I just wanted to take a moment to tell you thank you for all that you have done for me. I first saw you and Amelia on YouTube back in 2022-23 about your life experiences in Ecuador. I moved to Cuenca from Denver in early 2024 and am currently waiting on my permanent residency visa.
My main motivation for moving abroad was that I didn’t want to work until I died.
During COVID we lost a lot of friends and I was afraid I would die in my job, or have to become a Walmart greeter for the rest of my life and I could not see a way to make ends meet retiring in the US. So, money was a motivating factor.
When I turned 60, I realized that my life had passed in a flash.
In my mind, I was still in my twenties with plenty of time ahead of me – plenty of time for me to eventually “do the things I really want to do.”
I was so busy working making my employer more profitable that I lost track of my youth.
My husband Mike (age 73) and I (age 68) moved from Hudson, Ohio (in northeast Ohio) to Cuenca, Ecuador on May 15, 2024 and we have never regretted our decision.
Due to the nasty politics going on in the U.S., the rising cost of food and healthcare and the hot humid summers and icy cold winters in Ohio, we decided that our final years should be spent someplace more acceptable to us.
We’d always been very drawn to South America, and dreams about moving to Buenos Aires, Chilean Patagonia, or the hills of Uruguay colored our life—to the extent that when we sat our children down and told them we were moving to Ecuador, they just shrugged and said, “Okay.” It was about time.
My name is Steven, 60 years old, retired teacher since a year and a half ago. After researching Cuenca and some other places, I realized I didn’t have to convalesce in Tucson the rest of my life due to limited financial funds. Now I am a Slow Traveler, traveling the World with my Traveling Partner, Louise.
Originally, my main reason for moving abroad was political. But then, my mom (who was living with me at the time) and I traveled to Ecuador to check it out, and we both fell in love with the country, the people, the food and the climate. At that point, we wanted to move to Ecuador for the right reasons.
Here’s an alarming statistic: nearly half of all Americans are getting sucked further and further into the whirlpool of debt.
Not too long ago, that was our story too. But today, we’re writing a very different chapter of our lives, one that’s debt free and set on another continent, far from the United States.
Wondering how we got here? Here’s our story…
We kept track of every expense for our first 6 months of slow travel and we ran the numbers to see just how much this lifestyle costs.
These expenses are for two people and they include everything: lodging, restaurants, groceries, airfare, tour tickets…even Amelia’s hair care and facials.
Throughout the video, we share money-saving tips to help you travel on a budget.
When we started our YouTube Channel back in September 2018, our main driving force was to show others that life outside the US is not only possible, but better.
We also hoped to shatter some of the myths about Ecuador and show you how amazing it really is.
However, our plan has always been to take the show on the road and film our style of videos in other popular expat destinations around the world because we know that Ecuador is not a great fit for everyone.
