Travel Vlog Series | Show & Tell | Season 1 – EP1

hello we're the cardens and we are April, Kai, Daniel and Bob.

we are here in Jocotepec Mexico on Lake Chapala and we want to give a big THANK YOU to goodieboyzsponsoring this episode.

If you want to find out more information about thisentertainment company go to goodieboyz with a z.

com bye for now I'll start from the beginning I guess Iwas born in Texas and I spent my whole youth there and close to the coast theGulf Coast grew up around saltwater did well in high school but didn't go tocollege afterwards I joined the Marine Corps and I spent five years in theMarine Corps I learned a very technical trade I did non-destructive inspectionon aircraft but now it's kind of the beginning of my travels if you willreally kind of got me into it you know they kind of market military service that you can join and get to seethe world and that's kind of how it was for me in the Marine Corps to see it hadbeen a very young agent I guess that's what kind of sparked to my travel bugkind of gave me this just nomad mentality of where I just want tocontinue discover in different places across the whole world.

April and I met on plenty of fish.

com andwe had a few dates and head over heels completely andit was all over from there it was said and done and we were in love andeverything was great we started going on vacation it's very very quickly I thinkwe went on our first vacation together within about four months many of when wefirst met we went to Cabo island and all-inclusivedid what you do when you're in your 20s and doing that kind of thing did a lotof we took advantage of the all-inclusive alcohol for sure so bob was born he's the crazy curlyblonde almost dread haired kid running around we've never cut his hair and hehates to have it brushed so Bob came along it totally changed our lives andobviously that was something that at the time we thought you know there's no waywe can start a travel journey when we have a baby like this and so that kindof prolong things of course we got pregnant with Kai you know less than ayear ago because he's seven months old and a whole bunch of things happenedthat after Kai got pregnant or excuse me after April and I gotpregnant with baby Kai and that's kind of a whole nother story so let me kindof collect my thoughts and I'll kind of dig into the story about what allhappened after I got laid off from a very well-payingjob that I was very secured in and we already had a trip completely paid forbooked to a really cool part of Jamaica that I'll tell you about soon andobviously now you know our back stores we've been wanting to kind of break freeand my well-paying job was something holding us back so that was now out ofthe equation so trip booked to Jamaica and I get laid off a week before andApril was six months pregnant okay it hit meincredibly hard it was rough it was a difficult situation we were six monthspregnant and where we were at in Charlestonyou know the market for my very technical specific occupation to be ableto make the type of money that I was making with that company elsewhere inCharleston was very unlikely we decided that this was gonna be our launchingpoint to where okay now we're gonna travel 100% of the time we are going tofind employment online and we're going to essentially be digital nomads ourwork remotely whatever you want to call it and we're just going to take theplunge this is the time so at that very moment is where we finally let go ofeverything that was holding us back from chasing our dream if you will you knowour dream has been to just constantly be experiencing newcultures and obviously we knew that that dreamcouldn't ever be fulfilled financially if we wanted you know stay in luxuryplaces and stuff like that me very much into minimalism type stuff and you wantto stay in the city instead of and the gated community like around hereyou know we're going to stay in the fancy resorts that we were going to stayin smaller places and you know essentially kind of try ourbest to live like those do and not be concerned with anyof the things from our past in America hi everyone this is April and you barelysee a baby Kai we are show-and-tell with the cardansblog in Jocotepec Mexico as you can see the Sierra Madres are behind mewe're on our balcony it's an incredibly beautiful day the weather is immaculatehere it's so amazing so I'm going to tell you a little bit about how Danieland I met.

we met online at plenty of on site plenty of fish.

com some of my girlfriendsset me up a profile without me knowing which is kind of crazy and then Danielwas my second date and we've been inseparable ever since both Daniel and Iworked for corporate America jobs in America corporations I worked for alarge corporation in Texas and I had an hour and a half to two hour commute oneway every single day and it was horrendousthere was nothing exciting about it we worked to live and it got old reallyquickly I don't do monotony or routines verywell and that's exactly what the job was so I remember at the age of 32 on my oneof my last drives on my way home from work having chest pains from being intraffic for so long and dealing with for the six to eight other million driverson the road in Houston Texas so we decided oh I would I actually quit myjob and then after I quit my job we decided that we were open to go anywhereso we did Cabo first and then we loved Cabo so much we wanted to try somewhereelse in Mexico so we went to Playa del Carmen and we also did an all-inclusiveresort there and while it was fun doing that we also took day trips and that'swhen we found akumal which really set off our question to each other how canwe make it possible to live here the place isit's one of the most beautiful places we had ever visited it's low-key it's asmall fishing village about two hours south of Cancun on the Riviera Maya sowe did Playa del Carmen then we went to we made a one more trip to akumal andthat's when we got engaged and then we went back to get married probably ninemonths later and then we took our first son Bob when he was 13 months to akumal and now we get to take baby Kai it's gonna be his first beach experiencewe're so excited that his first speech experience is gonna be in the Caribbeanin turquoise waters while bob gets to swim with turtles and octopus and squidand all sorts of tropical fish there's lagoons there that we get to goto as well we are incredibly excited that our dream has come truewere able to actually do this and provide this for our children that wethought may have never been possible hey I'm Brooks and I'm from PhoenixArizona where I've lived my whole life until now where I'm living in a newcountry which is pretty weird quite a whirlwind let me tell you there I wentto a small University where I met Mariah my wife we had some common educationclasses together and long story short I nervously asked her out one day on adate and I was nervous for two reasons number one to ask this beautiful andintelligent woman out on date but number two because I had just gotten amotorcycle several months prior and I was super nervous to to take someoneelse another passenger on and I thought we were gonna crash never even make itto our date but I wanted to impress her but fast forward to now we've beenhappily married for four plus years and I've never crashed on the motorcycle atleast not with her on it and we have no broken bones the show from it once weboth graduated college we both picked up teaching jobs in public schools inPhoenix and I've taught everything from science math robotics and music guitarprimarily science but all of these other things I've dabbled in also got to coachwhich what is one of my favorite things to do coaching running track fieldcross-country and even a robotics team as well one of my huge passions ishelping others specifically kids which translates to my job here in Spain whichis help others learn English now I definitely miss my family and Idefinitely miss mariah but it has been such a whirlwind such a blur sinceI have got here doing this people work and going there and go into orientationeven having a pretty nasty cold that I haven't had time almost for anythingexcept for just surviving each day and doingthings that I need to do and to get done so as as things are slowing down alittle bit I'm starting to miss some of the habitual interactions I've had withfamily and most importantly Mariah's well so super looking for her being outhere but also super thankful for technology so that I can just get on myphone and text someone or do a video call really grateful but even moreexcited for someone right come on out and live here and for our friends andfamily to come visit in the future well that's all about me for now I'velook forward to sharing more of our story in the future and thanks fortuning in.

I want to just introduce myself a little bit I'm Mariah last name is Swigart I'm from Indiana my family still lives here in 2011 I wasoffered a golf scholarship in Arizona so I went on to college and play golf thereand then met Brooks we both were education majors and so we met in one ofour classrooms and when I was on a golf trip Brooks would always take notes forme there's such a nice friend so he took notes and passed those notes along andthen would say oh well you know what there's something that they we practiceon the computer so would you like to meet me and like well I'll show you howto do this computer stuff and so again this friendship turned into a coffeedate and then coffee day turned into real dates and yeah we just found I fellin love I left in love Arizona I love Brooks and his family is amazing theWest is amazing in the West United States is amazing the adventures we havethey're incredible and I definitely love love that part andmy life there however it's always hard being away from Indiana in some waybecause my family's still here they their life goes on to without me thereand so it's hard not being around for the important things but as far asleaving for Spain it's a lot it's a lot different than leaving from Indiana toArizona.

hi it's Mariah here and it's about 4 a.

m.

right now that's why it's dark outside.

it is the morning that I fly to Miami and then out to Madrid sotoday is the big travel day.