Rob: Today we have Cheryl Antier on the line. Cheryl is someone who has taken the concept of lifestyle design. Grabbed it, squeezed it, took everything she could out of it all the way to St. Tropez and I’m so glad that she’s willing to do this interview with us. Cheryl, are you there?

Cheryl: I’m here.

Rob: First of all, I just want to say I think you are awesome. I mean what you have done is absolutely incredible in terms of lifestyle design and I want to just kind of get into it so just by way of background, could you give me just a little bit of what the last 4 or 5 years looks like in terms of where you’ve traveled and how you wound up all the way to where you are now which is living on the French Riviera in St. Tropez.

Cheryl: We just got back in April from a little, quick trip to Washington DC and we wanted to see the cherry blossom festival and then also New York and Philadelphia. So that was April. The last few years we’ve been to Italy a couple of times, Monaco, Luxembourg, Austria, Germany a couple of times, the mainland of Greece…we haven’t done the Greek Islands but that’s on the plans. Now I know I’m forgetting some but I love England, Ireland, I really love to travel. We went to Spain. So it’s a fabulous way to live, to be able to do this.

Rob: So you have figured out a way to do something and this is the reason why I wanted to have you on the line…you have figured out a way to not say, “I am going to live the deferred life plan and I’m going to wait until I’m 65, 70 years old.” You need a walker, wheelchair or whatever kind of condition you’re in, the last stages of your life and sit on a cruise and look at the window at Luxembourg. You said, “No, I’m going to do it now while I’m young. I’m going to find a way to pay for it and I am going to live this life in a big way.” Did I get that right?

Cheryl: Exactly. Life is short, you know. I mean, every minute that we have, this minute right now where we’re talking, is unique. Whether you believe in…I don’t know, reincarnation or you believe that when you die you go to heaven and sprout wings and play a harp all day or you think you die and become fertilizer. Whatever you believe, this moment, right now, this is it. This moment is the only one you’ll get so I really don’t understand people who don’t want to squeeze every single bit of life out of life. They can but they just don’t know what’s going to happen.

Rob: I would suspect that in the beginning, before you made the plunge and actually relocate, I would bet you had some apprehensions, maybe some fears. Let’s talk a little bit about that because it is very brave in my opinion, what you decided to do. You are in the top 1% of people who say, “I’m going to do this.” Let’s talk about it from the beginning. What were some anxieties you had? What were some fears?

Cheryl: Well, one thing that was kind of a huge trigger is that I lost my husband, he had a stroke. It was 3 days after his 50th birthday and I had 2 boys and a house payment and the mortgage and you know, all the things…not to mention of course all the expenses because he had been sick for a long time. So I had all of that facing me and there was one day that was kind of the “straw that broke the camel’s back”. Really quickly my water heater broke, flooded the basement, my kids were thrilled for about 10 minutes because they thought I’d put an indoor swimming pool in the basement and they’re excited to invite their friends over. The flooded basement also broke my washing machine which we didn’t find out until we washed all of the towels and things we were using.

Rob: Cheryl, just to give me a frame of reference, this is how many years ago and where were you living?

Cheryl: I was living in south eastern Utah and this was in 2002. And on the way to the plumbing store which was 30 miles away, we had a flat tire and I never had to change a flat tire in my life, didn’t know how to do it and nobody drove by, nobody stopped to help and that was kind of when I decided, “You know what, this is not how I want to spend my life. This is not what I want for my boys.” I just couldn’t do it anymore. I’ve wanted to live in France since I was 14 and so I started looking for ways that I could come to France.

Rob: And your kids were how old?

Cheryl: Let’s see…they were 12 and 14.

Rob: Okay, that was 6 years ago. So that was the trigger and then you created…because you knew where you were going to wind up which was France so you had to set up a plan to allow that to happen?

Cheryl: Right.

Rob: Alright. So let’s talk about that. What did that look like?

Cheryl: (laughs) that was pretty much a disaster. I spent a year on the internet trying to have an internet business. I spent thousands of dollars but I sure didn’t make anything. And then by sort of accident, I got a job doing some writing, some ghost writing. That one actually happened to be some special report and it happened to be for the internet marketer. After doing these 12 reports, the one thing that I did learn from that…actually I learned 2 things. One is that it was possible to make money. I just needed to learn exactly how to start creating more than just one income stream because one income stream wasn’t going to do it. And the other thing I learned is that I don’t care how much money somebody pays me, I will never, ever write about golf again (laughs).

Rob: (laughs) why?

Cheryl: It is the most boring subject (laughs). So anyway, I started doing several different things. One of them was writing grants and I got involved to doing some mentoring with the local vocational rehab organization and they were sending me clients so that I could help small business owners get grant money. I probably written my third one when I realized, “Hello, let’s write one for me!” so I did and that was what gave me the money to be able to come over here.

Rob: Which was how long ago?

Cheryl: That would have been 2003 and the kids and I moved over here in 2004.

Rob: Okay, so you brought the kids with you.

Cheryl: Yup.

Rob: Okay, so now they are a few years older. How old are they now?

Cheryl: My oldest just turned 21 and my youngest is 18.

Rob: Okay, and what did they think about moving to France? Were they all on board or did you have some anxieties there?

Cheryl: Oh there was total anxiety. Not to mention the fact that our dog, my oldest son’s dog. She was a very, very popular girl. Nine puppies…so the sad thing was when we left, we couldn’t bring her and 9 puppies to France. It sounds like a small thing but that was a huge, huge thing for my son.

Rob: It’s not a small thing. If you have a dog you’d understand that.
Cheryl: Yes, and so for him that was probably the hardest thing. More even than leaving our family; more than leaving his friends. I mean, when you do this kind of thing it’s not without issues. Plus, moving to France; we had one little problem; that none of us spoke French and…

Rob: (laughs) Minor detail.

Cheryl: Yeah. You know, minor thing. Now, after about six months in school, my eldest son became…I mean he’s fabulous. He speaks better French than I do and he’s completely bilingual. I can get along. I can talk to the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker and I can do polite dinner conversation but I still struggle and have to take my dictionary along if I needed to do something like bureaucracy-wise.

Rob: Right. You’re not reading “War and Peace” in French yet?

Cheryl: Not so far. No.

Rob: Got it. So now the kids are in…are they in university now or are they out of school or…?

Cheryl: My youngest son is doing internet high school and my oldest son will finish his degree next year and he’s doing travel and tourism which is a big plus from him because he’s bilingual.

Rob: Right.

Cheryl: And so yeah; they’ve adjusted. They like it and we love the lifestyle over here.

Rob: Alright. So let’s kind of get into that a little bit. I just back from St. Tropez and I was at a place you may know because you live there called “The Cube Hotel”.

Cheryl: Oh yeah! It’s fabulous.

Rob: Yeah, we were there for a couple of weeks and I really got St. Tropez at a very deep level. It’s so hard to explain. You’ll get this but for people who are listening who haven’t been there it’s really difficult to understand. The culture in the summer in St. Tropez is like; I can’t even find words for it. Uhm… it’s…

Cheryl: You mean like all the stores close from noon to 4 and everybody has a 2-hour lunch and then goes home and takes a nap?

Rob: Yeah. I mean that and the hundred-million-dollar yachts that are sitting in the port and people partying non-stop. I mean it is a place of excess indulgence and wealth displayed like I never ever seen so it’s very interesting to me that you chose to live in that environment. My first question is, is that just the tourist side of it that you stay away from or do you find yourself on the yachts as well?

Cheryl: Yeah. I mean we do from time to time but it actually is the touristy side of things. And we actually moved to Toulon which is a different city. We’re actually a couple of hours away now from St. Tropez because I wanted a place where the kids could walk at night. I wanted a place where they didn’t have the chauffeurs and the yachts and the helicopters picking people up and dropping them off at the airport. I want it normal…

Rob: Yeah, you’re not exaggerating. This is exactly what that’s like…let’s take the helicopter to the boat…you know…

Cheryl: Exactly

Rob: Like it’s really like that.

Cheryl: There’s a company…I can remember one time when we were with some friends on their boat a couple of summers ago and we parked in the harbor…there was this yacht next to us and the kids were saying goodbye to their dad and it was very obvious, and the girlfriend, very elegant, very sexy lady was standing in the background and the kids gave a hug to a couple of the stewards or the crew on the boat and then the car pulled up, the two security guards got out, walked up to the boat, took the kids, got them in the car and it was the security that works for one of the helicopter companies. So they were taking the kids to the helicopter which would probably take them to the private jet. It’s not unusual for that kind of lifestyle over here.

Rob: So why France out of all the places in the world, why France?

Cheryl: When I was 14 and in 9th grade, I discovered that the French class got to go to Paris. When in 10th grade or 11th grade they got to do a summer trip. I don’t know…I have always felt at home in my skin about France. It’s just always where I wanted to live and so I worked for a whole summer so I could pay for that trip so that I could go with the 10th grade class and at the last minute, my dad decided that no, I wasn’t going, I was a girl and there are going to be boys and there was just no way. I bought a car with the money instead. That was my little bit rebellion but I remember telling him, “Someday I’m going to live in France.” It just was always what I wanted to do. It took me longer than I thought I was going to but…

Rob: But it happened and I think this is what’s so important…you never let go of the dream.

Cheryl: Exactly

Rob: You knew it was there, created it, your hindsight’s always 20/20, if you knew what you know now you would have done it a lot quicker but the bottom line is, it happens. So what is it actually like living there? Is it what you thought it would be? Is it better, is it worst?

Cheryl: Much better. We have 309 days of sunshine. The temperature, even here when it’s very, very cold and you’ll see people in their ski hats and their gloves and their thick coats and their boots. Think about spring time in the Rockies. It very seldom gets below 50’s over here. We use the car only on weekends and not even every weekend. It depends if we’re going to go somewhere for doing what, the train can take us or if we want to walk. We have an open air market. This is one of the reasons that I love Toulon. It’s open. A lot of markets here, a lot of villages have open fruit and vegetable market once a week or maybe twice a week. Ours is every day except Sunday and Monday. Everything is fresh, it’s bio, I mean there’s no preservatives, there’s none of them pesticides or things. You can get almost any kind of fresh fruit and vegetable all year long. If I want meat, I go to the butcher and he cuts it for me in front of me and I can see exactly what I’m getting. If I want fish, I go to the fish mongers and it’s fish that’s been caught in the boat that day and brought over in the morning. I go to the bakery if I want a cake or if I want homemade bread. I mean I’m incredibly spoiled that way, I admit. People here, we work about 35 hours a week. Sometimes I work a little less than that. People get six weeks of paid vacation. If you’re a mom, you get 4 months of paid maternity leave and then your job is guaranteed to be held for you when you come back. Right now we take about 4 and a half months of vacation a year but my goal is by 2012 I’d like to be able to do 6 months vacation.

Rob: So those perks that you just described, is that for the average French citizen? The question is I guess do you also get those perks being an American?

Cheryl: Yes, you can buy insurance over here. I mean everybody is covered by what they call Social Security and it doesn’t pay everything. Sometimes it pays 50%, sometimes 70% but you can buy extra insurance. Let’s see…for the boys and I, I have to tell you it covers full medical, full dental icare. I think I just raised it. I think i’m paying 60 euros a month now.

Rob: Okay, so you are an American who is buying social security which covers all of those things for about 60 euros.
Cheryl: Right.

Rob: Now if you didn’t purchase that, would you be covered or would you not be?

Cheryl: It would depend on the situation you’re in. You’re always covered in an emergency and you’re covered for some things. Now there’s something I got to tell you…you go to a doctor here costs about 20 euros. That’s to visit your regular GP.

Rob: Is that as a French citizen, an American or it doesn’t matter?

Cheryl: Anybody

Rob: Okay.

Cheryl: Also, doctors here make house calls.

Rob: Yeah, I’m really super familiar with the doctor side of things. I mean we can spend 2 hours on that. I am absolutely fascinated with the French healthcare system. How did they set it up with doctors patrolling the streets and have everything that they need to handle it inside of their house. Michael Moore did a movie on that called Sicko.

Cheryl: Right, I haven’t seen that yet but I will.

Rob: You need to because it goes through in a very tongue and cheek way all of the healthcare systems around the world, France being highlighted and I could not believe how great the system is.

Cheryl: Oh yeah, it’s amazing. It really is. I have a son, my youngest son has a chronic disease, a chronic illness and so health care is…when I was looking at where do we want to live and what do we want to do, health care was one of the issues that I have to look out when I was really thinking about my lifestyle and what we wanted to do and France, of course, has the best.

Rob: So you found out that the best is really the best and you have no complaints. You know, you hear people saying, “”Well, yeah but you have to wait forever to get an MRI.” Or you can’t get in to see a doctor. That’s not your experience?

Cheryl: No. maybe if you live in Paris, or maybe if you’re in a tiny, little village where you have to travel to go get an MRI but down here on the French Rivera, I don’t think I’ve ever waited more than 3 days if we needed some things. Oh! I got to tell you this one too…One of the times we put my son in the hospital, they were feeding him through an IV. This was when we first got here. I was used to the US way of, they would put him in, pump him full of drugs and as soon as possible get him out the door. And so we’ve been in the hospital for 7 days and I said to the doctor, “Well, don’t you want us to like get out of here because somebody else might need the bed? When are you going to be releasing us?” And he looked at me like I was crazy and he said, “We’ll release Tony when he’s ready to be released.”

Rob: What a concept. Can you imagine? You mean you didn’t have to have the baby in the parking so you can go home? I mean it’s unbelievable.

Cheryl: Exactly. It is. it’s amazing. I mean, I highly recommend France if you love…we’re so close to everything. I can be in Paris by the train, I can be in Paris in like 3 and a half hours. It’s a short drive. We can go have dinner in Italy any time we want to.

Rob: You know it’s so funny…try and imagine yourself back in 2002 listening back to this interview, having your eye balls pop out, right?

Cheryl: Yeah, if you told me that I would be doing this, I would have called you a liar.

Rob: Yea, it’s funny. What is Toulon like? I was just recently, like I said, we were in St. Tropez and I have a friend who lives in Monaco because he made a buzzillion dollars making a movie and he was hiding the income I suppose or whatever they do there. So we went to the cliffs that sort of like overlook Monaco on the French side. What does your neighborhood look like? Is it chateaus, is it villages?

Cheryl: Toulon is kind of a mid-sized town. It’s actually the second largest port of the Navy. So in the old days, Tulane was kind of a bad girl. You know, all those ships would come in to town and have the sailors…we still actually have kind of an old red light district although there’s not so much of that going on anymore. But Tulane has amazing fountains. I think there are like 25 fountains, everywhere from the 15th to the 18th century. We have little squares that are made of marble and they’re surrounded by sidewalk cafes. We have concerts. We have the Opera House that was designed by the same guy who did the Paris Opera House. We have theatre, we have two music festivals a year, we have concerts. Joan Baez I think was just here. We have the open air market. The harbor was right here. The beach is 15 minutes away by foot. In the center part of Tulane, there’s everything you need. I mean that’s why we don’t use the car because we can walk where we want to go. They’ve got bike pass, there’s hiking, there’s mountain climbing, there’s museums, there’s a cultural center. It’s just an amazing city. And what’s really cool about it and for somebody who’s listening, you are not to tell the rest of the world this…we’re in the French Riviera but we’re the undiscovered city. Prices are not expensive here. I mean you can still actually find a flat around 150,000. They’re going fast but I mean you can find really nice villas up along the top part of Mont Faron which is the mountain here. You can find those in the millions so we have a little bit of everything but it’s actually affordable.

Rob: Now did you decide to buy something or rent something?

Cheryl: I am still renting because I will tell you it’s very complicated. It’s not as bad as Italy but it’s a very complicated to buy something here. And there are a whole lot of rules and regulations and the prices can change and sometimes, like in Italy, there’s many that you pay under the table because…it’s just…it’s complicated.

Rob: It’s under the Tuscan sun, yeah.

Cheryl: Oh, yeah, totally. So I’m renting but I’m in a place where we’re 5 minutes from the Opera, 10 minutes from the open air market, I’m 15 minutes from the harbor.

Rob: What could somebody expect to spend, let’s say they said, “You know, I want to give it a try. I want to live there for a year and I just want to rent.” For something, let’s say, decent. What do you think they’d pay rent?

Cheryl: Really it’s going to depend on which part of the city you look in but you can find something really good, a 2 or 3 bedroom flat that takes up…I mean because we got the 3rd floor of the 18th century building that were in. We’re about 1400, 1500 euros.

Rob: That’s great. Now you say you don’t have to be a millionaire to live a jet set lifestyle. Tell me what you mean by that.

Cheryl: I think, for everybody, the jet set lifestyle is a little bit different and I think the first thing that you have to do is you have to figure out your end vision, what it is that you want to do. I mean, when I was 14, I thought I was going to be a starving artist in a garret in Paris, in love with a French man and sitting at sidewalk cafes and learning how to smoke those thin, little cigars. You know, really suffering from my work.

Rob: By the way, you are writer. You had me at “hello” on that one (laughs).

Cheryl: Thanks (laughs) but obviously I love the French Riviera, I love having this huge flat, I love to be able to take the train to Paris when I want to but being in the center of everything else. I mean, we can drive…if we want to drive in Italy, we could drive to Italy. You can get to Spain. You can almost get anywhere in a day, day and a half. And the things that I really love about the lifestyle here is that people work to live. They do not live to work. And so I think for the jet set lifestyle, the first thing you have to do is figure out what it is that means a jet set lifestyle to you because…you know, what you and Kim are doing, I’m a little old to go to the beach parties and run around in a bikini although I’ll tell you there are women in their 60’s that do it and look fabulous and I like to hit them over the head with a rock!

Rob: How old are you now Cheryl, if you don’t mind my asking?

Cheryl: I just turned 51.

Rob: Okay, I’ll be 44 this week so I get it, I get it…it’s a little tough.

Cheryl: It does but I mean there’s something for everybody and you just have to figure out what your dream is and what you really want and then just work your way backwards. I mean you have to want it because it’s not going to come to you in a silver platter and I tell you it took me pretty much 6 years of working my behind off to get to the point where I really feel like I’m finally coming to what I’m supposed to be doing which is writing because I love it and to be able to feel comfortable. I’m not worried anymore that something’s going to yank the rug out from under me and my lifestyle’s going to disappear.

Rob: Let’s talk about that a little bit. You’re spending time living life the way you want and that you’re interested and passionate about and boom!…you know, your life explodes.

Cheryl: Exactly. I really do believe that’s the key
.
Rob: Yeah, and I think that some people are not willing to and if you can get them to say it, then you get all the BS that happens like, “Well, I can’t do that. I have kids.” Or “I can’t do that. I got this.” You know, those kinds of things. So if I were to say to your kids now, “Kids, pack up. We’re moving back to Utah.” They’d say what?

Cheryl: One of them would say, “Gee mom, have a great time and write when you get there.” And the other one would say, “Mom, can I help you pack your bags?”

Rob: Wow! Okay, so you got to split right there.

Cheryl: I do have to split and I that’s something people have to think about too, is when you’re going after your dream, you really, really need to have your family or your partner. It really makes a huge difference if they support you. And even my son who would like to go back home and would help me pack, he still supports me that I want to be here and that I’m doing what I do and it makes a huge, huge difference.

Rob: Well, Cheryl I know that you have about 65 people that are about to walk into a dinner party that you’re running and thank you from the bottom of my heart, sincerely, for being as candid as you have been and as inspiring as you have been. So thank you!

Cheryl: You’re totally welcome. I had a great time.

Rob: If people want to get a hold of you and you know, what you do and kind of keep up with you, maybe a Twitter follow or something like that, how do they do it?

Cheryl: Find me at cherylantier.com

Rob: Perfect! Thanks again Cheryl.

Cheryl: You’re very welcome! Thanks for having me.