Conversation with World House Sitter Malina Padgett

Want to learn a way to get abroad without spending a lot of money? In this episode, Malina Padgett gives us an inside look at the unconventional way to travel through house sitting and the benefits of having shorter stints in different countries, as well as, sharing ways of keeping mentally whole while doing it.

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 [00:02:47] Nyra: I want to hear from you, your trajectory from where you started. Where are you from? And what was your first, your migration story? So like your first opportunity, you know to move abroad, right? Who are you? 

[00:03:04] Malina: Who am I, what a good question. So I grew, I grew up in Indiana. That's where I'm from. My parents both were raised my sister and I to be. Really think about what our, what our path would be like, create our own path. They always wanted us to kind of, you know, think for ourselves, you know, if we wanted to go traditional route in our area of, you know, going to college, coming back to the town, we grew up in and having a family great. But we wanted to do something else. They wanted to support that and they really made it.

[00:03:38] It a big, they made a big push in our upbringing to make sure we traveled as much as they possibly could allow us to. My grandmother is from Germany. She very, very close to her huge influence on my life. Huge influence on I think, you know, going, wanting to go out and do my own thing because she was really the only person in, you know, In my upbringing sphere [00:04:00] of going out and moving to a different country. And it was really successful for her. And it's funny because you know, now I do this house sitting and travel all the time and she, she's the only person who acts like, oh my gosh, you should stay home. Both. My parents are like, do what you want. You know, whatever. If, if I go visit them, if I'm at home, they’re like, why are you here?

[00:04:22] You need to go do something, go out and live, go do something. My grandma, who is the only one who has done this, is the exact opposite. So it's kind of funny. So yeah, my parents had this big goal for us growing up that we would visit all 50 states before we graduated high school. And. I don't know why it was just like my dad's little thing. So I really enjoyed growing up, getting that travel experience with in the U S and kind of appreciating the U S before I went abroad, I feel like that's not something a lot of people get to do. And. I dunno. I feel like I have an appreciation for the United States as a whole, because of that. We got to every state, but Alaska and I was able to go to Alaska for the first time in 2019.

[00:05:04] And it was such a fun like bucket list check-off moment. So yeah, when I was going through college, I really wanted to do something career wise that allowed me to work remotely and travel full-time. That was like the number one thing in my head. Like, how do I make this work? How do I have that you know, flexible schedule be able to kind of be location independent.

[00:05:28]And I ended up starting my own business when I got out of college. And I thought that was going to be the way to like, let me be location independent. Let me have that, you know, kind of more flexible lifestyle. But what ended up happening was I was spending all of my time and putting all of the resources back into the business, all the money that I made back into the business and ended up being a lot more restrictive, then this flexible dream that I had. And so I kinda did like a, you know, an evaluation and I thought. This is [00:06:00] not what this is. This was not the reason for this. Like, how am I going to, you know, re restructure my life and, you know, make it work. I had started to do some freelance work that had you know, came off for my, my actual business.

[00:06:12]And I kind of started to lean into that. And I thought, you know, if I can do more freelance work and do it all online, that's going to give me the work flexibility. And I'll figure out the travel bit after. It was something I had talked a lot about with, you know, people closest to me, my closest friends, my sister, if they could be like location independent as well. And when I got to the point of feeling like, okay, I can now do this. Like I'm, you know, I can do this from a financial standpoint. Nobody else was at that point. And I was scared to death. Like I was like, I'm such a fearful person of a lot of things. I have a lot of anxiety. But I also really tried to not let that control me, you know, push through.

[00:06:54]So I was like, how am I going to make this work? How am I going to afford it? How am I going to like, not be super lonely when I'm traveling like this, you know, what is this? So I dug in, did a lot of research and I found out about house sitting and

[00:07:10]Nyra:  how did, how did you find about, cause I had done some research and I didn't know anything about house sitting I knew about house sitting in the states. Yeah. Okay. How did you find that out? What did you put in the search engine for that to pop up? 

[00:07:29] Malina: So I think, I honestly think it was one of those things I had been doing so much research about You can come in here. This is,

[00:07:42] wow. Look at that good food. I think it just, it came because I had been doing so much research. I think it actually came through as a Facebook ad and it was something so the site that I use is trusted house sitters. And it was something my mom had shared with me a couple of years previously is something she [00:08:00] had came across shared with me, my sister, like isn't this an interesting concept. And I think because I had been, you know, using all these keywords with travel, probably researching things about animals too, because I've always been such a huge dog person. It came as an ad on my Facebook page. So I was like, what is this? I kind of had that in the back of my head of like my mom having shared this article with me about it before.

[00:08:25] So I just clicked through and, you know, researched it. And it was like, is this a legit thing? Like, is this, you know, what is this, would I feel safe being in somebody else's house? How is it structured? I'm just, I'm such a researcher. So I just did it total deep dive into what this thing could be and if it would be my solution. And so as somebody who's super fearful, I had all of these reservations of what that was what it would look like. But I also had all these little dreams of like all the places I could go with this. And so yeah, I decided I would test it out and I would go somewhere that I was super comfortable with before I did anything overseas, I did not want to do, you know, be stuck on the other side of the world.

[00:09:07] It'd be a disaster. I do not know what I'm doing, what I'm doing, and just kind of be caught into something that I didn't feel comfortable with. Because when I researched it, I really didn't see a lot of resources outside of the service. And other like similar services. I didn't see a lot of people, you know, reviewing it or talking about it. So it just, it felt like something that was, you know, that was the best path to do my own little test run first. So I did a couple sets in the state’s first in cities where I was familiar with, I had people close by, they were just really short sits to see, test it out. And once I got comfortable with it, I thought, okay, I'm going to, let's try something overseas.

[00:09:48] And I think my first overseas sit was 2000. Okay.  Summer, 2019, I went to [00:10:00] Scotland and then I went to the Netherlands, so did two sits in a row right after each other and they were awesome. I mean, they were amazing. And I think, you know, doing the Scotland trip first was another thing that felt really comfortable. I had; I had been to Scotland previously. It felt something that, you know, going to an English-speaking country as well. I felt like it was a very good transition. So since then, I've just gotten more comfortable with it. Done a lot of thinking, you know, re-evaluating of like what works, what doesn't work. And yeah, that's, that's pretty much how I got into it. I can't remember the original question, but

[00:10:37]Nyra:  no, it's all good. Okay. So you, I mean, you, you still haven't clued us in. I know you did a deep dive on this, on a search engine, but you didn't give us those SEO words, those SEO words that are really important to figure out how do you, you know, cause you can go into the land of Alice Wonderland. You know what I'm saying? With the spiraling on the internet, but how does one actually navigate the internet to find that that is an opportunity for you? What, like what came together? You said it was an article that your mom gave you. 

[00:11:14] Malina: Yeah. So I saw an ad for it and I, like I had remembered, my mom had shared with me something about how sitting a couple years before. So I already had kind of like that nugget kind of triggered by seeing this ad. And I, I really don't think if she would, she wouldn't have shared that with me. I would have been like, oh, this is a weird thing. I'm not going to check this out. And so, yeah, I just started researching, you know, that specific service started trying to do some research of like what other people's experiences were within house sitting and it's kind of something that I'm trying to highlight now, because I don't feel like there are a lot of resources for people.

[00:11:47] And I think people have a lot of questions about. What this is. And I honestly, I think it's an amazing option for people who are trying to travel on a budget, people who are kind of wanting to live that like [00:12:00] ex-pat lifestyle, but, you know, don't necessarily want to pick up and move to a solid base somewhere. Like if you want to kind of test it out, what it's like to live in a different country, I think that's such a great option before you make a huge commitment to something. Or if you're somebody like me who kind of wants that. You know, travel lifestyle as well. So yeah, as far as keywords go, as far as like, you know, research on the internet, that was like a big thing for me.

[00:12:23] I wasn't able to find a lot. And so I feel like as somebody who's benefited, benefited from it so much, and it's kind of able to enabled me to live this travel lifestyle, I feel like that's why it's important for me to talk about it and share about it, you know,

[00:12:41] Nyra:  is there Is there anything that you can, once you realized that this could be a viable thing for you to do? Is there any preparation that you had to do beforehand or was it just, you just started sitting up for the first house sitting gig? 

[00:12:57] Malina: so you, so the service I use, you have to sign up for you have to pay for it to be a member of, and I personally felt safer about that because homeowners have to sign up and pay for it. Sitters have to sign up and pay for it. And it felt like it was a safer barrier to entry. It felt like it was something that I dunno, you didn't, you wouldn't have these like spam listings and, you know, they had all these ways of, you know, verifying your identity. You kind of do an interview with the people before.

[00:13:24] That's kind of how. I felt set up. I felt like there was, you know, kind of safety checks with it. What I did first like in my personal and professional, I guess life, I was already working remotely at that time. And I had already thought about going to drive out and visit my sister in Reno. And so I found a house in salt lake city as my first sit and just drove out there. Stayed there for a couple of days. And then I went on to visit my sister because you know, my life was kind of already set up to be able to handle the travel. It just wasn't set up to be able to go pay for Airbnbs everywhere I went, you [00:14:00] know? So that was a missing piece, I guess. 

[00:14:05] Nyra: So, so simultaneously as you're house sitting, you also still have your business, a remote job,

[00:14:12] Malina: Yeah. So when I, when I graduated college, I started the business where I was working with clothing brands and boutiques to photograph their pieces on women of different shapes, sizes, ages and kind of review those pieces. So people could have, you know, more information about how those pieces fit. You know, different shaped women because I am really tall and most of my height is in my torso. When I was younger, I was very into that. I wanted to study fashion design specifically because I had such problems finding clothes, like finding dresses that were long enough, like covered my butt. Like it was always a problem. So yeah, 

[00:14:49] Nyra: How tall are you? 

[00:14:51] Malina: Five, nine, 

[00:14:52] Nyra: Oh we are the same height. Yeah. 

[00:14:55] Malina: So, you know, the, you know, the struggle, it's a big issue. Like clothing, I don't know, you know, it's tall women, it's just, and you know, and I don't even feel that I don't feel like super tall, but I think the problem is that like, my height is all in my torso, that shirts and dresses, like, it's just such a pain and you know, some people have the opposite problem. Their height is all in their pants. And how do you find know pants that are long enough? And, and I enjoyed that. It just. It felt like it was going to be something I was going to have to keep kind of dedicating 24 seven to, and like not able to have a personal life at all and not have travel life.

[00:15:29] And I don't know. I think in life, sometimes it is important to take those, take a step back and like make sure you're, you're spending the time on the things you want to be spending the real thing a lot from people. 

[00:15:46] Nyra: Yeah, go ahead.

[00:15:47] Malina:  It's just so easy to like, It's so easy to kind of get heads down and then not really think about if that's what you, that's, the reason you started this thing, if that's what you [00:16:00] really want or not. And so I was glad to kind of have that re-evaluation and kind of do a pivot. I'm I don't know. I think you have to do pivots if you are, you know, if something's not working and slowing down and figuring that out has been. You know, very important for me. But, yeah, I don't know what we,

[00:16:20] Nyra: you, you know, you're, you're touching on a lot of different, you know, work life balance is one of those things that, that people are evaluating, but sometimes you don't have an opportunity to evaluate exactly. Is this really how I want to dedicate my life and how my time, you know, am I making room for the things that are important that need my, if not equal time, at least some of your time, you know, Especially if you're in a relationship, your family dedications, you know, and yourself, I mean, like if you're not taking care of yourself, you can't really take care of anybody.

[00:16:55] But sometimes you're moving with the understanding that you, you think you can and you can do for everybody and you can make room for everybody, but then you miss out on yourself. So this house sitting allows for you to. What I'm hearing allows for you to really kind of, you know, have those moments of pause, not have to think about the key thing, which is having a roof over my head that I'm doing a service and I'm getting paid for it.

[00:17:25] Malina: I don't get paid for house sitting 

[00:17:26] Nyra: Oh you don't 

[00:17:27] Malina: No. So there's a lot of different forms of house sitting. I found this out in my research but. Mainly the paid forms of house sitting or for people who are in specific markets, like specifically just London, they service that area. And they get paid for it. So my form of house sitting, I always explain it this way. I wanted to do house sitting to be able to travel and specially to travel internationally. And if I wanted to come to London and house sit and get paid for it, I'd have to go through all these hoops to get a [00:18:00] visa, to get sponsored by these people.

[00:18:02] Right. When they have people, local people who don't need to go through those hoops, so why would they, you know what I mean? Why would they go with me and you can get paid? So if I wanted to go the route of it, be of like house sitting, being more of a career choice versus being like a living choice. I would definitely like to focus on a specific market, but it works out really well for me to be able to go to places that I would want to go to. And I wouldn't be able to afford to pay for an Airbnb otherwise. And I wouldn't really be able to easily move there either like to get a job in those places.

[00:18:36] Like it would be very hard for me. So it's been interesting because I think some people have this really strong reaction where they think you should definitely be getting paid for that. That should be something you should be paid for. And then I think other people are like, yeah, that makes sense. If travel is your main goal. That makes sense. You know, you have the housing, you have the accommodation it's out there. And I, you know, I have learned a lot about what makes the most sense for me as a house sitter. What I will do, what I won't do, because I want it to feel like an even trade. Like, I want it to feel like I'm going to watch a friend's house.

[00:19:08] What would I do for a friend? You know, I wouldn't, you know, I would clean up after myself, I would take care of their pet. Yes. I would like garden, you know, take care of their plants, do like normal stuff, but I wouldn't do over, you know, detail their house or something. Right. And so for me, I make sure to evaluate that every time does it feel like an even fair trade?

[00:19:30] And there's been a few houses that I've learned how the hard way of things I wouldn't want to do. But yeah, it's been very interesting. You know, just to figure out what, what, what works for you and what does not 

[00:19:41] Nyra: I'm assuming that your parents have traveled before? 

[00:19:44] Malina: Yeah, I think both of my parents have jobs that they really love, and I feel like they both have kind of done what they really wanted in life. And I think they both grew up [00:20:00] where they were kind of pressured. They felt like they were pressured to do certain things and they kind of carve their own path from, from what their parents expected or wanted of them. And I think that was really important to them when they raised my sister and I, that they really encouraged us that, Hey, we don't need you here all the time. Go do your own thing. We don't expect you to stay here when we retire. We'll go to wherever you are. If we want, you know, don't feel like you're constantly needed or, you know, constantly whatever. Cause I think that's, you know, very much inexperienced that they had. And yeah, they both, and they like, yeah, my, my dad is, not huge into flying.

[00:20:35] He is somebody who wants to drive everywhere. When I was in Alaska, he thought he was going to be able to drive and the border was closed, and he was so disappointed because he wanted to make that drive. It's like 64 hours. From Indiana to Alaska. 

[00:20:48] Nyra: Wow. 

[00:20:49] Malina: Yeah, he's a nut, but that's his thing. He likes to drive whatever 

[00:20:54] Nyra: way and, you know, make a real vacation of it, you know, and not feel like you got to be there in three days’ time or something like that. 

[00:21:03] Malina: And so he is not that way. He wants to drive straight through and. I don't understand it at all. He's crazy. It's a challenge. And he wants to complete the challenge. I saw the other day on Facebook or something, maybe Instagram, where there was this route you could take from, from Alaska all the way down to like the very tip of south America. And I showed it to him and he was like,

[00:21:27] yeah, I want to do that. And I said, yeah, but you could afford to drive straight through. I'm not doing that with you. None of us are doing this with you because you might not enjoy it. I, you would just, I mean, he would enjoy it, but we would not enjoy it. So it's funny, the different things, you know, the different people like about traveling You know, and, and I guess the reasons that they travel,

[00:21:46] Nyra:  what is it experience that you have as a person when you're in these homes? And what I mean by that? Like sometimes I think when you, maybe when you will do one and two, but I would imagine over time that might be a feeling [00:22:00] of not feeling like you, you have a home almost, you know does it have any mental repercussions.

[00:22:09] Malina:  It's interesting. You say that. So when I first started this, I was like, oh my gosh, I can travel to all these places. Not have to pay for anywhere to go. Like, boom, boom, boom. And so I was going to a lot of places and not staying for that long, like a week or two at a time. So after my first year of doing this, I thought, is that what I want to do? Because I did feel like that. I felt like those, like those amount of time spans it wasn't long enough to. Feel like I was living in those places. It wasn't long enough to get to know people that well. So I started prioritizing sits that were longer. And sits that I felt like were places I wanted to feel like I was living and that helped me a lot to not have that. You know, I don't have a home feeling. And I think it's with this, I think it's really important to just like, keep.

[00:23:02] Evaluating. If you start to feel those feelings, like what is going to work, what isn't going to work, how do you change that? 

 [00:24:02] Nyra: This is great. That, so you are staying at one place for an extended period of time, allowing you to really kind of connect with the surroundings and helps with the mental state is what I heard it.

[00:24:14] Malina: It really does. It makes me feel more like it kind of alleviates that sense of. Yeah. Cause if you go somewhere new, you know, no matter where you go, you feel like that sense of loneliness of like, not knowing anybody there most of the time. Right? Yeah. It's very, yeah. And if you go somewhere for a week or two normally, and it's just vacation, you know, it feels like vacation, you'd go back home. But if you are like bouncing around from places like a week or two at a time. Yeah. I think it definitely helps with that kind of instability feeling. It's really weird because I don't know. I think like every place you go to kind of teaches you a little bit more about yourself. I think just having those checks with yourself always teaches you a lot about yourself.

[00:24:56] Nyra: Tell me like your favorite house sitting abroad.

[00:25:00] Malina:  My favorite house sitting abroad 

[00:25:02] Nyra: housesitting assignment.

[00:25:06] Malina: I don't know, you know, there's so there's so much I like about every sit because I'm such, I literally like the biggest animal person. But I did the longest house that I did abroad was two months in Bali. And it was very, very interesting because we were in like a very traditional, like, Balinese house in the middle of a rice field. And I really, and the cats like brought us rats, you know, from the rice fields and the house and stuff. And so, I don't know, I think any type of like houses or any type of experience, that's super, super out of your comfort zone and exposing you to kind of a way of living that you're not used to. For me, it always makes me like really grow as a person.

[00:25:52] Like if you would've told me before this sit, that I would be comfortable with. Somebody being like, oh my God, there's rats in the house or something, you know, or mice, I [00:26:00] would be like, oh my God, like, I don't want anything to do with that. But you know, you kind of live it. You know what I mean? You kind of challenge yourself. I kind of like that. And I love you know, getting ready to do some house sits in the UK. And I love any type of house in Europe just because they have that. Since of like letting you bring your dog to pubs and restaurants and trains and everything. And I love that. The sit that I did in Scotland was with a boxer and she went everywhere with me and it was boxers are my favorite dog. And it just was the best. Like I loved it so much. It just makes me excited 

[00:26:39] Nyra: Do you travel with your own pet.

[00:26:42] Malina:  I do well, I had a Chihuahua and I brought him with me last last February when I went to Alaska I went home for may and he came home with me and all of my friends that there were like, don't bring him. He's so small. He's like a dog in Chihuahua mix. He'll get, he could get taken by the Eagles and I'm like okay, I'm not going to bring him back. Left him with my grandma. He is 100% her dog now, which she has never been a huge dog person. And so it's been so fun that she it's been so fun that she has kind of like loved him so much.

[00:27:16] And it also makes me feel better because, you know, he kind of has that home in that situation now where I don't have to like have him as a concern. Yeah, I think it really, you know, life works out and she kind of has that companionship now that she didn't, you know, always didn't want, and she kind of uses that as like, oh, well this is Malina [not clear] dog, like, so nobody should, she can't, doesn't have to admit to people that she really loves him and like loves the companionship, but it's her dog now a hundred percent.

[00:27:45] Nyra: Oh my goodness. I that's how I feel about my cat because I brought my cat from UAE. You know, I had him and his sister at nine weeks, so she passed away four and a half years later, but he came to me when he came with me when I went to China [00:28:00] for two years, and then he came to the states with me. I was not leaving him behind. And I'm so glad I did. He's been so instrumental in getting me through this pandemic. Yeah. They are your family. Now that I'm, I'm going to, I'm looking to travel in the summertime, you know, it's nice to know that he's, he can stay here and that he's, you know, he's, he's really comfortable. You know, it's really comfortable.

[00:28:25] That makes it, that makes a difference, you know, with our pets, you know cause I'm coming back here, so it's not like I've decided to pack up and move. Now if I pack up and move and go somewhere, then he definitely comes with me, you know, I hate to do it, but  I don't want to change his surroundings that often, but, you know, when he does get changed, it's usually he's there for an extended period of time. But I think he definitely is more attached to me. So if I'm there and he sees me there, then he starts to acclimate because I'm the most, I'm the constant thing in his life. You know what I'm saying? He's got it. Yeah. So I get it. I get it. Let me ask you, so have you ever really been an ex-pat in another country

[00:29:09] Malina: I don’t actually have, well, I mean, I haven't actually like, you know, well, I've had to get visas, but I haven't actually held a job in another country besides the house sit 

[00:29:21] Nyra: well, are these, what kind of visas did you have? were they visit visa? Was it occupation Visa? 

[00:29:27] Malina: no, no occupation, because I've never gotten paid for house sit.

[00:29:32] Nyra: Okay, right. True. There you go. Oh, so you were able to have that ex-pat feeling somewhat experienced, even though they were shorter stints than a typical expat existence, but not quite vacation. 

[00:29:50] Malina: Yeah. It's an interesting mix because I feel like this has. I feel like I am like kind of hanging in the mix. Like it's kind of a vacation it's [00:30:00] kind of not, but I do feel like it's it makes me feel like I get this unique opportunity to live places for a short period of time that not a lot of people get. And I think it's. Fun. I think it's exciting because I think more and more people are like, you know, working online, working remote, like I think after the pandemic, more people are going to start working remote full time.

[00:30:23] And I think you know, being bound to one specific place, it's just going to continue to Not be as prevalent. And I think that people who are interested in exploring that, I think this is such a good option. Cause you know, I, I feel like a lot more as somebody with a lot of anxiety, a lot of fear This feels like a good, you know, kind of get my feet wet if I would ever want to move to a different country. I kind of know I had that option of, I could go there for a little bit, do a house, sit, test it out before I moved all of my stuff over there, committed to it, full time, you know, whatever. And you know, maybe as I get a little bit older and I kind of want more stability and I don't want as much, you know, go, go, go.

[00:31:01] That might be something that I explore. I don't know. That'll be interesting. 

[00:31:05] Nyra: What would be your top three countries? 

[00:31:10] Malina: That's a really good question. I mean, I love England. England is great. I would love, you know, anywhere probably I think like England, anywhere in Europe I'd feel super comfortable with, but I kind of want to challenge myself a little bit more to kind of go somewhere that I might not be as familiar with. So, I don't know anywhere that with a lot of outdoors would be, would be very important to me has a lot, cause I'm not a big city person at all. I like cities to, you know, kind of their amenities and whatnot, but I could feel good anywhere if it has a good nature feeling, basic necessities, , a good dog.

[00:31:50] Nyra: And now this is an unusual path and an unusual path often meets roadblocks. Often, sometimes [00:32:00] meets skeptics. Often meets people who feel like, okay, You did it for a short time. I'm not even going to think about your parents. When we think about friends, what does that mean for you? As far as, how have you met those types of challenges? If you had though, maybe you didn't have those challenges, then also you're in a relationship. How does that work in a relationship context? You know that somebody listened to this right now. So wait a minute. Well, I'm in a relationship. There's no way that my partner is gonna let me. You know, just go someplace or I don't know if he would, he or she would be on board. So what do you say to all of that? What is your, what are your, what is your feedback? 

[00:32:40] Malina: Right, right. So I think I, yeah, all of my friends, people super close to me have very similar attitudes to my parents. Always want to travel. My, my like really close friends are like, yes, you're going to this cool country. I'm going to try to get off work and come visit you for a week. And I don't have pay for accommodation either if I visit you. So my, my friends absolutely love it and they think it's great. My partner is I've never really been like, honestly, like never been a relationship person. I've had like very few relationships. It never felt like something that You know, like marriage, I didn't feel like that was like a super high priority is like, you know, if something happens great. If I feel like I have somebody who is like an ass, you know, like is is like a positive supportive, like it feels right. Great. And Calvin, I met when I was house sitting and kind of has a similar.

[00:33:35] No life situation right now, he's working towards his PhD. When I met him, he had known that he was going to be moving from Alaska to London for a while. And we were kind of like, you know, let's just see what happens here. But I think if you're, you know, in a relationship with somebody with similar values and similar, you know, life use, it's not, I mean, I think that's what it boils down to. If you're. [00:34:00] You know, it's like traveling like this and exploring like, this is something that I want to do. I definitely want to be with somebody who's supportive of that. And not somebody who's like, oh, you can't do this. You, I have to spend 24 seven with you. And I don't feel like either one of us are that way because you know, I am wanting to see, you know, see stuff and explore.

[00:34:19] And he is, you know, working towards something that he has to be super heads down about right now. And. Yeah. I mean, I think it definitely has its challenges, but I think at the end of the day, if you, if those values line up, if you are, you know, really, you know, rooting for each other, I feel like, and don't feel that like, constant, like, oh, you can't do this. You can do this. Like, I think people need their independence. I think people need their I think people need to be with people who empower them to do with what they want to do and they feel like they're called to do, I guess, you know, I dunno. 

[00:34:52] Nyra: No, that's a good answer. I think that that's a really important point. Like, you know, definitely sharing of, you know, lifestyle values, you know this personal value have a, have a lifestyle outlook that overlaps right. Want to be able to be free, to be yourself, to explore. Everything else is just planning, just planning. So if you are in, you know, in a joint agreement, everything is just planning at that point. It's like setting objectives and goals and objectives to meet. 

[00:35:28] Malina: Yeah. It's been interesting for me because, you know, like I said, I've not really been in this position before. I didn't expect to be in this position. So it's been very, it's been. You know, interesting to try to figure it out, like what's going to work best or you know, that, that planning phase. But I'm also lucky because I can come over here, be with him. And then also like, you know, this summer, I'm doing some stints doing some house sits to go, go on my little, own little adventures, explore [00:36:00] and I can come back and see him pretty easy. And yeah, I think it also goes back to, you know, the whole like planning your own path of.

[00:36:08] Kind of what works for you, what doesn't work for you. And I think yeah, I feel very lucky to view that situation right now because it feels like very, very supportive. It feels very I don't know. It feels, it feels healthy. 

[00:36:19] Nyra: Have the homes that you've evoked a certain desire to want to even have a certain home that looked a certain way. I mean, I'm just going to talk about that, you know?

[00:36:28] Malina: Well, you know, I don't know. I think it. Kind of interesting. What it's evoked more than anything is, is that as I'm like, how can I go, how long can I go for, you know, not having to pay a mortgage or pay rent and, you know, live as like minimalist as possible. And I think it definitely, you know, I think sometimes when you're carving out your own path, you think. This is, you know, I want to be doing this because this is what, like my intuition is telling me to do. But you also get into those little downfalls of comparing yourself to other people who. Ha, you know, are, have a house, you have to have a family they're established.

[00:37:07] You're like, oh, wait, am I wait, wait, is that what I want to do? Like you have those moments and I think that's totally natural. I think everybody has that. But I think when I, I think that's why it's so important for me to take those times of, you know, doing the walking meditation, make sure I'm aligned with myself, not getting this, like, you know, Instagram scrolling comparison, you know, Black hole that I think a lot of us get into and make sure like, I'm like thinking, okay, wait a second.

[00:37:38] Like what, what is it that I want in five years? What is it I want in 10 years? And you know, more than anything, I don't want to be tied down to a house and all whole have like a whole bunch of bills and not even really want any of that. Like, you know, what is it? You know, if I got to a point in my life where I wanted kids, where I wanted You know, it [00:38:00] had something like that and needed more stability. That would be one thing. But I also feel like there's so many people who are just doing something because they think that's what they need to do versus thinking, Hey, you know, might be a little bit harder to carve your own path, but if you take a step back and think about what it is you actually want out of life, what does that look like?

[00:38:19] You know, I don't know. So houses wise? I'm not sure. I haven't really put like a ton of thought into it. I, I love, you know, houses with more history behind them, more you know, character in that way. But yeah. 

[00:38:33] Nyra: How do you use your passport for change? 

[00:38:38] Malina: I was thinking about this one. And do you think it's more like, how am I helping, like changing, helping others? Okay. Well, I think that I think that like, sharing, like how this has gone for me and being honest about it is something that I need to continue to lean into to help change it for other people to help other people realize this is a good. This is well that this is just an opera. This is a path that you could do, you know. And I think helping people to realize that like you kind of said like another option of like getting, not being thousands and thousands of dollars to travel. I think a lot of people think it's, you know, travel has to be XYZ.

[00:39:21] I think Is something a lot of people get caught up on. And so I think changing that narrative of it has to be this blank way, I think is really important for me. And I hope it's something I continue to lean into. It's a big goal of mine that I'm trying to work towards right now.