“One of the best money I’ve ever spent”

Here’s why it was some of the best money I’ve ever spent:

I’m no stranger to long-term travel. From 2015 to 2018 we lived in our RV and drove around the country. For the past five years, we’ve been living on our sailboat full-time and I’ve been running my online business, Making Sense of Cents, from there.

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We love this lifestyle, but managing it takes a lot of effort. You must be responsible for repairing broken equipment, sailing night shifts, following multiple routes and preparing for all weather conditions and potential hazards.

We spent so many years constantly on the go, but I couldn’t remember the last time we were on a real vacation.

Stepping onto the ship, a lot of that mental load was lifted. We only unpacked once and the cruise line handled most of the visa process for us. It was so nice not having to cook or wash dishes for four months.

We did a lot of laundry – inevitable with a baby – but we booked our room next to the laundry room on our floor to avoid any further issues.

After our daughter was born, the idea of ​​a round-the-world cruise piqued our interest. While she was still young, we thought it would be fun to slow down, travel with fewer responsibilities, and focus on being new parents.

When we embarked on our adventure, our daughter was the youngest passenger on board. She was a veteran sailor at the time, having lived on our sailboat (which we docked in Florida while we were gone) since she was just a day old.

Since the ship’s rooms were so close together, we were initially worried that a crying baby wouldn’t exactly go down well with our neighbors. Turns out the cruise was full of grandparents missing their grandkids, so it actually worked out pretty well.

There were several families on board, but we befriended another couple with a young child and got together for many dates.

I made it a point to visit as many international playgrounds as possible and we visited at least 20. Our daughter even took her first steps on the trip to a beach in Moorea, French Polynesia.

The cruise started in Florida. We then traveled through the Panama Canal, the lush tropical islands of French Polynesia, the beautiful scenery of New Zealand, the amazing cities of Asia and historic sites in the Mediterranean.

We usually travel very slowly. For example, when we lived on our sailboat, we spent six months in the Bahamas every year. So it was a rare opportunity to see so many different places in such a short period of time.

Some of my favorite stops were Australia, Oman, Thailand, Turkey, Montenegro, Spain, Mexico and the Canary Islands. Although the views were amazing, for me one of the best parts of the trip was being a part of this ephemeral, floating community.

I loved getting to know everyone on board, guests and crew. We still keep in touch with many of our neighbors and have taken some real friendships home with us.

I can look at the ocean forever. This is one of the reasons I have loved living on our sailboat for so many years. We even splurged on a room with a balcony so we could go outside and enjoy the beautiful views whenever we wanted.

The calm days at sea were wonderful, although I think I found it a little easier to relax than my husband. He was so used to being the captain of our boat, dealing with the weather and fixing everything, but he eventually embraced the slower pace as well.

The most valuable part of this trip was that it allowed me to be fully present. As an entrepreneur, even when I’m not actively working, it’s easy for me to constantly think about all the things on my to-do list. Balance quickly becomes an afterthought.

I loved the simplicity of my daily life while on the cruise. I only worked on the days we were at sea for a few hours while my daughter napped. Then when we were in port I left my laptop.

This break was much needed. It allowed me to focus on my family during a formative time in my daughter’s life and helped me better understand what really makes me happy.

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner is the founder of Making sense of the cents, where she helps readers make smart decisions about how to earn, save, spend and invest. She paid off nearly $40,000 in student loan debt in just seven months and now travels as much as she can. Follow her Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

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