Fellow Wanderer - Life as a Nomad

 Hello Fellow Wanderer 👋

Welcome to the second edition of the Travel series... This time, I'm going to outline some things to consider for anyone who:

⭐ Is thinking about becoming a digital nomad either temporarily or permanently 🎒

⭐ Is curious about what life's like for Nomads 🤔

⭐ Is experiencing fomo from all the annoying Instagram posts and blogs (hehe) from digital nomads and needs to be reminded that there are also challenges... 😉

It's not all about the beaches, 

though this is a great perk

So here are some important aspects to keep in mind: 

1 . Minimalism 🪷

The first thing that comes to my mind when I think about my digital nomad experience is that for the first time in my life, I have to be a minimalist. And whilst I may stretch this concept as far as possible with my Mary Poppins-style backpack, the point is still valid 🌂

Whatever you want to bring with you, needs to have a purpose. Cute shorts that make your butt look good? Great, but do they pass the squat test? (Can you do 3 squats to the ground without discomfort/ripping). If the answer is no, then ditch them 👎

Okay, so you should always have something with you that makes you feel good, be that a nice shirt, a cute bikini or your happy socks. But everything else must be practical 👍

Hypocrite:

Only I would travel with two bloody yoga mats

2 . Practicality 📝

Leading on from the first point, you also have to bring some "practical" items with you, which you may not necessarily carry if you were just going on holiday, such as your laptop! You also need to bring a converter (or multiple), medication and for those of us who are injury prone, a first aid kit. I also bring a needle and thread, which is great for little fixes🧵 

Aside from that, you need to think about footwear 👠

Planning to spend your entire time at the beach? Bring nothing- you won't even wear shoes. But planning on renting a motorbike or hitting up the jungle or mountains? You need some good walking shoes, possibly waterproof and something that will not give you blisters! 

Who cares if you look like a dork?! There's no point in having an amazing Instagram picture if you feel like s**t when you take it because your feet ache/you're too cold/ chafing...

If you can't do yoga in them, don't bring them

3 . Lack of Home Comfort 🛋️

You'll not be home for a long, long time. 

(You should absolutely ensure that you always have enough money saved for an emergency flight home, so you don't have to worry...)

Hopefully this will never be necessary, so you should be prepared to miss home, friends, family, luxury, normality... 📺 

✨ For this reason, taking something with you that symbolizes home comfort can be helpful. For me, this is a tiny figure of Ganesh that my friend gave me, which I put wherever I stay, usually by my yoga mat. I also have a beautiful card with an elephant on it which my dad gave me, and I'll put that out as well so I feel like which ever place I'm in, I have "my space" 🐘 

But it's still hard. Sometimes you want to sprawl on a sofa in your underwear or look at your favourite painting from your flat back home, or water your plants which your friends may be neglecting whilst you're away. I don't have pets, but I think that others would say they are the things they miss the most.

4 . Normality 🚶‍♀️

Nomads are not "travelers" per say. They are people who work in different places, from their laptops. 

If you want to be a digital nomad (or even just backpack for a long time) you don't need to visit every single place and do every tourist thing advertised in Lonely Planet.

In fact, not doing everything gives you a nice excuse to return! 🌏

What I have learned to value, is a slower pace of life when "nomading". Unless your visa duration forbids it, try slowing down. If you like somewhere, stay longer! You don't need to move to the next place, yet. 

You can also choose to lounge around in a cafe all day, or stay in on a Friday night and watch Netflix. You can go and buy a pizza, even when you have an abundance of delicious local food around you. You can just take the time to do regular, non-travel things. And that's okay ☺️ 

5 . Socializing 🫂

People always say to me "is what you're doing not lonely?"

Maybe it's just the period of my life that I'm in, maybe I'm just more confident than I used to be. For me the answer is no. I am not lonely. I feel like being around people sometimes when I'm not and then other times I want to be alone when I'm around people. But these are things which everyone feels!

Being a nomad is what you make it. If you want to make friends, you will have to invest some time to listen to people's stories and make a little effort to smile... That's about it.

As long as you are doing the things which make you happy, and that you want to do, I have found that you will attract people with that positive evergy, and you will makes some lovely connections along your path 🪷

As for relationships? Well that will be another article, Fellow Wanderer 🙃 

Best ladies in Cape Town

All from different countries

6 . Lifetsyle

"You're so lucky to just hit up the beach all morning before work" 

"I can't believe how sunny it is where you are"

"The views there are stunning, I'm so jealous"

^^ fellow nomads, you'll have heard this a lot...

And whilst this is true, y'all miss the hours that I spend in cafes, frantically scrolling through booking.com and comparing reviews with Google so I can find a place that has decent WiFi, isn't in the a**hole of nowhere and won't require me to sell a kidney to stay. 

The (practically) entire days I spend on Skyscanner planning the best route, researching the most affordable option to get from Obscure Place A to Weird Spot B. 

I work hard for this life. There's no one to help me. 

7 . Choices 

The last point I will add for today is that this lifestyle comes with some trade offs. 

You will have to get used to seeing your loved ones on a screen 🥲

You will have to be the one who makes the effort to stay in touch with friends, because you're the one who is away.

You will have to find a job that allows you to live this way. That can take time. It also may require you to take a pay cut. You may even find that you're not using some skills, though you end up gaining very different ones. 

Lastly, you have to say goodbye. 

This is the hardest one. 

You will say goodbye to the people you love a lot more, for a lot longer. And sometimes, you will have to say goodbye forever (not because you die, because you go separate ways, just thought I'd clarify).

Sometimes you will meet the most incredible people on your travels. And they will go back to their "normal" lives on the other side of the world, and you just go on 💔

These are choices you make as a nomad. 

The beautiful connections, no matter how long they last, are well worth it for me. But sometimes, you may find the heartache is not worth the sunshine and adventure. This is something you need to figure out for yourself. Don't let anyone decide for you 💗

Regular calls with one of my favorite people

♥️

And there you have it. Nomadic life in a nutshell. 

I will dive into more tips and tricks in the future. In the meantime, let me know what you think- could you be a nomad? Are you already a nomad and think there's something important to add here? 🤔

Happy wandering 😘