Ep. 320: How This Content Manager Became A Digital Nomad with Sarah Blinco
In this episode, I speak with Sarah who is a remote worker and digital nomad. She has been a content manager for over 8 years and has also built up her travel brand “Travel Live Learn”.
Through Travel Live Learn, they inspire others on how to travel for longer, and to never give up on the dream of living and working anywhere! Listen on to find out how this content manager became a digital nomad.
Listen Below:
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Transcription:
Debbie:
Hey everyone. Thank you so much for being here.
I am really excited to speak with my guest today.
I am here with Sarah. Hi, Sarah. How are you?
Sarah:
Hello. Lovely, Debbie, I’m well. Thank you for having me. Hope you’re having a good day as well.
Debbie:
Yes, absolutely. And I’m so excited to really delve into what you are up to recently Sarah, but before we get to all of that incredible stuff, can we learn more about you and why you live an offbeat life?
Sarah:
Yeah, sure. So as you said, my name is Sarah and I’m one half of the publishing team@travellivelearn.com and travel live, learn on YouTube, and my partner Cooper and I, we’ve been traveling and living an offbeat life for probably around 13 years now. We’re Australian, if you can’t tell from my accent. And we’ve lived around Australia, the uk parts of Europe and also North America. And I think one of the things that appeals to me most about the offbeat lifestyle is just the, the extraordinary life you get to live and the people you get to meet and the things you get to learn just from, you know, living around the world and taking the chance to do different things with your life.
Debbie:
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that’s one of the things is that we have to really do things right. We have to make sure that we’re really diving into what we’re passionate about because there’s gonna be a lot of regrets. So how did you get into the publishing world, Sarah? How did you get into that? Was that something that you always thought you were gonna do or was it led like life led you into that process?
Sarah:
Yeah, look, it’s a really good question. I actually started my career in radio with my partner who is, is still my lovely partner, and we had a, we were lucky enough to start at a radio station in Brisbane, but work our way around to a couple of different stations in Australia, and we actually had a breakfast radio show. So that was sort of my first foray into creating content, if you will. And from there we did radio for a couple of years. Cooper went in a bit of a different direction, but I stayed in media and content production. I moved into editing magazines for probably about six or eight years. I was always a bit of a media nerd when I was little, and I was obsessed with, you know, media and magazines and things like that. So it was really exciting for me to, to move into that space and have the opportunity to work in lifestyle magazines.
Then I guess like many of us it’s, it’s sort of a natural progression then into digital content and digital media as that evolved. So I’ve moved through into that space and, and created the travel content as we started to live and work around the world. It, you know, it’s one of those traditional stories where it my blog just started out as a space where I thought I’d capture some thoughts and, and, and mass share with my family as a simple way of keeping everyone up to date, but it evolved into something special that we enjoy and, you know, it is a side hustle for us while we have our other full-time employment. But yeah, that’s, that’s really my background into how I got into this sort of space. And then I moved into communications and marketing from there. So really it’s just been an evolution from someone young who loved creating things and, and, and being creative with content and moving through those different areas.
Debbie:
Yeah, and also one of the things that you are really into, because you created this life and space for yourself is to be able to travel longer. Was that one of the reasons why you kind of delved into like the travel space because you enjoyed it so much and you wanted to, to make this into more of a lifestyle and not just a vacation? Because for, for most people, you know, that’s what we have. We only have a few weeks out of the year to go on vacation. Yeah. And then the rest of the year you’re like, working.
Sarah:
Exactly, exactly. And I think we in a, so when you are in Australia, we’re a long way away, right? So if you’ve ever traveled to Australia from the UK or America for example, you know that Australia is a long way away. So for us, it’s really hard to find not just the money that you need to go traveling, but the time. You know, if say you’re doing a trip from Australia to America or Europe, you need minimum, a few weeks, right? To really get there and enjoy yourself because it takes a number of days to fly somewhere and then fly back. So when you’re living, or if you’re based in Australia, it’s really hard to do those sorts of trips and annual leave or holidays and vacation just doesn’t really cut it.
And Cooper and I just wanted to, you know, be able to travel for longer and to really immerse ourselves in different places. So that’s how we sort of dipped our toes into the beginnings of our offbeat life in that we wanted to find ways and places to be based where we could see more without having to go back and forth from Australia because it’s just, it’s expensive and you just don’t have the time. So yeah, being able to get into the travel space and create content and advice around how to do that you know, has has meant a lot to us because it’s really changed our lives.
Debbie:
Yeah. And it can, it is possible, right? It, and it can be sustainable if you do it the right way. And I know that you have been able to do this because you are in communications and you are a content manager and you are also in publishing and in radio, it seems like there’s a lot of creativity that you are really into and that you have gotten into. Was that an easy transition for you to go from publishing to radio to, to like communications and content managing and then also kind of include your lifestyle into that? How was that transition like, and how are you able to balance that?
Sarah:
Yeah, look, I’ve been really lucky in that I’ve, I’ve spotted the opportunities along the way. I think some advice I’d give to anyone listening is, you know, I’ve, you get, you get a lot of people telling you that the smart thing to do, right? But I’ve always sort of tried to balance the line between being clever with how to make money and support myself, but also really understanding that, understanding it’s important to do the things you enjoy. So, you know, when I was a little kid, and growing up through high school and university, I always loved writing and creating, and all my roles through my career have really just been an extension of that. So I think my advice is to just always listen to that, that little in your heart, and do the things that you do enjoy, because opportunities do open up, including those opportunities to take your passions and turn them into work that you can do from anywhere.
And so I think it’s important to listen to the, you know, the signs and, and the things that are coming your way because like yourself, you know, you can take, you can take these great things that you do anywhere you like. And that’s really exciting. And I think we live in, in a time now where more and more of us are recognizing that you can pick up and, and go and spend some time wherever you wish and, and make money there and, and potentially even work for your home company wherever they may be, the US, Australia, you know, we’ve never lived in a time like this before, which gives us so, so much opportunity to live elsewhere and do amazing things. It’s, it’s really exciting.
Debbie:
Yeah, and I absolutely agree. You know, there’s so much that has happened the last few years, and obviously covid was a huge part. I mean, the biggest part of that.
But the one thing that we can take from that is it allowed a lot of people to see what remote work life was really about. And I think more people understand now why we chose this life, and more people are clamoring to do it, right? Because there’s so much flexibility, there’s so much freedom in this lifestyle, and I know that for those who really want to delve into this and make it sustainable, the question that we always get asked is, “how do you do it when you didn’t have remote work or it’s hard for the job that you have?”, or maybe you are afraid that your skills is not good enough.
How did you do that, Sarah? How did you make sure that you had enough skills to take it so that you can pretty much go anywhere, live anywhere, and still be able to create solid income?
Sarah:
Yeah, look, that’s a really excellent point, and I think that not everyone, not everyone has the opportunity to do it, but I think a lot of us do. I do think that it’s probably an intentional choice and something you want to work towards. So if you do have this niggling and this, you know, wanderlust, there are some steps that you can take to set yourself up for success. You know, so look at the skills and the types of work that you’re doing now. And, you know, there’s so much great information in podcasts like yours and on YouTube and TikTok to inspire us to, to see what the possibilities are. But, you know, if you need to potentially bridge the gap in terms of skills that might make you more money on the road, or you need to start talking to your, your managers now and start planting the seed about, hey, you know, how would you feel if I went and worked in Barcelona for three months or six months?
How could we transition my workload to, to, to work effectively as a remote role, you know, start planting those seeds now because this lifestyle doesn’t necessarily, you know, it’s not really a happy accident most of the time. You can create your own lifestyle, but start to look at the gaps that you might need to fill if this is something that you’re interested in.
Similarly for us, for example, we have visas that enable us to live and work in the UK. And we choose the UK because a) we are able to to work here because of the visas we can get, but the UK’s a great base, right? To be able to travel to other places or go and base ourselves in Spain or Italy or something for a few weeks or a month or whatever.
So there’s some sort of administrative areas that you might also like to start to plan for and look at that really start to set you up for being able to make that big move and, and live and work abroad.
Debbie:
Yeah, that is such a great tip that you gave us, Sarah, because I think a lot of people automatically think that they have to go out there, try to find a new job, when the first thing that you should do is to talk to your managers, talk to the company, and see if you can negotiate a remote work situation, right? And it doesn’t have to be jumping into a completely new industry that you are so unsure of, and you have to learn a ton of new skills.
And you never know, it never hurts to ask. You can always say, “Hey, can I try this for months? And if I do really well, then maybe we can talk about making this a lot longer or maybe even permanent.”, because if you’re able to do your work and you’re still doing it as well, or maybe even better, because now you don’t need to travel back and forth, you don’t need you don’t have distractions it’s gonna make you a lot more focused and, you know, happier in that sense.
Sarah:
Oh, yeah. And look, I was actually blown away by a statistic that I saw on, I, I can’t remember which network it was. It was one of your American ones. It, I wanna say NBC, but I’m, I don’t know if it was that, but they ran a special feature on digital nomadism at the beginning of this year, I want to say, or late last year. And the statistic that they shared was something like 75% of Americans who call themselves digital nomads. And there’s about like 17 million of you. There was a massive percentage of those nomads who are not freelancers and who are not entrepreneurs, but they’re actually working for a home base in the US and that really blew my mind because, you know, I think that a lot of us think that to be a digital nomad or remote or work remotely globally, that you are, you’re pretty much a freelancer.
You’re working for yourself, or you’ve got these great ideas and you’re setting up businesses, right? But a massive percentage of these nomads from America actually, they’ve just taken their, their job that they were doing in America, and they’ve negotiated this exact situation for themselves. So, you know, I think that, that it’s really exciting.
And then to your point, you know about covid for, for all the bad things that happened, then the brilliant thing is that it’s shone a light on our capabilities to be able to live and work from anywhere. But also employers are starting to look at things differently, aren’t they? You know, you can have that conversation now that, that we were just talking about that you couldn’t have that conversation necessarily or as freely a few years ago. So it’s pretty amazing, and I feel quite inspired and passionate about beating the drum and encouraging people to just have that, have that chat with their, their managers or their workplace.
Because if you are, if you’re a great employee, a lot of the time you’re, you are, the company you work for doesn’t want to lose you. And you have skills like they’ve invested in you being there and training you. And so if you can, and another tip I’d give too is if you can pitch a solution rather than a potential problem, like if you can go to your manager or leader and say, “You know, I’ve looked into how I might be able to take this role on the road for a few months. Here’s my solution, you know, what do you think?”, or “Can we start a conversation about it?”. They’re going to be much more open to it than if you just sort of go, “I’d like to go and live overseas. Can I, can I work there?”. Do you know what I mean? Like, if you can take a solution to them, they’ll be much more open to it and just have the confidence to think, you know, what’s the worst that can happen if you ask?
Debbie:
Yeah, absolutely. I think it has to be a win-win for everybody, but more a win for them when they’re, you are trying to negotiate this. Because otherwise you’re just going to be like, “Well, you just want free time for yourself!”, and you don’t want X, Y, and Z. So you think about it first, don’t just jump into it and just start talking to them, you know, write down all the things you want to say.
Sarah:
Exactly.
Debbie:
Maybe even create like spreadsheets and, you know, make it really good.
Sarah:
I love, I love you’re very organized that that plays into the brilliant things you’re offering your audience at the moment. So yes, exactly. I love your point there. You are absolutely right about basically going to them with that attitude of showing them what’s in it for them.
Debbie:
Yeah, absolutely, ’cause otherwise, you know, they may say no, or maybe they’re just afraid that the work is gonna suffer, and you just wanna make sure that you wanna ease that, you know, unsureness that they have and the worry that they have that the work is not gonna be done. So that is such a great way to, to think about that in that sentence.
And for you, Sarah, now, do you work with a company yourself or do you do any freelancing or are you an entrepreneur, all of the above? How are you making this sustainable for yourself?
Sarah:
Yeah, sure. A little bit of all of the above, but primarily at this point in time, I’m fortunate enough to, I was one of those people who had a conversation with my workplace in Australia and was able to negotiate, being able to stay working with them in a, in a different capacity than what I was when I was working at the head office.
But, you know, we’ve, we’ve been working together now with me remote since about February. And that’s working beautifully. I mean, you know, I start a lot of my days with meetings at 5:00 AM or 6:00 AM to catch the team when they’re still awake in their afternoon. But it’s, it’s still working really well, and that’s just a situation that keeps to keeps evolving, which is awesome.
But I’m also then working on my own independent you know, content projects and supporting other businesses as a freelancer as well. So, you know, like many of us in this space, just doing a little bit of everything and, and learning as I go and, and taking the chance to, to do a few different things as well and see where they, where they end up.
Debbie:
Yeah. And I think there’s also this misconception that you have to be an entrepreneur to make this work. You need to have passive income to really be able to travel and do everything that you want and, and enjoy life, which is not true. And, you know, you did mention that, Sarah, how a lot of people now are able to negotiate or work with remote first companies.
So you don’t need to be an entrepreneur. You don’t need to be your own boss or even a freelancer, because one of the fears that most people have is, oh my goodness, there’s no stability, X, y, and Z. There’s just always an excuse. But as we know, you know, again, with covid, even full-time jobs didn’t have stability, you know, and absolutely the economy right now is, is crazy.
So whatever it is that you can do, whether you’re combining one or two, whatever works for you is what’s going to be the best for you. And there’s no right way or wrong way to do this. It just has to be what’s right for your lifestyle and what you want with, with yourself.
Sarah:
Yes, exactly, exactly. I completely agree with you. And I think with a little bit of, you know, quiet time and reflection, you can really start to, to drill down into what those, what that does look like for you. You know? And I think something else really cool that I’ve learned from, from listening to, to you and hearing the stories of people who are living, you know, the offbeat life is, there’s different systems that people are putting into place, you know, like the six month work and then six month travel sort of process or like like myself, basing myself in a central hub working for a few weeks and taking some, a little bit of time to travel and then working for another chunk of time, like, you really can design your own life now.
And look, that’s, it’s even, it’s even evolved so much in, in five, 10 years, you know, I mean, in, in the two thousands, the early two thousands, a lot of this stuff that we’re talking about really was, there were a few people who were, either they were traveling or they were backpacking.
Maybe they stopped somewhere to work, you know, they might’ve been working in Bali or London or something like that. But now we have the opportunity to combine it all, you know?
Debbie:
Absolutely. There’s so much more opportunities. There’s so much more that you can do. So if, you know, if you have a chance to try it now, you never know. You can always go back to your regular nine to five, but if you never try, you’re always gonna be wondering, I mean, you’re obviously listening to this episode for a reason.
Sarah:
Yep.
Debbie:
It’s in your head, it’s in your mind, and it’s something that you’re thinking about and there’s, you know, there’s only chances.
Sarah:
Exactly. Exactly. It’s, I agree with you there. It, one of the questions we get asked, we have a Facebook group community which started out as you know, a lot of house sitters, but then became, you know a lot about travel and, and nomadism.
And one of the topics that does come up there quite a bit is, you know, that around the whole, the bravery or the fear of failure, or what happens if I hate it you know, we say, well, you know, you can always go home.
It’s, it’s not going anywhere. And that’s, it’s, if it’s not for you, that’s completely fine, but usually you’ll try it. And sure. In the first few months, and I think we’ve all been here when we’ve gone through a huge change in the first few months, you might find yourself crying in a corner because of something that’s happened, or you’re trying to make your, your, your work work and income come in and, or you feel isolated.
You know, there’s, there’s all sorts of things that happen during a huge change that make you feel like, what have I done? And even that’s happened to me this year. But, you know, usually more, yeah, actually, I would say always when you get through that, it just turns out to be the best thing you’ve ever done. And, you know, you, it’s, it’s about, I think knowing that you will go through that sort of fear or, oh my God, what have I done phase?
And knowing that that’s a normal thing, and then realizing once you’re through that it’s an achievement. You know, you’ve, you’ve done these cool things. You’re traveling, you’re, you’re a digital nomad somewhere, or you’ve picked up and you’ve set up shop in Lisbon and you’re remote working. It’s, it’s, it’s awesome.
But you, you’re going to go through that, that uncomfortable piece to get there. But then it’s, it’s completely worthwhile and it’s far better than staying on the, the hamster wheel, you know, in, you know, without actually taking that chance on, on something crazy that turns out to be the coolest thing you’ve done.
Debbie:
Yeah and also, you know, that is one of the things that people really are afraid of is failure and not not really doing it correctly. Like if there’s a correct way to do any of this anyways, right? Because you’re always driven to different things, even when you think you’re going to do the, you know, A and B, it turns out it’s actually X, Y, and Z that you’re supposed to do.
So it’s never a straight line. There’s always different ways of, of going into these paths. But what, the one thing that I’ve always found, and I don’t know if you feel the same way too, Sarah, is that the more I fail, or the more things don’t go my way, the more I find humor Yes. In things that is like, at the moment, you know, like, I’ve cried so many tears. Oh my God, I’ve been so sad.
And then like, now when these things happen, I can look at it and kind of laugh even when, like, honestly, I know this is really bad. Even when tragic things happen, like I’ll find myself like remembering things in that moment that like I did. And I’m like, why did I do that? And I’ll laugh about it, and I’m like, this is bad to laugh. But it’s like, it’s kind of how you move on with life sometimes. Oh, you just have to find so rush, you know?
And even in the worst moments in your life, and you have to take, kind of make it into a different perspective, and it’s not the end of the world, you know, it may be a really bad time, but you’re, you know, you, you have no choice. Sometimes you just have to pick yourself up and then do something else, and you have to be doing something else, and that’s what you need to do. Right?
Sarah:
Isn’t that a beautiful, isn’t that a beautiful life lesson that you’ve just described there? And I feel in some ways that the opportunities that we’ve had to, to travel and live and work in different places and live that offbeat life really do expand your mind so that, as you said, even in terrible situations, even in the worst situations, you can eventually come through and, and look at them with humor and learning, and it just changes your whole outlook, doesn’t it?
And then the lovely thing is you can have these conversations and help other people see that there are, there’s, there’s not only light at the end of some things, but there’s also different ways of looking at things. And also sometimes when you think that you’ve failed or you are pushed in a different direction or, or rather something’s not working, maybe that is the universe pushing you in a different direction, one that you hadn’t anticipated, the one that you didn’t realize was the right choice for you. But you sort of gently shuffled in that way, or sometimes not so gently, but you are always, you know, we both realize, don’t we?
That you can look back now and go, “Ah, I get why that happened. It was really difficult at the time, if not terrible. But now, now I’m in a good place.”, And I, and as you say, you can apply that to future, future learnings and future things that happen to you. And it’s a lovely, it’s that lovely conscious awareness, isn’t it?
Debbie:
Yeah, absolutely. And I think too, the more these things happen, the more you fail, the more you’re able to see life in a different way. I mean, you can, you can either be, I mean, you know, there are gonna be moments where you’re gonna overreact or under react to things and, but it keeps happening, you know, like, because this is the, the, the way I see it, the more you try new things and the more you put yourself out there, the more you’re gonna be failing. Yes, that’s right. And that’s just how life is. If you don’t fail, that means you’re not trying something new. Yes, exactly. And and the more you fail, the more you grow, and the more you get things. Yes. Right? Yes. So I mean, that’s just how it is. If you are a risk taker, if you’re trying new things, it’s, there’s gonna just be failures along the way. There’s, it’s inevitable. Yeah. That’s just how life is.
Sarah:
Exactly, exactly. But how boring would it be if we weren’t doing new things?
Debbie:
Yeah, absolutely. It would just be a life that’s so bland, you know?
Sarah:
Yeah. And I think we’ve recognized that, you know, each to their own, and not everyone wants this lifestyle that we, that we want. But I think, as you said, if you are listening to this and you are teetering on the edge of, you know, do I, do I take the leap? Do I go traveling? Do I set up a nomadic life somewhere? Do I try and get that visa to live in America or Canada or the UK or Spain? You know, if you are sort of thinking about it and you’re being pulled in that direction, just go and do it. Is what, what I think you and I would both advocate for, right? Because life’s too short.
If we, you know, if we did see anything over the past few years when we were, you know, all of a sudden stopped from doing the things that we just took so much for granted, and not in a bad way, whoever thought we wouldn’t be allowed to get on a plane, or, I mean, in my case, we weren’t allowed to leave Australia or even our state in Australia for two years.
Everything was just locked, you know? So you just don’t know when things are going to be taken away from you. And so, you know, Cooper and I, coming back here. We we had a, we had a list. We all have our bucket list, don’t we?
Our list of places we wanna go and things we wanna do. And when we lived in the UK previously, we were like, well, you know, they were those things that we’d get to another day, but now I’m trying to do them now because yeah, we landed back in Australia, got stuck in there, got locked in, and I thought, oh, I, you know, I never got to go to Cornwall. I never got to go to Croatia. I never got to do X, Y, and Z.
And, and now ever since coming back here, we’re, we’re, we’re trying to get through those things. ’cause You just, you don’t know what’s around the corner. So if you do have the opportunity and the calling to do something now, especially these beautiful things like living and working abroad, then, you know, just, just please just, you know, look at how you can make it happen over the next six months. What’s the worst that can happen?
Debbie:
Absolutely. And you know, there’s always gonna be excuses, and that’s just your mind.
Sarah:
Yeah.
Debbie:
Telling you to stay in your comfort zone.
Sarah:
Yes.
Debbie:
You know, obviously understand, know your instincts when things are dangerous.
Sarah:
Yes.
Debbie:
you know, of course things you’re not supposed to, don’t go into dangerous situations that you’re gonna get hurt. But know when it’s just your mind telling you, Hey, we don’t want that. That’s new for us. Stay in your comfort zone because people will do that to you. But most of the time it’s you doing it to yourself.
Sarah:
Yeah.
Debbie:
So just realize that, because that’s happened to me most of the time, and I’m like, okay, is that really how I want it or is it just, you know, my brain telling me to stay where I’m supposed to be because I know this space.
Sarah:
Exactly.
Debbie:
So it’s really, it’s good to know and understand that, because there’s always like, “Oh, I’ll do it when I have X, Y, and z or when this is better.”. It’s never gonna be, perfect.
Sarah:
It’s never going to be perfect, no.
Debbie:
So it’s just, you know, know yourself, know what you’re capable of. Sometimes you don’t even know, well, most of the time we don’t know what we’re capable of until we actually go out there and do something. And that’s another thing that’s part of being a human being, taking that risk, being brave for ourselves. And that’s also another thing I want to emphasize is do it for yourself. Don’t do it because they’re being pushed into it, right?
Sarah:
Yes. Exactly, exactly. And the other way round too, I think it’s, you know, I, I strongly suspect that a lot of people don’t embark on a lifestyle of adventure because there’s a lot of factors, probably people strongly encouraging them not to, or potentially laying on the guilt not to. And, you know, it’s, that’s a very tricky line to balance. And there’s so many dynamics that we, we want to make work in our families and our friendships, but you know, if there’s, if there’s something you want to do in your life, you know, don’t, don’t delay because of other people find a way to do it, even if you can just do it for a little while.
Debbie:
Yeah, absolutely. And you know, like with me, I have a husband and I’m always negotiating, “Hey, can we do this?”, and really that’s how it is.
Sarah:
Exactly.
Debbie:
’cause A lot of the times, right, like yeah, you know, obviously, when you’re on your own, you can be free and do whatever, but if you have a family, if you have a partner,
Sarah:
Yes.
Debbie:
If you have children, there has to be something that you have to give in order to get something.
Sarah:
Exactly, exactly.
Debbie:
It shouldn’t just be you giving everything and you don’t get anything. So we always negotiate things like, “Hey, if we do this, can we do this? And then,
Sarah:
that sounds, you know, that how you negotiate in a relationship to me Good on you.
Debbie:
Yeah. Because I’m like, I’m not just going to give everything like, has to be a back and forth.
Sarah:
Yeah, exactly, absolutely.
I think you you know there’s, there’s that danger isn’t there, that one day you can wake up and you, and you have given everything to everyone else. And, and there, there will be a time in our lives where we can’t just, you know, up sticks and, and, and go on a big adventure there. There’s that, that time definitely comes.
And I think the older you get and the more people in your family who you see moving through, you know, the different, different age groups, you, you start to see that you don’t have this capacity forever. And so it’s, it’s not to be taken lightly. And then, you know, as you say, yeah. Negotiate with, with your family and friends and make these things happen, especially if you’ve got a longing to do it.
Debbie:
Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I was watching something the other day, and this couple was being interviewed and they’re older, they’re probably like in their late sixties and seventies, and they’re retired and they were asked like, what’s the one regret that you did? And they said it was traveling and doing things that they should have done when they were younger, because they always thought like, “Hey, I need, you know, more money, I need more stability to be able to do this.”, and their regret was that, yeah, they’re older and they have all the money, but it’s not the same anymore.
So, you know, when you think about that, like when you’re younger, most of the time you’re broke, right? 90% of the time you’re broke, you never have enough money. And when you’re older, when you can finally afford to do all of the things that you want, now you’re older and it’s harder for you to do what you want. So you may as well, it’s never perfect again. It’s never perfect.
Sarah:
Absolutely.
It’s so true, isn’t it? And I’ve seen that time and time again. I think there was that sort of traditional viewpoint where, you know, our, our parents or grandparents or those before us had, you know, you worked your whole life, you saved for your retirement and then you went and enjoyed your time. But the actual sad reality of that is by the time you often get to that point as, and as you say, you’ve got the freedom and the time and the money to, to do these things, your health is starting to deteriorate and you can’t enjoy things as much as you want. And that’s just,
Debbie:
That’s just life.
Sarah:
But we can, you know, even as younger people find great ways to you know, save on accommodation or make money while we’re traveling, again, we’ve never had a greater opportunity in history than we we do now to do these things, even if we’re young and broke. So, you know, again, yeah, it all comes back to, in my view, I’m just, and I was one of those people who spent a lot of my twenties. You know, I had, I was loving my career in Australia, but I always really longed to do the traveling thing, ’cause my parents were some of the original backpackers in the seventies that went around the world for a few years. And then my brother did the traveling thing, and when he was younger and I hadn’t done it.
And I always longed to, and then we didn’t, we didn’t start, you know, this lifestyle till I was 30. And then now I look back and I blame my partner. I’m like, “You’re older than me. Why didn’t you get us traveling before this? Why didn’t you get us living and working overseas before this?”. But, you know, it’s never too late. But yeah, it’s always, you don’t, as you said, you don’t really want to have those regrets as you get older wishing you had have done something a bit earlier.
Debbie:
Yeah, absolutely. And you know what, and like we had mentioned before, today is the right time because you can, you don’t need to have sacrifices in a lot of ways in terms of income, because you can work remotely.
Debbie:
You can save money with your accommodations. There’s just so many more options now that you have to be just, yeah. You just have to be strategic. You have to do your research, you have to plan it out, and then just see where it goes from there. You don’t have to plan out everything. Right?
Sarah:
Exactly.
Debbie:
Because it’s never gonna go how you want it, but just plan the first few things so that it gives you a peace of mind Yes. To get started and then you go from there.
Sarah:
Exactly, exactly. Have your framework and a bit of, a bit of, you know, money or even a credit card coming from Australia. Again, that’s something else we always had, you know, our parents would say, as long as you’ve got your airfare back, if there’s an emergency, so, we’d always have that airfare as your emergency funds. So you know, yeah. There’s always ways to make it happen and that’s brilliant.
Debbie:
Absolutely. Well, thank you so much, Sarah, for being here. I have one last question for you. Sure. let’s move forward to maybe 30 to 40 years from now, and you’re looking back at your life. What legacy would you like to leave and what do you wanna be remembered for?
Sarah:
Oh that’s a beautiful question. And I think I, in, for me, I just wanna inspire people to listen to, to their hearts. And if traveling and living away is important to you as it has been for us, then, you know, take the chance to do that. It’s really important to, and do it while you can. Don’t wait for tomorrow. So yeah, if I can leave a legacy inspiring just a few people to take the chance on the life that they’re dreaming of, then I will be happy with that.
Debbie:
I love that. And you know, it’s gonna keep going you and and you’re living it yourself. Thank you so much, Sarah, for being here with us. If our listeners wanna learn more about you, where can they find you?
Sarah:
Yes, do stay in touch. We are on YouTube. Come and find us and subscribe at Travel, Live, Learn, and all our other social links are on travellivelearn.com.
Debbie:
Perfect!
Thank you so much, Sarah, we really appreciate you.
Sarah:
Much appreciated, back at you.
Listen to Sarah’s extended interview where she talks about the most common mistakes newbie house sitters make.
What You’ll Find:
In this extended interview, Sarah talks to us about the most common mistakes newbie house sitters make and what you can do to avoid these mistakes.
