In September of 2017 I joined the Worldschoolers Facebook group with the intention of learning more information about how parents manage school when traveling/living abroad with their child. Prior to then, I had traveled to three different countries with my now 4-year-old; however, I wanted more than just a short vacation. I wanted to actually live in a different country with him to give both of us an opportunity to learn about different cultures as well as learn a new language. I knew that the group would provide some good insight from traveling and expat families, but what I wasn't prepared for was how it would permanently change my mindset about travel with my son.
Within this group not only did I find alternative ways of educating my child, but I found stories from families and single parents alike of how they are traveling the world on limited budgets, learning, living, and having the time of their lives. It wasn't long before I was convinced that I too could make this happen for my son and I, and that I WOULD make it happen sooner than later.
At this time in my life, I am living with family and saving to move out and get a place of our own. My son is in preschool and because of his late birthday, will need to stay in preschool an additional year before moving on to kindergarten. I am not financially tied to my car, and while I work the standard 9-5 job, my skills are something that I can easily turn into a freelance job. My point for mentioning all of this? To say that there is nothing tying me down to staying where I currently am. This is THE perfect opportunity for me to give this "living abroad" thing a try, before its too late.
So there it was, my mind was made up. I was going to refocus my funds to long term travel with my son, and focus my efforts on creating location-independent income. I took my items out of storage and sold them, and confidently (albeit not easily) informed my family and my son's father of my decision. I settled on a time range of late June 2018. The question was, where was I going?
All sorts of ideas and places popped in my head, both based on previous experiences as well as the overwhelming encouragement from the posts of families around the world: Puerto Rico? Costa Rica? Aruba? Dominican Republic? Mexico? Yes-- there it is. Mexico. A short flight away, and a place that my son LOVED and kept asking me about since we returned from our one week vacation in 2016. A place where I had made friends from previous visits. A place where thousands of Americans had moved and were now living their lives full-time, unwilling to return back to the states. Although a place that I never would have imagined staying long term had you asked me two years ago, it was now somewhere that I was looking forward to exploring and starting a new life.
Well, thanks (or no thanks) to the helpfulness of several Mexico-related travel groups, I must've changed my mind about 5 times about which area we'd make our first stop. I jumped from Cancun to Playa del Carmen to Merida to Mexico City to Mazatlan before finally settling on Cholula, Puebla. Although I have never visited Puebla, I was won over by its photos, stories of American expat families living there with children the same age, proximity to major cities, and the similarity of the climate to Northern Virginia. It just seems perfect for my son and I.
My "intro" trip is now booked for January 2018. I'll be making a quick fly-by visit to Cholula to check out the areas that were recommended to me, and to check out a couple of potential private schools for my son. I also plan to meet with some of the parents who I'd talked to via Facebook with the hopes of making some good contacts and maybe even friends prior to arriving. I'll only be in Mexico for three nights, but I'm positive that I'll be able to get a good overall vibe of whether it really is the place for us.
So here begins a new life journey for us. I've made the commitment, and now it's time to make the necessary moves to execute the plan. Here's to my hopes that life only gets better from here... :-)
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