Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from LemonadeWinds!
This was our holiday card this year and after designing it I was feeling the rush that comes with creating a design that communicated a feeling to its audience (hopefully you are all picking up that I was feeling broken and shattered as we uprooted our old life to create a new life). Alas, that rush was then crashed into new broken pieces when someone asked,: "So where can I send your Christmas card to this year?" Crap! We have no fixed, permanent address so how can someone send a card or a gift or a letter?
Indeed, how can you do anything without a home address? You need it to get a drivers license, set up a bank account, apply for a credit card, get health insurance, register your car--really you need an address to have a life which is something we had never considered as we discussed moving to a sailboat. I had thought about what it would feel like to be "homeless" but I had not thought through how we would conduct daily life without an address.
The answer was thankfully a few key strokes away via a google search on "nomadic life". Here we found a long list of articles, blogs, and web sites of other people who have faced the same issues and a list of resources to help navigate these unfamiliar waters. My favorite resource was Technomadia which detailed the states that are nomad friendly (SD, TX, and FL) and provided a list of things to consider when setting up your "virtual" home.
Even with all these resources I can tell you the task of figuring out what was the best fit for our needs was long and arduous consisting of hours reading articles, researching current laws in different states, and stressful (and sometimes confusing) discussions with Rob but it all finally led to a decision. We will declare our official domicile in Florida!
After spending time with our families in Missouri and Georgia for the holidays we are driving to Florida to set up our new domicile/home in January. If you are curious, this will consist of getting "Red" and "Bell" registered and insured in Florida, updating all mail to be sent to a very cool mail processing service called "St. Brendan's Isle", and submitting an official "declaration of domicile" among other things.
While we are in Florida we are looking forward to soaking up some sunshine, swimming in the ocean, and checking out some sailboats. You may not believe me but we need a break from all logistical discussions, camper maintenance, life-changing decisions, and the implementation of those decisions which has been a full time and somewhat stressful job with hours spent online and on the phone (mostly on hold).
Hopefully that answers another question we've been getting lately..."what do you do with your time?" :-)