A Legend in My Own Mind
“A Legend in my own mind” is probably the best way to describe me. I’ve always looked at life a little differently than most people.
I was born in Edmonton and raised in the late 70’s and early ’80s, when life felt a lot simpler. We rode our bikes all day, played outside until the streetlights came on, and grew up without the internet or cell phones dominating every second of life.
Back then, Canada was the only world I knew—until my first big trip to Southern California, Las Vegas, and Mexico as a teenager. I still remember falling asleep under the Christmas tree holding my airline ticket after reading it hundreds of times. Real paper tickets with carbon copies for every flight segment. Hard to imagine now!
Just like today, I couldn’t stop talking about the trip to anyone who would listen (which honestly wasn’t many people then—or now). California, Las Vegas, and Acapulco, Mexico sounded like another planet to a kid from Edmonton. We drove all over Southern California, made our way through Las Vegas, and eventually flew to Acapulco.
Those memories stayed with me forever. That trip sparked something in me, and I fell in love with travel, America, and Mexico almost instantly.
What I never could have imagined back then was that I would eventually live in Southern California, Las Vegas, and Mexico. These days, when I’m not traveling, I split my time between Mesa, Arizona, and Rocky Point, Mexico.
Looking back now, it feels like I had a plan all along—even if I didn’t fully understand it at the time. No matter what happened in life, I was always going to chase freedom, travel, and a different path than most people around me.
The makings of a solo traveler.
After high school in Edmonton and a few false starts, my first real break came when I enrolled in Telecommunications at NAIT. It took me three years to complete a two-year diploma—largely because I wasn’t exactly a model student and my favorite bar, Ezzies, was just across the field.
A week before graduating in December 1995, I interviewed with Northern Telecom, Canada’s largest company at the time. Considering I was in the bottom half of my class, it was a miracle. Somehow, I crushed the interview!
Overnight, I went from making $5.50 an hour PT to $13.80 FT career.
Life was good!
I relocated to Calgary in January 1996. Within a couple of years, I was traveling regularly to the company’s Richardson, Texas headquarters. I was boarding planes in freezing Calgary and stepping off three hours later in shorts. I was falling hard for the American dream.
Then I met a flight attendant—another sign of things to come.
Eventually, I was offered a job in Texas, given a work visa, and started traveling full-time. Work had me crisscrossing the U.S. and eventually traveling internationally. My girlfriend followed along and could fly me anywhere, anytime.
Holy shit—my dreams were happening.
That relationship didn’t last, but I still thank her to this day (especially when I jokingly ask for free flights). She’s built a great life raising twin boys, and I’m genuinely happy for her.
Those years permanently warped my brain. I became a travel junkie—unable to stay put, always chasing the next deal. I was turning into North American Darrell.
My next chapter came after 18 years at Northern Telecom, when I landed a job at PayPal. Great company, brutal call-center role. I learned a lot about money management—mostly by dealing with people who didn’t have any. I could have moved up, but I didn’t have the piss and vinegar left. I already had health insurance, investments, and one eye firmly on my Freedom50 travel dream.
Then it happened again.
Laid off.
Northern Telecom in 2014.
PayPal in 2024.
Twenty-five-plus years of service—gone.
There I was in 2024: 52, single AF, unemployed, but financially stable enough to travel whenever and wherever I wanted. I started looking back at my life choices.
Almost everyone I knew had followed the script: marriage, kids, grandkids, 9–5 jobs, one-week vacations, summers at the lake. There’s nothing wrong with that life—but it was never mine.
Statistically, men die at around 73. That leaves maybe 5–10 years of retirement if you’re lucky and healthy. I watched coworkers grind their whole lives only to barely enjoy the end. I lost family members far too young.
Should I have kept my houses in Edmonton, Atlanta, and Charlotte?
My first Edmonton house was 2,400 square feet, custom-built, and mortgage-free. I didn’t even use one of the three bathrooms before selling it.
Who walks away from that? 🕺
I could’ve settled in Calgary, Dallas, Southern California… or one of the many places I lived temporarily—Las Vegas, Austin, San Antonio, Mexico City, Acapulco, even Brazil.
Corporate condos, friendships, relationships, opportunities. Sometimes I wonder if my life was just a mirage interpreting the way I want as we get get older.
Instead, I chose something different.
In 2015, I settled into a small, turnkey, mortgage-free condo in Arizona, which I Airbnb and use as a home base along with my studio apartment in Rocky Point, Mexico
This is my second attempt at blogging about a life shaped by travel, work, and personal wins and loses. This time, I’m keeping at it trying to ignoring the critics.
I want to share what I’ve learned and continue to learn about slow travel, inexpensive living, and geoarbitrage—living well while spending less by choosing where and how to live.
Slow travel is about staying longer, living like a local, and letting your dollar go further.
Welcome to my crazy blogging dream:
NorthAmericanDarrell.com
and
www.YouTube.com/@NorthAmericanDarrell
LFG!!
Click to read more on my Geoarbitrage goals
), I’ve genuinely loved writing.
