Happy New Year friends of the world!

We hope everyone is having a happy start to the new year. Unlike this one...

This first newsletter of 2024 is coming from one of our favorite countries in the entire world... Mexico!

We've been here for almost two weeks getting our lives back on track after a somewhat lengthy hiatus. And we have to say, so far so good!

Hopefully this new year is filled with happiness, growth and positive vibes for everyone out there!

But, guys! We've been MIA with these updates for like 3 weeks! Or, if you follow our adventures on YouTube, almost 2 months 😱

What the hell have we been doing? Fear not, we'll get into that shortly.

For now, lets travel back to the week that was:

Braving the winter in Mexico 🥶

At this very moment, I'm sitting in our living room looking out at our new home for the month of January. Check out our colorful little neighborhood in Guanajuato!

This little central-Mexican city is so freaking adorable! And the people here are so sweet you just want to squeeze their faces and kiss them on the nose (don't worry, that hasn't happened).

We are loving settling into our new routine here. Our new gym, the tortilla lady, wash & fold spot and water guy are all just a hop, skip and jump from our apartment.

It feels great being part of this little barrio 🤗

The only downside? We're freezing our asses off in this apartment! You see, we are at like 6,700 feet (2,050 meters) of elevation. And the temperature falls off a cliff once the sun disappears for the day.

Thankfully the Airbnb comes with three space heaters, which follow us everywhere we go like hungry puppies.

*Nothing like snoozing in front of a 1,000 watt space heater...*

Yes, we know that there's a Polar Vortex happening in the US. And family and friends are dealing with arctic temperatures. But that doesn't mean that we can't also complain about the cold!

But seriously, we are doing great here. We'll tell you more about this lovely little town after exploring more in the upcoming weeks. Deal?

Could it be true? A new Youtube video?

After a nearly 2 month break from publishing, we are finally back on the YouTubes with a brand spanking new video about our visit to Genoa & Portofino!

After hitting up Lake Como, Lake Garda and Verona, Genoa was our first taste of a more 'authentic' side of Italy. And we loved it! As for Portofino... well, you'll have to watch the video to see what we thought about the 'Jewel of the Italian Riviera.'

Raise your hand if you thought we quit YouTube? Be honest!

Adios 2023 ✌️

So, about what's been going on. If you read our last newsletter of 2023, then you know we were kinda dragging ourselves into the new year.

Frankly, we were exhausted from traveling, were dealing with some personal things and generally didn't feel super inspired to 'work' in the usual sense of editing videos and writing travel content.

The blessing from all of that, is that we got to have a lot of precious quality time with friends and family. We went from spending time with my 98 year-old grandpa, aunt and her bf in Amsterdam, to hanging out with our families back in Florida and Kentucky - including our 4 nieces and nephew.

Here are some poor-quality photos of this quality time 🙃:

This little break also gave us time to step back and think about ways to make this whole Ways of the World thing more sustainable. We're not sure how much change you'll actually notice, but we are trying different things to hopefully help us grow and keep the wheels moving forward.

We really love this crazy lifestyle we chose to live, so we're working hard to try and keep it 💪🏼

Here are the personal changes we're making for 2024

This new year is all about trying to find better ways to organize our lives and this little business without feeling like we're in some endless loop of running around producing content and crossing our fingers that it does well. So we are being more deliberate to create healthy habits to at least do better with what we can control.

Here's what we've done so far:

Dedicated days off... WOAH!!!
Phones away for most of the day to avoid distractions. Our average screen time was down like 98% last week 😎
Disconnecting from our devices after dinner.
Being conscious about going out once per week on a little date.
Taking part in dry(ish) January 😆
Hitting the gym 6 times a week.

So far this healthy living has translated pretty well into more energy and eagerness to be creative and productive! Like I said, earlier - so far, so good!

Enough about us! What about you?!?

What are your dreams for this year? (reply and let us know. We love to hear from you!)

This is why we're asking...

If you're new around here, one of the things that makes our travels unique is that we spend A LOT of time in the countries we visit. For example: 11 weeks in Italy, 6 weeks in Malaysia, 5 weeks in Portugal, 10 weeks in Albania, etc. And by the end of March, we'll have spent about 3 months in Mexico. (plus the 5 months we spent in 2022 & 2023)

The point I'm trying to make is that we know a thing or two about visiting these destinations. But we never have the time to sit down and share it all. Sometimes what doesn't make it to our YouTube videos, never sees the light of day. So, we're trying to change that.

That said, we want to serve you better and help you plan the best trips ever!

Where do you want to travel this year? Simply click on the type of content you're interested in receiving, and in the next 2-4 weeks we'll send you what we think are the most useful tips, stories we never shared, mistakes we've made, places to eat, how to save money, etc. (for FREE!)

We will prioritize this customized content based on volume because there's only 2 of us, so please click on the ones you're most interested in 2024 (feel free to click as many as makes sense)

PS: you don't need to add your info after clicking on any of the above links. Just click on what you're interested in and we'll know what to send your way ;)

What's next for us?

Next week is another catch-up week for us, but we'll also go out and explore Guanajuato!

Aimara is super excited to visit the mummy museum (nope), and I am excited to see if we can make it out to one of the nearby wineries. Did you know that this one of Mexico's up-and-coming wine regions? 🍷

Thanks for reading! See you next week 😉

Aimara & Gordon

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Our favorite travel newsletters!

Lucy On Locale: A great newsletter to receive travel tips from destinations we haven't been to yet ;) It's a great resource for DIY travelers 🙌🏻
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Aimara & Gordon - Ways of the World

Starting a new chapter in Mexico... what's next? 🔮