Livin' in Thailand on 3/4 Time

Sometimes I get jealous. I think, "What the heck am I doing with my life? -- Running around the world, photographing tribal communities, eating noodle soup from street vendors, or sitting in my Thailand pool side office, teaching the staff English.

I consider my friend who lives on Maui and is constructing a million dollar home, and I dream about that kind of life; fishing, sailing, beaches and a laidback lifestyle. Or like my good friends who live in an upscale community in Arizona, with golf and tennis everywhere. Why couldn’t I be happy with that? Or perhaps an approach to life more like our friends in Argentina who just completed a house the size of a castle, just to entertain. Would I be satisfied there?

Recently I read a online blog about living in an RV directly on the coast of Baja, Mexico, eating fish tacos and sipping margaritas! A simple life. Now that’s what I call living.

For our latest adventure, we had a laundry list of travel destinations: Cambodia, southern Thailand & Laos, Vietnam, and possibly a safari in Kenya. We bought books and did some research. We had just finished writing and producing

I'M THE ONE ON THE RIGHT

our popular book, The Adventurer’s Guide to Early Retirement, and then returned to Thailand for some R&R.

Flexibility is the key to our lifestyle, and surprisingly, we have not traveled to any of those locations after living eight months here. So what happened? We were invited to have an audio interview with Dr. Cynthia Barnett, a Retirement Specialist, and that propelled us into producing a video with Good Morning Chiangmai NEWS. Akaisha spoke at an International Living conference while I managed our website, learning more about software than I would like to admit. Robert Brokampt from The Motley Fool asked us to write a few articles for the newsletter, and we were happy to do so. Continuing to manage book sales - personally replying to each order - we finally produced our book so that it’s available via download.

All during our time here in Thailand we’ve enjoyed a constant stream of visitors, including new friends that found us by purchasing our book.

None of this was planned. Remember, our intentions were to travel!

It’s a lifestyle not a vacation is one of the chapters in our book and our manner of living clearly embodies this mantra. We enjoy each moment, not rushing to get to the next destination. Happily stuck in Chiang Mai, Thailand, we look forward to receiving our five-dollar two-hour massages regularly.

So, perhaps the grass is always greener just around the next turn, or across the next border or into a far away country, but wherever it is, I want to continue looking for it.

Maybe when Akaisha and I are grown up we’ll have that condo in “Boca” but until then I keep reminding myself, there are many ways to live a life.