On the beach at Ixtapa Island, Mexico
Greetings! Mark and I (Emily) are full-time travelers that have been voyaging by land and sea in an RV and a sailboat since May, 2007.
Curious about the world, and seeking personal fulfillment and adventure, we left the comforts of hearth and home in Arizona and began our journey in a modest 27′ travel trailer.
Although we had dreamed of going adventuring for several years, in the end, our leave-taking was quite spontaneous. You can read the full story here:
What Does It Take to Live the Dream?
Want to reach out to us? Here you go (expand appropriately):
emilyfagan1 — gmail
We read and respond to our correspondence daily. If you don’t hear back from us, please re-send your message.
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If you are curious what our voices sound like, we talk about our leap of faith when we abandoned our old conventional lifestyle to embark on a life of travel in a 45 minute podcast interview HERE.
In 2008, we upgraded to a 36′ fifth-wheel for more comfort, and in 2010 we moved aboard a 44′ sailboat to spend the winters sailing, exploring and cruising the Pacific coast of Mexico.
We returned to our trailer for two wonderful summers (2011 and 2012).
After comparing the two lifestyles side by side, we decided to resume traveling exclusively by RV. We sold our sailboat and returned to living in our trailer full-time in January, 2014.
We have presented an overview of the first 10 years of our travels in these two posts:
- 10 Years of Full-time Travel by RV and Sailboat – The Early Years
- 10 Years of Full-time Travel by Sailboat and RV – The Later Years
You can also get a feel for “the other side” of cruising and RVing (that is, the chores involved in keeping a rig rolling or a boat floating) in this post:
It is our sincerest hope that the stories, photos and tips we share on this website will inspire you to fulfill your travel dreams. Our lifestyle is exciting and a little exotic, and it is entirely achievable. Perhaps, like us, you will set aside a period of time in your life to cast off from the workaday world and try a new lifestyle that is filled with adventure and freedom.
If that is not possible for you right now, we hope that, at the very least, you find our travel tales amusing and entertaining, and that you feel like you are a part of our journey, joining us in spirit on our exploits.
Our Background Before Traveling Full-time
Figure skating was my passion in the 1970’s
We lived relatively ordinary lives until we ran off in an RV. Mark grew up in Michigan, majored in Electronic Engineering at RETS and worked for Xerox corporation for 26 years. I grew up in Massachusetts, did a double major in Physics and English at Amherst College and worked as a software engineer and IT consultant for 20 years.
In the early 2000’s we both left the corporate world to pursue more personally fulfilling work. Mark opened a boutique bike shop and I worked as a personal trainer. Learning to get by on smaller wages taught us to live skinny and made us realize that a more daring and unusual lifestyle might be possible sooner rather than later.
Besides our love of travel, our other great passion is individual sports. Mark was an elite amateur runner in Arizona in the 1980’s, winning many races and posting a personal best 10k time of 32:10. I was an elite competitive figure skater in the 1970’s, became an eastern states champion and qualified to compete at the National Championships twice.
We are also both avid recreational bicyclists and former road racers, and we met riding our bikes in back in 1999. One of the highlights in our cycling lives came when we raced our tandem bicycle to spectacular victory at the Hotter ‘n Hell Hundred in Wichita, Texas, in 2003. We won on a solo breakaway that we started (insanely) at mile 8 and held all the way to the end at mile 105. We enjoyed a pure Tour de France moment when we crossed the finish line behind the sirens and flashing lights of our police escort to be greeted by the local TV crew.
Mark and I met on our bikes and loved to race.
I was also Arizona State Champion in both the Masters Road Race and Masters Time Trial, although my proudest moment was when I set a course record for the women’s division at El Tour de Phoenix in 2000 — a record that had previously been held by a professional bike racer for several years.
Today we have hung up our road bikes for a while and instead have become very enthusiast mountain bikers, thanks to the inspiration of a 76 year old RVer we met on the road in March, 2014.
We are both avid photographers and I love writing, and these pursuits of mountain biking, hiking, photography and writing are what now fill our days on the road.
Buddy joined us in 2018
As of the fall of 2019, together we have published over 150 feature articles and 27 magazine cover photos in the major RVing and sailing magazines. You can enjoy our published work in our Press Room.
Our crazy life of full-time travel has been exhilarating and eye-opening for us. We hope our stories and tips are entertaining for those of you who enjoy reading travel adventures from the comfort of home.
Even nearer to our hearts: we hope our tales bring inspiration to everyone who dreams of taking off in an RV or sailing over the horizon in a boat. The life we live is very accessible for anyone that does a little planning and has a lot of wanderlust!