Here we go!

I have now had the fortune to visit Maui three times in my life. If you were to ask me when I visited when I was in seventh grade if I thought I might move there one day, my answer probably would have been, “That would be so cool!”. But I was in seventh grade and had no idea how my life would unfold. It would have sounded like an awesome adventure that I would embark upon in adulthood. If you would have asked me when I visited again when I was 19, my answer probably would have been, “Sounds awesome, but there’s no way.”. I had just started dating who would later become my husband and at the time and I didn’t know enough about him to know he also has an adventurous side (we are both Sagitarrius’s after all). I had also just moved out of my parents house for the first time and had very little money. I didn’t know which direction my life was heading, and Maui would have seemed like a farfetched dream that would never become a reality.

Over the years, my dad has joked about the family winning the lottery and moving to Maui. He has visited the islands at least seven times and Maui is his favorite place on Earth. Through the many times he has joked about moving there, I never thought of it as an option for myself unless we really did win the lottery. Maui was always a pipe dream.

A little over a month ago, my husband and I took a trip to Maui. We are lucky enough to have friends who live and work on the island, so it was an easy decision to plan a trip to visit. I have to share how we paid for the trip though, because I am quite proud of it. I utilized credit card rewards points, taking advantage of a sign-up bonus, combined some already existing points, and bought two round-trip tickets to Maui for $65. Yes, $65.

Chase (if you use this link to apply for a card, I get a little bonus…thanks!) has an easy-to-use rewards program and their sign-on bonuses are substantial. Even better, if you already have a Chase card and open a new one, you can combine your rewards easily to pull together enough points for travel, gift cards, and cash back. If we’re not planning a big trip, we often trade in points for gift cards as Christmas gifts for our family. Don’t miss out!

Anyway, back to our trip. Two special anniversaries were approaching for us. We still celebrate the day we started dating and of course, our wedding anniversary. This year we are celebrating 10 years of marriage and our dating anniversary happens to be about two months earlier, so we decided to take the opportunity to celebrate both by heading to Maui in March for our dating anniversary. We planned a little vow renewal moment during our trip and I got ideas from our friends on sights to see and places to eat while we were on the island.

The trip was absolutely magical. We played, we hiked, we swam, we snorkeled, we listened to the whales singing underwater, we drove to the top of Haleakalā, we ate good food, we cooked with our friends, we watched sunsets, we adventured. All the while, we spent every day saying to each other, “We should live here!”. It felt like home. After all, we did both grow up in a beach town on the Atlantic Ocean. Waking up and throwing on sunscreen and a swimsuit felt natural. Leaving the beach covered in salt and sand, and then changing under a towel on the side of the road is the kind of life I love to live. Spending hours snorkeling and combing for shells in the surf feels like coming home. Living the slow, easy life of a Saturday morning at the farmer’s market and a Sunday evening watching the sunset over the grill with our friends felt so normal, we knew we wanted to find a way to live this dream.

So, here we go! Here we are. Embarking upon this new adventure. There are a lot of logistics and some barriers we are going to have to traverse as we make this happen. We’ve mapped out our general plan, and we imagine this is going to take the better part of a year. But we want to make this happen. We are going to ride this high of island life and make our dream become a reality. So, join us on this journey! We have a lot to learn and a lot to share with you.

My hope is that this can be a place for you to get inspired to live out your own dreams. Whether it’s moving to Maui, starting that hobby you’ve always wanted to try, adopting that cute dog at the shelter (do it, you won’t regret it), or just simply dreaming along with us - we’re glad you’re here.

How do you Downsize a Life?