Managing Money and Banking While Traveling Long-Term Internationally
Managing money and banking while traveling internationally was one of our biggest initial concerns, and something we knew we had to get right. Many anxious thoughts entered my mind surrounding failed payment transactions, disabled accounts, or the inability to access our financial tools. That lead me to research the best tools and systems we could
January International Travel FIRE Budget
The month of January was split between Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam (22 days) and Chiang Mai Thailand (9 days). This was anticipated to be one of the cheapest stretches of the year with these locations known for their lower cost of living, and no long flights to travel between them. However, we managed to
Manila Philippines Expat Family Budget
After living in Manila for about a month, we have real world numbers showing the cost to live there full time. This Manila Philippines expat family budget is based on our family of four, and I will cover both renting and buying scenarios. In some past posts in this series I have avoided the buy
December International Travel FIRE Budget
The month of December saw us staying largely in Manila Philippines. This location was shaping up to be a massive cost savings in our international travel FIRE budget. It really had everything going for it; extremely cheap lodging, transportation, and food. When we tallied the final numbers however, the savings were meager and the discomfort
Guam Travel Reflections
Guam is the one destination on our year of travel that was truly a vacation-like destination. The plan to go to Guam started brewing way back around 2018 and was the idea that eventually grew into the full gap year plan. The Guam vacation and the gap year were opposing forces however. Our international gap
Diarrhea In Manila Philippines – This Place Sucks
This collection of travel logs spans the week of 12/1 – 12/7, and involves great things like bad food leading to Diarrhea in our shoe sized apartment in Manila Philippines (day 157). We’re trying to see the redeeming qualities of this city, but it’s not going well. This week was full of struggles like issues
Guam Expat Family Budget: The Cost Of Living In Paradise
My family of four lived in Guam for a total of 45 days recently, and during that time we closely tracked our spending to determine what an expat family budget would look like. Guam is a special destination because my parents were stationed there in the Air Force. It’s a location that has fascinated me
November International Travel FIRE Budget
For the month of November international travel FIRE budget, we were almost entirely in Guam. Only the final three days of the month were not in Guam. Those final three days were in Manila Philippines which is a sharp drop in spending compared to Guam. This budget shares similarities with the October budget in that
October International Travel FIRE Budget
October was a chaotic month with two extremely long haul flights (first, second), round-tripping to Denver from Guam twice to pick up and drop off my mom. In all of that planning, traveling, and spending time with my mom, I completely forgot to document the October international travel FIRE budget. The month of October was
Manila Philippines Arrival – Our Experience And Tips
We woke up very early today to get ready for our flight from Guam to Manila. Our alarms were set for 2am, but both JC and I woke up at 1am. Facing the day on three hours of sleep was not ideal. The world is a harsh place when you haven’t slept much, and seeing
Traveling Toward Fire
A Premature FI Experiment
