On the primary of December, 2023, I celebrated six years as a full-time traveler. For over six years now, I haven’t had a hard and fast deal with or a house within the conventional sense. I spent most of these years residing in a Ford Transit campervan, a journey I share in my newest e-book, Life Completed In another way. Since promoting the van, I lived in a tiny home for 2 months, been a home sitter in varied locations, stayed with associates, and sometimes booked an Airbnb.
I like being a nomad. I like the liberty and adaptability. I like exploring new locations and assembly cool individuals. Nevertheless, it’s in all probability truthful to say that, ten years in the past, I wouldn’t have been voted most probably to finish up as a nomad. So, how did I get right here?
The making of a nomad
It began again in 2017. I had simply turned 33, and though life was nice, I started to have doubts concerning the course I used to be heading in. I used to be very career-focused, working lengthy hours because the Head of Advertising and marketing for a tech startup. I loved it, however I wished extra from life than only a profitable profession. In some ways, it appeared apparent what my subsequent steps in my life needs to be: Get married, purchase a home and have children. It was what all of my associates have been doing.
Nevertheless, whereas I used to be excited for my associates and will see the sweetness within the lives they have been creating, I wasn’t certain it was the suitable path for me. In some way, I simply couldn’t image myself strolling down an aisle in a white gown or elevating a bunch of little ones – a minimum of not but.
What do you do once you really feel misplaced and not sure about what to do along with your life? You go touring! And once you stay in a tremendous nation like New Zealand, it is sensible to discover your yard as an alternative of hopping on a airplane to faraway locations. So I made a decision to purchase a campervan, stop my job, and take a while to determine who I’m and what I would like from life.
It was presupposed to be for one summer time. One summer time of journey, freedom, exploration, and escaping my busy metropolis life. That summer time was nearly 5 years on the street in my camper and life as a touring home sitter after that.
Alongside the way in which, I met unbelievable individuals, overcame challenges, admired and explored the gorgeous surroundings of New Zealand, challenged society’s norms and expectations about what a lady in her 30s needs to be targeted on, and located the solutions I used to be searching for.
Making a residing as a nomad
From the very starting, I cherished the approach to life, particularly the sense of freedom. Stepping away from my busy, career-focused life in Auckland, New Zealand’s greatest metropolis, made me notice how a lot the stress had impacted me and the way significantly better I felt residing a slower, extra intentional life. Nevertheless, in all probability the principle motive I saved touring past that first summer time – the principle motive I used to be capable of – is that I found I might work remotely.
Till then, I had labored in varied advertising roles that each one required me to be within the workplace, a minimum of more often than not. This was a number of years earlier than Covid made distant working extra widespread. On the time, I didn’t know anybody with a distant job, so I hadn’t thought of it an possibility.
After I informed the corporate I used to be working for again in 2017 about my plans, meaning to resign, they requested if I might contemplate working part-time and remotely whereas I journey. To my shock, inside a number of months on the street, I secured one other new consumer and one other one shortly after. Within the six years since, I’ve labored for dozens of corporations as a digital advertising advisor. As well as, I began writing for a journey journal and in addition wrote three books, together with the journey memoir Life Completed In another way.
Because of a very good community and glorious repute, I get plenty of work by way of phrase of mouth and referrals. In consequence, thus far, I’ve at all times had sufficient work, which is likely one of the principal causes I’ve been capable of journey full-time for so long as I’ve. The opposite large motive is that I stay a easy, low-cost life.
Low-cost methods to journey
Journey is commonly deemed costly, nevertheless it doesn’t need to be. Positive, if you wish to keep in luxurious resorts or do plenty of excursions and actions, the prices add up rapidly. Nevertheless, there are methods to journey for much less. Dwelling in my van for nearly 5 years saved me some huge cash. I needed to pay for campgrounds and van upkeep and repairs, however that was so much lower than what I used to pay for lease in Auckland. Since promoting my camper in 2022, I’ve been a full-time housesitter, which is one other manner to save cash whereas touring.
I’m additionally very selective about what excursions and actions I pay for, typically choosing a free hike or bike journey as an alternative of a paid exercise. I don’t spend a lot on going out or style, and whereas most of my hobbies, like paddleboarding, kitesurfing, and biking, require pricy gear, now that I’ve it, doing them is free.
Touring primarily in New Zealand additionally means I don’t need to fork out for costly airfares. This may sound boring to some, however belief me after I say that New Zealand is the sort of place the place you’ll be able to journey for a few years with out losing interest, particularly when you love nature and adventuring within the nice outdoor.
The one large draw back
There have, after all, been challenges through the years. I needed to write off my first campervan. Selecting a life so totally different from most of my associates generally made me really feel lonely and disconnected. Sometimes, I doubted my selections. Generally, the fixed change was overwhelming. The pandemic introduced its personal set of challenges. Nevertheless, trying again, all these obstacles really feel like minor blips – little pace bumps I needed to overcome to get to the place I wished to be.
There’s one vital draw back to this life-style that’s greater than a little bit speedbump, and that’s the dearth of group. The true-life sort of group. The sense of consolation that comes with belonging someplace, with understanding your neighborhood. The sensation of connection and belonging that, a minimum of for me, solely comes from spending plenty of time with somebody.
There’s a thriving worldwide nomad group, and connecting with like-minded individuals from all around the world on-line has been wonderful. But it surely’s not the identical as having a real-life group.
So, when you’d ask me if there’s something I genuinely miss, that will be it — a real-life group.
Up to now, all of the issues I like about this life-style have outweighed the downsides. I’ve no want to return to the standard life I had seven years in the past. Nevertheless, the longer I stay this manner, the stronger the urge to remain put someplace – even only for some time – and to construct up a group and have extra stability appears to get.
I do know I’m not alone on this. The lack of group appears to be the primary reply you get once you ask long-term nomads what they miss. So perhaps that’s the worth you pay for the liberty, journey, and adaptability. It’s as much as every of us to determine for ourselves if that value is ever not price it anymore. Fortunately, whereas life is brief, it’s lengthy sufficient to change between staying put and touring a number of instances.
Lisa Jansen is a author and digital nomad based mostly in New Zealand. She is the creator of the journey memoir Life Completed In another way: One Lady’s Journey on the Highway Much less Travelled, in addition to two different books. To attach with Lisa, go to her web site or observe her journey on Instagram or Fb.
