1. Bring some hobbies with you.

My first time leaving the USA I figured, “Why bring a Playstation controller? I won’t be playing videogames.”

And I was mostly correct. Until I wanted to play Rocket League on a rainy day and I regretted it.

Currently I’ve started homebrewing again. It is kind of a fun challenge to make decent homebrew when you live out of a backpack, but I’m making due. And better yet, when my homebrew is ready to drink, I have something to share with my friends.

2. It is okay to slow down.

Sometimes people move around every few weeks and they never really get to make friends. This can be pretty taxing/exhausting after a few months. Slow it down a bit, join some whatsapp nomad groups, and try to make friends at language exchanges, etc.

3. Keep connections w/ your friends back home.

I set up a discord group for the boys and I to keep in touch. Instead of a group text that can get kind of annoying, we’re able to fire up all sorts of subchannels in our discord channel to share photos, recipes, memes, etc. And if all else fails, discord is an easy way to jump on group calls or play videogames together.

Finding expat groups in the city I was in really helped me initially. It’s the only time I ever found Facebook helpful was finding expat groups. I really enjoyed getting to know the cities that way and then eventually you feel comfortable helping the next newbie find their place.

Without dating, pretty dull. Seems like most people here don’t date. No idea why!

I did 6 months! 3 of them travelling Mexico! I loved it. And I could keep that jobless life for years if I had money 😅 Now that I work remote, I still prefer to travel alone.

Plus, you’ll meet other travellers and locals on your way. The only think you’ll miss is when your part ways.

Feels great

You are going to get lonely. You are going to have to deal with the fact that all of the things that you don’t like about yourself at home, you still don’t like about yourself on the road. You will either drive yourself to drink/crazy, or you can embrace the opportunity and start working on yourself.

I took a a Kindle with The Harvard Classics and a bunch of the ‘must-read’ classics, a Martin BackPacker Travel Guitar, a Harmonica, and Cribbage Board. Those hobbies got me through the lonely times. I also become much more sociable and met people.

15 years into it. Not bored. Not lonely. Then again, I had left home years before to go study in the city where I also had to meet new people and I was never close to my family so no one to miss there.

I started last year and my trip back home is getting less and less frequent. I am adapting more to this life. I go back to place I have already visited and slowly expand. I think my method is fairly sustainable for doing this very long term. You don’t need to do 1 single 1 year trip imo.

Meet and date people. Locals if possible. Be a good person, date people you can form some sort of deep connections with and leverage their social capital. You can re-date them on your next visits.

Home-base - Australia

December to February 2023 - Bali March - April - Australia April - June - Bali June - August - Mexico and USA August - November - Bali and Singapore November - January - Nepal January - February 2024 - Phillipines and USA February - March - Australia March - Undecided - Bali

Another thing is have a goal in all of your trips and have a hobby. The reason I am going back to Bali a lot is that I have taken up surfing. I met few cool people surfing in Mexico and learned some Spanish.

Keep in mind there is nothing wrong with going home occasionally. The idea that you “have to” keep travelling is nonsense, head home for a week or two, see your friends/family, refresh and then go back out. Or, set a shorter goal and re-evaluate, such as plan to go for 2 moths and if it feels right, keep going for another 3 etc.

If you feel you can’t return home etc, I’d examine why you feel that way. Doesn’t have to be a bad thing, you can have your reasons, but make sure they are positive. Some people use digital nomading to put off dealing with issues they have at home. Travel is great, but it won’t fix things you are trying to escape from.

Best of luck on your trip!

Exhausting, for real

Lol I miss the states 0 percent.

I’ve done a lap and a half around LATAM over the past 3 years while working remotely. The first two years were solo, and the last year has been with two buddies I met along the way. I/we typically book month-long stays in Airbnbs and just hop to the next city or country over to keep flight times shorter and cheaper. All in, I’ve slow-traveled 12 countries in LATAM, some more than once.

As far as combatting boredom or loneliness goes, you’ll definitely need a routine and given your schedule is so flexible, here’s what to prioritize in structuring your days:

• Learn the language(s)
  • Speaking Spanish (or Portuguese in Brazil) will unlock such a richer and deeper experience for you as you’ll be able to connect with 100x more people and navigate day to day life with 10x more confidence.
  • If you’re starting from zero, you can probably get conversational in 8-12 weeks, depending on how much energy you put into it.
  • Take classes, ideally IRL, and you’re bound to meet some like-minded folks who are traveling a similar enough path as you are.
• Learn the dance(s)
  • Dance is a language on to itself. If you know how to Salsa, Bachata, or Samba, you can always make friends and will never be alone. It’s worth the investment to learn.
  • Best to find instructors who speak English. Classes are a good place to start but don’t hesitate to take a private lesson.
• Find a gym
  • There’s really no excuse not to get in the best shape of your life during your travels, and the best gyms for travelers are the ones that already have community baked in (i.e. Crossfit, MMA, Yoga, Pilates, etc).
  • You will always find a good mix of warm and friendly locals and foreigners in these spaces who can help you figure out your way around town.
• Learn a new skill
  • When I shared my initial itinerary with a friend, he mentioned that I would be passing through some of the best surf destinations in the world. I’d never been surfing before, so I decided to make it a new skill to learn. I surfed in Costa Rica and Ecuador but still need to do so in Brazil and Mexico.
  • Surfing also introduced me to spearfishing, which was one of the most meditative activities I’ve ever done! We cleaned and ate what we caught right on the boat, ceviche-style… “Mar to Mesa.” It doesn’t get fresher and more satisfying than that.
  • I also decided to try Muay Thai for my gym activity and lost 60lbs in my first 8 months. Now I’m training for my first amateur fight in my 30s and hope to visit Thailand soon!
• Do the touristy shit
  • Not only is it a good way to meet people and make friends, it’s generally just a fun way to pass the time. And no one gives better recommendations than a tour guide. It’s their job.
  • I went horseback riding for the first time in the Colombian jungles of Tayrona National Park, which has some absolutely stunning beaches. My tour of Machu Picchu was world class by any academic standard, and ATVing in Costa Rica brought out my inner child.
  • I really don’t know what all those judgey, anti-touristy people do all day when they’re nomading, if not the touristy shit, or why they think nomads have to choose.

As far as my overall experience goes, I really wouldn’t have changed much. Happy to share my recommended itinerary if you’re interested. Here are a couple of other things I learned though:

• Don’t plan too far in advance. If you find a place you like, stay longer. If you get the itch to explore again, then go. Always say yes to last minute trips with fast friends if you can.
• Figure out what environments make you happiest and try to recreate it wherever you go. A lot of people struggle to define what happiness is, but it’s really not that hard.
  • Make mental notes about all the situations where you feel filled with energy, excitement, peace or satisfaction. Then take mental notes about all the situations that drain you of energy, or fill you with frustration or anxiety.
    • Tulum, Mexico wound up being the place I was happiest. Life was simple, and I spent 8 months there training Muay Thai, meeting cool people from all over the world, experiencing gorgeous weather and beaches, scooting around eating delicious food.
    • The vibe was always chill and low maintenance. People were easy to meet and connect with. I cut my cognitive load in half and felt a lot more present in my life. I’m was born in big city kid, but it turns out I’ve really been a closeted beach bum all this time.
• Get comfortable being a little more forward than usual. You’d be surprised how far a simple opening line like “Hey, are you here for a weekend or here for a while?” will take you… a couple of life long friendships and dozens of spontaneous experiences in my case.
• The hardest part of being a nomad is when you find your tribe but it’s time for some people to move on. If you do half the things above right, this situation will inevitably happen… maybe even multiple times. Watching your travel friends pack up and go will bring a grown man to tears, but that’s evidence of time well spent. Remember that it’s never a goodbye with nomads, just a “see you later.”
• Traveling will spoil you and normal life will become almost unpalatable. Adventure is addicting. You’re likely to find that the idea of going back home to visit friends and family is entirely too taxing or burdensome. Some people feel guilty about that. Others just invite their friends and family to visit them abroad. Either way, it’s better to anticipate that you’ll be traveling for more than a year. When I got started, I thought I’d be away for 4-6 weeks. Three years later and my biggest fear is some BS return to office policy stripping away my new found freedoms.
  • I’m pretty confident you’ll see some of the business opportunities I have during your travels. Let me know what you come up with and maybe we can collaborate. My best investment so far has been Boundless Life, a turnkey solution for families who want to live a DN lifestyle. I’ve also been looking for…

1. A “Turbo Tax for DNs”
2. Easy virtual store/payments software for mom & pop shops and street vendors
3. A subscription model home-swapping site to compete against Airbnb
4. A “card/cash insurance” service for when you inevitably lose your wallet or can’t access an ATM for some reason
5. A dedicated portable digital whiteboard + collaboration software bundle for teams.
6. An engaging social network for DNs that makes access relevant information and connecting with people easier for nomads.

It can get tiring after a while to be honest. We have slowed down our travel a lot over the last few months. I don’t wish to return home anytime soon though but definitely spend minimum 1 month in each place so you can have a bit of a routine.

Do you not get bored or lonely in your home country at times? What do you do then?

Because im not going to be working whilst overseas.

/r/solotravel

Go with an open mind, push yourself to be social, having a social hobby that you can pickup in the different cities you travel in can be a good way to meet people. I did Spain and South America, and my “hobby” was enrolling in Spanish classes in each city for 1-4 weeks at a time. Made lots of friends and did a bunch of travelling together.