BIG changes have been made and things are happening! We now have only 31 weeks and four days until we depart Kaua’i!
We had planned to leave in December of next year and fly to Japan, but will now leave our island home in early May when we fly to YaYu’s graduation. We’ll be in Pennsylvania for six days helping YaYu move and watching her graduate, but instead of returning to Kaua’i at the end of our visit we’ll instead be departing for a nearly three month stay in Strasbourg, France. After that we’ll head to the UK, staying eight weeks in Oxford followed by another eight weeks in Bath before flying to Tokyo for a 90-day stay and spending Christmas with family there.
Almost two weeks ago Brett and I sat down and crunched the numbers and realized it made little sense for us to return to Kaua’i, financially and otherwise, and that our savings at that point would be more than adequate for us to begin traveling again in May. By departing for Europe from the east coast we will save the cost of returning to Kaua’i and be able to put those savings toward our flight to France. And, instead of paying rent here as we watched our possessions continue to slowly dwindle we could instead be living in France and England. We spent some more time working up a budget and then pulled the trigger.
We have reserved and paid for a charming Airbnb rental in the Petit France neighborhood of Strasbourg. Careful thought was given to whether we should rent again from our former host, but we decided for the length of time there we wanted something a bit larger this visit. The apartment is in a wonderful location, perfect for walking the city and catching the tram, and has everything we look for in a rental except a washing machine. However, we used a laundromat when we were in Strasbourg before without a problem, and know we can do it again. The host gave a nearly 50% discount because of the length of our stay making the rental very affordable.
We are still working out our departure timeline, but for now plans are to move out of our apartment at the end of April, and stay at one of the beach cottages at Barking Sands for our final week on Kaua’i. We’ll hold a garage sale mid-April, and list the furniture and car then as well (we’ll rent a car as soon as it sells). A couple of boxes will be mailed to WenYu for storage but hopefully everything else will be gone before we depart.
Our downsizing efforts will speed up again after the first of the year, but for now we’re focusing on the girls’ visit at Christmas and pulling things together for that. We feel a real sense of excitement though that plans have been speeded up and that we’ve made our first commitment. We have dreamed of returning to Strasbourg ever since we left in 2018, and nearly three and a half years later that dream is finally going to come true, and sooner than we imagined.
The Occasional Nomads 
What exciting news. The next 31 weeks will fly by and as we all know none of us are not getting any younger so time to get busy living our best lives.
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I feel the same, that the these weeks are going to fly by – I’m just hoping we can get everything done (especially selling things). We decided too that it was time for us to get on with things and, as you say, live our best life.
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That’s so exciting! Your downsizing is inspiring to me, even if my own attempts are far removed from what you have accomplished. As I’ve been packing and purging, I feel good that the 20+ bins of Christmas decor we had when we first moved in 2015 will soon be down to just seven or eight. 🙂
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Debbie – I love seeing your Christmas trees! Christmas things were hard to get rid of, but last year we sent each of the girls a box of “their” ornaments, and will send our son his this month (with fingers crossed that they get there by Christmas).
Anyway, the downsizing feels good. I have yet to miss anything we’ve gotten rid of so far, so know it’s the right time in our lives to let go of this stuff. We are still works in progress though.
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Wow, wow, wow! How exciting! And you will be busy. Your home away from home in Strasbourg looks lovely. Yaay! The Nomads will be on the road again.
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We can’t wait to start traveling again, and it’s been exciting to make plans and reservations once again. We’re both looking forward to doing even slower travel this time, and finding out more about the places we stay and the surrounding area.
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Wow, that’s big news! I was supposed to go on a trip within the US last week and had to cancel because I came down with what I thought may have been COVID, but it turned out to be a sinus infection. You just never know anymore since the symptoms are so similar. Good thing I bought travel insurance, but it was disappointing to have to cancel because I was looking forward to a change of scenery. I need to get back to downsizing my stuff. I was on a roll but getting sick put me behind, but reading your post motivates me to get back at it!
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I’m sad that you had to cancel, and sorry to that you had to worry about having COVID. Hopefully this is something you can rebook for the future.
Downsizing and getting rid of our stuff is my biggest worry right now. I’m erring on the side of early is better for most things – by Christmas I hope to have nothing but the basics (sofa, dining table, dishes, etc.) left and then will move on to those things after the holidays, and getting the very, very few things we’re keeping sent back to WenYu to keep for us while we travel.
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So, so exciting, so, so happy for you, and guess what? We will be in Strasbourg for at least a weekend sometime next June! We are planning to spend the entire month of June, and part of July, in Stuutgart, Germany, visiting our Daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughters, but will be train-tripping several times on our own to give everyone a break, and Strasbourg, France is on the list of places we’ll be visiting, along with Munich and Berlin.
Goodness, it would be fun to meet up with you two for coffee, or whatever!
In the meantime, I am so looking forward to your upcoming adventuring, and I think you are extremely wise to go sooner. Your plans make complete sense, and why thus delay. Congrats!!!
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Tamara – I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to meet up with you in Strasbourg – we will be there from mid-May to early August so it will be very doable. We could coffee or perhaps something more spectacular!
We have been itching to travel, and it was so much fun to figure out that we could get started sooner rather than waiting until later. It’s on!
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What a great plan! The apartment looks wonderful and sounds like it’s in a great place. We’re thinking about going to France also. Looked into getting the French health pass, but couldn’t quite figure it out. You can be our guinea pig. 🙂 Hopefully you won’t need one by then.
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We love the apartment, and . . . learned this past week that it’s air-conditioned (!!), a good thing as we’ll be there when summer heat is at its peak.
We’ve been looking into the French health pass, but so far there doesn’t seem to be a concrete answer on how to get one or even if we really need one (Rick Steves said he just showed his CDC vaccine card and got in everywhere). The EU is also getting ready to require a new visa for Schengen and other countries; it won’t be mandatory until the end of next year and strictly enforced beginning in 2023. We’re going to go ahead and apply for it now though – you can either carry it on your phone or print it out and carry with your passport.
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Love the plan! As everyone has already commented: how exciting!!! The weeks will fly by. I am sure you will constantly have things to do: selling stuff, packing, bookings to make, cost comparisons. I look forward to read about it all.
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There is so much to do before we go, but I try to take a moment almost daily to think of all we have accomplished so far. It could be worse. We’re excited to be making reservations again and putting a plan in place, especially after sitting still for so long.
Have you started your big year off yet?
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Last term of the year starts this Tuesday. So one more term of school for us – 11 weeks – then we are off!!! I can handle the bureaucratic bullshit for this term. Just.
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What amazing plans. This is such an inspiration for financial independence!
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We are ready to go, and hope we can travel for several more years before it’s finally time for us to really settle down.
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YIPPPEEE! So happy & excited for you! I’ve got to imagine that living in Strasbourg will be cheaper than Hawaii, even though I know you have black belts in Hawaiian frugality.
I am hoping to leave in early January to start nomading. I still had 20 months left on my passport, but after finding out that the state department is taking 18 weeks to process RENEWAL passports, I decided to send mine in early for renewal. Might want to take a look at how much life your passports have left on them.
I am planning to be in the UK October & part of November 2022, and, if I’ve calculated it correctly, you will be too. Would love to connect. One thing I saw was that you are planning to spend 16 weeks in the UK. I thought American passport holders were only allowed 90 days at a time in the UK and 90 days in the Schengen Zone. If we can stay longer, please let me know! I have planned a stay in Cyprus to make the 90 day restrictions work.
I joined the freebie version of Scott’s Cheap Flights and the deals to Europe right now into May are UNBELIEVABLE! $350 RT to Madrid, Oslo, Stockholm, etc. I need my passport before plunking down moolah.
Again I am THRILLED for you! So exciting and so motivating.
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Libby – U.S. citizens can stay in the UK for six months without a visa! 90 days is the rule for the Schengen zone though, so technically you could do 90 in the zone, 6 months in the UK, then back for 90 in Europe, which is probably what we’d be doing if not for wanting to go to Japan.
I should check out Scott’s again, but these days we fly extra comfort for long flights, and unfortunately there are few deals for those. But for those short flights . . . I need to check them out!
We got new passports earlier this year, so we’re good to go for the next 10 years. Don’t know what’s happening now, but we were told 18 weeks for processing and both Brett and I got our passports back within two weeks!
We will be in Bath from early October to the end of November, and if there a chance for us to get together, LET’S DO IT!!! Stay in touch and we’ll work something out.
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6 months in the UK! Yeeesss! Thanks for the info. Before the pandemic, I had read that however long a US traveler stayed in the UK they then had to be outside of the UK for the same amount of time – up to 6 months. I just did some research and couldn’t confirm that on the UK government site. I think this is why it got into my head 90 days at a stretch. Thank you for shifting my brain 🙂
You were so lucky with the two weeks passport turnaround! I paid the extra $60 expediting fee and sent in my passport three weeks ago. Hoping fervently that I will receive the new one by the end of November.
Looking forward to meeting you both in person in a year!!
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I could never find information either about how long you had to be out of the UK before reentering. I would guess it’s around 90 days, but who knows? I believe you can also stay in Ireland for 6 months without a visa, but I’ll have to check again to be sure.
I’m looking forward to meeting you as well!! We’ll make it happen.
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Great timing. I think travel this winter will be tough with variants and problems with heat…but that should back off in late April. Summer in Europe is perfect ( with the added plus that I think many will still be at home making moving around easier).
So very excited for you! As we used to say, “ I can wait anywhere for a year :)”
We are also taking a hard look at our numbers and may do the Alaska highway in July…time is speeding up the older we get. Hubby hitting 72 is mind boggling. Europe is still in the hopper for 2023 when our oldest grad turns….16!
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Rick Steves said the biggest difference right now in Europe is the lack of crowds – fingers crossed we’re as lucky next May.
We realized that we really weren’t solving any problems by coming back to Kaua’i for another six months. Yes, our bank account would have been fatter, but that didn’t really put us much ahead of anything else. I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am to be starting in May instead.
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I had a feeling you’d head for Strasbourg again. It really looks wonderful, cute apartment, the great location for you. But, as you leaving Kauai for good? Then what?
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We love Strasbourg, and are looking forward to really settling in this time like we did in England in 2019.
If it were just Brett and I to think about we’d come back to Kaua’i, but it’s really too far away from our family, both our son and the girls. Hard for us to travel so far (and expensive), and the same for them. We plan to travel as long as we can, and then, believe or not, will probably end up in Seattle, pretty much equal distance between our son and the girls, and more affordable for us to get to them as well. We’re not crazy about the weather, but otherwise it fits everything else we need and want when full-time travel ends.
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Wow! I can tell from reading this how excited you are! Looking forward to following your next great adventure.
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We are super excited! We’re having fun now making plans and reservations, and also planning for our exit from Kaua’i. Next May will be here before we know it!
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Wonderful news. Can’t wait to hear more. Now more than ever I live vicariously thru your posts.
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We are so eager to begin traveling again, Vivian. We love Kaua’i, but have really been just sitting around for the last 18 months or so and we are ready to start moving again. Get ready for more pictures and stories!
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Oh Nicula, we are so excited. We talk about it every day now. We just have a few more things to nail down for our first year, and then it will just be the effort of putting it all together and getting rid of our things so we can go.
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I can tell how excited you are and I must admit that your excitement is infectious. Watch out everyone, the Occasional Nomads are on the move again ( almost )🤣! So happy for you!!!
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The blogger behind Oui In France(her name is Diane) has great current explanations about the Covid pass in France and what to do to get the French equivalent of the vaccination card. She lives in France, has also a YouTube channel, and her audience is comprised of American travelers as well as expats living in France. Although things about the French health pass may change by the time you’ll be heading to France, I think she is a reliable source of information.
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Thank you! I will look into it – everything else I’ve found has been VERY confusing.
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Thanks Niculina for this website suggestion. Oui in France has a link to the French application site. I opened an account with http://www.demarches-simplifiees.fr to start the application for a “passe sanitaire.” The instructions appear in French but there is a button to convert to English.
To apply you need: a scan of your passport, a scan of your vaccine card, a scan of your travel tickets, travel dates, and an address within France. Only vaccines from the four EU approved pharmaceutical companies will be accepted: Pfizer, Moderna, J&J, and AstraZeneca.
Under FAQs it says they are processing requests for the QR codes as fast as possible but the application volume is high. They do not provide an estimate for how long it takes to receive the QR code.
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Thanks for the further information, Libby! We start on our pass next year, probably in late January or early February and hope that is enough time!
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You are very welcome, I’m glad you found it useful!
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Oh my goodness! How exciting that you are able to return to your adventures sooner!!! I’ll be waiting and watching online as “we” travel once again 🙂
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