Why?! How!? When!? Mexico!?

"Why!?" is the number one question you should expect to be asked when you start telling people you

are moving to Mexico.

Our response of course: "We wanted to experience living in a different country, we wanted to live on a beach, and we wanted to learn Spanish."

It all started in late 2011 when, as life coaches do, I was asking myself what I wanted to accomplish in 2012 and more importantly why I wanted to accomplish those goals.  I had been working really hard to get my coaching business to a place where I could quit my day job. 

What I realized is that what I really wanted was to be able to live and work from anywhere in the world.  It had long been a dream of Tasha and I's to live in a different country and learn spanish.  Suddenly, it clicked: "I want to live on the beach and learn spanish while doing my work as a coach by January 2013."

Tasha and I were so excited about that possibility that we began taking the steps to make it happen. 

As an aside: the best Life Coach advice I could ever provide for creating the life you want.  Always, always, always get clear on "why" you want to achieve your goals.  

Ask yourself what it provides if you achieve that goal.  The more exciting the future is to you, the more powerful, purposeful and committed you will be in achieving it.  Getting my business to a certain dollar figure was waaay less exciting than living on a beach in Mexico.

Here's the timeline that took us from St Louis to Mexico:

December 2011: Tasha and I come up with the crazy idea that we could actually move to Mexico and bring our dogs

January 2012: We declare that we are moving to Mexico in a year and create a rough plan (not sure we actually believed it ourselves)

February 2012: We take our 1 year anniversary trip to Tulum, Mexico (Hotel Azulik, Amazing!) We meet a guy at Hertz who mentions a cool not-so-touristy beach town called Progresso near Merida

May 2012: We bought a 2004 Honda Pilot that we thought would be perfect for driving on our move to Mexico

June 2012: I gave my two weeks notice to my amazing former employer Novo Nordisk where I was working in Insulin sales and put growing my coaching business into overdrive

July-December 2012: I struggle and work really hard to grow my coaching business; We begin getting rid of a lot of things we hadn't been using, trips to goodwill and ebay were great; Tasha lands some great weddings and takes on several free lance opportunities to save some money. We push our date for moving to the end of January 2013. 

January 2013: We put our house on craigslist to be rented for a year and cross our fingers that we get some great renters. We push our date for moving to the end of February 2013

February 2013:  Shit gets real. 

We get amazing renters who are moving into our home on March 1. Serious preparation begins. Suddenly, we are really moving. We've promised our house to some great people. 

Then the questions!

How do we get the dogs across the border? How do we get our car across the border? Where will we live when we get there? What route should we drive? Will the Mexican Gangsters get us? How do I draft a lease for the renters? How does my health insurance work in Mexico? Where do we store out stuff? What stuff do we bring? What stuff do we get rid of? Where do we send our mail? How do we bank? What bills need to be paid? Taxes? Why are we doing this? Are we insane? Car maintenance? Cargo Carrier? 

February 28, 2013: Having prepared the house for a renters, done the last minute packing... We embarked on this crazy little adventure.  2,600 miles ahead of us from St Louis, Missouri, United States to Chuburna, Yucatan, Mexico.

February 28- March 5, 2013: Missouri---Arkansas---Texas---All of Mexico...

It took us five and a half days and 2,600 miles

For those of you who are thinking of a similar trip: we stopped in these cities:

Feb 28: Jonesboro, AR

March 1: Jonesboro, AR to San Antonio, TX

March 2: San Antonio, TX to McAllen, TX

March 3: McAllen, TX Border Crossing to Costa Esmeralda, Mexico (north of Vera Cruz, MX)

March 4: Costa Esmeralda, MX to Ciudad del Carmen, MX

March 5: Ciudad del Carmen, MX to Chuburna, Yucatan, MX

More to come on all those questions and that journey with two dogs and a cat.

Mexico and Beyond? Huh?

If you're on this blog it's probably for one of two reasons.

1. You are a dear friend, family member or curious observer of Tasha and I's Mexico adventure.  Thanks for following us, for your support and for your curiosity.

2. You are one of the crazy people thinking about doing something similar and are scouring the internet for anything possible to give you a few tips. (Like we were all of 2012)

This blog is for both of you. We will be posting the ups, the downs, the challenges, the incredible experiences and everything in between.

Our adventure started with a road trip from our home in St Louis in February 2013 to an adorable little beach town called Chuburna in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.  Tasha and I are pretty sure this isn't the last or our adventures, therefore we had to add the "beyond" to the title.

Enjoy and please feel free to contact us if you have questions or specific requests.