this, people don't realize how expensive it can be, and being out of debt and not having that pulling you down really enables you to do all the things that you want to do when you travel to new locations.   Tyler: Yeah, well, I think it's really smart of you guys to sell that and not use the proceeds, having the foresight to know that eventually, you know, this is sustainable but at some point if you want to transition back into sticks and bricks, you have that lump sum there you can put a down payment down. And you started about five years ago, right, full-time?   Phil and Stacy: Almost six. This May will be six years since we've been on the road.   Tyler: Yeah, so you're doing the remote work before co, before it was cool.   Phil and Stacy: Yeah, before it was, yeah, yeah.   Tyler: Great. So, what did your kind of day-to-day look like while you were working, and are you still working remotely full-time or part-time?   Phil and Stacy: Well, I do consider "Today is Sunday" to be full-time now. I actually spend more time on that than I did as a nurse practitioner. But the difference is I get to do it on my own time, you know, when and how much I want. So, we definitely, that's definitely a full-time job for us now. But when we first started, really, it was his Navy retirement, and we, I mean, we really had to live on a budget to make sure that we could survive out on the road. And thankfully, there are so many ways to RV; you really can RV on a tight budget, which is what we did. Yeah, and we were used to having a budget, which is key, I think. And if you can live within your existing budget when you first start, that also helps kind of jump you.   Tyler: Yeah, that's great. You had mentioned you were kind of saving up and planning preparing for something but you weren't sure exactly what it was for a number of years. How long was the time frame between when you learned that you wanted to hit the road and travel full-time and till the point that you actually started doing it?   Phil and Stacy: Initially, it was going to be four years. So, our son was graduating from high school, he was starting college, so we gave ourselves four years to really figure out what we wanted to do, what RV we wanted. Phil had just started researching RVs, and then our son decided that college was not for him. So, he quit school and he joined the Navy. And when he joined the Navy, that just boosted up our timeline. We went from four years to just over a year and a half, not quite two years, for us to really research, find an RV, and which really became Phil's full-time job for a while, and sell everything, and move in, including our house, and move into the RV.   Tyler: Great. Well, I think it helped that you were able to propel that because you were planning, preparing in advance, you already saving up and doing like I said, you were saving for something just weren't sure what it was. So during that process, the year and a half it took you to make the decision we want to go full-time, what was the biggest obstacle you had to face to get there?   Phil and Stacy: I'll let you take this, Phil. For me, I was my own obstacle because we had built, there was actually, we had built our retirement home, and you know, we were able to put in the features and design it the way we wanted to. So I was happy, I had my three-car garage, I had my man cave. But Stacy kept telling me, "It's just stuff, we can get more stuff later." So, for me, purging and getting rid of all of the things that wouldn't fit in a 300-foot box was really hard for me. The flip side of that though is we did travel and move quite a bit in the military. So, we were used to having to purge and you know, get rid of things, pack up, move to the next place. So that was, I guess, my biggest obstacle. Stacy didn't have one other than me. I was just ready to go, let's just go. She started this whole room by room purge, and it made it a lot easier for her. And I'm sure I'm speaking out of line, but it made it easier for her to purge and get to where she needed to be because she started doing it one room, you know, a closet at a time, and just built on it.   Tyler: Yeah, I think it definitely helps when you're, when you have moved around quite a bit. We're not in the military, but we move around with our rental properties pretty frequently. So when people tell us they're moving, like, it's, we've moved so many times in the past like five years, it's just, it's just easy to us for some reason. We accumulate less things. So, that's good. So, having that experience of doing that. I know you've posted videos in the past on some of your purging and downsizing tactics. Do you want to share any of those?   Phil and Stacy: I should probably take this one. Yes. So, I think some of the hardest things for people to get rid of, and Phil was this way too, are the things that you connect to people, and we connect those items to people and think that's the memory or that's a part of them. So, whether it's Grandma's antique furniture or photos that have been in a box for the last 20 years, I think some of the easiest ways to go through those and get rid of them is to actually take a picture of the item. You can create your own memory book with these items and actually talk about the memory that you have attached to that item and keep the photo and get rid of the stuff. So, you know, Grandma is not a part of that dresser, but she might be a part of the memory that you attach to the dresser, sure.   Tyler: That was a great tip. And we were watching some videos to prepare for this; you had another tip, I think, didn't you, like take your clothes and put them reverse on a coat hanger, and then like after a couple of weeks?   Phil and Stacy: Yeah, so I did that with Phil because he had like 400 t-shirts, and he kept saying, "I wear every t-shirt." And I'm like, "No, you don't." So, we take all the hangers, hang them backwards on the rod, and then as you wear them, you hang them up correctly. And then in three months or six months, you'll see exactly what shirt you're wearing, and it makes it really easy to purge. And you can do this really anytime; you'll be surprised how few items in your closet you actually wear on a daily, weekly basis. Yeah, and come to find out, I only wore like 14 to 20 of them at any one given time. I was like, "Wow, that I mean it was kind of eye-opening for me." And then what she did, she didn't just say, "Okay, the rest have to go," she said, "Pick the ones that mean the most to you." And I had a lot of work T-shirts from being in the military; we had T-shirts that were designed by students at my last command, so I had quite a few of those. So, I took the ones that I really liked, and that meant something to me, and Stacy turned them into a quilt that we now carry with us on the RV. Yeah, so we still have it.   Hope: Oh, that's really cool. And it's a great tip. Not even if you're not traveling, it's something you can do seasonally, every, you know, spring, fall. Tyler: Yeah, even start a season with them facing the same way, and then at the end of the season, you'll know which ones you didn't wear.   Phil and Stacy: Yeah, we try and do that, but we're not very good at it. I mean, I just, I don't know, I get attached to things. I mean, I like my stuff. I spent good money on my stuff. And then she's over here, like, just get rid of it, we can get something else later. Like, so, but it has gotten a lot easier. We're, we're the opposite, we'll throw, I'll try and throw everything I can out as possible, and then she'll like, save some of it, and then I'll, I'll find it, and then I'll be wondering where something I threw out is, and she's like, you threw it out. I do over purge. Yeah, that's what we call, I'm an over purger. I'm like, oh, that one thing, man, I think I got rid of it. She also was a little sneaky, and she would get rid of my stuff that she didn't like, and she would do it, you know, a little bit here, a little bit there, and I, you know, I had so many shirts and so many different things that I never even missed it. And it wasn't until she told me, you know, we were arguing about keeping something, and she, you know, would bring up, I've thrown away three things that you haven't even missed, like, I would never do that.   Hope: That's funny, good teammates then, exactly, good balance over there.   Tyler: Yeah, yeah, as we can fast forward a little bit to your current life on the road now, what are some of the biggest frustrations you currently face while traveling?   Phil and Stacy: Well, what's your biggest frustration? I think maybe everybody's frustration as RVers, I think the only thing really is just the repetitiveness of RV repair and maintenance. So when we sold our house, we really thought, okay, well, no more lawn, no more maintenance, no more repairs. And little did we know, we actually do. I say we, but I really mean Phil, does more RV repair and maintenance than he ever did on the house. So, I think really that's everybody's frustration and everyone's surprised when they move into their RV. Yeah, it's, I mean, you have to have some kind of knowledge in being a handyman to kind of stay on top of it. I mean, these things are rolling, you know, hurricanes going down the interstate, so they're constantly shimmying, shaking, and, you know, you're hitting things on the road that jar things loose. And I'm not talking just nuts and bolts, I'm talking wiring, you know, electrical connections, things like that. So, I mean, it's a little different for every type of RV, but for us, you know, we will stay on top of it, and as long as we do that, she'll continue to take care of us. Along with that, I think our other biggest issue would be just agreeing on where to stay sometimes. Well, the easiest way is just not to let him look, because, yeah, Phil is the spender, I'm the saver. So, I like to balance the budget, so sometimes we'll stay at expensive places, but then we have to cut back and balance it all out. So, we'll stay at somewhere inexpensive. Phil would be okay staying at the expensive places all the time. Well, not the, like, super expensive, but just nicer.   Tyler: Yeah, yeah, that's funny. I've learned to kind of just take the back seat with planning and just drive the car, drive the van, that's it.   Phil and Stacy: Well, I do, I agree with you, I'm just the driver. And it's not until we get there that I'm like, really? She's like, yeah. And I'm like, okay.   Tyler: So, you bring up a good point about the maintenance with RVs, and it doesn't really, it doesn't matter if it's brand new or used. We bought a brand new RV, and like you said, it's bumping down the road. We have a wire that came loose that's tripping an outlet, and we've tried, we've hired RV techs trying to find where that short is, and you can't find it. So, there's all sorts of, just be prepared for the maintenance and, you know, all that that comes along with the one RV. Have you found, like, a certain number of days or even, like, a price point that you're spending per month or so on repairs and maintenance?   Phil and Stacy: Oh, um, I don't know if we've looked at it that way because it definitely goes, it ebs and flows. I think our other, other than regular diesel maintenance, which is according to the miles, we had one huge cost recently. Um, as we left, um, Newland, you want to tell them about that? Most of our, our maintenance is or repair work is, is usually done annually. So, little things I stay on top of, and they're not, you know, it's not a huge out-of-pocket card because I already have some of the equipment or I have parts on hand if I need to replace something. So, that, to put a dollar amount to it, I really can't say. Um, it's just like, you know, at your house, you have things in the garage, and, you know, you have extra filters and extra whatever, so you just swap them out. But our annual maintenance, I would say, for our diesel pusher that we have, um, anywhere from 2,000 to 2,500 for the year. And that's the engine, the chassis, the generator, all the big-ticket items that are required, um, to be done annually. And then, our big, um, oh, and then the issue that we had coming out of Maine. So, um, I don't know if it was the roads we were on or what, but we had a, a super expensive manifold exhaust leak on our engine, and we were, we were losing boost pressure, you know, we were almost rolling backwards going up the mountainside in Newland. Pretty scary when you don't really know what it is, and I'm not an engine guy. So, we, we limped into the Freightliner of Maine once we got back to the US, and they discovered what it was, they got us in and out in like five days, which was pretty good, they did amazing. Um, and that one was dang near a $7,000 repair. Um, however, we were prepared for any kind of major event, so we had a specific, uh, repair fund set aside, and that we just, you know, ever since we, even before we started, we just, we started putting money into this, this fund. So, we called it either the repair, the emergency fund, yeah, it's the repair fund, um, so that we have it in case something like this came up, and it did. And a retire fund, yeah, because tires cost so much for these things, so we just, that's what we use, we, we, we started with different, you know, funds that we started doing, putting a little bit of money into all these different places because we knew eventually we would need to, you know, something is going to jump up and bite us, and that was our big one, and that's, and that's pretty much it in six years. I mean, other, other than that, it's been just normal and normal things that that Stacy can tackle up on the roof herself, sometimes.   Tyler: That's interesting. So, you guys not only have like a repair fund set aside, which is smart in the first place, but you also, you go one step further and have like a tire fund or an emergency fund on top of that. So, you even, you kind of further layer that. That's brilliant.   Phil and Stacy: Yeah, well, and it's because, you know, we could have just one emergency repair fund or one emergency fund, right? But then you take for granted, oh, I've got enough in that one, right? So, then now we started another one, so we make sure that we have enough in that one.   Tyler: Yeah, no, it's great. Everything with you guys is calculated, and there's a reason for everything. I like that.   Phil and Stacy: It was by accident.   Tyler: So, we talked about some of the, you know, the frustrations, the downsides of full-time RV travel. Let's transition a little bit to some of the positive. So, what do you love most about this lifestyle?   Phil and Stacy: The freedom. There's so much, yeah, it's the freedom to, to go and do what you want to do when you want to do it, on our time. Um, for me, that's, that's the most rewarding because for almost 30 years, I was told what to where, I was told where to go, I was told when I could go home. So, you know, flipping that, that switch to now being free to move about the country whenever we want, or I should say the world, it's amazing. And I think for me, what we've discovered, and we used to hear people say this, and we didn't get it until we went full-time, and that's the community. I think once you start meeting the people, and you really make connections with RVers, other RVers on the road, you'll realize that the RV community is pretty darn amazing. Yeah, so I think for, for us, finding that and, you know, meeting our people out on the road, it's so different than any community we've ever been a part of. So, I, I think for, for me, that's pretty high on the list. And you get to meet them and run into them all over the country, you know, so you may meet them at one specific place, and then everybody goes their own way, but you're all crossing paths, even those that are not full-timers like us, they still get out, they still, you know, we're in their neck of the woods, and they're like, hey, you got to come over, we've got this great ice cream spot we want to take you to. Tyler: Yeah, no, it has been great. And like, even like, every person we talked to on the podcast, like now we have people, every episode, there's some other place when we're traveling, they're like, oh, next time you're out, you know, give us a shout, we'll grab lunch or something. Yeah, it's been great. Um, yeah, you, you talk about on your channel quite a bit about preparation and checklists. Not just your channel, you talked about it a lot in this podcast as well. What are some things every RVer should do before they hit the road?   Phil and Stacy: Definitely have a checklist, yeah, um, and your checklist is going to be everything you do when you go to break down and pack up to hit the road. Um, most accidents and injury can happen at set up and breakdown if people aren't paying attention if they miss something. So, having that list and not getting distracted when you're going down the list, um, talking to your neighbor is really important, and I think it keeps you on track, and you know, it keeps you from busting your satellite or, um, the awning being out, which we just saw, we just saw nobody leaving the campground with their awning open. Or even a big mistake that we made early on is, well, we've made a few, but Phil forgot to put the pen in our dolly, so we're driving down the road, and the dolly's like dragging. Yeah, so I mean, you can make so many mistakes, and you just, one little blip where you lose track of what you're doing, you can, you can make a major mistake. And you know what, I tell people all the time is, with having a checklist, the minute you get interrupted, whether it's on, you know, your spouse or your significant other calls you in for something, or somebody outside comes over and wants to say, hey, and, and talk to you, soon as you're done with whatever that interaction is, go back to step one, because inevitably, you know, we're all human, we figured, oh, I've already done that, or I think I'm here, and then you'll miss a step or two, and then that's when catastrophe strikes. So, for us, is have that, go back to it, um, and if you're in doubt, just start all over, you know. But having that checklist before you hit the road is, for us, is it's been huge, and we've been doing almost six years, and we still pull out that checklist, and we use it every time before we drive away.   Tyler: Yeah, and we, and it sounds like you guys are, you're physically getting out, you're walking around your RV. We know people that do that as well, um, but what are some of the big ones, people, like, are you checking your tires, you're making sure everything's retracted?   Phil and Stacy: The big thing is, is our tires are, um, TPMS, TPMS, and make sure we're aired up properly, um, and that's not only for safety, but it's for, for fuel consumption. Um, we always do a final, one of us will always do a final walk around, and we always check our lights. I don't know how many people, if they check their lights to make sure, because we have a toad, we want to make sure the lights are hooked up properly, we have brakes, we have blinkers, so the people behind us, um, can, you know, see where we're going and what we're doing. So, we've, we've gone and stepped completely behind the Jeep as it's attached to the RV, and we've gone further back from it to physically, physically see that, or make sure that we can see our brake lights right from cars behind us coming up on us, um, and I use the checklist for unhooking and hooking up the Jeep, we both do. We pull it out of the console, and we go by it step by step. We've been doing this for five years, and there's only, you know, a handful of steps to do on that Jeep. But if you miss one of them on your Jeep, you're going to drag your tires, you're going to have, you're going to have the parking brake on, whatever it is. So, we go through that checklist, and the last thing we do is we make sure that all four of the Jeep tires are rolling freely. So, we don't just check one side of the Jeep to see that the tires are rolling, we check both sides, um, to make sure. And that's just kind of our final check before we get in, put the seat belts on, and, and hit the road.   Tyler: Can you explain the slap wrist bracelets?   Phil and Stacy: So, we didn't actually invent this, we, there's another couple we saw using them, and it's really great for all dribbles. Um, instead of having a physical paper or a physical list, we just take those '80s old-school slap wrist bracelets, we got a Sharpie, and we put all of our checklist on the bracelets, and then we just smack them onto our steering wheels so we know all the things that we need to do before we hit the road. And you can just pull them off your steering wheel one by one as you complete it, and that way you know if you go to drive away and something's still in that steering wheel that you forgot to do something on your checklist.   Tyler: Yeah, that's brilliant. It's something so simple.   Phil and Stacy: And so many people have said, "That's brilliant." We can't take, you know, credit for it, but we love it because it's, you know, you could take them while you're walking around outside, doing your, if you're by yourself. So you have a handful of them and as you're doing whatever outside, just smack it on your arm and you're good to go. You know you've done it.   Tyler: Yeah, yeah. No, it's simple, it's effective, and unlike an iPad, if you have a list on an iPad, the battery's not going to die. You're always going to have that there.   Phil and Stacy And we've marked through them, we've added new stuff as our situations changed, as we've gotten, you know, upgrades and done different things to the RV. So, you know, your checklist is not going to be set in stone once you start. You will evolve and change and add stuff on like, you know, you forget something a couple of times in a row, and you're like, "Oh, I better add this to the checklist," or you, you know, like we changed our satellite or whatever. So just remember you can change it as you go along and definitely keep it up to date as your RV Life Changes.   Tyler: Yeah, no, it's important. And like you said, you guys are still doing it now, but I think it's even more important starting out because when everything is new to you, you can get nervous. Once you get nervous, it's hard to think, and that's when you can easily forget something.   Phil and Stacy:  And another great benefit of having that is Stacy's had to do everything by herself. So, like, normally I will do everything outside, she'll do everything inside. So the one time that I couldn't do anything, she had to do it, the entire checklist was right there. All those slappers' bracelets were there for her to use and to go through, and she knocked it out of the park with that.   Tyler: Yeah, that's great. How are you getting internet when you're traveling?   Phil and Stacy: We have a Peplink modem router, and we use a T-Mobile SIM card for that. And that's our main internet means of getting internet into the RV. And of course, like many RVers, we have Starlink as our backup.   Tyler: Great. Do you want to share any mistakes that you or anybody you know have made in the past that could potentially help a listener?   Phil and Stacy: Plenty of mistakes in the very beginning. Our biggest one that still, to this day, I don't know how we didn't damage something. We actually moved the RV while we were still plugged into the pedestal. Oh, wow. So, yes, we got really lucky. We were, and of course, it seemed like every time we got underway in the beginning or loaded the car on the dolly, it was raining. So I was in a hurry to get the dolly connected to the RV, and it was pouring down rain. So I'm out there soaking wet, and I finally got the dolly to where I could hook it up, and I told Stacy to move the rig forward, not realizing that now I'd already tripped the breaker, and why, I don't know. Normally, when I trip the breaker, I pull the power cord. It's two steps, trip, pull it. That day, I tripped it, and I didn't pull it. So, in my mind, we're good, and I told Stacy to go ahead and move forward. I came around from the passenger side to the driver's side, and there's my entire power cord laying out with our surge protector still connected to it, laying... I mean, just straight as it could be on the ground. And I quickly looked over at the pedestal to make sure it was still upright, and it was fine, the cord was fine, the pedestal was fine, both of our hearts were in our throats. I mean, it really scared us. Yeah, I mean, we could have ripped out the pedestal. That would have been major money to repair. We've seen instances where people have actually ripped the plug off their power cord, so then they have to get that repaired. So we really dodged a bullet on that one. But then again, that's how mistakes happen when you're in a hurry, you're not following your normal routine. And that's why those checklists are so important. If he had the checklist out there that day, he would have known that he didn't follow through on what he normally does. And the slap wrist is waterproof, so there's no excuse. I should have had it with me.   Tyler: That is true, very true. I was going to say, was that the day that your checklist was born when that happened, or was that just not on there?   Phil and Stacy: Yeah, we already had it, but I think we added to it that. Yeah, really. And this was like really early. We weren't even full-time yet. We still had a house we were just visiting. We were doing some shakedown trips. So it really honed in and made us realize how important those checklists were.   Tyler: Yeah, it is, yeah. Oh, it is, yeah. Um, well, thank you for sharing that. Appreciate that.   Phil and Stacy: And yeah, you can find all kinds of mistakes on our Channel. We're not scared. Well, we did the dolly. Um, let's see, what else did we do? What other big mistakes did we make? We're happy to have other people learn from us because, honestly, that's the whole point in sharing some of our content is because when we discover new things that either we've been doing wrong or new ways to do things, that's what we like to share, because, you know, that's the stuff that's of most benefit to our community here. Here's something that we do because we got burned by it one time, not literally burned, but it was a bad deal, and nobody had ever mentioned this when we were doing our research, and that's getting into a site and before you do anything in your site, check the pedestal, make sure you have good power. So normally, we had been doing it that way, and we had been boondocking for a while, so we hadn't been plugging into anything. So we get into this nice State Park, we get level, we open everything up, I go to plug in to the pedestal, and the pedestal is bad, no power. And we had already, we're all open, we had everything open, and normally, I would plug in my surge protector and let it do a diagnostic check on the pedestal. And that day, we didn't do it, you know, so that was another one of our mistakes. It was like, okay, from now on, doesn't matter. This is what we're doing first. And it didn't cost us anything, it didn't hurt anything other than time. So we just had to close back up, we had to readjust the rig, we actually stole power from a pedestal next door empty pedestal until the state park could come out and repair. But you know, it's just one of those steps that it just reinforces, is following through.   Tyler: And of course, of course, it was the one time where you didn't do it first. That's how it always works.   Phil and Stacy: Always. That's when it's not gonna work. It's, it's like it's like pulling when you hook up your sewer hose. You don't just open up your black tank and let it flow, you open up the gray tank to make sure you have a good connection. Ask us how we know. You know, I mean, it's those kind of mistakes that people don't think about, um, that jump out and they, they bite you right in the tail. I forgot, I fell out of the RV. A lot of people fall out of the RV. I fell out of the RV because when the rig is running, you open when the rig is running, the steps are retracted. So when you open the door, the steps come out. Well, you have to wait a few seconds for the steps to come out. Well, I got impatient. I, well, I didn't get impatient, I just opened the door and did not stick The Landing, I can tell you that learning experience, right?   Hope: Yeah, Tyler did something similar.   Tyler: I did?   Hope: yeah, when you fell, when we were winterizing.   Tyler: Oh, yeah.   Hope: Ours were old school, so they didn't Auto, oh my gosh, because we were winterizing, and he forgot the step was half retracted and it slid out and I went down.   Tyler: And it was one of those and knocked the wind out of me. I was trying to say I was okay, but I was like, I couldn't even talk,   Phil and Stacy: Oh my gosh, yeah, you just never know for sure. No. And we've, in fact, somebody in our community, our crew, he just broke his leg. He's a solo guy, and he fell out of his rig, and we've heard that from a lot of people and broke his leg. So now he's sitting for six months. Well, the one, our one crew, she had to have surgery after she fell. It's crazy. You just never know.   Tyler: That's true. That's true. That's why you need to just take your time and not be in a hurry. Yep, easier said than done. It is, yes, it is very true. Do you want to share a little bit about your charity?   Phil and Stacy: Oh, sure. So we actually don't have our own personal charity, but there are several veterans charities that we've rallied around. The biggest one is homes for our troops, and they actually build custom homes for service members with severe injuries. These homes are amazing. So it is totally free for the veteran, and it's one of the biggest charities that we've rallied around and where we've raised the most money. But we're up to over $170,000 now. We're working on 200,000. But we've done all kinds of crazy things to raise money, from dunk Booth to we did a pie in the face, we did auctions and raffles and all kinds of stuff. So it's been really amazing to see the RV community rally around us and really dig deep to donate to these veteran charities. So it means the world to us, and it's not us that's doing it. It's the RV community that's doing it. That's the important thing. We're just two people with a voice using our platform to help, you know, help veterans. And being that we were in the military for so long and connected to it, it hits home with us. So we, you know, if the channel dissolved tomorrow, we would still do whatever we could to help, that's how, that's how much it means to us.   Tyler: Yeah, no, it's great you guys are doing that. And I know people can help by purchasing t-shirts, right? And I guess this is, if you're watching on YouTube, we'll do our big reveal. We're wearing our, uh, today is someday t-shirts right here. How does that work?   Phil and Stacy: So if somebody orders a shirt, there's proceeds that go towards your charity, right, or the charities, right? Anything from our veteran line, we have veteran cups and t-shirts and hats. Anything from the veteran line, all the proceeds will go toward homes for our troops. So about every quarter, we get a statement from our, um, the company who runs our store, and we just go straight off the list, and we donate it over to homes for our troops. So it's been, it's been really great, a nice easy way for us to raise money. The other really simple way is our crew. We have a membership and a big portion of our membership funds that we raise also go over to homes for our troops. So it's, it's really rewarding.   Tyler: That's great. And it's amazing you're were able to raise that much money in just this, you know, five to six-year period. That's incredible.   Phil and Stacy: Yeah, it is. It's very incredible. We are loving it, and   Tyler: We'll put a link in the show notes for the links to the charities, your website, everything people need to know to, um, to donate there.   Hope: Um, what has been your coolest travel experience so far?   Phil and Stacy: Oh, the coolest. It's always hard when people ask those questions because, you know, you go to so many different locations, and you like different locations for different reasons. So I do have to say, Yosemite is one of our favorite places. We were at a National Forest campground just outside Yosemite, and that's where our jeep was broken into by a bear. So it was the most very first night momentous, and the one of the most beautiful places we've stayed, yeah, that one was really cool. It's the bear break game, but my one, my other one would be Creed, Colorado. We Boondock on top of a mountain U there in Creed for a week, uh, with a couple of our friends, and it was absolutely breathtaking up there and so peaceful, yeah, unhooked all of us on our own power, everything. I mean, it was just to wake up and see the sun peeking over the mountains every morning. I mean, if you haven't experienced that, you got to get out, go find the mountains and check it out. It's amazing. It's, yeah, the, and the towns around there are just, you know, very nice, quaint, quiet little, just, yeah. And I grew up in Colorado, my, in my teen years, and I didn't, um, I didn't appreciate what Colorado had to offer as a teenager. And now that I've gone back home, it's like, man, this is, I mean, it truly is a gorgeous place to visit.   Tyler: Yeah, wow. So after spending just about 5 years traveling, what's one thing you learned you can't live without?   Phil and Stacy: Oh, wow, that'd be for you, because I could probably live without everything. No internet, I would say internet. I think this day and age, it's got to be internet. Um, because, um, you know, you hear the stories where you pull into a campground and they have camp Wi-Fi or park Wi-Fi, we would, we would, we would be kicked out because of the amount of bandwidth that we use. Um, but we have having our own internet, um, system with us. So we could pull in anywhere, for the most part, and our internet works perfectly fine for us. And it's not just for our channel, it's also for our family staying connected to our kids and our grandkids. That's how, I mean, that's how we communicate with them. And even though we're far apart, we always feel connected because, I mean, I talk to my daughter several times a day, even when, even when I don't want to, she's always FaceTiming me, um, and then my son too. So I think staying connected, um, that's the number one way. Yeah, everything else, I mean, the, you know, we have a lot of safety features that um, that we've added to the rig that, you know, we absolutely stand behind and it would not drive down the road without them. Our TPMS being one of them, um, but yeah, other than that, I think, you know, most rvers have the same type of stuff, um, you know, they got into this lifestyle because they wanted less stuff and more freedom, yeah. So for us, we don't have a lot of stuff, but we have everything we need. Like if we were in our house, just on a smaller scale, sure.   Tyler: So the internet, and then maybe the TPM, TPMS that reads the tire pressure when you're driving, right?   Phil and Stacy: Yep, okay, pressure and temperature, yeah.   Tyler: We might end up changing that question to besides internet, what can't you live without. I think like the past four episodes, it's been internet, which we agree with.   Phil and Stacy: Yeah, especially if you're doing this full-time vlogging, doing a blog and a website, you, you inter, we started out with all the things we thought we needed, you know, an outdoor carpet, you know, big comfortable chairs to sit outside, but we found those things just took up space and we weren't utilizing them, yeah, everywhere we went to. Um, so we, you know, we purged again. And so we went to smaller chairs, a little more compact, um, we have a barbecue, or we have a Blackstone, wait, we don't, we, it's not seen the sunlight in almost two years, I think. It's, it's funny how you think you need stuff and then you shortly find out that not there's very few things that you truly need, yeah, we we did a video a couple years ago. We were camping with my mom in Upstate New York. And we were in the site right next to hers. And they have a, you know, bumper pool, uh, travel trailer, and it took them two days to set up their camp. They're not full-time, they're part-time, they're just weekenders. Took them two days to set up camp, and we were right next to them and we showed, you know, a shot of our campsite had two chairs outside and that we drug them over to her campsite. We go over to her campsite, and she's got everything out, you name it, she had it out, um, so I mean, you could walk through a campground and you can really spot full-timers and weekenders, you know, because they're coming out play, you know, they're coming out to play for the weekend and pack it all in with the kids or whatnot, and full-timers are just kind of there, you know, they're, they're out in town, they're hiking, they're seeing thing, um, so it's just, it's for us, that's, you know, we thought we needed that stuff, and come to find out we didn't need it after all, yeah.   Tyler: It is interesting we had one neighbor, they took like a week to set up, it was the most insane, and then they were gone, they took like seven days to set up, and they left, it was like the craziest thing, they get it just right and then it's Sunday, yep, and then time to go. They didn't even enjoy it.   Phil and Stacy: I never saw them sit down outside on the chairs they put out. They were setting up all day and next thing you know, we've seen that where people have come in and, you know, they've got the kids are running around riding bikes and doing kid things, which is cool, and mom and dad never got to relax because it was setting up the whole time, yep, yeah, you can make it very simple as long as you try to don't over complicate it, I think is the biggest thing.   Tyler: I know I mentioned before like the most popular answer has been internet and I think the connection I just made was it's been internet for people who are traveling in larger class A's or fifth wheels where they have more things but when we talk to like van lifers or people who aren't traveling in a larger motor home they tend to have more because they're they're getting rid of more things to make room for their smaller living space so maybe that's the connection um and like I said too yeah we definitely could not get away with doing this on campground Wi-Fi there's no chance.   Phil and Stacy: No, and you know for us, most things that come in the RV have to have a dual purpose whenever possible. Yeah, you have to have so we can see van lifers have to have, you know, if they have a slotted spoon, that thing is for 18 different things, not just, you know, you know what I mean. So, for us, when we were thinking of things to bring into the rig, a lot of them had to have multiple uses because you didn't need for the same thing to do the same thing, yeah.   Tyler: If you could have listened to this podcast when you first started out, what is one question we didn't ask tonight that you wished we had, and how would you answer that now?   Phil and Stacy: It's really hard because we're looking back over six years and this is honestly, we've been doing it so long, it's just a way of life now. It's all we know and it's hard to remember the beginning. Um, I think a couple of those things that I mentioned earlier, checking the pedestal, checking the sewer hose connection because, you know, those could be maybe just the safety, more safy... Well, I knew even before we had our RV, I knew I needed a TPMS system, I knew I needed a surge protector, so I had those two things before I even had my RV, before I even knew what RV I was going to get, I knew I had to have those because, you know, being in the military for so long, safety on a ship was in the front of your face every single day, so we were prepared, safety-wise, yeah. I don't know. I don't, that's a really hard question because there's so much to learn when you first hit the road, like you're being fed to a fire hose, yeah. And the biggest thing though is, is, you know, we were just talking about it how people, you know, they get to a campground and they're setting everything up and they, you know, they're packing everything in in three hours. For us, we were trying to do a little bit of that in the beginning, we were move, move, move, trying to go, go, go and we didn't need to, you know, because we're full-time, we were doing this on our own terms. In fact, every single time we were to leave one spot and go to another spot, whether it was three hours down the road or six hours, which we don't do anymore, I told Stacy we got to go to the grocery store, you know, we, we got to pack up, we're going camping, we have to go to the store and she was like, we don't have to, we can go get it when we're there. So, it was a mindset change that we had to go through, um, and the first six months, we, we called it the RV and then shortly around the six month mark, we, we stopped calling it the RV and started calling it home.   Hope: But I think those are some really good points that you brought up, especially the if you're going to go full-time, it's no longer your RV, it's your home.   Phil and Stacy: Yeah, yeah, for sure. I think just the mindset shift is something you have to work towards as you start and you don't have to, you don't have to go, go, go, you know, you can go to a spot, our sweet spots around seven to ten days, um, in one spot and that's enough time to get out, see it, see, you know, make sure we've, you know, punched the right boxes, um, but it's enough that we say, you know what, we liked it so much we can come back, we don't need to cram everything in because we're free to move about the country, sure.   Tyler: And for somebody listening to this podcast right now who wants to set up a lifestyle similar to yours but isn't there yet, what is one thing they can start doing today?   Phil and Stacy: Um, I think there are a couple things they can start doing today, um, it to work toward the goal of full-time RV life and first is, you know, do your homework, do your research, you know, what's your goals, what kind of RV are you going to need based on your needs, are you going to work from home, do you have kids, you know, kind of start your research for that and then the next thing I would suggest is, um, get out of debt. If you're in debt, that is the best way to enable you to have the experiences you want to have on the road, so, um, obviously the less money you're spending on bills, the more money you have to go play for tickets or whatever activities, so experiences, yeah. Um, I know not everybody has the same opinion of me as far as being debt-free but that is definitely my number one and then probably the last thing and we actually have a video on this and that is before you sell everything you own and your house, make sure you have an Exit Plan so if something happened to you tomorrow and your health failed, what are you going to do if you can no longer RV, do you have an Escape Route, you need to be able to know what you're going to do, are you going to move into an apartment, are you going to get a house, are you moving in with family because emergencies happen on the road all the time, we've seen it, we've seen the death of a partner, we've seen where people physically have an injury or a stroke or so many things and they cannot RV so make sure you are prepared for that next step and you don't trap yourself to where you don't know what you're going to do, yeah, yeah, very good point.   Hope: Now speaking of what you just said, like the death of your partner, right, so does that mean both of you should equally know how to hook up that camper and drive away?   Phil and Stacy: Yes, 100% because, you know, I something could happen to me, I'm, I drive this thing 24/7, um, Stacy knows how to, I have driven it, yeah, in the event that she had to for whatever reason, um, but it is good to know each other's roles, she can do, Stacy can do everything on this RV by herself and she's done it, had to do it, um, she's done it on video so there's proof, it was actually in the hospital, um, a couple years ago, um, he had surgery and we had to move SES, um, so he, it was during covid, I couldn't even be at the hospital so I literally packed up the RV, got in it, moved to the next site, um, it's got us all set up, um, I mean I didn't have to drive it that far but I was able to close everything up, shut it down, move it, and then open everything back up again to include hooking up the Jeep, I mean she knows how to do all of that, it's our setup for the Jeep is super easy, it's five minutes each way, yeah, um, but that, you know, and we've been in places and we've known people or met people on the road that, you know, the husband did all the work, did everything and when he wasn't there, they were stranded, yeah, she did not know what to do, no means to get anywhere, um, but the good thing about the community is they rallied around her and they got her the help she needed but um, it is imperative that you know each other's roles and we've practiced like we switch jobs where I'll do all the outside, we do it as a refresher, um, I, I actually put on video where I was hooking up the Jeep and those stupid toe arms were kicking my tail because they were so tight but um, but we do know how to do it, we do switch off, um, every quarter every six months or so.   Tyler: Yeah, really good advice, yeah, you guys could teach a course like it's been, there's been so much new material and new ideas, New Concepts in this podcast our audience is going to find it really valuable thank you for sharing everything and um, were there any when you were starting out and even to the state were there any YouTube channels that helped inspire you or either even books or other influences that helped inspire you to travel?   Phil and Stacy: Well there were quite a few out when we started there were like four main ones cuz um um we we've been around for a minute but our main ones that we watched was um kyd less jum more Journey the wind gone with the winds and they were when they were still rving not in their boat and then the biggest influence on us is RV love and the reason is because I was trying to convince Phil that we could do it and he was working remotely for the Navy and he was like no I have this job how am I going to work on the road and at the time Mark was working in his office was this closet he turned into his office in his RV took the bunks out and turned it into like look Mark is doing it they're traveling and they're going all over the country and he works a nin to5 he has to clock in and literally clock out and if he can do it you can do it remotely where you know he Phil's job enabled him as long as he put in his eight hours he could do it how and whenever he wanted to do it so um they really proved to him thanks to Mark um they proved that we could could actually do it and that was really what launched us. Tyler: Yeah that's great yeah YouTube University can be quite convincing.   Phil and Stacy: Yeah it I made it my my part-time part-time job um because I was working from home I had the time to you know scour the interwebs looking for different RVs because we didn't know what we didn't know about rving um so we would start you know we started doing our homework then and and then it got to a point where we weren't allowed to watch those YouTube channels unless we are both there to watch them together because we got that you know ingrained into what you know their videos what they were saying how they were doing things um so they they are the ones that really you know indoctrinated.   Tyler: We'll put a link in the show notes for all the channels and links we talked about in today's show uh one last question for travel tips part two you guys are coming back on just so we don't leave our audience in too much suspense where are we talking about next time?   Phil and Stacy: We are talking about Newfoundland. Tyler: All right perfect and one last question Phil and Stacy where can our audience find out more about you guys? Phil and Stacy: You can find us at uh todayissomeday.net with our website and our blogs and then of course our YouTube channel Todayissomeday. Tyler: Awesome thanks again guys Phil and Stacy: Thank you, thanks.

www.atravelpath.com   04:45 How Long Was Full Time Travel a Goal For? 10:20 What Were Your Biggest Challenges to Get to Full Time Travel? 17:50 Is Full Time Travel Sustainable? 19:20 What Does Your Budget Look Like? 22:10 Why Did You Buy Brand New Before You Hit the Road? 21:57 What do You Like to Cook in Your RV? 26:15 How Has Your Experience Been Owning Brand New? 27:30 What is Your Advice on Backing in an RV? 33:00 What is Mooch Docking? 35:05 How Much is Internet Costing You? 36:20 What Has Been Your Coolest Travel Experience? 37:50 Has There Been Anything You Learned You DON'T Need While Traveling? 39:30 How Did You Downsize?   What a great show we had with Duane and Belinda Banks! The show was filled with a lot of laughs and valuable insight as they shared their story of going full time in their fifth wheel RV. Learn all about:  

Welcome to 'Unveiling the Allure of Full-Time Travel'. Come along as we journey into the enchanting realm of long-term exploration, unveiling the irresistible pull that captivates adventurers worldwide. From the boundless freedom of exploration to the exhilaration of immersive cultural encounters, we delve deep into the reasons fuelling the surge in full-time travel popularity. Discover the art of embracing a nomadic lifestyle, the thrill of forging connections across continents, and the transformative magic of wanderlust. Explore the perks, from substantial cost savings to early retirement prospects, as we unravel why more people are embracing this liberating lifestyle. Whether you're a seasoned nomad or simply dreaming of hitting the road, this podcast is your compass to unlocking the endless possibilities of life on the move.NordVPN Stay protected online with NordVPN. A service that offers privacy, protection, and security TrustedHousesitters Save money on accommodations and travel more. Matching homeowners with housesitters it's a win-win!Babbel Learn new languages easily with fun, bite-sized lessonsDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThank you for being a part of our journey! If you're ready for more adventures and eager to connect with us, here are the platforms where you can find the latest updates, behind-the-scenes fun, and a whole lot more:Brian and Carrie Website www.brianandcarrietravels.comBrian and Carrie YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/brianandcarrieBrian and Carrie Facebook https://www.facebook.com/brianandcarrie21/Brian and Carrie Instagram https://www.instagram.com/brian.andcarrie/

00:00 Intro 03:07 What is your work-life like when traveling? 05:07 What were your YouTube channel expectations, and have they been met? 07:27 How long does it take to edit a vlog? 09:17 Did you have any vlogging or editing experience before you started? 10:17 What camera and video editing software do you use? 12:11 What advice would you have if you were to restart your YouTube channel? 13:07 Did you spend a lot of time looking at YouTube Analytics? 17:17 How long did it take you to decide to quit your jobs and travel? 18:40 What were the biggest frustrations you faced while traveling? 19:45 Was it your first time in a motorhome when you went full time? 21:52 Would you buy a 19 year old RV again? 24:20 What do you love the most about your travel lifestyle? 27:31 What is your budget when you are traveling full time? 31: 12How do you get internet while traveling? 32:21 What is your favorite travel experience? 33:40 What is one thing you learned you can't live without while traveling? 34:52 What is one thing you learned you didn't need? 35:52When did you know was the right time to travel? 38:31 What could someone do right now to get started traveling?   Full Episode at: https://atravelpath.com/podcast/   Mike and Chelsea on Social: YouTube Instagram Facebook Website Mt Fuji Video Austria Ladder Video   The Travel Path Podcast has officially gone international! We had a great time chatting with Mike and Chelsea from the Vigar Feeling. After several attempts and having to reschedule, we finally were able to connect from all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. It was a super inspiring story we are excited to share with you. In today's episode you'll hear all about: Their insight and frustrations on growing a YouTube channel How they decided to travel now while they young so they can make the most of it Things they have learned after buying a 19 year old RV for the first time before hitting the road   And much more!   Full episode at:  https://atravelpath.com/podcast/   For those wondering, 30,000 pounds is about the equivalent of $38,000.   Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/abbynoise/rocky-mountains     Links Gear: (We may earn commission through product purchases.) Adobe Premier Pro GoPro 10 Mavic DJI Mavic 3 Canon R5 Camera Netgear Nighthawk   Camping: OnX Maps iOverlander The Dyrt   Previous Episodes Mentioned: Episode 9: Linnea and Akela Episode 6: Airstreamer Episode 1: Dylan   Channels Ryan Shirley Matts RV Reviews     *All content from atravelpath.com, including but not limited to The Travel Path Podcast and social media platforms, is designed to share general information. We are not experts and the information is not designed to serve as legal, financial, or tax advice. Always do your own research and due diligence before making a decision.     Transcript from YouTube: well I did not expect the travel path podcast to be International so soon but Mike and Chelsea welcome to the travel path podcast hello welcome it's great to be here thank you for having us yes you guys are reporting all the way from England and this has been a long time coming I think we reached out about 3 months ago had a couple of reschedules and issues with RV which I'm sure we'll get into later on in the episode but we know you as the viager feeling on Instagram and on YouTube you guys have some incredible content all over the world the Eastern side of the globe there's places that we have never seen or heard of before and the wildlife content and the Drone content it's literally like National Geographic it's crazy I encourage people to go check out your channel after this podcast is over why don't we start by having you share a little about yourself and then letting us know what your current travel lifestyle looks like so at the moment we are traveling in our Mo home um we're trying to see as many places in Europe or around the world as possible and we started off by we just sold everything and just went for our dreams didn't we yeah we do a lot of um hiking and uh Mountain climbs and we thought that would tie in brilliantly with our travels so went for it awesome yeah and one of the videos I remember we saw in the thumbnail on it is amazing but it's the ladder hike you did in Austria where it looks like you're literally hiking a ladder to the sky it's crazy I'm sure we'll be talking about that later on the episode but um you quit your jobs you're 9 to five what did your work life looked like when you were traveling uh when we're traveling so it's it's we got pretty hectic lifestyle haven't we because we're doing the hikes that sometimes take eight hours with the filming um and then all the other things like filling up water getting places to stay so we for a while were nonstop I think that we probably went even maybe two or three months without even having like a proper day off to stop um and then there was a couple of times when we did hikes and we're like right we haven't got enough footage or it's not exactly what we want so we went back and redid these hikes and we've talked about it in some of our other videos but yeah we're just nonstop yeah I mean we've we've been up mountains twice because more because of me because I think the footage isn't good enough so I have to drag her along to come up it again so well that's good that'll make you guys expert on those Trails right and travel is a full-time it's a full-time job with you know dealing with the rig and planning where you're going and doing a hike once or twice so yeah we told this to each I told this to you hope last night when you're watching your videos it looked like like it probably took you three times longer to hike that trail those mountains than it would take a normal person because you were putting cameras down you were stopping to do Drone footage so there's a lot and you just said you did it twice so yeah um so in terms of work so you weren't like working remotely for another company you were working it sounded like it was more vlogging you were trying to grow your YouTube channel and do that so we can relate to that quite a bit it sounds like our path where we saved up we weren't working for anybody else we wanted to explore this new desire this new dream of doing vlogging and YouTube and travel vlogging full-time um cuz we had seen when we were planning our trip channels that were doing that it looked like a realistic thing to do so we got into that and we enjoyed it quite a bit so what were your expectations getting into YouTube and travel vlogging and so far has the channel lived up to them it's been it's been very difficult to um get subscribers and views on YouTube but we've come across really hasn't it yeah and I think we thought it was going to be a lot easier and um same with you guys you do a lot of filming and more not not so much vlogging where there's a lot of channels out there that do vlogging and that's great but the difference between vlogging and getting real cinematic uh nature shots is completely different so we're we're out there filming a lot longer and bless Mike honestly sometimes he'll wake up at 8: a.m. start editing and he's still on the computer until like 10 p.m. um but we really thought that it would take off quicker and like you said some of the bigger channels you think oh wow like they've put out some of these videos and they got so many subscribers yeah he just think it'll be a lot easier I think um and it isn't it isn't easy and um yeah YouTube's difficult because you kind of just get lost within the millions and millions of people that use it and yeah it's difficult isn't it to to to get anywhere with YouTube I think we're not actually currently monetized um so we're still looking to build up watch time and we've got a long way to go still haven't so and I think we also wanted to really stick away from and we we talk about this a lot we wanted to stay away from the click baiting yeah we just didn't want to I mean We've joked about it a few times and we're like no that's not being true to ourselves we don't want to go down that route and I know there's some channels that do it but we just wanted to completely stay away from that and yeah well I really appreciate appreciate your honesty here sharing the difficulties of YouTube because you already see a lot of channels and I think it's difficult on two fronts you mentioned the editing it just takes a long time just to get a video done but at the same time once that video is done there's the difficulties in having it grow and there's just so much competition but going that back to that first point how much time would you say your videos are anywhere between like 10 25 minutes long how much time does it take to do a video I think your videos take longer than ours just based on watching them it looks like the editing is done like on the next level but I almost came to the conclusion it was give or take like an hour per minute every minute the video was it took like an hour to make somewhere somewhere around that maybe even longer sometimes sometimes I'll do a few minutes and then I'm just not happy with it and I'll scrap it and redo the whole thing again or I'll change the music to it because I'm not happy with the music yeah so then it even it takes even longer to get those minutes back yeah um but yeah it for me it takes long time I think I'm more because um I'm never really happy with a lot of the footage I get I want I I try to make it perfect but I I feel as if it never is perfect if that makes sense so uh too much of a perfectionist I say you're your toughest critic right it's tough to be you can't be perfectionist yeah that makes it tough and then sometimes after it goes live you'll watch it and you'll after viewing it and editing it a thousand times you're like why did I leave that in yeah yeah yeah yeah I think it's been amazing though like the and I'm sure you guys that the comments that come in and then you just think okay this is really like it's worth it to meet so many new amazing people and to yeah have people compliment your your work and yeah and that's what's quite nice about YouTube is that you you get to meet new people and and really nice great people and you don't really get that opportunity in life very often especially not in the UK really yeah sure especially people that share that same interest right in the travel and the hiking it's it's nice to build that own Community around something that you really enjoy exactly yeah yeah did you have any video editing or vlogging experience before you started pursuing this we didn't have any uh vlogging experience um to be honest one of our first movies we we made we found it quite difficult to talk to a camera and we didn't really know how to do it or what to say and with video editing uh when I was um probably around 12 years old till 15 years old I used to do a lot of um skateboarding and I had one of the latest versions of um Adobe Premier Pro it was a 7.0 version yeah so was a very old version and I used to record and um document skate skateboarding movies so that's where I kind of learn a lot of how to use um professional editing software and uh cameras as well how to use how to manage video cameras what cameras do you use when you're vlogging now and what's the editing software you're using uh so we use um ad do Premier Pro we use um a GoPro 10 is that right GoPro 10 and then you've got your drone haven't you yeah so I've got a a Maverick uh free um DJI mavic free Drone and a uh Canon R5 uh camera I think we're looking to get some while we're in England get some more different cameras yes so we want to get a a 360 yeah uh camera for when we hike and things like that yeah because when we're climbing sometimes it's a little bit hard to hold the GoPro and climb so I think we want to see different types of equipment what would be better for us and we going back to that expectation and we picked up the Canon R7 we were about I think 10 days into a road trip and we had we were having the time of our lives we were on Cloud 9 we were basically we we we were enjoying the vlogging part we were seeing some amazing things so we and we knew like our channel is just going to take off once we get back and start uploading content so we bought the Canon R7 fast forward to when we are actually editing content and uploading content to YouTube you know you post one video doesn't really take off you post second one third one then you we would look back and see how the video was performing like one of the first like epic video we did was Badlands National Park we go and check on it not only did it not really do much but then there were like three or four other videos that got posted that week in that area and they were all equally as good that moment there we kind of learned oh there's a lot of competition out there and we never saw ourselves as having like the hundreds of thousand subscribers but we figured maybe that 10,000 or so range and you know make it enough for it could be worth a while and you know make some money off it maybe have it you know provided an income source for a next trip something like that but it's been um it's it's definitely taken its time for sure what advice would you have for yourself if you were starting over in doing this again maybe just it's going to take a while so be patient and I think really reaching out to other people has really helped um with the YouTube Not only just to make friends but to get to know other people's channels and to kind of yeah maybe I would like to add that a little bit and kind of yeah little bits here and there and and yeah it's a really hard one I think it probably depends on what kind of Channel you are because I feel like some Channel some topics really take off and some are a lot harder to get into really so it's time and patience and yeah I think like Mike said at first we weren't sure if we wanted to be completely vlogging or we wanted to be cinematic so maybe the first couple of videos It's finding out where you want to be without being really wishy-washy if that kind of makes sense did you spend a lot of time looking at the analytics on YouTube uh we didn't at first no not at first we didn't um but then yeah we at one point we got start getting really obsessive with it um but now we just kind of take a step back um and just let it do whatever it does now um yeah we we started becoming quite obsessive with trying to build our Channel and yeah it was almost become depressing because it's almost like well why isn't this working and we put so much time so much money and so much effort into this and we're not getting anywhere and then in the end you just got to think you know let it do whatever you want to do we're still having a great time and that's what it's really about is the experience as opposed to doing it for other people I guess yeah you'll have those memories forever you'll have that footage to go back and look at it in a few years you're being your authentic self you're figuring out how you want to make these movies and I think that's one of the most important things is the process can be challenging but enjoy it along the way yeah definitely but yeah we were on the same page look just glued we spent a couple of weeks just Glu to the analytics we listen to you know the podcast or we listen we read the book YouTube secrets we tried to implement all these things and you it sounded it seemed like you would hear like 10 different things from 10 different people right one person or one thing we're listening to is it's it's that first 302 retention rate so we'd look at that we try and change our retention rates and then we would see that you know some of our like one of our worst performing videos there was a video at theore Roosevelt National Park had an insanely High retention rate after like 30 seconds but it flopped it didn't have any good views and then like same thing with thumbnails we would try doing thumbnails and you can drive yourself crazy like doing analytics and yeah it gets to a point where it's just like I said you kind of take a step back let it do its thing as long as you're having a good time you know you just keep plugging away keep chugging yeah I think I got to a point like every morning I wake up and like do we have any more subscribers what is our watch time on have you ever seen your videos decrease um uh watched uh with views we have yeah yeah with views we have which is strange yeah yeah that's we had one video was like 134 views and then it was at 94 I was like what that's crazy I think that's the point we like you know what we're just going to let this do its thing yeah yeah at the moment we're we're seeing our um watch time go down um because it's been a year now with our other movies it's kind of the watch times battling against each other with the the new content we're releasing and with the old content that's being lost with watch time yeah we're lucky we don't have the subscribers yet but like we had we have one video our VOR video that has like 4,000 hours of watch time everything else is like not near that so we have the watch time because of that one video but everything else if we didn't have that we'd still be behind on watch time and the subscribers obviously we're at like 700 or so now it's like one video and it took off out of nowhere like we it was on YouTube for like a year and then all of a sudden it just like was getting subscribers and Views and watch time and so you never know when something's going to go viral yeah well thank you guys for sharing I think this is an important episode for somebody looking to get into whether full-time or part-time they want to explore travel vlogging um I think this sets a very realistic expectation on on what to expect and I encourage you to check to check out if you're looking to get into traveling full-time and vlogging full-time to check out Chelsea and Mike's channel the viager feeling and just see how their content is it's incredible content and those are the types of channels like they mentioned it didn't take off like they expected it to but if you were to compare that to any other channel that is I mean the quality is there so there's you need to set like those realistic expectations we can I guess move on a little bit into so the actual travel aspect so rewinding a little bit before you took your travel I know you were traveling for quite a while before you took this long trip but you did quit your job 9 to5 how long did it take you to come to the conclusion that you wanted to quit your job and then pursue this traveling full-time I think you had the you thought about it first really didn't you for for a long time Mike was thinking about it even before we were together um and I was a little bit like maybe maybe not um and I think we kind of just went to it we saw our van when when we went to look at her and we were like right this is the van this is what we want it's got everything we need kind of went from there didn't it yeah we just jumped yeah it just kind of like what's it like spiraled and we were like okay we're ready let's go yeah we didn't plan much we just went when it's a raid it's right you know so fast forwarding when you actually got on the road what were some of the big frustrations you faced while traveling finding places to uh Park and to sleep over I think um because we've traveled lots of different countries and I must say England's one of the hardest places where we went to Scotland first to find somewhere to stay and not kind of be moved on it's such a small place and so many motor homes and Van go over there um that was really quite difficult wasn't it it was yeah um and it all depends on we we found whatever season it is it's especially summer months it's very difficult to travel in in some countries we like to stay off grid quite a lot and um not have to pay for campsites as much but in the south of Germany we had to pay every night for a campsite because you just can't sleep in layb uh they move you on um so you actually have to go to a csite yeah and I think also starting was it's kind of knowing our routine like how often are we going to need to fill up water um how often do we just getting like how often do we do these things or go shopping or yeah it's just getting into a routine where you don't have a house you don't have a full fridge or a toilet you don't have to empty and it's just getting to know all the new different aspects of a motor home life I think yeah when you were traveling beforehand so I know you were hiking and doing epic things before you got into your motor home were you traveling in a motor home or was this your first time in a motor home when you started going full-time first time first time really wow yeah you guys are brave we didn't know anything about motor homes really did we and we we bought one and had to learn everything about it yeah uh and obviously YouTube and things like this helped us out um I feel like we've been doing it for a year and a half and we're only just feel like we're just ticking all the boxes now because it's there's always something that Springs up and you think oh I didn't think about that um maybe we should get this instead and yeah one one thing for me was the um what I found difficult was um uh gas cylinders and so we bought British gas cylinders with um e EU adapters so we could refill our gas cylinders uh the problem is with um the in the UK we have a uh a leftand frad and everyone else has a right-and frad if I say or vice versa um so the adapts they sent us I didn't check them and we went away and I went to screw this thing on and it didn't work um so I couldn't refill the bottles so then we had to get gas bottles from France and then we went to Spain and I had to get new gas bottles for Spain new gas bottles for Portugal with the adapters as well so we spent a fortune continually buying new gas bottles and new gas uh cylinder attachments and pipes as well um that was quite frustrating wasn't it we now buy French gas cylinders only cuz France is kind of in the middle of all the places we visit anyway but yeah that was a that was a massive frustration for us wasn't it to begin with Lefty tidy ready Lucy is a thing I never would have guessed that in the RV you bought Luna that was a 19-year-old motor home did you have any experience well I know you did a lot of work renovating yourself but there were issues you had some dampness you had mice in your RV would you do that again would you buy a 19-year-old motor home if you starting this over again was there more work involved in upkeeping than you expected I feel like more things went wrong than we expected but I think talking to other motor homers it is just what happened there's some someone we talked to they had a fiveyear motor home five-year old motor home and they had damp problems as well so I think sometimes it is pot luuck we were really lucky because the people we bought the motor home off they were only the second owners and the first owners were their parents and unfortunately the gearbox went on Luna before we bought it so they had to pay out for that but I think which is quite an expense as you probably know anyone to buy a motor home I think you just have to have these things are probably going to go wrong at some point um and also if you to buy anything newer we wouldn't have been able to travel really because we didn't have the money to buy anything newer yeah it's difficult because we couldn't buy anything brand new yeah we only I mean we only spent um 20,000 on our motor home and if we would to put another 10,000 into it I can imagine it would only have knocked off a few more years whereas we could have had boiler issues again fridge issues again uh damp issues um yeah it's difficult to predict it is difficult to predict I we bought brand new and we had a long list of issues that happen with us so you and I think as an RV owner you have to expect it one thing I learned from Matt's RV reviews on YouTube he talked about how you're literally driving this thing through hurricanes and earthquakes and tornadoes you're going down the road bumpy roads things are going to happen so just be prepared for issues and you touched on overnight sleeping and that's that is one of the challenges just to kind of Link this back to the United States that's one thing during our road trip we faced was overnight camping and sleeping and that's one thing we did not expect to have to deal with was like several nights we were trying to find a place to stay and in episode 9 we talked with lanaa and Tequila she mentioned she has zero issues finding places to sleep and she's full-time in her van and the reason for that is because she's more remote we were going to more more destination National Park touristy areas and she recommended apps like onx eye Overlander in the dirt where she find her places to stay so that was a challenge if you're looking to do a cross country trip or an RV trip in the United States it can be tough but if you're a little more remote you can find places to to stay yeah that's good all right so we talked about some of the bad news and the frustrations we'll switch to some of the good news what do you love most about your travel lifestyle uh I feel just being bit more free I yeah seeing all these amazing places and but it's really funny so we obviously love mountains and as we were driving to the German Alps we were both like oh my God oh my God look at these Mountains they're massive um we because in England there are lots they're pretty small mountains that we have um so yeah just being free and kind of yeah just being it's just freedom and um kind of being out of the system more um yeah and and it's almost true living where you live to survive rather than you live to you live to work to get money to survive if that makes sense um and one of the coolest things too is when you're traveling you know in our age group right you you can do so much more right A lot of people that take these extended trips to go to Europe to go cross country and see the national parks in the USA you know they do that as a retirement goal and so they're just going to those overlooks and they're seeing the mountains and they're beautiful but they're not climbing up them like you and you guys are doing that now which I think is probably one of the most freeing things is that you have the capabilities to not just travel but experience it in a way that most people don't yeah and that's that's the the very reason why we did it our at our age now because we knew that once we retire we wouldn't be able to do all the things we enjoy um so ex exactly the reason why we just took took our opportunity and it's a big thing selling your home and not having anywhere to live apart from a motor home but um yeah it you you only get this opportunity once in my opinion and just got to go for it yeah we've met so many people along the road saying oh we wish we did it with we were your age and and I'm not so sure so much with your situation but we we don't have kids or we don't have animals and no one's really relying on us so let's take the opportunity while we don't have um so many yeah I'm not sure what the word is yeah people to yeah yeah that's it yeah y yeah we're in the exact same phase where we don't have those commitments and we met people on our trip they asked us how we could do it we we got asked enough s by people wondering how we were able to do this we wanted to start this podcast and share with people and you know we're in the same position we pursued this travel vlogging thing got a taste for it so far it hasn't met the expectations that you know either of us wanted it to but we're young we're we can bounce back you know we're hard workers we can find other ways to make money while we're still pursuing this and then you know keep chipping away yeah y good we'll switch gears a little bit to the financial part of traveling full-time what does your budget look like um Jo it's really bad uh first couple of months we kind of we didn't really keep on top of a lot of things I think we were just so excited we were like yeah let's go do this let's go do that and I have now made us a little uh a chart to keep on top of what we do for leisure what we spend on food yeah like Financial spreadsheets things like that a lot of ours was on petrol or diesel to start with because we were doing long distance um runs but also depending on what country you go to so we just went through Bosnia and it was super cheap um and we had come from Austria and Germany so it was like two totally different sides of the spectrum so anywhere really between maybe 400 to a thousand depending on where we are and how he's laugh sounds bad when we've got no money coming in I think in a year and a half we' probably spent over 30 grand yeah we've had we've had a lot of work with our boiler and now our fridge is gone and oh I haven't included those oh theist go I mean 30,000 just traveling with food and pounds 30,000 yeah uh probably 45,000 I don't know a lot closer now I think the pound and the I'm not sure work out the lifestyle you're living traveling fulltime the biggest expense is fuel diesel fuel in your case because you're driving a lot and that's been the pattern where people who are driving a lot their biggest expense is fuel versus if you're more stationary you're still traveling fulltime but you're staying in places longer it's groceries it's other expenses yeah but either way I mean we've we've tried to budget a lot um like we don't go to many restaurants um and spend out big bits of cash we do kind of we always go to discount supermarkets and yeah so we've we've tried to budget as much as we can yeah our next time out is going to be very limited like do we really need to go to that place or is it just because we want to go um are we going to benefit from it and it's great that obviously we love going to the mountains because it doesn't really cost that much no but we did go a little crazy in our first couple months and spent a lot of money yeah but I think you have to prepare for the first couple of months to just know that like you get in that mode of like I need to do everything I need to go everywhere I need to experience the food the culture the activities um and that does wear off as you travel a little bit more you do hone into that budget but I think we're who wherever you start however long you're going just expect that first few weeks few days few months to just you know be where the bulk of your money goes yeah that's a tip we learned from Jim and Michelle from airst streamer a couple episodes back where yeah it was that honeymoon phase the first couple months they didn't budget they just wanted to see what it was and then they were like okay we need to tame this down a little bit and a really good tip we learned from Dylan way back in episode one was in terms of fuel cuz fuel is your biggest expenses looking at Google Maps seeing how far you're driving and then adding like 50% to the miles like when we did our cross country trip we planned it was a it was a 10,000 M trip and we planned for like 11,000 Mi for some reason we didn't think we'd be driving that much in between you know going back and forth national parks and we ended up driving like 1,000 mil so it's almost 50% a little bit more than what Google Maps tells you as what your route is yeah that's good advice how do you get internet and cell service when you're traveling we have a a net gear modem a travel one which um requires a telephone SIM card our Sim we we carry free SIM cards two for each one of our phones and then one for this internet box that we have and our plan um pretty much covers uh all of the EU for free unlimited data unlimited text unlimited calls so we bought quite big packages um I think your edit the editing on the computer takes quite a lot of data so yeah want a a big data plan yeah so we've got like this uh Netgear night talk it's called and it's pretty good it it get it pretty much gets internet anywhere doesn't it um where our phones get it it will it will manage to get internet somewhere yeah and I bought like a little uh signal booster to it like an antenna as well which you plug in yeah works really well nice we'll put a link in the show notes for everything we talked about in today's show a couple more questions before you wrap everything up what has been the coolest experience you guys have had while traveling I think I don't know I think you love Japan didn't you was it your coess experience I think so yeah so we had to uh we to see Mount Fuji and it took us four trips up 200 sets of stairs to see finally see it because it had was just covered in clouds and it was really lovely the the time that we saw it cuz we had been there like you said our fourth time there was a whole crowd of people everyone was there for hours and all of a sudden it just decided to to show up and yeah so to be able to see that like a day or so before we fly home was pretty amazing yeah Japan was a a beautiful place and I've always wanted to to visit all my life and it was just it was magical to be able to go in the um cherry blossom season as well and yeah it was just the the people there are are great people they're really polite and it was it was one of the best places we've ever been yeah yeah it was very different awesome you guys have a video on that we'll Link in the show notes as well after spending so much time traveling what is one thing you've learned that you cannot live without I know it sounds really silly but probably my phone and I know it sounds very like um techno I would say it's your hair dryer I don't use my hair dryer H my phone because we do so much on it it's it's networking with people on YouTube it's our navigation it's booking places yeah yeah yeah it's true and like I never want because we want to be free I never want to say technology I rely on it so much but it does so much for us with anything else there almost there almost always a way around something you know if your shower breaks go into a lake or whatever it might be yeah um but yeah to be able to to navigate and book places and uh find the correct information for the places you want to visit or hike um yeah we'll probably be quite lost without our phones yeah without that information yeah without the internet I guess was there anything that you thought you would need while you were traveling that you realized that you really didn't I probably wouldn't take so so many clothes so I took a lot of um items to keep me busy so I took uh like a German no it wasn't German it was a French book to learn how to speak French but you're so busy when you're on the road whether it's filling up water or um going shopping or just cleaning yeah we thought we'd have a lot more time didn't we to kind of Doss around and yeah I thought it'd be more hippie-ish where we could kind of just lay around and not do so much but it is is constantly on the go there's always something to do or it's not it's it's not a holiday it's traveling in a at home I mean it's not relaxing no no not as relaxing as we thought it was going to be yeah if you could have listened to this podcast when you were first starting out on your road trip what is one question you wish I asked today and how would you answer that now when did you know was the right time to travel um so a lot I get asked this quite a lot we get asked this quite a lot and I honestly feel like there isn't always the right time to travel it's whether it goes in with your lifestyle or not at any age you can travel whether you're older um and you just want to kind of go around the cities or you're our age and you want to hike the mountains yeah the right time to travel is whenever the right time to travel is for you but I would always say make sure you've got enough money to back whatever you need to do because something can always go wrong like with us the boiler or the fridge um it ate into our traveling expenses and to really plan as much as possible so the first time we went out we didn't plan all of our stops um and it was really quite confusing and um it was just really hectic because we're like well should we go here or should we go there but the second time we came to Europe we had everything pinned on the map like okay well today we're going to do this and then in a few days we're going to go to this place and it just made everything so much easier I mean we found ourselves driving halfway down one country and then looking up on the map and being like well actually we've missed a place then we'd have to go back up again to come back down again and it was just really messy and it consumed quite a lot of fuel as well say yeah I think that's a really good point too is sometimes you in one spot and you have the next point that you're headed to but sometimes you have to take that step back and actually look and say okay what's right here where I am right now cuz there's a ton of times where we drove you know hundreds of miles out and I was like oh shoot you know that thing was actually way back there that we were 10 minutes away from and so taking that time too to just slow down look at your surroundings and where you are right now before you worry about you know what's the next point on your map and going back to just jumping in not that we're advising you know you jump in if you're not financially ready to live on Road it depends on your tolerance like we wanted a foundation where we had enough saved up where we could take this trip and it sounds like you and I were on the same page in this road trips everybody we've talked to they're more expensive than people think they're going to be you know be smart about it go through expenses listen to this podcast and hear what other people talking about how much they're spending on things like that do as much preparing as you can and then you know get into it and get out there and go see these amazing things for somebody listening to this podcast right now who would like to set up a lifestyle similar to yours what is one thing they could start doing today similar to what you just said like um I would never put myself in debt um for this lifestyle I would always make sure you've got enough um savings and enough information on how to pursue the travel lifestyle and yeah it all depends on what your interests are and yeah I just I just always like kind of recommend anyone to not go into debt for this life stuff it's so much more difficult coming home and I think for us like maybe going back thinking okay let's put x amount of money to one side in case there is an emergency before we went traveling we didn't do that um so always have like a little Safety Net in case something does go wrong whether it's medical or it's the vehicle you're in or the hotel or whatever it is so you've always got that little bit of emergency pot in case anything does happen yeah mainly money get great were there any YouTube channels or books or other influences that got you onto this path to travel I think we came across um someone called Ryan Shirley and he covers when he goes to each country he really covers um the really important things so it's he just says this is a great place this is a great place it's like top top 20 places to visit in each country um yeah it just really gets to the point doesn't it because sometimes we we're looking on Google or however we're trying to find the best places to go to and we might go to his channel and be like oh we we missed that that looks like an amazing place to go to and now like meeting other people especially like we definitely want to go to America like that's how dream was to get Luna to America so definitely American YouTubes have been amazing for us and we've started making a list be like oh we want to go to this state to do this and awesome all right we we'll uh we'll link some of those channels you had mentioned in our show notes below and while my audience is checking out while our audience is checking out those channels where can they find out more about you guys so you can find us on YouTube So at the Vier feeling we also have uh a website don't we we do uh via in.com or the Vier feeling.com which is currently in the making yeah so we're just working on that at the moment we're just putting everything together and yeah we we also have a a clothing store and you can find us on social media links Instagram Facebook and all that kind of stuff just typ feeling would be there yeah the vager feeling you you have new threads coming out new clothing line you also have prints and Etsy shop with some amazing footage and Wildlife scenery so if anyone's looking for a gift for somebody check out Mike and Chelsea thank you guys for coming on thank you so much for having us really appreciate it

It's Fine to ask for help!Welcome to 'The Why Matters Podcast,' where we explore life lessons, things we often take for granted, and everything in between, gathered from our decade-long full-time travel lifestyle. Each week, we'll delve deep into the 'why' behind the choices we humans make in life and the positive results that stem from a strong sense of purpose.In this episode, we discuss the importance of seeking help. Living in Full-Time Travel presents various issues and struggles along the way. Due to the mindset instilled by our parents, we have maintained the mentality of surviving without assistance. However, it's time for a change in 2024! We kicked off the year by seeking our first bit of help—borrowing our parents' car for six months. They have an old one lying around, and we want to avoid unnecessary paperwork; it's undoubtedly a win-win situation. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness but rather a demonstration of the mindset of a strong person who utilizes their resources wisely.Let “Help” be our word of the year!@2:35 Where are we?@6:52 Our Journey of asking Help late@13:32 Culture of no failure, surviving solo@20:36 "Go-it-alone" attitude.@26:36 Harming by praising self-reliance@28:39 Finally asking for help@31:53 How can we improve asking for help?@34:35 This week's challenge.Things We MentionedHarvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2023/07/why-its-so-hard-to-ask-for-helpPATREONhttps://www.patreon.com/worldtowningIf you would like to support us in a greater capacity where you can snag some cool swag, plus join us for monthly LIVE chats, and get huge discounts on future group trips. Thank you!GROUP TRIPShttps://worldtowningvoyages.com/Come travel with us! Our company is owned (and 100% guided) by a family of four full-time travelers. Our passion is building bridges between cultures, fueling personal development, and expanding hearts and minds alongside a community of like-hearted individuals.COACHINGhttps://worldtowning.com/learn-2/Are you looking for guidance to accomplish that big goal supporting your why? We are the couple for you. Let's set up a chat to get you started on your dream life, whether it is full-time travel or something else.NEWSLETTERhttps://worldtowning.us14.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=32de323857a58dc5ab35b897f&id=b0760c6efa10 years full-time travel with 2 world schooled kids, currently on a sailboat, writing about a travel lifestyle, education, equality & what it's like to live an unconventional life.MERCHANDISEYes - We have Merch!- https://worldtowningvoyages.com/elements/merch/OUR SOCIALSInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/worldtowning/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/worldtowningFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/worldtowningTik-Tok:  https://www.tiktok.com/@worldtowningSupport the show

Ready for Adventure?Welcome to 'The Why Matters Podcast,' where we explore life lessons, things we often take for granted, and everything in between, gathered from our decade-long full-time travel lifestyle. Each week, we'll delve deep into the 'why' behind the choices we humans make in life and the positive results that stem from a strong sense of purpose.In this first episode, we share our story of overcoming fear to transition from a stationary life to a full-time travel lifestyle. Social media is often filled with misinformation, so stay vigilant and don't always trust it blindly. Understand that people will always have opinions about your decisions; it's up to you whether you listen to them or take the risk. So, go ahead and be true to yourself! Ensure you have a strong 'why' before taking the leap!@2:44 Where are we?@4:04 Ultimate Setback to Traveling Full Time: Fear@8:22 Learning from the Risks and Regrets @12:29 Having the skill in Identifying and Managing Fear@18:09 How do we Beat Fear?@27:46 The Flip side of Social Media@31:51 How to handle naysayers@42:04 This Week's ChallengeResources: PATREONhttps://www.patreon.com/worldtowningIf you would like to support us in a greater capacity and get some decision-making power, check out our Patreon page where you can snag some cool swag, plus join us for monthly LIVE chats, unlimited email access for all those burning questions and huge discounts on future group trips. Your support is greatly appreciated and allows us to continue to produce our podcast and YouTube vlogs. Thank you. GROUP TRIPShttps://worldtowningvoyages.com/Interested in doing group adventures in the future? How cool would that be? Come travel with us! WorldTowning Voyages is not your typical international tour operator. We are a company owned (and 100% guided) by a family of four full-time travelers. Our passion is building bridges between cultures, fueling personal development, expanding hearts and minds, and living our dreams, alongside a community of like-hearted individuals. We want every person who travels with us to be living their world-travel dreams out loud.COACHINGhttps://worldtowning.com/learn-2/Are you looking for some guidance in order to accomplish that big goal that supports your why? We are the couple for you. Both of us are versed in full-time travel, worldschooling, language learning, multi-day hiking, RVing, travel planning, implementing new traditions, emotions associated with big change and travel, family culture, international healthcare, setting up a remote business, minimalism and much more. Let's set up a chat to get you started on your dream life.NEWSLETTERhttps://worldtowning.us14.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=32de323857a58dc5ab35b897f&id=b0760c6efa 10 years full-time travel with 2 world schooled kids, currently on a sailboat, writing about a travel lifestyle, education, equality & what it's like to live an unconventional life.MERCHANDISEYes - We have Merch! - https://worldtowningvoyages.com/elements/merch/OUR SOCIALSInstagram: Support the show

Join us in this inspiring episode as we sit down with Kayla, a dedicated minimalist and full-time traveler. In April, Kayla took a bold step by parting ways with her entire apartment and letting go of 98% of her belongings to embark on a life of full-time travel with her husband. Her story of transformation is not only fascinating but also holds valuable insights for those looking to break free from clutter and bad habits. Kayla, who is set to release a book about digital nomad travel this month, has become a true expert in living a minimalist and organized lifestyle on the road. In this conversation, we delve into several intriguing topics: What motivated you to get rid of 98% of your belongings and become a minimalist? Discover the personal journey and motivations behind Kayla's decision to embrace a minimalist lifestyle, and how it has enriched her life. How should someone start the process of letting go of items? Kayla shares practical tips and strategies for anyone looking to declutter their life and transition to a minimalist mindset. How do you organize your day? Gain insight into Kayla's daily routines and organizational practices that keep her on track while traveling the world. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in minimalism, travel, and the art of simplifying life. Kayla's story and expertise provide a roadmap for those seeking a fresh start and the freedom that comes with it. Join us as we explore the transformative power of minimalism and organized living in the digital nomad lifestyle. Connect with Kayla: Kayla's Book: https://amzn.to/47EFrj3 Website: https://writingfromnowhere.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaylaihrig/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayla-ihrig/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/writingfromnowhere/   Got Clutter? Get Organized!" has officially claimed the #1 spot among the top 35 organizing and decluttering podcasts.

This week's special guest is Money Coach and Digital Nomad Michael Kim, who shares the best ways to make, save, and invest your money for a location-independent lifestyle. If you want to learn practical ways to get better at making and managing your money as a business owner, this episode is for you!   Michael's Links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaeleekim/ YouTube: https://urlgeni.us/youtube/channel/michaeleekim The Money Skills Bootcamp: https://www.michaeleekim.com/coaching/  

Join us on a captivating journey with Joe and Kait Russo ( @Weretherussos  ) the adventurous duo who transformed their lives by swapping corporate jobs for the open road. Join us for a captivating conversation with Joe and Kait Russo, where we explore their incredible journey from regular life to embracing the adventures of van life. We'll delve into their expertise in RV reviews and hear about their exciting travels around the world, including an unforgettable train trip from Beijing to Tibet. Throughout our chat, Joe and Kait open up about the lesser-known challenges of being content creators. They'll share valuable insights on turning a hobby into a sustainable income through blogging, YouTube, and podcasting. You'll get an intimate glimpse into the Russos' decision-making process. They offer a mix of inspiration and down-to-earth advice for anyone dreaming of pursuing a less conventional professional path. ➕ Follow We're The Russo's Instagram: Their new podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/weretherussos/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weretherussos Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Weretherussos Buy Joe's Books: Take Risks: One Couple's Journey to Quit Their Jobs and Hit the Open Road: https://amzn.to/47gxAHx Tales From the Open Road: The Adventures and Misadventures of RV Living: https://amzn.to/3NJklIL ⏰ Timecodes 0:00 - Introduction and Rig 6:16 - Quitting Corporate Jobs to Full-Time Content Creation 20:01 - Content Creation and Business Management Challenges 27:01 Pivoting Your Business Model 38:08 - Benefits of Traveling by Road 43:51 - Favorite Rigs and Changing Lifestyles 50:37 - Having a Home Base51:05 - Upcoming Plans 51:50 - Where to Find Joe & Kait Russo 52:42 - Closing Remarks ➕Follow Chris and Sara:Youtube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/chrisandsara⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/chrisandsara_⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.chrisandsara.com ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

There are so many ways to travel these days, from staying a few days in a new country to a few months or even a few years at a time. I'm so thankful to have been able to experience all of the above in the past few years, made possible with a freedom-based business. In this chapter of my life, I am so aligned with slowmading and take you behind the scenes of what it looks like as a travel lover and entrepreneur. I also share what's in store for The Wanderlover the next few months!   ✧ Join the Digital Nomad Society for just $7/month ✧ Join Waitlist for the Wanderlover Business Academy ✧ Follow The Wanderlover Podcast on Instagram ✧ How to Start a Travel Blog