Steampunk Style

Kate McCulley

What was the first country you visited? Who with and why did you choose it?

My first international trip was to Canada as a baby, and my family traveled there several times throughout my childhood, mostly to Prince Edward Island. My first overseas trip was a school trip to France, where I stayed with a family in Normandy and visited Paris.

When did you start a travel lifestyle? What inspired that change?

I had always wanted to take a year off to travel the world, but it didn't start to fall into place until I hit four setbacks in a row: I lost my job, I lost my freelance writing job, my relationship ended, and a certain election did not go in my favor. I took it as a sign -- it was time to leave Boston and go after my dream of traveling the world. I left in October 2010 and I've been on the road since!

Do you have a base you travel from? Or is it continuous travel? And why do you choose that style?

For the past year I've been traveling continuously, but from June forwards I'll be based in London, where my fiancé lives and works. London happens to be the perfect travel base because you can fly just about everywhere from there!

How do you fund your travel lifestyle? Is it something you do when travelling or are you a saver?

I initially funded my travels with savings, but these days, my travel blog is my full-time career. I make money on the site through advertising, affiliate marketing and sponsorship; off the site, I make money through freelance writing, consulting, and public speaking.

If you could tell yourself one tip before you started your travel lifestyle, what would it be?

Be more careful with your money! There are lots of times that I've spent money that I wish I hadn't! Especially in my earlier days, when I was drinking and partying far more than I do today.

What does "Living The Dream" mean to you?

To me, living the dream means building a life out of the things you love. It was always my dream to be a professional blogger, travel the world, and fall in love with a handsome foreign man -- so I guess I'm doing well on those fronts!

Dan & Clair certainly claim to be Living The Dream , but how has their decision affected their children, and the kids education most importantly. Read more to discover how their biggest worry, became their truest validation.

The Prince Family

What was the first country you visited? Who with and why did you choose it?

Our first port of call was the beautiful Thai island of Koh Samui, we are lucky enough to own a property there which we now use to home swap our way around the globe. It was an awesome base to start our travels, we really needed a few weeks to decompress from our hectic lives in Singapore , especially after all the madness with the run up to leaving. Clair’s parents were also in tow as they were visiting at the time, so they came along with us for our first week of travel and freedom!

When did you start a travel lifestyle? What inspired that change?

We started in March 2014, the inspiration was the brilliant book called ‘The Four Hour Work Week’ by Tim Ferriss. Dan had lunch with a friend who recommend he read it, he was hooked from page one, everything in the book seemed to make so much sense, he was really over being at work all day and missing the kids and Clair was just shuttling the kids around all day from school to activities instead of spending quality time with them. As a family we were fragmented, stressed and not living. We were on the treadmill of life, it had to change.

Do you have a base you travel from? Or is it continuous travel? And why do you choose that style?

We are lucky to consider Koh Samui, England and Singapore as bases. In Samui we have the house, in England we have family and friends and in Singapore we have many friends, lots of which are able and more importantly willing to put us up if needed! We choose to try and incorporate the bases into our travels, that way we can catch up with loved ones along the way!

How do you fund your travel lifestyle? Is it something you do when travelling or are you a saver?

We were both perennial savers, both sets of parents taught us the value of the pound from an early age and we were always hoarding, we have some rental income that helps. We save tons on accommodation, we have become quite the home swappers, so much so in fact that we have been invited to be ambassadors for the home swap site we use. Our dream is to somehow make money from a laptop, in any country, freeing us from desk jobs and the rat race forever!

If you could tell yourself one tip before you started your travel lifestyle, what would it be?

Our biggest and most stressful decision that we agonised over for so long before making our leap of faith, was naturally the kids education and taking them away from their ‘comfort zone’.

WHAT A LOAD OF NONSENSE!

It is amazing that the biggest worry has turned out to be the biggest validation. The kids have thrived, they love learning new cultures and the life of travel. You needn’t pack so many damn toys either, we survived 2 weeks in Croatia with them playing with nothing but stones on the beach. Kids are way more adaptive than you think!

Don’t hide behind the excuse of ‘she is so settled at school’ or ‘ he just got into the 1st team’. If you really are considering a year out travelling do it, no time is the right time.

DO IT!

What does "Living The Dream" mean to you?

Not being tied to a desk, not having targets to meet, not having an unappreciative boss, not getting on a train everyday, not plodding the same streets on the same route to work, not listening to customers berate you, not getting stuck in traffic on your way to an important meeting, not falling into your designated couch hollow at 8.30 pm with a microwave meal to watch an episode of some dire TV show whilst internally fearing your alarm clock going off in the morning, not feeling utterly exhausted.

It’s not everyday we hear about a few 60 year olds Living The Dream , but Duncan and Jane are doing just that. They take their pension to a whole new level and you’ll love reading about their senior gap year.

Jane and Duncan

What was the first country you visited? Who with and why did you choose it?

As a couple, the first country we visited together was France in 1983. We were living in Southampton in the United Kingdom and back in those days you could travel to France for 10 pounds return which included 1 bottle of spirits and 200 cigarettes. The deal was an overnight Ferry each way and a day in Paris on a guided tour. It was winter time and the crossings between the UK and France were notorious for being rough. Before our marriage, Duncan lived in Malta, Hong Kong and Australia. Jane travelled to Bali.

When did you start a travel lifestyle? What inspired that change?

Throughout our corporate lives we travelled for business and when our boys came along we travelled as a family throughout Asia and Europe. The inspiration to take our travel to the next level and leave the corporate world altogether came about when our elder son Rob took a belated gap year. We stalked him via Facebook and met up with him in Santorini where he regaled us with stories of his adventures throughout South and Central America and Europe. We experienced an “ah ha” moment and as we looked at one another we said we can do this it will be our senior gap year. Six months later February,2013 we hit the road for 12 months and To Travel Too was born.

Do you have a base you travel from? Or is it continuous travel? And why do you choose that style?

Our base, if you can call it that, is 6 boxes containing tax files and photographs in storage, back in the Northern Beaches of Sydney. It is where we will come back and where we call home. We are continuing travelling whilst we can. Duncan has just reached his 60th year and Jane has 2 years to catch up. Retirement age in Australia has been stretched to 67 years. Our tagline in our business is “age is no barrier when it comes to travel’” and our motto is “chase time not money”. In our transition to retirement, it is important for us to travel as much as we can and to check off those places on our bucket list. The Australian Government has just thrown the retirees a wobbler - it has been approved in the Lower House of Parliament that when you are on the Aged Pension you are limited to 6 weeks a year outside of Australia then your pension ceases, it has yet to be approved in the Upper House. This will certainly throw our plans awry.

How do you fund your travel lifestyle? Is it something you do when travelling or are you a saver?

We fund our travel lifestyle currently by living off our investment strategy and taking it one step further by travelling on the equivalent of today's Aged Pension, USD60 or AUD92 per day, and showing other retirees that it can be done. After launching our website 12 months ago we are now planning to monetize our blog.

If you could tell yourself one tip before you started your travel lifestyle, what would it be?

That one tip would be our motto - chase time not money.

What does "Living The Dream" mean to you?

Living the Dream to us means getting out of that cubicle and the daily grind of corporate life, enjoying life with travel adventures and experiences we can enjoy along the way with no stress or pressure. If we can inspire folks as we travel then this also underpins our tagline “age is no barrier when it comes to travel” and “chase time not money”