Seeya!
“Tired of asking for permission to go on holiday”, the restless couple ditched their drudgery of nine-to-five jobs and are now ready to spend a whopping $70,000 on the adventure of a lifetime.
Tiffany Baker, 38, and her husband, Mark, 40, decided in April 2019 it was time to say goodbye to the finance world, turn to real estate investing, work as their own bosses and “live our own lives.”
Now that they’ve saved up enough money, they’re ready to pull their three daughters, Giuletta, 9, Penelope, 7, and Delia, 6, out of school and take a trip — or, in their case, the high seas.
Later this year, the family of five will depart from their home in Terre Haute, Indiana, on a five-month around-the-world cruise that will visit 50 ports in 21 countries, including Singapore, Australia, Africa and Europe.
Their daughters will be home-schooled and the couple will run their business remotely — nothing new for this family that loves to travel, the parents said.
The adventure will begin in December with a flight to Prague, then on to Marseille, France, where they will board the ship.
The Bakers are planning a lavish getaway, booking two rooms for the family and setting aside $10,000 for a few things that aren’t included in the price.
“This around the world cruise was one of our goals – we always wanted to take our kids on a cruise one day,” Mark told Southwest News Service.
“Tiffany planted the seed while we were driving back from a vacation in New Orleans, Louisiana, and she said, ‘Do you want to go on a cruise now?’ We explored it and it worked out,” he said.
Tiffany said the couple’s journey to independence began when they quit their six-figure paying jobs to find a better “work-life balance.”
“It didn’t make sense to us that we had to ask permission to take time off. We left our jobs to design our own lives and live them freely,” she said.
After leaving the corporate world, the couple started flipping homes to make a living and now own 35 properties for rental, ranging from single-family homes to commercial developments.
“We’ve probably flipped 50 houses in the last five years,” Mark said. “By flipping those houses, we were able to start renting out the properties.”
Mark estimates they make about $20,000 a month from renting, more than enough to fund the family’s latest adventure. They previously lived in Europe for four years, and are excited to take another cruise to Bali.
They are also excited about a visit to Brazil and a trip around Australia.
The girls have already traveled the world and are “super excited” about the cruise, though Tiffany has some reservations about homeschooling them.
“They were all born in different countries: Italy, America and Japan,” she said. “Our 9-year-old daughter has a fifth passport.”
“For me, I’m excited to see if it works, if I can homeschool my daughters from anywhere on the planet,” she admitted.
“It’s about taking a chance and seeing if it’s viable and if it will work,” Mark agreed.
“The worst case scenario is, if that doesn’t work, regular school is waiting for them.”
