Living in Europe, Side Hustle Struggles, and Remote Work Real Talk - Live Call with Kristin

Sneak Peek:

Jeff:    00:00:00    We met Joel and Michelle in one of these zooms with Kristin. Yeah.  

Kristin:   00:00:05    Yeah, I remember.  

Jeff:     00:00:06    And then we met them face to face in Bansko. Yeah. That's why we're a little extra  

Kristin:   00:00:11    At Nomad Fest, right? 

Jeff:     00:00:13    Yep. Yeah.  

Kristin:   00:00:14    Yeah. I love that. I love this community.  

Deanna:    00:00:18    I know. It was so fun to meet them. <laugh>,  

Introduction: Welcome to Badass Digital Nomads, where we're pushing the boundaries of remote work and travel, all while staying grounded with a little bit of old school philosophy, self-development, and business advice from our guests.

Kristin:   00:00:43    Hey there, Kristin Wilson here from Traveling with Kristin. And welcome to episode 255 of Badass Digital Nomads. We have a fun new format for you today, which is actually a recording of one of my Zoom video calls and hangouts with my Patreon patrons. If you didn't know, I actually have a Patreon page for Traveling with Kristin and for the podcast where for $5 per month, you can just kind of be in my YouTube subscribers, podcast listeners and supporters, some of the people who've been hanging out with me for the past five years. And we just do a regular Zoom hangout and also messages in there, usually zoom, hangout once every month or so, and messages throughout the week just to update you on my content, get your feedback. We'll have people voting on thumbnails titles for topics, for YouTube videos, podcasts. And also if you have questions about anything, you can always direct message me there.  

Kristin:   00:01:46    We just had a hangout this Sunday and we had people from all over the world from the west coast of the US to the East coast to Portugal, Albania, and beyond. And so I thought it would be fun to share this with you in case you would be interested in attending an upcoming Zoom Hangout with us. We're covering a lot of topics from online business and making money online with a side hustle to living in Greece, getting residency in Greece and Portugal, and also finding retreat places where you can go to live, refresh, and work remotely. It's so much fun to hear from people in the community and get an inside look at your travel plans and also things that you're struggling with, challenges in work, travel, and business. And if you'd like to join us, then you can sign up for $5 per month at patreon.com/TravelingwithKristin. That's P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com/TravelingwithKristin.

Patreon Hangout:

Kristin: Welcome everyone to our Patreon Hangout here. Let's start with a little update. Jeff, are you guys in in Albania?  

Jeff:    00:03:11    No, we're, we're back in the United States. Yeah, we, um, we were in Georgia and the Republic, Republic of Georgia. <laugh>. Yeah. We, we were there for two months, so we'd come back to the United States and then  

Jeff:     00:03:26    Touni and then Batumi after that. Um, and so we, we went for two months and we went with some financial goals and to, to try to like, keep costs low while pushing some businesses forward. And we didn't quite get there, which is fine. And, um, and the way I like to describe it is that, uh, sometimes you're building the plane while you're flying, right? <laugh> and, uh, we landed the plane back in America with the, the rubber on the wheels burned off. I mean, we were just <laugh> and, uh,  

Kristin:   00:04:02    crash landing. 

Jeff:    00:04:03    Did you, did you kiss the ground <laugh>?  

Deanna & Jeff:    00:04:06    Yeah, we did, but I mean, but, but financially we're in a, in a solid place because, 'cause we both still had great relationships with our former employees, and so I'm a teacher, so I'm, I I'm able to make extremely lazy money as a substitute teacher. And she's, uh, works in the er and she was able to to get her job back. But that's, that's also temporary. I mean, our intention is to, in fact, we just bought our ticket for Europe for September 9th, and we're going to, we're actually gonna go back Kristin to, we're gonna spend a week in Corfu and then, um, take a little, like a day trip over Saranda and see some friends, but then drive, drive through Greece on our way up to Tbilisi. No, or sorry, sorry, Thessaloniki. And, um, and, and, and our goal also is is, uh, although ours is gonna take longer than yours, probably, we're looking at securing permanent residence in Greece, and that's a five year process, so of occupying for a certain number of months each year. So we're gonna like, try out it's, you know, a a test run of a of a year and see what it's like to be there. Seems like it's about, you can, the the way I read it is that you can be gone for approximately 10 months over the full five year period. So it's about ten two months a year  

Kristin:   00:05:34    And in the, and you think you'll stay in Thessaloniki?

Jeff:    00:05:37    You know, uh, my associate actually hasn't heard me say this yet, but that I'm just, 

Deanna:    00:05:42    he said-does this all the time, and I'm just, I haven't told her yet, but   

Jeff:    00:05:45    I'm just realizing that there, there's so much we could be all over the place in Greece. Yeah, I mean the, the issue is, is that if you're going to be a permanent resident of a country, you have to stay in the country. Yeah. But like we, we can be in Crete and that's still Greece, so, um,  

Deanna:    00:06:02    Which we might do next winter because we're in Washington state and the winters here are terrible.  

Jeff:    00:06:09    Yeah. We're done with winter <laugh>.  

Deanna:    00:06:13    We're, yeah, well, it's not, I could see that if it was just white and snowy and, you know, kind of pretty, but we get like two months where it's just gray and we're in the eastern part of Washington, so normally it's sunnier here, but it's not, and it's just really blah. No, thanks. 

Kristin:   00:06:31    Yeah,  I just saw someone did a video about living in the Northeast and he said winter last six months, and then it's summer and then it's winter again. It's like, yeah, you just get a little, a little window there. And, and that's a lot, a lot of places throughout the US except maybe California, Texas, Florida, maybe Nevada, but yeah. And, and could you share a bit about, you know, what are, what is your, your online business goals for when you were just in Georgia for a couple of months? What were your main revenue streams that you were building there?  

Jeff:    00:07:14    Uh, there were two things. First of all, I had realized, um, last summer that I could, I, I, I could revisit being a teacher, but do that as an online person. 

Jeff:    00:07:29    Uh, 'cause 'cause honestly, when I left education, I had no idea how like the online education world had burgeoned. And especially in America, because so many people are moving away from their classrooms into homeschooling. There's this gigantic market out there of people that are teaching, teaching online to homeschool students. And so I was taking the time to see what I could do to, to make money with that. And I, I had enough interest to know that that's the right idea. But to your point, and I've heard you and other people say this before, it takes longer than you ever think. And so I had enough evidence that that's the right direction to go in. And then the second one was we started our newsletter and we, we were targeting that somewhat at, uh, just people who were interested in travel, but also we have people in, we're orthodox Christians in our faith world.  

Jeff:    00:08:30    And we thought, let's, and this seemed really interested because the countries that we've been in are orthodox countries. And so we thought we will, we'll push this out with a little bit of emphasis. And you've seen the newsletter, it doesn't, it doesn't hit you with that, but with just enough of that sprinkled in to see if that hits that community, if it resonates with them enough for them to support it. And not somewhat, but not a ton. But we had enough interest in that, in the newsletter that we knew, okay, that one's taking, and I just crossed 100 subscribers with that and five paid people. So, um

Kristin: Amazing.  

Jeff:   00:09:10    Yeah. And in five, in five months. So I'm, I'm, so again, that's, but it takes time. You know, you can't, that's not a living of course, but, but also I, it's got the right trajectory and, um, so yeah, it, it takes time to do those things. And I, I had one little follow up, which is that I have a, I'm now starting to get a piece of something that you must experience, and that is that my most recent newsletter, I posted a little bit about our, our upcoming plans. And I had a message from somebody who is a stranger that I've met because of trying to negotiate in the homeschool world. And she said, hi, I just read your post. You seem to have the world at your fingertips. I want to feel that way. And I thought, you have no idea. Like <laugh>, this is that whole, this is that whole Instagram problem, right? Where, where people see this version of you and they don't know that you've spent 10 days getting a rental ready or, or <laugh> or that you're Yeah. Or that you're, uh, substitute teaching and, uh, with a bunch of high schoolers, or that you are Yeah. In the, in the er there's something about the, the ver and honestly, I feel like we're fairly honest in the newsletter and online, and yet y yet people wind up with this like, glamorized version of whatever it is that you're doing and not realizing that it takes a hell of a lot of work. It takes a lot of work. Everything that anybody's doing that's traveling or is a content creator is taking a massive amount of work.  

Kristin:   00:10:50    So definitely, I, I was just emailing with, uh, Ayo Awosika, who's been a guest on my podcast twice, and he has a great newsletter. We'll have to, um, I'll drop the link in here, but he is really big on medium, and he was writing how so many content creators spend 90% of their time on content and 10% of their time on the business. And it's like this content trap, and it's something that I've been aware of, but it's really hard. I don't think mine's 90/10, it's probably more like 50/50, but it should be that I'm spending 10% of time on content. Like, like the newsletter for you guys should be the vehicle to, of monetization for your business. For me, the same way that my YouTube videos were originally designed to help people that wanted to live abroad, that wanted to become digital nomads.  

Kristin:   00:11:57    And that's how people find me. And they used to find me through Google, but then it, you know, you can get caught up in, okay, well I have to publish every week or twice a week. And you know, even this podcast goes out every week. And you know, at first you get that boost of momentum when you start a new project, an online business. But then, you know, years later, you, you have to always be really analytical about how the content you're creating, is it not just helping people, but how is it fitting into your business ecosystem? And that's why I stopped doing shorts. I stopped doing reels. I stopped, you know, chopping my content up or having, you know, having people chop it up and spread it out there. 'cause it's like, I don't need to be everything to everyone. I just need to create content for my target audience, my ideal customers, like the people that really need my help.  

Kristin:   00:13:04    There's not a billion of them, probably <laugh>, you know, it's like this is a kind of a, a niche market of people that want to be living abroad or that want to live a slow travel lifestyle. I'm never gonna be Mr. Beast and not, you know, none of us are like, we don't need to appeal to the mass population. Like, we just have to appeal to that, that 1%. And I think it's great that you took, you know, your love of travel and then blended it with your religion and your church, and you're integrating it that way. That's what makes what you do unique and very authentic. So I, I think that you're on the right path with that. And maybe while you're here in the states, you can, you know, continue doing the online substitute teaching as well as in person and try to keep building that before you leave and, you know, leave again this fall.  

Kristin:   00:14:03    And, you know, there's a lot of different ways, there's like infinite different ways to do this, but that's the way I did it. So the first time that I lived abroad, I funded it as through scholarships as a student. Then when I went back, I had a base salary and then commission on top from real estate. And then real estate was my main income source after that for many years. And then when I transitioned into relocation full-time, I didn't leave my brokerage account or my brokerage, uh, real estate brokerage. I just started doing relocations. And luckily in the first month of doing relocations that exceeded my income from real estate. So I thought, okay, I'm on the right track. I think it was maybe even quadruple what I made as a realtor. So I then quit real estate once I had the income from relocations.  

Kristin:   00:15:06    And then with, um, my relocation company, Poker Refugees. I didn't even close that company until last year. So I started that company in 2011. I started Traveling with Kristin in 2018, and I didn't close Poker Refugees to focus full-time on Traveling with Kristin ready to relocate and my podcast until 2023. And even though I probably could have done it sooner, it was like that was my main income stream for so many years that I didn't want to cut it off until I had all of the pieces working and, you know, the new business, which I didn't even know what it was going to be at the beginning. I just thought I wanna shift into something different, but I still wanna help people in this area. And, you know, looking back, it's like hindsight is 2020, but that's kind of like overlapping your income streams with your new business.  

Kristin:   00:16:15    and not, you know, just quitting and then starting something. Because as we talked, just talked about, it does take a lot of time. So don't feel like you're not doing something right or that it's taking too long if it takes you a year or two years. You know, for me it was probably five years before I, uh, closed one revenue stream and, and started another. And at the same time of having that, uh, there was a time that my affiliate income income exceeded my relocation income. So it's like, you might have different, uh, yeah, different revenue streams, but just wait till you have one that's consistent enough for a while before quitting one and, and changing to something else. And it can really help the bootstrap and go to countries like Georgia, Albania, Greece to save money while doing it. But it can be hard if you're like starting something new and traveling for the first time. So luckily now you guys have a lot of experience with traveling, with living abroad and also with different online business models. It's just about, you know, tinkering with around with that and fig, you know, figuring out step by step how it's gonna work for you. And if you have to produce less content or you know, less newsletters, like any of the things that you're doing that's not like directly bringing you income, try to minimize that, you know, focus on the income producing activities and then, you know, go from there.  

Jeff:    00:17:50    Yeah. My associate, do you have anything to say  

Deanna:    00:17:53    <laugh>? No, I don't think so. Okay, that makes sense.

Kristin:   00:17:57    Good. Okay. <laugh> 

Jeff:    00:18:02    Well, think, um, absolutely does. And I, and I, uh, I think that's one of the important things that I, that I realized that you, that is like, for anybody that's working on trying to figure out a business, is to actually ask this question, which is how is, what is the mechanism that you, that somebody else is gonna put money in my hand? And then can I draw a direct line through whatever it is that I am putting my time into, is what I'm putting my time into going to contribute to a person putting money in my hand? And if you have never been an independent business person, wrapping your head around that one thought is huge because we can all have like, super ideas or this will be great or whatever. But asking that question, what, and, and even and, and like with some people, I say, have you started a, have you opened a Stripe account yet? Because if you haven't done that or something similar, you haven't even created the mechanism for somebody to put money in your hand. So, and that, that's the teacher in me talking also. So, go ahead.  

Kristin:   00:19:08    Exactly. Sorry, one second. Dave's raising his hand. I just, I just wanna follow up with what you said because that's so, that's so accurate. One of my coaches, Richie Norton, he, when people go to him for help making money online, he says, when's the last time you charged someone's credit card? And if they don't have their Stripe account set up, how are they getting that income? Like, where is it coming from? It's just a path, it's just a, you know, you just wanna make it as easy as possible for the people that need your help to find you and then hire you or pay you or buy the product, whatever that is. And there's so much focus now, uh, on social media that I used to remind when I was doing career coaching, online business coaching, I would remind people that I quadrupled my real estate income in one month by just finding the right people.  

Kristin:   00:20:08    I had no social media presence. I had no, well, I did have a website at that point. I had just started my website, but I ran that business for 12 years without a social media following. You don't need a social media following to have a, an online business or to make money online. It's just, that can be a big distraction. Now it's a bit different because I have some money from sponsorships and things like that that wouldn't, I wouldn't have had for my other company. But yeah, I ran that business for 12 years with like maybe 500 Instagram followers and 500 YouTube subscribers. And every, everyone came organically through Google or referrals and word of mouth. So that's really what we should all <laugh> what we should all be doing. And it, it, it's hard, but Ali Abdal, who's also a YouTuber, he's talked about this as well, and he, I think he has 5 million subscribers or something, and he has to be very cognizant of creating content that's not to go viral or anything like that, but that's actually to connect with his business model, with his funnel, and to help the people that he wants to help and not worry if it gets 10,000 views or a hundred thousand views or whatever, or a million views.  

Kristin:   00:21:30    So, uh, good, good reminders for all of us. And I think, um,   just joined, uh, her and Joel have pro probably have something to add to this as well, being content creators and online business owners. Do you have any feedback? And then we'll go to Dave?  

Michelle:    00:21:47    Yeah, yeah. Hi. I just wanted to say hi. Sorry, it's kind of loud here. I'm, uh, I'm ended up going out with friends. Um, but yeah, <laugh> Hi. Hi, guys.

Kristin:   00:21:59   It's, it's not that loud. I don't hear anything,  

Michelle:    00:22:02    Isn't it? Okay. Yeah. Okay. <laugh>.  

Kristin:   00:22:05    And where are you guys right now?  

Michelle:     00:22:07    Uh, we're in Shurdhah, Albania.  

Kristin:   00:22:10    Okay. That's right. Yeah. I, that's what I thought. So <laugh>.  

Michelle:      00:22:13    Yeah. Yeah.

Kristin:   How are you liking it there?

Michelle:   Oh, it's great. It's, we're, yeah, we're really happy to be back. Actually. We have a lot of friends here, so it's just been really great to be back.  

Kristin:   00:22:25    Amazing. Um, and that's a good place to bootstrap.

Michelle:   Yeah.

Kristin:  Are you guys keeping your cost of living below a thousand dollars there?  

Michelle:      00:22:35    Uh, no, not well for the both of us. um, no, the both for the two of us, like last year we averaged, seemed like around 1,800.  

Kristin:   00:22:47    Okay.  Yeah. That's good.

Michelle:      00:22:47    Um, so that was when accommodations and everything included food, groceries, and that was going out like almost every day too, so I don't, yeah, not too bad.  

Kristin:   00:23:00    And how much is your rent there?  

Michelle:     00:23:02    Uh, we are paying 510 Euro a month. That, that doesn't include everything, so.   

Kristin:   00:23:11    Okay and have you found it from this year to last year? Are there more expats there? I've seen a lot of content about it lately.  

Michelle:     00:23:21    Yeah. There's definitely a lot more tourists here right now from last year. Like, there's a lot more restaurants that have opened up earlier, like the, some of the restaurants that were not open last year are already open now. So yeah, there's, there's definitely a lot more people here this year for sure.  

Kristin:   00:23:38    It's so, so interesting to go back to places that you traveled to before. I was just talking with my former assistant in Nicaragua and having him check on some properties I have there and take photos and have them cleaned and everything. And I asked, I haven't been there in more than 10 years, and I said, how is it? And he's like, you wouldn't recognize it. It's so touristy now. There's so many people. It's so developed. And when I lived there, I was the only foreigner, actually there were three of us. There was me, a guy who owned a surf camp and, uh, an engineer who worked at the marina. And we, we were the only people that weren't Nicaragua and that lived in this town. And now it's like, wow. The, even the development that I bought in, they added a whole new phase of the development. So I used to have property that was right on the beach that had a, a green zone, and then the beach, so it was supposed to be protected, and they decided to clear that out and subdivide it and put more lots in front of me, <laugh>. So I'm no longer, I'm no longer in the front row, but that's okay. Got in- I got in early there for sure. Um, Dave, you wanted to mention something about the, uh, the online business. Are you in Mexico right now?  

Dave:    00:25:02    No, I'm in, um, Portugal.  

Kristin:   00:25:04    Oh, you're in Portugal. Okay.  

Dave:    00:25:05    About 15 minutes from Azores in a small farm. And it's really beautiful, like 50 degrees, 60 degrees, everything's lush and green. There's a historical, uh, forest just across the street leftover from King. Somebody, somebody in 15 hundreds who planted straight tree trunks like furs or pines. And, uh, and now eucalyptus too, uh, for ship building. It's all

Kristin:  Oh wow.

Dave:  Most of it's been converted to a small village and farmland since. There's still some remaining though. It's really beautiful.  

Kristin:   00:25:44    How far are you from the beach there?  

Dave:    00:25:46    About 15 miles. I, um, I walk, I'm near Alcobaça about six kilometers from Alcobaça, which is a really up and coming nice small city. It's got everything. And my hosts, uh, work around here. I mean, the, the woman takes care of the place and her husband works in Alcobaça. But anyway, I wanted to say about what Jeff is saying about converting an idea to somebody who actually pays you money. I've had a lot of ideas in my life, and I've always contributed them for free. And my, I think my first one was in 1987, uh, for the cell, but he said post-it stamp. I wrote to my congressman Jerry Lewis in Redlands, and I said, you know, AIDS was getting bad. And I said, why are we still leaking our stamps? <laugh>? So he passed it, why don't we have peel off stamps, like the Avery labels? And he said, I'm gonna send your idea to my friends in the postal service. And they had a six month trial in Arizona. And then in 1988, we got 'em in Redlands too. <laugh>. It was really something  

Kristin:   00:27:00    That is so funny. So you're responsible for getting self adhesive stamps in Arizona 

Dave:     00:27:07    and did the same thing for envelopes. I wrote letters to the two leading envelope Makers Mead and somebody, they sent me samples of what they had, and it was really stupid, you know, you could open 'em apart again. I said, no, peel off like the Avery labels, and now it's all peel off envelopes everywhere.  

Kristin:   00:27:25    Wow. You should have gotten a percent of that <laugh> <laugh>. What were you doing for work at that time?

Dave:       00:27:30     It was more important to me

Jeff:    00:27:32    Least a real good dinner <laugh>.  

Kristin:   00:27:36    Uh, what were you doing at that time for work?  

Dave:    00:27:40    Uh, I had just joined, uh, the Landscape Irrigation Union, so I was working my way up as an apprentice college just didn't produce any income for me. I could never find a career. So I graduated into a recession in 1977, and I worked for a living the rest of my <laugh> life. I've been working for a living now I'm retired. I ended up doing a pension in the trade show union and putting on trade shows and taking them down. And that was really great about the best job of working class job can be. But I really  

Kristin:   00:28:18    I think working class jobs can make more money than intellectual work. Sometimes. I, I mean, if you're a plumber or an electrician, a contractor, there's just so many things that, that people need and you can make good money. And there's too much demand. Like in where I live, there's, there's so much, you can't even get people to show up to do work because everyone's so busy. What is that?

Dave:     00:28:48    It's Portuguese wine.  

Kristin:   00:28:49    Portuguese wine now you're living the life.  

Dave:  00:28:52    It's here, it's $6. This was 10. Periquita, Castello D'Alba is a reserve, which is hard to get.  

Kristin:   00:29:01    Did you look it up in a wine app to see how much it would be here?  

Dave:    00:29:06    It, that's what it is. Oh, no, no. I don't even think they're available. They're local wines.  

Kristin:   00:29:10    Oh yeah. That wouldn't be available then.  

Dave:    00:29:13    Um,  

Kristin:   00:29:13    How long are you planning on staying in Portugal?  

Dave:    00:29:17    Till May 5th, I think it is. Then I fly to the UK and then I still have to find a place in France. I want to finish out there, and then come back to the Sacramento area in late July. And then do your tour if I can, if I can get there.  

Kristin:   00:29:35    Yeah. At Costa Rica in August. Looking forward, we need one or two more people, so hopefully it, it, it goes. I, I talked to the tour providers and they said everyone waits until the deadline to sign up. And like they were just waiting till the last minute. I guess that's what people do sometimes <laugh>. So hopefully we get enough people.

Travel to Costa Rica with Kristin

Kristin: Kristin, here, quick reminder, if you were interested in joining us in Costa Rica this August 9th through 12th, this is the last week to sign up. So if you'd like to join myself and a group of other people and the Traveling with Kristin community for lots of fun and adventures, great food conversations, sunsets, beach time and more, then head over to the link in the show notes to reserve your place today. This will be August 9th through 12th, 2024, and we're traveling to the Gulf of Papagayo on the northwest coast of Costa Rica. It's a quick flight from the US and Canada, and I hope to see you there. And remember that deadline is May 7th, so sign up as soon as you can so you don't miss out.

Kristin:  Paul, how are you doing? We're give us your update.  

Paul:    00:30:57    Oh, yeah, nice to meet you all with my first time, uh, joining the group. So

Kristin:  Welcome.  

Paul    00:31:02    Good to see you all. And, um, yeah, I'm, uh, I'm getting ready to go to Wales in a week. Uh, I'll be going to Wales for, so I live in, uh, Richmond, California. And, um, I'm going to, uh, I'm dating someone, uh, that's lives in Wales, so doing long distance relationship, trying to see what long distance relationship, we'll, uh, see if we can work on that. But I was in Wales in January for about five weeks, and then I'm going back, um, next week for five weeks, and then we're gonna take a week off in the middle to go to Myorca in Spain. And, uh, I have a friend that lives there, so that'll be, that'll be fun. And then when I get back, I'll spend two, two more months here. And then I'm gonna be Traveling east to, um, well, my fam, most of my family's from Virginia and North and now live in North Carolina.  

Paul:    00:31:55    And so I'll be going to a family reunion and spending about six weeks there to like, go to a Bitcoin, uh, convention in, uh, in Nashville learn. That's been my hobby, learning about Bitcoin lately in the last year, which has been been fun. And then I'm, I'm kind of exploring Asheville, North Carolina as a potential place to, to live. It's closer to my parents who are getting older and my dad's having some memory issues, so there's a pool to be a little closer to them is, uh, so I spend like once a year I go back there. But yeah, so I've been listening to your podcast. Your podcasts have been a real steady stream of just love all the encouragement of you can do this, you know, you can live this life, you know, know. And then, and then all of the, um, especially the freelancer stuff, I've been in a, i, I, luckily I work remotely for a, for a company, it's like software implementation type stuff. So I do have a job that's that's fully remote and they're letting me, you know, go to other countries and work remotely. So that's, that's great. But also my part, my partner now who, you know, I was like, well, you can do freelance stuff. So just the encouragement, uh, you know, I've been employee for all my life. So the idea of like running your own business and, um, getting, becoming more of an owner and all of that, I appreciate all of that, like encouragement and support.  

Kristin:   00:33:18    Yeah. Especially in the software industry, there's a lot of consultants, um, people that kind of wanna break away from the salaried job, but still do what they do and kind of organize it so that they work less hours, but they make the same amount of money.  

Paul:    00:33:37    Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. I'm, I'm currently like, you know, they're making a chunk of change on, you know, off of me, I suppose. Uh, I do do need the team, but yeah, I mean, I could work as a contractor and that's something I'm all, I do FinTech type consulting now and, um, I'm also training to become a counselor, like a therapist. Um, and I finished school for that, but I have to do practicum, but there's, there, there are two different worlds. And so like tran-transitioning into, I have to like, make less money, take time off. So I think I'll eventually, I will need to, um, be a contractor so I can work less hours. So that's like a, a, that's a, a next step that I'll probably have to cross at some point, which is stopping an employee and become a contractor, so.  

Kristin:   00:34:27    Interesting. Yeah, it seems like a lot of people are in that transition period that can be a bit scary because you don't know how long you'll be in that transition. It's like this fine balance between when everything is good. Like, let's say, you know, you've got your house, your car, your job, your family, your dog, whatever it is. Like you've got all the boxes checked and then it can feel stagnant sometimes. But then when you're learning something new, it's, it creates stress because you're applying extra energy, extra brain power, and you're in that kind of beginner's mind. And then when you're actually making a transition to a new career, moving to a new place, you know, moving houses, moving cities, moving countries, or you might even have multiple things going on at the same time, like maybe someone in your family has a health issue at the same time that you are changing careers at the same time that you're keeping up a long distance relationship and, you know, it's all these moving parts.  

Kristin:   00:35:36    So life has a tendency to sometimes feel like when everything's under control, it's like, okay, what's next? You know, let's do something different, or let's go on vacation, let's start a side hustle. But then other times it can feel like you're managing so many things at the same time. And I think it's also, uh, a mindset thing. Like if you take a step back and look at, you know, what you accomplished in the last year, or, you know, your trajectory of your career, you see that you've, that you've done a lot and that, you know, you, you've made a lot of progress and that you've accomplished a lot in your career or your business. But then sometimes when you're in it in the moment, it doesn't feel like you're going fast enough or that you are reaching your goals fast enough. And I've seen this in, in all different industries.  

Kristin:   00:36:29    Even a friend of mine is a very talented singer and songwriter and performer, and from the outside everything looks great. She gets very big opportunities and gigs and, you know, has lots of followers and gets flown all around the world to St. Bart's and different places, Mexico. But then she just made this post the other day that she feels like, you know, that she's not doing enough or that she's too busy and she's not accomplishing her goals. And it was like, wow, you know, I never thought that she would think that way because from, from my perspective, everything looks great. And it's kind of like, uh, what, uh, Jeff and Deanna's newsletter subscriber wrote, you know, oh, you're living the dream and all of this. And it's probably everyone's looking at each other thinking, oh, you haven't figured out, you haven't figured out when all of us are just human beings, you know, doing our best.  

Kristin:   00:37:31    So it seems like you're also, you know, have a lot going on with learning about Bitcoin, working in FinTech, um, going over to Wales to maintain your relationship, helping your family in Asheville. So just keep it up. Yeah, it is, it's a lot in this modern day society, but just take things one step at a time and kind of go with the flow of like, where do you feel like you're being led in this year? So it seems like a good balance of travel and work, and also very exciting that you're adding counseling as another, uh, another career change and another revenue stream. So there might just be that intermediary time when you're doing both. And then if that's something that you wanna transition into full time, I'm sure it will happen in the right time.  

Paul:   00:38:25    Thanks. Yeah,  It's, uh,

Kristin:   00:38:26    Good to see you, Michelle. Tell Joel we said hi. Hi.  

Michelle:    00:38:32   Hey, bye. Sorry, have to jump off here but it was so good to see everybody and you guys too <laugh>

Kristin:   00:38:42    So great.

Jeff:  Just a quick insertion.  Bye Michelle. That

Michelle: Bye.

Jeff:  We met Joel and Michelle with, in one of these zooms with Kristin. 

Kristin:   00:38:54    Yeah, yeah, I remember.  

Jeff:      00:38:55    And then we met them face to face in Bansko. Yeah. That's why we're a little extra  

Kristin:   00:39:01    At Nomad Fest, right? 

Jeff:      00:39:03    Yeah,  Yeah.  

Kristin:   00:39:03    Yeah. I love that. I really love this community.  

Deanna:    00:39:07    I know. It was so fun to meet them.

Kristin:   00:39:10    Are you guys, are you guys, is anyone going this year? I, I wanna go, but I don't know if I'll be able to fly all the way over there and back so  

Jeff:    00:39:18    Michelle needs to leave to hear your answers. Don't give mine. We are, are  

Kristin:   00:39:22    You going this year, Michelle?  

Michelle:    00:39:24    We're, we're not going to Nomad Fest, but we are going back to Bannsko uh, we're gonna be there for the month of July.  

Kristin:   00:39:30    Okay. Okay. Yeah. Awesome. Alright, well have a good night. We'll see you soon.  

Michelle    00:39:36    Thank you. Bye guys.  

Kristin:   00:39:38    Bye, bye.  

Jeff:  00:39:39    Just the quick insertion on that is that, is that I, I know multiple people who are ma are not going because with Bulgaria changing the Schengen now people are doing the calculus of, is this gonna take away days from another country?  

Kristin:   00:39:54    And so I know I thought about doing a video on that because it's a huge change.  

Dave:  00:40:02    Didn't Bulgaria used to be kind of like a lily pad from the she zone?

Kristin:   00:40:06   Mm-Hmm and Romania.  

Deanna:   00:40:09    Yeah, they were one outside. So the, when we were finishing our days, um, in the Schengen being in Greece, it was super easy. We just had a guy come and pick us up from Bansko and he drove us all the way up there. I mean, it was like three hours north from where we were so.  

Jeff:  00:40:27    But yeah, still in the, still in, in the European Union, but outside the Schengen

Kristin:   00:40:33    Not in the Schengen.

Jeff:    00:40:34    And now they've, now they've changed that and so, yep. It's, it, it, it'll be a question to see how that impacts like their  

Deanna:    00:40:43    Tourism and stuff. 

Kristin:   00:40:45    Yeah,  Yeah. Yeah. That'll be interesting. I think in some ways it will hurt it in some ways. It will help it, so it'll, it'll make it easier for some people to go there, but then others, for others it will be a trade off. I also wonder, you know, a lot of the people that, got residency there and, you know, we're, we're staying there part-time and then the Schengen for other times of the year. I wonder if that will change who wants to get residency there? Maybe it will actually make it more attractive because it could be considered like Portugal or Spain or Italy as far as getting residency and then being able to travel. So, or, or change perhaps your residency to another country later. So that's interesting, those long-term effects.

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Kristin:  DJ, how's everything on your end?  

DJ:    00:42:31    Good. Good. It was kind of a last minute thing to show up on this, but I did have a few, uh, updates. First off, I, I love how you've been doing the podcast this year, the, the solo episode. Very, very helpful. Very relatable. Um.  

Kristin:   00:42:43    Thank you for that feedback. People were asking, some other podcasters were asking me, they're like, do people like those solo episodes? And I said, I don't, I I think so, because all I can see is how many downloads and then how long people listen and the solo episodes get less downloads and the interviews, but people listen to the whole thing, so.

DJ:    00:43:10    Yeah. But I'm glad you, I never know what to make of those analytics, right? There's so many misleading things that don't really, uh, there's a lot of noise in the stats.  

Kristin:   00:43:17    Oh, yeah. Um,  

DJ:   00:43:18    But yeah, I also, I thought it was interesting you did this, uh, travel hacking interview and I'm curious to know how that's going. But you know, there, there's a whole different niche that you might be a good fit for, as in like the people Americans especially who spend most of their time outside the US instead of, you know, inside that, that changes the calculus for a lot of the, the how they use US based credit cards. But I don't know if you're interested, I might wanna run a few more suggestions by you.  

Kristin:   00:43:47    Oh, definitely. What are you thinking?  

DJ:    00:43:50    Well, so, so basically most of the advice out there is, is really optimized for people who are based in the US and maybe travel once in a while, but, um, let's, let's just say like, you know, how best to set up your credit card portfolio and, and, uh, how to, how to earn and redeem, uh, rewards. It, it's very different if you, uh, spend most of your time outside the US or even just, you know, your full-time expat or, or just a nomad that doesn't go back to the US. So what I'm thinking, I I honestly don't know all the ins and outs. It's, it's, it seems like a really underserved market, but it's, it's very much, um, I, I know there's gotta be some hidden tips out there and I'm learning as I go and I'm aware of one, maybe two, uh, kind of people, couples out in the space who, who have learned on their own as well. And I don't know if it varies country by country. I'm sure there's a little bit. Uh, but, but anyway, I I, I don't want to get too distracted because I don't, I don't know the, the whole bit. Like I feel like I, I know a lot for, for if, if I were based in the US how to, how to optimize, but now I, I'm also stuck in Portugal. Uh, that makes things a bit more interesting. But once I can travel again, I'm sure I'm gonna get back in the, in the swing of it.  

Kristin:   00:45:02    Yeah. Um, I've pretty much kept a lot of my US credit cards, but I haven't really explored, I know you can get some travel credit cards in different countries, uh, especially in Europe as well. Um, but I haven't explored the bonuses that they offer there. Have you found any interesting cards in Portugal?  

DJ:    00:45:25    Right? There's like a parade or something going by my,  

Kristin:   00:45:29    Are you in Lisbon?   

DJ:    00:45:30    I dunno if you hear all this noise. I know right now even bra kind of like, but it's very central, so there's sometimes some, some noise that by--

Kristin:   00:45:39     I heard there's a lot of noise in Braga.

DJ:     00:45:41     Well,  Yeah, I mean, um, there was supposed to be some Easter parade go on that they were canceled because they were basically rained out. Uh, but usually, you know, I guess that's something I'll try to catch next year if I'm in the India area. But yeah, I just thought I would give, give you a shout out because definitely like the, the guy you had on interviewing, he's definitely very US focused, um, focused. But, but I think there's definitely a hidden market for, uh, expats and nomads that are outside the US. 

Kristin:   00:46:10    Yeah. If you, if you come up with anything interesting, let me know. Um, I'll try. I know, you know, Charles Schwab,  

DJ:    00:46:18    I, I can relate with how busy you've been. I've been kind of unexpectedly busy in the same way, but, but yeah, I'm familiar with, um, Charles Schwab in that, in that regard.  

Kristin:   00:46:27    Yeah. How they don't want you to be permanently offshore or Right. In a, in a certain country. Yeah. Yeah. Keep me posted on that. Are things warming up over there in Portugal going into 

DJ:     00:46:40    Oh,  little good. Yeah, it's not bad. I mean, this, this weather's kind of hard to complain. It's, it seems, you know, good most of the year, depending on where you are and if, you know, if you like hot and dry, there's a place for that. If you like cold and damp, there's a place for that. You know, for, for such a small country, there's quite the range of climates.  

Kristin:   00:46:57    Yeah. And did you get all your paperwork figured out? I think last time talked you were doing some math. 

DJ:    00:47:03    No,  I, yeah, I, I'm not even remotely the only one having the same problems, but it's basically like the works are dumbed up and now there's close to 400,000 people who were kind of left in a lurch. Uh, it's gotten bad enough that people are kind of staging, sitting demonstrations at the various integration offices, trying just, just trying to get appointments because, you know, it's all just like, oh, we'll get back to you. And they never do. Yeah. But they hold all the cards. Right. So, so it's, it's kind of like, you know, we, we can't really force their hand. It's just a matter of, you know, some people have emergency situations that they need to get their papers for. Right. Um, but I, you know, unfortunately not in that situation. At least not yet. So, but hopefully, uh, yeah, hopefully it doesn't come to that.  

Kristin:   00:47:45    Definitely. And then, well Francis is also here. Francis, do you wanna chime in with a update? Good to see you.  

Francis:    00:47:53    Uh, hello everybody. I'm driving right now and joined this amazing, uh, weather in Florida. Uh, uh, it's good to hear from everybody. So exciting. You guys are all over the world. I'm here in Florida, <laugh>, getting things settled, <laugh> getting the, the wheels off the ground, so to speak. So I'm focused more on domestic, uh, travel. Someone mentioned Asheville. I'm actually in the process of connecting with, uh, co-housing, co-living type of a setup in Asheville. She has several different types of projects that she's working on, and it's very interesting. So when you mentioned Asheville, it's pretty cool place that I'll be checking out later this year. And it's doing some like wellness travel. So for example, I found some retreat centers and places where I can go and work remote from. I have a contr- contract remote company I work for, so I can work anywhere in the us.  

Francis:    00:48:53    So I, I called up folks and I was like, so do you have Wi-Fi? And they have the feed you, you can get massages the whole nine yards and work your nine to five. I said, that's perfect, <laugh>, because I've been looking, it's hard to find that, you know, a lot of places, you know, you go and it's a bunch of, you know, breakout sessions and they wanna teach you all this stuff, how to breathe and all that, which is great. I don't need all that <laugh>, you know, I wanna go relax and I wanna come out and play. I go play. So I found a great place in, um, Virginia where they actually have that set up. Say, oh, people come in all the time and they work and it's no stress, and we got the saunas and you can get a massage and you, we feed you breakfast, lunch and dinner and no stress. I'm like, perfect <laugh>.  

Kristin:   00:49:41    So I wanna go. Yeah. How much is it? Because a lot of those retreat centers are so expensive.  

Francis:     00:49:48    It's in Virginia, I believe. What is the name of the city? I can't think of the name of the city.

Paul:  00:49:53    Leesburg or a little bit before?  

Francis:   00:49:55    No, no, no. It's in, I think it's, I believe it's Bland Virginia. If I'm not mistaken.  

Paul:  00:50:00    I've heard of that place. I'm in Virginia. I'm in, I'm in, uh, I'm on the ver uh, Virginia side of the Potomac. I'm DC 

Dave:     00:50:08    So mention one of those one time.  

Dave:   00:50:11    Didn't Chip once mention something like that.  

Kristin:   00:50:13    Yeah, he was hell sitting over there. I think. Um, I have, I've only been to like the DC area of Virginia. I haven't been that far away, but that's actually a really, a really good idea because that's why I like cruise ships in a way, because, not because of the internet though, but you can just go get food whenever you need it. You don't have to worry about making meals. But I like the idea Francis, of a wellness nomadic lifestyle where you go places that are just very quiet and beautiful and easy access to get food. And you can go to the spa, go to the sauna. It kind of reminds me of, um, when I lived in Iceland we, uh, like co-living place, we had that, like, we didn't have every meal, but we had maybe one meal a day. We had the coworking, it was quiet, we could go, they had a a like a rec center with no people. I mean, this town had very few people there. So you could go swimming, you could go in the ice pool, which was just basically water outside because it's Iceland <laugh>, you don't need to cold make it cold. It's already freezing. And yeah, that was just so nice. And it's very productive. So yes, as long as you can keep your cost of living, you know, not at, you know, six or $7,000 a month for something like that. 

Francis:    00:51:41    Yeah. This one, it's, it's not cheap, but your health is priceless. So what I would do is go for maybe a week or two weeks. I found a place, I checked my emails. It's a unique Eupepsia or something like that. E-U-P-E-P-S-I-A. And it's in Bland, Virginia, B-L-A-N-D. So I just literally was on, um, my phone put in like retreat centers, wellness centers in Google. And I was hit top rated. And that's how I find some off the beaten path. But sometimes when you put stuff in the, um, search engine, it of course, you know, it doesn't pull up everything. So some reason Google pulls up stuff that you don't find when you are on the traditional web browser. Why? I have no idea <laugh>, but, oh, it worked for me. So that's how I found, I mean it, this little anal, 'cause you literally have to go and I literally moved the map and let it refresh in that area.  

Francis:   00:52:35    So I just moved the map to this area. So let me see. If I drive from Florida to Georgia, what comes up now, zoom out and then it will show me, you know, that then I read the reviews and whatnot and they have top reviews. I was like, man, this place seems cool. So I called her for voicemail, she called me back, had a great conversation, prices. So that's how that came about. Um, another place I've actually been to this particular center. It's an amazing place. I went there, I believe for my birthday, probably like in 2017. Um, you may have heard of it. It's, it's an international yoga center. It's called Art of Living. Okay.  

Kristin:   00:53:11    Oh, I haven't heard of that.  

Francis:    00:53:13    They have a, um, wellness center in, um, oh my Boone, Boone, North Carolina, outside of Ashville, very peaceful, quiet, have a, uh, it's like a RandR, rest, relaxation retreat. And it's, I believe six nights or seven nights. And you can go say-- 

Paul:    00:53:35    Can you say  that name again one more time? What's, uh, I know, I, I haven't been to Boone yet, but I wanna check it out. And what was the name of that retreat?  

Francis:   00:53:42    Art of Living. Oh, you find that one very easy because it's, it's international. They've gone up. When I went there years ago, they just opened. So it's very like a, a, um, a soft opening vibe. But now they have the big, big dogs come in to retreats and whatnot. The food was amazing. But what they have is a R&R, restaurant retreat or relax, relaxation type of, um, concept. And they have wonderful commendations. Similar to a hotel. You have your desk and your Wi-Fi. So yeah, Frank, you can come and work and they feed you breakfast, lunch, and dinner just like the other place. And you can go there from for seven days. So for me, it's like you go to seven days, go off for two or three months, go back there, get it refreshed, you know, so it's kind of like a, a, a recharge you can get here and there. Yeah. So I'm looking for more, um, places like that. They're very hard to find or they are like really small. They're run by couple or something. A lot of those places are like that. There's also one in, um, Gainesville, uh, Florida called Ayurveda Health Center

Kristin:   00:54:49    Okay.  

Francis:    00:54:49    And well, the prices actually come down. They, they must have spiked them during Covid, but I checked the website, I was like, thank God. 'cause it was a little too high, in my opinion. Great place. You probably could kind of work there. There's no office, but it's more of an intimate environment. It's so small. You are literally sitting there with the chef as they cook your meal, you can have a conversation with them. It's that intimate. Beautiful place. Oh, it's amazing. And Alachua is an Alachua Florida, which is, um, north of Gainesville. Very small quat town. If you're into yoga or wanna go check out like a real, like ashram, the Hari Krishna Ashram is there in Alachua, go there for free, hang out, go and do some chanting. And you get that full real authentic if you're into that. Right. You can, if you don't, you're just curious. Just go up there and it, and it's beautiful grounds and they have grow their own food and it's, it's a great, great experience. Okay. So that, that's another one that, that, um, that someone can check out. So yeah, that, that's the, the initial step is going that way. And then the future, you know, international and of cost. The Costa Rica trip keeping my entry. We spoke about that, you know, my history with, with Costa Rica, so yeah. 

Francis:    00:56:04    It's on my list, but you know, it's just timing and logistics if I'm able to go. So that's why I haven't really jumped on it yet, but I was like my good. That would be perfect.  

Kristin:   00:56:14    Yeah, that, yeah, I'm planning on not working during that one 'cause it's just a weekend.  

Francis:    00:56:19    Yeah. Okay. Okay.  

Kristin:   00:56:21    It's four, four days or four nights, I think. Four days. Four nights. Yeah. I, um, but I'm looking at Eupepsia Wellness Resort. You pulled up, it's coming out at like 12 to 15,000 a month.  

Francis:    00:56:35    Yeah, that's a month. Yeah, I'm not doing a month.   

Kristin:   00:56:37    Yeah, that's what I wanna do. <laugh>. But it's like just the meals are 3000. The meals are 3000. Um, the room per night is not bad. 176 meals around 3,700. The wellness package, that's where it gets expensive. That's the 4,000.  

Francis:    00:56:54    That the, the lowest one is, it's quite expensive. But they, they, I spoke to the lady there, they could probably get a discount. Like I'm gonna do probably a week. Yeah. You know, for three days or seven because you have everything there. And it gives you that boost where you don't have to worry about nothing. You can clear your head and that's when ideas and visions come and that type of thing. I can really hear from God and you know, move forward. But I did that once and it was worth it. One month at Hippocrates Institute in West Palm Beach.  

Kristin:   00:57:23    That was about, I heard, that's amazing.  

Francis:     00:57:25    Oh my goodness. Whoa. Transformative. However, it was a price of a used Honda. Okay. For one month.

Kristin:   00:57:33    Expensive. Yeah. Well, I'm looking at the Ayurveda, the Ayurvedahealthretreat.com. It says it's only $195 per night. Yes. For the wellness. That's really good.  

Francis:     00:57:47    They went down, it was like 230 to 250. Yeah. They, they reduced their prices and they expanded. They have different offerings. They, they, um, they didn't have in a couple years ago. It's a great place. I highly recommend that one. Okay. You go there and just relax. I mean, I know the owner got his phone number, my cell. I mean, it's just that type of energy. Great people. And if you're not familiar with Ayurveda, the, the sister science of yoga, that's the type of treatments and protocol and how they cook their food. All of that is the, the foundation is in Ayurvedic science. So you get a chance to learn about that. They have a cooking class when you're there. I believe it's on Saturday, if I'm not mistaken, Saturday night. So the chef will cook and he, he or she will show you what they're doing, how they do, how to make it at home. They'll go typically, they'll do like kitie and you know, some of the basic foundational dishes. It's a great experience. Yeah. And they have yoga, the yoga classes there, meditation of course, you got Ayurveda in Gainesville has a lot to offer with the dancing and the healing arts and that type of thing. Which is what, 20, 30 minutes away. So you have a lot you can explore in that area.  

Kristin:   00:58:55    That's great. Thanks for those ideas. I think, you know, sometimes they get into a, a routine of places I go and places I stay, and it definitely, I wanna mix it up. I was looking on Airbnb last night at the OMG properties where they just put really cool properties around, and I found this, this dome in, uh, Norway, and it looked amazing. It's like a bubble that you can live in, or not a dome, but it's, it's a square property, but it has bubbles that you can see out into the nature and everything. But it was 1500 a night, so that's not very sustainable to go live in. But I think there's probably a lot of places, uh, in Turkey, in Guatemala, in South America and Southeast Asia, like really cool places that you can go and have this kind of retreat experience without breaking the bank and maybe here in Florida in Gainesville. So thanks for that. Uh, I think Dave had a question. 

Dave:    00:59:58    Yeah,  well, I was just saying, um, one, one source that I used to get a place near Sacramento in Granite Bay, just last month, uh, for one month it was $1,200. It was a really nice house. They had built a big garage and, and it and overhead thing. They had a lot of acreage. They had a huge rv. They were storing somebody else's. They had a pool. It was beautiful. They had a gate just for them. The driveway was seven laps to the mile, you know, gravel driveway. They were very well to do. They had a--

Kristin:   01:00:34    where did you find that?  

Dave:     01:00:36    Furnished Finders

Kristin:   01:00:37    Oh, Furnished Finders,  

Dave:      01:00:39    which is a website that was started for travel nurses.

Kristin:   01:00:41    Travel nurses. Yeah, that's a good one.  

Dave:     01:00:45    Now that it's gone, these people can use a few renters. You know, they put, everything was new. It was just jam packed with brand new stuff, and it was such a nice place to, to live. I'd walked, I walked 12 miles one day and I went past these mansions with horse properties around them, country roads. It was beautiful. Right near Lake.  

Kristin:   01:01:10    Yeah, I've checked that website before. I couldn't find anything for my dates and locations, but I, I could see that working really well for a lot of people. So thanks for reminding us of that one. Um, we're getting close to time now, so let's do a quick update from Walt.  

Walt:    01:01:27    Well quick here. Um, I will be going and I figured out a way to get past it. Uh, for a long time I had two reasons why I hadn't got nomad. First reason was medical, which is finally being solved. I was in a car wreck, messed up my leg, found the guy who, who has eclectic enough, who knew both, uh, Japanese systems, Chinese systems, and American chiropractic. So I've made progress. I've just started jogging. So.  

Kristin:   01:01:53    Congrats.  

Walt:   01:01:53    Uh, that, that's, that's that I'm not setting speed records, but I'm there. The next other part was the fact that I had no place to place my domicile, and I figured out a new hack. It's huge in the RV community. I don't know why I never got out to the greater nomadic community, but South Dakota offers occupancy and domicile. You stay there one day every five years. You go there and you rent from a, from a specific places, uh, a a mail a mailbox on an annual basis, and you clear declare that as your, basically your address and you'll have, you can get a driver's license then from the DMV with that address from the there. It's perfectly legal, perfectly legit. And then from there, I can finally go get my passport renewed <laugh>, and then I'm outta here.  

Kristin:   01:02:43    All right. Where's your first destination? Are you still thinking Mexico? I know you had a long  

Walt:      01:02:47    List. Yeah, I have Mexico. I have one of the lingering things left over from my car crash, or I gotta get some massive amount of dental done America wanted, uh, in America, the dentist wanted $45,000 and I'm <laugh> in the ne And so, um, the, um, I've lo I saw some places in Mexico that seemed pretty cheap, that were still close enough to the states and other things I still had left to do in Florida. So I can jet back and forth kind of easily and cheaply. Um, and  

Kristin:   01:03:14    Not in Tulum though, right? <laugh>?  

Walt:     01:03:17    Not in Tulum. No, no, don't, no. Tulum is a little pricey. Uh, beautiful but pricey. And you would know that better than anybody. You just got back from there, didn't you? So.  

Kristin:   01:03:26    Yeah. And their hospital was ripping people off with the, uh, surgeries and things, so,  

Walt:      01:03:32    So don't get surgery there <laugh>. 

Kristin:   01:03:36    Right. Do research basically. Yeah. But no, in general, Mexico is good for, for medical tourism and you can saving money on. 

Walt:     01:03:43    I'm gonna, I have two candidates going  

Dave:    01:03:45    Off limits now too. Something's happening in Ecuador. It's terrible.  

Kristin:   01:03:49    Oh yeah.  

Dave:      01:03:50    Great medical now you can't even go there.  

Jeff:    01:03:53    Oh, I they didn't they have problems with governmental problems or is that Peru?  

Dave:      01:03:58    Gangs.  

Kristin:   01:03:58    Uh, that's mostly Ecuador right now.  

Jeff:    01:04:02    Oh, okay.  

Kristin:   01:04:02    But, oh, I don't know if there's anything specific in Peru, but in general, yeah, Latin America, south America struggles with the political situation historically. Yeah. As do many, many countries.  

Walt:    01:04:16    Well, I'm, I'm getting a teeth fixed in and, um, yeah, then, then I'm free. Then it's, uh, Thailand, Philippines, Greece. I have some friends in Greece and after that I always wanted to go to Scandinavia <laugh>. So, um, and then after that, I have no idea where I'm going.  

Kristin:   01:04:35    You can meet up with Jeff and Deanna in Greece, <laugh> DJ says, be sure to get the latest rules from South Dakota and make sure your banks don't shut you down because some banks dislike South Dakota addresses, even if they're physical.  

Jeff:    01:04:49    Um, yeah, I, I may have to come back more than once or twice a year then I guess to make sure everything is kosher, but better that way than the alternative. 'cause it's very difficult to survive without some sort of domicile because you got, the banks are gonna reach out to you. Anything, anything you've done legally is gonna reach out to you. So you need that address and you need something to forward it. And the place I have has, has a digital one. So I upload an app. They get my, upload my mail to my app. Anything that's significant, I haven't forwarded to an, uh, an address of wherever I happen to be at at that point in time.  

DJ:    01:05:20    Hey Wal, did you, are you using RV Escapees?  

Jeff:    01:05:23    No, I'm gonna be using yourbestaddress.com. It's out Sioux Falls, South Dakota. And, okay, so we do, because everything is in South Dakota and South Dakota's kind of, uh, Sioux Falls is kind of small. It's just you jet in there, stay overnight, go get your driver's license, pay the fees, go get a library card, get your voter's card, you're gone. 

Kristin:   01:05:47    Alright.  So actually I knew another guy that went to South Dakota, really liked it there. His photos were beautiful as as well. So maybe it's a place that as DJ says, well, it, it come back every once, every 10 years should suffice. But,  

Jeff:    01:06:02    Um, it's, it's, it's, um, on the, our RVs have been using it for tens of years. Mm-Hmm It's big in the RV nomad community, but not, we've got the  

Dave:   01:06:11    Highest traffic accident rate of any state.  

Kristin:   01:06:14    <laugh>. Is that true?  

Jeff:   01:06:15    Wow.  

Dave:    01:06:16    They're young  peoples.

Kristin:   01:06:17    That's great. Great facts.  

Jeff:   01:06:19    <laugh>. I didn't know that. Yeah.  

Kristin:   01:06:21    Sounds good. Walt, glad you're getting your health in order. I'm gonna head out and grab some lunch here. But it was so good to see everyone and don't be strangers. Message me on Patreon if you need anything.  

All:    01:06:36    Bye-Bye. Have a good one. See you. Alright, take care. See you all later, everybody.  

Jeff:    01:06:40    Have a great day, bye-bye.  

Kristin:   01:06:41    Thanks everyone and welcome Paul <laugh>.  

Paul:   01:06:44    Appreciate it. Bye.  

Kristin:   01:06:45    Drive safe, Francis.  

Francis: 01:06:46    Alright, thank you. See you later. Bye <laugh>. Bye.  

Kristin:   01:06:51    I hope you enjoyed hanging out with me and the Patreon gang. If you'd like to join us for $5 per month, you can do so using our link in the show notes or at patreon.com/TravelingwithKristin, P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com/TravelingwithKristin. And you can also get to see my YouTube videos for free and lots of other cool benefits. As I mentioned, this is the last week to sign up for our trip to Costa Rica in August. You can also do that in the show notes. And the last day to sign up is May 7th. Thanks for spending time with us today, and I look forward to seeing you again next week.