And just like that, the Turkey was basted!

I flew into Turkey 40 days ago, spent 11 days in quarantine in Istanbul and 30 days emptying our house into a storage unit by myself, while Red was busy working in LA. It’s been a wild ride. I thought this house was our retirement plan, but we’ve spent more time away from the house than living in it, and each time we return we spent weeks and weeks doing maintenance and upkeep. That’s one of the challenges of buying a house near the sea, that isn’t equipped for the damp weather.

It’s been a fun ride. This house has been part of our journey since 2008, but we’ve set it adrift, and we didn’t even get to spend a summer’s evening under the sunflower mural we painted on the downstairs balcony.

When we planned our nomadic existence, I didn’t like the idea of not owning a house and not having a base. I read about other nomads who sold everything and embraced the freedom of the road, but that didn’t appeal to me. Here were are, four years down the road after relocating from LA to Turkey, and we’ve sold the only base we have—it’s exhilarating, liberating, and freeing.

I love the idea of not being tied to a property in Turkey (or anywhere for that matter). We’re free to roam at will and settle where we want, for however long we want.

For the time being, the plan is to embrace Los Angeles again, which was our home for nearly two decades. Oddly enough, I don’t feel like it’s “going back”, it’s like a whole new adventure. It makes sense to create a temporary base while Covid is still doing the rounds, but once the world has tilted on is axis and the spread of the virus is under control, I’m ready to rove again.

We’ve got all sorts of idea and plans swirling around our heads, but whereas when we left LA the first time I embraced long-term planning, now I’m happier to wing-it. Where is this path we’re on leading? Who knows. Don’t care, just want to keep exploring, learning, living and loving.

Time to grab life by the bollocks and squeeze!