Is it really happening? Matt and I have been talking about this since we got engaged in 2013 when we were planning our wedding in York, Maine. However, we never took it seriously as I was a public school teacher in Houston and Matt worked for an oil company (and traveled quite frequently). The years went by, and we continued talking about it. We both moved into careers where we did not have to commute, but we still traveled almost weekly, so Houston still made sense. Then covid came along…

Leaving Houston

We lived in Houston and adopted all our dogs from there. Houston will always have a huge place in our heart. However, we also saw Houston as a distressing place, and we were looking to leave for a while. We had a lot of issues with our house along with being evacuated during Hurricane Harvey. We tried to expand our family as well and were not successful. After Covid hit, both Matt and I clearly did not have to travel anymore and decided to finally make the move to Maine.

We Moved to Florida

Wait what? Didn’t you just say you moved to Maine? Well, that was the plan, but our troubled house sold for significantly less than planned and it took a very long time. In fact, before our house in Houston even sold, we decided to sadly forgo Maine and purchase a Condo in our favorite domestic destination, Wilton Manors, Florida.

We always envisioned buying something in the Fort Lauderdale area, but after we built our dream house in Maine to escape the winter. Matt and I lucked out and bought an adorable condo right in Wilton Manors for a very reasonable price (low interest rate and before covid real estate prices increased) in walking distance to the gayborhood. In the meantime, our house in Houston eventually sold and we decided to regroup in our small condo here in Florida and go from there.

To be honest we did not get off on the right foot with Wilton. Once we were vaccinated it took a bit of time to make a core group of friends (who we now absolutely love). We learned about a year in that we did love it here, but not full time. We missed having a house, we miss a more domesticated lifestyle, we wanted something a little quieter and honestly we were getting sick of the heat.

Maine, Finally!

Living in Wilton Manors and regrouping allowed us to make Maine a reality. We started the building process in October 2021, and we can finally say we are getting ready to relocate in our Maine residence until the winter. Wells, ME is about 20 minutes from where we were married and just 10 from the Southern Maine Gayborhood of Ogunquit. We are very excited for a quieter slower paced lifestyle but having our condo in Wilton to escape the winter and have fun with our beloved friends and family who we will miss very much.

How is this Out and Abroad Related?

It’s not! My blog, my rules. I can write about whatever I want!  But we are gay so there is the Out angle and Maine is practically in Canada, so there you go!

Wish us luck and Bon Voyage,

Andrew