Life on Move is one person's travel journal, built into a field-guide archive for anyone who'd rather be somewhere else.
Life on Move started as notes typed out during a delayed layover, mostly to remember which train to take next time. Readers started asking for the notes directly, and the habit turned into a site.
Every guide since has followed the same rule: walk the route first, publish the real numbers, and skip anything that wasn't worth our own time.
The name isn't a metaphor about hustle - it's literal. Most of this site gets written from trains, airport gates, and guesthouse desks, not from a home office between trips.
That's also why the guides read the way they do: written close to the experience, before the memory of what a place actually cost gets rounded off into a vague impression.
Fewer stops, more time - every route favors staying over rushing.
Real numbers, city by city, including the costs people forget to mention.
Nothing gets reviewed unless it's flown with us for a year or more.
Affiliate links are disclosed. Opinions are never for sale.
Markets and side streets over anything built for a tour bus.
Every route is walked alone before it's called family-friendly.
Rental cars get a mention only when transit genuinely can't do the job.
Notes get taken same-day, not reconstructed from memory months later.
Local guidebooks and residents over algorithm-ranked lists, every time.
Every gear list gets pared down before it gets published, not after.
Prices change, trains get rerouted, and border rules shift - so a handful of guides get revisited every year or two instead of being written once and left alone.
It's slower than publishing new destinations constantly, but it's the only way an old guide stays trustworthy years later.
| Country | Visits Logged | Why It Gets Revisited |
|---|---|---|
| Portugal | 4 visits | Slow coastal routes, revisited for seasonal updates |
| Japan | 3 visits | Rail pass changes tracked across three separate trips |
| Vietnam | 3 visits | North-to-south route re-walked after the sleeper train relaunch |
| Peru | 2 visits | Altitude notes re-verified on a second Sacred Valley trip |
| Iceland | 2 visits | Summer and shoulder-season campervan routes both logged |
| Morocco | 2 visits | Desert camp route checked in two different seasons |
| Thailand | 2 visits | Andaman coast route updated post-pandemic reopening |
| Georgia | 1 visit | Newest addition to the archive, added in 2025 |
| Jordan | 1 visit | Wadi Rum route logged in a single focused trip |
| Nepal | 1 visit | Teahouse trek documented over a three-week stay |
| Year | Countries Logged | Guides Published | Newsletter Subscribers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| 2020 | 5 | 24 | 0 |
| 2021 | 20 | 78 | 1,200 |
| 2022 | 27 | 126 | 5,400 |
| 2023 | 31 | 150 | 8,900 |
| 2024 | 35 | 175 | 12,800 |
| 2025 | 39 | 198 | 15,600 |
| 2026 | 41 | 210+ | 18,000 |
| Item | Category | Years Used | Why It Stays in the Bag |
|---|---|---|---|
| Osprey Farpoint 40 | Backpack | 3 years | Still the carry-on we reach for under six weeks. |
| Merino base layers | Clothing | 4 years | Survives Sahara heat and Iceland cold in the same bag. |
| Kindle Paperwhite | Electronics | 5 years | Outlasts every phone we've traveled with. |
| Packing cubes, compression | Organization | 3 years | The single upgrade that changed how we pack. |
| Universal adapter, USB-C hub | Electronics | 2 years | One item instead of four separate adapters. |
"Feels like getting notes from a friend who's actually been there, not a content calendar."
"The honesty about what's not covered yet is rare. Most sites pretend to cover everything."
"Read the about page expecting fluff, stayed for the actual numbers table."
"The gear table alone saved me from buying a backpack I would've regretted."
One full-time traveler and writer, going back to the first Portugal notes in 2019.
Affiliate commissions on stays, flights, and gear - always disclosed, never influencing what gets recommended.
No standalone sponsored posts, ever. The Trip Kit page is the only place brands appear, clearly labeled.
Not currently open, though reader corrections and updates to existing guides are always welcome via contact.
A running list of reader requests, seasonal timing, and honestly, wherever the last flight happened to land.
Yes - travel, writing, and the newsletter are the entire operation, no side gig behind it.
Mostly solo, occasionally joined for a leg of a trip - guides are written from the solo experience by default.
Corrections and requests go through contact instead, so nothing gets buried in a comment thread.
About a week from the trip ending to publish, plus the trip itself, usually 7-16 days.
Any complimentary stay or press trip gets a visible disclosure at the top of that specific guide.
No banner ads are planned - affiliate links stay the only monetization if that ever changes, it'll be disclosed here first.
A single dispatch each week — one destination, one honest budget, zero spam. Unsubscribe from any postcard.
