We’re Natalie & Chris, founders of 'Live Free and Travel'
We met 15 years ago while working for a fast-paced e-commerce business, AO.com. While both our roles were commercial and highly analytical, Chris was more focused on strategy and the financials. I like to say I was the one in the detail, implementing and driving the changes. The same very much applies to how we work together today.
With an itch to explore, after leaving the company we took an extended break between jobs and went on a roadtrip across Europe for 3 months. This trip was life-changing and became the start of our dream to travel long-term. With this goal in mind, we did our research on successful long-term travel and significantly, we started letting out our home on Airbnb during any holidays we had.
We had a plan and after working for another 3 intense years, it was time to quit and go for it. The aim was to travel for 1 year and see how it went - were we able to sustain it financially, would our forecast and budgeting stack up, would we get fed up with each other and want to get back to normality? After the most exhilarating year exploring South East Asia, South & Central America, and Northern Europe we were completely converted to the lifestyle. It wasn't just the travel which we fell in love with, but the sense of freedom. After both working exceptionally hard on our careers for such a long time, not being accountable to someone else and being financially self-sufficient was mind-blowing and more freeing than we ever imagined.
Over the next decade, we were able to build a successful holiday let businesses remotely and continued to travel worldwide visiting over 30 countries. Some of our favourites include Vietnam, Bolivia, Malawi and Myanmar. We became experts in making our assets work for us, financial planning, and traveling smartly to continue to make this lifestyle not only sustainable but profitable.
Our daughter India was born in 2021 and our traveling looks a little different these days, though she has already built an impressive travel magnet collection for a 3-year-old. The setup we have has been hugely rewarding with a young child, particularly at the start when we didn't have to worry about either of us "going back to work". We are forever thankful we get to spend so much quality time together as a family and can continue to make this lifestyle work.
We have learned a huge amount over the past 10-15 years about travel, financial planning, passive income, holiday letting, growing a business remotely and being financially self-sufficient. With the right information and mindset, we truly believe this lifestyle is possible for anyone and we are excited to share our knowledge to make this a reality.
Live Free and Travel
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