May 28th, 2011 Carrie and I got married in the middle of nowhere Amish Country, Ohio.
Yesterday (May 28, 2014), Carrie and I arrived in the beautiful Phi Phi Islands in Thailand for our third anniversary. Phi Phi island is kind of like the Thai version of the Fiji islands. It’s incredible and I’m glad my cheapness didn’t prevent me from going.
Islands
It looks like we’re setting a pattern here. Look at our 3 anniversaries so far:
- Year 3: Koh Phi Phi
- Year 2: Aruba
- Year 1: Fiji
Looks like we got an island theme going… Which, if you wanted to take it a bit further back, you could say that islands were involved in the second half of our honeymoon – which involved Acadia National Park and Prince Edward island.
So far, it’s coincidence, but maybe we should keep it going and try to always be on an island May 28th.
Miles
It’s pretty funny if you think about it. Who are the people in life who get to fly around the world, sometimes in premium cabin, and sometimes even fly their friends across the world? Probably people with a lot more money than us.
Yet, in over 40 countries of travel, our spending is usually around poverty level (previously way less). In fact, I listed all of our airline and hotel expenses for the last 3 years – Analyzing Travel Costs From 3 Years of Travel.
We’re averaged down to $19 a night for an average hotel of 4.2 stars. And out of our 110+ flights, we’ve spent around $4,276. All that from promotions and 904,000 miles (spent on ourselves), miles earned from maybe 10 credit cards a year.
Considering we don’t have a home or rent… I feel like we’re doing pretty good.
Love
There are typically one of a few responses when people hear about our lives. Oddly enough, we very often get a “you live the dream life”, or a “I could never do that!” from people who find out we’re full time travelers, living on frequent flyer miles.
When people ask about our life details and work online, it’s not uncommon for people to express a disinterest in being around their spouse 24/7. And I’m not being judgmental, people simply express that they need alone time, or that they’ve been caged up without space before and tend to bicker more often.
I have two things to say to that.
1) Traveling is an incredible bonding experience. Instead of sitting and picking on each other you’re building and doing something together. I don’t have a great way of explaining it, but for us, it works way better. We’re constantly busy and experiencing new things together.
For whatever reason, relationship-wise, it feels less stagnant. And the end result is always better.
2) What wasn’t working for me, was being married on the weekends. When we first got married, we had a brief taste of what others call reality. Long work weeks, long commutes, being tired, and coming home to your spouse to enjoy the 2 hours before you go to bed (and even that is filled with something). And even our weekends were spent busy.
I calculated how much awake time I had in my life. Then I calculated what percentage of that was spent actually with Carrie… and it was a very small percentage. And that’s just of awake time.
Now we put in more work hours per week, hands down, not even comparable. But it doesn’t feel like it. I spent 9 days in Patong, Thailand (in a mistake fare hotel) and didn’t get in the water once. I worked until late at night and only left the hotel to eat. 16 hour work days for 9 days. But we did it together.
The next few days will be in the Phi Phi islands. We may work a few hours, but then we’ll spend most of our day hiking or snorkeling or whatever we want.
See our work time goes up… but so does our epic experience time. It’s more efficient. :-p
And both the work and the epic experiences are 100% together.
We actually joke about the time we were apart for hours. There have now been a few of those. One time we went to different lounges in Japan (and only because of whatever lounge pass arrangement we had). While traveling, we are always together.
And this goes back to #1… but if it were just work, maybe we would kill each other. But you almost need a break from travel sometimes. 9 days in Patong was not enough to get work done and flew by after hopping around India.
We love travel and we love traveling and working together.
Do we plan on stopping our travels?
No. It’s not even a thought. It’s possible that we’d slow down our pace and stay at hotels something more like a month at a time instead of 1-10 days.
So to sum up our marriage. We’ve spent most of our marriage traveling and building businesses together (some good ideas, some bad ideas). I think producing something together, and traveling, both make our being together 24/7 a very positive thing.
I’ve always thought this: If one were to list their priorities, they may say, “I’m a family man first” or, I’m a ______ [insert passion here]. But if one carefully calculates where their time is being spent, it generally has “work” first. I’ve fought to make both lists as similar as I can… and being husband to an awesome, gentle, kind hearted person, is number one. 24/7.
THE most eloquent piece you have ever written!
Good on ya!
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed.
But dern, because that was like the least time consuming post. I could seriously cut down on time spent working on content and just write about lovey dovey travel.
Awesome. Definitely look up to your lifestyle and your relationship.
Thanks Jason! And as always, thanks for reading!
Eloquent post, well said.
Congrats!!!
I was like, “wow, Paul really enjoyed… oh waid DIFFPaul.”
:-p
Thanks much!
Drew
Congrats!
Thanks. 😀
You are how you spend your time.
Does that mean you’ll turn into a bum?
Happy Anniversary!
Glad you guys decided on Phi Phi. The plankton snorkeling tip is amazing!
Thanks Andy! Phi Phi was great, the weather was great, too bad we didn’t overlap there.
congrats, please follow up with trip report of koh phi phi
For sure!
Happy Anniversary to you both!
I am writing from a coffee shop, just a few blocks from our home, with my husband who is happily engrossed in the New York Times. It is our 38th anniversary and after a lazy morning, we strolled over here and stopped in for a coffee fix and to plan the rest of the day.
We don’t travel full-time but did spend five months “bumming around” in Europe after we graduated college, and he did thesis research for a year in France. Since then, his job as a college professor allows us to take trips that usually vary between four weeks and four months.
Sadly, our anniversary always comes at the same time as finals and other year end obligations, so we rarely get away. But he is doing work he loves, and after 44 years together, I am grateful to be able to say that I love that my love can do what he loves!
And truth be told, I know I am not cut out for full-time travel. But I have so enjoyed reading your blogs and experiencing your travels vicariously. I look forward to meeting you both in A2, and again, happy anniversary!
Maybe this is a male perspective, but an anniversary or honeymoon is a glorified holiday. :-p The important thing is to spend time together and doing what you love. Sounds like you guys do just that. 😀
Also, if you could do 4 months in Europe, you could do full time travel. Not that you want to. You just have to slow down the travel pace.
Awesome, great, see you in “A2” (that took me way too long to figure that out). See you then! And thanks for reading!
Congratulations! Our anniversary is just a day after yours. This year we went to Sizzler to celebrate (exotic for Japan) 😛 Usually we go to a fancy restaurant, but we just had a baby so it’s changed our life and travel habits. Enjoy seeing the world as a couple first because it will be different with kids. It’s amazing how you are managing to travel for so little. Very inspiring. Also jealous that you can spend so much time together, am now working long work weeks with a long commute and barely seeing my loved ones. Will be moving back to France soon, so my work/life balance will improve dramatically.
Memorial day weekend is the best time to get married! Not that we did it on purpose. We just picked a date two months out. :-p
Sizzlers, that’s funny because we made friends in Bangkok two years ago and they told us we have to go to Sizzlers to get a taste of home via the salad bar. So for whatever reason, that was kind of an event because the salad bar was so good. lol
Yea, the commute is killer. Like people don’t factor that into their actual pay, but it is totally a major time suck. PLUS getting ready for work.
Yea, so glad you’ll be heading back to france (although I’m sure Japan is interesting enough). Life is too short to spend it in commute. :p
Wonderfully said. Happy Anniversary!
Thanks Susan!
Good for you guys! It is a fantastic way to spend your life with your spouse! My husband and I have been full time traveling for 9 years – for work and for play. He’s sitting next to me now, on a conference call. We live in hotels, or rental houses, bandb’s… have no house and very little stuff. Right now – Isla Mujeres, Mexico. In a couple weeks – Perth, Australia.
Friends constantly point out that they couldn’t possibly stand to spend so much time together with their spouse… and I can’t imagine it any other way.
9 years, you’ve got us beat! Wait… rental boats? That would be awesome! Details? Do you sail? And I love Isla Mujeres!
I don’t really have a nice response to saying you can’t spend time with your spouse, or rather, know what say.
That’s so wonderful. My husband and I used to work together, commute together and generally spend all our time together. That was my favorite part of that job and I miss it everyday. I would rather spend time with him than do just about anything. I never know how to react when someone tells me that they couldn’t handle that. Congrats to you both!
Funny, I just said that I don’t know how to react either. It’s such an incredibly wonderful thing. And especially driving to and from work or something, that’s special time.
Congratulations! I also work with my husband (we own a campground). We do some travelling in the winter when the campground is closed. I enjoy travelling with him more than working with him but I still can’t imagine having a “regular” job. I love your blog and think it’s great the way you two are living your lives! I envy you!
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