Frequently Asked Questions
Why did you travel for so long?
There are so many reasons why we did this trip. It is difficult to cover them all here. However, I will tell you that we did NOT do this trip to "find ourselves" or to "escape life." To hear more about why we traveled, our inspiration, and our philosophy, check out these posts:
Start Here: This Is How It Began
Why Tom Quit His Job: 10 Beliefs That Led Him To Quit His Job
How long were you gone?
We were abroad for about 13 months, but when we returned we kept traveling for a bit in the United States. In total, it was about a year and a half before we "settled" down again.
Where did you go?
You can find our full itinerary here. We didn't know where we would go when we left, although we planned on doing at least Europe and South America.
Where did you stay?
We stayed in a combination of hostels, furnished apartments, private rooms in apartments, and camping. We generally used airbnb.com to book apartments when we weren't staying in hostels.
How were you able to afford this trip?
We made some very deliberate choices over the 12-18 months prior to our trip. We payed off debt, saved money, and created some potential sources of passive income, some that worked out and some that didn't :(.
How much is this going to cost?
We tracked all our expenses religiously (thanks to Tom and his amazing spreadsheet). On average we spend $144.70 per day. Read more about it on our blog. Search "expenses" and "budget" under Categories. Or jump straight to the following blog posts:
Europe On A Budget: Our First Month Of Expenses
We Are Home
What did you pack?
Read our blog post about what we packed, our lessons learned, and our absolute must-have items:
Packing: Lessons Learned & 7 Must-Have Items
*This post was written at the start of our trip. Now that we are home, I know exactly how I would have packed differently. I'll try to get around to creating a new packing list one of these days. More to come! Tom on the other hand, packed perfectly. If you are a guy, go ahead and use Tom's list.
What are you doing now that you are back "home"?
We're still kind of figuring that all out. Our new "home" is in San Diego for the time being. Tom started a new job with CBRE that includes lots of travel and I get to tag along pretty often, thanks to the flexibility of being able to work from anywhere while starting my own business.
Read more about our thoughts on life, being home, and what next in this blog post, click here. And stay tuned for new blog posts as we rebuild our life.
***If you have questions that we have not answered here, please email us (jaime@catchingtradewinds.com)! We would love to hear from you!***
There are so many reasons why we did this trip. It is difficult to cover them all here. However, I will tell you that we did NOT do this trip to "find ourselves" or to "escape life." To hear more about why we traveled, our inspiration, and our philosophy, check out these posts:
Start Here: This Is How It Began
Why Tom Quit His Job: 10 Beliefs That Led Him To Quit His Job
How long were you gone?
We were abroad for about 13 months, but when we returned we kept traveling for a bit in the United States. In total, it was about a year and a half before we "settled" down again.
Where did you go?
You can find our full itinerary here. We didn't know where we would go when we left, although we planned on doing at least Europe and South America.
Where did you stay?
We stayed in a combination of hostels, furnished apartments, private rooms in apartments, and camping. We generally used airbnb.com to book apartments when we weren't staying in hostels.
How were you able to afford this trip?
We made some very deliberate choices over the 12-18 months prior to our trip. We payed off debt, saved money, and created some potential sources of passive income, some that worked out and some that didn't :(.
How much is this going to cost?
We tracked all our expenses religiously (thanks to Tom and his amazing spreadsheet). On average we spend $144.70 per day. Read more about it on our blog. Search "expenses" and "budget" under Categories. Or jump straight to the following blog posts:
Europe On A Budget: Our First Month Of Expenses
We Are Home
What did you pack?
Read our blog post about what we packed, our lessons learned, and our absolute must-have items:
Packing: Lessons Learned & 7 Must-Have Items
*This post was written at the start of our trip. Now that we are home, I know exactly how I would have packed differently. I'll try to get around to creating a new packing list one of these days. More to come! Tom on the other hand, packed perfectly. If you are a guy, go ahead and use Tom's list.
What are you doing now that you are back "home"?
We're still kind of figuring that all out. Our new "home" is in San Diego for the time being. Tom started a new job with CBRE that includes lots of travel and I get to tag along pretty often, thanks to the flexibility of being able to work from anywhere while starting my own business.
Read more about our thoughts on life, being home, and what next in this blog post, click here. And stay tuned for new blog posts as we rebuild our life.
***If you have questions that we have not answered here, please email us (jaime@catchingtradewinds.com)! We would love to hear from you!***