Ask The LIPs: Where Would You Go?

I’ll start this off (especially as people have been asking where we’re going next!!)….

Our first new destination of 2008 is South Africa and more specifically, Cape Town.

Why? Because we’ve not “done” much of Africa before and everybody we’ve ever spoken to about South Africa absolutely raves about it. In fact almost everyone we know who has been said they’d love to live there…

It’s also pretty good value to live there, mostly English speaking, nice weather at this time of year and has high speed internet (although I’ve been hearing some dodgy reports about the speed so will reserve judgement on that!).

We arrive in about 10 days - unusually for us, we’ve got no accommodation sorted yet. Worried? Nah

I’m going to Costa Rica in february. To visit some friends AND to do some work. This will be an experiment for me to see how I will pull of the LIP lifestyle.

Why Costa Rica? Because it’s a beautiful country, they speak spanish (which I love and speak a little), nice beaches and wildlife, I have friends there and they have a good infrastructure.
But the most important, it’s a laid-back, Latin country, hooray!

I’d like to go to Finland - somewhere clean and organised and quiet.

When you live in “paradise” for a long time you begin to see beyond the facade and look at the downside. Maybe that’s one good reason for adopting the LIP lifestyle - never being in a place long enough to get beyond the discovery phase or having the ability to up and go somewhere else if/when you reach that point

I would head to Puglia, the benefits of Itlay - excellent food and wine, but without the excessive costs of more developed areas such as Tuscany.

With regards to Chris’s comments about Finland - it is an exellent place, I went snowboarding to Iso Syote last Feb, but the cost of living is quite expensive.

The weirdest thing about Finalnd is their off-license delivery service. In a bid to curb alcholism, your booze has to be delivered to your home by the off license. At 20 euro for a very average bottle or wine it is not cheap to drink in Finland.

I say: GO!

Go wherever your heart desires. We maintain a LIP lifestyle via sailboat because the sailboat allows us to explore places that can be seen no other way. Others look for a inexpensive place to work and live, others a exotic location.

Having pursued this lifestyle now for almost 2 years, I think the key is not the cheapest place or the hippest place or even the farthest away place.

The best place to start, is not a physical place at all. So I postulate that it is not a physical location that you have to find, but a mental one.

YOU MUST GO!

You might hate it. You might love it. Once your out of the box, pick some place that will inspire you. One that will remind you that you are out of the box, but out of the box means that you will see and do more than you can ever imagine.

When you start to see that so much more is possible than you have ever dreamed, then you will become truly location independent. But you will never know until you try. Besides you can always go back to the box…

My first place would be Cape Town and it has been my plan to go work from there for a few years now. In fact, on my second trip there I bought an apartment, which I know is exactly what LIP is NOT about!
I’m glad you’re heading there Lea, it is the most amazing and captivating place. The type of place that will crop up in your thoughts for long after you return.
The reason I’d go there, is that I already know I love it. The weather is beautiful, amazing waves, and the people are so gentle and kind. Sadly, the best part for me was the food! I can safely say I’ve had my best 3 meals ever there, which factors quite high in my priorities!
Lea if you have any questions, I’d be glad to help wherever I can. My parents spend every winter there, so I know quite alot about Cape Town at this stage.

Also, love the blog, so inspiring, so thanks!

I’d go to the Tibet region. Because I like to spend my euros where they matter and if I’m location independent, I might as well go to a really remote place. Actually, I’ll need some Internet connection at least ! Satellite access will be enough (but expensive…).

I’d say go where people treat you well and more important, treat each other well - South East Asia comes at the top spot for this matter. Becoming location independent should be a matter of searching for the right place to nourish your life as well as enjoying the moment, so why not picking up the place saying “welcome” and “thank you” as daily conversation, not as mere courtesy?

I definitely have the urge to vagabond for a while. With cell internet and even satellite units, RV living is a real option. I think summer in Montana and winter in San Diego sounds great!

Europe!
Last year, my wife and I spent 10 days in France. We loved it. There was a little village in the South of France we stayed at, Labastide Esparbairenque. It was a beutiful place. My wife wants to move there. Once I become a LIP, I can live anywhere I want.

I would head for Tashkent, Uzbekistan. I spent a few years living in Moscow but never made it as far as Tashkent. The closest I made it was Irkutsk and Lake Baikal (which in the strict geographical sense is not close). Despite the fact that I’ve traveled around Asia and Europe I’ve never made it close to the Silk Road and it’s always been a fascinating passage to me. My wife grew up in Tashkent, and even though her entire family emigrated and she has no relatives there now, I think she could appreciate returning to see how things have changed in the last 13+ years since she left. My travel experiences have always been richest when they have been rooted in the unknown (to a Westerner) reaches of the world. Tashkent represents the opposite end of the world to me.

If I were to leave today, I would go first to Phuket Island in Thailand. It would be heaven for me to have all the rich tropical fruit, tofu curries, and deep tissue massages that my vegan heart desires! They call Thailand the “Land of Smiles,” and I know I would be smiling on the beautiful white sand beaches. I think I could make a living selling my hand-painted shirts and giving beach exercise classes.I would study Thai cooking and dance and explore the islands and markets. It would be a rich yet uncomplicated life.

Wow what an adventurous lot you all are!

@ Neil Matthews - alcohol delivered to your home in Finland….started to sound like a cool place to live until you mentioned the price!

@ Michael - totally agree…whether you love or hate a place you’re in, at least you’ve made a move somewhere and have a new, fresh perspective on which to base your next move. That’s certainly what we found when we were in a couple of places last year - they weren’t right for us but just being there and identifying that helped us decide where to go next.

@ Maria - an apartment in Cape Town…it doesn’t happen to be available at the moment does it?!?!? Thank you for your offer of help, that’d be fantastic and I may well get in touch…glad you love it there. Everyone we speak to seems to feel the same so we’re really, really excited about getting there (altho still no accommodation sorted yet - very unusual for us!!) and can’t wait to fall in love with it like everyone else seems to.

@ Pierre - satellite internet access? Yuck…but yes, Tibet would be fascinating.

To Isao, Shawn, Never The Same River Twice, Brip Blap, Charlie…I look forward to hearing of your experiences when you get to these places

When we first started our trip a year ago, we had Hanoi, Cape Town and Buenos Aires on the brain as places to settle down. We’ve realized since then the extent that climate, food, people and cost-of-living make on our happiness level in a place. Isao, I completely agree with you about Southeast Asia.

Bangkok has replaced Hanoi as our top destination, but we’re looking forward to visiting Cape Town (Lea, curious to hear how things go when you’re there) and Buenos Aires later in the year to see how they compare.

Brip Blap, I was surprised to see Tashkent on this list - it’s not a place that comes up often. We were amazed at how cosmopolitan Tashkent had become when we visited this summer. Big brother is still ever present though.

@Audrey: Honestly, Tashkent might not even be the first place in Uzbekistan I would choose to visit if it wasn’t for the fact that my wife was born and spent her childhood there. When I make it to Tashkent visits to Samarkand and the Registan would be high priority as well. It’s funny that you say big brother is ever present, though. When I lived in Russia in the mid-90s big brother had completely disappeared. America had more of a “big brother” presence than Russia. Putin has probably reinstated the old ways now, but at the time, Moscow at least felt pretty much like the wild wild east…

@Brip Blap: Unfortunately, I think your last sentence is correct. People we spoke to in Uzbekistan, from Nukus to Tashkent, said that life was more open and free in the early to mid-nineties. We heard similar views in other Central Asian countries. It is a fascinating region, though.

Without question, Bali. I’d always been interested and when I read Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, it solidified it for me. We’re in the process of looking at long term rentals there now. The expatriate community there is a large one, and we’re homeschooling anyway, so it seems like now’s as good a time as any.

After that, Sweden. Then Ireland. We’re finally coming to the realization that world travel — the kind where you don’t just go to the beach for a week — is far more accessible than so many people realize. In a couple with two self-employed adults and homeschooled children, it’s no more expensive to live there than it is here. Generally, it’s far less so.

It’s definitely been a process of understanding for us. We’ve been working hard to reduce our dependence on North American stuff — the clutter and the fast food and the cable TV. It used to seem like these things were almost mandatory to a decent life, but when we discovered how much richer our lives could be if we went without them, the possibilities spoke for themselves.

Freaking fantastic blog, by the way. Awesome stuff.

@ Audrey & @BripBlap - your conversation is fascinating - it’s a part of the world I have so far never had an urge to visit and can’t quite imagine what it might be like…perhaps that’s a good reason to visit.

@ Naomi Dunford - welcome and thanks for stopping by! I am so glad you mention homeschooling and it’s fab to find people out there living the LIP life with kids (it’s what we want to do eventually but our families obv have reservations about how ‘good’ it is for kids yadda yadda) - the more “evidence” I collect of others doing it, the better! Jack looks gorgeous by the way - a real rugrat in that photo!!!! You are so right about the cost - we found that living in the Caribbean in a nice 2 bedroom apartment was cheaper than living in Nottingham (UK) - most people never think you can live your *dream* life on the same salary you currently have….that’s what I love about the LIP lifestyle - it’s just convincing others it can be done!

Mine’s a little more boring than the others. First, I’d like to travel around the U.S. and Canada some more. I’d like to see the sites (natural and man-made). Then, I’d probably visit my sister who’s moving to Cambodia.

Where would I go?

First, I’d go to Japan - not Tokyo though, somewhere more rural… more “real”.

Then, I’d head to Thailand, and then to visit some dear missionary friends in Laos.

After that… I guess I’d just go with my gut and follow my instincts regarding where to go next. After visiting Japan, Thailand and Laos my mind would certainly be more open to new ideas and experiences.

It’s hard to imagine leaving a small town in America and living abroad.

We get into this mindset that we’re the ones that are “normal”, and everyone else is different. I’m American, therefore, Americans are normal. If I were Canadian, Canadians would be normal, and Americans would be different. I never meant to think in such a manner, lol.

The blogosphere has the ability to really rock one’s perception of things. My favorite bloggers are not American… they are foreign and yet we have so much in common, in a lot of cases the only barrier is language.

One of my life’s goals is to learn to converse in many different languages, to get out there in the world and just talk to people.

How much fun would that be?

Hi Sakura - thank you for the thoughtful comment. You are so right about believing we’re the “normal” ones - what we’ve found really, really interesting on our travels is that ultimately many places are the same as each other. The people have the same challenges, problems and joys - the cities have the same buildings, governments and businesses etc. etc. I think you have to travel to the remotest parts of the world to find people who are “different”.

I agree - being able to speak to people in their own languages is exceptionally rewarding…it’s a shame that it’s so hard to learn (for me at least - and I like learning languages!!).

I first went to Buenos Aires. Cheap, great infrastructure and you can stay pretty much forever on a tourist visa. I’m now in northeastern Brazil and thinking about my next destination. I would prefer 180 days per locatio, but it seems difficult in some countries. Panamá seems interesting, but with their recent changes to visa law I’m unsure about running the risk of being kicked out after 30 days. Any tips on islands that have high speed (at least 1mbps) internet?

I love China!
Check out places like Dali in Yunnan or Yangshuo/Guilin. China is exotic, fun, (very) cheap and you can get all tech gadgets even in cities of remoter areas (GPRS/EDGE everywhere, ADSL nearly everywhere). … and as nearly everywhere in asia: great food! (same goes for thailand)