Two years ago, on July 22^nd, 2013, I was seating on the plane in Newark, NJ airport waiting for departure. It was almost midnight, the rain outside the small plane window was pouring down … The new announcement was telling that our flight is delayed (AGAIN)   “until further notice”…

What have we done? Why did we quit our jobs, sold our house and all possessions and bought one way ticket to nowhere? I was looking at the heavy rain through the small plane window, crying and texting to our son how miserable I feel. He texted me back right away: “I have lit a few candles and enjoying the rain. The cat is seating on my laps”.  Now I started crying so loudly, I even thought that all the passengers are looking at me!!!! And the next TXT from our son said: “I love you. Retirement will get better, I promise!“  I still keep his TXT on my phone.

Today, two years later, I am again at the airport.  I am in Delhi, waiting for my return flight back to our beautiful apartment in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  Our son was right: retirement is getting better and better, indeed! We have a freedom and money to choose where we want to live, where and when we want to go next.  No worries about the short vacations and going back to the office!

It is such a wonderful feeling having a freedom to select the next place you want to live!  An apartment in a high-rise or a house with the salt-water pool, or just a simple studio…something new as you move from place to place, from country to country – you never get bored.   Plus no maintenance fees, no repair, no home improvement projects, no worries at all!

Two years later, many of our friends are still concerned about our money, what do we do with our free time, and how do we manage being with each other almost 24x7x365.

Money – yes, we need the money to support our lifestyle. On-line publications telling that you can live happily on $800/mo are not for us. We’ve decided from the day one to have a life style either equal or better than we’ve had back in the US.

We discovered that for our lifestyle we need approximately US$ 5,000/mo. This includes EVERYTHING – living expenses (rent, utilities, phones, internet, food, transportation, etc.), air tickets, vacations, insurance, doctors and routine checkups, vacations (yes, vacations!), subscriptions to the various publications, and many other charges.  (If we’ve decide to choose a smaller accommodation, then the monthly cost would be decreased dramatically.)

Free time and what to do with it is not an issue for us. We are so busy with the everyday activities, that we do not have that “free time”. Planning and researching of our next destination, volunteer work, self-improvement work/time, new and old hobbies… I wish there are more than 24hr/day…

Relationship – “ How can we manage being together all the time, 24hr/day?” Interestingly, this is the main concern of our friends and followers.  What a silly question it is; just think about it.  It appears that   hiding from your spouse is an essential part of the “normal life”… One can’t hide forever from himself or from spouse for that matter. If you afraid to be along with your spouse for a long time, then maybe something is strange with your marriage… One day you have to face your fears, which is a liberating experience.

We try to give each other some personal space. The book “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” by John Gray has helped and still helps us a lot. Additionally, our progress on the spiritual path brings new dimensions to our relationships.