A Midlife Fulltime Travel Couple
Living a Nomadic Retirement Lifestyle
Exit45 Travels is a blog that offers comprehensive destination guides, travel tips, inspiring stories for retirees, and practical advice for those looking to lead a nomadic retirement lifestyle.
Who Are We?
Jonas and I met and lived on the Gold Coast, Australia. We both worked full time (Peta in the Education Department as a Head of Middle School, and Jonas initially in the steel industry and later with his own business in the aquarium industry). Both of our jobs were demanding which allowed little time for overseas travel, especially longer-term travels.
The many hours researching and watching YouTube vlogs about travel and the cool things others were doing got us dreaming of the day we could enjoy a lot more travel ourselves.
Our Interests
Jonas has always had a keen interest in photography and videography which fits in perfectly with a travelling lifestyle. Even early on, he longed to travel and see more of the world. After a year of backpacking, mainly in Australia, New Zealand and Asia in the early 90’s, the travel bug had set in for good.
Jonas has lived and worked in Sweden, Norway and Australia. He has held various managerial positions in sales and marketing in as wide a spectrum as the telecom, consulting, advertising, IT, steel and aquarium industries. Apart from travelling and photography, other keen interests include fish-keeping, golf, scuba-diving, snorkelling, fishing, movie watching, eating, drinking and share trading.
Peta has had a career in education since her graduation from university in the mid 1990’s. She started out as a Health and Physical Education teacher and then moved into numerous management positions until she reached the position of Head of Middle School in a school on the Gold Coast. Peta has taught in government, private and Catholic schools in Australia, and also for 5 years in Tokyo, Japan.
During her international teaching placement, she discovered her love for travel and spent all of her annual leave travelling the world. Upon her return to Australia, the opportunity for travel was reduced, but her passion still burned brightly. Peta also enjoys reading, golf, snorkelling, horse riding, learning new skills, good food and a tasty beverage.
Why We Decided to Travel Fulltime
Over the years, a number of events happened to family and friends which led to discussions about what we wanted our future to look like. We wanted to travel abroad extensively as it’s something we really love doing together. We’d often wish we could stay on our vacations for an extended time, and so we began to formulate a way to actually do it. We felt we were too young to retire, but we really wanted a fulltime travel lifestyle, of adventure and not to just work until we die or get too old to travel the way we want.
Mid way through the year 2017, the big decision was made – let’s do it! Let’s take an “Adult Gap Year” and travel. We devised an exit strategy and stuck to it. Exit 45 Travels…
How We Did It
It took some planning, sacrifice, and intentional steps to change our lifestyle. But realising our dreams far outweighed the sacrifices we had to make. It is attainable. It’s not something that has to happen only after you have enough money. Will you ever?
Over the previous years, Peta had been following the minimalism movement and had slowly been selling off unused / unwanted ‘stuff’. We financed all airfares for the first year, just by selling down household items we no longer needed. It’s easier to do without than you might think. We would rather have an experience than things we have to take care of.
We now have very few belongings— just a few boxes at Peta’s mums house and a couple at Jonas’ dads boatshed. We have very little to worry about in a material sense, and it’s very freeing. We found a balance that works for us, and it lets us live our dream.
The next 6 months were busily spent organising leave from work, deciding what to keep and store in mum’s garage, and what to sell off and give away. Everything went extremely smoothly and amazingly well despite our tight timeframe.
By the time the weekend came for us to leave our house, we packed up our few remaining belongings for storage, loaded them onto a small pickup van and headed north to finalise the plans for our departure only a month later.
The next month was frantic organising bank accounts, international travel credit cards, travel insurance, flights, redirecting mail etc. etc. etc. When our departure day finally arrived, we had only one hybrid backpack each, a carry-on backpack, a camera bag with our tech gear, and most importantly, a positive and adventurous mindset.
Why We Continue To Do It
As you may have guessed, the “Adult Gap Year” turned into something else… Since then, we have travelled to 35 countries since January 2018 with the plan to continue travelling fulltime.
We love our nomadic retirement lifestyle, adventure, new experiences and cultural immersion. We are constantly amazed by how many interesting people we meet living similar lives from all parts of the world.
They are of all ages; some are backpackers travelling for the first time, some are digital nomads, some are early retirees looking to simplify life and live a financially cheaper, but culturally richer life than what their budget would allow in their home countries, and some are seeking a better quality of life in retirement.
Read some of these Life Chapter 2 stories here…
The planet is getting more populated and the true travel destination gems are getting harder to find due to the explosion of social media such as Instagram. The abundance of travel bloggers and travel vloggers on YouTube means a once sleepy beachside town such as our favourite destination, Moalboal in the Philippines, can go through enormous changes within a 12 month period. Ideally, we try to experience ‘the real’ feel of a destination before mass tourism takes over too much.
How We Do It
Since our decision to start travelling fulltime, so many people have told us “you’re so brave”, “you’re so lucky” or wishfully stated that we are “living the dream” – but virtually anyone can do this. It is achievable but does involve a few sacrifices and a lot of planning.
Needless to say, we have had to make some definite sacrifices leading up to starting this adventure i.e. selling a successful business and resigning from a great career. The biggest sacrifice is being away from family and friends for extended periods of time.
Although we may have less face-to-face contact time, with many, we now actually have more contact (online) i.e. Messenger and Skype calls. Occasionally, we need to compromise on everyday comforts to travel light and within budget, but we never compromise on our safety.
Where We Travel
Contrary to the “you guys must have won the lottery theory”, unfortunately, we do have to stick to a budget to be able to continue doing what we do long term. Some destinations cost more and others cost less. We may spend more in Europe than our monthly budget dictates but this is balanced out by time spent in cheaper destinations like South America and Asia.
We are very fortunate to have two great, but opposing bases for our travels; Queensland, Australia in the South where we used to live and where Peta’s family still live. This has been our December / Christmas stop. Then we have Västerås, Sweden in the North where Jonas’ grew up and his family lives. Sweden has been our perfect mid-year stop.
Our Budget
Our initial annualized monthly budget was $3,500 AUD and at that time, that was very doable. Recently we have had to increase that budget to $4,500 AUD due to inflation post-covid. That amount includes all air travel, transportation including motorbike rentals, accommodation, food, entertainment, activities, and full comprehensive travel insurance. Incredibly, this budget can drop to under AUD$2,000 / USD$2,500 per month in certain parts of the world without sacrificing comfort.
Accommodation Options
So far, we have predominantly booked accommodation through Agoda and booking.com. Our rooms have air-conditioning with queen size beds (as a minimum) and a private bathroom. We book hotels in central locations within walking distance to restaurants, shops and entertainment to reduce transportation costs. A pool with shaded deck chairs is opted for when available, especially in warmer climates. We enjoy good food at local restaurants and even better drinks everywhere possible.
Backpack or Suitcase?
When we travel, we do not have carry-on luggage only as some long-term travellers do (while impressed, we still cannot understand how this is possible). We have a Deuter hybrid backpack and carry about 16kg each. We find these easy to travel with across a wide range of modes of transport ranging from motorhomes, cruise ships, planes, cars, tuk-tuks, trains, ferries, sailboats or even motorbikes.
Why We Started A Blog
During our travels, Jonas trades shares and works with his photography for several hours each day and I do most of the planning i.e. where to stay, accommodation, how to get from A to B etc. Even though this kept me busy, I was still feeling under-stimulated.
When we initially talked about travelling, we discussed the idea of starting a travel blog and even a travel vlog. This discussion has popped up many times over the course of the last 2.5 years but we always thought there were so many others out there doing it that we didn’t have anything more to offer. However, throughout our travels, people have asked us regularly about our travels, how we do it, advice on particular destinations, equipment, tech gear etc.
As we are not (any longer) young backpackers or digital nomads, nor have we reached traditional retirement age, we realised that there may be an opportunity to cover a niche not necessarily covered by other bloggers. And if things go well, any extra cash we may eventually earn through it won’t hurt either.
Covid-19 certainly changed our initial plans for 2020, but our forced lockdown in Australia, with no chance of international travel, offered different opportunities, one of which was finally having the time to start this blog. The other was to try out motorhome life while seeing more of Australia (read more about our motorhome road trip from Brisbane to Cairns) .
Why is the Blog Named Exit45 Travels?
This is a question we have been asked many times and the answer is quite simple…..
- Exit 45 was the number of the exit we took on the M1 highway when driving to get home.
- Jonas had 45 fish tanks in his aquarium business.
- 45 is the mean of our ages when we started our nomadic retirement lifestyle.
BUCKETLIST EXPERIENCES / ASPIRATIONS
It seems the more we travel and the more people we meet, the longer our bucket list becomes. The one thing we both agree on is that we enjoy “experiences’’ far more than buying stuff (although good food and tasty beverages are essential to our happiness).
Some of our current ‘Bucket List Items’ ready to be ticked off are….
- Motorhoming in Europe
- Galapagos Cruise
- More African Safaris (Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, Etosha and Maasai Mara)
- Power boating and/or cruising the Danube and the Rhine in Europe
- A 1 to 2-month road trip by bus through Africa
- Visit Laos, Georgia, Portugal, Hawaii, Cuba and Myanmar
- Stay in a house for a month or two either on, or next to a safari game park in Africa and spend our days mastering African animal photography.
- More Hot Air Ballooning and Gliding
- Antarctica Cruise
- Capture the Northern Lights on Camera
- American “Food” Road Trip
- Singapore Zoo
- Las Vegas
- House and Pet Sitting
- Experience the process of making wine from growing the grapes all the way though to drinking the finished product.
While we are very responsible and organised as travellers, we like to keep all doors open for new opportunities that arise, hence we rarely plan more than a couple of months ahead.
We are always looking for new adventures and experiences so if you or anyone you know need a trusted house and pet sitter, photographer, boat companion or similar, please feel free to contact us. We’d love to hear from you!
Our Favourite Travel Resources
After extensive travel around the world over the years, we have tried and tested many different travel planning resources, products and services. We have spent countless hours trying to find ways to not only save money on our travels but ways of doing it smarter. Click on the link below to see a collection of our favourite travel planning resources for booking accommodation, flights, transportation, tours, travel insurance, and more.
Inspired?
Our goal with this travel blog is to take you along on our journey. To educate, entertain, encourage and enrich you with the knowledge that a great lifestyle is out there once you’re able to break through the pre-conceived notions of what life is “supposed” to be like. It has never been easier to start living a life of freedom, flexibility, travel and adventure.
If you have any questions about anything travel related or what we do, feel free to ‘Contact Us’ as we are happy to answer emails. Also, if you are interested, please follow us on Facebook to see where we are at, our latest photos and what we are up to on a day to day basis.
Thanks so much for visiting our website!
Sincerely,
Peta and Jonas – Exit45 Travels