Life isn't always butterflies & rainbows 🦋🌈

Issue 8: 10 minute read

🙋🏽‍♀️Dani’s Doings: Thoughts after living in Spain for 4 months, recent travel review, March 2024 expenses, and what it’s like living in Europe as a Black woman 👀

💸 Money Matters: Parents are partially funding their adult children’s lifestyles, couples are afraid to talk about money with each other, and more.

✈️ Travel Tings: You might be able to move to sunny Barbados ☀️, young remote workers are lying to their employers about where they’re working from, tourists have no broughtupsy in Japan, and more!

🫶🏽 Community Corner: Podcast features, I made a list of emerging entrepreneurs (!!!), and recommendations to ensure your Spring/Summer trips go smoothly.

Life in Spain Update 🇪🇸

We’ve officially been living in Spain for 4 months and time seems to be flyyyyyying. We’ll soon be moving out of the apartment we’ve been living in since January because the price will be increasing by a whopping 144% 🤯  for the peak travel season starting in May. We thankfully found a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom apartment that’s out of the downtown core but still close enough to all the places we frequent for 1450€ (or $2136 CAD) per month. We move in mid-May!

We’re still very much in love with our lives here in Spain and have started talking about what life would look like if we were to stay for more than one year (since our current Youth Mobility Visa expires in December 2024). One strong option is the Spain Digital Nomad Visa, which we’ll be looking more into soon 👀.

🇧🇪 We went to Belgium and we WILL NOT be back! 😅

In March, my partner and I went to Belgium for our 4th anniversary trip. Honestly? We found it to be quite underwhelming. No offence to any Belgian readers (lol). Here’s a quick summary of what we got up to. We also went to the Chocolate Museum in Brussels since Belgium is known for it’s chocolate, and that wasn’t a great idea because we left feeling disturbed and traumatized. Check out my TikTok that went viral if you’re curious as to why 😖. Trigger warning.

Living in Europe as a Black woman can be… rough 😓

On an Ask Me Anything session I hosted on my Instagram this week, someone asked me how one can make a decision to move to a place like Europe when issues like racism, xenophobia, ableism, etc. are a big part of your decision-making process.

The truth? This isn’t easy decision at all. I am constantly worried that my partner and I will be discriminated against simply because the colour of our skin. For me personally, as a content creator who quite often gets racist comments on my videos, I am hyper-aware that my presence isn’t always welcomed here. But you know where I also feel unwelcome? In the U.S. (where guns are easily accessible and mass shootings happen quite frequently), and I also don’t even feel 100% safe in my home country, Canada.

So to summarize, I choose the evils I can at least tolerate as of right now as a trade-off for escaping other evils. For me, seasonal depression that comes with Canadian winters and the void I’d feel for not fulfilling my lifelong dream of experiencing a year abroad are “the other evils”. It also helps that my partner and I visited Malaga before moving here and felt completely welcomed. Even till this day, we’ve never felt unsafe in any of our Spain travels. However, we do know that racism (and other “isms”) absolutely do exist here. We are not oblivious to that.

It’s not an easy decision to make and everyone’s experience is unique, so it’s important to come to these conclusions on your own and choose what/where is right for you if you desire to move abroad (or even travel abroad!).

How much we spent in March 2024 as a couple living in Malaga, Spain 🇪🇸

Our grand total was…🥁🥁🥁 4550€ (or $6700 CAD). Last month’s spending total was 5416€ (or $7975 CAD) so we’re slowly getting better at keeping costs low(er). If you’re interested in the full expense breakdown, check out this blog post!

• A new study revealed that a whopping 47% of parents still cover costs for their adult children, including vacations and credit card payments. Read the details here. I asked my Instagram community if they could relate, and as I suspected, because my community is made up of mostly Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour 1st or 2nd generation immigrants, they cannot. In fact, only 7% of those who participated in my survey said that they do regularly receive financial support from their parents. You can review my findings here.

• A report by the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mountain Police) warns that Canada may descend into civil unrest (aka people will likely straight up revolt) once citizens realize how hopeless the economic situation is in the country. They also warned that it’s only going to get worse in the next 5 years. Yiiiiiikes 😓. Read the story here.

• A new study found that money is one of the hardest things to talk about in a relationship. 33% of those in relationships didn’t start discussing finances with their partners until after one year of dating, and 39% of respondents said they felt or will feel nervous discussing finances with their partner for the first time. Read the full study here.

• Dell (the American tech company) has told its remote employees that if they don’t come back to the office, they may not be promoted 😬. Details here. I wonder if this is going to be a trend to reverse the “work from home” policies created during the pandemic…🤔

• A new bill has been established in Florida that allows property owners to remove unauthorized people from their property (aka squatters, aka people who have found creative ways to occupy someone else’s home without paying rent). Check it out here. I wonder if this trend will catch on worldwide…

• Barbados released a visa program that’ll allow you to live and work there for 12 months. It’s called the “Welcome Stamp”, and to get it, you’ll need $2,000 USD to apply as an individual, and make at least $50,000 USD over the 12 months you intend to live there. Check out the details here.

• Have you heard of “Hush Trips”? Apparently, they’re a popular new kind of trip that started emerging alongside the pandemic. Employees are working remotely from locations they don’t typically work from (like a cottage/cabin, or a from a completely different country) without telling their employers. More details on this very risky concept here and see the full study here.

• “Destination Dupes” are trending! It’s the concept of seeing cities that are very similar to the most popular ones, except there are less crowds and prices are often less expensive, too. Examples include Palawan, Philippines (I’ve been here!) instead of the Maldives (where I haven’t been yet because $$$$$ lol). Read the article here .

• Tourists have been banned from the Geisha district in one of the most iconic areas in Japan: Kyoto. It’s due to years of harassment and unsolicited photography. Read about the ban here.

• 🔥 Hot Travel Tip: Most people don’t know that some countries require you to have a certain amount of blank pages left in your passport in order to enter said country. Here’s a good guide to check before your next trip. This is top of mind for me, personally, as I only have ~8 blank pages left! Also, you typically need to have at least 6 months of validity left on your passport to be able to enter new countries, too.

• I was named on The Peak’s 2024 list of Emerging Leaders in the Entrepreneurship category 🥳. This is the first “list” I’ve made as an entrepreneur! Check out the full list here.

• Back by popular demand: My calendar is open for AMA/Ask Me Anything sessions! You can book with me here.

• I was featured on two podcasts in March! 🎙️

  • On the Zaka Podcast, I talked about my journey as a child of immigrants navigating the Corporate world, as well as life after a layoff navigating entrepreneurship. Listen here.

  • On $HMONEY Radio, I talked about how I got started with investing and how it’s allowing me to live my dream life. Listen here.

• Peak travel season is loading! ✈️

  • If you’re curious about all the travel gadgets and accessories I use to make my trips easier, I’ve just updated the list of all of my favourites. Check it out here! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: This backpack (in SMALL) as your personal item is life-changing.

  • Many folks have been asking how I’m able to plan my trips without travel agents or having to join group trips. I use Viator! On it, you can book day trips where a tour guide/company will take you to the places you desire and drop you off at your accommodation at the end of the day. It’s also great for solo travellers looking to experience hotspots with others! Check out Viator here.

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