Wanderlust Wisdom: Crafting a Travel Lifestyle That Fits

One of the dilemmas we ponder is whether we’re traveling enough. And who gets to decide what that means?

When I was younger or less confident, it would be up to popular opinion and my job was to conform to what was expected. But I’m older and wiser these days. I get to choose, and the lesson that took me way too long to learn is that there really is no right or wrong. I can make either or anything in between work, and so long as I’m happy, not in jail, and acting consistent with my morals, it doesn’t really matter. There also is nothing absolute. Today we may decide to travel more slowly, but at any point we can pivot.

Roman ruins inside Villa Bonanno, Palermo, Italy

So for now, our plan is to live in one or two cities per month so we can take advantage of Airbnb’s discounted rates for extended stays. Although we’ve never been a fan of Airbnbs, for now they work for us because we want to live in the heart of where locals live and we need a working kitchen and washing machine. We’ll still plan to do day trips within reason, but the cost of trains cuts into our daily budget, and buses cut into how much time we have in a day. We are shopping in local markets and cooking about half the time, since cappuccinos our high on our list of small pleasures. We also want to experience the flavors of the countries we are in, since those multisensory memories tend to last the longest. Our budget has been intentionally fairly loose in this first six weeks while we figure things out, build routines, and manage Christmas. As we embark into 2023 with all the changes that will come along with it, everything will evolve.

And we can’t wait to see what the future will hold for us.