Hello, long-neglected blog. Over the past year, I’ve been so caught up in travel planning and traveling, that I failed to blog about any of it. I do plan to make up for that in the coming months.
Which leads me to this update: After one full year of digital nomading across 16 countries, I’m (mostly) done with nomading life. I’m now settled back at home in the bay.
But why?
Why am I done? A few reasons.
I satisfied all of my travel goals for the year. I had a list of regions of the world I wanted to spend time in during this year – South America, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Oceania – and I (mostly) spent time in all of them. I’ll be attending a conference in Melbourne from Dec. 1-10, which will check off the final box of this list.
I maxed out my budget for nomading. When this all started, I set a number for myself for how much I was willing to dip into savings as part of pursuing this goal. I maintained a spreadsheet tracking my progress on this, and did my best with budgeting and credit card points. Even with all that, Europe is expensive, and my 3 months there sent me to (just below) the max.
I feel weary of travel and the perpetual “newness” of it all. At it’s best, travel is a magical, life-changing experience. You experience new places and cultures, form bonds with people, get different perspectives on life, and eat delicious food. It’s an adventure that promises to transform you, even if only temporarily. It helps you live in the moment like nothing else.
But it can also be very stressful. New streets, languages, social norms, currency, climates, housing, people – all the time, in perpetuity. I found I would get sensory overload and have to hide in my room, reminding myself the city would be there when I came back out. I learned a lot about how to take care of myself in rapidly changing circumstances, and I’m grateful for that.
Who would have known I was awfully stomach sick when I took this pic? From a 3-day weekend adventure in Riga, Latvia (a beautiful place that is not known for food poisoning, I assure you).
What’s next?
I’ll always keep travel in my life; it’s a lifelong passion for me, and I’ll find ways to do it until my body (or wallet) no longer allows me to.
My vision for my life going forward is to have my one month each year where I go on a digital nomading adventure via programs like Hacker Paradise, WiFi Tribe, and Outsite. This helps me keep those “living abroad” experiences in my life in a way that does not impede on my other life goals (or my budget).
I’d also like to take one vacation (getting away from work for 1-2 weeks) each year to a new place. Something that traveling abroad made me realize is how little of the USA, Canada, and even California I’ve seen. I met people who, upon hearing where I was from, would start listing all the places they’ve been in Canada/USA/California, and I was like “damn, you’ve seen more of my own home than I have!” This inspired me to seek out adventures closer to home.
Other personal reasons which I will share soon! I’ve had some big life changes recently that relate to my decision to taper my nomading, which I plan to share shortly 🙂
What about this blog?
Since being back home, I’ve been revisiting all my favorite local spots (as seen above), catching up on all the TV I missed, spending quality time with loved ones, and mapping out my 2024 goals. One of those is to revamp this blog to be more expansive – I’ll cover travel, bay area local life, random adventures, etc. I will be posting about my travels, including a Hacker Paradise vs. WiFi Tribe vs. Outsite pt. 2, which is the topic I get asked about the most.
If you’ve gotten this far down, thank you for reading <3 Please feel free to let me know what you’d be interested in hearing about (in comments, DMs, texts, etc.) so I can plan to blog about it!