One of my favourite books in recent years is The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. He talks about simplifying your life and focusing more on living rather working. So instead of working hard your whole life until retirement and then being free to do what you’ve always wanted, he advocates doing what you’ve always wanted right now because who knows, you might not even be around or capable of doing things like travelling later in life.

This is one of the most motivational books I’ve ever read and it made me move towards living my dream instead of just dreaming. A big part of what Tim talks about is travelling. But not just going on holiday for a week or two but spending months or even years exploring a region as well as living as an expat to really learn about a country and its culture instead of just seeing the main touristy sites everyone else sees.

Living in Europe is my dream and I love being in Paris and being able to visit another European country with just a couple of hours of travel. I’ve loved doing this for the last few years but I want more now. I want to get off the beaten path and explore more unusual places. I want to go backpacking around the Middle East. I want to spend a few months in Buenos Aires learning Spanish. I want to visit the Galapagos Islands. I want to spend a few weeks on safari in Africa. There are so many places to see and things to do.

Of course the problem with just packing up and going is money. But I work from home anyway so all I need is my computer and internet access and I can still earn my living. The thing is, I want to have a home to come back to. I can’t keep paying rent here and pay all my travel expenses too. The only solution I can see is to buy an apartment somewhere in Europe, for cash, which I can use as a base and where I can leave all my stuff. No rent or mortgage to pay will give me the freedom to travel for months at a time and live more of a vagabond lifestyle. I just have to figure out how and where I can buy something with the little cash I have.

I’ve been thinking a lot about all of this in recent months and today I watched this video by Rolf Potts in which he discusses his lifestyle, which is exactly how I would like to live. I definitely recommend watching it if you want a little inspiration.