Life can change fast when you're a digital nomad! Last year, Kat came on the podcast to talk about her life in Da Nang (Vietnam) and her business, A Way Abroad. Now, she lives in Albania with her husband and dog, and works at her new fully-remote job.
In this episode, Kat tells us what she's done in the past year and how she found her new role as a Marketing Manager for a US based company. We also talk about how she manages to work full time and run her business. Oh yeah, and travel!
The episode Kat and I recorded together last year: Kat's Way Abroad As A Serial Expat In 4 Continents
Connect with Kat:
Connect with Anne:
Life can change fast when you're a digital nomad! Last year, Kat came on the podcast to talk about her life in Da Nang (Vietnam) and her business, A Way Abroad. Now, she lives in Albania with her husband and dog, and works at her new fully-remote job.
In this episode, Kat tells us what she's done in the past year and how she found her new role as a Marketing Manager for a US based company. We also talk about how she manages to work full time and run her business. Oh yeah, and travel!
The episode Kat and I recorded together last year: Kat's Way Abroad As A Serial Expat In 4 Continents
Connect with Kat:
Connect with Anne:
Hello, welcome to a new episode of digital Newman stories. The podcast today, I have a previous guest back on the show that is cat from a way abroad. Um, she has been on a podcast about a year ago, and so much has changed. Uh, I've been following her on Instagram the entire time, and I saw all the changes and I was like, We need to chat. We need to catch up and talk about what has changed. because last time we talked, she was based in Vietnam, with her dog and husband. and now. She has done a lot in between, but now she's based in Albania. so I want to talk about older changes all day in between staff. What happened, what changed. but first of all, Katz, welcome to the show. Welcome back.
Kat:Thank you. Thank you for having me back. And I'm excited to be here again. And yeah, there's a lot that has changed since last time. So I'm excited to fill everyone in.
Anne:Yeah. Yeah. We will also link the, previous episode from last year in the show notes. So if you want, you can also go back to that episode and listen to that one first, or listen to that one after this, if you want to know more about what life was like last year for cats. but can you give us a bit of maybe like the summary of how it was last year when you were living in Ghana?
Kat:sure. So I had been living or I lived in total for three years in Vietnam, really wonderful country, nothing but guide things to say about it. But at that time, a lot of changes were happening with visas, particularly like. Went through a bit of a phase where they just weren't renewing a lot of visas for people. We had multiple friends, you know, not get renewed. Visa is getting kicked out of the country. So it was a very stressful time to know, like, are we going to get our new visas? Are we not? Because given COVID as well, they had changed it where like every month my husband and I have different nationalities. So every month my husband was having to give his passport. And I was down to every three months. I was having to give my passport up, but it was kind of felt like roulette. Like, are we going to get it this time? And since we do have a dog, it takes a bit more preparation, you know, to get on a plane and go. Um, so that was like the mist of what was happening. Last time we spoke, we were like, trying to decide like, should we stay? Should we go? Do we risk it? Do we go ahead and get a plane ticket? Obviously, we got a plane ticket out if we are no longer in Vietnam. Um, but yeah, that was like the peak of stress, I think from my 10 years of living abroad, I think you hit me at my peak good timing.
Anne:no, Yeah. Good timing. But I think it's also good that we're back now and that's, um, we, can tell everyone how it played out because, I don't know, like on Instagram, of course it always looks great, but it's, it looked like it was not bad leaving Vietnam.
Kat:no, we, we really made the most of it and we had, we've had an incredible year. Uh, we left Vietnam in July, 2021. So in that time we've had, we've had so much fun. We built out a van, we traveled the U S we got to spend a lot more time with family and friends. We went to the Caribbean for Christmas, and then now we're here in Albania. So. We're fine. I need no sympathy whatsoever. Um, yeah, it's been, it's been good. It's nice that we were able to turn such a bad situation into something that's been really fun.
Anne:Yeah. Good. Um, so how was it to leave? Like stressful, like you said, but how was that change from Vietnam to the U S it's very different, very different cultures, different countries. So how, how was that?
Kat:so the actual get it out process was stressful because there were no flights from Denine. We had to get to Hanoi. And then from paranoia, we had to fly out. Okay. My husband and I are fine, but we were so stressed with our dog. we got the dog in Vietnam and it's so flying out with him was a huge stress. We got the fastest flight possible and it was the 24 hour travel time. It's a 24 hours. We knew he was going to be in a crate away from us. I just needed that to end. Like I could relax once. Like we got him on the other side and we did, he was fine. He's. so getting back into the groove though in the us, that's always so hard for me. We hadn't been to the continental us in like two years. And every time I spend time away from it, when I come back, I feel like I get more culture shock in my own country than I do in my different countries. I think something like expecting to feel comfortable, you know, like you expect to go home and you're like, oh, I get it. Where like, when you go to a new country, you're like, I don't understand anything. We're like, I always feel more comfortable in new countries and less comfortable in my home country. I think given the fact that I expect to feel comfortable, if that makes sense.
Anne:Yeah.
Kat:Yeah. So
Anne:Reverse culture shock.
Kat:yeah, that one, I mean, it gets me, it gets me so hard. Um, that was actually the longest also that we had spent in the us since I had moved abroad in 2013. So that was. A lot. And there were quite a few days and I was like, I gotta go, I've got, gotta get out. Um, but there were also a few days when I was like, okay, I'm really happy. I'm here for this moment. And like getting to spend the time with the family and friends, but we were, we were ready for our next adventure when the time came.
Anne:Yeah. So at that time in the us, you build out a van and you also traveled to us in your van, which is awesome. Like that's so cool. I love that. I think it's so cool. Like, okay. We got to go back to us or did you have to go back to us or was that really a choice? Like, okay. If we have to leave Vietnam, then us, it is.
Kat:well, so the dog, again, I'm going to talk about the dog constantly. He is my baby. He is, he is the number one priority and my family. So the us CDC, like the center of disease. At that time we were having to leave. They said after like July 15th, we're banning dogs from certain countries from entering. I have no idea if this ban is still a thing, but of course it like came at that time. So we were like, if we want to go and spend time in the U S. And bring the dog. It's kind of felt like a now or never situation because you never know with government, like that ban could happen for two weeks, but that band could happen for 15 years. Like you never, you never know. So that was kind of what we were thinking. And we had talked about doing the van trip in the U S I mean for maybe three years that had kind of been on the back burner of like, wouldn't it be cool if, and so it just kind of felt like this is the time to do.
Anne:The now or never time to do it And I feel like van life with a dog, it looks like so much fun.
Kat:it was fun. You know, we like, we took such a risk because we'd had this dog for two years, but we were living in Vietnam. So we were always on like a motorbike with him. He's great on a motorbike, but we had never been in a car with him until actually like getting them to the. And that was, you know, a short trip that didn't really count. And then when we got to the U S we immediately, I mean, pretty quickly bought our van and started building it out and about halfway through the build, my husband and I looked at each other and right. Does Bendito like to ride in cars, Bandidos the dog. Does he get carsick? Like, is this going to be okay? We had an even tested it, not our smartest move, but turns out he loves riding in cars. He's great. He does not get crazy and it worked out, but. We got so lucky that it worked out and that he didn't like have panic attacks every time we got him in the car or anything. so it was, it was really fantastic. But if you are thinking about doing a van trip with your dog, put your dog in a car, take him on a little road trip, test the waters before you really go for it.
Anne:That's a good tip, I think but I mean, sometimes you also got to take the risk, right? I mean, you cannot plan for everything.
Kat:but like one of our friends, they rescued a dog and that dog throws up every time it's in the car, even if it's like 10 minutes, she just gets carsick. And like, if that were our, if like they did our trip and didn't test it, like that would have been really rough. I mean, that's an extreme example, but when we met that dog and we went in the car with her and she threw up, we were like, man, we're so happy that, but you know, what's it like.
Anne:yeah, yeah, Yeah. Car sickness was also a thing with dogs actually, so
Kat:Yeah. I mean, apparently,
Anne:yeah. and how was the trip like with, work and travel balanced? You also work during a trip.
Kat:well, during the trip I was just working on. And my husband, he's a UI UX designer. He had a few freelance clients, but we both like for the trip, pushed down our work to like their minimum. Like what does the least amount of things we can do to like, pay for this trip, but not make work, dictate the trip. so we both were in agreement on that. And we both got rid of, like, I was doing like a few client management things and then a way abroad. And he had like one bank client and we were working like one day, a week, more or less, you would like make sure one day a week we had internet and we've sat down. And that day we were like 12 hours in a coffee shop. Like, don't talk to me. but for the most part, we were focused on traveling. as you know, I now have a full-time job. Work situation is very different, but I got that job after the bad trip.
Anne:Okay. Yeah. let's talk about that because you got a remote job, can you tell us what the job is like? Uh, I noticed marketing, but can you tell us more about what you do?
Kat:Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So I still do a way of runaway abroad is my baby. I got a little nervous, like moving to Europe. Cause we were so used to living in Vietnam and the cost of living was so cheap and we knew we were moving to Europe. We didn't know Albania. although this is just a stopping point, but we knew we were going to Europe and I was like, we need, I think I need to make more money because I'm not making much. And I think I should. I think I would enjoy Europe if I had, you know, a better paycheck. So I started looking for jobs and I got hired as a digital marketing manager for a company. The company works with vacation. like we help property managers get more visibility on their vacation homes, like on their websites. my main job I'm pretty good at SEO, like search engine optimization and getting people more. Google's side of things, skills I learned with the way abroad, that I could monetize. I mean, that's something, I was really happy. Like, wait, I've been learning like valuable skills this whole time. but yeah, so I'm working with them full time. They're in the U S but they were really flexible with where I was so long as we had a few hours overlap and yeah, every day is different since we have so many different clients and it's been.
Anne:Yeah. So this is actually the main reason why I wanted to ask you back on a podcast because your work situation also changed so much from last year. And I think it's so cool that, like you said, the skills that you learned from doing your own business. Just translated that over into a remote work position, which I think is so smart. And I feel like sometimes we forgot. Like I, at least for me, I get really like blinders on and okay, I'm doing this thing and this is why I want to learn it because this is my goal. But actually all the skills that you learn, they are super valuable and you can monetize them in different ways. Like you can use it for a way abroad in your case, but also a digital model. Uh, manager position, which I think is so awesome. Like you can, you can just choose. Okay. Do I want to work full time now so that I can have about a paycheck when living in Europe? I think that's just so cool. So how did you go about finding a job? Because a lot of people at the moment when they're remote job, And there are so many remote jobs, but also like how do you find the good ones? Because there's also, I know a lot of restrictions, uh, for like locations or like, how did you, how did you find.
Kat:Yeah. So this was in January. So after the van trip, after Christmas holidays with my family, I was like, you know what, I'm going to get real about this. I'm going to find a job. And as everyone's always told me, finding a job is a job in itself. you know, it's easy to get kind of disheartened. Like, did I sit down 40, you know, Applications. And I only heard back from three, but realizing that like, that's just the way it is, you know, you have to throw your net wide and see what you can get in that time though, I was really focused on thinking about like what I actually want and what I'm trying to accomplish with this job. So I was still applying to a bunch of things cause I kind of figured. The interview experience is good. So then when I find, when I really want I'll feel more comfortable because it's not my only interview. So I was still kind of like throwing my net out wide. but I was able to look at the jobs and kind of narrow down more than I wanted. And I was mainly using online platforms. I found my job on dynamite jobs. If you've never heard of it. It's the cool thing about this platform that I liked over like LinkedIn, for example, is dynamite. Jobs is only remote jobs. So you don't have to like shuffle between the, like there's so many on LinkedIn that were like, you are remote, but we need you in this area where you're remote, but you need to come into the office like two times a week. You know, there was a lot of those where like the dynamite jobs side, they still might have restrictions. Like we want you to. Asian time zone, but you can be guaranteed if they're on that platform that they are fully remote and actually you get this job. The guy reached out to me, I made a profile on dynamite jobs and he actually reached out to me and was like, I saw your website. Did you do this? And I'm like, yeah, like I did it. I was also, so if anyone's listening and they're in the same position, I am, I had an old. A real remote job ever, except for my own. So it was kind of like that imposter syndrome, like, okay, I think I know what I'm doing. And like, you know, the website's doing well and it's growing, it's doing all these things, but like, did I get lucky? Or like, do I really know these skills? Like those doubts were really easy to creep in because I've been working by myself. I've never really had that like outside validation of like a boss being like, yes, that's right pat on the back, you know what. So that was kind of an intimidating process, but I was faked confidence all the way through it, because I was like, you know what, if you like it, like, if you're reaching out to be and you like it, they're like, okay, maybe, maybe I've actually I'm on to something. so yeah, he, he had hunted me and we had a couple interviews and I did a few, like I did a, a, a trial. I think, look at this website, what would you optimize on it kind of stuff. And he liked what I said, and I interviewed with a few other companies, but that his role that he was offering to me was just like, kind of checking all of the boxes I had set out. So I accepted that one and I've been working for them. I'm in my third months.
Anne:and how is your day to day now? Because it's a big change, right? Going from not a full-time job to a full-time job, like that is a change of 40 hours a week, right?
Kat:it is a change. I was working so much with the way abroad prior to the mantra, the mantra, if I just was like, let's have fun prior. I was working a lot, but the difference is. Getting invited to go do something on a Tuesday when it's my own company, I can be like, yeah, that sounds fun. I want to do that. And I don't work on that Tuesday, like who cares? But now having to be like, oh no, you know, I would need to ask off that day. And I really don't want to use my vacation days for that. Uh, is there a way that we could do this on a Saturday? You know, and that whole mindset shift has definitely been. And adjustment because I am used to control, you know, fully controlling my entire schedule.
Anne:Yeah, that's relatable. I, I have also never had a full-time job. Always worked for myself How did you, make sure that you could do your work for a way abroad and last time and like significantly last time. probably before Davon, triple already. But how did you do that? Did you outsource things or did you prioritize really well or please tell me more.
Kat:Yeah, that that's like the question I get asked most, I think is like, but wait, how, how did you do that? And how are you doing it now? Because like, as an audience member, like you probably don't notice that I'm spending significantly less time on it. And what I can say is a, if you are stuck in like the entrepreneurial hustle, it is really hard to get out of that. But I think the reason I was able to, to a degree is given time, you know, I had been working on the company for a couple of years. I kind of knew. What I wanted to focus on. And then going from that, like knowing, you know, getting confident and getting comfortable and kind of creating patterns. I then really focused on a routine. Like I knew on Monday, I published a new article on Tuesday morning. I published the care herself for that on Tuesday morning, the email is going out on Thursday. Another, you must going out. Like I have. Such a tight schedule. And that actually really helped me because all I needed to do was like fill in the missing pieces. I, okay. I'm publishing a new article. What articles do I have in the queue? And I've even broken it down, given my personal, like what the website is about on like the type of article. Like I know this week is a living abroad guide next week is a working abroad guide. The next week is the tip. So I'm just able to like fill in the pieces and it takes out a lot of that. Thinking time, you know, you spend a lot of time just kind of like sitting there, like, what do I want to do today? Um, I mean, I spent so much of my life, like looking at my calendar, being like, Ugh. Um, but now that I have like these systems in place and like these patterns, I guess too, it, it cuts down a lot of that thinking time and I'm able to focus on just action. I also really, really focused on cutting out the. I realized I was doing a lot of things that were bringing me nothing. They were just kind of those like fill up your day, um, tasks. Have you ever heard someone was talking to me about this? And I realized how true it was, you know, if you have all day to do something. It will take you all day to do, but if you have an hour to do something, you could do the same thing in an hour. Obviously that's not, you know, the same for everything, but yeah, I mean, and that's really, I think what it came down to.
Anne:I think it's called Parkinson's law. which is, yeah, exactly how you said it Yeah. It's I totally relate. Yeah, Sorry. Sorry for
Kat:no, no, no, I appreciate it. I didn't know. I did not know the real word for it, so I appreciate it. But I think that's so true. Like what I sat down and I said, okay, today, like whenever we were in the van, I was like, I have one day to do a week's worth of stuff. A what are my priorities? Okay. Here's a list of my priorities set a timer. This is how much time you have to do and everything. And I was so much faster. I realized how much time I was wasting before doing that, you know, before it was a necessity. Okay.
Anne:Yeah, yeah, probably relatable. Um, I also tend to fill up my days with
Kat:Stuff.
Anne:Um, yeah, I'm just, I'm, I'm working on this now. That is also why I asked because, I'm trying to figure out what the things are, you know, like how do I say an online business that moved the needle, but it's true though. Like some things that I do, they bring me nothing. Like I generally don't really get clients when I post a lot on social media for like, for my business, it works to have a presence there, but I can. One post or 10 posts a week. And I got the same amount of clients. So there is like no reason for me to spend a lot of time there. Um, so that, because that's not where my clients come from and I love your tip of just like sitting down, create a strategy, make, um, Realistic to do less. Like this is what I need to do this day of the week. And that's it like, then you're done. Then you need to go to your full-time job or explore. I think that's so smart. Um, and cutting out debt thinking time every time. Great tip. Great, great tip.
Kat:One more thing. I was just thinking about. I also think it is easier to do this. Like if you would have told me this two years ago, when we were in Vietnam, I would have been like, no, but I need to do everything. Or like, I would have probably had time to, or had a hard time sticking with like, Tight schedule, you know, because I didn't have to, but I think what's forced me to figure it out is like the motivating factor with the van trip. Like if I don't finish everything today, then tomorrow we don't get to go on a hike tomorrow. We're back here working. And I was so motivated to not be working, you know, but to still feel good about, you know, what I had done that, that really forced. To make those tough decisions and decide, okay, really? What is the fluff? And just like, get rid of it.
Anne:Exactly. Yeah, because I struggle with that. Like, okay. I can finish work at 2:00 PM, but then what am I going to do?
Kat:right. Like I might as well do something else, like for work, you know, if I just will keep working and yeah, I totally feel you on that. and that, I mean, for some people, like if you don't need to finish early. It's not like you have to finish early to like go watch TV or something. But I do think, especially with like this digital nomad lifestyle, like if you're in a new country, that should be kind of motivation enough. If you finish at three and you're in this new place, and you're only going to be there for a couple of weeks, like get your ass outside and go see where you are and, you know, go explore. And that is easier to do when you're actually, you know, getting your work.
Anne:And how was the move to Albania? Uh, so you started to job. Oh, did you start in the U S. I moved to Albania
Kat:yeah, I had a month in the us with them.
Anne:So how was that? Because I can, imagine that working full time and moving to a completely different country with a dog, um, that does also can be a lot. Uh, can you talk about that?
Kat:It was, it was a lot because it was my first month at the company. So I was really focused on like, you know, getting the hang of things and like making a good impression. And like I wanted, so my company works U S hours. I'm the only person in the company that's not on us hours. And that was part of the thing in my contract. Cause we knew we removed. I'm not taking this job. If you want me to, you work us hours when I'm not in the U S I'm going to work, whatever local time zone I have. so I needed him to trust me. I think more than him even telling me. It was more like a, my own perception. Like I want him to fully trust me when I'm in Europe and we're only overlapping two hours a day. I want him to trust that in all of the morning, you know, when he's still asleep, that I'm actually doing something. So that first month I was like really focused on making a good first impression. And then yeah, getting ready for a move, making sure our dog was ready. I think it helped that it was our second move with our dogs. So we. A bit more of what to expect. Like the first move was a lot scarier. Um, I also can say my husband helped out a lot. he had just delivered a big project. So he was like, you know what, before I take on another project, like, I'll wait until we're in Albania. And so he was able to take care of, I usually the planner and the family. So he took over a lot of the planning, which was so helpful. And I'm really lucky that I had. To at least take that off my plate. So I just had to show up at the airport to really his instructions. Yeah.
Anne:that's really nice. yeah, exactly. A supportive partner can be really make life really easier, especially with these big ones.
Kat:yeah, absolutely. And then settling in, we made sure that we arrived. We picked a flight that we arrived in Albania on a Saturday. So then we had like the Saturday and the Sunday to rest and kind of start to get on to the time zone because I knew Monday I was going to be working. Um, so we were a bit strategic. Like I think if we would have landed on like Monday night and I had to immediately wake up on Tuesday to work would have been really tough. but you know, being a little strategic fund when you arrive and when you fly out really helped a lot.
Anne:Did you also get an apartment that is, uh, comfortable to work from, immediately before, before your flight? Like when you were still in the U S did you plan out that all of that.
Kat:Yeah. So with Albania, we're just going to be here for three months. We were in Tirana, the capital for weeks. So we got that on Airbnb. We booked it ahead of time. We made sure they did a speed test for the internet and had a big table. We could both work from it, like. And then now we're in surrender, which is, uh, at the border with Greece. And again, since we were actually only planning to be here for one month, we already changed it. We're going to be here for two months now, but we did the same, you know, picking an apartment that had big, comfortable, you know, table and chairs to both of us could work from a case study, like diagonal from me right now when we have, you know, we both have room to spread out. but yeah, we actually. Did that all on Airbnb? Typically we don't use Airbnb. If we going to be somewhere longer, we try to find a place in person because we tend to get better deals, but given work and given the short amount of time, we were going to be there and we wanted to cut out the, having to bounce around and find a place and do all that. We just figured it was worth it just for convenience to probably pay a little bit more than we would have otherwise.
Anne:yeah. exactly. That's that's why I'm asking. I also try to do, do that. Like if I'm somewhere for a longer time than yes, it is worth, worth there to look around, get a good deal, maybe move around once or twice Eva. And if that means that I can get a nice place, but then when one man I'm somewhere. Two weeks to a month, then I also just book it so that I know that it will be fine. I don't have to think about where I'm going to sleep tonight. I know that we have an apartment that is good. It's comfortable for working. Exactly. And you don't have to like, think about it every week or every few
Kat:Yeah, the priests of conveniences is very nice.
Anne:I am getting to a point where I'm willing to pay for convenience.
Kat:Yeah. And I also, I think if I didn't have my job, like as maybe kind of silly as this might sound, when I was just working with the waiver. I was making here or like you can't see, my hands were on a podcast. I was making a low, you know, not very consistent income. So those like an extra hundred dollars a month actually meant something where now I have, you know, a steady paycheck. I know what I'm going to be making. I know that the cost of living in Albania is already very affordable. That extra hundred dollars. It's worth it, knowing I'm going to be able to settle in faster.
Anne:yeah. yeah. exactly. That totally makes sense. And I think that's also good to talk about this, that like having your own business. Uh, can be fun, but it, it can also be really fun to have a steady paycheck, which I never had. And sometimes, um, I wish I would have done that or I might even do it in the future, who knows. but like how valuable that is, is something that I did not know when I signed into my business. I wish someone would have told me that I probably wouldn't have lessened.
Kat:No, I wouldn't have listened either. Absolutely not. It's fine. I'll figure it out
Anne:And, and
Kat:look at me now.
Anne:still figured it out
Kat:I, you know, I have, and I think like, you know, I talk about stuff like this in a way abroad, because show many people want to work online and. Working online is such a big umbrella. There are so many different ways to work online. And one of the biggest options or decisions you have to make is do you want to be an entrepreneur? You get freedom, you know, you're in control, but you probably will sacrifice that steady paycheck or any paycheck really in the beginning. Or do you want to go in as an employee where you lose a lot of that freedom, but. You have the steady income and they're so different and there's not one that's better than the other. It's just based on like what you want at any given time and like your current situation, your goals, where you're at, where you want to go. if you are thinking about working online and you don't know which route to go, what I can say from experience, and, and you probably have learned this as well, starting your own business, starting my own business. Gave me tools to get an online job that I never would've been capable of doing without starting my own business. No, one's going to hire me as a digital marketing manager and pay me what I'm getting paid. If I've never done anything online, you know? me starting my own business, I'm so glad I did that. And it also helped doing it in a country that was so affordable. Where like it gave me the stepping stones to, now that I decided I wanted a job, it was more feasible than three years ago. If I said, I want a full-time online job, you know, it'd be a lot harder if I hadn't had any skills or experienced.
Anne:Yeah, exactly. And I think it's not the route that most people take. You know, like most people I think is they have a job and then they want to be an entrepreneur. So they either start a side hustle and quit their job later, or they quit their job, start their own business. But a reason why I wanted to ask you back on a podcast to talk about this is to also show that it's also possible the other way around. Like you can use your own. Project or your own business to gain experience that you can then use to got a job, if not, as what you want. And I also know that you said that it's also dependent on your, on your situation at the moment, like in Vietnam, maybe you didn't need a job. Maybe you didn't want the job, but in Europe comes in quite high. Steady paycheck I, I think that totally makes sense. And it's very important. I think also to talk about this because I never considered getting a remote job until a few, a few months ago. Maybe last year when my business wasn't doing so well financially, I was like, Ooh, maybe I
Kat:Do I need money?
Anne:Yeah. How, how do I pay for rent?
Kat:on. Wait, wait. Yeah, I've been there multiple, multiple times. Like a waiter then it,
Anne:Yeah. And it's, it's not, it's not great. It's
Kat:no, it's a tough feeling.
Anne:position to man.
Kat:Yeah, I do think as well, that, and I was probably guilty of this as well, but I've realized like this goes with everything in this lifestyle, from the country you're in to the job you want to do, like nothing is permanent. So like if you choose that you want a remote job to make. For a year and you save up all of your paychecks, you know, and you can live frugally or however, you know, pick a country below, you know, way below the typical cost of living allows for you to save. And then you can, you can quit and you can start your own thing, or you can live off that savings. You know, you don't have to like pick one route and stay in that route. You know, you're free to kind of pick and choose and do what you want. Obviously. The longer you six and they not the better you'll get at it, but that doesn't mean just because you picked something in five years, you have to keep doing that one thing.
Anne:Yeah. But I think you can also use your skills in different ways. Like you did, you learned as EO for your own website and then now. Do you use your, the same skill, but in a completely different way for different companies. So I think you will only, up level that scale more and more because you're working on different websites and you learn more and more,
Kat:Oh, yeah,
Anne:own thing again.
Kat:yeah, no, I've already done that. Like, I'm like, you know, talking to my boss, he knows so much more, you know, and he has like, we have very different skill sets because we were doing the same thing, but we've thought about it in different ways. So it's really interesting to like bounce ideas back and yeah, I've gotten tips of like, well, after work today, I'm going to do that on a way abroad, you know? So it has been nice to, yeah. Yeah. What I've learned in like both capacities
Anne:So you mentioned that Albania is a three month stop and your route in the, in Europe. Uh, what, what will your next stop be? Or do you already have a plan for what's?
Kat:so we are shame is the last time we spoke with her again and again. Little bit of a limbo. And that's because our goal was to get remote worker freelance spaces in Portugal. That was, that was the goal. That's where we were going. I've actually already done everything for that application, except for sending the application. When I was going to send in the application, my husband got a. Kind of like an insider tip, I guess, about a company, an international company, that's opening up a new office in Munich and they're looking for people with my husband's skillset. So he's been talking with them, but since the office is opening, you know, it takes a while to open up an office, especially in like the corporate world and in a new country. So he's been in like, I mean, he talks to these people like once a month, so everything's going well. And he's like, and he has another call tomorrow actually with them. But like, he hasn't been told no, but he hasn't been told a surefire. Yes. It's like a yes, but kind of situation. So if he gets this job, it's like his dream job, he really wants it. So if he gets it, we would move to music. Instead, if he doesn't get it, we would continue on with the plan for Portugal. So since we were waiting and in this limbo, that's why we decided to go to Albania. And we were like, we can't wait in the U S anymore. We were really, you know, had itchy feet and we wanted to get out and we chose Albania because. In Europe, but not in the EU. So our days are counted towards the precious you time. And once we got to the continent of Europe, we wouldn't have to fly or a dog. Again, we would be able to either go by car or by train, and we wouldn't have to put them on another plane, which was huge for us. So long answer to your short question is we're waiting. We're waiting on that. So we have three months planned to. If we are still waiting after these three months, we'll go to Montenegro and we'll spend three months there. And then if we're still waiting, we'll go to Bosnia and we'll spend some time there. But if they call him tomorrow and say, Hey, in a months, you've got the job, come to Munich. Well, then we would do that. And if not, then we'll travel our way to portray.
Anne:And also how cool that you can just be flexible and do this. I think for a lot of people, this would be a huge maybe. Yeah. I mean, it is a huge thing. Of course, maybe a bigger problem than it is for you with the flexible lifestyle that you have.
Kat:I'm loving it. I don't want them, like I told him, I was like, I hope, you know, if you get the job. Cause I know like the uncertainty sucks, you know, but I kind of hope they tell you like September, because I'm having a lot of fun traveling around and I kind of want to go to Montenegro and I want to do all these things. So yeah, it is really nice having the flexibility to be able to like wait and go and travel and do stuff. I'm very happy that both of us are able to do.
Anne:Yeah. So cool. I'm really curious to see what's next for you, whether it's Portugal or whether it's Munich. Um, Yeah. Um, where can people follow you if they also want to see what's going to be next and what you're going to be doing in this. Between waiting time. Very exciting waiting time.
Kat:Um, it is, it is an exciting waiting time. I have a new Instagram account. My online got hacked. That's a whole other thing. so if you knew me from the last podcast and you followed my old account and you thinking in really weird messages from me, it's like, so my, you could follow me on, uh, like the letter, a cat abroad with underscores in between. So a underscore cat underscore abroad, and also the business. One is a way abroad, uh, underscore way abroad and the website is find a way abroad.com. So any of those.
Anne:yep. We will also, um, add all the links to the show notes so you can go there and, Follow cat. See where she's going next and also where she's going to be ending. Our visit Munich is a Portugal. Oh
Kat:Time motel.
Anne:yes, God. Thank you so much for coming back, back on the podcast. It was great chatting again and getting older, all the updates
Kat:Yeah. Thank you for having me. And I really enjoy.
Anne:maybe until next year,
Kat:Yeah, we'll see where I probably won't be any of the places I mentioned.
Anne:Yeah, exactly. We'll see. Thank you so much. And thank you for listening. See you in the next episode.