This couple built a travel company for Americans who want to leave the U.S.—then they did it themselves

They figured Canada would be a good place to start, but a 2017 trip to Vancouver made them realize it “didn’t feel like home.”

They put their plans on the backburner until the pandemic lockdowns of 2020, when both Barnett, now 52, and Andrews, 44, realized they could move elsewhere and work remotely for their marketing and software engineering jobs. They renewed their search in earnest and set a goal to move within the decade.

Barnett says the amount of research she and Andrews poured into their relocation project prompted them to start their own travel company, Expatsi, to help other Americans explore their options to move abroad.

Barnett and Andrews went back to basics to figure out what city to live in. They focused on what they wanted most in terms of the weather, climate, culture, legislation, cost of living, distance from the U.S. and other factors.

This process sparked the idea behind Expatsi, which started as a weekend project. The website features a 10-question quiz for people to input their living preferences and also asks what you plan to do in your new home country — study, work or live out your retirement years.

Based on those answers, visitors get a list of cities around the world that might be an ideal match.

The couple created the resources expressly for “people like us” who want to leave the U.S. but haven’t seen enough of the world to know where they want to go, Barnett says. “We’ve traveled, but we aren’t constant jetsetter types. So when we realized we wanted to move abroad, we really weren’t sure where to start.”

The site launched in January 2022 and quickly found an audience by summer: “The week that Roe v. Wade was overturned is when our site just exploded with traffic,” Barnett says. “There’s a huge movement of women leaving the U.S. for a lot of different reasons.”

Barnett left her remote marketing job by September to focus on building Expatsi full-time; Andrews left his software programmer job in the spring of 2023. That year, the couple also brought on Cigna, the international health insurance provider, as a sponsor, and the extra cash helped them grow their traffic quickly.

Expatsi began hosting nightly TikTok livestreams in April 2023 and garnered an audience curious about expatriating; that group naturally led to a Facebook group, where they discussed coordinating a scouting tour.

In March 2024, Barnett and Andrews led a group of 30 Americans around Portugal for 10 days and Spain for 12 on their inaugural Expatsi scouting trip.

These curated trips are more than a typical vacation. In each city, travelers attend an educational seminar led by experts to discuss the ins and outs of immigrating, covering financial planning, visas, health care, real estate and other legal matters.

During the rest of the trip, visitors explore neighborhoods with a local tour guide and even see properties for sale or for rent.

Expatsi’s first group of travelers paid $1,000 for the Portugal leg and $1,200 to go around Spain; visitors are on their own to book their flights and accommodations, though the company offers recommendations and facilitates people booking stays together.

Beyond attending seminars and group outings, travelers are encouraged to experiment with the mundane: “You want to stay in a neighborhood you might want to live in and walk to the grocery store and cook a meal and imagine what your life will be like,” Barnett says.

Unlike a vacation, lean into “the boring stuff,” she adds, like running errands and visiting the bank.

“You’ll go somewhere and you’ll know it feels like home or it doesn’t,” Barnett says.

Interest in expat scouting tours is picking up as the U.S. political landscape gets even more heated leading up to the presidential elections.

A CNBC analysis of U.S. Google search data shows a spike in users searching for terms related to “how to move to X country” beginning in mid-June. Interest swelled following the first 2024 presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on June 27.

The aftermath made for “a crazy week,” Barnett says, adding that traffic to Expatsi spike by 800%.

So far, Expatsi travelers have mostly been women ranging in age from 22 to 80 with a cluster around 40 to 65, Barnett says. The group included some couples, though most were solo travelers, and were either people who could work remotely as digital nomads or were planning to retire abroad.

They come from across the U.S. and generally “want out,” Barnett says. “Overwhelmingly it’s not negative reasons; it’s for adventure and personal growth. They know that they want something more out of life” at a reasonable cost.

“It’s walkable cities. It’s a glass of wine. It’s music in the park. They’re seeking something special,” she adds. “It’s not to say you can’t find those things in the U.S., but a lot of times they’re reserved for the wealthiest or people of a certain leisure class.”

Looking ahead, Expatsi is planning for its next trip, also to Portugal and Spain, in September. The company hopes to run eight trips in 2025 and expand to new markets, including around Mexico, France and Italy.

As for Barnett and Andrews, their preferences led them to Merida, the capital city of the Yucatan state just off the Gulf of Mexico.

It checks off all their boxes: It has a warm and sunny climate, is a 30-minute drive to the coast, has a strong middle class, and people are happy with their lives and have strong social networks.

Plus, it’s roughly 30% cheaper than living in Birmingham, Barnett says based off estimates from the site Expatistan, a site that compares costs of living around the world.

Politics were top of mind, too. “We wanted a place where laws were changing more into what was important to us,” Barnett says. “Mexico recently legalized abortion and same-sex marriage nationally, and so we felt like that was a positive change. Mexico will have its first woman president this year, and so that was really important to us.”

“And then of course,” Barnett adds, “you can’t go wrong with the people or the food.”

The couple first visited Merida in 2022 and worked quickly to wrap up their lives in the States, including selling their 3-bed, 2-bath home in Birmingham alongside most of their worldly possessions; if it didn’t fit in their car to make the drive down, it needed to go.

They officially moved in April 2024.

“Moving to Mexico is probably as inexpensive of a move you can make,” Barnett says. The main fees included $45 per person for a tourist visa that they’re converting to temporary residency, three months’ rent (75,000 Mexican pesos, or roughly $4,200) to secure their apartment, and gas to cover their 2,700 drive down with their dog and three cats.

The couple is now settling into their new lives abroad while expanding Expatsi.

“Everyone is like, ‘How are you liking Mexico?’ And I’m like, ‘We are the dogs that caught the car,'” Barnett says. “What a life.”

Conversions from Mexican pesos to USD were done using the OANDA conversion rate of 1 peso to 0.05 USD on July 10, 2024. All amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.

Want to stop worrying about money? Sign up for CNBC’s new online course Achieve Financial Wellness: Be Happier, Wealthier & More Financially Secure. We’ll teach you the psychology of money, how to manage stress and create healthy habits, and simple ways to boost your savings, get out of debt and invest for the future. Start today and use code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off through September 2, 2024.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.