Hello friends! I’ve gotten a lot of questions from family, friends, and strangers about our journey, so I decided to do a travel FAQs blog post! I also asked my Facebook friends to ask some questions they had! Thank you to everyone for your questions that inspired this post!

Are you homesick?

I thought I would be early on, but no, not really. Sure, I miss my friends, family, and routine, but I really needed this. When I think about my old “home” in CT, my friends, job, and workouts are what I miss most. That was my routine. I don’t miss my apartment, as this was just our place to live. Technology is great, because I get to chat with my friends through group chat all the time, I’ve turned blogging into a “job”, and I find new ways to workout in each location (which is great because I get bored easily!) I have also been able to see family sprinkled in here and there on this trip, just like I did in CT.

How long are you doing this for?

We said about a year, but there is no concrete end point. We will know when we know.

Where are you going next? We get this a lot, and don’t always have an answer! We had Texas through Florida planned out…then no plans! It is Dec 1st, and we still don’t know where we will be mid Jan! That’s what ads to the excitement I think!

Do you feel “lost” not having a home?

I thought I would be, but no. I’ve found a way to make each place feel like home, whether it be how I unpack, find places to blog, workout, or just relax. I go into each new place with an open mind, but make sure I make myself comfortable. Right now, we are visiting with my in-laws, and I found that I love blogging out on the patio. The weather has been so nice, it is in the shade, and I’m completely at peace out here (until the mosquitoes start bothering me!)

Are you independently wealthy?

Haha no I wish. We were fortunate enough to pay off all credit card debt prior to this adventure and my husband’s work is enough to keep us going. We are currently on a pretty tight budget, and staying with friends, family, and inexpensive Airbnbs have actually helped us to save money while doing this.

What about all your stuff?

What stuff? Something I realized is we packed TOO MUCH stuff. I’ve been finding myself wearing comfy workout clothes on most days, and cycling through a few outfits. Each new place is new people who haven’t seen my outfits, so who really cares? If I feel I need a new outfit, I can always donate some stuff, and buy something new on sale or at a Goodwill or something. The rest of our “stuff” is in storage in CT for now.

Where does one send a Christmas card?!

Great question from one of my friend’s kids! Since we are never in one place for too long, we have either had mail sent to my mother in-law’s house, since we are spending a good period of time here, or our Traveling Mailbox. This is a really cool website, where you give the company permission to collect your mail, open and scan it to you, have it mailed to your location, or shredded. We don’t get a ton of mail anyways, so it’s been great!

Do you have any type of rating system in place to gauge all the places you visit so you have a kind of “control” list in order to decide where you’re going to end up?

Yes! We have made a list of pros and cons in each area so far. We did it for the overall area as well as neighborhoods we visited, this way we can look back and evaluate. Some of the places we have visited were simply to visit with family, so they weren’t even places we were considering to live, but we will still evaluate those as well!

Are you concerned that it will be difficult to settle back into a routine after the vagabond life? How will you re-acclimate into “normal” daily life? Why would you ever come back to normal (boring) life?

I would imagine it will be weird to end this journey, but I’m also thinking after a year of doing this, we might be ready to “settle down.” I am currently using my blog to document my travels, but also working behind the scenes to make this a potential revenue stream for future travels!

Best experience- worst experience

I will probably do a FAQ part 2 later in the journey, because I still feel like we just got started!

I think it would be interesting to know how you are maintaining healthy eating while eating out.

This is a great question, as I am still trying to find balance here. We try, as much as possible, to go food shopping, and eat fresh at home. When we go out to dinner, it is usually to try something specific to the area, so this might not always be healthy. What I’m trying to really do is watch my portions. I am always trying to clear my plate and I don’t have to! Whenever possible, I will get a side of veggies instead of fries, go for the lean meats, avoid fried foods (unless that’s what we’re going for), and avoid too much bread and pasta.

Where I’m having a lot of trouble is cutting back on the drinks! We visit with family, we have drinks, we go to an event, and have drinks, we try out a new restaurant, and we have drinks. Not only does this not help our budget, it also does not help with calorie control!

If you had to pick one particular location you would like to spend an extra week, where would it be? (Cannot be a place with family as this would be an obvious reason)

This is hard right now, but probably Austin. We wanted to do so much more on our 2^nd trip, but it literally rained 10 days in a row, and many of the activities were outdoors. I will answer this one again later on!

Were you able to vote?

Could we have? Yes? Did we? No. We should have done an absentee ballot, but we let time slip away from us. Being CT residents, we could have completed an application for an absentee ballot, waited for it to arrive (but we did not know how long it would take to arrive, so we wouldn’t know where to have it sent), then mail it in, in time. What we should have done is gotten this in order before we left, but with packing and getting everything in order, this slipped our minds. Not proud of it.

What creature comforts do you miss most?

Being able to meet up with my girlfriends for drinks to catch up, movies, workout dates, CrossFit etc. There is no longer an exercise routine. We exercise regularly, but not the same routine in each location.

Are you sick of eating out so much?

We really aren’t eating out that much. We like to go and sit at a bar, so we can socialize with the bartender and other locals, but we are not eating out a ton. The food trucks in Austin were great because it was affordable, delicious and most of the time pretty healthy. San Diego was a LOT of eating out, because we were at a hotel.

As I mentioned in 5 Tips for Staying with Airbnb, I did not love the hotel life, because it was hard to do a on a budget, and sometimes I just want to be able to heat up leftovers. When we go out to eat, it is usually to go to a MUST SEE in a certain area, a great Groupon deal, or simply to be somewhere where we can meet locals.

What other questions do you have for me? Feel free to contact me by e-mail, Facebook, or comment on this post!