#1 Serial Living Abroad With Family: an Uncommon Dream

“Buenas tardes Miguel,” I say through our Zoom call as Michael joins on a Friday afternoon.  He has just worked out at the gym, taken a Spanish proficiency test, celebrated with a beer, and walked up the hill to an amazing view:

from the temporary home in Colombia that he currently shares together with wife Ellen and their two kids, Leo (5) and Marcella (3). Michael is thoughtful and genuine.  It’s only the 2nd time that we have talked but it kind of feels like I am talking to someone that I’ve known for awhile.

Choosing Something Different

Some families take a trip to the beach or have gone on vacation in Costa Rica.  Michael and Ellen have uprooted their family and lived for several months at a time — twice in Ecuador, once in Costa Rica, and now in Colombia where Ellen is currently walking to pick the kids up from school.  Michael backpacked in Italy for a month in college and experienced the whirlwind of taking in loads of sights and cities in a compressed time period.  However, they wanted to do something slower and trade some of those big sites for something more cultural and personalized.  Something less harried than Michael’s Europe trip and more like living in one hub and then maybe taking some spoke like side trips once established.  

Part of this is also about conservation for Michael and Ellen.  Spending thousands of dollars to fly somewhere and then hyper consume in a very limited time frame in order to do as much as possible seems ecologically inefficient even if one had the cash to do so.     

Ok, But What About the Money   

Michael and Ellen were both natural savers and modest spenders. After combining finances in 2005, their simple goal was to live on Ellen’s teacher salary and save Michael’s income from a small technology company (over 50% of their combined income). Together, they achieved financial independence in early 2014 at the age of 33 and stopped working full-time in 2016.

Michael also explains that they’re not really touching their savings to fund their lifestyle today. They are covering their household expenses today through ongoing consulting work that Michael enjoys doing as well as Airbnb income from renting out their Colorado home while they’re away.

Hatching the Plan

In 2016, Michael and Ellen welcomed their daughter Marcella into the world.  Son Leo now had a sister. Ellen stayed home with Marcella from day 1 and Michael stopped working full-time later that same year. With more time on their hands as a family and nothing really tethering them to one place, they started dreaming of a Latin American adventure as a family.

After all, Michael and Ellen met in Mexico on a Spanish language program so their family’s entire existence is owed to Mexico.  Michael spent much of his childhood in a diverse neighborhood in Texas. He appreciated the benefits of his upbringing, the broader perspective and the familiarity that it gave him in different environments.  Ellen had taught as a bilingual teacher but both her and Michael’s Spanish were a little rusty.  

What if they lived abroad?  The possibility of their kids being bilingual despite neither of them being native speakers was really exciting. 

Work Optional Working

When they first made the choice to go abroad, Michael wasn’t expecting to continue working while traveling.  After all, they had their financial independence and did not require income.  However after a month, no clear replacement was identified for some of the things that he had been doing at the company.  He also had a strong relationship with and had earned equity in it.  

Michael did almost no work over the first couple months that he was abroad on that first trip in Ecuador. Then he tried adding a few more hours.  He found that he was happier when incorporating some work into his week versus not working at all.  He has hit on a sweet spot where he currently continues to work as a part time consultant with flexible hours.  

Interestingly, his space away from the every day fires back at the office gives him a useful emotional perspective and objectivity when it comes to the business.  He is also able to take on some special projects that nobody has been able to put the time and energy into when their plates are full and perhaps 20-30 customer calls a day are coming their way that have to be dealt with. 

So What is it Like Living Abroad?

They have spent time at beaches, gazed on beautiful green mountains daily, and toured a volcano.  However, some of the more subtle benefits of this style of travelling seem to be deeper.  Michael shared a story about a coffee shop that they had stopped at when they first arrived in Cuenca, Ecuador.  Months later, they were sitting there again in the same shop and talking.  Can you believe that this is that same coffee shop we found on google maps on our first day and just popped into for some wifi?  Since then they had enjoyed dozens of conversations with the owner.  They had become friends. Everything about it felt different.  “It was almost like we were sitting in a different place than that first place we walked into.” 

On their blog uncommondream.com, Michael and Ellen write about what feels different about this uncommon life and what remains familiar.  They share the fun stuff and also some of the challenges of raising a family in a foreign country.  It looks adventurous and much like a dream.

Coming Home

I ask Michael if his sense of home has changed in any way after so much travel.  Without hesitating he replies that “home for me more than anything right now means my wife and my two kids…I mean I am sitting here in one of the more beautiful places I’ve ever lived and we could easily make a home here. This is home now. Cuenca was home, Costa Rica was home, wherever we are together feels like home at this point.”  He goes on to describe how they have an awareness that their time as this family unit as it is today is limited.  They work to be intentional with the time that they have together.  Once the kids’ friends start to occupy a bigger part of their world, the kids will change.  Their world will change. 

Next year, Leo will start kindergarten.  When this happens, Michael and Ellen picture getting into a more traditional rhythm back in Colorado.  They consider it their “forever home base” and may put a pause on the serial temporary homes abroad.  Neither of them have much desire to be home schooling and they are excited about what the kids can get out of the public school experience.  

However, summers could be an opportunity to visit friends they have made from these temporary homes abroad. After all, they plan to be in Colombia until May and only time will reveal what new friends they may make and what unknown coffee shops will be transformed into comfortable familiarity. I can hear the family in the background and we end our call. I may be just imagining it but I picture Ellen waiting with another cerveza in hand to watch the sunset this Friday evening while the kids play.

If you would like to follow along with Michael and Ellen and read more, check out uncommondream.com

This is #1 in a series where I talk with others living personalized and intentional Lives that look very different from the norm. Check out more conversations from living outside the maze here.