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First Winter
Our first time snowboarding in Beaver CreekA NEW ADVENTURE
Well, hello hello! It's been a long time since we've been on here (over four years), so it feels good to dust off the blog and get it ready for action again. The plan was to keep the blog rolling during our tenure in Colorado; then again, the original plan was to spend only one winter season in Vail. Now - three and a half years later - we're still here...but not for much longer!
How
did two Floridians end up in Vail, Colorado anyway? By sheer coincidence. After spending 15 months abroad in 2009/2010, our plan was to return to Florida, save some cash, and hit the road to do it all over again. What we didn't factor in was that, during our absence, the economy had tanked and the job market in Florida had become pretty scarce. Coupled with that was the undeniable fact that
we had changed so much during our journey overseas. It sounds like a cliche - that travel "changes" you - but it's a cliche for a reason. It's true. It's not that we didn't still love our family, friends, and familiar surroundings of home. We did. We still do.
Denali's First Winter
It took her a little while to realize she WAS in fact a snow dog! We always will. It was never about trying to find something "better" than what we already had. But life had gone on without us, very much the same, while we were two entirely differently people than the ones who boarded that flight to Beijing 15 months earlier. Florida was no longer the right "fit" for us; yet it didn't appear we'd be in a position to skip the country again anytime soon, either.
So, for the majority of 2011, life was...stagnant. We had a couple part-time jobs, but no real direction or focus. We weren't unhappy, exactly, but the wind had been taken out of our sails and we found ourselves drifting towards nothing in particular. All of that changed when we received an unexpected Skype call from Bjarne, a guy we'd worked with at Rydges Hotel in New Zealand.
"Hey," he greeted. "How's life at home?"
What could we say? "It kind of sucks," we replied. "We don't really know where we're going."
"I'll tell you where to go," Bjarne said. "I spent last winter in Vail, Colorado. You guys would love it! It's just like Queenstown."
Needless to say, our curiosity was piqued.
Hanging Lake
A gorgeous sight in Glenwood Canyon. Having never been to Colorado, I'm the first to admit that I had no real idea of what it was like here - other than Denver and a bunch of mountains. Bjarne proceeded to tell us that the company he'd worked for (Colorado Mountain Express) was getting ready to start hiring for the upcoming winter season, and he'd be happy to recommend one or both of us for a job. Figuring we had nothing to lose, Jeremy went ahead and applied for a position in the company's reservation office. Two days later, he had a phone interview. Two days later, he was hired. And barely a week later, we were packing up our belongings, cramming whatever we could fit into a Ford Taurus and a Saturn station wagon, and hitting the road for a 2,000 mile trek to a town we'd never heard of.
Impulsive? Sure. Not very well thought out? Absolutely not. In fact, we'd never given so little thought to
any decision. But we figured if the two of us could survive moving across the planet to New Zealand, certainly we could handle a move across our own country. We'd try it out for the winter, see
Piney Lake
9,000+ feet above sea level in Vail. how we liked it, and go from there. If it didn't work out, we could always try something else.
So we arrived in Vail in November of 2011, and now - three and a half years later - here we are. What started out as a seemingly rash, illogical move has actually turned out to be the best move we could have made. There have been a few bumps in the road, of course, but overall our time here has been marked by gorgeous scenery, lots of outdoor fun, and an incredible circle of friends (who we are going to miss dearly when we depart)!
While we've thoroughly enjoyed living in Colorado, our goal of living overseas never died. It's taken us this long to figure out how we can realistically do it (and support ourselves in the process). I don't know how many of you have ever considered leaving the states, but let me be the first to tell you: It's tough.
Really tough. Unless you have a PhD or some high-demand skill another country desperately needs, your chances of being able to move to a foreign locale, take up residency, and get a job are about
Cattle Round-Up
Breaking Jeremy in to the "western" ways of riding. as slim as an asteroid striking your house. We were fortunate enough to get the one-year work visas for New Zealand back in 2009, but those visas were non-renewable and non-extendable (at least for us Americans).
So, the question became: How can we relocate to another country WITHOUT being dependent on the local economy? Twenty years ago, it would have been virtually impossible. But in today's wonderful age of computers and technology, your physical location is no longer important for many jobs. As long as you have an internet connection, you can work from your home, an office, or Timbuktu, and it really doesn't make a bit of difference. In fact, there's a new phrase that's been coined to describe people who work online while traveling around. They're called "digital nomads," and that is what we're hoping to become once we hop on that plane to Malaysia.
How have we made that possible? In a nutshell, Jeremy has spent the past three years working
very hard, not only with a full-time day job, but also as a full-time college student. He just graduated last month with a degree in graphic design and - as an added bonus -
Strawberry Park
Our favorite natural hot springs, outside of Steamboat Springs. already has a job lined up! And me? Well, in case you haven't noticed, I love to write. Always have. Over the years I've had a few things published in different magazines and online, but I really want to focus my attention on becoming a freelance travel writer. I would have pursued it sooner, but this little thing called "life" always seemed to get in the way. Day jobs leave little time for creative endeavors, as I'm sure many of you can relate to. But what if your creative endeavor
is your day job? That changes things! As a fallback, I'm also working on my certification to teach English as a second language, which again can be done entirely online. There are companies across Asia and South America that hire native English speakers (like us!) to record languages lessons that are then broadcast to a local classroom. Is it the kind of thing that makes you rich? Nope. But neither of us are looking to get rich, at least not in a monetary sense. I'll take life experiences and making new friends over material riches any day.
So!! That's where we've been for the past four years, and this
Continental Divide Ride
A 26-mile, 13-hour ride from Estes Park up and over the Continental Divide (13,000 feet above sea level). is where we are now. Only weeks away from uprooting ourselves once again to take off and explore the world beyond our borders. Our plan is to settle in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as Americans are granted a 90-day visitor pass which can be renewed pretty much indefinitely (as long as you're smart and don't overstay your welcome). Malaysia is very first-world, but without the first-world price tags. English is the official language of the country, so the language barrier isn't an issue. And with its proximity to so many other great locations, we'll have a plethora of options for our border runs (hereafter referred to as "obligatory vacations") that we'll have to take every three months. (Just as a sneak peek - our first two "obligatory vacations" will be to India and Thailand!)
How long will we be gone? We don't know. It could be a year or two, it could be indefinitely. We'll just have to see how it goes.
In the meantime, I've added 60 photos to this blog highlighting some of our best memories from our time "out west." For those of you new to the blog, keep scrolling down through the remaining photos (there
Fall Colors
Enjoying autumn leaves in Breckenridge. are 13 more photos below), and click "next" AT THE BOTTOM (not the next directly below this photo) to view the rest of them. This blog has two additional pages of photos, and some of the longer blogs may have even more.
As for us, we have a busy month ahead of us. After wonderful send-offs from our friends here in Colorado, tomorrow we're heading down to Phoenix, Arizona, to visit my family. After that, we travel to Florida for 10 days to visit Jeremy's family. Our final stops will be to see more family and friends in Maryland and New York before our official departure from JFK on May 31st! Catch you guys from the road!
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Joe Smuin
non-member comment
We look forward to the photos and the story lines which go with them.
How wonderful to see you folks in motion again. Somehow I could never bring myself around to deleting your blog address. Sure glad I didn't. We all look forward to following your new adventure. Jeremy, well done with the school business. Amy, you are a wonderful writer and you'll find ways to capitalize on that ability. All the very best wishes for your next phase. cheers, Joe