I am almost ready.  In less than a month I’ll walk away from my seemingly successful career and head out for an early retirement abroad, by myself.  I’m ‘retiring early.’  I’m calling it retirement with a little ‘r’ – I’ll eventually find something else to do; but I have no idea what.  I’m only 50, although ‘only’ doesn’t sound right to me.  I’m older than I’ve ever been!  Being older than I’ve ever been, a half-century even, is a big part of why I’m doing this.  My window of opportunity could start to close soon for solo travel adventures like this. (sorry to those of you over 50 reading this!)  Right now, I’m healthy, active, fit, and still full of curiosity about the big world out there.  I also have a nagging notion that we’re ‘doing it wrong’ here in the US.  Life, that is.  We kinda suck at it.  When we all hit the pause button on our frantic lives during COVID, I, like so many others, noticed that our norms are silly.  I realized how small and insignificant we are in the big scheme of things.  And so much of the shit we fret over is a joke.  I also recognized how fleeting our time really is.  Life is short and we waste so much of it working our asses off to accumulate a bunch of shit we don’t need that quickly becomes shit that isn’t good enough compared to even newer, shinier shit.  Most people got past that enlightened state. Life went back to normal, and they jumped right back on that hamster wheel.  But I have been reluctant.  My priorities changed.  I gained a perspective that I can’t reverse. 

So, I’m bailing and putting this theory to test.  Although I really wanted to jump ship back in 2021, I stopped myself.  I wasn’t ready.  I wasn’t ready emotionally.  And I really wasn’t ready financially.  If I was actually going to do this (and maintain it), I’d have to prepare and do it right.  I had to change the way I was living.  So I’ve spent the past three years preparing – preparing so that I can enjoy a truly spontaneous retirement life.  I’ve been a ‘prepper’ of a different sort.  Now I’m ready.  Very soon, I’ll pack my very small car with a few belongings, my two cats, and head south of the border. 

Walking Away

I’m a mechanical engineer.  I suppose I’ll always be an engineer; I just won’t be getting paid for it, anymore.  But I’ll still annoy my friends by explaining to them how things really work!  I’ve spent the past twenty years at the same company.  It’s a big part of my identity.  Although leaving a steady paycheck is nerve-wracking, the qualitative uncertainty is really about who I’ll be when I’m not the person I am at work.  It sounds silly, I know.  But it will be weird not to lean on my job as the definition of who I am.  I’m nervous, but actually looking forward to it.  I’ve been taking things too serious for too long (my job was quite stressful and I can be a bit intense anyhow).  I’m ready for some light-heartedness in my day-to-day life.  We don’t do that where I work. 

Jumping out of a Perfectly Good Airplane

A lot of people ask why leave.  Why quit a good job to ‘do nothing’?  I don’t usually say, “because I think we’re doing it wrong”.  I say things like, “I’m looking for an adventure”; “I’ve always wanted to try living outside the United States”; “I want to learn another language in an immersive environment”.  All those things are true.  What’s also true is that life has gotten ridiculously expensive here, yet the quality seems to be on the decline, and the political environment is untenable.  Why does my doctor charge about $1000 for an office visit, yet I get to spend about 12 minutes with her?  Why can’t I have a decent meal in an average sit-down for less than $50, all said and done?  My old cat was recently dehydrated and constipated.  The vet charged me $800 for some fluids, an enema, and bloodwork.  And again, she also spent about 12 minutes in the little exam room.  What the fuck?  So there’s that.  I’m not necessarily so pissed that things are more expensive.  I make pretty good money and can afford life.  But we’re not getting the appropriate value for what we’re spending.  Then there’s the political shit-show that that is inescapable.  I won’t delve into my political views.  But, although the absurd political environment in the US isn’t the reason I’m leaving, it sure as hell makes it easier!!

Those are a few reasons that are pushing me to go.  But there a plenty of reasons pulling me as well.  I’m really excited about the challenges that will come with learning new cultural norms; learning a new language; getting out of my comfort zone.  I have moved around a lot in my life, but just bouncing around the US.  I like the sense of adventure that comes with getting started in a new place – the unfamiliarity.  Now I’m taking that to a new level.  I’ve decided to lean into my weird tendency to pull up stakes and go.  But this time, I won’t have a semi-truck load of crap meeting me at the destination.  It’s going to be awesome!

Prepping

This move has been three years in the making.  Shit, maybe it’s been 50!  I guess my whole life has been preparing me for this – I have gotten really good at leaving; I’m kind of a pro.  But aside from getting emotionally ready – there were a lot of administrative and logistical steps to take in preparation of a spontaneous retirement.  Luckily, I discovered the FIRE movement (financial independence, retire early) during this time of self-evaluation.  I devoured blogs, books, and any other media I could find on the topic.  I subscribed to Mr. Money Mustache’s blog, the Choose FI podcast, and read books like The Simple Path to Wealth, and Your Money or Your Life, among dozens of other great resources. I realized that the first big change had to be about how I spend my money – or rather, to stop spending all the money I earned.  I’ve always been pretty good about putting money in my 401K.  But I considered everything else an allowance that got spent.  And oh how I loved to upgrade!  All of my (many) moves were into bigger, nicer, more expensive houses than the previous.  And of course, my car had to get upgraded every few years, too.  Then there was all the shit that was required to fill a three-bedroom house (for one person).  I spent my money like I was allergic to it. 

But since late 2020, I turned all that upside down.  I traded in my luxury SUV for a very small, economical, pragmatic little crossover that is reliable and gets great mileage.  I downsized my house (twice) eventually getting from a 2300 square foot house (with four bathrooms – WTF, I have one ass!) to a little 670 square foot cabin (with one toilet).  I sold, donated, and just gave away truckloads of STUFF.  So much stuff.  It just kept oozing out of closets and spare rooms.  But eventually, I got down to just the necessities.  I am almost a minimalist now.  I have one more iteration of this process to get to a couple suitcases-worth of ‘essential’ stuff. 

Over this period of time, I also started tracking every penny that I spent.  Holy shit.  I had no idea.  I thought had a ‘budget’.  It only considered the true overhead of housing, utilities, insurance, car, and a swag at what groceries might run; but it was WAY OFF from the reality of the situation.  I was pissing away so much money on random big and little crap. The only reason I ever even ran these numbers was to see how much MORE I could afford to buy.  Well, once I started writing down everything I spent, I realized how I was accumulating debt, even though I had a good income.  Tracking my spending was awful, but very necessary (and now I do it without cringing at the end of every month).  I began considering the real value of every purchase.  “How many hours would you have to work for this – fill in the blank bullshit item…?”  With this discovery, I was able to start diverting money to pay off debt.  And as I downsized homes and car, I accelerated that process.  There was absolutely no reason for me to still be paying an eighteen-year-old student loan.  But I was.  I finally got there, though.  After two years of focus and discipline, all the debt was gone, except a small mortgage.  Then I focused on saving and investing – as much as possible!  I am now at a point that I can buy my time back.  I have reached financial independence. That term means something different to everyone. But for me, it means I can leave a toxic work environment to take some time to explore and decide what’s next. Like I mentioned before, ‘retirement with a little r’.

Along with getting my financial house in order, I had to figure out where to go when I go!  The world is HUGE.  I changed my mind so many times.  I researched, took exploratory trips, watched thousands of YouTube videos made by people who were already on their big adventure.  But then it finally occurred to me – Just Go.  I move so damned much, I know that wherever I go is not where I’ll stay.  So why not make the initial launch a little easier?  Pick a place that’s cool, and just get there.  So, we (me and las gatas) are headed down into Baja California Sur.  (I’ll have so much more on that in later posts.) 

Finally, I wanted to prepare my family and friends.  And by, ‘prepare’, I mean convince them that I was serious, and not crazy.  This has not been easy.  Some people are excited for me and tell me they wish they could do the same thing (turns out, they can, they just don’t know it).  But there have been a few that just don’t get it.  Their view of me has changed now.  Or those who say it’s crazy, stupid, dangerous.  I can’t change their mind.  I’ve stopped trying.  I spent several months trying to explain or justify this decision.  I feel like I was pretty patient and accommodating with all their questions.  But now I’m done.  I’m going.  Deal with it or don’t.  I’ll send cool pictures.

Vagablonding

So now what?  No solid plans. I have an Airbnb booked for my first month.  While I’m there, I’ll look for a 12-month rental.  For the first year, I’ll just chill and let life unfold.  This will be the first time in more than 30 years that I haven’t had a five or ten-year plan, something I’m strategically working towards.  My only real plan for year one is to work on my Spanish (I like talking to people) and spend a lot of time in the ocean.  After a year, or more, or less, whatever, I’ll consider what’s next.  Maybe I’ll keep moving south farther into Mexico; maybe I’ll find another spot along the Baja peninsula, maybe South America; maybe I’ll stay where I am.  It’s all unknown.  For the foreseeable future, I can go wherever I want and do whatever I want (if it fits in the budget, of course).  I’ll just be a vagablonde.  I love the uncertainty of it all.

Do you dream about your big adventure?  Where would you go if you could go anywhere?  What would you do if you could do anything?  Would you take the leap?

Leave a comment and let me know. If you’re curious how this will all go and want more information about how I got here, check back in.

This is the first post on this blog. Soon I’ll have free time to share my experiences along this journey (and to play with this website!)