Some friends have expressed concern that the world is full of crime and they are worried for our safety. Others envision us being bit by a shark or a snake.

When we were in Belize, a snake whose bite resulted in almost instant death slithered through the jungles we walked in. We were cautious and watchful but we still took jungle treks and went ziplining.

Life is too short to worry about rare events that we hear about in the media but are highly unlikely to happen to us. It would be similar to deciding never to go to a mall because sometimes shoppers get killed in mass shooting events, here in our own country. In fact in 2012, a bystander and a gang member were both shot in our local mall outside a candy store we frequented with our children—we did not stop shopping there. Sadly, crime has become rampant even in the small town we lived in due to so much drug use and gang violence—to the point that I (Kathi) did not always feel safe outside my own office downtown, especially after hours. Crime and terrorism can happen anywhere in the world at any time—a risk we ALL take by simply living. There are millions of people and only a tiny percentage become victims.

All any of us can do is be constantly aware of our surroundings, mitigate the risk of crime with caution (like keeping valuables in inside pockets —see our packing page for safety items we use), and avoid dangerous neighborhoods and late night outings. Remember, this is not our first time abroad—we’ve been using safe travel techniques for a long time.

When we snorkel the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, we’ll wear suits that prevent jelly fish stings and we’ll remember that in 2022 there were 41 unprovoked shark bites in the U.S. compared to only 9 in Australia, out of a total of 57 worldwide. If a fear of sharks had influenced our ocean usage, we would have had boring lives growing up on California beaches, which had 4 attacks in 2022

Cell phones are vital to a nomad lifestyle just as they are in day-to-day life. Not only do they keep us in touch with family and friends, they provide directions in unfamiliar areas, apps with bus schedules and currency exchange calculators, Google Translate, and apps that store all our travel info like where to find our AirBnB that night—data is essential!

The bravest nomads were those who traveled before the internet and mobile data existed!

Various options exist: 1. Keep a U.S. cellular provider like AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon. Some people do this. We’ve done this on shorter-term trips but roaming costs add up. 2. On a phone that accepts an e-sim, you can use one of the many eSIM services to buy location specific data from global e-sim companies like Airolo, Flexiroam, Nomad, Holafly or some that work best in certain regions, which work with your existing number. 3. You can buy physical SIM cards in whatever country you’re staying in and replace the existing SIM card in your phone.

In order to keep your U.S. number (important for bank verifications etc), you must first “port” (or move) your phone number to something like Google Voice or Mint, that allows you to keep your existing number. This should be done before you leave the U.S. and before you disconnect from your carrier (it will disconnect you).

Based on our extensive research we’ve paid off our phones, are porting our numbers to Google Voice, and purchased country-specific eSIMS on Airalo (for Kathi), and a global eSIM good for a year (for Tim) so we can hit the ground running in each new country and possibly add physical SIMS per country we’re in longer (for Tim) if they seem to be such a good deal that it’s worth the hassle. If things turn out badly you can read about it in our blog haha! (If we can still find good wifi!)

We also have “WhatsApp” which will work off the number we ported to Google Voice using the wifi in our accomodation (or public), or using the data we buy. WhatsApp can chat (like text), make audio and video calls. It is the most widely used free texting/calling app in the world and best for local contacts in the countries we’ll visit. We’ll also use it to keep in touch with our kids so they all have the app. We can also FaceTime themover wifi.

We have a router so we only have to sign into accomodation wifi once for all of our devices, and a VPN to secure our content and help us connect to providers that require a U.S. location.

It’s a fact of life—we all need medical care and it can get expensive. We also need preventative care including dental and eye exams, and skin cancer screening after the many hours we spend on beaches. Somehow most Americans have the idea that medical care is subpar in the rest of the world. We are also generally clueless regarding how inexpensive better quality medical care can be elsewhere.

We watch and read a lot of nomad expense breakdowns and reports on their medical care in other countries (by necessity or plan) and we are truly shocked! This is something we’re greatly looking forward to.

We’ve watched nomads schedule a full body, comprehensive screening that takes place in a hospital, say in Thailand, Malaysia, or Turkey, in which they pay a set, pre-known price to get the full works! And usually for just a few hundred dollars! Not only that, but someone shepherds them around from department to department and often even provides lunch. Nothing like the months-long, multiple referral system we have here in the U.S., just to get preventive care like a colonoscopy, much less a serious procedure.

Treatment or even surgery resulting from the exam findings or known needs can also be obtained for far less than you’d find in U.S. without fantastic insurance. And prescriptions seem to be a simple matter handled at the location. Personally, I’ve spent 5 hours in the past 2 weeks trying to use our U.S. health insurance to get some online prescriptions transferred and filled after the pharmacy provider changed. Tim has spent his life working in health care and our daughter is a nurse. We know first-hand that the healthcare and insurance systems gets more broken and inadequate every year. That lack of patient-oriented policy is one reason Tim was so glad to retire.

We’ve almost always had high-deductible insurance in the U.S., so we’ve tended to pay close to full price for everything we need anyways (and use Dr. Google more than we should). Sometimes we get a discounted rate from our insurance. But seriously, a set of labs here can easily add up to more than the cost of full body preventative checks overseas. Not to mention the wait times are usually much less outside of the U.S. and doctors seem to be more personal, often giving patients a direct number after a surgery or treatment. Many American nomads establish residency in Mexico to get excellent medical care at a fraction of the cost. There are spreadsheets kept in nomad groups of doctors and facilities where they received good care.

Ironically, not only do most of the doctors that treat “tourists” speak English, many of them went to medical school in the U.S. (not that our schools are necessarily superior). On Numbeo, the U.S. ranks 35th on their global healthcare index; US News & World Report put the U.S. at #21. Lists vary.

All that to say, please don’t worry. We will likely have much better medical care than we’ve ever had in small-town America. For a fraction of the price.

There are various global travel insurances with emergency medical (we can pay out of pocket for minor and preventative care). We have purchased World Nomads. There are other plans like SafetyWing and, depending on how long you’re away from the U.S., annual travel insurance from companies like Allianz. World Nomads and most travel insurance also comes with travel protections like evacuation, a myriad of smaller benefits and often some cancellation protection (which we also have on some credit cards).

For 2023, since we’ll be living on savings and a small pension, we will get an regular U.S. medical insurance plan through the ACA Marketplace (Obamacare) which we shouldn’t have to pay much for, if any. We’ll make Roth conversions to have enough income for ACA instead of Medicaid. That insurance will only work in Washington State (or maybe if traveling in the U.S. for an emergency), so we’ll have to come “home” if we need major non-emergency care. Some nomads have global health insurance plans like GeoBlue or ING Global which we may decide to utilize as we get older or have more of a need. Medicare usually does not work overseas so even after we turn 65 we’ll be on the lookout for other options.

We’ll keep you posted as medical needs arise! The ease of getting existing prescriptions refilled seems to vary from country to country and is one of our worst fears, though nomads are reassuring that it’s not much of an issue.

We think this lifestyle will be the best preventative medicine we could ever have! Keeping a sharp mind, a varied diet, varied positioning due to changing beds and furniture frequently, walking, walking and walking…and of course the relative lack of negative stress.

In all of our travels so far, we’ve never looked forward to coming home except to take care of our children when they were young. Of course your own bed feels comfy, but we’d just as soon try a new hotel or airbnb.

We’ve lived in 7 homes since we got married, had our family size rise and fall, had others live with us for periods of time, and most of the time our furniture was abused (I mean used) by lots of kids and teenagers. The furniture we just gave away was the nicest we’d ever had and was only 4 years old so that was a little sad, but our kids took a lot of it so we’ll “see it” again. We loved it—but not enough to stay in one place just for the familiar.

We’ve spent our life in transitions of one type of another, purging our things as the kids grew, then as they left, purging for various moves, and finally getting rid of everything we owned to live as nomads. It’s just stuff. To us, “things” were just chains binding us. We want to be free.

Will constantly new furniture make my back and neck hurt? Maybe. Probably no differently than it does now. We’re hoping our bodies will become more adaptable and strong, along with our already adaptable spirits.

First of all, we don’t have a “home” to come home to, but of course we’ll come back periodically to see our family. We originally planned to be gone a couple of years on this first leg but with a new granddaughter we didn’t get to meet before we left, it was motivation to find a good transpacific cruise deal. Now we’ll be back to visit about 13 months after leaving the U.S. (in November 2024). We’ll stay for a short time and then head out into the wild blue yonder once again.

We plan on living this lifestyle as long as we are physically able, and as long as we’re enjoying it. The much greater expense of living in the U.S. will be a good deterrent if we feel homesick. But there’s lots of places we’d like to explore in our home country and if we can find housesits or good deals, we will likely someday do that.

The whole point is to be free! It’s hard to imagine Tim missing work but if he wants to get back into patient care, he’ll still have a license to practice and P.T. jobs are always available, even traveling ones—some in the U.S. or even in great locations like the Virgin Islands!

If we decide to change course for any reason we will! The point is to be free to move where the spirit leads.

During the lead up to launching our new life, at least once a week Tim asked me if he’d drive me crazy being together 24/7 when he retires. No more so than he was then, I answered with a laugh. Seriously, we were the odd one of our friends that looked forward to an empty nest and thrived in the quietness of just us. When we were home at the same time, we tried to spend virtually all of our time together. Before kids, we used to even grocery shop together—heck, Costco runs were a major theme of date nights when we DID have kids!

Now that we’re on our journey, we are enjoying being together for the adventures and even more so for all the mundane moments that a retired life (anywhere) entails. Retirement requires adjustments in roles and routines, finding balance between togetherness and space, no matter where a couple is living. When one of us needs space, we feel comfortable saying so and taking time alone. We communicate openly as we reinvent our lifestyle, just as we did when we were first married, and we adjust to accomodate each other’s needs.

Not to say nomad life will be void of social interaction at all! Not only will we undoubtedly meet locals and fellow travelers along the way in various locations, as we usually do, but the nomad community is strong! I’d hazard to say we’ll probably socialize a lot more than we do now.

Our biggest surprise as we sought out Facebook groups of nomads in which we could ask questions, was to discover the vibrant friendships that interlock across the world and result in various meetups. The nomad trails are well-worn and frequented from the exchange of information, recommendations and inspiring YouTube videos. And we can tell by watching that these are our kind of people. I began building new friendships online before we launched and we were excited to discover FIVE nomad couples on our transpacific cruise. And after booking a hotel in Bali for 2024, I learned a big nomad group we’re part of will have quite a few members meeting up there for a few of the same days.

We will enjoy all the wonderful opportunities to meet people who share our passion and lifestyle, and continue to learn from their experience. In some ways, through purposeful connections, it can feel like a small world.

The aspect of being unable to communicate is certainly one of the more daunting aspects of travel. There’s no way to learn all the languages, even if you’re linguistically inclined, which I am not. My high school/CA Spanglish won’t carry me all that far. Tim’s foreign vocabulary is mostly geared toward physical therapy, enough to get by treating patients. Yet somehow in Mexico, we do just fine. Google Translate helps us read menus and signs, and knowing enough words related to kindness and necessity go a long way.

As we watch YouTube videos from all around the world, we’re astounded at the number of signs in English alongside the local language, and the locals that speak quite enough English to smooth things over. Translation apps aren’t foolproof for sure, but in a pinch they can help. And, of course, there’s always gesturing and pictionary. I’m sure we’ll manage, even if we don’t always know exactly what we’re eating.

We never intended to go public with our adventures. We just wanted a way to show our kids and our friends what we’re doing. Sending longer videos person-to-person or in groups gets complicated even when everyone is local, so uploading our “phone movies” to YouTube seemed like the easiest option. But Tim has a lot of creativity when his mind isn’t full of work, and hobbies on the road are limited so woodworking is out. He’s always loved photography but lacked the time and equipment. It was a someday-in-retirement sort of dream. Now, in the age of video, he’s excited to be learning the art of YouTube. He’s having a blast!

I (Kathi) have always been a writer, teacher and avid journaler. There was information we wanted to provide for our kids and friends, like our itinerary and how we were “really” doing that weren’t as suited to YouTube so I decided to just make a whole website and blog my journal. Because my soul loves to share feelings and knowledge.

We’ve gained immeasurably from those nomads who’ve gone before us, sharing their knowledge and experience, and we want to continue passing that baton to others who may not know of it. So many we talk to say they are curious and can’t wait to follow along and see if it’s a lifestyle they would like. So we’ve expanded our reach beyond family and friends, especially to those just getting started like us, or those who are curious. That’s why we’re sharing the good and bad, the feelings, the practical concerns and questions, and even the products we researched a lot to find.

We hope to inspire others to live freely. Or to learn from our mistakes.

A lot of people are used to exchanging money at home before they go on vacation. Obviously, that won’t work for us, and we’ll be living through credit cards, ATM machines and online banking. Certainly we’ve realized all the things that can go wrong in this scenario and hopefully made allowances.

We have more than one bank account (and each an ATM card for each one) so we can always access money. We have credit cards kept in multiple places as well, because all bank and credit cards can get lost, stolen or skimmed. We use RFID-blocking products most of the time.

We will keep some emergency dollars on hand. And beware of sketchy money-changing/ATM situations.

We actually had a situation in Placencia, Belize, where not a single ATM was working or stocked with money. We literally spent our last dollar as we left and I ended up mailing a tip to the concierge that took such good care of us, after we got home. But now I overplan on money! We have backup plans for our backup plans.

Using ATM’s and credit cards overseas can get very expensive if you don’t have the right credit cards (with no transaction fees) or pay high ATM fees. We have accounts at Charles Schwab which not only don’t charge foreign ATM fees, but they even reimburse added fees charged by the ATM owner. Similarly, we are opening an account at Fidelity. Both banks have physical locations around the globe, no minimum deposits or monthly account fees and are traveler-friendly.

We’re always careful with our passport but it’s the larger, bulkier one so not the easiest to carry around. And it can certainly get lost or stolen.

I think our bigger concern is not having it for a period of time when it needs to be sent off or held by immigration (or a cruise ship), i.e. to get an upcoming visa.

To prepare for this (and not be stuck somewhere trying to renew it/get visas transferred into a new one etc), we went ahead and applied to for a second U.S. passport. It would be a lot more advantageous to have a different country’s passport as backup, but alas that is not an option for us. We explained why we wanted it and they sent it, no problem! Now we just have to be careful to be consistent in using the same passport to get a visa, enter and exit a country.

In many countries, all you need to rent a car and drive is your own valid state driver’s license. But in many, you must have an international driver’s license. It turns out this is easy to obtain at (only at) any AAA office before you leave the U.S.

For us, it got a little more complicated because we want to rent scooters or motorbikes in Southeast Asia. Tim had to take a class to get a motorcycle license, then the test for a CA state motorcycle license so that could be added to his license.

Because we left CA and established residency in WA, he had to get the WA endorsed license, then get an international license that matches it. (I did too, with no motorcycle endorsement). While the international permit can be extended to take effect up to 6 months after you apply (which is a quick process, they say), it’s only valid for a year. It can be renewed overseas by mail (but the timing of where to receive the mail back is tricky), or again in person which we will do when we visit the U.S.

Generally speaking, we will avoid renting cars, especially in areas where they are expensive. But some areas are better suited to road trips when public transportation doesn’t go where we want to go. Mostly, especially when in one home base for a bit, we will use public transportation, which will be a bit of a learning curve for us since we’re totally car-dependent in rural California.

If you are interested in traveling full time like we do, I’d like you to refer you to our good friends Chris and Steve over at Nomad Life/Eat.Walk.Learn. They have a free To-Do List/Timeline you can get by clicking here, to set up a plan for launching your nomad life. Also get their book by clicking on Two Carry-Ons and a Plan. Then join them, and us, and a lot of our nomad friends and those considering it, over on their Facebook group Nomad Life. You can ask questions and learn. We’ll see you there!