Your life is already good.
What if it had a wider horizon?
We're Caroline and Keith — spending our second act moving between Europe, the UK and the US without settling permanently anywhere. This is our honest, practical conversation about spending longer stretches of time abroad: the places, the costs, the house sits, the logistics, the mistakes, and the small moments that make somewhere feel like real life rather than a holiday. Whether you're traveling solo, with a partner, or still figuring out what this chapter could look like — this is for you.
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Pull up a chair. This is the conversation we wish we'd heard.
Every week, we sit down and talk through one honest question about spending more time abroad in your second act.
Could you spend a month in France without moving there? Is house sitting realistic later in life? What does it actually cost? How do you handle the Schengen rules? What happens when the dream bumps into family, health, money, pets, or real life?
The Second Act Abroad podcast is not scripted advice from experts on a stage. It is a real conversation between two people already living the experiment — with stories, practical details, mistakes, numbers, and the occasional disagreement over who packed what.
Listen to the podcast →We're slightly ahead on a path you may want to walk.
What we wish someone had talked through with us when we were sitting at our kitchen table wondering if this was actually possible — and whether it could be us.
The real numbers
What it actually costs to spend longer stretches of time abroad — accommodation, groceries, transport, insurance, flights, and the unexpected expenses that quietly catch you off guard.
The mechanics that work
Schengen rules without the panic. House sitting through TrustedHouseSitters — how it works, what to expect, and why it's one of the best entry points into longer stays. Long rentals, healthcare, banking, phones, and the unglamorous details that make the difference.
The stories that show what it feels like
The dogs, the markets, the village walks, the kitchen-table decisions, and the moments when a place stops feeling like a destination and starts feeling like daily life.
Two people, many chapters, and a different way to live.
We left Florida in 2019 and drove west to Gig Harbor, Washington. It wasn't a carefully planned reinvention — it was the next reasonable thing that seemed possible. We'd been TrustedHouseSitters members as pet owners for years, and decided to explore the Pacific Northwest through the other side of it — as sitters. A season of neighbourhoods, routines, dogs, cats, and homes that taught us how quickly a place can begin to feel familiar.
Then Covid changed everything. We rented a "month-to-month" apartment we thought we'd be in for a few weeks. We were there two years.
On May 1st 2022 we moved out, and we haven't stopped moving since. Sixty-plus house sits. Long stays across England, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Israel. We have learned that spending more time abroad does not have to mean selling everything, moving forever, or doing it one particular way.
Read the full story →Is a wider life abroad right for you?
An 8-question readiness guide for people thinking about spending more time abroad later in life.
Eight honest questions before you start planning.
This is the conversation we wish someone had shared with us when we were first wondering whether any of this was actually possible for people like us.
- What you actually need to figure out before you go
- The questions to answer whether you travel solo, with a partner, with friends, or are still deciding
- What's solvable, what isn't, and how to tell the difference
- The single biggest planning mistake we see people make
From wherever we are, to your inbox.
The story behind the latest episode, what we're learning on the road, what things cost, what surprised us, and the practical notes we'd send a friend who asked, "Could I do this too?"
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. Currently recording from Sun Valley, Idaho.