ABOUT ELLEN
Ellen Barone has spent over two decades turning wanderlust into words. What started as a leap from academia to travel writing in 1998 became a career exploring the world through story—and eventually, a life that became the story itself.
In 2011, when Ellen and her husband Hank's rented house suddenly sold, they faced a choice that would redefine everything: rebuild their comfortable routine, or leap into the unknown. They chose adventure, planning a one-year journey through four countries. That year became a decade of nomadic living that transformed their understanding of home, belonging, and what it means to build a life.
I Could Live Here is Ellen's deeply personal account of that journey—the joys and challenges of long-term travel, the complexities of partnership on the move, and the quiet courage it takes to keep choosing uncertainty over security.
Ellen continues to explore and write about the intersection of place and belonging. When she's not wandering (whether that’s Peru, Portugal, or points unknown), you'll find her lost in a good book, seeking out local artisans and their stories, or dreaming up the next adventure.
Ellen welcomes collaborations, speaking engagements, and conversations about travel, storytelling, and the courage to redefine home—feel free to get in touch.
Photo Credit: Rebecca Holmes
Meet Ellen and Hank
From an unlikely beginning more than three decades ago, Ellen and Hank Barone have followed an unconventional path shaped by curiosity, reinvention, and adventure.
In 1994, Ellen—then thirty-one—and Hank, fifty-eight, eloped spontaneously during a three-month summer road trip. Two years later, they hit the road again in a Subaru Outback, towing a pop-up tent camper, and didn’t return for over a year. Within fourteen months of that journey, they had packed up and moved 2,000 miles to start fresh.
Since then, they’ve spent much of the past fourteen years living around the world, embracing long stays, unfamiliar places, and the evolving question of what it means to be home.
