By: Paloma Ibañez

Edited by: Zachary Lawrence, who before reading this already knew it would be too long. If you agree, he wins. Don’t worry he doesn’t keep score but if I’m ahead, I do. 

Who knew you could find love on an app? But I guess that’s why we’re technically millennials. Zachary and I met and fell in love in Phoenix, AZ. Both in our early 30s we were content in our lives and really not expecting the whirlwind we found ourselves in. The first time Zachary came over my cat, Pond, who has never sat in my lap walked across the couch and laid right down in his. My dog River was also at his feet the moment she met him. It was their sign that they approved. 

Fast forward a bit and my pets were now our pets and we were cozy and moved into Zachary’s condo. Fast forward some more and we were asking each other what we are doing with our lives, what do we want most? In the summer of 2018 we were in our mid 30s and thinking about starting a family so the answer was, let’s go on a walkabout and really find out. There was no time like the present. We didn’t make it to Australia, but we both leapt and did something several people called crazy and left our jobs to travel. 

Zachary had been at the same company for 10 years doing research and development. A battery that runs on air! (You’ll have to ask him about it!) I was in my dream role, director of client services and a dream company, Javelina. (I miss you all!) But I always dreamed of traveling like my adventurer of a mom and Zachary always says yes to an adventure. After 6 months of saving we quit and let go of security and bought a one way ticket to south east Asia with only the first week planned. It would be all adventure after that. 

And it was! In January 2019 we launched, and had several days of a lay over in Hong Kong. (We have the BEST travel agent, $388 one way ticket LAX->HKK->BKK on an excellent airline!) Then we were off to Thailand (also a good story about the benefit auction item that got us there), we got very warm (HOT!) after a month and a half so flew to Europe. But missed the beaches as soon as we landed in snowy Oslo (also we only packed for warm weather). We didn’t eat enough dessert in France. And España oh España your pinchos and vino, te extraño. Zachary’s parents joined us for a week and a half in Europe for his dads birthday. It was his dads’s first time leaving North America! His mom had been to Europe in her early 20s and it was so great to go to places she’d never been but always wanted to see. We’ve already traveled together again during the first week of July, and dreaming of more.

Budget travel doesn’t go as far in Europe so our return flight was on the wallet friendly Norwegian airlines though very unfriendly to Zachary’s 6’4” frame. ($219 for Madrid to LAX – I really want more people to find a way to see the world if their heart desires that’s why I include the prices). 

We were home in May. The plan was to regroup, find jobs, rent the condo long term (traveling nurses were in our home while we were away) then move to Tucson in July. Best laid plans… we found renters who wanted to move in in June. Zachary got a job at ANOTHER cutting edge battery tech company in Tucson. 

Everything continues to fall into place as I deal with not one but two failing AC units. First at my moms house in Tucson where we are living while we search for our dream home (thanks mom!!!) and then at our condo. I’m now so proficient in AC units that I’ve added it to my resume. I’m freelancing for another storytelling company, shout out Bar Flies! And will be looking for something in Tucson in the fall. 

What we learned on our adventure

1. We always want to travel, camping and exploring unknown corners of our great state counts.

2. We will go back to España. 

3. We do want to start a family however that works out. 

4. And where you come in, we want to do that in Tucson, AZ. Back to my hometown, remember Zachary always says yes to an adventure. Though he keeps mentioning his Phoenix roots and love for ASU. But don’t worry, I claim UA (I was cheering in 1994 as loud as any) and I’m an NAU grad. 

This is Zachary’s second home and my first time buying. We’re approaching this as our forever home. Unless of course we win the lottery then I also want to buy a home in España. We’re going to be landlords, unless anything else breaks them I’m out. (Just kidding, Zachary!)

If we submit an offer on your place it’s because we see ourselves hanging our dart board outside somewhere for several weekly challenges for silly bets. Who’s picking what to cook is a regular. 

We see growing things, like a peach and grapefruit tree, mint and rosemary. There’s a butterfly and hummingbird garden to nurture. (I grew up in the house at the Plants for the Southwest nursery, so I want one of everything). 

It’s where River’s happy wiggly dog butt will be waiting for us to come home every day. It’s where Pond will chase rolled up plastic bags and groom River. It’s really the cutest!  

It’s where we’ll cook really good meals and some not so great ones, perfect creme brûlée and French macaroons. Where we will have a little wine fridge, because red wine really does taste better around 55° and where we’ll be creative and take Hemingway’s advice. It’s where we will connect with family and where new friends become family. Both our parents want space for long visits – ideally a guest space (slash storage space for my mom when she retires (she wants to travel and rent her home).

And really the most exciting thing it’s where we’ll raise and grow our family. 

Zachary calls himself a happy guy and he really is, he’s the most even keeled and genuinely kind and happy man, person, I know. He’s handy and determined (slash stubborn). One time his car seat got stuck and wouldn’t slide back, the electronic button broke. I had to borrow his car for work Saturday morning because my truck was loaded up with our camping gear to leave as soon as I was done. Well we didn’t go camping that weekend because he wanted to fix his seat. I promise he will take care of your house. He doesn’t like anything to be unfinished or not in working order. Don’t worry we had a pool weekend instead, I think he picked what to make for lunch that day too. 

Pond and River are both very respectful and well behaved creatures, though they shed very much. Sorry, we’ve tried everything, my mom swears vacuuming River directly works better but there’s still always A LOT of hair. 

Oh, and I’m alright! I tell jokes that need to be explained. Community and civic engagement are integral to my being. I like long walks at sunset but even more just before sunrise. 

So all that to say, please pick us. 

And let us know if you have any questions. 

This is part, don’t forget what happened so write it all down and part for everyone who said you wish you could do this, here’s some of our tips and tricks so you can too.

Flights

We got a steal of a deal plane ticket, from my mom’s friend Mai. She’s a travel agent in Tucson and would love to help you plan your next trip. She’s from Taiwan, of Vietnamese heritage and she has a lot of languages under her belt to help get you the best deal. Let me know if you want her information!

• $338 plane ticket Hong Kong Airlines
• $50 agent fee
• 16 hours
• Free 3 night layover so we could see an extra country with no additional flight cost
• 2 delicious meals and lots of snacks, Hollywood new releases, games, all included in ticket
• Hospitality and customer service unlike what we are accustomed too. The young woman checking us in for our flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok looked at Zachary up and down a few times and tore up our boarding tickets and gave us the emergency exit seats.

We flew from LA to Hong Kong. And took a bus from Phoenix to LA to save money. Not glamorous and added quite a chunk of time to an already long travel day(s). But we spent $40 on two Flix Bus tickets plus $13 for an Uber to the airport instead of $160 to fly PHX –> LAX, saving – or adding an extra 2-4 days to our trip, depending how hungry we are those days.

Resources

I love the book How to travel the world on $50 a day. It’s an easy and empowering read.

Travelfish – great blog!! No dates on posts so somethings may be out of date, they said a bus we took at 4:50 stopped running at 4:00, we crossed our fingers and it all worked out. Well logic really, if a train arrives and your station is the pit stop to the city all the tourists want to visit, there’s going to be a bus because who wants to miss good business.

Kathmandu and Beyond also a great blog!

Credit Cards

Matt’s travel book gave tips and tricks on how to look for lodging to using credit cards to your advantage. Big preachy point is to get away from living on credit (another goal all together) but also putting ordinary bills you pay every month on a credit card and then paying your credit card in full each month. I racked up more than 1,500 miles just doing that for 4 months.

Savings & Checking Accounts

Get a money market account for any savings you have – Discover Card has the best one as of 2019 – I researched a lot of sites so I’m 100% on this one. There’s no minimum deposit amount and no monthly fee, just your money working for you at 2%. I’ve set it up so all my savings are in this account with an auto deposit into my Chase checking account which is auto paying my credit card bill which is auto paying my eye insurance, car insurance, etc. insurance bills.

There’s also useful tips about which checking accounts don’t charge atm fees (an easy way to spend money with no value add to you). Zach has Ally Bank which refunds up to $10 a month in atm fees. Thailand that goes fast because every atm charges $6 so we take out what we need for an extended period. Or this is where you use cash to exchange. Cambodia also uses the dollar so be sure to save some for there! In Hong Kong the atm fee was only a $1 so it made more sense to withdraw from the atm because of the fee but also because Ally bank doesn’t charge a high exchange fee.

Chase is not a good foreign travel account but HSBC and IBC are for South East Asia.

I opened a Chase checking account because they offered a $300 promotion – open a new checking account and have direct deposit and they give you free money. US Bank also has offers like that. Get your free money!

Headspace

Still going on about the book… most importantly to me it talked about the American mindset and travel. I continue to realize how much negative speak I have in my head. I can’t do that, I don’t have a job where I can take more than 2 weeks at a time. All the extra work before and after almost makes it not worth it.

I know what it’s like to get over that mental hurdle. I don’t mind going all preachy on this one because I really do believe in positive energy, speaking it into existence, what was that craze… THE SECRET. Any of us who have a US address are in a place of privilege. If you have the desire to travel I promise you there’s a way. It may not be exactly what Zach and I are doing, but you are able to do it on terms that make you proud and happy.

About that job, have you asked? Start there. It may not easily fall into your lap. I saved for a while and I’m lucky because my boss was in my corner. I quit a career job and was able to work retail to make ends meet for several months while planning this trip. I’m lucky, blessed, privileged, but I also made this happen.

Savings Mentality

This may get preachy too. I’ve carried credit card debt – and I still do starting from my DC days and habits picked up then. Getting rid of debt was a big focus of mine. For over a year now I haven’t carried a new monthly balance over and I keep moving my debt around – about $12,000 still – using 0% balance transfer offers. When I didn’t get an offer I contacted my local credit union and they gave me one.

I never called myself poor growing up but well, single mom, minimum wage work, etc etc. So I know the feeling all too well of ‘I’ll never afford that, that’s out of my league.’ I just worked minimum wage for 3.5 months with no dependents. I can’t imagine how single parents do it, thank you mom.

We can do it because of spirit and resourcefulness. Have you read Michelle Obama’s book? She learned about a school trip to Paris and didn’t tell her parents, they found out from another kid’s mom and told her those aren’t her decisions to make – they figure out the money. Well if you have kids figure out how to show them the world and together – it doesn’t have to be Paris. Go to London Bridge in Arizona. Travel shows us so much about other people and most importantly about ourselves. Being uncomfortable is a corner stone of growth. And if you don’t have dependents GET OUT THERE NOW! If you have furry dependents and some scales, I promise no matter where you are I will take care of them while you travel.

Do you have a monthly budget? Something like 70% of us don’t. If you’re not at least updating it weekly you don’t budget. And I know why, you don’t want to know, ignorance is bliss. Start adding things up. I swear you will be uncomfortable and cringe and say oh god, but do it. Look at your spending for what it is. I started to look at every little thing in terms of days traveling. I could have Starbucks or buy this cut thing at MADE with my employee discount or… I could save it. And once I started to save it got easier and easier to.

I’m tracking every bhat we’re spending, because I am – and it helps me remember what we did and saw.

Day 11 Spending

All costs are for both of us

• Airbnb Lodging $14
• Breakfast $0.62
• Bus to Old Sukhothai $1.90
• Entrance to UN UNESCO World Heritage Site $6.25 (13th century ruins – amazing!)
• Fee to ride bikes in the site $0.62
• Bike rental $1.90
• Lunch, 2 smoothies and 2 dishes $11 (tourist trap)
• Tea and Italian soda break $2
• Bus ride back to New Sukhothai $1.90
• New 3 gallon water jug to refill H2O bottles $1.25
• Fresh delicious papaya $0.62
• Dinner 4 dishes $3.90 (at the best street food stall yet)
• Best delicious mango passion fruit smoothie $1.6
• TOTAL = $48.66

That’s 2 people indulging – if we had to spend less we absolutely could.

Another big boost to my travel fund was 3 years of tax returns. I didn’t touch them (I also submitted them all at once). It’s so easy to think about what you’re going to spend your return on when you get it in the spring. But saving it either for a rainy day or something exciting pays off (or paying of debt). Saving my returns for travel fueled my saving mentality.

Lodging

Okay what else… booking lodging online gets you special deals. We didn’t use Mai for any lodging but she could help you with all that too.

• Red Planet is a Hotel chain in Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Philippines. They are awesome, become a member (no fee) and always get 10% of going rate, book 21 days in advance for even cheaper rates and stay with them during your birthday month for 25% off! They always have promotions too. Thanks Zelda for the recommendation!!
• Always book online if you using your credit card with no foreign transaction fees (really most credit cards now)
• South East Asia uses booking.com. Quiet a few places you’ll find on Airbnb are on here for cheaper
• If you think you’ll be someplace for say a week book 2 nights at a place online but then wander around other areas – there are still many places that aren’t online. A list we found is coming soon. I still need to type it up.
• Guest houses is the European fancy version of hostels. Find these! A private room in a Chiang Mai hostel was $53 a double room in a guest house $27 they’re comprable, maybe a bit older crowd but you get the shared common area where you can swap stories and next designation recommendations.

Food section coming soon-ish

That’s all for now – I’ll keep adding to this as we learn.

Stated on January 30th

Zach’s actually gained weight for the first time in his life.

My shorts are a little lose.

Zach says, “I guess I haven’t been active.”

I haven’t walked this much since, ever.

Well, in a very long time.

We’re 11ish days into this adventure and the phrase your body is a temple is a thing I’m feeling in a whole new way.

My swollen ankles and sore knees are catching up with me. Thankfully we biked around old Sukhothai today. And I know where we’re having dinner, just 5 blocks away.

The aches and blister are worth it, we’re seeing really cool places and getting to have really good conversations, on the passage of time, culture, our future, the whys of the world, Buddha, Buddhism, suffering, silly humans, what the world will look like in 600 years, how hungry we are, will we find good food, ranking our food, where’s the bathroom, who we are and who we can be.

Thinking about all the twists and turns my feet have taken me and excited for the many paths our feet will take.

We’re wearing Hokas the best shoe a non-shoe liking person could wear. Even people who don’t mind wearing close toed shoes, or even like them, these are the best. Little clouds cupping your feet. They come in wide! Surgeons and nurses trust them (the guy at REI said so. I got mine and broke them in (which isn’t a thing you just wear them and they’re perfect) at Macy’s. I kept pitching them to Zach. He scoffed. Then two months later he got his. #victorious

PS we are not paid by Hoka, but if you’d like pay me, I’m open to it #Hoka #timetofly