well, if it's an elseworlds, who says they have to be reporters? or that they didn't have other, better-paying jobs first?
as for life on a boat... it depends. i know someone who used to live on a boat. he takes people out fishing for a living. he didn't have enough money for an apartment in the area, since tourists and other seasonal travelers have seriously raised property values in the whole area (not to mention the local law that says that a percentage of every real estate transaction has to go to land conservation).
so, he started out with a small motorboat and lived there. it meant a cramped cabin and a tiny head (instead of a real bathroom), but it let him live and do his job.
meantime, he worked with his uncle (who owns a sloop and makes his living taking tourists out sailing) to build a larger boat. it's got a fiberglass shell, but they did all the woodwork and assembly themselves.
when that boat was ready, he sold the old one to his first mate (who moved a couple hundred miles north to do the same thing) and moved into the new one.
eventually, he managed to move into an apartment in town. that was due to a combination of success, savings, and the fact that his wife was pregnant (when i saw them last, the baby was about a year old and she was in the early stages of pregnancy again).
so, for him, living on a boat meant that he had a tiny cabin with a bedroom and a few things and an even smaller quasi-bathroom that he had to share with the tourists. i expect most of his meals came from local restaurants, since you can't really cook under those conditions.
so, they could do something like that. cramped quarters wouldn't be
too bad for l&c
and they'd have the freedom to go just about anywhere they wanted (so long as it was on the coast). docking fees might be a problem, but if they made some sort of living (or, as has been mentioned, had enough money saved up to basically retire), it could be done.
otoh, the whole thing would be much different for a billionaire, who could afford a large staffed yacht and wouldn't have to worry too much about the expense of docking fees. might even belong to one or more yacht clubs (which, as i understand it, basically gives you docking rights at the club, use of their facilities, and an invitation to meetings and parties... though they do sponsor races and such from time to time).
there are a variety of options in between, too.
there are even things called "houseboats," which are essentially ocean-based RVs.
hope at least some of this helps.
Paul
