How One Couple made Traveling & Living Abroad their Career
It’s a liberating thought to rid yourself of everything you own, move to another country and live a carefree adventurous life. While most of us will only dream about it and never do it, this inspiring couple did.
Meet George and Linda Meyers. The fifty-something pair from the Washington, DC area moved to Tuscany and not only made a new life for themselves, but started a thriving business Cook. Eat. Play. Travel.
Photo Credit: Cook, Eat, Play Travel Facebook Page
The two are high school sweethearts from New Orleans and went on to have a wonderful family and great careers. George spent 20 years as a US Air Force pilot, retiring as a Colonel, and Linda was an elementary school teacher for more than 26 years.
One day, they took a good look at their lifestyle — which involved 18-hour workdays where they saw each other only in the early morning or late at night — and wondered if there was a better way to spend their time.
When they realized their kids were grown with children of their own and it was just the two of them and their Dachshund, Talula, they decided there was no better time to than to focus on themselves. They jetted off to Italy where the plan was to stay for a year enjoying life and cooking–their favorite thing to do together. “Experiences over things” became their new motto.
Talula Photo credit: George and Linda Meyers
George asked Linda, “What’s the worst that could happen?” and Linda replied, “We lose the house…and I’m not that attached to it anyway!” And so, the story began and off they ventured. It all started with entertaining family and friends in Tuscany. Before long, they realized they were entertaining “friends of friends” in Tuscany — and they were really loving it.
Photo Credit: Cook, Eat, Play Travel Facebook Page
Then they started opening classes and visits to everyone — and thus Cook in Tuscany was born! Cook in Tuscany is in Montefollonico, Tuscany — a small hilltop village of just under 450 people.
George Meyers Photo Credit: Cook, Eat, Play Travel Facebook Page
The Voluntourist exclusively talked to the fun couple and here’s what we learned about them.
The Voluntourist: What’s some of your favorite dishes to cook together?
George and Linda Meyers: We love to make and roll pasta together. George is the master pasta maker, but Linda can roll. It makes for a good match, but the kitchen is often covered in flour! We, also, love making eggplant parmesan (Italian), and tres-leche cake (Mexican)!
Photo Credit: Cook, Eat, Play Travel Facebook Page
The Voluntourist: What was the biggest challenge of starting a business abroad?
George and Linda Meyers: The biggest challenge was the language. In the village it was not a problem, but when it came to contracts we needed a translator. But, with modern inventions (online translators) even this is becoming less of a problem for people.
The Voluntourist: What advice would you give to anyone thinking about leaving their careers/jobs to travel?
George and Linda Meyers: Just do it! The time will never be perfect, you will never have enough money saved, or less things you think you will have to bring with you. You must have passion–our passion made it all work. Passion will give you energy—it will get you thru a lot of trying times—and there will be times that don’t go as planned. But, knowing you have a vision and the passion to take you there will make it work out every time. Besides, we have always chosen experiences over things!
Photo Credit: Cook, Eat, Play Travel Facebook Page
The Voluntourist: What was your response when they learned how inspiring your story was to others?
George and Linda Meyers: We were a little shocked at first that people were so interested in why we did it and how we did it. They wanted to know every detail, but we realized very early that we felt a huge responsibility to people asking us the questions and visiting us in Italy. Some had never been out of their state, much less to Italy, but it was a bucket list item and that meant telling them our story and making sure they had the best time. It is amazing to us that we inspire people to take the leap of traveling, changing jobs, or just slowing down to enjoy their life and family.
Photo Credit: Cook, Eat, Play Travel Facebook Page
The Voluntourist: How happy are you that you picked up and moved your entire lives to fulfill this dream?
George and Linda Meyers: Happy is an understatement! We completely changed our lives and in turn changed our families lives. We spend quality time with each other, our children, grandkids, parents and friends. We realized that there is way more to life than working, rushing and buying. Things don’t really matter—memories and experiences do! We have only one regret…that we didn’t do it sooner!
To give travelers more unique experiences, George and Linda also launched Cook in Mexico and Cook in Cuba.
For more information on Cook. Eat. Play. Travel. visit their site here.