About Us

Hi! We’re Steve and Linda

We’re the duo behind Wind and Whim, and let’s just say—we didn’t exactly ease into travel. We dove in headfirst, no floaties. A couple of trips a year? Not nearly enough. So in 2018, we pulled the ultimate plot twist: retired early, sold (almost) everything we owned, and set off to travel the world full-time. You can read all about that life-altering leap below.

We started Wind and Whim to share our adventures, prove that full-time travel is more doable than you think, and nudge (or shove) you toward chasing your own dreams. But we’re not here to sugarcoat things. You’ll get the good, the bad, the breathtaking, and the downright chaotic. So grab your favorite drink, get comfy, and wander the world with us!

Meet Steve

One of the many flattering words you could use to describe Steve is steadfast. Before retiring at 60, he spent 40 years as a sales manager, honing his people skills and perfecting the art of a firm handshake.

A lifelong DIY guy, Steve has tackled all sorts of projects, from building an eight-foot bookcase (back when people actually needed bookshelves) to installing a wet bar—because priorities. He’s also saved a small fortune over 40+ years of marriage with his MacGyver-like skills in car and home maintenance.

While Linda is the creative genius behind Wind and Whim, Steve is the marketing department. Armed with his gregarious charm and a stash of business cards, he makes sure everyone we meet knows about our adventures.

Weird but true facts about Steve: He once walked on a broken foot for three months before bothering to see a doctor, he simply cannot leave dirty dishes in the sink, and he is highly allergic to lazy people.

Meet Linda

Linda thrives on change—some might say she collects career paths like souvenirs. Over the years, she’s been a student (twice, because why stop at one degree?), a research lab assistant, an accountant, a stay-at-home mom, a homeschooling mom, and now, a full-time traveler. The timing of these transitions wasn’t always ideal, but hey, it all worked out in the end.

She’s been married to Steve since she was a wee babe of 22, which, trust me, was many years ago. Together, they raised two incredible daughters, Stephanie and Laura. While Linda loved being a mom, she firmly believes that having adult children is the best.

Back in the day, Linda was an avid seamstress (she even sewed her own wedding gown!) and a passionate gardener. But since lugging around a sewing machine and a vegetable patch isn’t exactly practical for full-time travel, she now channels her creativity into this blog.

Weird but true facts about Linda: As a teen, she had an intense fascination with the Mafia, she cannot pass a cat without greeting it, and she firmly believes that any problem can be solved with a well-crafted spreadsheet.

Where We’ve Been

ALBANIA: Durres, Shkoder, Theth, Tirana

ARGENTINA: Buenos Aires, Cordoba, General Villa Belgrano, La Cumbrecita, Puerto Iguazu

AUSTRIA: Salzburg, Vienna

BULGARIA: Bansko, Byala, Plovdiv, Sofia

CAMBODIA: Siem Reap

COLOMBIA: Cartagena, Guatape, Medellin

COSTA RICA: Jaco, Puerto Viejo, San Jose

CROATIA: Dubrovnik, Opatija, Plitvice Lakes National Park (Plitvicka Jezera), Pula, Rijeka, Split, Zadar, Zagreb

CZECH REPUBLIC: Prague

ECUADOR: Cuenca, Puerto Ayora, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, Quito

FRANCE: Paris, Strasbourg

GERMANY: Berlin

GREECE: Aegina, Athens, Kalabaka, Thessaloniki

HUNGARY: Balontonfured, Budapest, Eger, Heviz, Lillafured, Szeged, Szekesfehervar, Szentendre, Veszprem, Visegrad

ITALY: Civitavecchia, Rome, Venice

MALAYSIA: Kuala Lumpur

MONTENEGRO: Kotor, Podgorica

MOROCCO: Casablanca, Chefchaouen, Marrakesh, Rabat, Tangier, Tetouan

NORTH MACEDONIA: Skopje

PANAMA: Panama City, Toboga Island

PERU: Arequipa, Cusco, Huacachina, Lima, Machu Picchu Town, Paracas

PORTUGAL: Aveiro, Faro, Lagos, Lisbon, Porto, Sintra

ROMANIA: Brasov, Bucharest, Sinaia

SLOVENIA: Bled, Ljubljana

SPAIN: Barcelona

THAILAND: Bangkok, Chiang Mai

TURKEY: Antalya, Cesme, Dalyan, Datca, Fethiye, Goreme (Cappadocia), Istanbul, Marmaris

UNITED KINGDOM: Bowness-on-Windermere, Bury St. Edmund’s, Cambridge, London, Manchester, The Yorkshire Dales

UNITED STATES: Asheville (NC), Gatlinburg (TN), Memphis (TN), New York City (NY), Orlando (FL), The Florida Keys, Tonawanda (NY)

VIETNAM: Da Lat, Da Nang, Halong Bay, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An

Our Story

Perhaps you’re like we were. Life is good. You’re in a happy relationship, your children are grown and thriving, and you live in a safe, pleasant neighborhood. You have friends and family you enjoy, a job that’s both challenging and rewarding without being overwhelming. You pay your bills on time and even save a little. But something’s missing.

You’re not having any fun.

After work, household chores, and much-needed rest, there’s little time or energy left for anything else.

That was us in 2015. Life was good, yet we kept finding ourselves saying, “We aren’t having any fun.”

So, we decided to change that.

Creating Our Vision

We started brainstorming ways to lighten our load like hiring a lawn service and a pool service. We even considered downsizing now that our children were on their own.

Then we asked ourselves the big question: What do we really want out of the years ahead?

Our soul-searching led us to this:

Our Vision Statement: Live a life of adventure, enrichment, and discovery.

Our Mission Statement: Create a lifestyle of simplicity with ample time and resources devoted to achieving our vision.

The Sentence That Changed Everything

That fall, we toured apartments in Jacksonville, Florida, hoping to find a home where we could walk to stores and restaurants and ditch the burden of home maintenance.

But nothing felt right. As we drove home, discussing how uninspired we were, I blurted out the words that would change our lives:

“We should just sell everything and travel the world.”

Steve’s response? “I’ll do it.”

An Obsession Is Born

It sounded like a wild idea until I started researching. A simple Google search for “travel blogs” led me to a list of the top 50 travel blogs. Not just 50 blogs in total—50 of the best.

I quickly learned that plenty of people travel full-time, many sharing their expenses along the way. To my amazement, I discovered that a couple could travel the world for about $3,000 a month (excluding medical insurance).

And just like that, I was obsessed.

I spent weeks dreaming and planning in my head. When could we do this? What about our house and cars? How long would we stay in each place? How much time outside the U.S.?

Finally, I told Steve. I expected him to say I was crazy. Instead, he said, “Let’s do it.”

Where Did That Come From?

You might wonder what made me blurt out those life-changing words. Honestly? I’m not entirely sure. Maybe it was a long-dormant memory of One Year Off by David Elliot Cohen, a book I’d read years earlier about a family who spent a year traveling the world. Or maybe I was just ready for a radical change.

Whatever the reason, the seed had been planted.

Setting the Plan in Motion

We set February 1, 2018, as our departure date. The next two years were dedicated to learning about world travel and downsizing our lives.

Steve retired from his job as a sales manager in January 2017 and spent the year preparing our home of 30 years for sale. I retired as an accountant at the end of 2017 and joined him.

We decided to make our way from Florida to Europe by sea and booked a 15-day cruise to Barcelona. The ship didn’t depart until early April, which turned out to be a blessing—it gave us two extra months to finish getting everything in order.

Then, on April 7, 2018, we hugged our daughters, Stephanie and Laura, extra tight and set sail aboard the Norwegian Epic—toward an entirely new life.

Now, we’re excited to share our journey with you.

Come wander the world with us,
Linda