Our Freedom Years

Financial independence, early retirement & slow travel

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    • Europe
      • Albania
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  • 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
  • Real Life in Retirement

    Five Things You Won’t Miss About Work Once You’ve Retired

    January 10, 2021 /

    It’s amazing to think that we’ve been retired for over a year and we still wake up happy every morning that we don’t need to go to the office.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 0 Comments

    You May Also Like

    Travel During COVID, Money, & Nomad Life Q&A

    March 21, 2021
    How To Manage Risk In Early Retirement

    How To Manage Risk In Early Retirement

    May 14, 2020

    How to Plan Life After Retirement

    July 23, 2020
  • Retire Early

    In Just 7 Easy Steps, You Can Retire Early & Travel

    January 3, 2021 /

    So many people dream of quitting work forever but have no idea how to get started.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 1 Comment

    You May Also Like

    Why You Shouldn’t Retire Early

    September 10, 2020

    How Much Do I Need To Retire Early And Travel?

    March 6, 2020

    Getting Ready To Retire Early And Travel

    December 6, 2020
  • Croatia

    How Affordable is a Week in Zagreb, Croatia?

    December 27, 2020 /

    One of the reasons we love slow travel is that it saves us money -- or so we think.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 1 Comment

    You May Also Like

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

    April 18, 2021

    A Month in Dubrovnik

    November 1, 2020

    7 European Destinations that Won’t Break the Bank

    January 2, 2022
  • Croatia

    Cost of Living In Split

    December 20, 2020 /

    We’ve been enjoying an almost perfect autumn here on the coast of Croatia.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 6 Comments

    You May Also Like

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

    April 18, 2021

    How Affordable is a Week in Zagreb, Croatia?

    December 27, 2020

    Adventure of a Lifetime Quickly Goes Off the Rails

    July 7, 2024
  • Slow Travel

    Why You Shouldn’t Travel Full Time

    December 13, 2020 /

    We spend a lot of time professing our love of full-time travel. And we do love it, except when we don't.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 2 Comments

    You May Also Like

    Making Belgrade Our Home for the Month

    August 15, 2021

    Summer Travel During COVID-19

    August 13, 2020
    How To Keep Fit While Traveling Long Term

    How To Keep Fit While Traveling Long Term

    April 14, 2020
  • Retire Early

    Getting Ready To Retire Early And Travel

    December 6, 2020 /

    It was only a few years ago that we used to be stressed-out expats working in Singapore.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 1 Comment

    You May Also Like

    How To Manage Risk In Early Retirement

    How To Manage Risk In Early Retirement

    May 14, 2020

    Biggest Financial Mistakes When Trying to Retire Early

    September 3, 2020

    Is This the Year You Can Finally Quit?

    April 25, 2021
  • Real Life in Retirement

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

    November 22, 2020 /

    With my 40th birthday approaching this month, it’s a good time to reflect on the experience of having retired from work in my 30s.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 5 Comments

    You May Also Like

    8 Reasons We Love Early Retirement

    November 8, 2020

    Five Things You Won’t Miss About Work Once You’ve Retired

    January 10, 2021

    You Don’t Need a Job to Have a Fulfilling Life

    January 23, 2021
  • Travel with Dogs

    Traveling the World With A Dog

    November 22, 2020 /

    It’s been over a year since we first bundled our dogs into their carriers, hopped on a flight to Poland and began our life of travel.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 4 Comments

    You May Also Like

    How to Prepare Your Dog for Flying In Cabin

    March 1, 2020

    How to Take an International Flight with a Dog in Cabin

    February 27, 2020

    The Ultimate Guide to Traveling with a Dog

    May 7, 2023
  • Travel Gear

    Travel Gear & Services for Life on the Road

    November 22, 2020 /

    When we started our life of full-time travel, we had no idea how difficult it would be to live out of a suitcase.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 16 Comments

    You May Also Like

    The Ultimate Packing Guide for a Trip Around the World

    July 25, 2021
  • Staying Healthy

    Staying Healthy on the Road

    November 15, 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 0 Comments
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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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