JP and I are doing a project we call Eight Quarters. We are going to live in eight different places around the world for one quarter each. Not visit. Live. We finished the first one this summer, spending three months in New York from April through July. The next is Mexico City, where we will live in February, March, and April.

Everyone loves the idea, one friend said we should trade mark it (!), and then asks us how we are doing it, why we are doing it, and where else we are going! The current list includes Paris, Tokyo, Sydney, Hanoi, Santiago, and somewhere in Kenya or Tanzania. They won’t be consecutive. We will do at least one a year and sometimes perhaps more. We are figuring it out as we go, which is part of the point.

Three months gives us time to create a life somewhere. We want to figure out where we like to eat, run and bike, where to go to markets, where to find hojicha, and of course where to look at art. I want to know what it feels like to have favorite places in a city rather than a list of places we are supposed to see. And I want enough time for the unfamiliar to become familiar.

After each quarter, I’ll create a master Itinerary with some of our favorite things I see along the way.

Travel often asks us to decide what we want to see before we arrive. With Eight Quarters, I am interested in what happens when we give ourselves enough time to discover what we didn’t know to look for.

Where would you live for three months if you could choose anywhere in the world? And what else would you like me to share about what we find out?