I know this is a bit of an obvious statement but, I live in Spain. It amazed me to think that I have been here for more than a month. This isn’t a vacation. It wasn’t a “Vegas Baby!” kind of trip where you party as much as you can. I moved here to live here for a while, to figure out what I am looking for and to seek it out. It was simple…I wanted to take my life and move it somewhere for a while.
The good news is I might have found it. The bad news is I might have found it and it is thousands of miles away from what I call home—Seattle.
Some of you may know that I have a love/hate relationship with Seattle at the moment. Aside from my friends, I don’t know if I like Seattle—doesn’t feel like the city for me. When I’m in Europe, I feel at home. I get more work done, am more social and have lost weight since I’ve been here. I like the lifestyle here a lot, especially in Barcelona. I love the fact that there is time for everything here, the design and art is so inspirational and it is so easy to just hop on a plane or train to go to another city or country.
I would be lying if I said I thought about not coming back. Hey, the girls actually like me here, why wouldn’t I think about staying here?!
However, I have my cat back home and I love him too much to just leave him with my parents. Maybe I need to fly back and get him back here—sail the word with a cat—now that’s an adventure you can take to the bank.
I have been doing a bit of research on what it would take to work with US clients from here. Right now I’m just flirting with the idea. Typically I don’t like to talk about my plans or waste time with saying what I’m going to do, but I am at quite a bit of a loss right now. My friend Alix did make the suggestion of living in Seattle as the “home base” and traveling the rest of the year. I actually like that quite a bit.
To be completely honest, I have some anxiety in returning to Seattle:
- I’m afraid I’m going to revert back to my bad habits.
- Really going to miss my friends in Europe.
- Seattle is a very comfortable city. I’m afraid if I come back, I might just stay there.
I have a lot of thinking to do. There is still plenty of time here and very much to see. My plan was to come back to Seattle as a better person and there is a lot of work to do there.
The truth is I don’t even know why I dislike Seattle. Everyone else who lives there seem to love it and think it’s the greatest city in the galaxy. Like relationships with people, perhaps there is a compatibility factor with cities. I thought being gone for so long would make me miss the city I once loved.
Maybe it’s time for a change…whether it’s the city or myself.
Kudos to you man. The adventure you are on is Awesome and I hope to do the same with me and my family in the next few years. Having moved from Southern California to Seattle, I love Seattle, but there is just something magnetic about Europe and the UK for that matter. You keep doing what you are doing and your friends will always support you. Who knows, we may even bump into each other in Europe this summer.
Dude, I have four words for you – Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. Stay out of the US for 330 days total during any 12 month period (days don’t have be consecutive, and the 12 months don’t have to be a calendar year), structure your income as wages (can still be done for 2011), and you may not have to pay any US taxes on up to $91,500.
IRS Circular 230 Notice: Please note that any tax
advice contained in this communication is not intended to be used, and
cannot be used, by anyone to avoid penalties that may be imposed under
federal tax law.
I’ve loved following your adventure on twitter. If you do end up back in Seattle, there are a ton of us that will make sure you don’t get lazy and stick around for too long. Just come to travel happy hours!