Retired, Roaming, and Rooted: Welcome to My Second Chapter

Notes on slow travel, reinvention, and making a difference along the way

Trusting the ledge, the view, and the life I chose. (Massif des Calanques 1000+ feet)

Hey there – I’m Kelly.

A couple years ago, my husband and I ditched our careers, offloaded most of our stuff, and booked a one-way ticket out of the 9-to-5 world. We didn’t retire to a golf course or a beach resort. We retired into a life of slow travel, strong coffee, tiny kitchens, and the occasional goat bleating outside our window.

This Substack is where I share what really happens when you leave the grind behind and start chasing something different.

You’ll find stories from the road – the kind that don’t make it into glossy travel blogs. We’ve stayed in vineyard cottages, over-the-pub rooms, glorified shoeboxes, and homes shared with generous strangers who became lifelong friends. We’ve made just about every travel mistake you can imagine – and saved thousands anyway.

But this isn’t just about logistics.

It’s about what happens when the constant pressure to be productive finally stops. When your nervous system has time to breathe. When you realize that life after career doesn’t have to be a slow fade into irrelevance – it can be a reset. A second act. A calling, even, if you let it.

I write about:

• The unsexy but important stuff: finances, long-stay hacks, staying sane while living out of suitcases

• The messy middle of early retirement: identity shifts, weird grief, and why it sometimes still feels like work

• Making a difference while traveling – servant leadership, tiny contributions, and learning to give more than you take

• The hilarious, awkward, heartwarming moments that make this life so rich (even when the Wi-Fi sucks)

If you’re here from Business Insider, from LinkedIn, or you’re just someone who loves slow travel, thoughtful questions, and stories about starting over midlife — welcome. If you’re just here collecting subs for the sake of it, no hard feelings — but this space probably isn’t for you.

If that sounds like your kind of place – welcome in.

— Kelly

Retired early. Still curious. Writing from wherever there’s wine and decent Wi-Fi.