We’re Joel and Michelle Hartz aka the Wandering Hartz
Hi there! We are Joel and Michelle and we are living an abundant life abroad through slow travel as nomadic travel bloggers.
We started our journey in 2019 when we sold our house and everything we owned in order to become digital nomads and travel full time.
A Bump in the Road
Back in 2019 our initial plan was to explore the world, but we didn’t quite get out of the United States before the pandemic in 2020. Despite the setback, we made the most of the situation and traveled within the United States over the next two years.
We lived in Tennessee, Washington State, Arizona, California, Wisconsin, Florida and Puerto Rico.
More Setbacks
In 2022, we faced additional setbacks due to physical and mental health issues. But once we felt better, we made our way to Europe and embarked on our first four month trip.
We spent a glorious summer living in the Pirin Mountains in Bansko Bulgaria, before moving on to Bratislava in Slovakia.
We then attended an amazing travel conference in Brno, Czechia. Where we gained valuable insight into the travel blogging industry, met amazing people and explored South Moravia on press trips with the Czech tourism board.
After that four month trip we headed back to the United States to regroup, assess our luggage situation and go even more minimalist.
That brings us to the beginning of 2023, when we moved back to Europe and have been living in Portugal, Albania and Bulgaria again!
Why We’re Travel Bloggers
Our mission is to show others that they too can experience the joy of slow travel and living abroad. We believe that it is possible to live an abundant life abroad, and our weekly newsletters are full of practical travel tips, inspiration and realistic guides to help you create and experience your own amazing adventures.
Why We Slow Travel
We like to slow travel which means when we go to a new location we stay for a while. Our goal is to stay for one to three months on average, this allows us to get acquainted with the local culture, meet new friends and explore the area.
We also travel because we like it, plain and simple. We don’t have any grandiose ideas that we’re going to change the world or anything but maybe, (hopefully) inspire others to think a little bit differently about how to live, that’s it.
Our hope is to learn more about ourselves along the way, meet new people, find beauty in our differences and similarities and ultimately become better citizens of the world.
Oh, and to have a bit of fun along the way!
So What’s Next? Stay Tuned!
If you want to follow along on our journey you can subscribe by email for monthly updates, reach out to us on Instagram, join our Facebook group or just send us a note. We really do love to hear from you and want to connect with as many people as possible. So follow along with us and maybe we will see you on the road!
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