NVR 301 – The Lowdown
After leaving our jobs, visiting Africa and South America and taking time to figure stuff out, we were ready to build our new life. Here’s what it’s all about.
Once you’ve witnessed poverty, abject poverty, you don’t forget the smell. It’s nothing like you’d expect (at least in our experience), and it’s nothing you can even imagine. The smell is surprisingly easy to recall, though, and we’re quickly reminded of it when confronted with particular triggers – intense smoke and dried shrimp being at the top of list (told you it was tough to peg!).
We can each tell when, after one of these triggers, the other’s mind is swirling back to the memories of Africa or South America: parentless kids roaming from shack to shack, distended bellies, lawlessness, 11-year-olds that look like six-year-olds, AIDS, kids caring for toddlers, trampled and crowded earth, roofless houses, cardboard doors, vicious dogs.
Despite all of that, there’s an overwhelming hope that outshines the despair. To stay sane – and to keep from spiraling into a bad place – that’s what we choose to focus on when the memories come back.
If hope can outshine that kind of despair, we can aim for a “No Vacation Required” life.
We’re inspired to strive for a NVR life by those we’ve met who don’t have the same luxury but somehow maintain more hope than so many who do. We owe it to them.
Having recently promoted our tagline – No Vacation Required – to our site name, we’ve been talking to a lot of intrigued people about just what NVR means. NVR is about living a dream life every day. It’s not about any one thing.
A NVR life is about seizing the freedom to do what fulfills you.
Right now, our version of a NVR life is largely centered around maintaining our virtual business so that we can be doing work we love, giving back, traveling and making a living from anywhere. It’s definitely not about constant travel. We worship travel and exploring the world, to be sure, but we’re also crazy about our home base. One day – if our stomachs get their way – NVR may very well be about living in Thailand or owning a bakery. Who knows!
For you, a NVR life might also include lots of travel. Or it might mean that you have the freedom to stay home and raise your children or, perhaps, go back to school. That’s the whole point – NVR is different for different people.
Our NVR life is both complicated and simple. We like it that way.
In a couple days, we jet off for Hawaii. We’ll embrace every plumeria filled second of every aloha wrapped day. But we’ll also get the itch to be back at our recharge station. Longing to wake up to the dense early morning fog slowly revealing Seattle and watching ferries glide across Puget Sound as if they’re auditioning for the opening sequence of Gray’s Anatomy.
Our NVR life is conflicting in other ways, too. On the one had, it’s predictable – we: rarely skip a workout, eat nachos nearly every Sunday and make detailed “to do” lists. On the other hand, it’s random – we: can plan (and leave for) a travel adventure all within a couple of days and even up-and-move to a different city simply because it feels like a good idea.
Some say we’re “disciplined” others say we’re “mysterious.” Some days are fantastic, others are less so. None of that matters because we live every day with intention.
We owe it to those in Africa and South America who have inspired us.
I think you hit it just right about your NVR life being both complicated and simple. I feel the same way (although I’m predictable about workouts and having pizza nearly every Friday). Life is full of unexpected events and serendipitous choices which can change what NVR means at any time. Right now, my NVR is being able to immerse myself in travel-related writing &networking and being ready to pack a bag and fly off somewhere at a moment’s notice (not sure where that will be next, however).
I’m always so impressed thinking about your inspiration being the experiences you’ve had in Africa and South America. You guys are great! Have a great time in Hawaii.
Hey, Cathy – Are you in our heads!? That’s exactly what we wanted to communicate – that NVR might mean one thing today and another tomorrow. Right now – for us – it’s about a lot of travel (and some other things as well). First and foremost, though, it’s about being happy and living with intention.
Maybe we can join you for pizza Friday sometime
I think my idea of a no vacation life would be to have the ability, at a moments notice, jet off to Europe for a weekend. I’d also like to go “summering”.
Your New England roots are showing with a word like “summering.” Be sure to call when you start jetting off to Europe for the weekend. We always have a bag packed and ready by the door.
Great article. Like Ben’s suggestions above! My19 yr old son is now in India for 3 months. He is training with an international sports team (cricket!), and he asked one of the superstar sportsmen “what is your favourite place in India” and he replied “the place with the best hotel”! Sad, yes? My son heads out after 8 hours training to a nearby slum to play with and teach the young kids how to play the game. So different people see different things!
Great example, John! And it further illustrates the core message – a NVR life is whatever makes your heart sing. We gotta meet these kids of yours one day; they sound like incredible people.
Hey thanks for this reply. Yeah great kids! I mentioned Alexander in India – just had several families of rats scurry from his kit bag!! Aaagh! A “Lowdown” indeed!
The beauty of a traveler’s life is that there are so many aspects to it. People like you guys who are doing great things, people like me who travels very differently and a sin fin of possibilities in between. But we all have one thing in common: see the world, meet new people and cultures and be integrated as opposed to being an on looker. For me that’s the difference between a tourist and a traveler.
The tourist/traveler distinction is a toughie for us. We tend to be at our best when we do what the locals do (where ever we are). At times, though, this comes at the cost of missing some fairly significant attractions. On the other hand, we’ve spent time in locations where we’ve been attraction dependent – never really getting the real feel of the location.
I would like to find a way to be location-independent so I can live wherever I want, for how long I want, and then move on if I want. You would think it would be easy in this day and age to make a living with just your laptop, but it’s been difficult for me to find a way to do it. I still hope, though. Because I have a lot of places on my bucket list, and if I can only travel 3-5 times a year (my limit given my current job and living situation), I won’t see them all in my lifetime.
Good point. A lot of people have e-mailed about that same dilemma, so we’re going to get into working virtually in future posts. (PS – We never thought we could do it either.)
You live a truly blessed life by the sound of it. If I could make my job work from anywhere, believe me, I would. It’s not really possible right now, so my plan is to take shorter trips and save money so I can retire early and travel/volunteer whenever I want.
We wish you could travel more if only so we can see more of your great pictures, Kristina
I’m hoping to launch my own ‘NVR’ lifestyle next year. I have had an amazing amount of good fortune in my life and I’m also frugal in the extreme which means that I don’t need a ton of money to support myself.
I thrive on change and new experiences and feel blessed that in today’s hyperfast, wired and globalized world this is actually an advantageous trait rather than in the good old days when it used to be seen as an indication of disloyalty and lack of character.
I look forward to keeping track of you guys and garnering inspiration from your adventures. I too want to give back and be less of a tourist and more of a traveler. I’m just across the water in Victoria, BC – perhaps we can all get together for pizza in Seattle in 2011.
Glad to see you mention being frugal, Susan. One of our first steps was simplifying big time (which included getting rid of a lot of stuff). Just the other day we were in a friend’s $75,000 car listening to him talk about how he could never afford to travel extensively. Believe me, we had the “maybe you could pull back in other areas” conversation.
Oh, and we’ll have pizza anytime (and we just learned of a great new place here in Seattle).
There is a lot to say on this one for me. But to keep it brief, I think it is a great thing to stop what you are doing to define how you see the world and then allow others in. Nicely done guys.
devin
Very cool and succinct way to say it, Devin – “stop what you are doing to define how you see the world”
That’s exactly what we needed to do a few years back (but, of course, didn’t know it right away). When people – like the friend in the $75000 car mentioned in a previous comment – mention wanting a different life, that’s the advice we give.
I think the NVR concept is a strong and interesting (not to mention well branded!) one. Seems to me that “vacation time” has been sold to us as a product – a horribly inadequate reward for an otherwise unhappy and unfulfilling year.
My idea of NVR is carving out my own viable life. Taking responsibility for myself. Not having a boss. Not selling my time and effort to others to generate money by working towards their goals. I want to work towards mine, ours.
Robin – Your take on this is fantastic. “Vacation time has been sold to us as a product.” Brilliant!
Great post guys! For me it’s much as you’ve said – living every day to its fullest and enjoying where you are every day. It’s horribly to live for vacations – counting down the days, weeks, months until you can escape a life you hate for just a short time. I can remember when I was living this life, and how I would start dreading the return to work and ‘real life’ almost as soon as my vacation started.
I’m not necessarily working less now, but I’m location independent and am living every day with the goal of making it inspiring. Instead of looking forward to 20 odd days a year of escape, I look forward to every day, regardless of where I’m located.
Location independence is huge! AND you’re able to look forward to every day.
I know what you men about returning to work in your “old” life. We used to have to insert a buffer day between vacation and work. A full day to simply get back into the right mindset.
I think it’s great that your NVR is somewhat defined yet loose enough to evolve parallel to the way you guys evolve and grow. Like you said, your NVR is different from everyones NVR, but that’s the beauty of it – reaching a common goal through various methods, all equally valid.
“Like you said, your NVR is different from everyones NVR.” Great point. and you’ve got it exactly right. For people who say things such as “I don’t want to travel” or “I’m perfectly happy” that’s the whole point. What constitutes a NVR life is a very personal thing – different for everyone. But we do try to steer people towards lot of travel
I love this NVR life y’all live. It inspires me to do more during my travels. I think it takes a lot of will to actually help other while you are traveling. Most people would never even think of doing stuff like that while on vacation. I hope I can touch lives and have lives touch me in that manner when I am on the road.
I am sure you will, Jaime. You’ll be blown away and inspired by the different people you’ll meet and cultures you’ll experience on your rtw journey.
I think you guys have the right idea about living your lives with intention. So many people go through life half asleep and don’t realize there is more to life than just getting by. I know I want more than that. It’s nice to connect with like-minded peeps like you guys!
We agree, Christy – One of the best things about all of this is connecting with like-minded people who “get” what we are doing. Glad you are among them “)
Awesome! When we started our adventures, I had an opposite, but similar thought.
“Everyday should be like a vacation.”
Meaning that everyday should be lived with enjoyment, purpose, fun, excitement and meaning.
We share goals. We’ve traveled a lot so far (with our five kids), but now we’re working on making it sustainable so we can do it full time, and spend more time giving back – something we’re passionate about doing.
Hi, Rachel – How incredible that you are exposing your 5 kids to that kind of lifestyle. Wow!
It’s funny that I’ve been following your blog for a few months and only just come across this post explaining they why of NVR. And a fine why it is too. I’d love to know more about the how too. Have you been planning this for a while, squirreling money away when you had day jobs, do you have a virtual business beside the blog etc? Another post for another day maybe!
Thanks, Jools! Yes, we’re gonna get into all that stuff in future posts.
My idea of a NVR is when the alarm does not have to go off six times before I get out of bed. It will only go off once because mentally I will be so geared and excited about starting the day.
PS Guys – No Facebook Page??? Been looking for it so I can follow it.