5 Years in!

This month sees us celebrate the 5 year anniversary of moving onboard

So a brief synopsis for those who might be new to my world!

In 2018 we went on a sailing holiday, despite having no knowledge of how to sail. By the time we got home my husband (boyfriend at the time) suggested we should sell up and go sailing until the money ran out. I desperately wanted to travel, but I didn't want to be forced to come back when the money ran out!

We created a 5 year plan, mainly involving saving and finding more ways to create income for ourselves aloong the way if it should be needed. 2 years in the world changed when Covid struck, in the next few months I was made redundant (whilst in Greece getting our sailing qualifications) at the same time as we viewed an older (cheaper) boat and fell in love with her. Consequently we came home from holiday 1 job lighter, 1 boat heavier, qualified and suddenly with a mammoth 'to-do' list.

5 years ago in May 2021 we moved onboard, 7 months after purchasing the first boat and significatly sooner than expected! We're now married, April was also our 5th wedding anniversary. In that time we have upgraded (with many tears) to a slightly larger and more modern boat which suits our needs perfectly. We've visited 9 countries, 3 continents and so many islands I've genuinely lost count. We've had a lot of fun, some danger, many tears. life changing events and a plethora of incredible memories have been made.

Despite longing to retire early I was surprised to find it didn't suit me at all, so about 6 months in I started working as a Tech Virtual Assistant, supporting online business owners. I'm blessed to adore what I do and my business continues to grow at a rate that suits me nicely. I have engineered my workload in a way that sees me work minimal hours in the summer sailing months (5-10 hours a week usually with August off) and take on more work in winter when we are based in a marina.

After much persuasion I've started working on a book about how we engineered this life without a massive trust fund behind us or a substantial 'pot' of money. In brief the essence is: Freedom isn’t about becoming extraordinarily wealthy. It’s about reducing the amount you need in order to truly live well

I'm just at the stage of getting some feedback on my first chapters, compiling a proposal and approaching some agents to see if there's any serious interest in publishing the traditional way. If not I guess I'll be going down the self-publishing rabbit hole!

If you want to be kept updated with progress please join my mailing list, I send regular newsletters to let people know what we're up to and from now on I'll be including little book progress updates. This is to help keep you informed AND to keep me accountable!