Where Would You Go?

When expats sit around and talk, the conversation covers the latest news about San Miguel, the outstanding weather (Can you believe it's December and we are eating dinner outside on the terrace!). We talk about the restaurants, people coming to visit, safety, our health (We are always grateful for our health.), and the weather.

Then the perplexing question. If you had to leave, where would you go? Very few say the United States, Herer's one answer in what will be a recurring theme of Mexico Calling from Family Rocketship:

It’s with a sad heart that I even write this. But I gotta say it.

We have decided to leave Cozumel, Mexico.

When I say leave, I don’t mean to spend the summer in Europe or the U.S. and then come
back. I mean, we’re moving away from here for an indefinite amount of time.

Mexico, is now part of who we are. We love it. It’s a home for us. In fact, 5 years ago,
I wrote a post called, “Confessions of an American Mexican”. I just gave it a quick read and
I still stand by every word I wrote.

I still love the word “amigo”.

If you’ve seen our timeline, you know that we first came to Cozumel back in 2012.
We planned to stay initially for only 6 months. “We’ll stay as long as it’s fun,” we said.

It turned into 2 ½ years!

When the time came to leave, we decided to check out Europe for a while and spent 5 months
there.

Then we headed back to Southern California for an “American Breather”. After about a year
there,
we got bored and ended up coming back to Cozumel.

Why We’re Leaving

It’s hard to put into words why were leaving. We love it here.

I think it’s mostly a feeling of wanting to make forward progress. We have some big goals
to knock out in the next two years. We feel like changing things up will help us do so.

We want to leave the familiar, comfortable life with the intention of getting uncomfortable
so that we can grow more.

Also, being totally honest, we get a lot many visitors! In 2017 alone, we averaged about
wo visits a month from friends and family coming to check out Cozumel.

Don’t get me wrong, we LOVE our friends and family. BUT, while they’re on vacation,
we’re trying to live a “normal life”. You know, work projects, school & homework,
swimming lessons, etc.

Sure we can say “no” to visitors I suppose. But actually, we can’t. And we don’t.
So while it’s not the main reason we’re leaving, it’s definitely on the list.

(*UPDATE – I’ve received some feedback on what I just said above and everyone seems 
to think I sound snotty. I promise it’s not meant that way! Yes, we worked hard to have a 
vacation lifestyle and enjoy having friends/family visit. But now, we’ve got some big plans 
and we need to roll up our sleeves and get to work.) 

When we left Cozumel the first time in 2015, we wept. Seriously, there was some ugly
crying happening. We didn’t realize how much we’d grown to love this place.

The culture, the food (tacos!), the beach, the ocean, the scuba diving, and of course, the
people.  I can almost cry just thinking about leaving now… I’m sure I will when the time 
comes, which is next month.

Where are We Going?

Obviously, the question is: where are we going next?

And that’s the hard question. When you work online and can live literally anywhere in the world,
how do you choose one place to actually live?

It all starts with your values. It’s followed closely by your goals and the stuff you just plain want to
learn and do and enjoy.

Because of that, we’re headed back to Europe. We’ve gone there a couple of times with the kids
and we’ve always loved it. But it’s always been to slow travel, never with the intention of
living there.

This time, we’re headed there with the intent to stay there for 6 months (it may become more –
“as long as it’s fun”)

So which country are we going to specifically?

( queue drumroll now… )

Whaaaatttt?????

I know, of all the cool places (like New Zealand, Bali, Italy, Peru, and more), why in the world
would we choose Scotland?

I know it’s not most people’s first choice for a vacation but it’s actually pretty perfect for us.
In fact, here are a few very-specific-to-us-right-now-in-our-life reasons why:

• It’s cold – I personally am more productive in the cold (I want to get a lot done this year)
• It’s cold – nobody will be tempted to come visit us and get their tropical vacay selfie pics 
• (correction: LESS people will be tempted to come and visit)
• It’s the U.K. – full of amazing culture that Heidi and I both love
• It’s the U.K. – which means we can stay for 6 months at a time on a tourist visa
• It’s freaking Scotland! Have you heard their accent? In real life it’s even better
• It’s freaking Scotland which means highlands to visit, castles to explore, and all the history
•  we can handle
• It’s a great base camp for the rest of Europe – seriously, for well under 50 euros a ticket,
• we can be in Rome or Prague or Istanbul or Mallorca or Lisbon or Marseille or well, you 
• get the point
• It’s a launching point for the next phase of our life – more on that later
• And a bunch more less tangible but still super valid reasons…

So there it is.

We love Mexico. There are certainly a lot of things we will desperately miss.

But we’ve got to move on to the next chapter in our lives. Even if it does mean trading in
tacos for (gulp) haggis.  

WHERE WOULD YOU GO?