[michael and alex]Couple's Coordinates In spring 2014, Michael Gallagher and Alexandra Carson were poolside in Santa Monica, California, talking logistics for a month-long vacation through Europe. "We thought we'd do all of Italy, all of Greece, and all of Croatia," Gallagher recalls — but then they started crunching the numbers. "We realized it could easily be a $10,000 or $20,000 trip," he tells Business Insider. That's when the idea of living_, _rather than vacationing, abroad surfaced. "Alex said, 'Why don't we move to Florence?' We were literally laying outside by the pool having this conversation and all of sudden it went from this pipe dream to, 'Let's do it.' We were entirely set on it, immediately." A year and $8,000 worth of savings later, the couple, who've been together for nearly three years and are now in their mid-20s, boarded a one-way flight to Italy. "We quit our jobs, sold virtually everything we owned (which wasn't much), and set out to live our lives for no one other than ourselves," they write on their travel blog, "Couple's Coordinates." What started as a plan to move to Florence for the year evolved into a seven-month adventure that took them to 13 countries. "We got a little spontaneous," Gallagher says. Business Insider spoke to the couple, who moved back to Santa Monica in late December 2015, about life on the road, how they managed to stretch $8,000 for seven months of world travel, and how you can also make your dream trip a reality. Instagram Embed: http://instagram.com/p/-bf5O4R7C9/embed/ Width: 658px GALLAGHER AND CARSON IN SINGAPORE. After that day at the pool, Gallagher and Carson started making "soft plans," talking and dreaming about the places they would visit. Come the fall, they started socking away as much money as possible. Gallagher was working in sales for an IT consulting firm and Carson was teaching yoga, modeling, and acting. They cooked 90% of their meals at home, cut back on weekend trips to save on gas and other travel expenses, and eliminated their biggest vice: Starbucks. They started to put each purchase into perspective, Gallagher says: "Say we wanted to go somewhere an hour away, which is about $20 in gas money. That $20 is a night in a hostel, or the best pizza in the world sitting over the Arno River in Florence, or a full day's worth of food in Bali." About six months of conscious spending and diligent saving — plus selling Gallagher's car and TV — amounted to an $8,000 travel fund. "We really didn't have that much money to travel with," Gallagher recalls. Instagram Embed: http://instagram.com/p/BCYbFihSrOm/embed/ Width: 658px GALLAGHER AND CARSON IN UBUD, BALI. Their soft plans materialized into more concrete plans in April 2015. "Two months before we were about to leave, we said, 'OK, let's make this real. Let's buy our one-way tickets and that will make it real,'" Gallagher tells Business Insider. To save money, they also booked all of their flights and accommodations through October. "During high season, buying flights and hotels last minute can double or triple your costs," they write on their blog. "To avoid this, we decided which countries outside of Italy that we wanted to visit and purchased flights and booked accommodation ahead of time." These preparations cost about $4,000 overall, which they bought gradually, as biweekly paychecks came in, rather than drawing from their $8,000 travel fund. They also took advantage of travel-rewards cards. "Before we left, we each opened a British Airways credit card from Chase," they write. "After spending just a few thousand dollars over a period of three months, you get 50,000 bonus miles. For us, this was enough for flights from Milan to Qatar and on to Bali, and additionally, from Tokyo back home to LAX." Instagram Embed: http://instagram.com/p/6P3-wQSrGH/embed/ Width: 658px GALLAGHER AND CARSON IN SANTORINI, GREECE. Gallagher gave his two weeks' notice and worked up until the Friday before flying out of Los Angeles. Carson's schedule was a bit more flexible, but she also worked right up until the weekend before leaving in order to build up their travel fund as much as possible. They packed up their apartment, stored their possessions with family who lived in the area, and took off for Florence the day their apartment lease ended. SEE THE REST OF THE STORY AT BUSINESS INSIDER
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