Living On The Road Full Time: How I Became A Digital Nomad and Is It Right For You?
Many people constantly question what my life looks like when I live full time on the road.
How do I afford it?
Where do I live?
How do I stay healthy?
Is living out of a backpack tiring?
How do you stay connected with friends?
Do you miss having a stable home?
How do you not go crazy constantly moving around?
How do you choose where to live?
This is the way I do things. I know to some this is going to seem crazy, outrageous, rubbing it in peoples faces even, but that’s not the goal of this video.
Sometimes you think the reality you’re currently living is the only way to go until someone opens up the curtains and you can see a completely new way of living.
This is that video that may inspire some of you to choose a road less travelled in your life to provide you with freedom that you so desire.
NOTE: I realize I’m lucky since I grew up in a first world country under the guidance of my entrepreneurial family that all work online. I wasn’t born into a rich family, I looked after myself 100% financially since I was 18, no hand outs, I worked shitty jobs, I learned to save, I learned all these skills myself.
I had the drive to live a free life and that’s why I’m here now.
I didn’t have to support any family members back then, but now I’m working on overdrive to ensure I can provide for my loved ones much more than if I worked in a regular job.
There’s also NOTHING wrong with working in a regular job. If you love it, great! If you don’t want to think about work 24/7 like I do now, or have to grind really hard to ensure you can eat next month like I had to at the beginning, then it’s just not for you. This lifestyle is really hard to figure out and it’s not for everyone, but for those that want it, this video shows it’s possible
Pre requisites for this lifestyle:
What’s worked for me is having discipline to not party all the time, discipline to eat healthy, continue to work out, not blow my money on stupid stuff whilst traveling, discipline to keep learning skills to continue making money whilst full time traveling. Discipline is very important for this lifestyle.
How do I Afford it?
I now make money online. That means that my physical location doesn’t dictate my income. I could be in any part of the world and as long as I have wifi, I’m good to go.
Here are some ways I make money now:
videography
photography
digital product sales
video editing
brand sponsorships
tourism campaigns
brand ambassador
mentorship
youtube ad revenue
affiliate marketing
I somehow believe that living in one spot can be more expensive than constantly moving around. I don’t have a car, I don’t have normal bills, I don’t buy a lot of things as I’m restricted to my baggage size & can’t overload, I don’t go out a lot and blow my money.
When I was first starting this journey, I was making hardly any money online. Over the span of a few years I saves $15k USD which was my initial lifeline when I decided to start living on the road full time. I could fall back on this money in case I wasn’t able to find jobs in the new country I was going to live in.
During this time, I continued to learn how to make money online. It was a long journey, but certainly has paid off.
Where do I live
I don’t often know where I’m going to be one month ahead of time. I have some rough goals of my preferred location but I’m fully flexible depending on any jobs I might have in certain locations, where nice Air BnBs are, where I want to catch up with friends around the world, where I want to explore next.
Sometimes I stay in a home for a week, sometimes a few days, sometimes a month or two. It always changes.
I mostly live in Air BnB’s or speak to friends that have spare rooms around the world. I don’t stay in hotels often as I want my own space and kitchen to cook healthy food.
Which leads me onto my next point – how do I stay healthy on the road?
The novelty of being in a new country and needing to try all the foods in that country wears off after a while. Not having stable roots means that I crave stability in other areas of my life much more – eg. Eating healthy
So I stick to my ultra healthy food routine however much I can. Living in a place longer means I can find my organic stores and buy yummi food and cook it.
Is living out of a backpack tiring?
Yes it can be. But that’s why sometimes I need to live in a place for a month or two, because it’s the constant packing your bags and going from house to house, airport to airport that gets really exhausting after a while. Living this way, you really start to appreciate ‘normal’ aspects of life a lot more.
However even though this lifestyle is tiring, I don’t imagine myself living in one spot for years at a time. I need a lot of change and novelty in my life to keep me wide eyed and excited for life.
How do you stay connected with friends?
I have friends scattered all over the world now which is amazing. I can catch up with people anywhere I might be and it’s very special.
Most of my friends understand I’m not that ‘normal’ friend you can catch up with every week over dinner, but instead the friend they see once a year. If the friend needs more from me, unfortunately I can’t provide it and the friendships may slip away.
Do you miss having a stable home?
Sometimes, but again – novelty is something I need, not want. It’s a small sacrifice for a life much more suitable for me.
How do you not go crazy constantly moving around?
Having a routine that I can do anywhere in the world is vital for me to keep me sane. So that is my morning meditation and diary session and my normal healthy food that I love to eat. Once I have these done, then I’m pretty ok traveling full time forever.
That’s it from me. An insight into my wild and crazy life and into a unique reality that not many people live. Also, I’ve been working to understanding this way of life for a long time. The beginning though was awkward, uncomfortable, scary. But overtime you learn to master this way of living.
Once again I acknowledge I’m extremely lucky to be living this way, but I also reinforce that I worked very hard for this.
I hope you enjoyed this video, check out my Instagram if you’d like to see photos from my adventures and until next time…peace!