Travel and Vacation

A Travel Nightmare: Free Airport Lounge Access to the Rescue!

A Travel Nightmare: Free Airport Lounge Access to the Rescue!

6 Comments / Travel and Vacation, Here's Why I'm Liking..., Life in Early Retirement, Spending / /

We had a travel fiasco last summer on our way back from a month-long stay in Boquete, Panama. One small element of bad weather caused a delay that turned everything into an overnight mess. Exhausted, both physically and mentally, we ended up finding some sort of redemption the next morning thanks to a free credit card perk we have… airport lounge access. If you’re not aware of how nice airport lounge access can be when traveling, you’re missing out. But […]

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Our RV Trip Was Quickly Becoming a Florida Flop… Until We Shifted Gears

Our RV Trip Was Quickly Becoming a Florida Flop… Until We Shifted Gears

20 Comments / Road Trip, Life in Early Retirement, Travel and Vacation / /

“Head to Florida for the winter during your RV trip”, they said. “You can enjoy the sunshine and be like snowbirds! It’ll be wonderful!” Yeah, well, guess what – we disagree. Making Florida part of our RV trip was quickly becoming a source of frustration for all of us. And when you have three people in a small 22′ RV travel trailer, that frustration can easily become a nightmare. Lisa, Faith, and I were at that point and everyone was

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Our 9-Month RV Adventure: The 55+ Essential Items We Bought for the Road

Our 9-Month RV Adventure: The 55+ Essential Items We Bought for the Road

8 Comments / Road Trip, Life in Early Retirement, Product and Service Reviews, Spending, Travel and Vacation / /

It’s crazy to think that we’re already 4 months into our 9-month RV adventure around the country. We completed our first loop (of 3 planned) and went from Ohio to Texas and back. We’re now on loop 2 as we head toward the south for a couple of months and then make our way up the east coast when we smell spring getting near. Then we’ll be making a massive trip out west for loop 3 throughout the spring and

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Wellness, Wealth, and Wanderlust: Paving the Way for 2024

Wellness, Wealth, and Wanderlust: Paving the Way for 2024

18 Comments / Life in Early Retirement, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Health and Fitness, Investments, Kids, Motivation, Road Trip, Spending, Travel and Vacation / /

In the blink of an eye, 2023 has come and gone. Whether you had a great year or not, it’s time to decide if you’re going to make 2024 a better one! Our 2023 was something truly different and not anything I would have imagined. Our wanderlust took over and we ended up buying an RV, letting the lease lapse on our apartment, putting our stuff in storage, and set off to travel the country. We’ve been learning the RV

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The Ups and Downs of RV Life: 45 Days in Our Tiny Home

The Ups and Downs of RV Life: 45 Days in Our Tiny Home

20 Comments / Travel and Vacation, Life in Early Retirement, Road Trip / /

“Move out of your apartment and enjoy the RV life,” they said… “It’ll be fun!” Ok, that’s only sort of what happened. We enjoyed our past couple of monster road trips (2020 and 2022) so much that it became the catalyst for us letting our apartment lease lapse, putting our stuff in storage, buying an RV, and taking on the RV life. It was also one solution to dodging another Ohio Winter! I will say though that full-time RV life

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The Calyx Institute: Our Secret to Inexpensive, Unlimited, Unthrottled Internet on the Road

The Calyx Institute: Our Secret to Inexpensive, Unlimited, Unthrottled Internet on the Road

23 Comments / Travel and Vacation, Here's Why I'm Liking..., Life in Early Retirement, Product and Service Reviews, Road Trip / /

Well, after almost a month of living in our new trailer at two local campgrounds to get the hang of things, we’re finally off and running. We’ve started our road trip around the country with an anticipation of finishing in early summer next year! I think we did a good job learning as much as we could beforehand because things have gone relatively smoothly thus far. Sure, there have been some minor things like me getting sprayed down from water

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Risk and Reward: Overcoming the Doubt Can Transform Your Life

Risk and Reward: Overcoming the Doubt Can Transform Your Life

8 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Life in Early Retirement, Motivation, Self-Employment, Travel and Vacation / /

When I was younger, weighing the risk and reward in a decision was a lot easier. In your youth, you’ve got time on your side and most of the chances you take aren’t going to make or break you. If you’re in your younger years, remember that. Don’t be afraid to take calculated risks that can change your life for the better. As time marches on though, the choice between risk and reward can sometimes be a lot tougher. When

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Your Money, Your Choices: Why Personal Finance Is Deeply Personal

Your Money, Your Choices: Why Personal Finance Is Deeply Personal

12 Comments / Motivation, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), General Thoughts, Investments, Saving, Spending, Taxes and Financial Planning, Travel and Vacation / /

Personal finance is such an interesting facet of life. It’s a part of every one of our lives whether we like it or not and most of us think we know what’s best for ourselves… and everyone else. But the reality is that while we can learn as much as we want about the subject, we really should only focus on what’s best for ourselves. Why is that? It’s because, funny enough, personal finance truly is personal. You might have

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RV Boondocking: Spending a Little Money on 3 Changes Now to Reap Huge Savings and Enjoy a Better Trip Later

RV Boondocking: Spending a Little Money on 3 Changes Now to Reap Huge Savings and Enjoy a Better Trip Later

4 Comments / Travel and Vacation, Life in Early Retirement, Road Trip, Spending / /

This past spring, Lisa and I bought an RV travel trailer – a 2022 Jayco Jay Flight SLX 7 184BS to be more exact. We’ve never owned an RV and we didn’t know much about them. All we knew was that our family of three had two incredible month-long road trips in our Honda Pilot in 2020 and in 2022. So why not try something bigger just because we can? That led us to planning a 9-month road trip, buying

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Adventure Planning: I’ve Made This Mistake Twice

Adventure Planning: I’ve Made This Mistake Twice

8 Comments / Travel and Vacation, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Life in Early Retirement, Road Trip / /

You might have noticed that I’ve been MIA on this blog for a few weeks now… that’s starting to become a little common lately. I’ve wanted to focus on all sorts of different things, like learning to code in Kotlin for Android and just trying to be in the “now” a little more. In the midst of things, we took a month-long trip back to Boquete, Panama from late June until late July. I tried to focus more on being

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