Home sweet anywhere : how we sold our house, created a new life and saw the world

 

Image: Saskatoon Library

This book which was around 300 pages long, did not quite seem like a book. It is more of a conversation that you would have with your parents/ grandparents, all be it through the perspective of an American of "European heritage". 

Unlike, "One Woman, One Rucksack, One lifetime of travel", the book was divided into chapters, each focusing on a particular country starting with how they downsized and packed almost everything they own into a 10'X15' self storage unit. 

(What is a self-storage unit? A self storage unit is a space that you can rent literally for the purpose of storing excesses in your life. It is generally used as an "overflow" basement. https://www.greatnorthstoragecompany.ca/ is an example of a self-storage company.)

They tend to go through the American style of downsizing from going from a large suburban house to an apartment where they get rid of several more things including things of sentimental value. To a reader who is not American the thought of having that much stuff in the a house may just overwhelming. Most of us in Canada and other parts of the world may generally have way less and therefore downsizing may be a slightly easier task. (As a side note checkout: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7aXXn-FemVSl-NuScJxpIA)

Every chapter was subdivided into either various parts of a country that they visited or an event (or set of events) that took place. The events that take place in the book are more of an adventure than a life guide. (Life is an adventure anyway) 

Their first trip was to Mexico and then to Argentina. This was where they were starting to figure out how to live out of a "suite case" for lack of a better word. There also seems to be a lot of Americanisms throughout the book, considering their love for large furniture (comfortable arm chair) and the need and use of a car, even in extremely transit and pedestrian friendly areas such as Florence, Italy. 

This book may be a useful guide for those in a very similar financial and territorial situation. For everyone else including myself, this book was more of a journal. Phrases pertaining to this book: Americans trying to shed their Americanness in foreign countries. Americans who are relatively self aware of their Americanness. 

This book was written by an older person in a period before Video blogging (Vloging) took off. Lynn Martin still has a blog https://homefreeadventures.com/ which she still maintains. She also has a Twitter and a Pinterest account, but does not seem to be invested in the newer social media forms. 

This book is still a very good read in-spite of it's Americanness. Every author has their own perspective and life experiences. Think about it as a well written sixth draft journal/ travelogue written by your favourite aunt or grandmother.