Finding Gina Marie - Travel the World

Ep.209 After four years of hard work, Judy was finally recognized as an Italian citizen, but Italian citizenship doesn’t mean quite what we thought it meant. We captured the real moment the email arrived, and in this episode, we share what this milestone actually changes for our full-time travel life, why Schengen time is still more complicated than people assume, and why this next chapter comes w...

Ep.208 Waiting to retire can feel responsible, but it can cost more than you think, and not all of it shows up in your finances. In this episode we talk about why “one more year” can become a trap, what it can cost beyond your bank account, and how to ask a better question about risk. We're not saying everyone should retire tomorrow, but we do think there's a question most retirement pla...

Ep.207 Riga is one of the European cities people are just starting to discover. It has Prague-level beauty, fewer crowds, and more depth than we expected. After 17 days in Riga, Latvia, we found a Baltic capital that was easy to love, easy to walk, and hard to reduce to just pretty buildings. We also share exactly what our 17 days in Latvia’s capital cost us, so you can decide whether Riga belongs...

Ep.206 Ljubljana, Slovenia is not the city we thought it was — and that’s exactly why this trip surprised us. In this episode, we explore its pedestrian and bike friendly historic center, the dragons, the coffee culture, the layers of Roman and Plečnik history, and why Ljubljana may change how you plan a Central Europe trip. We also take an easy day trip to Lake Bled without a car, and at the end...

Ep.205 The health insurance question stops more people from leaving the US than almost anything else. This video shows exactly what international health insurance costs, what it covers, what happened when we actually needed emergency surgery abroad, and why healthcare has become one of the things we worry about least after more than three years of living outside the US. ❤️ Watch us on YouTube! Sup...

Ep.204 What if you give up your home to travel full time and regret it? What if you do, and you're priced out of the market when you want to come back? We've been living without a home base for 3.5 years and more than 50 countries. In this video we share our honest thought process, including who should absolutely keep their home and helping you figure out what's right for your situa...

Ep.203 Most people assume the conventional version of life is the financially responsible one. We assumed that too. For over 30 years. Then we put two expense stacks side by side. And what we found made us question what financial security actually means. In this video we compare a conventional lifestyle against the one we're living now, line by line. Some costs transform. Some shrink. And som...

Ep.202 We ordered goulash in Italy. That's when we knew Trieste was different. 25 days in one of Europe's most overlooked cities — a place that has been claimed by empires, contested by nations, and shaped by cultures from across the Eastern Mediterranean. The result is an Italian city that doesn't quite feel like Italy. And we couldn't get enough of it. From a tradition older...

Ep.201 We thought 16 days in George Town, Penang would be plenty. It wasn't. Most people come for the street art and food, and those are genuinely worth it. But the longer we stayed, the more Penang started to reveal something deeper. One unexpected experience that started with a cup of gelato probably captures it best. This is what 16 days revealed that a quick visit can't. At the end,...

Ep.200 Singapore has a reputation. Too expensive. Too controlled. Only worth a layover. We decided to test that for ourselves, so we stayed nine days in Singapore to see what it’s really like beyond the skyline and Marina Bay. We explored neighborhoods like Tiong Bahru, hawker markets, historic parks, and Gardens by the Bay to answer one question: Who is Singapore really for? Is it just a quick st...

Ep.199 We'd heard Budapest was special. We wanted to see for ourselves. What we found was one of the most layered, surprising, and thought-provoking cities we've ever visited. After 17 days living a short walk from the Hungarian Parliament, we found things most visitors never see: tiny bronze sculptures hiding in plain sight, a protest memorial that keeps coming back no matter how many t...

Ep.198 We spent 16 days in Bangkok, Thailand, and we're sharing everything we'd do differently, including why where you stay matters more than you think, how to navigate Bangkok's historic temples without the crowds and heat working against you, and how to avoid the most common tourist scam near Wat Pho, which we personally encountered. We also found one of the coolest neighborhoods...

Ep.197 We took the Shompoo Cruise upstream from Luang Prabang, Laos to Houay Xay at the Thai border, and we're giving you our honest verdict. Was it worth two days offline? We cover everything: the Pak Ou Caves, our overnight stay at Sanctuary Pakbeng Lodge, logistics on our Laos to Thailand border crossing, and our full cost breakdown. If you're deciding whether the Mekong slow boat is...

Ep.196 In three and a half years of full-time travel, we don’t go back to the same cities. We move forward. Until we visited Laos and Luang Prabang made us question that. This is the story of a place that stayed with us from the very first morning, a river journey that may not exist much longer, and the quiet realization that 16 days was never going to be enough. ❤️ Watch us on YouTube! Support th...

Ep.195 Queenstown, New Zealand is famous for adrenaline, epic scenery, and bucket list experiences. We arrived during peak summer season and made some choices that surprised even us. We found a slower, more meaningful version of the city than we ever expected, including a discovery in nearby Arrowtown that made the region's gold rush story feel completely different. ❤️ Watch us on YouTube! Su...

Ep.193 Every 'yes' in travel is actually a 'no' to something else. Some tradeoffs look simple, but after years of full-time travel, we’ve learned that the most famous experiences aren't always the right ones. In this video, we’re sharing the internal process we use to decide what’s actually worth it. It’s impossible to see everything. So how do you choose what matters? ❤️...

Ep.192 They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. After 63 years, Kevin was convinced that was true. Then we went to Nelson, New Zealand. We didn't go for the epic views or the famous peaks. We went to see what it felt like to actually slow down for 15 days. What followed was a series of unexpected moments, from a discovery in a local factory to finding a community that held us thro...

Ep.191 Most travelers treat Rotorua as a quick stop on the way to Hobbiton, but is that a mistake? We slowed down to experience the geothermal landscapes, Māori culture, and the town’s deeper history as the birthplace of tourism in New Zealand. Instead of zip lining or spa hopping, we chose meaningful moments to see what staying actually feels like. If you’re deciding whether Rotorua deserves more...

Ep.190 Most travelers rush through Auckland, but we discovered there’s far more here than meets the eye. During our nine days in the city, we found wild coastlines, meaningful cultural experiences, and small everyday moments that completely reshaped how we saw New Zealand’s biggest city. If you’re considering a trip here (and we hope you do!), we share what we spent at the end. ❤️ Watch us on YouT...

Ep.189 When we started planning 2026, everything worked on paper. But the more we looked at it, the more we realized we were about to travel in a way that didn’t feel like us anymore. In this video, we share WHY we changed our 2026 travel plans, where we slowed down, where we went big, and what we deliberately chose not to do. This isn’t a list of destinations; it’s how we think about time, moveme...

Ep.188 Travel changed more for us than we expected, and it wasn’t the planning, packing, or logistics. In this episode, we respond to a simple viewer question that made us stop and take a hard look at how travel has quietly reshaped our daily habits, our routines, and how our bodies feel over time. What we discovered surprised us, and it turns out it’s not just a travel issue. If travel—or life—ha...

Ep.187 Tasmania wasn’t originally part of our Australia plan. It’s an island off the mainland, and honestly, we just didn’t know much about it going in. But once we started learning about its history—especially Port Arthur—we knew it was a place we wanted to experience for ourselves. This was the version of Australia we hoped to find! We share what our time in Hobart was really like, what surprise...

Ep.186 Some decisions don’t come with a right answer. This week’s episode is a conversation about how people make hard decisions when every option carries a cost. It’s something that comes up in long-term travel, but also in everyday life. We share how we thought through a difficult decision, not to suggest it’s the right one, but to offer a framework others might find helpful when facing their ow...

Ep.185 Melbourne surprised us in ways we didn’t expect. It wasn’t through landmarks or highlights, but through how the city actually works and feels. In this video, we share what stood out most, the moments that changed how we experienced the city, and what we learned by paying attention to daily life, people, and place. If you’re curious about Melbourne beyond the checklist, this is our honest ta...

Ep.183 This year took us across 45,000 miles, and only later did we realize the memories that stayed weren’t the ones we expected. In this video, we’re unpacking the five patterns that made moments forgettable versus imprinted forever. They showed up in big cities and small towns, in the middle of joyful surprises and in the messier moments too. These aren’t “best of” highlights but they’re the th...