That's the question one slightly nerdy (but extremely charming) blogger asked of his adventurous (but slightly less nerdy) wife. They both enjoyed travel, and they were pretty good at saving, but retirement (even early retirement) still felt a long way off.
And so, the nerdy, charming (and very industrious) blogger began to play a game. It was called "If We Ran Away From Home Today, Where Could We Live?" The charming, industrious, nerdy blogger was bad at naming things.
On and on, the charming, industrious, nerdy, bad-at-naming-things blogger played, proposing far-off places like Kuala Lumpur, Medellín, and Braga with a somewhat worrysome glint in his eye (to the amusement of his adventurous and patient wife). The simulations became more and more realistic, incorporating real cost of living information for the many beautiful places in the world, and the budgets began to seem quite plausible. They included things like shelter, food, entertainment, and even taking his adventurous, patient (but not particularly culinarily talented) wife to the occasional dinner out.
A funny thing happened then. People began to read the articles the charming, industrious, nerdy, bad-at-naming-things, slightly-unconventional blogger wrote about retiring abroad. They too had dreams of living, studying, or retiring in exotic and wonderful locations. They wanted more information, about more cities, and the blogger worked very hard to research and share more and more places with all of the kind readers.
Still, time passed, and as such things often do, prices began to change. What was once a timely and accurate article suddenly seemed unrealistic, and people began to complain that the blogger had no business claiming that retiring abroad was even possible. That set the charming, industrious, nerdy, bad-at-naming-things, slightly-unconventional blogger to work, for he was famously stubborn.
Was it possible to show people their cost of living for all of the best places around the world, with prices that were current, and budgets that were built to their own specifications and lifestyle? Could a tool be built that would allow others to learn, explore, and discover new places to visit and play, and not just for the paltry few weeks that their corporate overlords would grant them? Could he help them to start on their own path to adventure?
Some months later, the charming, industrious, nerdy, bad-at-naming-things, slightly-unconventional-yet-stubborn and now extremely exhausted blogger had completed his labor of love. Soon, surely, others would come and begin to tinker with, poke, prod at, and break the mighty thing. He would fix it, he would improve it, and he would help them to kindle the spark of adventure in their own hearts. He knew that if they would only look, they would see it too.
The Earth Awaits.
