As I’m sitting here writing this article, the wind is blowing the palm trees from side to side, Spare Dog is curled up below the table, the sun is beaming down and the tiny black birds are chirping outside.
Grenada has been our Caribbean Paradise for just a little over 7 months now and soon it will be time to say goodbye and move on to our next adventure. There are so many amazing things to do in Grenada, that we don’t feel like we even scratched the surface!
Staying put for so long really gave us the opportunity to relax, focus and get serious about our laptop lifestyle and our website. Living in Grenada has opened our eyes to many things and changed our lives in numerous ways…
We’re Now Location Independent
We recently wrote about why we love our location independent lifestyle, and up until living in this tropical paradise, we hadn’t given it a try yet. We had done lots of travelling, yes, but we would have never called ourselves “location independent”.
“What if work was no longer a place?”
We love this quote from the inspiring video below, check it out!
With changes in the way people are thinking and wanting to spend their time, this way of life is quickly becoming the norm rather than the exception, which we think is fantastic.
We’ve been able to sample what it’s like to work when we want to, from where we want to, and we’re totally hooked. Now that we know what it’s like to live abroad, with just our laptops to support us, we know this is the lifestyle we want to be living.
☞ See Also: Looking for an incredible accommodation option? Check out Mount Cinnamon Grenada, a boutique luxury resort on the island.
We’re Now Freelance Writers
We’re happy to say that our freelance writing career has finally taken off! We attribute our success to the simple fact that by laying down some temporary roots, we had the time to reach out to various online companies.
During our travels when we were moving every 3-5 days or so, we often didn’t have the time to do anything extra with our website, let alone any writing for other websites. We found it hard to stay afloat with writing articles, networking and social media. Living in Grenada has given us the chance to sit down and write great content for various sites, including Goats On The Road.
We’re very happy to report that this is now our main source of income and we earn enough money from freelance writing to travel, live a happy lifestyle and even put some money in the bank.
We Love House-Sitting / Pet-Sitting
This was the first time we had tried house sitting / pet sitting abroad. We joined the website Trusted House Sitters when we were in Uzbekistan, which was totally random! I guess we just had a feeling that house sitting and pet sitting would be what we ended up doing next.
We got an amazing offer to come and take care of sweet Spare Dog on the island of Grenada. We were both thrilled. Our obvious answer was “Yes!” We were nervous at first, but as soon as the plane touched down here in the Caribbean and we met the home owners and Spare, we knew we had made the right choice in agreeing to move here.
Pet sitting has been a great way for us to off-set our costs of travelling and living abroad, and with the cost of living in Grenada being quite high, not having to pay for accommodation has been a huge bonus.
This type of travel has also given us a chance to live like a local and really get a feel for this country, something that is hard to do when just travelling through. We’ve also been able to have a pet! Obviously, our nomadic way of life doesn’t allow for this, so by pet-sitting, we’ve been able to enjoy the company of a dog for the last 7 months – did I mention how hard it will be to say goodbye to Spare?
Click here to learn more about becoming a pet sitter.
We Found Peace & Relaxation
There’s something special about living in a topical country. The vibe is laid-back, the sea is calming, the walks through the jungle are peaceful and the people operate on slow-paced, island time (which can sometimes be frustrating for Westerners…but it’s something we could all learn from!)
Living in the Caribbean has really made us realize that we enjoy being in quiet towns with nature nearby. It’s good for the soul and we’ve both been so happy since living here. We now know that we want to surround ourselves with peace and find serene places to spend our time.
We Found a Direction For Our Website
Having the last 7 months to reflect and really think of the direction we want to take with Goats On The Road has been priceless. Of course we’re still backpackers, of course we will still be travelling the world, but now we’re more about turning travel into a lifestyle. We want to show you that your trip doesn’t have to end! We plan to write more articles about being location independent and how you can make money on the road. We aim to inspire you through our stories, videos and informational articles.
We also started the series GoatLife TV during our time here, and were motivated to do so by our good friend, Darryl. We think this is a great way for you to get to know us better and to see what it can be like to live a lifestyle like ours.
By being a digital nomad, or working for yourself, you’ll ultimately have more free time. It won’t matter what time of the day it is, you could go to the beach! It won’t matter what day of the week it is, you could meet up with friends! We’ve enjoyed this life SO MUCH, that we just have to spread the word. It’s really not that hard to do!
Our Travel Style Has Changed
We’ve come to the realization that we enjoy travelling at a slower pace. Stopping to rent an apartment for a month, or house sit for a few weeks, will really give us the chance to slow down and properly spend time on our website. Taking it slow will also allow us to be able to connect with the people, learn more about the country we’re in (and hopefully the local language), cook some meals for ourselves and save some cash!
Thank You Grenada!
It took a lot of courage for us to move to an Island that we had barely even heard of, to pet-sit abroad for the first time, and to try to live completely from our blog, but it turned out to be the best move we could have ever made! Living on the Island of Spice in the southern reaches of the Lesser Antilles has been an incredible experience, and it was exactly what we needed after our intrepid travels through Central Asia and Iran. This little country will forever hold a special place in our hearts, for so many reasons…
Have you ever lived somewhere that totally made you change your outlook on life, the way you travel, or your business? We’d love to hear from you, leave a comment below.
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