Our Freedom Years

Financial independence, early retirement & slow travel

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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
  • Climbing a mountain in Albania
    Canada,  What's New

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

    February 4, 2024 /

    If you caught our YouTube livestream or Instagram updates, you’ll know that the rumours are all true.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 24 Comments

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    How Much is the Cost Of Living In Toronto?

    July 2, 2020

    Could Country Living be the Perfect Lifestyle For Us?

    July 4, 2021

    Why We Can’t Wait To Get Back To Europe

    June 27, 2021
  • 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
    Our Freedom Years 2 Comments

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    Biggest Financial Mistakes When Trying to Retire Early

    September 3, 2020

    Could Country Living be the Perfect Lifestyle For Us?

    July 4, 2021

    Why You Shouldn’t Retire Early

    September 10, 2020
  • 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
    Our Freedom Years 2 Comments

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    Could Country Living be the Perfect Lifestyle For Us?

    July 4, 2021

    Is This the Year You Can Finally Quit?

    April 25, 2021

    How to Introduce Your Partner To Financial Independence

    June 4, 2020
  • Retire Early

    Is This the Year You Can Finally Quit?

    April 25, 2021 /

    It’s the number one question that we get asked time and time again. How did we know we had saved enough?

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 2 Comments

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

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

    April 30, 2020

    How to Introduce Your Partner To Financial Independence

    June 4, 2020

    Working Overseas Could be Your Ticket to Early Retirement

    August 29, 2021
  • Turkey

    The Lifestyle You Want at a Fraction of the Cost in Turkey

    April 11, 2021 /

    We all fantasize about what our ideal home could look like. Maybe it includes a beautiful setting, great food and lots of interesting things to do.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 1 Comment

    You May Also Like

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

    April 18, 2021
    How much to budget for one month in Istanbul Turkey

    How Much To Budget For One Month In Istanbul

    April 6, 2020

    Adventure of a Lifetime Quickly Goes Off the Rails

    July 7, 2024
  • Real Life in Retirement

    How to Survive Your First Year of Early Retirement

    April 4, 2021 /

    You’d think that a life of retirement would be pretty easy. But it turns out that a lot can go wrong during the first year.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 4 Comments

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

    January 10, 2021

    What Life Really Looks Like In Early Retirement

    October 1, 2020

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

    March 21, 2021
  • Croatia

    Find Out Why Croatia is the Ultimate Base for Europe

    March 28, 2021 /

    We are definitely planning to keep traveling for a few more years. But we’re also on the lookout for a country that might be a good home for us.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 1 Comment

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    Cost of Living In Split

    December 20, 2020

    How Affordable is a Week in Zagreb, Croatia?

    December 27, 2020

    Adventure of a Lifetime Quickly Goes Off the Rails

    July 7, 2024
  • Malta

    Five Reasons to Make Malta Your Home in Early Retirement

    February 21, 2021 /

    We love being full-time travellers. However, we know a time will come when we’ll want to feel more settled.

    read more
    Our Freedom Years 0 Comments

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    Our Top 5 Favourite Airbnbs (and Why They Weren’t Perfect)

    March 6, 2022

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

    April 18, 2021

    Can You Afford Europe’s Best Winter Sun Destination?

    March 14, 2021
  • 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
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    How To Manage Risk In Early Retirement

    How To Manage Risk In Early Retirement

    May 14, 2020

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

    January 23, 2021

    Money Worries And Retirement

    July 9, 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

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    How Much Do I Need To Retire Early And Travel?

    March 6, 2020

    Biggest Financial Mistakes When Trying to Retire Early

    September 3, 2020

    Getting Ready To Retire Early And Travel

    December 6, 2020
 Older Posts

ourfreedomyears

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

After a month in Gran Canaria, a week hiking the w After a month in Gran Canaria, a week hiking the wild landscapes of La Gomera, and another sun-filled month in Tenerife, we’re soaking in our final days in the Canary Islands. 

In just a few days, we’ll be making the long journey back to snowy Ontario.  Which is why we’re savoring every last moment of the incredible ocean view from our Airbnb in Puerto de la Cruz, where we fall asleep to the sound of waves every night.

Curious about what the Canary Islands are like as a winter destination? Our latest YouTube video is live — just tap the link in our profile. And more island adventures are coming your way soon!
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.
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