Every couple has their own story. For many, it’s built around buying a first home, raising children, climbing the career ladder or saving for retirement, perhaps with the occasional vacation. But instead of a more traditional route, Kristin Smith and her partner Xavier have built a foundation on long stretches of time away from work, exploring the world together.
Over more than a decade, that has meant a seven-month journey around the world, followed by a string of shorter travel sabbaticals spurred on by expiring travel vouchers. This shared lifestyle rooted in freedom, flexibility and intentional travel has become the bond of their relationship.
Building a career around freedom and flexibility
Kristin’s connection with travel goes back further than her career. She lived in five countries across four continents before turning 18, an upbringing that gave her a taste for life beyond familiar borders.
Her working life started closer to home, with five demanding years in Baltimore City’s planning department, followed by a move into consulting work for US government agencies, mostly military contracts that came with unexpected perks.
“I actually had lots of travel opportunities with that job, sometimes to cool places like Hawaii, Australia, Spain, and even Guantanamo Bay,” she says. But the good fortune didn’t last.
“After five wonderful years, that job environment turned toxic, and I decided I had to move on. I left without anything lined up.”
A conversation with a former colleague turned into a short-term project, and that project became a career defined by freedom and flexibility. Kristin has now worked as a contractor for the same client for more than 15 years, a life that allows her to take on work between trips rather than trips between work.
Chasing camels to Mongolia
Over these years, as Kristin grew her travel repertoire, she had been building a list of places she wanted to see, most of them far away from home. As the list began to take on a life of its own, she decided the time had come for a proper round-the-world adventure – but not alone.
“I had been saving up money for a big trip and decided to ask my partner, Xavier, to come along with me. We had been dating long-distance for five years, so it seemed like a good way to spend some quality time together.”
Having already taken shorter trips together they knew their travel styles were well in sync, but this would be a different kind of test. And there was one destination that mattered more than any other.
“I have a slight obsession with camels, so the cornerstone of the trip was to get to Mongolia so I could hang out with some Bactrian (two-hump) camels.”
They began by chasing the sun through New Zealand and Australia before winding north through China, eventually arriving in Mongolia. When a family matter briefly called Xavier home, Kristin simply found a new travel companion, spending a few weeks connecting with her mother before continuing solo and eventually reuniting with Xavier in Europe.
It was a route that they didn’t map out fully in advance, and was never fixed for long. But even the exhilaration of life on the road catches up with you eventually.
“And at the end of seven amazing months, we were kind of burnt out and ready to go home.”
Making the numbers work
Long trips are rarely cheap, and Kristin had spent years saving for this one. But savings alone would not cover the bills still due back home, so she rented out her Baltimore condo, a practical solution that brought an unexpected romantic subplot.
“I was able to almost zero out my expenses at home by renting out my condo fully furnished to a lovely young couple who wanted to try out living together for the first time.”
Before leaving, all she needed to do was pack away clothes and a handful of personal belongings, leaving the flat ready for the couple to move straight in. “Our tenants checked our mail and watered the plants while we were gone, so it was a win-win.
“That couple is still together, married with two beautiful children. I feel we played a small part in making that happen!”
Building a story together through travel
Seven months on the road gave Kristin and Xavier a form of relationship growth that few people experience outside of everyday life. As a test of compatibility, it required both of them to adapt, while also bringing them closer together – but with space for independence.
“Our first long trip marked the transition between a long-distance relationship and living together,” says Kristin.
“We discovered each other’s strengths and weaknesses and had to learn pretty quickly how to work together as a team to solve problems. We almost certainly also had moments of disagreement, but being on the road together forces you to work them out.”
For a couple who met later in life and had already built separate histories, the trip also gave them a collection of memories that belonged only to them.
“The best thing these trips have given us is a shared history. Through these intensive experiences we quickly built our own story, with easy shorthand references to meaningful experiences that we shared together and that perhaps no one else will understand.”
Vouchers as an excuse to go again
The couple’s next big trips came almost a decade later, prompted by a stack of Travelzoo vouchers bought during the pandemic, all with expiration dates ticking down. The first was for an overwater bungalow in the Maldives, but Kristin’s travel list had kept growing during lockdown, and yet again, one destination led to the next.
“Somehow that turned into a trip to Pakistan, a country I had already been to a few times but wanted to share with my partner. Then we ended up on a group trip to Afghanistan, then onto the UAE and camping in Socotra.”
A year later, an expiring Bhutan voucher set off a similar chain reaction, eventually leading them to Nepal, Thailand, and a group trip to Papua New Guinea for the Mount Hagen festival.
They had stumbled on an ingenious tactic to commit themselves to travel. “Yeah, we built these mini-sabbaticals around expiring travel vouchers!”
These trips became slower and more intentional, as they had learned from prior experience to allow adventures to breathe. “We’ve learned that traveling for four to five months is the sweet spot for us, then we are ready to go home and stay put for a bit,” says Kristin.
Rather than feeling torn between work and travel, they had gradually found a rhythm that allowed them to enjoy both, and to avoid burning out on either. Time away left them refreshed and ready to work again, while returning home meant they never reached the point where life on the road stopped feeling exciting.
Disconnecting by design
If you want to truly disconnect when travelling, then what better way than to travel where you don’t even have the option to check emails and social media? Kristin finds it easy enough to switch off regardless, but it helps to remove the temptation.
“The top tip here is to travel to places that don’t have great Internet!” she says. “Even now, we tend to travel to places without great infrastructure so it’s sometimes more of a challenge to be connected than disconnected.
“I’d much rather take in experiences as they are happening.”
The kindness of strangers in Mongolia
Through all their travels, one experience stands out. After Xavier mentioned Kristin’s plans to visit Mongolia to an acquaintance from the country, the response was not the usual list of recommendations.
“She was SO excited that someone was going to her home country!” explains Kristin. “But she didn’t give us any advice. Instead, she put us quite literally in her family’s hands for ten days.”
Within minutes of stepping off the train, the couple was collected by the woman’s brother and taken in by a family of strangers.
“We were immediately part of the family, playing with the kids, making dumplings, sharing stories through photos and laughing lots, despite not speaking the same language.”
The family later took them to the countryside to stay in a ger and see the camels Kristin had travelled so far to meet.
“It reminded me how little you need to live a comfortable life, and also made me grateful to live in a place with running water and electricity. Using an outhouse in subzero temperatures requires a certain level of ruggedness!”
Keeping perspective on work
More than a decade away from full-time employment has left Kristin with little desire to return to a traditional career path. She hopes to sustain a flexible lifestyle for as long as she can, whether through contract work or her blog, bmorenomadic.
“I like to think I only have a few working years left before I retire, so hopefully I can keep this work arrangement going until then,” she says.
“I’m actually pretty good at work/life balance. My dad died at his desk in his 50s. I’m not trying to work myself to death. I just work enough to support my current lifestyle and save for the future.”
The lessons for travelling couples
What makes long-term travel work as a couple? After several sabbaticals together with Xavier, Kristin’s advice is practical.
“Do a few small trips with your partner before a big trip to make sure you are travel-compatible.”
Just as important is maintaining independence, she says. “Don’t feel like you have to do everything together all the time. If one of you wants to do an activity that doesn’t interest the other, go do your own thing. It will give you something new to talk about at the end of the day.”
Getting the finer details right also matters. “Share the responsibility of planning and logistics, and play to each person’s strengths. Discuss how you will split costs. And remember, you can always go home if it’s not working out, with either travel or the partner.”
And what about navigating the road ahead?
“Go slower,” says Kristin. “Moving every few days is exhausting. Unpacking. Packing. Navigating a new place. Rushing to see everything in a short time. I get it. But if you can figure out how to spend more time in a place, you’ll be able to appreciate it more, and you won’t be as exhausted.
“Carry less stuff. Plan shorter trips. Don’t feel like you have to keep going when you are feeling burnt out. For us, it’s travel for 4–5 months, then come home.”
But that first decision to travel long-term is the crucial step, and it’s one that Kristin believes should not wait.
“If you are itching to travel, make it happen as soon and as often as you can. Right now, just as I have built a life that allows me to travel full-time, I am having to stay close to home for family reasons.
“I’m glad I didn’t put off travel until now, otherwise I’d have a lot of regrets.”
Inspired by Kristin’s story? You can read more real-life sabbatical adventures in our travel sabbatical story series.
Ready to start planning your own sabbatical? Read our complete guide to taking a travel career break.
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