Join us on our journey as we look for the perfect-for-us country to call home. Maybe we can inspire you to undertake your own expat journey. We’re currently living in Bansko, Bulgaria and loving it so far!!
Our Expat Story
Jeremy and Maureen met in 2005 and married in Denver, Colorado in 2007. We first entertained the idea of living abroad way back in 2008, when we visited South America for the first time. Although we’d traveled a bit both individually and as a couple, the idea of living abroad didn’t surface until we’d been together for a few years. At the time (and actually, still to this day), we were working in our wedding business, Blue Sky Elopements–a venture that allowed us to work from anywhere in the world as long as we had a decent Internet connection.
Our trip to South America in 2008 was mainly focused on Ecuador, a country that was to play a significant role in our expat journey years later. We came back to Colorado energized by our experience and began having countless conversations about immigrating to Ecuador. To make a long story short (not my forte, by the way 🥹), the timing just wasn’t right. Jeremy’s mom was elderly and living in the US; our kids were popping out grandchildren, and the business was going through transitions that made living abroad impractical.
The final (temporary) nail in the coffin came when we pulled up to my daughter’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. It just felt so right to be there. Before we even got out of the car, I turned to Jeremy, sighed, and said, “I can’t do this now.” Since he pretty much saw this coming, he knew exactly what the “this” was. It simply wasn’t the right time to head to South America.
But the Desire to Live Outside the US Lingered
Grandkids two (2010), three (2013) and four (2016) came along. The business kept us busy. In short, life got in the way. We tried Mexico for a couple of years–as kind of an “Ecuador Lite” that was closer to home. We loved the experience, but at the time, the country’s infrastructure was insufficient for us to successfully run our business. Spotty internet and lots of dropped phone calls made for a frustrating and expensive experience. But we did learn a lot about being expats in a Latin American country.
So, we contented ourselves by returning to the US and living in various locations: Asheville, NC, Port Angeles, WA, and of course, the Metro Denver area. Nothing felt like the perfect fit. We like exploring different places and new-to-us cultures, and after a while, everyplace in the US felt stale. After three years in Port Angeles, Jeremy woke up one day and proclaimed, “I’ve hiked all the trails and biked all the available routes. I can take it or leave it.”
Yeah, I so get that.
Seeing that nothing in the US was really allowing us to flourish, we headed back to Denver. Quite frankly, it’s as good as anyplace else in the US, and our kids and grandkids are there, so, why not? We bought a house and settled in.
Sorta. 😀
By now, it was toward the tail end of the pandemic in early 2022. Fourteen years after the first thoughts of becoming expats flitted through our minds. Jeremy’s mom had passed away during that time, the grandkids were getting older, and the business was humming along nicely, but we were intentionally slowing things down work-wise as we headed into our mid- to late-60s. Not yet ready to retire, but not ready to stop work entirely, either.
The conditions were perfect to hightail it out of the US. And we were simply done with the political and social climate in the US: the divisiveness, the economy, the back-biting… the whole nine yards. And don’t even get me started on the whole gun/mass shooting thing. Enough already.
So in late 2022, we undertook a six week exploratory trip to Ecuador. And then we moved to Ecuador in March of 2023. Is Ecuador our forever home? Nope. By the end of 2024, we were back in the US–albeit temporarily. But a lot has happened over that time. This website is the story of that journey as well as our adventures to come.
So, Where are We Now?
Glad you asked. In December of 2024, we moved to Bulgaria. We literally had to look it up on a map for its exact location. Why Bulgaria? Well, I’ve written several blog posts and posted a YouTube video on what made us choose Bulgaria.
The short story is: Bulgaria is a gorgeous country; the people are wonderful; the cost of living substantially less than in the US; the weather in the mountain community of Bansko wherre we live is idyllic (for us); and we can establish legal residency here without having to give up working in our US-based business. Plus, they don’t tax our US Social Security income.
Why This Website?
We started this website as a way of tracking our journey. We’ve made a few mistakes along the way, and will undoubtedly continue to do so as we move forward. We’ve also gained a ton of insight into what expatriating entails. We’d like to share what we’ve learned in the hope of helping other expats and wannabe expats in their journey.
The website offers tips and pointers for how to move out of the United States, (as well as what NOT to do! links to helpful resources (including YouTube videos) and details of our experiences and challenges as we navigate Bulgaria as US expats.
One More Thing
Oh yeah. One thing I forgot. There’s also cats. Because we have two expat tuxedo cats named Damon and Pythias. And where we go, they go. And almost everyone likes cats.
