What Location Independence Looks Like For Me - Everyone has a different idea of what freedom means to them. For me, one of the the key elements is location independence. And this is what that looks like for me...

I’m so glad that in Natalie’s 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 9 we’ve finally got to a topic that I feel confident I can happily write about. I’ve thought about this very topic A LOT.

The challenge for today is to ‘Imagine you are on a long holiday in Portugal (or wherever your dream destination is). There are castles to explore, secret bars to discover, and sunny beaches to laze around on. In today’s post, I want you to write about how you will balance your adventure and work while you are away on this holiday.’

Rather than Portugal, my dream destination is… and any kiwis out there, you can stop laughing and uncrinkle your furrowed brow… Taumarunui. I said stop laughing!!!

For anyone not from New Zealand, actually a lot of kiwis won’t know where this place is either (!), but Taumarunui is a little town right in the middle of the North Island of New Zealand.

While, kinda in the middle of nowhere on the map, it’s not the middle of nowhere for me. My nana grew up there, my great-grandparents are buried there, the Whanganui River runs through there and that river has special significance for my whanau (family).

Taumarunui is close to the ski fields, just 50 minutes drive will have you swishing the slopes. And in the summer there is the HUGE national park to explore and hike. The Tongariro Crossing. And Lake Taupo, a summer-time playground.

But, I’m not gonna pretend we’re drawn there solely for the familial ties and great outdoor life… houses are cheap, real cheap. Cheap enough for us to afford, now. I mean, less than $100k cheap. Whereas a 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom house in Auckland (where I live) is pushing $1M. Hence the reason we live in a garage!

So, a house in Taumarunui will be our first purchase.

After that big, long explanation of why my destination is a small town in the middle of New Zealand; here is how I will balance my time in Taumarunui.

I’m used to getting up early now, and I love how much work I’m able to get done. So my day will begin at 4am with meditation, visualization and some light exercise. Breakfast and straight into writing. I will write until 8am, when we jump in the car and head to the mountain for a morning of skiing. When we’re tuckered out, we’ll head back to Taumarunui, grabbing some lunch on the way home. We then do a couple more hours of work in the afternoon before finishing at about 5pm. Cooking up a healthy dinner laden with fresh vegetables, a bit of relaxation time before heading to bed about 8pm.

Same again tomorrow. Except tomorrow I think we’ll head to the hot pools in Tokaanu.

What Location Independence Looks Like For Me - Everyone has a different idea of what freedom means to them. For me, one of the the key elements is location independence. And this is what that looks like for me... blog-challenge-badge-12