For Joseph Hubbs and his girlfriend, Emily VanEpps, both tech workers in their late 20s, the pandemic offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hike and ski in Utah and California, and see beaches in South Carolina and Central America, all while working remotely. It was that or continuing to pay thousands in rent for separate Brooklyn apartments while under stay-at-home restrictions.
“Let’s not waste that money and sit in a tiny apartment all day,” is how Hubbs saw it. “It was a sudden ability to travel free of office obligations without any change to our core jobs.”
Justin Pyun, 33, was at a similar crossroads when his lease came up for renewal last year in San Francisco’s Mission District: $3,000 a month to stay in a shut-down city, worried about sharing tiny elevators and narrow stairwells with neighbors, or more freedom on the road.
“We said, we could do something a little bit smarter and enjoy ourselves more,” said Pyun, a structural engineer who decided to give up his lease and hit the road with his fiancée. Since their departure they’ve snowboarded in Denver and seen friends in Los Angeles. They’re now planning some hiking in Oregon and fly fishing in Washington state.
Both couples are still paying income taxes in their home states, a common arrangement that states may revisit after the pandemic. And both insist they worked hard to follow state and federal guidelines to keep themselves and others safe from COVID-19, even amid recommendations to avoid nonessential travel.
The couples were fortunate to have the money to travel. In the past year, the United States has seen historic increases in poverty, unemployment and h ..
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