Mark & Betsy

“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance…” – Cesare Pavese

Travel, for us, is defined by this sense of gently suspended uncertainty. Over the past decade, our calendar has become a collage of shifting addresses and blurred dates—life measured more by experiences than by months or years. A friend once remarked, “You’re really living on the edge,” and we’ll happily take that as a compliment.

We call our approach slow travel. We seek out places we might someday call home, researching neighborhoods and renting apartments—not for fleeting visits, but for a deeper stay, usually two or three months at a time. This rhythm fits the reality of remote work: grounding ourselves long enough to build routines that balance work obligations and the joy of exploration.

Visa rules often set the tempo. In Europe, the Schengen Agreement gives us 90 days in 26 countries. Central America’s C4 borders work similarly. Mexico lets us settle in for six months, while Argentina’s policies invite brief renewals. We adapt to each, learning to savor a place in increments of weeks that sometimes stretch into seasons.

After a few months, you move beyond the role of tourist. You find favorite markets and morning rituals, learn neighbors’ names, and see the patterns that make each place tick. The places shape you as much as you absorb their rhythm.

Here are some of the destinations where we’ve lived this way:

• Crucita and Cuenca, Ecuador

• Dupont Circle, D.C.

• Granada, Spain

• Key West

• Berlin

• Boston

• Buenos Aires

• Florida

• San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

• Baltimore

• Antigua, Guatemala

• Amsterdam

Adding housesitting has brought us to communities like Morganton, NC, Bonny Doon, CA, Alexandria, VA, Monterey, CA, Bonney Lake, WA, and New Orleans. Shorter forays—one to two weeks at a stretch—have expanded the list to include Slovenia, Scotland, and broad swaths of Mexico, Spain, and Ecuador.

We are currently living in Portugal, awaiting a residency visa and looking forward to making this extraordinary country a longer chapter in our journey.

With best wishes,
Betsy and Mark Blondin