Wherever our travels take us, we are asked about our lifestyle.  Each time we chuckle when the response is an amazed and confused, “is that really a thing?”  Why yes it is!  The harder question is trying to answer “so when are you going home?”  Sean and I have contemplated this question for hours while on our daily walks.  The question suggests that we are just holiday-makers enjoying a worldwide vacation.  We are not on vacation – this is an alternative lifestyle.  We have chosen to live the most simplistic of existences.  Our backpacks hold the few belongings we feel are necessities and allow us to jump from cold winter to tropical heat.  Believe it or not, we have removed many of the items we initially packed.  We have added hiking items that we did not initially think to bring with us when we set out last year.  Hiking is a big part of our lives.  We have planned a couple of once in a lifetime hikes.  Our house sitting schedule just so happened to have the necessary time for us to try a few different types of hiking.  We are always up for more adventures!

Back to the basic question of when we are going home.  The answer is two-fold.  First, we feel we are home…..wherever we are.  It would be very sad to think that we never felt comfortable enough to feel “at home” in the homes that we care for.  We care for the homes and pets just as if they were our own.  Once the homeowner leaves, we quickly settle into a standard routine.  It is true that we don’t know where or even when, we will settle into a traditional lifestyle again.  One of the things that makes this lifestyle so attractive to us is the unknown.  What we do know is that we love what we do. We enjoy traveling.  We love the people we meet.

We understand that time is truly the only scarce commodity.  We will never have enough, you can’t make more and we want to make sure we spend it wisely.  Gathering experiences. Educating ourselves about the world around us.  Traveling not only allows us to experience new places and people, but it allows others to experience us.  We want to leave all the people we meet with an appreciation of the Americans that lived here for a brief time.

Secondly, we didn’t embark on this new lifestyle to leave and never return.  We miss our family and friends.  It really is no different than moving across the country for a job.  We schedule time to visit family and reconnect with friends when work allows.  This is our life.  We hope that everyone will love the life they live as much as we do.  This isn’t for everybody.  We know that many people can’t grasp the concept of not owning a home or even a car.  There is nothing saying that we won’t have those things again some day……we just can’t see it on the horizon.

Home doesn’t have to be a physical location; it can be wherever you are, so long as you’re happy, content and satisfied with your current reality. ~ Becomenomad.com 

My hope is that if people want to live a more simplistic life by getting rid of the things that just don’t make them happy, that they will not hesitate and do it.  The saying nothing worth having comes easily, is only partly true.  The hardest part about changing our lifestyle was actually identifying what we truly wanted in life…..the rest was easy.  We no longer focus on the things in our lives.  We relish the experiences we share, the exotic food we eat and the cultures we immerse ourselves in.  LET GO AND LIVE LIFE!

Home is the here and now ~ Buddhism