This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with married couple Sandra and Jeff Mayernik, 62-year-old retired realtors who left the US in 2023 to travel abroad. The couple, who run the blog The Mobile Retiree, are currently in Pogradec, Albania. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Jeff: A couple of years after moving to central Oregon, we became empty nesters. We had a place outside Bend and lived on five acres. We had a couple of horses, a tractor, some project cars, and various storage buildings.
Sandra: Our property included two dwellings. A 1,000-square-foot double-wide manufactured home that came with the property. The second was a 1,700-square-foot custom-built, three-bedroom, two-bath house. It was gorgeous.
Jeff: Life was good in Oregon, but the political climate in the US was becoming uncomfortable for us, and the cost of living just kept rising.
Our property taxes went up, along with car and homeowner’s insurance. At first, it was just a couple of percent a year, and before you know it, it all added up. Meanwhile, our wages weren’t increasing at the same rate.
While the cost of living was probably a secondary concern. Our age and health were bigger factors in wanting a change of scenery. I’d had a couple of heart attacks and now have an ICD — an implanted cardioverter-defibrillator.
Eventually, we reached a point where we thought, “You know what? We don’t need the stress anymore.” We knew we wouldn’t be rich on the road, but we also wouldn’t be poor.
So we said, “Let’s just go see the world.”
We sold everything we owned
Jeff: Prior to retirement, my wife and I were both Realtors. Before that, I spent a couple of decades in commission sales positions, including several years as a salesman in retail automotive.
When we started planning our move abroad, we did the math, skinned it up, and figured out that we could travel the world full-time for around $40,000 a year.
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Sandra: To financially prepare for the move, we sold everything we owned — our house, our cars, everything. Until we start receiving our Social Security benefits, we’re living off our savings and the proceeds from the sale of our house, which we’re investing.
Courtesy of Sandra Mayernik
Sandra: We left the States in November 2023. We knew we couldn’t establish residency anywhere without an income, but with tourist visas, you can stay 30 to 90 days in about a hundred different countries.
We’ve been to Panama, Costa Rica, Portugal, Spain, France, England, Canada, Chile, Mexico, and Argentina. And now we’re in Albania, where we can stay for a full year on a US visa. We spent two months in Durres, Albania. We’re currently in Pogradec, and we’re heading to Saranda next.
There’s something for everyone in Albania
Jeff: Albania is a compact country with every kind of geography. If you want mountains, there are mountains. If you want the coast, there’s the coast. And it has a Mediterranean climate along the shoreline.
It’s funny, we’ve visited so many countries, and there are some places where we just don’t feel comfortable right away. In Albania, within just a couple of days of wandering around, we felt like we belonged here.
Sandra: It felt like a gut instinct that this place was good for us. The culture here is all about taking care of each other.
Jeff: We were talking to a tourism official here in Pogradec the other day, and he said Albania is known as “the house of God and the house of guests.”
Sandra: They really do take care of their guests. For instance, when we first moved into our current apartment, the day after we arrived, there were a couple of things that needed to be fixed. Of course, the handyman came, but also the landlord’s aunt or cousin, and they brought over lunch for us.
There are pros and cons to living here
Sandra: Right now, we’re living in a three-bedroom, two-bath apartment in Pogradec.
It has a full kitchen, a washer, and three balconies overlooking Lake Ohrid. We’re on a short-term rental, and our monthly payment, including utilities and high-speed internet, averages about $1,100 a month, so it’s a huge apartment for the price. If we were to do a year lease, the rent would be even cheaper.
Fani Kurti/Getty Images
Whenever we move somewhere new, we spend the first week getting our bearings — finding the grocery stores, pharmacies, parks, and coffee shops.
Jeff: Living abroad means adjusting to a new currency and a new language, so even simple errands take a bit more effort. Back in the US, I could walk into a Kroger, read every label, and instantly know what I was paying. Here, I once grabbed what looked like a package of ham — but it definitely wasn’t.
Sandra: Grocery shopping is more of a process — the butcher for meat, the farmer’s stand for vegetables, the store for packaged goods, and the bakery for bread.
Since we walk everywhere and don’t have a car, we can’t do one big monthly grocery run like we used to. Instead, we shop every couple of days, searching for ingredients or substitutes to make our favorite meals. All of that, day after day, wears on you a little.
Quality of life is more important to us than making money
Sandra: I miss a few things about the States, like going kayak fishing with my sisters and spending time with family — that’s about it.
Jeff: I do get cravings for certain things. Every now and then, you just want some brown gravy, mashed potatoes, and Skippy Super Chunk peanut butter.
Sandra: We have two months scheduled in Saranda. We’re not sure what we’ll do after, but we don’t plan on going back to the US.
There are a lot of things we don’t miss about living there, like being car-centric. I was always the driver back in the States, and now I don’t have to think about it — no oil changes, flat tires, or maintenance. I don’t miss the mental load of having a car at all.
Our quality of life has definitely improved abroad. Before we left, I was a workaholic. In fact, when we decided to leave, I arranged with my principal broker to keep me on, working in an administrative capacity, because I really loved my job. But after about six to nine months on the road, I realized I didn’t want to do that anymore, and the stress just evaporated.
Now, I spend my days walking along the promenade along Lake Ohrid, reading a book, or just relaxing.
Courtesy of Sandra Mayernik
Jeff: I’d say it’s a much lower-stress retirement. Healthcare is a lot more affordable; my medications usually cost less than my copay back in the States. And when we do decide to go out and do things, it’s a lot less expensive.
Although no financial advisor in their right mind would have advised us to do it, I think we were at the right stage of life for an early retirement. Our quality of life is way more important to us than making more money.
