What I Use: Mexico City (February/March 2024) (Premium)

Today is our last day in Mexico City after five weeks here, our longest continuous trip outside the U.S. so far. This was a nice proof-point for some future in which we split our time more evenly between two places.

We had various goals for this trip, but the one I'm most interested in is that we're leaving behind enough clothes that we could fly here in the future without needing to bring a thing. This is the logical conclusion to almost two years of trips in which we slowly brought and then left more and more things here. And now we're pretty much whole, with everything we need from clothes and toiletries to computers and other electronics, and everything in between. I even bought a second CPAP so I can leave it here. I'm looking forward, almost, to flying home most unencumbered with an almost empty bag. This will be a first, but I hope for it to become the norm.

In some ways, we eased into this. There is something inherently uncomfortable and entitled about even having a second home, especially one in another country. But I try to remind myself that this is OK if only because this modest 750-square-foot apartment is literally all we own. We rent in the U.S. and will continue to do so, and we will keep downsizing as needed to remain as mobile as possible. The future is uncertain.

But this one is in the books. My wife and I have made several trips to Mexico City in where we just lived here, experienced the day-to-day, and tried to map our usual work schedules and lives to this place. That's always worked out well: Thanks to many years of home swaps during which I honed what I now think of as a More Mobile setup—not to mention ongoing improvements in the hardware, software, and services we both rely on—we can work from just about anywhere. That our place here is, well, our place, only makes it easier. It's just normal and natural, no different from working at what I still think of home. Even though this place, too, is home.

That said, we've both worried a bit that we've gotten too comfortable here. Even before we found and then immediately purchased this apartment, we discussed using Mexico City as a base from which we explore the rest of this vast and diverse country. But we haven't strayed outside the city since we bought the apartment, in part because there's so much we love right here, and in part because we've needed to do so much here to make it a home.

As that came together, we've discussed what we think of as side trips, a tradition that started during our home swaps. Perhaps a long weekend in Oaxaca, or Querétaro. And each trip has come and gone with us staying right where we are. Two weeks, three weeks, now five weeks at a time. We talk about it. And then don't do it.

This time, an excuse manifested itself. Thanks to a new neighbor with a local partner, we were introduced to an incredible handyman who does electrical, plumbing, and carpenter work. We hired him to complete the big-bucket to-do it...