A LOT.
Kevin ended up taking the job he was offered in France, and I decided to look for work once we arrived, while developing my own business on the side. We left the US for Europe in September, 2017, hopped around for about 6 weeks until we arrived in Montpellier, France, where we’ve been living and working since.
You can read the plans we made before leaving in my official “Announcement” I posted on my teacher-blog in July, 2017 here–>
But as for after July 2017, here’s a quick summary:
Work
Since moving, we’ve continued to work, though we’ve both been trying to move towards 100% remote work. Kevin just completed his one-year contract with a job at a French University, but has continued to work for Savanna Institute.
As for me, after I tried several ways of teaching in France (private language academy, freelance tutoring, and an online ESL company), I decided I wanted to focus on completely remote, make-my-own-schedule work. I started developing my own teacher-resource business called Teacher Off Duty before we left for Europe, and since June I’ve been self-employed through that: writing curriculum, developing courses, and creating resources for teachers. Though transitioning from working with 200 people and a set paycheck to just myself and a variable paycheck has definitely had its ups and downs, it’s been one heck of a year. Wouldn’t change it for the world.
Travel
When we set off to live abroad, our goal was to travel as much as possible. When you’re in Europe, you might as well see it.
And while I’ve been working remotely since June, Kevin’s job this year tied him to an office during most weeks. However, he was given (a sparse) 42 paid days off as an entry-level employee. Yes. 42. As in 2 months. What? #Frenchlife.
After bills, we have stopped spending money on really anything but food and travel. We’ve been rocking the same outfits we came with a year ago and cook as much as possible, and have learned the tricks of the trade to find $20/night lodging and <$20 flights. So together with our time flexibility and finding crazy deals, when we do have an opportunity to take a $15 flight to London or Amsterdam…we try to do it.
If you’re a chronological kind of person, below is a running log of our travel. I plan to link posts back to the list below as we go. If you haven’t noticed, I won’t be posting blog posts in chronological order–so you can use this list to orient yourself.
Running Travel Log
September, 2017: (<–if it’s blue, you can click to see posts)
- Prague, Czech Republic
- Vienna, Austria
- Bratislava, Slovakia
- Budapest, Hungary
- Oslo, Norway
- Dublin, Ireland
- Galway, Ireland
- MONTPELLIER, FRANCE – our residence for the next year
December, 2017
- Paris, France
January, 2018
- Carcassone, France
- Uves, France
February 2018
- Barcelona, Spain
- Chamonix, France
- Paris, France
March, 2018
April, 2018
- Barcelona, Spain
- London, England (Just Jeanne)
- Nijmegen, Netherlands (Just Kevin)
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Brugges, Belgium
June, 2018
- Angers, France
- Andorra la Vella, Andorra
July, 2018
- Cirque de Gavarnie, France
- Paris, France
- Barcelona, Spain
- Rome, Italy
August, 2018
- Lyon, France
- Couple day trips to nearby French towns
September, 2018
- US for my brother’s wedding
- Prague, Czech Republic
- Munich, Germany
October, 2018
- London, England (Just Jeanne, again)
- Girona, Spain
- Thessaloniki, Greece
- Kalambaka, Greece
- Athens, Greece
- Litochoro, Greece
- Vic, Spain
- Viladrau, Spain
November, 2018
- Oxford, England
- Cambridge, England
- Dorking, England
- Stansted, England
- Warsaw, Poland
December, 2018
- Bialka Tatranska, Poland
- Madrid, Spain
- Córdoba, Spain
- Granada, Spain
This life in between work—exploring new places, learning from people, and navigating as a foreigner—is where most of my stories will come.
Next Chapter
As I’m posting this on November 13th, we’re in an airport and starting a new chapter. Kevin’s job contract ended November 1st, which means we are no longer tied to return to any one place.
Our plan for the next few months until March/April is to live and work remotely in different cities in Europe, exploring as we go. To help make it more affordable, we’re housesitting using a site called TrustedHousesitters, where we can find opportunities to watch people’s homes and pets while they are away in exchange for a free stay. First stop, England!
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And that’s that! You’re caught up.
On to the stories…