window-seat

I was on a one year training project a few years ago and it was fly out Monday - fly back Friday for 52 weeks. One of the other trainers gave up her apt for the year. She put stuff in storage but had a boyfriend who she could return to every other week as a "home."

With private mail services (who can forward your mail), online billpaying et al it's very feasible.

I spent a few months one summer exploring New England and Quebec/New Brunswick/Nova Scotia by car and just flying to engagements from wherever I happened to be. I stayed with friends, hostels, motels, college housing etc.

suitcasejockey

I have a client/friend that used to live at a Marriott. Basically, he would have all his mail sent to his mail marriott, which was down the street from his company's hq. When he travelled, he'd always stick with marriott. And when he would go back "home", they had his suite waiting for him, and his mail, and whatever else he had going on. Totally cool. Would be cooler if it was ANY OTHER HOTEL CHAIN.

You could indeed use your company's mailing address and have someone there get you what you need.

In today's world of hotels selling suites as condos, this should be pretty normal.

pbarnette

AA Magazine had a feature on their FFer of the year a couple of years ago. She was doing the same sort of thing. I think the hotel didn't even bother to charge her for the weekends or something like that. Not for me, but good luck.

One other suggestion, I notice your name is BostonJim. Not sure if this means your old home was near Boston, but if it is you should talk with a tax expert. MA is odd in that they still require you to pay state taxes if you haven't established residency in a new state. I don't remember the details, exactly, but it came up when I took my expat assignment and I was told that I will still have to pay MA taxes, even though I will live and work in Europe for the next three years. If you can make a reasonable case for residency in NH or TX or another tax-free state, for example, you could save a bundle.

FYI - I use HomeNet International out of Belmont, MA for mail forwarding. They are pretty good if you haven't found another service.

Emma65

I hear you!

I used to tour loads in my early 20s. I was living out of a suitcase and my bed was either in e tourbus or in a truck. every so often there would be a hotel. I have moved countries several times. (Back and forth between Sweden and Spain as a child. To Canada when I was 18. Back to Sweden. No in my 40s I'm in UK planning to go to Canada again.)

The one thing I need is a key to a place I know is home. I have a cottage in Sweden at my parents farm. It is basically a shoebox with a bed. However - it has a door with a lock on it and I have the key. That little piece of metal in my pocket gives me anchorage.

As for worldly goods - my laptop and my horse are the two things that I will take with me. Some cloths but that's about t. I've alreay started decluttering my life getting ready for my next move (which could be any time between now and march next year). All those years of touring taught me that it is possible to survive without a load of stuff.

Going slightly off topic here but I really don't understand people who move to a new country and bring all their possessions in a 20 or 40 foot container paying through the nose. Moving from Sweden to UK I loaded the back of my car, drove to nearest ferry port and shipped over to UK. Drove to my new home, unloaded the car (suitcase with clothes, CDs DVDs, computer stuff needed for work) and then went straight to IKEA and bought everything I needed to fit out a 1 bed apartment. It was cheaper!

Now I'm renting furnished so all of that is in storage. I'm in the process of getting rid of the lot of it. Don't need it. Don't want it.

Right, back to decluttering my life.

sobore

This reminds me of a conversation I overheard. Last year at the IC Chicago I was in the lobby and a representative of the hotel came in to meet two gentlemen. He said something like "we can go upstairs and I can show you the two room apartment first and see if it meets your needs"
I wondered what was actually going on. Was this just a corporation looking to move their travel business, or do people actually live at the IC'S?

Emma65

SOHO Metropolitan in YYZ have apartments for long and short term rentals.

tempting.

/E

ExitrowPlease

BostonJim - I am jealous.

when I was in my twenties I travelled for 5 years almost every work day. I lived in 2 different hotels for over a year each. In the William Penn in Pittsburgh we struck a deal with them that if we block booked our rooms at least 1 month at a time we could have friday and saturday nights for free. This was fantastic since I could leave work clothes and stuff in my room. In NYC, this was not the case since they needed the rooms. But the WTC marriott was always super accomodating on storing a suitcase over the weekend.

Its not clear whether or not you will be staying in one location but the opportunity here would be this. Buy yourself some sort of vacation home/condo or whatever. This gives you a base to store some stuff and then rent it out most of the time. If its vacant for some reason you have a place to go back to and if its occupied you go elsewhere. This also gives you the benefit of keeping some $$ in real estate and when you are done you are not totally homeless but you could wind up with a big chunk of equity in a nice weekend or vacation home.

Good luck and enjoy it, I definitely agree that its liberating not to have any of the committments associated with a permanent residence and all the crap that we buy to fill them up with!^

jessiemax

I travel every week for work, usually 9-12 months at the same location. Some times the client furnishes a corporate apartment, but I am currently staying in a RI in Chicago. I got a reduced rate, plus the sales tax is waived if you stay 30 consecutive days, which also is a significant savings.

I have not given up my permanent home, as my college-age son still lives there. If he has to relocate after graduation, I will probably downsize considerably.

jdevan00

Who is Hotel and why are you moving into his apt?



feeling cheeky today

Macspreader

A little bit late though, and perhaps not as subtle as my earlier post

gypsyinabigtown

I have been doing that for about 2,5 years now, as I've been working on projects around the world from Bangkok to Dubai to Washington DC to Johannesburg.

For longer stays of about a couple months in a place, sometimes I choose executive-residences, furnished apartments etc., though in a foreign country they are more difficult to arrange most of the time.

Technically, I still have a residence in New York but it is always on sublet and apart from a few trinkets and books, I've nothing left there. I use my company's address for everything and it gets forwarded halfway around the world just fine.

One bottleneck is that your passport's visa pages tend to run up pretty fast - especially you are always on a foreign land wherever you happen to be and every entry and exit is meticulously stamped, annotated etc., not mentioning the countless visas that take up the whole page: I am almost on my third passport in the last three years, and this despite the Turkish passport being somewhat larger and having more pages than a comparable U.S. or Canadian passport. btw, somewhere around this site there must be a thread searching for the most passports used up in shortest time )

I actually have found it most difficult to answer the question "where are you from?" in a bar. Do I say Bangkok, 'cause I've been living there for over a year now? Do I say New York, because that is technically where my headquarters are? Or do I say Istanbul, where I was born and raised?

I guess I'm a true gypsy...

gypsyinabigtown

Hey,

just out of curiosity, has anybody encountered a hotel that is not accomodating/unwilling to store a couple pieces of luggage over a couple days - especially if you have been their customer?

When I used to "practically live" in hotels, in Washington, DC or in Wayne, PA, I would just leave my luggage and suits at the hotel (Sheraton, Westin or Fairmont) and travel during the weekend to a different city to hang out with friends.

So far, I guess I have been super lucky in that nothing got lost in the shuffle within the storage room

stimpy

I don't know about Turkish passports, but you can always add more pages to a US passport. I have something like 150 pages in mine.

And my answer to "where are you from" is "Earth".

cbellero

I went to the US embassy in Bahrain about a year ago and was told that they no longer add pages to US passports. Did I get bad information?

GoingAway

I've done this a lot, but once my suit was "lost", or half the suit. The hotel covered the cost of replacement so all was good.