1. Current address:
I am travelling the world with my husband on what we have dubbed the “Two Year Honeymoon”. It’s quite the big undertaking! We are currently in Panama, country #33. This will be the last country of our trip.
2. Previous address(es):
Before setting out for our big adventure, we lived in Vancouver, Canada. It’s quite the amazing place, and after travelling for so long I quite miss it. My family (and where all of our stuff is- all 10 boxes of it) is in and around Montreal, Canada.
3. I landed here because…
My husband and I met while travelling. It was 2006, we were both on solo vacations and found ourselves in the same dorm room in Sydney, Australia. Travelling has always been a shared passion of ours and is quite addictive: as such, as soon as our first big trips ended we started to plan the next one. We wanted to see the world once more before settling down and starting a family. We didn’t want to have any regrets.
4. The best part of living abroad is…
The freedom! Although we aren’t actually living anywhere specific except out of suitcases, the flexibility of it all is amazing. We can pretty much come and go as we want and see and do what we feel is important to us. We make our own schedules and answer only to ourselves. We get up when we want, eat when we want, go to bed when we want… the ability to be as lazy or as productive as we wish is really, really lovely. Then there is the food, the cheap beer, the great wines, beautiful beaches, stunning mountain ranges…
5. The most difficult part of living abroad is…
Living out of a suitcase and constantly moving around can really make you miss stability. As much as freedom is exciting and priceless, sometimes I really miss having my own place. I miss my bed, a good pillow. I miss having a closet full of clothes and right now I really miss hot showers. Or a bath! It’s also hard to go around and see so many lovely things and not being able to buy any souvenirs. Is it worth the sacrifice though? Totally.
6. Before living here (abroad), I never realized…
How easily I could live with so little. Even on my first big trip (7 months, 11 countries) I didn’t realize how easily I could adapt with only having 4 t-shirts, 2 pairs of pants and a few pairs of underwear. Obviously that’s not the entire content of my bag, but all I have is what I can carry on my back. Yes, sometimes the consumer in me struggles with not having more (see previous question), but often I am totally at ease with it. We have also realized how quickly we adapt to new places, new cultures, and how quickly we can feel cozy and comfortable in tiny spaces. Most of the world lives with a lot less stuff that what most of us have in North America, and there really is something to that. We don’t need so much “stuff” in our lives to be happy.
7. An addition to my day to day vocabulary is…
Because we move around so much, we usually pick up a few words and forget them as soon as we leave the country. Yet, my husband will still say “jalan jalan” (walking) to transportation touts everywhere even though we aren’t in Indonesia anymore and we canít talk about 7-Eleven (the convenience store) without pronouncing it the Japanese way: “seben-ereben”.
8. Three words to describe my host country are…
Panama: beach-tastic, ceviche, historic.
9. If I could live anywhere (hometown excluded) I’d choose…
Singapore. I’ve been there twice and hands-down Singapore is my dream city. It’s in Asia, which I love, and it’s the perfect distance from everywhere else in Asia, so it makes for a great hub city. I love the mix of cultures (Malay, Indian, Chinese and everyone else) and how well everyone seems to get along. English seems to be the unifying language. The food is incredible, tasty and cheap – it’s quite the passion for the locals. I love the architecture, how colonial buildings mix with tall skyscrapers and smoky Chinese temples and colourful Hindu temples. I could go on and on… I just love it! We visited Singapore in the early days of our trip and I was so happy that I managed to make my hubby fall in love with Singapore too.
10. A traveler or expat (famous or not) I admire is…
I would have to say Tara and Tyler from Going Slowly. We met them on our trip while we were in Cambodia, and they have been an inspiration to us. They cycled through Europe and Asia for two years and documented every single day of their journey. They had so much drive and discipline! I admire how much they interacted with the locals and never seemed to shy away from getting in real close when taking pictures. They are back home now, but are starting a new journey, much like we will be soon as well, towards land ownership and greener living.
Thanks, Magalie! I know all of you noticed her gorgeous photographs. Go see more at her blog, Magalie Travels.
xo, jill
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