Welcome!

Hello there. My name is BML and I write the posts you find on this blog. I’m a husband, father, and lover of bacon. Our family is currently living outside Philadelphia, PA, USA where our 7 year tenure is the longest I’ve lived in one spot in 25 years. I’ve yet to live abroad but have made a nice circuit of the US living in Pittsburgh, Indiana, Chicago, Orange County CA, Orlando, and now Philly.

Flower Pot Rocks - Hopewell Cape, New Brunswick, Canada
Catalina Island
Catalina Island, California

What is "FI Road Trip"?

I love reading about, learning about, and discussing personal finance and travel. Instead of trying to pick one or the other I’ve decided to create a blog that covers both topics. To me, FI Road Trip is a journey through personal finance that has enabled us to priortize travel today with the eventual goal of financial independence and the ability to pursue even bigger travel goals in the future.

What Makes This Blog Different?

There are millions of blogs out there. Heck, I’ve started and stopped a couple blogs myself over the last 10 years. So for anyone to claim they have a new idea for a blog that hasn’t been done before is probably a stretch. However, I hope to concentrate on a couple areas that I think some segment of people will find valuable:

  • Personal Finance and FI From A Family Perspective – Most of the personal finance / FI blogs I regularly read are written by authors who do not have kids. As anyone with kids (especially multiple kids) will tell you the formulas to financial success are quite different once the little ones come along.
  •  Achievable Travel – It seems like most travel blogs highlight only exotic, five star getaways. I’d love to spend a week at a resort in the Maldives but frankly that isn’t happening (yet) with kids in tow. Yes, we definitely try to take a trip or two each year to fun destinations. However, I also focus on local and regional locations where you can have fun and not break the bank.
  • Traveling with Kids – Have kids, will travel. We are not kid travel experts but as we try to expand our travel horizons to expose our sons to more than just the Northeastern US we’ve stumbled upon some travel tips for others looking to do the same.
Panama Viejo - Panama City, Panama