How Would You Like To Rent A New Life?

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On a grey Dublin day, I wonder if the words would come any easier if the view from my desk were better. In my fantasy life I’d be in Mexico City, CDMX as it is now, looking out on a sea of violet jacaranda blossoms and debating which taqueria to visit for lunch. Or else in Sicily close to the sea, with the prospect of an afternoon swim the reward for hitting my deadline. Or perhaps Venice, where I’d have abandoned my car and would nip around by vaporetto instead, dogs in tow, buying fish for dinner at the Mercato di Rialto, falling asleep each night in my palazzo apartment to the sound of the water lapping in the Grand Canal.

Yours might be different. You might think: I’ve always wanted to live in the depths of the French countryside, somewhere the property’s cheap and so is the wine. Then I’d be able to write that novel or paint with inhibition. Or that the life you could have in rural Ireland or by the ocean might be so much better than the one you have now. Your anxiety might just disappear. And you might allow your dreams to occupy a few evenings’ scrolling, looking at the pretty houses you might buy and dreaming of a different life.

The prospect of throwing it all up in the air beguiles. Yet we probably won’t do anything about it because it’s too damn much to get our heads around. But what if the notion of change won’t be put back in its box quite so easily, if it nags away at you when you lie awake at night? What if it didn’t have to be quite so all or nothing? What if, instead of packing it all in and risking making a terrible mistake you’ll regret forevermore, you could rent a new life on a no commitment basis? It might help you scratch that itch. Or – tantalisingly – confirm that it’s the right thing to do.

If all you need to work are WiFi and a laptop then, really, there’s no excuse. If not now, when? In an ideal world, you’d try somewhere out for a full year – experience its autumn fruits, winter misery, spring blossoms and summer heat (and insects) – before making a decision about a permanent relocation. Easier said than done for those with jobs that don’t lend themselves to remote working, or for the parents of school-age children. But even a month could be long enough to give a meaningful insight into what a different life might be like. Long enough to be an adventure yet relaxing enough that you won’t be cast into a slough of despond – as you might on holiday – if the choice turns out to be a poor one.

Rosie Campbell rents out some special properties around Ireland through her business Unique Irish Homes, which she runs with her husband Graham. As well as their traditional holiday rental customers, she’s used to clients who want to try on a new life for size.

“We have one successful American artist who’s tried Mayo, Cleggan and Kerry, renting for a few weeks here and there to choose where he might spend a year,” she explains. “Another client, a writer, came for the winter but found he couldn’t cope with the mist and rain. He said the winter light made him think the sky had fallen in. He shortened his stay and ran out of the country as fast as he could!” But during the pandemic, the shoe was on the other foot for empty-nesters Rosie and Graham. “A doctor had told me that retiring down the country was a bad idea,” says Rosie. “He said people find they cannot cope, because while they may be used to being in their holiday homes in the summer, they haven’t immersed themselves in the community. He said they hate the winter and he ends up writing a lot of prescriptions. Anyway, pre-lockdown we’d made the decision to head off with a suitcase and a couple of Le Creuset pots to look after someone’s house and try it out as an experiment. We were only supposed to go for a few months but then lockdown happened and we got stuck.”

Before their temporary move, Rosie said she had an enormous fear about how she and Graham would run their business, particularly the tech side of things, from a distance. “But once we were there we had to cope and we built up a remote team, hiring freelancers to fill in the blanks. Because we had the time to devote to it – there was nothing to do other than go for a walk! – we were able to bring the business to another level.” As well as the discovery that you don’t have to be a 20-something working in tech to be a digital nomad, Rosie and Graham’s sojourn away from home opened up a whole new world of possibilities.

“It made me realise there are loads more experiences you can have as an older person, that it isn’t all over. Living somewhere else temporarily is the way to get a feel of a place and its people. Graham went swimming at the local gym early in the morning and saw the same people each day, and then made plans to meet up for a pint. People said hello much more readily and we found friendships developed in a way they don’t in Dublin.” After two and half years, Rosie and Graham came back to Dublin, with, she says, a new spring in their step.“Now we might do it again. We think we’ll go and live in Greece or Italy for a while. I wouldn’t go in peak summer when it’s very hot and I’d make sure I had done my research – you need to be sure you’re covered by insurance and there’s a decent doctor – but I’m not fearful anymore.”

For writer and transformation coach, Niamh Ennis, who published her first book, Get Unstuck, last year, a year in Spain helped her recalibrate her life after a traumatic period during which she lost her fiancé, mother and father within a short space of time. She knew she still wasn’t coping five years later and followed a hunch to take a sabbatical and move to Spain for a year, persuading her new husband to come with her. “Living somewhere is completely different to being on holiday but I adapted to the laidback Spanish lifestyle with surprising ease,” says Niamh. “I had never felt so separate yet so free from expectations, commitments and responsibilities and that felt wildly liberating. I hadn’t realised just how much of what I did before was to keep other people happy and I could see how much I had lost myself in chasing their approval. I’d love to tell you that I found myself that year in Spain but the truth is I didn’t. But I learned how to slow down, to observe and to heal and this was to be the turning point for all future life-changing decisions.

“Sometimes we need to remove ourselves from the ordinary to appreciate just how extraordinary it is. The move empowered me to return with new eyes and before coming home I resigned from my permanent, pensionable job. My time away helped me realise that I didn’t need to change where I lived but how I lived and that year in Spain, while uneventful in itself, altered the entire course of my life. While it’s true that you bring yourself with you no matter where you travel, there is no doubt that your environment can impact how you navigate difficult times and help you come unstuck.”

Anna Mulcahy is the Chair of Kinsale Arts Weekend and so passionate about her hometown that she’s on a mission to encourage other people to move there. She owns The Lookout, a beautiful apartment on the busy marina, which she offers for rent. “The location means you could be on your own for a month and you’d never feel lonely,” she says, “One couple came first for a week, then for ten days and last year for 27 consecutive days. They come for the weather because it’s so hot where they live in the US. He plays golf at Old Head and she works from home. If you’re going to live like a local, you need high speed internet.”

For Anna’s tenants it’s not just a question of showing up, retrieving the keys from the lockbox, and figuring everything out for themselves. “I want people who come to stay to take a breath and get the full Kinsale experience,” she says. “If you just come for a weekend you don’t get the sense of community, and I think that proper immersive local experience is so important. More people want that now. I can arrange for people to learn Irish or bake soda bread, whatever makes them feel part of the town.” Anna also suggests The Lookout would be a great place to road test a divorce, seeing how you might enjoy a month on your own. And for those with a fondness for romcoms, she can arrange for a day’s work in the lovely Prim’s Bookshop, modelled on Shakespeare & Co in Paris and complete with piano and chessboard, just the kind of place where a gal on the rebound might hope to meet her own Hugh Grant in among the secondhand volumes.

Whether your relocation fantasy is working in a bookshop in an Irish coastal town, being immersed in the cultural life of a big city such as London or Paris, or living off-grid on a remote island to see if that’s the environment that will spur a release of pent-up creativity, perhaps it’s time to ask yourself what’s holding you back?

READ MORE: Four Little Escapes To Change Up Your Routine And Kickstart A New Life