EP14 Traveling Europe for 2 Months with Tawnya Landis

"Never discount what you’re capable of. We are all capable of greatness; don’t ever doubt what you can do or what your capabilities are.” – Tawnya Landis

Links from the Show

• All About Beachbody Coaching Podcast
• Airbnb
• Eagle Creek Packing System
• Google Translate
• Trip Advisor
• Yelp
• YouTube
• Skype
• Tawnya’s Website
• Tawnya's Email

You’re listening to The Business of Life podcast. Practical advice for creating the life you love to live. Here’s your host, Keith Callahan.

KC: Hello and welcome to The Business of Life. I am just super excited for this episode and for you to be able to hear from Tawnya Landis. So, Tawnya has been traveling around Europe for the last 2 months with her husband, Scott, and their 3 kids. So, Tawnya and I are good friends and we both, we work together with Beachbody. We’re both Beachbody coaches. And, just as a side note, if you’re curious as to what it is that we do, how we’re earning our income, how we’re able to live these lives with financial freedom, you can always check out our sister podcast, All About Beachbody Coaching. So, just search All About Beachbody Coaching and that will pop up.

So, during this episode there’re tons and tons of information that Tawnya mentions and a bunch of different resources for how they went about really just scheduling their trip and everything that was involved in it. You don’t have to worry about writing all that down. We have it all in the show notes for you and at the end of this episode we’ll give you instructions on exactly where to go to get the show notes. Alright, so without further ado, let’s bring Tawnya on.

[01:45]

INTERVIEW WITH TAWNYA LANDIS

KC: Alright, so I am super excited to introduce today’s guest, Tawnya Landis. Tawnya, welcome to the show.

[01:52]

TL: Thank you so much, a pleasure to be here.

[01:54]

KC: Yeah, it’s awesome to have you on and we were just chatting before we hit record here and it’s just such a perfect time to be talking and being able to hear a little bit more about your story because you are traveling Europe right now, right?

[02:11]

TL: Yes we are.

[02:12]

KC: So, where are you now?

[02:15]

TL: I am currently in Venice, Italy and right now as we speak, I’m looking out onto the Grand Canal. It’s absolutely gorgeous here.

[02:24]

KC: That’s amazing. So, it’s funny, I have all these questions that I want to ask you and the first thing you stated that you’re in Venice, looking over the Canal, it almost like led into a bunch of questions that I want to ask. So, I guess I’ll get into all of them but I want to take a step back. So, you’re over there for 2 months, right?

[02:52]

TL: Yes.

[02:53]

KC: So, how, so you got to the point, there’re so many things that will lead up to this and I guess we can uncover them as we go but let’s just focus on you and your husband, Scott, decide that you want to take this trip, right, and you have the ability to do it now. How do you start? Like, how did the process start, where are you going to go, how long you’re going to go, how to do it all?

[03:20]

TL: Well, it really and honestly, it’s kind of a crazy story. My husband brought up the idea of traveling Europe after our second child was born and I thought he was crazy and that was like 7 years ago. And then, he’s brought it up a few times since and then finally we were in a position to do it and I just said, “Let’s go for it.” So, we actually just chose a place to land and we only had the first 7 days planned out. We bought a one-way ticket to London because we didn’t want to be rushed and we really wanted it to be just about feeling, you know, going where we wanted to go and not having a packed itinerary. And, that’s really how it started, I mean so we’re those crazy people but, you know, bought one-way ticket for our family of 5 over to, you know, from Portland, Oregon to London, England.

[04:17]

KC: It’s amazing. And so, you’re about to embark on this journey and what were the fears, if any, that you had to overcome or that Scott, if you want to share anything that he had to overcome or the kids, like this is a massive thing, right? Like, you’re not just going over there, you backpacking or something like that, like you’re taking a family of 5 over there.

[04:44]

TL: Yeah, I was terrified to take my kids on the plane. I honestly have like anxiety about it because I didn’t know how they would do. It’s a long flight from the West Coast to England and, honestly, from the time we left Portland until we got to our place in London, it was like 28 hours and I was terrified of how the kids would be. And so, that was one of my fears. They did great, by the way. And then, my other fear was just like, “What are we doing?” Like, you know, it’s a really exciting thing but then you always have that voice in your head that’s like, “Can I really do this?” Like, I want to do it so bad but, you know, can we make it happen. I mean we don’t have an itinerary. We’re just going to go with it and we have these, like you said, it’s not just, you know, me backpacking, we have our 3 children with us. So, we have to be, you know, if we get stranded, it’s all 5 of us.

[05:43]

KC: Yeah. So, was the ‘what I’m I doing’ fear, was that, like what are we doing taking these 5 kids cross-country, not even cross-country, cross the world and not having, like that security or that knowing, right, was that sort of it?

[06:02]

TL: Yeah and I think I mean people just, either people thought, we had 2 kinds of people saying, “You guys are crazy” and then other people were like “This is awesome” you know, “It’s really cool.” But, yeah, it was just basically that security and, you know, we did pull our children out of school 2 weeks early. And so, they did miss some school and, you know, it is, you know, not having like a solid foundation for them while you’re traveling and not knowing the schedule and the time difference. But, you know, just that and but it wasn’t I mean it was, you know, that last minute fear but it all worked out.

[06:42]

KC: Yup. So, I’m in the camp of “This is awesome” so I like to say that. You know, I’m kind of jealous because I think I’m still in that place of like “I couldn’t imagine putting my kids on a plane and going to Europe for 2 months right now.” So, sort of envying what you guys are doing and living vicariously through you right now. So, when you like you guys decided that you were going to do it, what were the, like what was the go to resources that you used to plan out that first week?

[07:21]

TL: Well, we used Airbnb. We’ve used Airbnb for all of our places that we’ve stayed on this entire trip and we, you know, we used Google, just Google-ing places, you know, where to go with kids in Europe. My son really wanted, he’s always wanted to go to London and he had some places he wanted to see. And so, we made sure that we added those and that was really it. My husband’s a big, he’s very organized and he wanted to make sure because we needed to take our luggage with us so he researched, you know, packing systems and luggage systems. That’s not my thing. I’m an over packer. So, he took care of that and just made sure…

[08:11]

KC: So, when you, like when you say packing systems, what do you mean by that?

[08:14]

TL: Oh my gosh, so I’m the person that throws everything into the suitcase at the very last minute. And so, that was actually our big debate, like that was the only thing we were kind of in disagreement about was how many suitcases to bring. And so, he went on YouTube and was YouTube-ing all these different suitcases and things like that because, you know, 5 people and 3 of them being children being gone for 2 months, we needed to make sure that we had, you know, things with us. It’s, you know, enough clothes, different, you know, medical things. And so, he researched all of that through YouTube and he actually found this really cool system. It’s through Eagle Creek. So, if you are traveling, I’d obviously I don’t get any benefit from them but their system’s awesome and it really helps packing.

[09:05]

KC: So, is it like compartments within the suitcase, like that’s the system?

[09:09]

TL: No, okay, the suitcases are awesome. They roll over anything because we’ve had to roll them to the train stations, you know, airports, on you know horrible streets and things like that but they have these little bags and you can pack all of your stuff into them and they compress and he color coded each of our family members. So, I told you he’s organized.

[09:32]

KC: I love it.

[09:33]

TL: So, we each have our own colors so when you open the suitcase we pulled our bags out, we each have our little bags and then we, you know, have those with us wherever we are because we’re, you know, we’re moving every, you know, 5 to 7 days. So, you know, we have to constantly unpack and repack and it just makes it a lot easier. But, yeah, and they have different sizes. I mean he could, he spent a lot of time researching this and this was a system that he liked and we’ve been really happy with it.

[10:01]

KC: That’s awesome. So, and then, the use of Airbnb too, you mentioned right? And, did you find that, I guess 2 questions with that, has it been cheaper than staying in hotels and has it been better than staying in hotels?

[10:17]

TL: Absolutely, it is way cheaper and it’s better for a family because what actually ended up happening is someone did book us a hotel for our stay in Paris because we did do a week in Paris. Well, we got to the hotel and they only allowed 2 people in a room and there were 5 of us and it was late at night. It was like at 11:30 at night and we’re like “Well, could we just get like another room?” and they’re like they don’t have anything that adjoins. They have no more rooms. So, we just kind of winged it and we all, 5 of us, crammed into a room that’s like was like the size of a closet and it was pure misery. Like, it was pure misery and we ended up finding out that it’s against the law to have that many people in the room. So, our first night in Paris, we actually broke French law. And then, we said, the next day I called and checked all the hotels and they’re like “No, we don’t allow more than like 3 or 4.” You know, 4 max but that was even hard to find. Nobody had rooms together. So, I went to Airbnb, booked something and within 2 hours we were in an apartment, you know, right outside of Paris and the thing I like about it was when you travel with kids, you really do need to have more space and you need to have a kitchen and all the Airbnbs that we’ve stayed at have had kitchens and had enough space for all of us, enough beds and we’re, you know, not on top of each other.

[11:55]

KC: Yeah, we…

[11:56]

TL: Which makes life easier.

[11:58]

KC: We found the same thing. We haven’t used Airbnb outside of the States but using it in the States that it does, there’s just, for a family it was, it has been the best and one of the things I also like about it is the at first I was a little nervous but the review system is just awesome. So, you can read the reviews and that’s really where the collective trust comes in, right? So, if you, if somebody has no reviews, you’re kind of like “Uh, I don’t know if I’m going to choose this one.” But, if they’ve got 10, 20, 30 plus reviews then you know exactly what you’re getting into.

[12:37]

TL: Absolutely and that’s, you know, that’s kind of what I do. I go through and I read all of the reviews where we’re going, how you can get to places, what the apartment’s like. I make sure because we’re, you know, I’m working, I need to make sure it has strong Wi-Fi. So, usually they’ll tell you in the review if the Wi-Fi was good or not and it’s awesome. We’ve had great luck and we’ve stayed in quite a few on this trip. So, it’s been really good for us.

[13:03]

KC: Alright, so you mentioned that you need strong Wi-Fi and I guess like you kind of have 2 things with your business right now that are allowing you to do this trip, right? You have passive income. So, you have income that’s coming in each week, kind of regardless of if you work or not but you’re still working your business. You’re still building your business. And then, you also have mobility. So, you can work wherever you want, right?

[13:37]

TL: Exactly.

[13:38]

KC: So, share a little bit, there’re so many people that are listening that we want that life. I know for myself, 5 years ago like that’s what I wanted. I wanted to be able to do what I want, when I want with who I want and you now have the ability to do that. So, I guess putting that as what we’ll lean on, I’m going to ask a couple of questions off of that. It was that something that you always, actually I’m going to add one more thing, so you and I both work, I mentioned I’m going to mention in the introduction we both work with Beachbody together. But, prior to becoming a Beachbody coach and working with Beachbody, did you visualize those 2 things, like were passive income and mobility on your sort of wish list or did it kind of fall into your lap?

[14:33]

TL: Honestly, before I started my business I had actually kind of lost the ability to even dream. We had been through a really, really rough time and I did want freedom of time and freedom of location and I knew those were things I really wanted but I just didn’t know how to make it a possibility. But, it you know, it came quickly once I started my business. I could, you know, foresee the big plan and the big picture and, you know, that’s really, you know, what attracted me to this business. But, honestly, before I started it, I didn’t. I mean I wanted those things but I just didn’t know it was a possibility.

[15:15]

KC: Yeah, because you guys had a previous business before becoming Beachbody coaches, right, that failed?

[15:24]

TL: Yeah. We’ve actually owned, we owned an insurance agency that actually did pretty well and we owned a real estate investment company that did really well but then, obviously it was a, you know, part of that big crash in ’07/’08 that did fail. So yeah, we have been entrepreneurs but I will say those are both businesses that don’t buy you freedom of time.

[15:47]

KC: Yeah.

[15:48]

TL: You got to work a lot, so.

[15:50]

KC: Yeah, and it’s almost like a blessing in disguise because I’ve had a very similar path to you and Scott where I’ve had a bunch of businesses that failed and knowing what I know now and going through what I’ve gone through, sort of similar to you guys. The blessing of, like I wouldn’t have understood passive income. I wouldn’t have understood network marketing and partnering with another company and how it, it just takes all the pressure off of you, like to be, to wear all the hats. So, yeah, really is a blessing and it’s, you know, you guys are living your dream now. So, I guess now another question off of that, you really, you have the ability to work wherever you want, right, you need a laptop and not even a phone, do you?

[16:42]

TL: No, I don’t because Skype is amazing and you can call through Skype but I, yeah, as long as honestly, I have my phone, my iPhone and I have my Macbook and I’ve been able to work all along this trip and I’ve had no issues. As long as I have a Wi-Fi connection I’m good.

[17:05]

KC: Awesome. So, again so many people listening are looking for that passive income. They’re looking for that lifestyle and I think people fall into 3 categories, they’re either, they’re looking for that, they’ve already created that or they really don’t understand the power of passive income. So, if you could put it into your words and when I say passive income or I guess that’s the best way to word. What has it meant for you guys and for your life?

[17:41]

TL: Well, it’s meant financial freedom and freedom of time and the freedom of time is the big piece. I mean money is great but having the passive income has allowed us to do things like traveling and because before when we owned our previous business if we left business stopped. It didn’t keep going. While I’ve been here I have, you know I’m consistently getting paid each week and my business is growing and I have been working. I don’t have to, I have a choice but it’s meant freedom basically is what it’s given us and it’s given my husband freedom, myself freedom and the ability to, you know, do this trip and make memories with our kids that, you know, they’re never going to forget.

[18:34]

KC: Yeah, really the freedom of time, like once you get that and once you understand that, like for me I could never live life like any other way once you, like going into a 9 to 5 and having to do that. I could do it. I could d it if I was hustling towards something else. But, yeah, once you experience freedom of time, it just, it changes everything because like you said it. I have friends who are doctors, lawyers who own real estate companies and they have the nice vacation homes and they have the nice yachts and they have the nice cars but they’re at work all day every day and, you know, the money’s great like you said but the real gift is that freedom to be able to really design your life like you guys are doing right now.

[19:26]

TL: Yes, most definitely. We used to, I mean when we were in our previous businesses it was work hard and then play hard. So, we would work really hard and we worked all these hours and then we would play really hard, you know, on our few weeks of vacation a year. And then, we’d come back and, you know, hit the ground running again and just counting the days until our next trip.

[19:46]

KC: Yup.

[19:47]

TL: And, it was pretty, actually when I look back on it, you know, it wasn’t that great because, you know, we were dreading going back and now it’s like, you know, I love what I do and, you know, and I’m not, you know, working 50, 60 hours a week. I don’t even work 40 hours a week, so it’s amazing.

[20:07]

KC: Alright. So, let’s jump back on to your trip.

[20:10]

TL: Yes.

[20:11]

KC: What is the whole route or do you not know yet?

[20:18]

TL: Oh, the whole purpose or?

[20;20]

KC: No, no, like, well, I guess we could talk about that. That would be a good question. I’m going to come back to that. So, the like stop by stop, where you’re going or I guess where you’ve gone and then do you have it outlined, where you’re going because you guys still have almost a month left, right?

[20:44]

TL: Yeah. So, like I said, when we first started the trip, we had 7 days planned. We were doing, you know, we did London for a few days and then we took a train over to Paris and my husband actually met up with a team over there and he was doing some mission work. And then, we experienced Paris for awhile. We didn’t have any plans after that but we went to, we decided to do a little town outside of Lyon called Souzy which was and honestly the way we picked it was we looked at the pictures on Airbnb and we just loved the house. So, we stopped at the house. It was an amazing town. Nobody spoke English, only French and we’re not, we don’t speak French but we managed to get around and had a great time. Then, we went to The French Riviera which has been my favorite. We went to Cannes and Nice then we came to Italy and we got to Italy the day before my birthday and I loved the beach and I hadn’t had enough of the beach. I’d done the French Riviera. I wanted to do the Italian Riviera.

[22:02]

KC: Yeah.

[22:03]

TL: So, I went to the Italian Riviera, experienced that and that was amazing and again a lot of the places we’re staying, a lot of people, like it’s very rare to find someone that speaks English and we have just been getting around with, you know, picking up words in Google translate. After the Riviera, we went to Lucca, which is a really cool town and then we are currently in Venice and Friday we’re going to Tuscany for 10 days and we’re going to in an authentic Tuscany home up in the hills and do some day trips, like all over, you know, Florence and maybe Milan and some different places and then we’re going to end up in Rome and we’re going fly home. Well, we’re not actually going home. We’re going to Nashville first and then we’re going home but, yeah, so that’s our itinerary. We had nothing planned and we just kept planning like a week maybe 3 to 5 days ahead of time. We would figure out, “Oh, where do you feel like going?” and “Where do you want to go?” and we would pick it that way. But then, that kind of got a little stressful. And so, we just decided, you know, like a couple of weeks ago to plan the rest of the trip out. So, we kind of knew where we were headed because between you have to book trains and cars and things like that to get to these places.

[23:29]

KC: Yup. So, when you were, like the stressful part was not having the actual, like you decide the destination then it’s a scramble to do the trains, book the place you’re staying, book the cars and everything?

[23:48]

TL: Yeah, it was. And so, I found that what happened was I would spend like a whole day like stressing, like trying to hear back from people if we could stay at their Airbnb, trying to get the trains booked and so I was like “We just need to do everything a week in advance. So, we started doing that and then I talked to a really good friend of mine who has been all over Italy and she kind of, bless her heart, was like “You, you know, do an itinerary like this and I think it’ll fit you guys better” and it was kind of what we did. We found with the kids, before we were moving like every 3 to 5 days, it was too much. With a family, you really should give yourself 5 to 7 days in a place or, you know, 10 because otherwise, I mean you have to, you know, you have when you travel with kids it takes a lot out of you and you need to kind of recover that day that you’ve arrived somewhere, get your bearings and then you can do your traveling and then, you know. So, I would say if you’re traveling with your kids and you’re in Europe, at least do 5 to 7 days in each place. Otherwise, you know, you’ll find yourself pretty stressed out and rushing.

[24:59]

KC: Got it. And then, for your place at home in Oregon, did you guys put that on Airbnb?

[25:06]

TL: No. That’s a funny story. We actually sold our home in September. Last summer, we really felt we had to put it on the market and we’re like, “I don’t know, maybe we should, you know, we should sell it, maybe we shouldn’t” and we didn’t have a sign up and somebody wanted to see it because it was in our MLS and we’re like “The house is a mess.” It wasn’t cleaned yet and she was like, the realtor’s like “Apparently, she doesn’t care. She wants to see it.” And, I’m not kidding you. The house was just, it was just one, you know, it was just a rough week with the kids and I mean you can imagine, like it never looks that bad and I was like “Fine, she could see it.” And, I just, because there was nothing I could do. They wanted to see it in like an hour. So, I’m like “Okay, you know, just forewarn her.” And, they loved it and we sold. We moved the first week of school down the block to a rental and because we didn’t really know where we wanted to go. We’ve been like tossing the idea around of moving, you know, out of state. We just weren’t sure and we didn’t want to be locked down with a mortgage. We didn’t know where we wanted to buy. And so, we just decided we would rent. And so, to come here we actually sold a bunch of our stuff. We sold my car the day before we left and we sold my husband’s car but we sold a bunch of our stuff, packed everything else into a pod and came over here and that’s what we did. So, we don’t technically have a home in Oregon anymore. We have a pod, so.

[26;51]

KC: Alright, so when you’re going back to Oregon, where are the kids, they’re not staying in the pod right? Like, where are the kids…

[26:58]

TL: No. No, we are going to rent another. We’re probably going to rent or buy something when we get back. And yeah, but we want to, honestly, if one thing this trip has done is that it’s given me clarity that I, you know, before we were talking about moving to the East Coast and different places and this trip has really been amazing but it has given me clarity that my home is really in Oregon and that’s where we want to stay and raise our kids and our kids are enrolled in school for the Fall in our home, you know, in Oregon City where we live and that’s where they’re going to go back and we’ll, yeah, I have my family and friends. I’ve got some people scouting out rentals right now for us so that when we get back, we won’t have to, I mean it’s kind of hard to couchsurf with 5 of us.

[27:50]

KC: Yeah, yeah.

[27:52]

TL: We’ll figure something out.

[27:54]

KC: So, with the, I want to go back to the original or that question that you thought I was asking. Maybe you didn’t know that there was a purpose or did you know there was a purpose to why you were going there and like why you were traveling and if you didn’t know, was there a purpose revealed?

[28:19]

TL: Well, when we just knew we were supposed to go. Like I said, my husband brought this up after the birth of our second child and I, at that time, I mean our second child, you know, I’m not sure if you know this, was very, very sick. So, the thought of even going anywhere there was no way we could leave her team of doctors. And then, of course, I got pregnant again and so I’m like, he brought it up again and I’m like “We have 3 kids, 2 are in diapers, I’m lucky if I can go somewhere a couple of hours from where we live.” And, you know, just even like doing a trip for a couple of days was a lot of stress and last year, the end of the year, he was like “You know, there’s an opportunity in Paris for me to…” because he teaches a course and he’s like “There’s an opportunity for me to do that and I think it’d be really fun.” And, I’m like all of a sudden it just hit me. I’m like “We should just do our Europe trip. We should do it. We should go and just do it.” And, he’s like “Are you serious?” And then, that was when because he had asked me so many times. He was kind of like “What, did you just say yes?” And so, he moved on it pretty quick before I changed my mind and honestly, he’s had that dream for a while and I didn’t see it until last year and I really was like “That would be awesome just to have our kids experience a different culture.” I went to school for a semester in England and was able to travel all over and it changed my life and I think it’s very valuable for children to know what, you know, what it’s like in other places and we’re still, you know, we thought when we got over here we’d have like this huge purpose revealed. Like, you know, it’d just smack us down but of course, it’s, you know, we don’t know the ultimate thing and but we’ve grown as a family. We’ve grown in our relationship. We’re closer. We’re very present while we’re here with our family and, you know, not bugged down by schedules and activities. So, that’s been a huge blessing as well.

[30:25]

KC: Can you touch on that a little bit more, the present piece?

[30:30]

TL: Yes.

[30:31]

KC: So, what’s the difference really with the presence where you are versus at home?

[30:39]

TL: At home, there’re so many distractions and you have, you know, there’s always this pressure to have your kids in all these activities and they have school and then they’ve got all these different things going on and birthday parties and you’ve got appointments and housework and there’s just always so many things going on and they’re not bad things but I think a lot of times we get overscheduled. We over schedule ourselves and I know personally that I’ve overscheduled my children and, you know, before we left on this trip, I pulled them out of all their activities and I’m not saying activities are bad. I think they’re wonderful. But, everybody needs a break and being over here we don’t have that and we do have cell service but a lot of times I have my phone, you know, on airplane mode so that I’m not getting calls and I work in the mornings and I work at night because the other beauty of it is we’re 9 hours difference from where we live so everybody’s sleeping during the day while we’re out exploring Europe. And then, they start waking up, you know, around the evening time and that’s the time I’m starting to work. So, we just don’t have that. It’s just the 5 of us and we’re just together as a family. We’re sharing meals or seeing things and we’re just very present. There’re really not distractions over here for us at least.

[32:05]

KC: So, 2 questions on that. How old are your kids right now? And then, what has, like form their eyes, how has the experience been?

[32:17]

TL: Well, we have, our oldest is 11, that’s our son and he has loved it. He just thought it was so cool to see these different places. I mean he had done this huge report, right before we left, for his 5th grade class on Italy. And so, as we’ve been in Italy, he’s been able to experience things that he just researched and read about. So, he thinks it’s pretty cool and it’s been great for him. He’s a little tired of his sisters but it would be the same way at home. He says he needs a break. My middle, she’s 7 and she has just gone with the flow and she’s been really good and, you know, she wasn’t so flexible at home but on this trip she’s really had to learn to be flexible and you can just see her maturity happening while we’ve been here. And then, our 4-year old, she’s so easy. She’s just kind of one of those kids that is like wherever as long as she’s with us, she puts it her family then she’s happy. So, we could be anywhere and she’s happy, yeah, but yeah, so we’ve got, everybody’s out of, you know, diapers. Nobody has to take a nap and most importantly, nobody needs to be in a stroller. So, that really helps. They can all walk. But, they’ve loved it. They’re doing really good. I think they’re getting ready. They’re pretty excited to go home and see, you know, grandma and grandpa, but they’re not complaining. They are excited to go to the different places.

[33:58]

KC: Yup. So, if you were like recommending, I guess not recommending, if somebody’s thinking about doing this and they’re thinking about doing it with the family and doing it the way that you guys did it, what would you be looking at for cost?

[34:19]

TL: It’s a lot. Well, the airline tickets are insane like to come home. To come here they weren’t bad but to go home, it’s peak season so they’re bad.

[34:37]

KC: Like, how insane?

[34:40]

TL: To get home, well, it’s not, I mean it’s I think 1200 a person and that’s one way. You have to realize, you know, to come over was only, it was only like 800. We actually flown, you know, European Airlines and it seems to be cheaper and you get a lot more perks on the European Airlines. But, I would say total and then the different Airbnbs and things like that. My husband’s really the money guy but I would say, for 2 months, I would say like 15,000, you know.

[35:21]

KC: Fifteen.

[35:22]

TL: Yeah. I would say unless you’re, you know, you try to do it on the cheap and I mean we’re not like at all like going lavish but feeding a family of 5 it seems like no matter where we go it’s like the same price and you’re like, you know, whether you’re eating at some crappy place or you’re eating at some nice restaurant, it’s always, my husband and I joke about it. We’re like “Why is it always like 60 to 70 Euros everywhere we go?” It doesn’t matter what we do. We have kids sharing meals and things like that. But, I would say anywhere from because I mean that’s including the plane tickets. The plane tickets are what, are really expensive. Once you get here, it’s between, each week is anywhere between $500 to $900.

[36:10]

KC: Got it.

[36:11]

TL: And then, it just depends how you want to do your food.

[36:15]

KC: Got it. Alright, so if someone’s planning to do this trip they need to save a lot of money and get freedom of time.

[36:23]

TL: Yeah, but you know what, the beauty is, is that I didn’t have to like bank all of my money before I got here because I’m still getting paid while I’m here. And, because we sold, you know we don’t have a home right now in Oregon, we’re not paying a mortgage. We’re not paying rent. We’re not paying utilities. So, really while we’re here, it hasn’t made a huge difference, I mean it’s been a little bit more but not really because at home living expenses are high and we don’t really have any right now. So, they’re all over here.

[37:00]

KC: Yeah, I guess the like if you look at it from that standpoint, it’s almost cheaper if you took the flights out. It’s cheaper what you’re doing than what you were paying at home. It’s really the flights getting back and forth.

[36:16]

TL: Yeah, the flights are what’s expensive getting to this, you know, from, you know, the States to Europe and back again but living expenses over here, they’re not bad at all and we don’t have, you know, any we still have some bills obviously at home but taking, you know, your electricity and your water and your, you know, your mortgage out, it’s a huge difference.

[37:40]

KC: Yeah, yeah. Alright, I have a few sort of fun questions now.

[37:44]

TL: Sure.

[37:45]

KC: Things that I’m curious about. Which place have you liked the best and which place has Scott liked the best?

[37:54]

TL: Well, Scott wanted to, we’ll go with that because we just went to his favorite place. We went to this little, this really small town called Sori, Italy and it’s on the Italian Riviera. We got there and he because he’s been wanting to go to Italy. That was his dream place and he’s like “We could move here.” And, immediately when we got there it was great for the kids. The kids loved the place and they have parks everywhere. You can let your kids, you know, literally walk around by themselves and nothing will happen to them. And again, it’s just very, you know, it’s very authentic, everybody’s really nice. Yeah, he said he wanted to move there and I was like “There’re no stores here.” Like, there’re little markets but literally to like get your groceries, you had to go to like 4 different places. All these little markets, like you get your produce at one place and your meat at another and everything is like closed, like it opens for like a couple of hours and then they close like from 12 to 4 or whenever they feel like re-opening if they do. So, you never know when somebody’s open. And so, I was like you know, I have this, I’m more of a city girl and so I’m like “Yeah, I don’t think I want to move here.” It was a really nice place to visit but like by day 4 I was like “We need to go somewhere else.” It was a great, great place. Everybody there is amazing but it was I need a little bit faster pace. My favorite place I would say was probably Cannes. I love the French Riviera, loved it and the beach there was amazing and being able to run down the boardwalk. They have bakeries and stores and everything you could want. It’s just, it was beautiful. I really liked, I liked it there probably the best.

[39:58]

KC: Cool. And then, what about what’s been the coolest thing that you guys have seen?

[40:04]

TL: Well, it was pretty cool to take the kids up the Eiffel Tower in Paris because our 7-year old has been drea-, she’s been wanting to go to Paris since she was 3. No idea why she’s wanted to go to Paris for that long. But, it was really neat to be able to take her up the Eiffel Tower. But, to be honest, we’ve seen so many things that it’s hard to pick our favorite. I mean we, you know, we took a road trip in France and instead of like, you know, we we’re playing I-Spy with the kids and we’re spying castles on the side of the road. I mean that’s, you know, that’s what we’re looking at for scenery and it’s just, it’s absolutely, you know, breathtaking all the places we’ve been and so it is really hard to pick. Everybody’s loving Venice right now because I mean Venice is just, it’s beautiful and it’s amazing to be here.

[40:58]

KC: That’s awesome. Well, it’s definitely got me, you know, when you I had talked last week and we had scheduled this, I was personally really, really interested in talking to you about this and learning more about it because it’s yeah, it’s something that I think maybe my fear is somewhat justified right now because I do have a 1-year old, a 3-year old and a 5-year old and we’re still in diapers. We’re still on strollers like that whole thing. But, it’s something that listening to you talk about it is it makes me want to do it more and more. So, I appreciate that.

[41:40]

TL: Yeah, you can totally do it. I would just wait a few years and get out of the diapers and strollers and the naps. I mean you can do it with that. It would just be a lot harder. But, the kids, you know, the kids being the, like the 7 and 11-year olds are really getting a lot from it. The 4-year old she just, you know, is good going with it but the 7 and 11-year old and especially my 11-year old I mean they’re getting a ton from it and then being able to help, you know, with the transitions points. I mean it’s hard enough lugging suitcases if you have to lug a stroller too. So, you will be able to do it. There is light coming for you at the end of the tunnel. I would just give it a little bit more time and definitely put it on your list because it is awesome. It’s really fun.

[42:32]

KC: Alright, it’s on there. So, a couple last questions. As far as, I know you mentioned Airbnb and a few other things but if you, like if you had a list of somebody’s really thinking about doing this and a list of thing, like a list of either check out this website. Check out this book. Check out this podcast. Check out, you know, this person on Facebook. Like, are there any other things that you would recommend that we didn’t talk about yet?

[43:04]

TL: Well, obviously Airbnb you need that. I would definitely get Google translate.

[43:10]

KC: Yeah.

[43:11]

TL: It is awesome because if you don’t know how to, you know, say something in a language, you can use Google translate. And then, I would do Uber. We Ubered our way all over France and that was great. And then, I would also do Trip Advisor. Everybody uses Trip Advisor over here. They have things rated and they’re accurate. I would definitely use Trip Advisor. We used that for restaurants and different places to go and tours and it’s given good information. I also use Yelp because most Americans use Yelp so you’ll get an American perspective on things and those would be my top go-to and YouTube. Like, if you’re going to go somewhere, go into YouTube and type it out. Like, we’re in Venice and the way that we’ve been figuring out kind of what we want to do is we’ve been looking up things on YouTube and, you know, seeing like “Okay, this will be good for our kids.” Because, doing Venice with kids is a little different than doing it with just my husband and I. We can only do so many museums and arts galleries and things like that with them and lines. I mean it’s one thing for them to stand in the line in Disneyland but to stand in the line to see a museum they don’t appreciate that at all. So, those would be my top tips but even if you just had, I mean just get those apps on your phone if you’re coming over here with or without kids and they will guide you in the right direction. We didn’t check out any books because, well, frankly we just didn’t have any room for them and we’ve been able to like get everything online.

[44:55]

KC: Awesome. And then, what about the phone for traveling, did you have to do a special plan or anything with your phone?

[45:05]

TL: Yes. So, I have AT&T and all I did is I called them and added the international and I thought “Oh, I just need the $30 one.” Well, I needed the $120 one because the data eats up really fast. So, make sure that you call your phone carrier and you add international, an international plan. Make sure to include data and texting and talk. You don’t necessarily need the talk but to be honest, there are times that my husband and I have been like separated on this trip and it wasn’t by choice and we’ve had to like cal each other. So, that’s what I would do and then I would get the Skype app and you can actually add credits and call people on Skype and that’s been really great because it’s really inexpensive and a lot of times they’ll give you like a 30-day free trial and all your calls, I mean I haven’t had to pay for any of my calls. I’ve done them all through, you know, Skype.

[46:06]

KC: That’s awesome. Alright, well, as far as if somebody is looking to connect with you because I guess one of the things that we didn’t really talk about but that I want to mention here is you do mentor people to, like we had mentioned we both work with Beachbody and one of your goals I guess was to be able to live this lifestyle. So, someone’s interested in learning more about you, interested in following you, interested in checking out sort of your journey or connecting with you about looking into becoming a Beachbody coach or working with you, what is the best way for people to get in touch with you? Where can we find you?

[46:54]

TL: Well, you can find me all over social media. But, I have a website, it’s www.landisfitness.com and landis is l-a-n-d-i-s and then fitness.com. You can connect with me on Facebook and watch my journey. I’ve been posting up pictures of the different places we’ve been and you can see our crazy family traveling all over. My name is spelled Tawnya, it’s T-A-W-N-Y-A and last name Landis, -L-A-N-D-I-S. And, lastly, you can e-mail me at Tawnya.Landis@gmail.com. So, any of those ways will work but if you, you know, I have a blog on my website kind of talking about, you know why we took this trip and the deep reasons why and then also kind of what our experience has been so far. So, if you want to check it out you can.

[47:51]

KC: Awesome and I’m just going to throw in this that we’re recording this on June 24th so if you’re looking at Tawnya’s page or anything like that and trying to find the pictures and everything from the trip, scroll back to it’s June 24th of 2015 because it could be who knows 2020 when you’re listening to this. So yeah, I just wanted to mention that. Also, for all of the show notes and everything, you can just go to the website, KeithCallahan.com and it’s going to have everything that, all the different links that Tawnya mentioned and all the different ways to connect with her in the show notes from this. So, you can find more information there from everything that Tawnya talked about. And, I guess one final thing I’m going to put you on the spot, Tawnya, and if you’re willing, can you give sort of, I guess one piece of parting advice to somebody that doesn’t really think that it’s possible for them to be able to do what you’re doing.

[49:07]

TL: I would say never discount what you’re capable of. We are all capable of greatness and don’t ever, you know, doubt what you can do or what you’re capabilities are. I definitely, if you went back and looked at my life where we were at 3 years ago there is no way. We were in a hole so deep, you know, financially and with a sick child that there was no way that we could even take like a little trip to the beach and, you know, because we couldn’t afford the gas for our car. And now, we’re on this amazing dream European vacation and you can do anything you put your mind to. So, never ever doubt what you’re capable of. We are all capable of doing this.

[29:51]

KC: Awesome. Well, thank you so much Tawnya and can’t wait to watch the next month of your journey.

[49:58]

TL: Thank you. Thanks for having me, appreciate it

[50:02]

KC: This was a really fun episode for me to record. Just to be, you know, sitting there and talking with Tawnya and really just being able to be on the other side watching somebody that has changed their life, that is living the life that they love to live. It’s just, it’s such an amazing part of my job. So, if you’re curious about all the different things that Tawnya was mentioning, just shoot over to our website, KeithCallahan.com, K-E-I-T-H-C-A-L-L-A-H-A-N.com and go underneath the business of life podcast. You can find all these show notes there, all the links to everything that Tawnya mentioned. Also, just want to give one more shout out with All About Beachbody Coaching. So, if you are interested in learning more about what it is that we do, swing over to our sister podcast, All About Beachbody Coaching. So, just search that in your podcast app. Alright, ‘til next time.

Thank you for listening to The Business of Life podcast. Apply what you learned today and you’ll be one step closer to creating the life you love to live.

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