What are the Challenges of a Nomadic Lifestyle?

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
41

Sharon,

We have been nomads since 2018 when we sold everything and decided to travel the world. Yes, the travel is exciting but being away from family & friends is challenging. Have others to talk to besides each other is also an issue. This is why we joined a few nomad travelers groups so that we could meet up with others like us. This has been the best thing we found! Having others that are travelers like us gives us the community we needed.

There are many things that can come into play with this type of lifestyle and only you can decide if it’s right for you. Many others we met are not full-time nomads. Some travel for 3,6, 9 months a year or whatever makes them comfortable. Some nomads have elderly parents so they frequently travel back home and then gone again. Some travel fast (a few days in each place) or some are slomads (a month or longer) or anything in between. Join a few Facebook groups and you can get an idea of what being a nomad is.

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42

I can’t say I’m fluent in anything. Spanish is my best and it has been useful while doing a sit in Costa Rica.
French, German, and Dutch I’ve worked on while doing sits in Europe.
I often wonder if the cats are confused by the change in language and I try talking to them in their owner’s native tongue.

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43

@LynKinn

I had not heard of the term ‘slomads’… I imagine going at a slower pace reduces burnout and boredom.

This is all very interesting; thank you for sharing.

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44

Good point. I sometimes wonder if pets understand other languages other than the language in their own home. For instance, if I said wie geht’s to pets in Spain and como estas to pets in Germany, would they understand?

45

I know, we live/sit in the North East of England, so it’s quite a distance to get to Southampton at the start, and then our family lives in the Costa Blanca too, which is where we always head to visit them or sit, so as you know it’s quite a distance from Santander or Bilbao.

So there’s no easy way to around it, but fortunately we now know a couple of sets of pet owners with campers that have done the journey from the North East of England, so our minds are getting more familiar with the idea, and seeing it in a more a fun-light hearted way, instead of it being a little unknown, plus my Spanish is getting a little better with every trip too, we usually love the unknown, but it’s a costly one to get wrong, but we are really tempted :joy:.

We even started visiting sales centres just to become more familiar with the idea, or rather take an extra step forward to get rid of any niggles. But we are definitely getting rid of the niggles now, and seeing it as more exciting, so at some point we probably will take the plunge.

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46

Great questions @sharondc!
Some of the responses are so interesting. It’s a fascinating way of being and for myself exciting with a variety of challenges. When I say challenges it does not mean bad things but things that make me reassess and create new experiences. It keeps me mentally sharp.
I have many repeat sits and seeing friends again. I also absI have learned to manage my money. I choose to live a very simple minimalist life and have been giving away more and more. I am down to a 30L pack and only use a suitcase when I bring things to friends. You won’t believe the things I have put in suitcases to deliver to friends in other countries, kitchen faucets and lamps :crazy_face: but I digress.
I sold my home and vehicle several years ago. When I visit family, I stay with them. I use Airbnb, hotels and or short term rentals if I want to stay somewhere for a longer period as I do when I go to Uruguay.
But for me, the call of freedom, of being truly nomadic, independent is very strong. The longer I go the more I want to keep going with less and less.
I have a steady passive income and I am very strategic about my next move but again, I have a strong desire to not plan anything and see how I do.
Addendum :blush:
I am 69 now, a woman and I use a stick when I walk so walking off into the wilderness is a challenge but I dream of it every single day.
The thought of it makes me absolutely giddy.

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47

They understand your tone, your energy.
That’s universal truth :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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48

I’m definitely slothmadic @LynKinn :wave:t3:

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49

@Amparo

The word ‘minimalist’ seems to be a common theme among those living a nomadic lifestyle. And while I don’t consider myself a nomad, I also enjoy a simplistic life.

I downsized my home to a smaller one, don’t like clutter, donated clothes / furniture that I do not use, choose to prioritize life experiences over materialistic possessions, and choose to spend my time with quality people as opposed to accumulating things that cause clutter.

And may your footsteps continue to guide / lead you.

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50

Something happens to you when you go on the path. Your priorities change and things that you never imagined being without seem like burdens.
You then wonder how you ever thought you were living before. At least I did.
Thank you Beautiful
Good journey to you.
X

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51

Congratulations to Karyo on his imminent retirement. Whoo hoo.
Love reading these positive posts as I get ready to head off to my first overseas sitting in the UK. All the way from Sydney Australia :kangaroo::kangaroo::kangaroo::kangaroo:

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52

@HappyDeb - my 2 cents? Rent one first for at least 7-10 days, and see if you can live in one. In my head I thought it sounded so lovely and we would definitely like it, no doubts. Until we rented one for 14 days and hubby bumped his everything against everything, every day. Later I just rolled my eyes. If he would have bled everytime he bumped something, it would have looked like a murder scene. Seems he just can’t be in such tiny areas. You would think he would get better after a week, but alas. There goes my dream! I did have one issue with it - as soon as someone turns in their sleep, the whole vehicle moves. Same with wind etc. So it’s not a stable sleep. It bothered me as I’m a very light sleeper. So do try it out first before you make the move to buy one. It might save you a lot of money!

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53

Yes! I was quite young, when I either watched Heidi or something similar, and I distinctly remember this young boy was going on a big journey with his little bag tied onto a stick over his back! I was hooked on that image! It looked idyllic, going on a big journey with all you need, tied to your back. After many years, we are there. Backpacks only, home office included. It helps that my mom has gypsy-blood and we inherited it. It didn’t help that my mom is not a light traveller! She suffers. But my husband taught me we can get so far with so little, and it was an eye opener. It doesn’t come easy, nor immediately, it takes practice. At first, in 2019, we put everything we needed into a car. Then after a few months you realise there are things that you really don’t use. So you scale down. And down. And down.

We are definitely slowmads. We like just being part of the every day life in another location - walks, supermarkets, cafes. We do love to go out for coffee/lunches about 3-4 times a week - but that makes us really happy and we are fine to spend money on that. We both work between 20-30 hours a week, so this gets us out of the house as well.

As for the ‘place to go back to’ - I think because we travel together, we’re okay with not having a place to go back to. It’s much less complicated not having such a big asset waiting for your care. I feel a long sit, (4 weeks +) is just as grounding as going back home, if it’s a good sit! Incidentally, we just got back to our home-home (the one we own) after being away for 2.5 years. I can tell you, you spend a lot to get it comfy and fixing things again. It is much less complicated when you keep moving.

Because we started in 2019, when Covid hit, our long list of pre-booked sits fell through. For 2-4 days, while all the dominoes fell over as Australian state borders closed, we felt numb and had no idea where to go. Then hubby said: HEY! We could go anywhere! We have no ties. Let’s go where we want to. And that realisation just opened up the world for us.

Budgeting. Even though we dine out, we end up spending so little money. When we book a long distance flight ticket, we maximise our time there with a whole tour, so it would be the equivalent as someone traveling abroad for a holiday - we just stay much, much longer. Then the everyday costs are the same or less than at home - it’s mostly just food! Maybe phone and internet. Travel insurance is usually annually. Nights inbetween a sit is in a hotel/motel/airbnb and we love those, as it’s ‘our holiday’. You won’t believe how much you save by not paying rent. For our first tour around Australia, I budgeted for 100 nights for inbetween. We used 7 of those nights! So budgeting kind of goes out the window, as there seems to be no need, especially when both partners work.

Sorry, this got to be such a long response. Hope I didn’t bore you to death.

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54

Not boring at all @botvot - very inspirational. Thank you for sharing.

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55

Loved every word and yes very inspiring.
It’s a rush of freedom, joy and nothing beats the feeling of knowing it is absolutely possible.
Bravo :clap:

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56

I just want to share one of my favourite photos of my mom. She is tiny. Loves travelling. Can’t travel light, though. But once we were in Germany, and took this photo of her - there was a huge suitcase outside a luggage shop - it wasn’t my mom’s suitcase, although I’m sure she would have made the most of it! And how beautifully they matched!

Ma foto groot orange tas
Ma foto groot orange tas1200×1600 439 KB

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Perfect
I bet she fits nicely n it :joy:

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58

This is good advice to see how it may work for you before purchasing.
My son is very tall. He travels for work constantly and oftentimes for leisure. He likes to bring his dog with him, so he thought a large camper would be a good idea. He said it was the worst thing he ever spent money on. Banged his head constantly, and it was a huge challenge to find parking, especially when he was in a city. He doesn’t have it anymore.

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59

I never got to the Challenges of a Nomadic Lifestyle.
There were definitely some over the last 5 years.

-A new kitchen every few weeks! It feels like a game of memory, and our first meal is always just scrambled eggs and toast. Sometimes finding a suitable non-stick small pan is stressful enough after a day of orientation and meeting the owners and pets…

-No, in seriousness. When things break, it’s hard to fix. For example, our car broke in Sicily and it was very, very hard to get a mechanic to help you. Google Translates offers some help, but it was stressful and couldn’t get the car fixed until much later, in Austria. So driving with a defective car for several days puts you right on edge.

-A dental crown fell out in Spain. In order to have a new one made, we had to extend our stay by another week, which was fine. It got affixed, and promptly fell out a week later, by then we were already in Italy. So a new dentist, a new language barrier, more stress. Or when you get sick and you have difficulty accessing health care, because ‘that’s not how they do it there’ and as a nomad, you always seem to be on the outside of how things work.

-we visit chiropractors maybe once every 2-3 months. Having to complete a new patient form for the umpteenth time :slight_smile:

-touch wood it hasn’t happened, but if/when family gets sick and you have to decide how to handle that situation.

-sometimes your logins just stop working, and your accounts get blocked. And then you have to go through calls with customer service lines to re-establish who you are and why your login location keeps changing. This is especially stressful when it’s banking or for work. We are quite tech savvy and it still happened on occasion.

-And yes, as others have said, there are cancellations and trip cut short. Always have a budget and a backup plan. It’s a relief to have money waiting for you if you suddenly find yourself in a tough situation. One less thing to worry about.

But the benefits still outweigh these risks above. It just helps to briefly consider things that can go wrong, and just see how you think you would deal with it. Of course you won’t know until it happens, but it helps to not go to panic mode immediately.

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60

We used to own a touring caravan, and a static caravan too, and so the idea behind living in one doesn’t phase me at all, it’s very enticing on that front. It’s simply because we split our time between the North East of England and Alicante, Spain that we haven’t got one as yet. In the past we would have loved the journey, whereas now, with family in both places, we don’t really want the journey side of it, we want to be in whichever place fast so we can to see our family… but I am very tempted.

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