Why a holiday is completely different to relocating
The Freedom feeling
“I could easily move here” is a bit of tongue in cheek throw away line that people share after a well earned break from their career for the annual two-week tropical holiday. Who wants to give up those fresh coconuts under the beautiful blue sky, watching sunset come in by the beach?
But in reality a holiday gives very little indication of what it feels like to relocate.
A holiday is often pre-planned, with tours, sights to see, accomodation booked from a website at a rate much more than the rate of rent or mortgage back home and just as you’re starting to get familiar with your surroundings it is time to go home.
Okay, i’m generalising a little but I feel it’s a fair summary of a stereotypical holiday.
I know when I would holiday I always had the feeling of ‘not wanting to waste a minute’ even if that meant resting. I’d rather rest by the pool than in my hotel room to feel like I was getting the most of my holiday. By jam packing in so much i’d try and make the most of my $5,000 I had saved and spend it on whatever I could that made my holiday memorable.
On top of the additional spend of the holiday is the bills from back home. Mortgage, rent, bills ALL come out on top of the holiday spend.
A holiday is definitely an additional expense.
So does this create a myth for some people that if they were to somehow move to another country they’ve been on holiday too that it would be expensive? maybe, maybe not.
Relocating to a different country is completely different. And rather than be an additional expense, it is often a significantly reduced expense.
I’ll share our journey to minimalism with you a different time, however over time, we basically reduced our expenses to nothing. And although i’m attempting to be descriptive in my writing journey here with you, it is difficult to find the words of how much freedom we feel being abroad with very little expenses.
Can you imagine being overseas with absolutely no rent, or no mortgage expenses and then finding a house with a pool for $250 a week?
How about no gym membership at home, no mobile phone bill, no car registration, no parking fees, no big petrol costs, no car repair bills, no house maintenance costs?
Add in alcohol and food being happy hour prices 24 hours a day.
Here you can start to see where relocating can begin to feel more relaxing than a holiday already.
Feeling excited about the above?
How about we talk about time! This is where it gets truly exciting.
Imagine being overseas at your favourite location in the world. Maybe you’re laying in the hammock, it’s so comfortable. Your skin is looking healthy and sun kissed, tropical fruits are plentiful, your vitamin and mineral intake has you feeling energised.
You’re laying in the hammock but it feels different this time. There are no tours booked, you don’t have the pressure of planning the day, you have absolutely nothing to do. No one to answer too, and you aren’t limited by a countdown clock.
You can take a week, or two, or three to feel into the decision you’ve made. You can quietly explore the place and take your time figuring out your longer term living arrangements and you can look at what type of community events you might like to do in order to meet some people.
It dawns on you. Geo-Arbitrage is helping your bank account, your time account and your stress levels simultaneously. And you’re now free!
You look at your bank account after 1 week, you spent $250, but your bank account has $500 extra in it. How on earth did that happen! Usually you need $1,000 in there just to cover the bills. You look further, you’ve rented your house back home and your first rental payment came in from your tenants, and now you have an extra $1000 a month cashflow after paying your mortgage. Your house is no longer costing you money, it is making you money. If you don’t yet have a house to rent out, don’t worry. Geo-Arbitrage is an amazing way to move into a position to buy one.
This is just the beginning, can you imagine how differently you can feel after years of geo-arbitrage. Years of exploring, living, creating memories, having your time to choose, less stress, the fulfilment of always learning and most importantly, taking the time to appreciate life and create purpose and meaning from that space.
Geo-arbitrage unlocks something that very few people achieve but so many crave: A balanced life.
Are you feeling where we are going here on Brendo’s substack? I turned 35, 2 days ago. I’ll have a 4 in front of my age before I manage to share all of the valuable and unique lessons i’ve experienced being abroad. And i’m so glad you’re here for it.
See you soon. Brendo.