Reconnecting with a lost love and a surprise pregnancy inspires a move to the French countryside | Franchesca Hernandez

I was so excited to reconnect with Franchesca Hernandez for this episode of the podcast. I met Franchesca on my Urban Exodus cross country roadtrip in the Spring of 2015. Back then, she was living in a yurt on her Whirlaway Farm in Garfield, Texas.When she first bought the property, it was little more than a scrubby 3-acre lot covered in weeds, but through sweat and hard work she transformed it into an abundant farm and homestead. She was recently engaged to be married and felt rooted to this forever-home in rural Texas. But since we last connected, Francesca’s life has taken a wholly new, unexpected, and joyful 180 degree turn. Franchesca and her fiancee broke up and it left her running the farm business on her own. One fateful day, she reconnected with an old flame from her teenage years. She fell madly in love, and after an unexpected pregancy at 40, she and her partner, who is British, rushed to move to France before Brexit took hold and made European citizenship likely out of reach. Francesca embraced this new chapter and unexpected version of her life wholly, and used the opportunity of a big move and selling her beloved farm to build a new career as a freelance writer in her countryside home. While many aspects of her current life might seem idyllic, Francesca doesn’t shy away from the more difficult everyday realities of her move to a new country, and offers so much great advice and important considerations for those who dream of making a similar transition of your own.In our conversation, we speak about how Francesca quickly pivoted and built a thriving career as a freelance writer living abroad, healing childhood trauama as a new parent, the different reality of covid lockdowns in Europe, the struggles of living day-to-day with a language barrier, building friendships in a foreign country, and  how true love transformed her life.This is a story about reuniting with lost love, breaking generational patterns, moving past fear, and the joy of unexpected new beginnings.  To read her full feature visit: www.urbanexodus.com/blogSupport the showSign up for Apple Podcasts premium or our Patreon Membership for ad-free listening, rapid-fire guest interviews & our new mini-pod Ditch the City. urbanexodus.com | @theurbanexodus | buy the book