Welcome to our little travel blog: The Austins, Everywhere.

This whole thing started with a violent hangover in the town of Oceanside while on a girls trip (+ Zac and Jack) in the summer of 2023. While watching Spongebob and talking about life with one of my closest friends, Elizabeth, one of the big things I kept coming back to was how I wanted to just stay in a place for longer and really explore it.

Zac and I travel a lot, probably about 60% of the year, but constantly packing and going and then unpacking and repacking again is pretty exhausting. I just wanted to be somewhere and really be there, but not quite enough to move somewhere else yet. Since we grew up on the West Coast and have both spent a considerable amount of time in the South, we mainly set our sights on the East Coast and haven’t looked back since.

That summer, we decided that when our lease was up the following year that we would become digital nomads. What is that you ask? Well, here is a list of questions we get asked frequently: 

What is a digital nomad?

By definition it is a person who earns a living working online in various locations of their choosing. For us, this means cruising up the East coast — and to Oceanside for a bit — and working from various locations.

What do you do that you can both work remotely?

I work in public relations for B2B companies that work within the tech channel. TLDR: I do a lot of writing and project management under the umbrella of communications.

Zac works in finance at his company and helps with everything from deal strategy to pricing, etc. and a lot of other nerdy things that help the sales team.

How are you getting everywhere?

Mostly, we are driving. With the exception of our time in CA, we will have our car that we have packed with things we will need over the next several months. 

Where will you be staying?

We will be staying mainly in Airbnbs, but also staying with family and close friends for shorter visits. So far we have or are planning to visit family in Floresville, Abilene and Houston, TX, Fort Payne, AL, and Charlotte, NC. 

Why not just use a camper?

Great question! I loathe camping. 

Didn’t you buy a house?

Why, yes. We did! We bought a house in Des Moines, IA that we are planning to move into once we wrap up our trip in August. For now, we have great renters and most of our things live in storage near there.

Isn’t that expensive?

Honestly, when we started our research for this trip our goal was to just exchange what we’d typically pay in rent for the Airbnb for the month. In our research, we found that staying places for a month actually have pretty steep discounts. So far, it hasn’t been terribly different and since our mortgage is covered by our renters, we aren’t experiencing a huge difference in our monthly expenses.

Where are you planning to go?

So far our list consists of the following places (subject to change):

• Panama City Beach, FL

• Miami, FL

• Savannah, GA

• Charlotte, NC

• Lititz, PA

• Washington D.C.

• New York City

• Oceanside, CA

• Maine (undecided but likely near Rockport)

• Nova Scotia, Canada (Halifax)

How long are you going to be on the road?

In total, about 9 months. We will move into our home in Iowa near the end of August.

Anyways, we wanted to create a little blog to keep our close friends and family up to date on what we are doing, where we are, and all the things. We decided to call it The Austins, Everywhere because of Fleetwood Mac’s song that is also our song. I know, I know: 🤮

Our plan over the next several months, and quite possibly beyond that depending on how we enjoy it, is to give a little wrap up blog at the end of every place we stay. Some of the stays will be a week, some over a month. We’re happy to have you follow along on this journey with us and please send us any recommendations you have!