A couple who quit their jobs to spend 7 months traveling the world explain how they stretched $8,000 across 13 countries

In the spring of 2014, Michael Gallagher, and Alexandra Carson, were poolside in Santa Monica, California, talking logistics for a month-long vacation through Europe.

"We thought we'd do all of Italy, all of Greece, and all of Croatia," Gallagher recalls - but then they started crunching the numbers.

"We realized it could easily be a $10,000 or $20,000 trip," he tells Business Insider. That's when the idea of living, rather than vacationing, abroad surfaced.

"Alex said, 'Why don't we move to Florence?' We were literally laying outside by the pool having this conversation and all of sudden it went from this pipe dream to, 'Let's do it.' We were entirely set on it, immediately."

A year and $8,000 worth of savings later, the couple, who has been together for nearly three years and are now in their mid-20s, boarded a one-way flight to Italy.

"We quit our jobs, sold virtually everything we owned (which wasn't much), and set out to live our lives for no one other than ourselves," they write on their travel blog, "Couple's Coordinates."

What started as a plan to move to Florence for the year evolved into a seven-month adventure that took them to 13 countries. "We got a little spontaneous," Gallagher says.

Business Insider spoke to the couple, who moved back to Santa Monica in late December 2015, about life on the road, how they managed to stretch $8,000 for seven months of world travel, and how you can make your dream trip a reality, too.