Wandering Money Pig - A journey of early retirement and FIRE (financial independence retire early)

View from our AirBnB, Tupper Lake (NY), April 2022   Dalai Lama:  “Once a year, go some place you’ve never been before.” My wife and I have been using AirBnB (and Vrbo once) to book our long term stays for a month or longer since our early retirement in August 2020.  We are currently living without a permanent home, as we sold our home of 14 years that month, to coincide with our retirement. We are what most people would refer to as nomads, traveling to new places for 8 months out of the year, while staying with our family for the rest of the year.  Since our early retirement, we’ve used AirBnB/Vrbo for long term stays at Ocean City (MD), Atlantic Beach (NC), Claysburg (PA), Ellicottville (NY), Indiana (PA), Altoona (PA), Murrells Inlet (SC), Tupper Lake (NY), Stratton (ME), and Canaan (VT). We’ve been very fortunate AirBnB/Vrbo is in existence, for if they weren’t, we would have to find long term stays the good old fashioned way, which is booking motels, hotels, or vacation rentals.  

  Acadia National Park, Maine Growing up in New York City, the state of Maine always seemed so far and distant.  Driving distance of roughly 8 hours from NYC to Maine is not inconsequential.  Because of this reason, and also because we could never make the time while we both worked, we had been seriously considering and hoping we would get a long term rental in Maine, now that both my wife and I were retired. Distance and time were no longer as big of an obstacle to us getting up there.  Having retired early gives us time , which we never really had while working… My brother was also instrumental in getting us to visit Maine, as he absolutely loved Maine, especially Acadia National Park , seafood, and local produce.  When opportunity came to book a two months long stay in Stratton, Maine for June and July, we jumped at the chance. On our way up to Maine from our parent’s place in New York City, we stopped over at the Kittery, Maine rest stop and visitor information center.  My wife go

  Sands Point Preserve, Long Island, NY Since around March of 2022, my wife and I made a conscious decision to visit more of our own back door attractions, that is, around an hour or so drive from New York City.  To that end, we got to explore places on Long Island which we had never visited, even though we grew up around the area. I always think it’s funny how most people don’t fully appreciate local attractions just because it’s always there, and because it’s something that can be visited at anytime.  Of course, I was one of these people.  I didn’t fully appreciate things nearby, but rather seeking out attractions outside of our usual place.   Thanks to this newfound desire to visit more local attractions, we got to visit places like Bayard Cutting Arboretum , Planting Fields Arboretum , and Clark Botanic Gardens .  All of these places are absolutely delightful and definitely worth visiting! During the month of May, we spent a month at our parent’s place in New York City.  We again d