This holiday season, Gabby and I are being a good daughter and son by spending a month at home with our families in New York. It’s been 2 years since we spent any real “quality time” here, and the more we catch up with friends, the more we realize that our lives are pretty much a mystery to everyone we know.

Now, we get it. We’ve lived in a LOT of places over the past 3 years. Even we have a hard time keeping track sometimes. That’s why we set up this blog in the first place, so we could have a virtual record of our travels as well as an open line of communication between you and us.

So what the heck have you been up to?

Well, we’ve been developing a lifestyle of continuous travel by working seasonal jobs in interesting places. Instead of staying in one place and traveling on our vacation time, we’ve been traveling to the places we want to see, then finding temporary work and housing. So far this lifestyle has offered us great opportunities such as spending two summers working in historic Skagway, Alaska, or working at some of the best ski resorts in Colorado, and skiing all winter for free.

So you didn’t like Alaska? Why’d you leave?

It’s not that we don’t like Alaska, or Oregon, or Colorado. We love all of them! But it’s the road that calls us back. Recently, it’s become clearer and clearer that traveling isn’t as much about the destination as it is the trip. You see, in between seasonal jobs we’re able to take off as much time as we want to travel. For instance, our jobs in Alaska ran from May to September, and our jobs in Colorado were from November to April. So when the job in Alaska ended, we were able to take an entire month, to slowly travel the west coast before we had to head out to Colorado. This is what we call gainful unemployment!

I don’t get it, how can you afford to take a month off from work twice a year?

Traveling constantly does come with its sacrifices. For example, all of our combined material possessions fit within our Honda CRV. Being able to pack EVERYTHING into a car is huge for our mobility. While living in CO we often joked that we could pack up all of our stuff and be gone within 12 hours. That’s because our big beautiful apartment had NO furniture. That’s right, for 6 months we survived without even a bed. That’s not to say we couldn’t have picked up a bed from goodwill and gotten rid of it just as easily within a few months, but it just didn’t seem necessary at the time.

Also, if you’re strategic about choosing your destinations, you can stand to make a lot of money in a seasonal job. This is especially true if you work tipped positions. While we were in CO, I landed a job serving in a high-end hotel restaurant. The tourists in Breckenridge aren’t exactly hurting financially, and when the average check is over $70 per head, you stand to make a pretty good tip, throw in the free ski-pass and lessons (valued at over $1,000) and you’ve got it made. However, making money alone isn’t good enough. You always have to budget enough that you can make it to your next destination. It takes sacrifice, especially when your friends are constantly trying to drag you out for “just one” drink.

But what about your future? Aren’t you worried about your career?

As far as we can tell right now, this is our future. We’re learning everything we can about continuous travel so that we can continue to lead this amazing lifestyle. We have no intentions of slowing down, or settling down in the foreseeable future. We’re gaining invaluable life experiences when we’re young. We’re seeing the world and experiencing it at a time in our lives when it still has the ability to change us. We’re learning practical new things everywhere we go, and becoming more rounded individuals in the process. When the time comes for a career, our resumes are going to look amazing.

So, what’s next?

We’re going to the Grand Canyon! The National Parks offer lots of job opportunities on a short term basis (minimum 3 months) for people who aren’t afraid of being somewhat isolated from society. The rent is cheap ($20 a week), and there aren’t a lot of opportunities for spending, so you can save almost all of what you make. We knew after seeing 2 sunrises and a sunset that we had to go back. Having three months to peacefully live and work at the Grand Canyon will allow us to experience the canyon at our own pace, and we’ll never feel like we have to rush anything. There are endless opportunities to photograph the wildlife, as well as one of the most spectacular nighttime skies you can see anywhere, not to mention the canyon itself!

How can I get started?

If you’re serious about leaving home, getting a job elsewhere, and living someplace amazing for a while, check out coolworks.com. Coolworks has job postings from around the world in amazing places. I promise you won’t regret it. You’re going to see amazing places, meet awesome people who travel, just like you, and you’re going to have epic experiences you wouldn’t have dreamed of having while living at home. You’re going to get so much more out of your travels by taking it slow and not having to cram it all into 10 vacation days a year. And, once you’ve taken that first step, the rest is up to you. Now get out there and start traveling like you mean it!

If you want to find out more about how we got started or want some help in getting started yourself and finding the right place for you, please feel free to reach out to us with any questions or comments or requests. Send us an email or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. We would love to help you experience what the world has to offer.