Home Sweet Anywhere: How We Sold Our House, Created a New Life, and Saw the World by Lynne Martin

Home Sweet Anywhere: How We Sold Our House, Created a New Life, and Saw the World by Lynne Martin
Buy Home Sweet Anywhere: How We Sold Our House, Created a New Life, and Saw the World by Lynne Martin at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Travel
Reviewer: Sue Magee
Summary: A couple in their seventh decade of life sell up to travel the world and live life as the locals do. It's a warm, engaging and inspiring story.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 320/10 hours 10 minutes	Date: April 2014
Publisher: Audible
ISBN: 978-1402291531
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Lynne and Tim Martin had known each other decades ago but when we meet them they've only been married for a short time. There's just one thing though - they're not ready to settle down, despite the fact that they're what might be called 'upper middle aged'. Their roots are in the US - both have adult children there and the Martins have a house in California - but they want to travel and not just as tourists. They want to see the world as the locals see it and to experience what it's like to live there. Lynne describes them as not being wealthy, but they decide to sell their home, invest the money and become 'home-free'.

It's a brave step to take. Most of their belongings have to go as they will have no property at all and just a relatively small storage facility in which to keep those things which they can't take with them but simply can't let go. Tim is in charge of planning their life - their travel and living arrangements - and this is something which needs to be done very carefully and well in advance. It's common for repositioning cruises (that's when the companies move the ships to where they're going to be needed for the next season), apartments and car hire to be booked at least a year in advance.

We travel with them to Mexico, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Florence, Paris, London, Marrakech, Dublin and many other cities along the way. From the locations I know I'd say that Martin's reflections on the places they visit are accurate and balanced. She's willing to point out the downsides - Florence is rather scruffy these days - but slow to judge and more than happy to make allowances. If somewhere doesn't suit (such as Buenos Aires - everyone says 'NO') then they move on, as they do when they've come in the wrong season (Florence gets bakingly hot in the summer).

The couple are very sociable - willing to make friends with people at the drop of a hat - and they obviously delight in each other's company. Like everyone they get frustrated and occasionally short tempered but spats pass quickly. Martin's open about the mistakes they make and generous about sharing what they learn and the systems they develop to make their stays more effective. Treat the book as an engaging memoir rather than a how-to manual - this is not something you're going to be able to do on a basic pension and despite Tim's comments that the money is a matter of arithmetic you're going to need more financial savvy than is obvious in the book. It is inspirational though - I might not want to sell up my home and go travelling but I took to heart their mantra of postpone nothing and it caused me to review quite a few things I've been doing, or not doing.

I listened to the book as a download from Audible, narrated by Lynne Martin, which lasted ten hours ten minutes and it went by far too quickly. Occasional mispronunciations (Bayzil Fawlty) made me smile but took nothing away from my enjoyment. I'd like to thank Audible for providing my review copy.

For a more physically demanding trip around the Americas have a look at Life On The Line by Jeremy Bullard. If India appeals then you might enjoy Never Mind the Bullocks: One girl's 10,000 km adventure around India in the worlds cheapest car by Vanessa Able.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Home Sweet Anywhere: How We Sold Our House, Created a New Life, and Saw the World by Lynne Martin at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.

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