When we started this little travel journey, we initially intended to travel for 2-3 months. We envisioned starting off in Europe, maybe getting to Asia, then heading back home to finally start our lives in Salt Lake City. That wasn’t the case.
We ended up falling in love with Europe, extending our trip to stay there until right before Thanksgiving, then flew back to the states to celebrate the holidays with family. After all was said and done, the idea of settling down at home seemed wrong.
Our Airbnb was performing well. Well enough that we didn’t spend a single dollar of savings during our entire time traveling. And here we were, about to get into ski season in Utah, which is PEAK season in Utah. Did we really want to come home during the time we’d be earning the most?
On top of that, we started working on our own personal venture while we were traveling, and it was exciting. We were finally gaining momentum and there were NO distractions. Neither of us were ready to give that up.
So without much hesitation, we started to look for a place to spend the rest of ski season that was cost effective enough to still net us some profit by the end of the season.
We looked at maybe 10-15 places, with a few goals in mind:
- Warm weather – we had just returned from Canada and the -27 F weather reminded us of who we were: Total wusses when it comes to cold weather.
- Outdoorsy culture – when I tell my friends about how we “ate our way through Europe,” it’s no joke. I’m sad to say that by the end of our Europe trip, I had monster legs from the constant walking, but the rest of my body wasn’t looking too hot. I needed a place I could hike, bike, kayak, swim – anything to stay active in an engaging way.
- Access to healthy food – while we really enjoyed being in the Balkans, it’s also where we hit a wall-health wise. Tons of meats and carbs + too much rakija = fun times, but not so fun looking in the mirror afterwards. So, we wanted a place where we could find tropical fruits, locally grown veggies, and fresh sea food.
- Connectivity – Since we’d both be working remotely, internet was a big deal. This ruled out a lot of places in South America.
- Low Crime – Self explanatory. If we were spending two months somewhere, I needed to be able to get out on my own without worrying about getting killed.
- Live vs. Explore – Somewhere we wouldn’t be tempted to explore as much, but rather could live in one place and contently work on the business. This ruled out places I really want to go like Colombia and Peru. I knew I’d have a hard time working and not playing.
Serious contenders included Portugal, Colombia, Taiwan, Indonesia, St. John and Grenada, but one intense spreadsheet later, we ultimately decided on….
- Warm weather – Check. It is dubbed “the land of eternal spring” because of its amazing weather year round
- Outdoorsy culture – Lake Atitlan, the area we had our eye on, is known for amazing hikes and kayaking adventures
- Access to healthy food – Tropical fruits, organically grown veggies, fish right from the lake. Check, check, check.
- Connectivity – High level of internet access depending on your location within Guatemala. Antigua, Guatemala is rated as one of the best cities for “Digital Nomads” to work from because of connectivity and cost of living.
- Low Crime – Guatemala City has one of the highest crime rates in the world, BUT when you get outside of the city to places like Antigua and Lake Atitlan, it’s quite safe. It’s not quite like Serbia where I walked around without a care in the world knowing everyone was pretty trustworthy, but if you use your common sense, you can get by. The village we settled on is extremely safe because it is primarily filled with hard working Mayan families and only accessible by boat.
- Live vs. Explore – Lots to explore in Guatemala, but we’ve also been here before so the idea of working instead of exploring seemed way more doable
So we booked our tickets and here we are! We found a house in lakeside village of Santa Cruz la Laguna and are really enjoying our time so far. More on this soon!