The Framework That Makes It Possible

Seven weeks remain in Nevada, and the work has turned forward-facing.

Autumn light cuts sharp across snow-dusted mountains as we refine the framework that will make life abroad steady rather than improvised. Packing lists, budgets, and spreadsheets may seem dry on the surface, yet beneath them lies the shape of possibility.

Between walks along the Truckee and a hike into Tahoe’s Desolation Wilderness, plus slow dinners at home (see our videos on cooking Brazilian Moqueca and Cuban Picadillo), much of this week was spent designing the structure that will support the journey. The clearer we build it now, the freer we'll move once it begins.

Over the weekend, we drove two hours west to tackle an 8-mile out-and-back hike from Echo Lakes to Tamarack Lake in the Desolation Wilderness. With daylight saving time ending this Sunday and hiking season winding down, we seized ideal conditions: sunshine, moderate temperatures, and fresh snow patches near the peaks. The air felt sharper and quieter. The trail remained nearly empty. This was the last full week of October, and timing mattered, delivering the kind of stillness that signals autumn’s deepening.

Dragon Lights at Rancho San Rafael Park remains on our list for this coming week. With the festival running locally in Reno, we can. Catch it on a weeknight once the days grow shorter.

When people picture long term travel, they often imagine spontaneity. For us, sustainability is the real luxury.

Over the past six months, we built a model designed for a predictable, sustainable journey that balances freedom with structure. It rests on five design principles:

Simplicity over optimization.
A repeatable monthly rhythm beats the illusion of perfect timing. Each location must work with minimal friction: housing, groceries, fast Wi-Fi, transit, and fitness within walking distance.

Predictability over perfection.
We use verified all in monthly averages with a built in seven percent buffer for volatility. The goal is not to chase deals but to preserve margin.

Visibility over control.
Every expense flows through one dashboard that tracks costs by location, category, and currency. Seeing trends matters more than micromanaging them.

Health as infrastructure.
Our plan is built around wellness: fresh food, movement, sunlight, and rest. Even the best budget fails if health fades.

Margin as mission.
Financial breathing room enables creativity and focus. We would rather plan and stay solvent than rush and burn out.

These principles turn planning from a constraint into a source of calm.

The result is a portable system that supports living, not just traveling. One U.S. residency in Texas. One global banking stack. A unified communications setup. Monthly cost tiers that adapt to local economies without losing predictability.

We share our numbers not as advice, but to offer a clear view of what sustainable living abroad can look like. Every journey has its own shape, yet understanding real costs helps ground the dream in something tangible.

The first year in our journey spans nine countries. The projected total cost for two people is $52,100, or $4,360 per month on average, all inclusive.

That figure represents the full picture of life on the road: housing, food, local transit, activities, long haul flights, insurance, and a small emergency reserve. Because travel costs vary month to month, we average them across the year to show what sustainable, comfortable living abroad actually costs over time.

International living alone covers housing, groceries, cafés, local transit, and wellness, averaging $3,225 per month, excluding major flights and insurance.

Key Metrics

Spending Composition
Roughly 40 percent covers housing, 22 percent food and dining, and 12 percent local transit and activities. The remaining 26 percent supports flights, insurance, wellness, and an emergency fund.

These percentages reflect our total annual budget, averaged across the year, including both day to day living and one time travel costs.

It is a comfortable midrange lifestyle designed for stability, health, and peace of mind. The goal is neither to hack the cheapest life abroad nor to pursue luxury, but to build one that endures.

Sustainability requires infrastructure, especially in the first year when we will be testing these systems in real time. Here is what we will rely on:

Financial Stack

Administrative Foundation

Content Creation

None of this is exotic. It is simply deliberate.

The more we planned, the more we saw design as a cultural value.

In architecture, Japanese teahouses and Scandinavian cabins share the same premise: constraint creates calm. The same applies to a nomadic life. By reducing decisions such as what to pack, how to pay, and where to stay, we protect attention for things of greater value: to learn, to listen, to be present.

We see this in our current packing process. Each item must justify itself across twelve countries and four seasons. A light sweater that works in both Cluj and Buenos Aires stays. A single-use gadget goes. The constraint is clarifying.

American culture often equates freedom with infinite options. But after a year of planning, we have learned that intentional limits unlock a different kind of freedom. Simplification, not deprivation.

One year of living needs to fit in a suitcase each and a pair of backpacks. Every item we pack must justify its place across nine countries. Every recurring expense must support health, creativity, or connection. Every system must run without constant attention.

This kind of design does not happen spontaneously. It requires sustained attention during stationary phases like these final weeks in Reno, when the work feels unglamorous but foundational.

After a week of planning and fall hikes, we settled into slower rhythms downtown.

We spent a morning at Dorinda’s Chocolates and Hub Coffee Roasters, tucked into a renovated brick building along the Truckee. We reviewed travel dashboards over a flat white and a chocolate truffle, laptops open outside on a beautiful fall day.

The outdoor seating overlooks the river path, quiet and slightly hidden, the kind of place you stumble upon rather than seek out. The light was perfect. The coffee was strong. The chocolate was better.

A reminder that even spreadsheets read better with good coffee and local chocolate.

Desolation Wilderness (CA) & The Truckee River (Reno)

See More visual stories in our Instagram highlights »

Next Thursday: The Decision to Go

Why we chose long term slow travel over permanence or perpetual vacation, and why ‘living local in a global world’ is more than a tagline.

Halloween arrives midweek, and daylight saving time ends Sunday, November 2^nd. We plan to visit Dragon Lights at Rancho San Rafael Park, where towering lanterns transform the paths into an illuminated autumn dreamscape. With shorter evenings ahead and departure season accelerating, it feels like the right moment to catch this local festival, and to reflect on rhythm and readiness as Reno settles deeper into fall.

This stage of preparation reminds us that sustainability is not only financial. It is emotional, relational, and spiritual: a way of designing a life that can hold both movement and rest.

Each list, each plan, each simplification is really about calm: less time worrying about logistics, more time being present. Less energy spent on decisions that do not matter, more attention for the moments that do.

We are not building a system to optimize travel. We are building a structure that lets us forget about the system entirely so we can focus on the reasons we are going in the first place.

If you’re considering your own version of this journey, whether six months or six years, the lesson is simple: design creates freedom, constraint creates calm, and sustainability makes everything else possible.

Until next week,
S&S

Some Great Place
Living local in a global world