“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” – Cesare Pavese
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Constantly off balance. Yep. It’s hard remember the exact months or sometimes even the year of where we have been when during the last four years. A recent acquaintance after hearing our story said, “You guys are really out there, living on the edge,” and quickly added, “but in a good way.”
We call it slow travel. We target interesting places where we might want to live, do some research, and then go about finding an apartment — sometimes for a month, but three months is better. We both work remotely and need a routine to balance our schedules between work and play in order to pay for our travel.
We would love to have more flexibility in how long we can stay, but most tourist visas are granted for 90 days. In Europe the Schengen Agreement covers 26 countries with a common 90- day limit. In Central America the C4 Agreement sets similar parameters. Mexico has a six-month tourist visa. Some countries like Argentina allow you to leave for a day or two and return with a new 90-day visa, but that can be fickle.
Two to three months seems like a good amount of time to experience a place, after which you can almost say you have lived there. Certainly it is more than a casual affair. It is time enough to get to know people and burrow under the covers of a place.
Some exciting places where we have spent some slow-travel time during the last four years include:
Crucita and Cuenca, Ecuador
Dupont Circle, D.C., and Baltimore
Granada, Spain
Key West
Berlin
Boston
Buenos Aires
Florida
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Antigua, Guatemala
Amsterdam
When we add housesitting, Morganton, North Carolina, and New Orleans get thrown into the mix. If we include one- and two-week places, the list grows to include Slovenia, Scotland and much of Mexico, Spain and Ecuador.
Today we are in Boston, nestled in a too-small, over-priced studio. From here we go to the Cape for the fall. We are already discussing our destination after that. Winter in the Northern Hemisphere is right around the corner, so maybe something in South America. Many factors go into our calculation, and we get more sophisticated as we go along.
Plus we do this on the cheap with no home base, nest egg or savings account to support us. The most we have paid for an apartment is $1,200/month all bills included. We strive to stay under $1,000 and average about $800.
The beach at Crucita, Ecuador
Every place holds huge memories, and mundane life becomes special. The reasons we ended up where we did, how we found it and how much we paid; if we enjoyed the neighborhood, where we ate and played; whether we were able to work effectively all become part of our story of that place. But more often than not, each place is better defined by the people we meet.
We tend to form bonds with our Spanish teachers, even though our efforts in learning Spanish would seemingly not support those friendships. In San Miguel it was the market woman we brought produce from each day and the yoga teacher whose class we attended. Sometimes, as in Key West, it was our landlord. When we left Buenos Aires, we exchanged gifts and hugs with our portero (doorman).
An intriguing aspect of slow travel is the art of stepping into the lives of others for a while, subletting their apartments with their pictures and things — the stuff of their lives — exploring their neighborhoods and visiting their favorite haunts. These are amazing and eye-opening experiences that broaden our appreciation for the variety of people and lifestyles in our world.
Because we have no safety net, gaps in apartment rentals are filled with hotels, hostels, etc., which are more expensive. So when we approach the end of one stay, we need to have the next one set. If we’re going to fly, waiting too long means higher airfares. Our slow-travel lifestyle is challenging and exhilarating. You can imagine we don’t watch a lot of television.
Sometimes we have multiple possibilities or can’t decide where to go next, and that situation is the trickiest. While staying in Key West, we looked at several locations as the deadline approached and then almost out of the blue came the opportunity in San Miguel de Allende from a Craigslist advert. It was perfect. It’s like someone throws you a buoy. In that case we landed in an amazing place. Sometimes family drives the choice, and for us, that could mean Florida, Michigan, Boston or Berlin.
Since not that many people travel this way with our same circumstances, we lack infrastructure — and make up the guidebooks as we go. As we continue to travel slowly, we’ll share experiences and lessons we’ve learned in the hopes that we inspire others to take the plunge and try slow travel. We invite you to follow along and keep in touch!
