Nomad Life

How I do what I do is probably the question that most people ask me and certainly the greatest curiosity of people. Therefore, nothing better than to start by demystifying my nomad life that, in fact, is accessible to almost anyone. You only need to establish one thing in your life: PRIORITIES.

No, I don’t work online. No, my parents don’t pay my bills. And no, I didn’t receive any inheritance or easy money. My reality is like most of you, I work to support myself and pay for my trips, however, my top priority is to stay on the road.

Being a traveler was a very distant dream for me, I always felt a kind of good “envy” every time I met a person with this lifestyle. And at first, I had no idea how to make it happen, there were so many doubts and the questions were always the same:

How do they do it? How can I achieve the same?

The truth is that I started to have a nomad life without laying out a plan to achieve it and I remain in it without properly having a specific plan on how to continue. But, if you allow me to be a bit cheesy, I deeply believe that when you really want something and you start taking action in that direction, the answers come to you, the opportunities come to you and in the blink of an eye, you are living the dream.

I would say that in my life, there were 3 focal points that culminated in my lifestyle. There are other stories, other ways to do the same, but in the end, the “scheme” turns out to be similar.

1 | FOCUS ON MAKING MONEY

I started to consider myself a traveler since I started my adventure in Australia. That was when I decided that I would no longer work as an architect and would seize this opportunity to change my life for good. I decided that I would be like these travelers and experience a nomad life. And so it was!

Work and Holiday is the dream visa for those who want to start this adventure. Since it allows you to live in the country and legally work as many hours as you want. Imagine, having the opportunity to explore Australia and make money at the same time!

I arrived alone with a terrible English, 1000 € in my pocket and a somewhat invented curriculum. But with a great desire to succeed and live this adventure intensely.

So the weeks of eating instant noodles with cans of tuna, the days of wandering around restaurants looking for work and hearing no for an answer, counting the pennies and sharing a room with 10 more people who quickly became family, were overcome by some anxiety, but also with a lot of lightness and joy.

After changing my plans drastically. Having lived a thousand acrobatics and be in the land of kangaroos for almost two months. My Australian life was finally stabilized.

1.1 | COMMIT YOURSELF

Do you remember the priorities I talked about at the beginning?

These priorities, I made them very clear to me when I understood what I could really put together in this adventure. In this sense, I decided to enjoy Australia but also to focus a lot on work, since it would be my guarantee to keep having a nomad life. The focus was essential.

I had times when I worked a lot. In these periods I usually worked 60 hours a week for 4 consecutive months, then I took a break. However, these periods of 4 months, despite being a lot of work, also brought me the best experiences, because I ended up working in very remote places where I lived Australia in its purest essence.

I believe it is essential to have both because if you focus only on making money and you do not live the experience, you have fun and learn from it, in my point of view it does not make sense. We have to be able to enjoy the journey because that is where life happens.

Ultimately, my first advice for anyone looking to start a nomadic lifestyle is to look for a job in a country that pays well, look for seasonal jobs that are great, or stay on your job for a while but with a focus on getting some money to start.

1.2 | SAVING IS NOT SPENDING

This is where the sacrifice part comes in. To make the most money you have to cut your expenses to the essentials. This is not an easy process.

You have to step down eating out, parties, Netflix subscription, new clothes, gym, hairdresser, and so on. I do not say that you will have to live like this forever, but in the beginning, especially if you do not have savings, this point is crucial.

It is crucial to learn to live a minimalist lifestyle. Especially because your home will be your backpack and you will not have space for everything.

This adaptation is more difficult at first. But once you start in this life, you will realize that being a traveler and being minimalist go together. You won’t feel like spending € 100 in a jacket knowing that it pays you almost two weeks in Asia. Do you know what I mean?

2 | BE A SMART TRAVELER

The way you travel will also allow you to spend more or less time on the road. This is as much important as saving money. I consider myself a roots traveler taken to the extreme. That means that I really spend very little money traveling and I can tell you that it is also my favorite way of doing it.

So when I use the expression roots it means that:

I will use local transport and often the 3rd class, whether in Japan or Thailand;
I will eat at the local restaurants;
I will find the hostel with the best quote and cheapest price (it always works). I rarely paid more than € 5 for a room in Asia, and in these places, I also find the same kind of traveler as me;
I will haggle but haggle until exhaustion. I believe that, over the years, I have become a successful specialist in lowering prices;
I will do Couchsurfing, that means to stay with local people at their houses without any cost (is an amazing experience as well);
I will be volunteering in exchange for accommodation and food;

The secret that no one talks about is that traveling can often be cheaper than living a normal 9 to 5 job lifestyle.

LET’S GO TO NUMBERS?

I spent about € 1000 during my three months stay in Vietnam where I volunteering at a hostel for a month. And I spent 850€ in three weeks in Japan mostly because of I used Couchsurfing.

It is important to realize that when we travel “full time” it is not like when we travel on vacation. For example, I even took a vacation from my travels, and I continued to travel. Makes sense?

Your trip is your life for the next few months and sometimes years, so you have to be aware of the expenses and live in a controlled way.

You need some basic rules, like not spending all the money scheduled for the month on Chang bottles in Thailand, which is sometimes impossible to keep! But okay, have fun, enjoy and live life… if one day you spend more then you make up for the next that you spend less.

3 | TRIBE OF TRAVELERS

There is no official travelers community, but at the same time, there is. We are like a tribe of dreamers, unhappy with the system, and thirsty for adventure. We are a family.

You may have heard of the instant and deep connection that is created with some people while traveling time. It doesn’t matter how much time you spend together. Sometimes the bonds created are stronger than with people you spend a lifetime with. It is difficult to explain this connection, I think it is one of those things that has to be experienced to really understand it.

And why this community is one of the points? You must be wondering. The answer is simple. Because we all have a common desire, which is to continue traveling. And when we all ask ourselves the same question, we come up with several different solutions.

Everyone is doing something to be able to keep traveling, things that you can also do. And so, a world of new possibilities and ideas shows up!

LAST WORDS ABOUT NOMAD LIFE

You don’t need to be rich to travel, but you do need some money.
Things are easier to happen than you think.
Don’t trust everything you see on Instagram, no one shares the part where you clean toilets.
You need lots of focus and love for this life because there are always two sides to the same coin. Remember that.
And most important of all. Believe yourself.