What is our end goal?

Kelly and I have talked over the downsizing options that I laid out in this post.  We both agree that we need to focus on option three, take a bit more time to save the items we know we will use in our new location.  What we still talk about, but haven't made a decision on, is what will our final living situation look like.

Kelly said that she wants to spend more time in New Mexico, to see how she likes the town where my condo is.  Maybe six or nine months, to get a good feel for the place.  We both agree that even if she does like the town, that we should downsize and sell my place.  Our future should include, not her place or his place, but our place.

What we are still unsure about is what will that place be?  Will we go the rental route and move as we tire of a location?  Or will we buy and always have a base to come back to when we travel?  I have done home exchanges and had very good luck with them.  What I like, is the people I have exchanged with have always been pet people, so there is built in pet care.  I take care of their pets and they take care of mine.  We both leave info for a pet sitter in case any longer trips out from the exchange home are taken.

If we rent, exchanging is questionable.  In theory, you should get the permission of the rental owner before you initiate an exchange.  However, renting allows us to move to different locations in the U.S. and Europe.  But moving every few years may be hard on Trinity, my 8 year old cat.  She really
doesn't like the car.  Lokki, on the other hand, loves the car and travels well.  Lokki is Kelly's Toy Pomeranian.

If we buy a home and do exchanges to feed our travel bug, will that be enough travel?  If we exchange a couple times a year for a month each time, will that allow us to see all the places we think we want to see?  What about far away destinations?  If you sit on a plane for 20+ hours, i.e. New Zealand or Australia, would we be happy with only 30 days away?  Or would we rather spend six months or more?

Our Western tour of NM, AZ, and UT was just over 30 days and while we both felt it was a good amount of time, it was also time to get back to our pets.

So, do we rent and stress the cat every 9 to 24 months or do we buy and go away from our pets when travelling?