Hi Gary,

If you remember one of the ideas we talked about in Tampa was the concept of Portable Parents.  I wanted to post an update of what I have been up to since the Tampa workshop.

The flight back to Portland was spent feverishly scribbling ideas about what Portable Parents meant to me, the impact & “issues” that my ideas might pose on my family, and the next steps I needed to take upon returning home.

In the late hours of the flight a peace came over me, I knew that these thoughts and ideas were the “key” to unlocking THE puzzle…namely, the lifestyle change that I was wanting & elimination of the 60 hour work week & corporate America.

Upon returning home I convinced my wife that our next vacation would be in Ecuador…and oh by the way we were leaving in March.  She was confused and apprehensive, but I had 6 weeks to ease here fears and convince her that I had not lost my mind.

As you know, we signed up for your Ecuador real estate tour the first week in March.  We travelled with our 2 children, our 11 yr. old son and 6 yr. old daughter.  It is a LONG travel day from Portland Oregon to Quito Ecuador, but we all managed & in fact had a pretty good time.

Ecuador is EVERYTHING you write about and more.  We fell in love with the people.  The spirit, kindness, warmth, and sense of family we found was incredible!  There are not to many places in the U.S. where I would feel comfortable walking city streets at 11pm with my kids…after only a couple of days in Cotacachi we were strolling the streets as a family.

I have some exciting news…we have decided that we are moving to Ecuador!! 

The reason I am posting this story to the self-publishing blog is that this decision is the beginning of Portable Parents.  In fact, the activities we are currently undertaking are all important elements, selling our stuff, selling our house, researching schooling, etc. 

I have continued to write and build out the notes I took on the plane.  They are still only jumbled ideas and unconnected stories, but everyday brings new material for Portable Parents as we prepare for our move to Ecuador.  I wanted to share our passion, and explain what Portable Parents means to us…

We will sell or give to charity EVERYTHING we own.  We will keep some clothes, electronics, and a few household items…but we are approaching this adventure as a new beginning.  I came home from work earlier this week and Gina said that she was giving away her China, I know that this was a tough decision but was very proud of her that she is embrassing this dream.

Our primary residence will be Ecuador.  We will home-school our children. We will learn Spanish.  We will work on building our Portable Parents business.  However, we also plan on travelling to other countries and expect to visit 2 or 3 different places each year.  If we like a city we visit we will stay for a few months, if we don’t we will move on to the next one.  These travels will be central elements to the kids school curriculum…they will live the experiences not simply read it in a text book.

By eliminating our material possessions, homeschooling the kids, and building an online business we will be completely Portable. 

We are not without fears and trepidation.  But even the kids are supportive, agreeing to giving it a try.  I have a great since of pride from their willingness to make such a change…to leave friendships, activities, and their hometown.  I am confident that these fears will subside, and that this experience will be the most amazing journey for our family.  It will provide balance, reducing our focus on financial rewards and provide physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

I have still not been able to boil down the PROBLEM…and certainly not in the 11 words you taught us in Tampa.  In addition, I would welcome any suggestions about the types of PRODUCTS that I could produce for my market.  I am happy to take any criticisms as well…

Regards,

Sean