The decision to "live around the world" in my life came somewhat by chance, yet it also felt inevitable. Where should this story begin? Let's start with a serendipitous event.
In August 2017, I arrived in Ireland, drawn by a romantic movie – Leap Year. My destination was the film's shooting location, a small island off the west coast of Ireland: Inismore.
An Accidental Decision
Due to my itinerary, I only stayed for two nights. Yet, it was during the perfect season, and I experienced a weekend on the island that felt like a festival. The island sky played games, shifting between sunny spells and light showers throughout the day, always rewarding people with a sweet little surprise: three rainbows arched in the eastern sky.
It was breathtakingly beautiful, so beautiful it felt like a place one wouldn't leave forever. As I was checking out of the guesthouse, I happened to meet the owner. He said:
"Once, a girl from New York stayed here for a month, fell in love with a local man, and later wrote a book about it which got published."
That's when a bolt of inspiration struck me like lightning – I could do that too!
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So, I promised the guesthouse owner that the following March, after the Spring Festival, I would return to live there for a month.
If a beautiful story were to unfold, then I'd live just like in a romantic movie.
Back then, I only intended to leave my hometown for one month in March 2018. Little did I know...
While traveling in Paris, I held Hemingway's A Moveable Feast in my hand, searching for his former residence near the Luxembourg Gardens. I finally found a building with a blue plaque on the entrance, marking a window upstairs as Hemingway's former home. The door was locked, so I walked a few steps forward to a small square surrounded by restaurants and cafes. I quietly sat down,
ordered a glass of Chablis, tasting vividly of the ocean, to ward off the faint melancholy drifting down from the sky.
At that moment, my gaze inadvertently fell upon a nearby chair, my face flushing slightly. Then, the scene shifted – I found myself locking eyes with the Hemingway from the book – the American man with a thick mustache on his upper lip.
He smiled at me, and I instinctively smiled back. The image was like a movie screen, half in black and white, half in color. Our gazes collided. We were in the same space, separated only by a hundred years.
A thrilling idea sprouted – why not rent an apartment near the Luxembourg Gardens and live in Paris for a month? Once that thought solidified, my courage surged instantly—
Why not spend 2018 living around the world, selecting 10 countries, 10 unique houses, staying in each place for a month, and finally, on my birthday, January 1st, 2019, celebrate my 30th birthday (entering the age of standing firm) in Antarctica.
As my travels continued, I finalized the remaining eight countries. After Paris, I would live in the Sahara Desert for a month; June would see me back in Lhasa, China; July in Taipei, August in Australia, September in Jamaica, the birthplace of Reggae music, October in Colombia, November in Bolivia, and December would be spent amidst the icy landscapes of Antarctica for the entire month.
An Accidental Decision (Revisited)
Thinking about it, the decision to "live around the world" also had an inevitability about it. The most audacious thing I'd ever done in my life
was undoubtedly the "grand feat" of traveling around the world for 600 days after graduating from university.
That was my 23-year-old self, bold and daring, inviting the entire world into my heart far too early.
Since then, any distance on this planet has felt like child's play in my mind.
As I grew older and my career developed, I became more grounded, gaining new insights and feelings about travel. Travel now isn't just about novelty, adventure, or thrill-seeking, nor about how many people I meet by chance. Instead, it's about whether I leave something behind in every corner of the earth: a story? A feeling? Words capable of traversing centuries?
The gap year travel after graduation was my younger self doing what young people do, using the most down-to-earth and budget-friendly way possible – couchsurfing. Back then, I feared nothing except not finding a couch in the next city. Every time I stayed with a host family, I hoped to cook them a lavish Chinese dinner, interact with them, and learn all their stories. My mind was always filled with: What should I cook for my host tonight? The market has no ginger? Will they think Beef with Green Peppers and Tomato Beef are the same dish?...
After returning from my first round-the-world trip, I spent the next four years building a business. With greater financial independence, travel, for me, has slowed down.
Now I crave my own space, time for solitude, to slow down and truly live around the world. My mind focuses on questions like: What kind of life should we strive for? Is their happiness simply a cup of coffee in the sunshine? Can people marry without cars or houses? Does another way of life exist in this world? Is their love so simple that it's just a mutual spark of connection? In short, this lifestyle I've often talked about over the past four years has finally begun.
To Your Living Around the World, To Your Different Life
Reading Sanmao's (三毛) The Stories of the Sahara (撒哈拉的沙漠) always stirred the impulse in me to live around the world. Looking back, Sanmao was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight when she lived in the Sahara – also before the age of thirty – gifting herself a fresh life and memories. In the long river of life, giving yourself a year or two to live in any corner of the world, slowing your pace, letting time stretch. Making friends, reading, writing, even learning the local language or cooking, so that in the future, when you become someone's wife, a child's mother, you have the power to fill life with color.
Many people tell me that men should prioritize their careers. So, many men around thirty start planning for their future, focusing on work and building a stable life. Plotting to find a wife, or gradually stepping into the role of head of the household. Once, a handsome neighbor, a successful post-90s entrepreneur and also a father, told me: "Ella, work relaxes me, just like travel makes you happy."
Indeed, now I don't simply tell others, "Go, travel the world, go live around the world." Because everyone's attitude towards life and their life plans are different.
No one's life is inherently better or worse than another's. Good or bad, it's our own hearts making the decision.
My wine business has introduced me to many financially wealthy people, but not all of them are happy. Sometimes, a simple, modest family can be incredibly joyful.
After saying all this, it doesn't really contradict the title. If you, too, are someone who appreciates simple happiness – finding bliss in a warm cup of coffee in the morning; viewing money relatively lightly; believing that within your means, taking your grandmother to Beijing for her first flight; taking your mother further and further, letting her listen to the world's stories – if these things mean happiness to you,
then go for your travels, go for your new life!
On March 4th, 2018, I arrived on the island of Inismore, Ireland.
My life of living around the world had already begun one week prior.
Every day, I'm awakened by the sound of seagulls outside my window. The first ray of eastern sunlight fuels my thoughts. A pint of Irish stout in the pub
lets me listen to the stories of the islanders. All of this brings immense happiness.
