As we pulled into Key West last November, Kenton and I were discussing this very question. The Great Loop and the Canada Loop had been fantastic, but now what? We had enjoyed almost three years of living and traveling on a boat, but had no definite plan for the future beyond spending another beautiful winter at a marina near Key West. We gave ourselves an April 1st deadline to make a decision.

We looked at other boats, because changing to a catamaran and living in the Bahamas for a while could be fun. We talked about the many different towns we had seen in the USA, but had not felt drawn to one as a permanent home. We had visited NJ off and on during the past few years, but no longer owned a house there.

One day in March, we were walking through Old Town in Key West, having our “Now what?” conversation yet again, and I said to Kenton that Key West was the only place I could imagine having a home. It’s a friendly, small town. The restaurants are excellent, the bars are fun, and the music scene is amazing. We have friends here and enjoy the lively, outdoorsy lifestyle of the Keys.

We started looking at properties and very quickly found a lovely house in a quiet neighborhood. It was sad to sell the boat, but we did it. We are now happily settled in Villa Paloma in the Bahama Village section of Key West!

But…all the traveling we have done has only made us eager for more. So with international travel opening up again, we have decided that it’s time for an adventure in Europe!

We are going to spend a couple of months driving through Portugal, Spain, France and Italy. “The Plan” is much like our boat plan: we have stops we want to make along the way, things we want to see and do, and a very realistic understanding that we will need to be flexible as things happen and change our plans.

I think our travels on Nice Goin’ were good preparation for this new adventure. Wish us luck!

kathystraveling.com