Our 'Rich Life' Vacation Experiment

This summer I got to experience a little of my “rich life”. A vacation experiment of sorts that included my parents, in-laws and friends.

Curious how it went?

First if you don’t know about this “rich life” idea it’s from Ramit Sethi. It's the idea of spending lavishly on areas you love — and cutting back on areas you don’t.

This "rich life" vacation idea started last year after my annual trip back home to Ireland to visit family. When that trip was over we left more tired than when we arrived.

Between visiting friends & family we stayed at 5-6 different spots over only two weeks — all with a 5-month-old baby. What’s more, while it’s great to catch up with people, it’s hard to get deep quality time when we’re in 'vacation mode'. Everyone else is doing 'normal' life.

That’s why this year I decided to try something new.

Goal:

Rent a house in a cool location in Europe that we can invite people to vacation to with us. This way we’d stay in one place, and be able to relax while also seeing our European family and friends.

Rules for finding a rental:

• Has a pool
• 5- 6 bedrooms
• Within 1 hour of an airport
• Big enough space to not feel cramped w/ 10+ people
• Walkable to restaurants, food, and things to do (so car rental isn’t necessary for all guests)

We ended up in Frigiliana, Spain — a small coastal town 45 minutes from Malaga airport. We were within 10 minutes of the beach while also being in mountains and it was walkable.

It was beautiful and felt a bit like Tuscany in Italy (minus the price tag.)

Throughout the nearly 3 weeks we were there we had 18 guests stay with us! It was like musical chairs as people arrived, some left and more arrived.

We covered the cost of the villa while guests all chipped in on buying groceries, cooking, and cleaning.

It was a hybrid of ages, from mine and my wife's parents, to family friends, to old friends from NYC who now lived in Belgium. My best friend from the US also joined for a week with his girlfriend.

We enjoyed late dinners, and long walks and often played cards or board games to end our evenings. I realized as we were leaving that in the 3 weeks, we didn’t turn on the TV even once.

We all got a holiday-like experience while being able to get quality time together.

We'll likely do this again, perhaps every few years so that we get quality time with our family and friends.

As I reflect on this unique vacation experience, I encourage you to think about what a 'rich life' means for you — and how you can adapt obligations in a way that aligns with your goals.