Our first destination, busy Mexico City? The start into our new life in Latin America! [AED-S01E04]

The plan was for us to live as modern day nomads in South America. A new country every three months. Alexandra Allover and me were planning to get a residency in Paraguay. It was a lot of work and cost us a lot of money to get all the necessary documents. But now we were stuck. Paraguay was still on Lock Down and didn’t let any foreigners in. We just had another 5 months before our documents would expire. We were debating all the different options.

What if the European Union doesn’t let us leave? Well, we could still go to southern Spain or Portugal. We heard from online sources that things weren’t as bad there at that time, also the weather was generally warm, even in the coming winter. And for sure we wanted to avoid spending another cold winter, while enduring unreasonable governmental oppressions. But still inside of the European Union meant they could still do with us as they please and no resistance from the people was to be expected there.

Our other option was to buy ourselves a sailboat or be hired as part of the crew in the Mediterranean and then sail it across the ocean to the Caribbean. Through my friend Gearld from Germany, i heard about Christoph Heuermann. He is the founder of Staatenlos.CH and just like me he coaches people online. His expertise is in helping people all around the word in emigrating from their countries and living as perpetual travelers or expats. His business had an increased success with the newly arriving restrictions on freedom. He bought a Catameran in Croatia, got himself a crew together and online published his live journey with the boat to Brazil. That was very inspiring and likely an option for us.

 

However the  main goal was still to take a plane across the Atlantic Ocean and fly directly to Paraguay to get our residency. As an alternative though we could fly to another country in the same direction. The United States was still closed for Europeans but Mexico was still open and mostly free of restrictions. That’s why my friend Kim was on his way to Mexico City.

 

Kim’s flight was from Bulgaria, through Madrid to Mexico City and then onward to the West. We were in contact with him throughout the whole journey.

What happened next was gonna change the course of our travels. Kim did not just arrive in Mexico without any problems, he said it was one of the smoothest journeys he had ever had in his life. The airports were empty and the people were calm and no one was stressed. He had a smooth transit and was already enjoying the beach on the West coast of Mexico.

With the first of September, we had no news out of Paraguay. The borders were closed and we decided to fly to Mexico instead. Puerto Vallarta here we come. We booked a flight and would fly a week later.

But there was lots to still be done. We had to move out of the apartment and get rid of the rest of our stuff. And then Pack. Minimalistic… but how minimal can one be, when moving your whole life to a new continent? How much is too much or too little. When i was traveling in Central America for half a year, all i had fit into a carry on backpack. It was convenient and it just worked. But back then I had my other things stored in the US and in Europe. This time around there was very little I still owned but we decided we would both bring a Check in Suitcase additional to our carry on backpack. This way we had enough space to have clothes for cold and warm weather in South America and be equipped with our videography gear and our iPads. We decided against laptops and would do all our video editing with our iPads. Ive been a long time iPad user and know my way around, almost anything can be done on an iPad. Especially since the new iterations of iPadOS in combination with external HDDs and SSDs. To get more information on minimalistic living check out my other YouTube videos on that topic or my Online course “Have Your ADVENTURE, Tools and Routines”.

As for my dear Honda Varadero, I was able to negotiate a deal with a guy who was specializing on selling cars and motorcycles to private people. He already helped me with the sale of Panda and with a bit of commission he would take the Motorcycle into his garage and show it to interested prospects. So just a day before the flight i had to bring the bike to a place outside of Vienna and take the train back to our temporary apartment.

Alexandra was already waiting there for me, we packed till late at night and really just had a few hours of sleep before taking a car2go rental car to the airport. once we arrived at the airport, checked in, sat down and waited for the plane, the stress settled and the whole journey just got real. This is usually the moment when i start to appreciate being on the road, or in the air. Now the old… the past life was left behind, now nothing could stop us anymore… riiiiight…?

Our flight was going from Vienna, to Amsterdam and then to Mexico City. The Airline KLM. The last time i was flying KLM they lost my luggage… and then at least compensated me for it. But still. And now how bad could it be? Well the luggage was fine, but I’ll tell you what, these flight attendants were about the rudest I’ve ever experienced in my whole life. And i traveled to over 50 countries. Similar to the worldwide governments, they jumped on the trend of fascist treatment of their people and decided to turn flying into a prison camp activity. They were ordering us around, yelling at us and feeding us with Soy Food. I dared to ask to get anything else but soy but apparently KLM stopped serving food for humans but opted for pig food instead.

 

Anyways, considering our fears were mostly directed towards not being able to leave Europe at all, this was a small price to pay for freedom.

once we arrived at Mexico City, still worried they might send us back for whatever crazy reason authorities could be coming up with these days, our fears vanished and we understood we could start a new life. Mexican officials greated us with happy faces… or disinterest. Both of which was better than what KLM does to their people. We were granted a 6 months entry into Mexico and we immediately switched from survival mode to exploration.

We had a hotel booked through Booking.com. This website would become the staple of our regular search for places to stay. Especially useful when you want to stay as flexible as possible till the last moment. It’s been a regular procedure for us to just start looking for a place to stay overnight, like half an hour or less before actually checking in. Booking.com seemed to have given us the best deals so far. Just really beaten by walking up towards the hotel reception and asking them to give us a better deal than booking.

 

We were planning to stay 2 nights in Mexico City. Neither of us had ever been here before and we wanted to give it a bit of an exploration. After all the sitting in the planes I was ready to walk through the streets and get my step count going. The beautiful old city center was on our first night’s menu. We were both so surprised how clean the streets were. There was cleaning personell that literally cleaned each cobbles stone with a brush. We were a bit late though, due to current restrictions restaurants were forced to close at 10pm, so we discovered streets a bit outside the center. With all the restaurants closed i had a hard time getting my paleo food. I had to settle for my first street food tacos. And thats when i realized, 3 years of Spanish at University… and i can barely order street tacos… an initial frustration, that improved over the course of the next months though.

 

The second day in Mexico was us just walking, walking to the outskirts of Old town and getting ourselves mingled into the local markets and all the sales places. It was fun to see how people were not afraid to be outside and hung out together in big crowds. No unreasonable laws can keep Latin people from losing their friendly vibes and their need of togetherness.

One interesting thing we noticed in Mexico City was how our hands would swell up. Mexico City is one of the highest capitals of the world and due to the lower air pressure, our hands would swell. Something locals would tell us to be just a temporary phenomenon. High Five to that!

For more information on our first days in Mexico check “Our move to Mexico – https://youtu.be/Gj5WuwkFfv0” on Alexandra Allover’s YouTube Channel.

With the feeling of having just arrived in a new word, the journey was going forward with us flying to Puerto Vallarta to meet Kim and his Norwegian friend Ole to start into the next big adventure… where to stay and what to do with our lives here in Mexico. Well, we hadn’t really thought that through yet.

Hear more about how our journey continues in the next Episode of the Adventure Escape Diaries.

 

With this inspirational journey continuing in the next video, I want to make you aware of my current offer for a free Online Coaching session with me. With the ADVENTURE Escape Diaries you can follow my journey to personal freedom and now let’s make your dream life possible as well! You want to talk to me about reaching your fitness goals, healthy eating on the go, or you need help emigrating from your country and finding a new home; I am here for you and can point you into all the right directions. Get inspired by this one time session or join me for regular coaching.

So go ahead, follow the link in the description and book your free appointment right now.

I can’t wait for you to plan your own Escape and join the ADVENTURE!