As many of you knew we planned to go to Asia this spring and explore the east. As you also know that didn’t end up happening. We returned to the bay area at the end of January after over 6 months on the road. I’ll be honest I’ve been struggling on the return.
You see I was diagnosed with Panic and Anxiety Disorder a little before we left Portland but due to the US health system being not fantastic I was literally prescribed 6 months worth of pills, told to take them, and sent on my way. It took me awhile to start taking the pills because I had it in my head that they would hurt me somehow? When I ran out of medication I should have followed up with a doctor… but we were on the road so I didn’t. I noticed my anxiety started to return somewhere in the last two months of our travels. The crippling paranoia, the heart palpitations. It wasn’t good for someone living a nomadic lifestyle of hectic changes. On top of that Matthew was getting burnt out. We had been to over 12 countries in 6 months…that’s two countries a month on average yall… that’s like a LOT of flights. A lot of strange beds, hostels, house sitting, and changing environments which I loved (for the most part) but for my sweet introverted husband, it was a constant stretch. Basically he came to me and said he wanted to go home but he’d keep going if it’s what I wanted and between that, my declining mental state, and just being overall tired we decided to end our travels on a high note after spending a month staying with our friends at their castle in Ireland… yes a literal castle. Also, the fact that my sister was pregnant with our first Niece was a big pull as well! I have been grappling with our return, it’s a combination of sadness for not being on the road, I really really love Europe, I really really love traveling so not doing it, it’s sad. But I have so much to be grateful for, and I am focusing on that.
That said, we had no idea that two weeks after getting home the Corona Virus outbreak would hit Asia. I don’t really believe in divine providence but, I am starting to think that all things happen for a reason. So to all the folks wondering if the Virus sent us home? No, it didn’t but I can say I am relieved we are in Sonoma County and not Hong Kong right now (which is where we would have been).
So what’s next?
Well as many of you know we immediately bought and started renovating a 1986 Fleetwood Bounder within days of returning to the US while simultaneously changing our approach and marketing plan for our business ecommerceassist.com. We’ve still got to do some electrical on the RV and finish painting her, order a bed, put up curtains, clean the interior of the cabinets, figure out how to get the propane powered fridge working annnnnnd put in floors in the RV but we’ve been crazy busy with the new work we’re getting from our new marketing plan that we’ve barely had the time! That said, we also realize that if we don’t set some goals and share them with people we probably will continue to push off things that are important. So here’s our plan for March/ April.
1. We will be completing the painting of the RV interior by 3/7! That’s my this week goal!
2. We will be sharing more updates with you online, I know it’s been radio silence from us. That’s partly because I’ve not made blogging a priority due to trying to address and get my mental health under control and due to the increased workload we’ve had with new clients. BUT we are going to be dedicating more time to sharing our journey with you, because you’ve been asking for it and you guys have been SO supportive.
3. We will be spending most of the month of March in Colorado with family. As many of you know my (Sorcha’s) Grandparents have relocated from California to Colorado and my parents, two of my 3 sisters, my aunt and uncle and two cousins all live there. So we’re going to spend time with them! If you’re a client reading this don’t worry, everything will be the same. We’re going to be working during the day as we usually do. Nothing will change there.
4. In April we will make a big push with the RV, getting solar installed, installing the floors, getting our decor in, organizing it etc. We would like to be on the road by end of April in our fully self contained RV. THATS THE DREAM…. we will see if we can hit that goal!
5. We will start filming more for our Youtube channel. Our channel is real neglected. A lot of you loved our few videos, and honestly we did too, the big thing about video is it is really really time consuming and at this point it produces 0 income for us ( maybe down the line it will be a revenue stream). So we will be filming a series and likely releasing it at some point during the summer.
6. We will be creating some more technical resources! We’re really excited about our fledgeling ecommerce business! So if you’re someone who wants to learn how to make money online you’ll want to stay up to date on those!
And for now, I think that’s enough plans and goals.
I gotta be real with you, I sometimes wonder if you guys want to know about these things? I just feel like I am not that exciting of a person. It never ceases to blow my mind with how supportive y’all are with our endeavors. We are just a couple of normal dorks who decided to blow up our lives and do something different. I initially set out to create an online diary and it’s started to form this little community of loyal followers who are so genuine and encouraging… idk y’all are making me emotional. Thank you so much for your support. And let me know if these are the kinds of updates you want to hear about. I want to be sharing information that makes you excited.
Now that’s our plan through APRIL but we do have dreams/ plans for the rest of the year too that I want to touch on briefly. Partially because I want it to be a surprise and partially because I am not exactly sure how this is all going to happen yet. Our goal this year is to see our own country and probably Canada, to get a sense for where/ if we want to set down roots. We will be traveling around in our RV staying places for a month or two at a time, which is why we’re working on making the RV totally self contained, composting toilet, solar, the works. . . We want to do more slow travel this year as we found we did best in Europe when we had extended stays places. We’re currently looking at Louisville Kentucky, Indianapolis Indiana, and some parts of Main/ Vermont too. We are looking mainly at two types of cities, large metropolitan cities with low costs of living when compared to San Francisco, Portland and Seattle, and small towns with vibrant communities, like Petaluma, Sebastopol, Waco etc. We may end up going back to one of those places in the end but we’d like to see if we can find somewhere to land that’s more cost effective. (With real estate prices under 100K for a single family home).
But that’s all the news that’s fit to print today guys! I look forward to updating your more on our RV life, digital nomad life, and travels!