Off the Eaten Path with Venice Bites

Let’s start off with a little thought experiment:

It’s Monday morning and you walk into the office. You go to your desk and turn on your computer. Then you get up for a cup of coffee and you start BSing with your co-worker about the stuff you did over the weekend.

When you walk back to your desk, there’s that damn screen saver. You know the one. It’s flashing pictures of beautiful places around the world. First, Rio de Janiero, then Phucket, Thailand, and then Venice, Italy...

Thoughts creep into your head, “What am I doing sitting in this cube? Fuck this place!” So, that day you up and quit. You go home, pack all your stuff into two big crates and ship them to the other side of the planet to start a new life in a place that you’ve dreamed about for years, all because of that damn screen saver.

Ever wanted that to happen? Wouldn’t it be amazing?

Introducing Maya

A few years ago I worked with Maya. She was the head of HR and we became close friends. When I got into work on Mondays I would get all the run down from her weekend and I would regale her with stories of debauchery from our weekend. And then one Monday morning she comes in with a special gleam in her eye… Uh Oh… She met Adam.

Maya and Adam hit it off from the beginning. They were a perfect match and in a matter of months, they were married.

For several years, Maya had been going to Venice, Italy on vacation. She loved the place and spent months there at a time, just wandering the canals, watching the people walk by and chatting with the local shop owners. It held a very special place in her heart.

Something was nagging her constantly and she couldn’t shake it, so she asked Adam if he wanted to go to Venice, just for vacation. He happily agreed, but this was more than just a vacation to Maya, she was introducing him to her other lover. She was hoping that he would fall in love as much as she had.

"I went out for a bottle of wine.  But, if you know anything about Venice, this is no easy task as the streets are a labyrinth.  Maya was back in the apartment cooking dinner.  So, she gave me directions, but since she had been there several times, I wanted to try and find my way there and back by myself.  Well, I made it, maybe not the most direct way, but I made it.  While I was in there browsing the bottles, the store owner asked me if I wanted to try something.  I happily obliged.  Well, some of his buddies joined us.  Two hours and many bottles later, I told them in my non-existent, broken Italian, that I needed to get home to my wife that was cooking me dinner.  So, they pointed me on my way with a bottle in my hand.  After I stumbled back to the apartment, and told the story to Maya, she just laughed.  It surprised her none, and I knew exactly why she fell in love with the place."

After this encounter and two weeks for Adam to adjust,  Maya springs her original plan on him:

“What do you think about this place? Do you want to move here?”

She had thrown herself out there, not knowing really how he would react. His response:

“Let’s do it, Now!”

Once they returned to the states, Maya had a business trip to our company headquarters. At the end of the meeting, she promptly resigned. No job lined up. For the first time in her life.  A week after their talk, they began their escape.

They had a reasonable amount of money saved, so they knew they had a safety net.  Looking at their budget, they knew they could last 2-3 years on their savings alone. Adam’s house was put on the market for rent, keeping it as a backup plan and for a little extra cash flow.

On December 1, 2014, they packed up their bags, including their 2 dogs and a cat and moved from Long Beach, California to Venice, Italy.  From a city with all the roads and all the cars, to one with none. The story of their move is something to behold.

But, what were they going to do there?  You can't just wander around all day eating good food and drinking great wine... or can you?

Enter Venice Bites

They decided to start a walking food tour.  At first, they had nothing more than a website and a plan. They would walk the route every day practicing their script and networking with the local restaurants.

During a practice run, they came across a lady from Long Island, New York. She was looking for a bathroom, and they happened to be right outside of their apartment. They offered to let her use their restroom. A conversation started about where they were from and what they were doing living in Venice. She turned into their first paying customer, and Venice Bites was born.

From there the word started to spread. They booked more and more tours. In 3 months, they were filling one tour 6 days a week. When that schedule was fully booked, they started a second tour each day.

Their company grew to the point where all available tours were full.  If they wanted to keep going, they would need further help.  Their dream was taking off. It was becoming bigger than they could have ever imagined. They started looking into hiring some other guides, but just couldn't find anyone that brought the same passion and enthusiasm.

This continued until they sat down and had a bit of a come to Jesus talk. (I wasn't privy to the exact conversation, but allow me to improvise based on their description)

Maya: This is crazy, I can’t believe how big our tour has become!

Adam: I know, we’re so busy, we could have never imagined this.

M: Yeah, we really are busy huh?

A: We are, but is this why we packed up everything and moved here?

M: No, we moved here to live our dream. We left so we didn’t have to slave away and work until we dropped.

A: Maybe we should scale this back until we are enjoying ourselves?

M: Yeah, you're so brilliant!

They decided slaving away over their budding business wasn't what they moved across the globe for.  The tours were scaled back to 4 days with 2 and one on Fridays, sometimes more or less, if they feel like it.  They now make sure to keep some days open to simply enjoy Venice or traveling around other parts of Europe.

They’re comfortable. They claim it's not going to make them rich, but they're good at it, so really who knows.  Currently, the tours are paying for their living expenses, so they don’t have to touch their savings.

And while they may not be 100% FI, three years later, they’re living their dream.  What more could they really ask for?

Wrap Up

We’ve wanted to write this story for quite a while. Maya and Adam are a topic of discussion in the Kingdom of Waffles on a regular basis. While we miss them dearly, we couldn’t be happier for them. In fact, this interview was planned for an hour and it turned into a 3 hour wine and beer fest over Skype across 9 time zones and ~6,000 miles.

We’re hoping to soon be able to experience their tour in person. I can tell you when we were in Venice (before they moved) their recommendations were phenomenal!  We ended up eating two dinners in one night, since those were the only available reservations.  We have even offered to become guides for them, if they ever want to go back down that route and manage two knuckleheads.

If you’re ever in Venice, please make sure to stop by and say hi to Maya and Adam.  Trust me, you won't regret it! Be sure to let them know the Wow’s sent you. Who knows, maybe we’ll see you there…

Check them out and support them here: https://www.venicebitesfoodtours.com/ or on TripAdvisor