In their early thirties, a couple with decent incomes, owning their own apartment in Seattle, and being able to travel to Europe or attend ice hockey games on a whim, decided to hit the pause button on their seemingly ideal life. Bianca Boddie and her husband Charlie Boddie, both in their thirties, quit their jobs, sold their apartment, and purchased a 42-foot sailboat. This marked the beginning of their sailing and traveling adventure, which turned out to be more than just a short break. Over a year and a half has passed, and they have yet to return to their old way of life.
How did they muster the courage to leave their jobs and house in their thirties?
According to a self-written account published by Business Insider on September 14, Bianca used to be a senior financial journalist for the media, while Charlie had been working as a software engineer in Amazon’s payment department for 8 years, aiming for a promotion to principal engineer before resigning. The couple owned a top-floor apartment in Seattle, approximately 1,400 square feet in size, with a view of Lake Union and the Space Needle. They described this comfortable yet increasingly constraining lifestyle of good income, stable jobs, and comfortable living as “golden handcuffs.”
Ultimately, despite their age and relative stability, they decided to step away from their old life. However, this was not an impulsive decision. They calculated their post-resignation expenses for living and traveling, deciding to only use a portion of their savings, estimated by them to be around one to two percent, while keeping the rest invested and in their 401(k) retirement account.
Their apartment posed another challenge. They had purchased it in Seattle near its peak in 2022, and after resigning, the mortgage and maintenance fees became a significant fixed expense. While considering renting it out, they found that in the current market conditions, it would likely result in a loss. Unwilling to take on the risks of being landlords, they opted to sell it. The apartment was sold through an off-market transaction at the asking price, clearing the remaining mortgage in the process.
They didn’t live on the boat full-time. When they weren’t traveling or on the boat, they stayed temporarily with their parents. By June 2025, the couple had resigned, sold their home, and purchased a 42-foot sailboat named “Windsong.”
Over the following year and a half, they sailed over a thousand miles along the Pacific Northwest coast with their dog, Stella, visiting over ten countries and regions, including Tokyo in Japan, Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, French Polynesia, and Mexico.
Without full-time jobs, they had more time to spend with family and engage in activities they had always wanted to do. However, this lifestyle came at a cost: the loss of their two salaries meant they had to cut back on luxury clothing, sports event tickets, and fine dining. They also worried about how their extended absence from the workforce would impact their future job prospects and if dipping into their savings now would affect their long-term financial security.
A year and a half later, Charlie’s father asked them how they felt looking back at their decision to quit their jobs and sell their home, opting for their current lifestyle. On a scale from one to ten, they rated their decision an “eleven.”
Now, the couple faces new decisions. They are contemplating purchasing a small business to run themselves, with options ranging from a waterfront dock on an island in southern British Columbia to a lodge with 12 cabins that can be renovated. On the other hand, they are also considering finding a new home, currently looking at houses in the foothills of the Coastal Mountains near Vancouver to settle down.
The reality is that they can’t have it all at once: plans to buy a house or start a business may need to be postponed. Investing in a business means they may have to continue without a permanent home. A year and a half ago, they were deciding whether to leave behind stable jobs with decent incomes; now, they are pondering what kind of life they truly want to lead moving forward.