Ryan and Jen had it made. They had the life that many dream of: MBA’s from top schools, difficult to obtain jobs with an elite company, life in an exciting city, and an upcoming wedding. They thought the competitive nature of their job and their long hours at work were leading them to a better life, and any friends they had that didn‘t agree were just plain wrong.
Over time we started to notice that our non-consulting friends seemed to be quite happy people despite their lack of premier airline status. This seemed strange.
But soon Ryan and Jen came to the realization that many of us have had: there’s got to be more to life!
And then they made a spontaneous decision to move to South America after their wedding. And now they are chronicling their adventures at ConsultingRehab.com.
We got straight to the point and asked them what motivated their decision to throw in the towel and pick up their luggage.
We had been working 12-15 hour days 5+ days a week as management consultants for a long time and the longer we did it, the more we wondered why we were doing it. Reading “The 4-Hour Work Week” definitely provided some great inspiration, as well as a brief vacation to Guatemala where we got a brief taste of what it would be like to live without all of the intensity and stress in our lives. After that vacation we started talking about it vaguely, but it was always at least 6 months away–just needed to get that next promotion first or have a big wedding or a bunch of other things. Eventually, we realized that we weren’t getting any younger and that there would never be a convenient time, so we made the decision and three weeks later we were on a plane (and married).
They had some hesitation at first, but finally decided to leave it all behind.
After quitting our jobs and moving everything into storage, we left San Francisco in early March 2010. After spending about a week on a roadtrip up to Seattle (with a brief stop-off to get married!) we left the car and hopped a plane to Buenos Aires. Since we had only decided to do any of this about 3 weeks earlier, we didn’t have very much planned. In fact, aside from a vague idea of being gone for at least ~6 months, our main goal was to avoid having plans and to just enjoy life and see where things led us. We chose to start in Buenos Aires because we knew we were interested in learning Spanish and we had heard nothing but great things about the city.
So far, we’ve spent most of our first 4 months in Buenos Aires studying Spanish, eating amazing steak, drinking incredible wine and enjoying everything the city has to offer. We also did a number of trips throughout Argentina–Salta/Jujuy, Iguazu Falls and Mendoza so far. A couple of weeks ago we visited Santiago, Chile for a few days and liked it so much we decided to relocate here for a month. After another week here, we are now trying to figure out how we can relocate here indefinitely. We’ll see…
When traveling, we don’t just learn about the places we visit. We also learn about ourselves. Ryan and Jen have clearly been doing some deep soul-searching lately (obviously, given their spontaneous decision), and we asked them to share some of their insights.
-It’s important to have a purpose: We were studying Spanish for the first few months and that was great. After we stopped taking classes though we started getting a little bored and feeling a little useless. Lesson was that pure leisure is great for awhile, but eventually we need some sense of purpose (e.g., learning, exploring, volunteering, etc.) in order to feel fulfilled and happy.
-We are remarkably compatible: Jen and I went from seeing each other for 20 minutes when we woke up and maybe an hour or two before we collapsed from exhaustion at the end of a workday to being with each other pretty much 24
hours a day 7 days a week. Luckily, it turns out that we really like each other and are extremely compatible travelers–otherwise, this would be rough!-Meeting people on the road is awesome: Despite enjoying spending so much time together, we’ve really enjoyed meeting and getting to know people while traveling. We are new to travel blogging and have been surprised how great of a way it has been to meet interesting people with similar interests. Not only have we made great new friends, but through knowing them, we’ve been able to experience things we never would have been able to otherwise.
-We had both traveled fairly extensively before this trip, but never this long-term (usually 2 week trips tops). I’ve really come to appreciate the value of longer term travel through this trip. You can get to know a place so much better if you immerse yourself in it for a long period of time and you get out of the tourist hotels/restaurants/tours–such a more authentic and fulfilling experience.
Naturally, since this is the Budget Your Trip blog, we like to discuss the challenges of budgeting. Ryan and Jen said the following with regards to financially planning for such a move:
We used to be consultants… we made spreadsheets :) (rehab takes a long time!)
To be honest, since we didn’t have a specific end-date in mind, we just looked at our income/savings and determined a realistic monthly spending amount that would allow us to be gone for ~6 months; from there we took out avg. monthly rent (we stayed in an apartment in BA) and Spanish school (a high priority and large cost) and that left us with an amount for daily/misc expenses which had to include food/drink, any purchases and side-trips. We have mostly stuck to it, but have been willing to splurge where it seemed worthwhile.
Finally, any advice for other potential travelers?
If you are planning a long-term trip, the hardest part is just making the decision to go and going. You can figure lots of it out on the road, so don’t overthink it. Once you are confident that you can make it through the first month just go and don’t be fixated on your plan–our best experiences have been things we could never have planned for.
You can keep up with Ryan and Jen at ConsultingRehab.com where they write about life in South America, good food, and various issues with having a job. You can also follow them on Twitter: @ConsultingRehab and Facebook: Consulting Rehab.
Ryan and Jen's adventures have taken them all over Argentina, including this beautiful spot near Salta.
Bryan has visited exactly one more country than his wife, and she won't let him forget it! Also an avid photographer, he enjoys entrenching himself within the local culture in order to learn more about the people of a place. As a freelance web developer, he co-founded Budget Your Trip and Collective Lens. You can follow him on Twitter at @budgetyourtrip or @bryantighe.
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