Our Freedom Years

Financial independence, early retirement & slow travel

  • 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
  • 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
  • Albania

    What it Takes to Survive the Balkan Wilderness

    October 10, 2021 /

    We always knew this would be the toughest challenge we’d ever faced. But nothing could have prepared us for this trek into the Western Balkans. 

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    How Much for a Month in Albania’s Biggest City?

    October 31, 2021
    Malta

    We Were Chasing the Adventure of a Lifetime – then Family Tragedy Hit

    August 4, 2024

    How Much for a Month of Luxury on the Albanian Riviera?

    December 12, 2021
  • Real Costs,  Serbia

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

    September 26, 2021 /

    We came to Novi Sad to get an authentic taste of life outside the big city; we wanted to spend our summer the same way that Serbians do.

    read more
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    You May Also Like

    7 European Destinations that Won’t Break the Bank

    January 2, 2022

    Living Large in Affordable Belgrade

    September 5, 2021

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

    April 18, 2021
  • Real Costs,  Serbia

    Living Large in Affordable Belgrade

    September 5, 2021 /

    Was Belgrade really the low-cost version of Europe that we were hoping for? Or did dining out every day cost more than expected? 

    read more
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    Can You Afford Europe’s Best Winter Sun Destination?

    March 14, 2021

    Cost of Living in Northern Greece

    October 15, 2020

    7 European Destinations that Won’t Break the Bank

    January 2, 2022
  • Retire Early

    Working Overseas Could be Your Ticket to Early Retirement

    August 29, 2021 /

    Today we have a life that we could have only dreamed of. But just a decade ago, we were a regular couple living in the same city where we were born.

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

    July 11, 2021

    Biggest Financial Mistakes When Trying to Retire Early

    September 3, 2020

    Mindset That Helped Us Achieve Financial Independence and Retire Early

    October 7, 2020
  • Real Costs,  Serbia,  Slow Travel

    Making Belgrade Our Home for the Month

    August 15, 2021 /

    We want to feel at home no matter where we are. Just because we’re traveling doesn’t mean that we want our lives to be in constant upheaval.

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    Wowed by the Low-Cost Lifestyle in Izmir, Turkey

    April 11, 2022

    We Came to Budapest to See if it’s Still a Low-Cost Destination

    July 30, 2023

    How Full-time Travel Keeps Our Costs Low

    October 15, 2020
  • Plan for Travel,  Travel Gear

    The Ultimate Packing Guide for a Trip Around the World

    July 25, 2021 /

    We’ve been slow traveling the world for almost two years. Through all the highs and lows of travel, we’ve managed to have the right stuff in our luggage.

    read more
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    The Truth About Full-Time Travel (After Three Years on the Road)

    October 16, 2022

    How To Get Rid Of Everything You Own To Travel

    March 20, 2020

    5 Crucial Lessons About Full-Time Travel That You Need to Know

    November 5, 2023
  • Retire Early

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

    July 11, 2021 /

    A few years ago we felt stuck. We were burnt out from our corporate jobs but didn’t know how to leave them.

    read more
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    Getting Ready To Retire Early And Travel

    December 6, 2020

    Money Worries And Retirement

    July 9, 2020

    Staying Motivated To Retire Early

    May 21, 2020
  • Canada,  Retire Early

    Could Country Living be the Perfect Lifestyle For Us?

    July 4, 2021 /

    We’ve always had a very romantic idea of what it would be like to live in the country. Well, for the past couple weeks, we finally had a chance to give it a try.

    read more
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    Why We Can’t Wait To Get Back To Europe

    June 27, 2021

    The 5 Worst Airbnbs We’ve Ever Stayed in (and How to Avoid Them) 

    February 27, 2022
    Climbing a mountain in Albania

    It’s Official: We’ve Given Up On Travel — For Now

    February 4, 2024
  • Canada

    Why We Can’t Wait To Get Back To Europe

    June 27, 2021 /

    We love traveling and we love getting great value for our dollar. Of course, we haven’t done much of either over the past few months.

    read more
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    You May Also Like

    How Much is the Cost Of Living In Toronto?

    July 2, 2020
    Climbing a mountain in Albania

    It’s Official: We’ve Given Up On Travel — For Now

    February 4, 2024

    The 5 Worst Airbnbs We’ve Ever Stayed in (and How to Avoid Them) 

    February 27, 2022
  • Plan for Travel

    The Truth About Life On The Road

    June 20, 2021 /

    When we originally imagined taking up travel as a full-time lifestyle, we thought it was going to be just like all the travel vlogs.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 0 Comments

    You May Also Like

    The Truth About Full-Time Travel (After Three Years on the Road)

    October 16, 2022

    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
 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

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.
We're back from our trip to the country of Georgia We're back from our trip to the country of Georgia, and what an adventure it was. This trip was exciting and interesting but also demanding in all kinds of unexpected ways. 

We're excited to share the entire journey with you, starting with a new video this Sunday. We're bringing you along for our first day in Tbilisi, including powering through some of the major sights, tucking into classic Georgian dishes, and a look at a truly spectacular Airbnb. 

See you then!
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