What No One Told Me About Full-Time Travel

Jessica Swanda
12 min readMay 13, 2019

In the past sixteen months, I have lived in twelve different cities and nine different states. I’ve walked the old streets of Montreal, climbed below deck of the famous warship Old Ironsides, lived in Blake Shelton’s hometown, worked out of dozens of local coffee shops, seen alligators up close (and NOT in a zoo), eaten in the original Cheers, visited the scene of the Salem Witch trials, and taken road trips in the New England fall.

Moving Day!

Because of my husband Kaleb’s job, we travel the USA full-time. We don’t own a home. Or a car. Or anything of much value for that matter. We move to a new place every month or so, take in all the touristy things we can, and learn the area as much as possible before leaving.

But before you say, “Oh wow, isn’t that exciting? I would LOVE to do that,” there’s some things you should know.

Our Instagram only tells half the story — actually, more like a fourth. There’s a lot more to it. And it isn’t all exciting.

When we first started doing this, I was a bundle of emotions: hesitancy, excitement, confusion, thrill, fear — I felt it all. The first three or four months really were exciting. It was new and thrilling and felt like an adventure. But there was also a distinct learning curve, a new way of life we had to get used to.

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Jessica Swanda
Jessica Swanda

Written by Jessica Swanda

Freelance writer. Travels the USA full time with her husband. Writes about travel, faith, books, and business. More about me: https://proofisinthewriting.com/

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