Living abroad

Why I left the US and decided to live out of a very small, meticulously curated suitcase

Author

Haley Boyd
February 06, 2024

Ciao from Florence.

This is the Arno river, the Seine of Florence

I stumbled upon the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella on my way to the grocery store about an hour after arriving here. The art and architecture is unbelievable and incredibly dense in Florence. It’s a much smaller city than I’d imagined, such a lovely vibe.

Florence is my third stop since leaving the US, and this newsletter is about why I decided to live abroad and my unusual format for doing so. I started thinking about a big change a few months ago after admitting that Santa Barbara didn’t quite feel like home. For me, Santa Barbara was good on paper. It seemed like it should be a perfect fit, but the connection just wasn’t there.

And that isn’t to say that it isn’t a fabulous place or that it couldn’t be the right place for me down the line, but I knew it was time to leave. Chronologically, I’ve lived in Telluride (childhood), Park City (briefly as a teenager), Santa Barbara (high school), New York (throughout downtown Manhattan, Williamsburg, and Bushwick in my 20’s), LA (early 30’s), Aspen (the Pandemic with my family), and then back to Santa Barbara. I began brainstorming possible locations and quickly realized there wasn’t anywhere in the US that felt right.

Then an old friend suggested something brilliant and outside the box…

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