12 months, 12 cities, 365 new experiences. I left the States on October 1st (two days before my birthday) with a one-way ticket to Seoul. My 29th year on this planet is going to be a journey for the books.
Even though it sounds like it, this next year is not a vacation (not saying it won’t be one heck of a time though). Stop rolling your eyes…seriously, I will be working. More on that below.
My first post dove into why I decided to pack up and buy a one-way ticket to the other side of the Earth (you can read about the four reasons not to pack up your life and travel abroad in it). A lot of you have asked questions about what I’m actually doing, how I can do it, etc. etc. so I want to cover that briefly before we dive in. But first, some Korean fried marshmallows.
WHAT I’m doing
I signed up to live and work in cities around the world through We-Roam. We-Roam is essentially a glorified travel agency for people who can work remotely.
Instead of paying monthly rent to a landlord, I pay a monthly fee to We-Roam. The cost covers most of the experience, including: housing, utilities, internet, office, flights and transportation between each city, volunteer opportunities, networking events, language classes, fitness classes and more.
WHEN I’m doing this
October 1st, 2017 thru September 30th, 2018.
WHERE I’m going
One month in each of the following cities, in order: Seoul, Chiang Mai, Hanoi, Phnom Penh, Bali, Taipei, Melbourne, Buenos Aires, Lima, Medellin, Barcelona, Lisbon. You can view the itinerary here (just tap LYRA on the page).
HOW I’m able to do this
I launched Refresh Consulting this spring as a way to leverage the skills I developed over the past four years running Valor to help entrepreneurs and business owners grow and scale early stage companies (typically post-seed pre-A). I had been working almost entirely remotely, so as long as I’m getting results for my clients, whether I’m in Boston or Bali doesn’t make too much of a difference.
Co-working spaces are a great place to meet new interesting people and companies (and potential clients), and on this next year I’ll be working out of 12 different spaces where dozens of different companies work out of. It’s a win-win. This month we’re at WeWork Eujiro and the place is stunning.
WHY We-Roam -
Why We-Roam vs. solo traveling? The convenience and freedom from common traveler headaches. Yes it is more expensive than doing this could be on my own. But for me, especially having never traveled like this before, there is a lot of value in having someone else handle the logistics.
Most importantly, going through We-Roam will free up a significant amount of my time so I can focus on working and exploring the places I’ll be living in, not booking flights and accommodations. And all things considered, it’s actually still cheaper than living in Boston :)
Coming next -
What to expect from this blog and what my goals are for the next 12 months. But for now, I’m heading out to play table tennis with some locals :-)
