Our Freedom Years

Financial independence, early retirement & slow travel

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  • Destinations
    • Europe
      • Albania
      • Austria
      • Croatia
      • Czech Republic
      • Greece
      • Hungary
      • Italy
      • Malta
      • Poland
      • Portugal
      • Romania
      • Serbia
      • Slovakia
      • Spain
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    • Middle East
      • Turkey
    • North America
      • Canada
      • Mexico
    • South America
      • Colombia
      • Ecuador
      • Peru
    • Asia
      • Thailand
  • About Us
  • Welcome
  • Binge!
  • Popular
    • What’s New
    • Plan for Travel
    • Airbnb Living
    • Real Costs
    • Travel with Dogs
  • Destinations
    • Europe
      • Albania
      • Austria
      • Croatia
      • Czech Republic
      • Greece
      • Hungary
      • Italy
      • Malta
      • Poland
      • Portugal
      • Romania
      • Serbia
      • Slovakia
      • Spain
      • Ukraine
      • United Kingdom
    • Middle East
      • Turkey
    • North America
      • Canada
      • Mexico
    • South America
      • Colombia
      • Ecuador
      • Peru
    • Asia
      • Thailand
  • About Us
  • How To Budget For A Month In Florence
    Italy

    How To Budget For A Month In Florence

    May 7, 2020 /

    We’ve just spent a full month in Florence enjoying everything this city has to offer, from incredible architecture to amazing meals to beautiful Renaissance art.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 2 Comments

    You May Also Like

    Look What $2,500/Month Gets You in Europe

    April 18, 2021

    Adventure of a Lifetime Quickly Goes Off the Rails

    July 7, 2024

    Nomad Life Turned Upside Down When COVID-19 Hit

    June 29, 2020
  • How To Save More Than Half Of Your Income For Early Retirement
    Retire Early,  Save and Invest

    How To Save More Than Half Of Your Income For Early Retirement

    April 30, 2020 /

    We were never people who bothered to keep a budget or even track our spending. Money came in, money came out and, as long as we tucked something into our investments each month, we were happy with this situation.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 1 Comment

    You May Also Like

    Could Country Living be the Perfect Lifestyle For Us?

    July 4, 2021

    Why You Shouldn’t Retire Early

    September 10, 2020

    How We Can Afford to Travel Full Time (and It’s Not By Being Digital Nomads)

    July 11, 2021
  • How To Keep Fit While Traveling Long Term
    Slow Travel

    How To Keep Fit While Traveling Long Term

    April 14, 2020 /

    One of the downsides of being a full-time traveller is that it's very easy to fall out of a healthy routine.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 8 Comments

    You May Also Like

    Why You Shouldn’t Travel Full Time

    December 13, 2020

    Making Belgrade Our Home for the Month

    August 15, 2021

    Is It Safe to Travel During COVID-19?

    August 6, 2020
  • Long Term Travel with a Dog
    How-Tos,  Travel with Dogs

    Long-Term Travel With A Dog

    April 9, 2020 /

    It’s been six months since we first bundled our dogs into their carriers, hopped on a one-way flight from Singapore to Poland and began our life of full-time travel.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 8 Comments
  • How much to budget for one month in Istanbul Turkey
    Real Costs,  Turkey

    How Much To Budget For One Month In Istanbul

    April 6, 2020 /

    With the colder weather closing in, we decided to bid farewell to Ukraine and chase the sun to Turkey.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 0 Comments

    You May Also Like

    What You’ll Find in Puerto Escondido, Mexico’s Most Underrated Beach Town 

    June 19, 2022

    Is a Month in Seville Worth the Splurge?

    February 13, 2022
    How Much To Budget For Two-Week Trip To Lviv, Ukraine

    How Much To Budget For Two-Week Trip To Lviv, Ukraine

    April 4, 2020
  • How Much To Budget For Two-Week Trip To Lviv, Ukraine
    Real Costs,  Ukraine

    How Much To Budget For Two-Week Trip To Lviv, Ukraine

    April 4, 2020 /

    When we arrived in Lviv, Ukraine, we were ready to indulge a little.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 0 Comments

    You May Also Like

    Can a Month in Istanbul Really Be This Cheap?

    January 24, 2021

    What We Spent Living in Athens For One Month

    September 24, 2020

    Novi Sad Offered the Authentic Serbia That We’ve Been Dreaming of

    September 26, 2021
  • How Much Does It Cost To Stay In Krakow For Two Weeks
    Poland,  Real Costs

    How Much Does It Cost To Stay In Krakow For Two Weeks

    April 4, 2020 /

    Krakow was an ideal place to recharge after all the work of downsizing our possessions and leaving Singapore.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 0 Comments

    You May Also Like

    Adventure of a Lifetime Quickly Goes Off the Rails

    July 7, 2024
  • Lessons From Long-Term Travel
    Plan for Travel

    Lessons From Long-Term Travel

    April 2, 2020 /

    It’s been six months since we sold almost all our possessions, packed our bags and headed off with our two dogs for a life of adventure and full-time travel.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 5 Comments

    You May Also Like

    What Not to Pack for a Year of Travel

    May 23, 2021

    Is it Safe for Us to Travel the World as an LGBT Couple?

    June 13, 2021

    Do You Have to be a Minimalist to Travel Full Time?

    February 14, 2021
  • Lessons from Early Retirement
    Real Life in Retirement

    Lessons from Early Retirement

    March 26, 2020 /

    Six months ago, after many years of saving and investing, we were fortunate enough to reach our goal of financial independence.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 4 Comments

    You May Also Like

    What’s It Like To Retire In My 30s?

    November 22, 2020

    What Was Surprising About Our First Year Of Early Retirement

    September 17, 2020

    How to Plan Life After Retirement

    July 23, 2020
  • Plan for Travel

    How To Get Rid Of Everything You Own To Travel

    March 20, 2020 /

    We are officially homeless. We have to carry almost everything we own, including two large suitcases, two knapsacks and two dogs.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 7 Comments

    You May Also Like

    Our Bucket List for Slow Travel

    May 28, 2020

    Is it Safe for Us to Travel the World as an LGBT Couple?

    June 13, 2021

    The Ultimate Packing Guide for a Trip Around the World

    July 25, 2021
 Older Posts
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ourfreedomyears

Stephanie & Gillian
🌎 Traveled the world with our dogs
❤️ Now making a home in Ontario
⬇️ Watch our latest video

What makes a great winter base? For us: beautifu What makes a great winter base? 

For us: beautiful neighborhoods, easy hiking, warm days… and space to settle into a routine.

Did the Canary Islands just become our go-to winter destination?

Watch the full video — just click on the link in our profile.
For years, the Canary Islands sat on our “maybe so For years, the Canary Islands sat on our “maybe someday” list. They never quite beat out places like Mexico or Portugal when winter planning season rolled around. Now we’re wondering why we waited so long.

After a month in Gran Canaria, we’ve had some surprising takeaways about what really makes a place work as a winter base.

Our full YouTube video drops this Sunday. Stay tuned.
When we look back on 2025, it’s hard to believe ho When we look back on 2025, it’s hard to believe how much we packed into one year. 

🇲🇽 slow travel in Mexico

🥾 100+ miles on the Cotswold Way,

🐕 time inside a 400-dog shelter

🇬🇪 an unexpected detour through Georgia

…and a few big reflections on life after financial independence.

It was a year of travel, volunteering, and learning (again) that freedom looks different in every season.

We’ve wrapped it all up — plus a new podcast conversation with @OurFamilyInvests about what comes after the career ladder — in our January newsletter.

📬 Read the full story — just click on the link in our profile.
Living in Ontario’s snow belt means one thing: we Living in Ontario’s snow belt means one thing: we must escape winter. We’ve been hit with multiple snowstorms since the beginning of November and there are still months of snow and ice ahead of us. 

As much as we love seeing our little village blanketed in white, a few weeks of winter is enough to satisfy for the year. 

After a few misfires during our years of full-time travel (rainstorms in Florence, a chilly apartment in Malta, an unseasonable cold front in Izmir), we finally know exactly what we’re looking for in a winter base.

For the winter of 2026, our wishlist got very specific:

☀️ warm weather
🥗 great food
🏋🏽‍♀️ a decent gym
🐶 stylish Airbnbs that also happen to be pet-friendly
🌳 easy access to nature
✨ enough variety to keep us entertained for three full months

We compared many wildly different options—Taiwan, Argentina, and Cyprus to name just a few—and yes, there was a spreadsheet and a scoring system involved.

So where did we finally choose for winter 2026? We’re sharing the full story (and the big reveal) in this month’s newsletter.

👉 Read now by clicking on the link in our profile.
A final glimpse of our time in Georgia — medieval A final glimpse of our time in Georgia — medieval villages in Svaneti, misty mountain views, and a whirlwind wander through Kutaisi. 

Don’t miss the full adventure on YouTube, including our unforgettable stay at @baias_wine — complete with warm Georgian hospitality, a feast of traditional dishes, and more wine than we could drink in a month. 

Just click on the link in our profile to watch now.
There were plenty of misadventures to go round, bu There were plenty of misadventures to go round, but we still managed to have an incredible time on our first trip to the country of Georgia. Watch the full-length video by clicking on the link in our profile.
It's part two of our trip to Georgia, and this is It's part two of our trip to Georgia, and this is where all our carefully-made plans started to fall apart. 

The misadventures began when our easy 45-minute flight to the mountains was replaced with a 10-hour odyssey by train and mini-van. However, despite all ups and downs of the trip, we still managed to enjoy the highlights of western Georgia, including the medieval villages of the Svaneti region and a ridiculously huge feast at a winery.  

You can catch the full adventure in a new video going live this Sunday. See you then!
The final round of shots from our time in Tbilisi. The final round of shots from our time in Tbilisi. We just couldn't get enough of all those atmospheric mansions and apartment buildings as we wandered the neighbourhoods. 

If you haven't seen our video yet, it's a whirlwind sampler of Tbilisi highlights from our first day on the ground. You can check it out by clicking on the link in our profile.
It's our first full day in Tbilisi, and we're brin It's our first full day in Tbilisi, and we're bringing you along for the ride. Check out the full video on YouTube -- just click on the link in our profile to watch now.
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