I love Mexico, love the lower cost of living and slower pace of life, but I have much better health insurance in the states.

Nothing

My girlfriend had been a nomad for seven years when we met in Thailand, I traveled for something like nine years at that point. We’ve seen and done enough.
We are in our mid-30s, she’s from the US, I’m European, and we’re moving to Mexico to settle down and start a family.

Well when our son gets to kindergarten age we’ll probably pick a spot.

I love almost everything about being a nomad- the constant stream of new experiences, exploring new places, the thrill of adventure, and the infinite possibilities that come with each new city. However, the one thing I miss about a more settled life is the social connections and the presence of friends and acquaintances. This lifestyle can be very lonely, dating is almost impossible, and the absence of a stable social circle is hard. Also, I’ve come to realize the value of having a personal space, a home with the comforting familiarity and conveniences that come with having one’s place. I look forward to settling somewhere eventually.

I’m going on year 6, and I can feel the lack of social stability from constantly moving around.

I’m considering creating a home base within the next year or two.

Honestly nothing. Even if I ammassed enough wealth to live comfortably in the US, I know I could take that money and live like a queen someplace else.

Every time I’m back in the US I get so annoyed with needless expenses and how everything requires you to fill out a form or stand in a line, or do both. Or it’s two forms and then you go from this line, to that line over there until they tell you to come back to this line type of bullshit.

I’m finishing a degree this year, so I’ll be staying at home until September, at least. So, that’s it.

Other than that I guess that I’ll go back to the road for even more extensive travels once I’m done with the academic obligations, lets say(until I decide to pursue a master’s or some other crazy shit)

- Dating as a nomad is hard. You meet wholesome humans but everyone is more or less transient. Even if dating a nomad, chances are you’ll want to travel differently. Dating is not a priority for most people in this lifestyle. It’s difficult to date someone from another culture because if you don’t feel understood or you can’t relate, you can’t really bond. If I’m still single in 2-3 years, I’ll consider settling down in a large city to give myself the chance to find a life partner.

- In some locations, internet / electricity / data is unstable and it creates major, major stress if you have big projects coming up or important call. Recently, I interviewed for a role and there was a power outage for 5 hours where I was nomading (latin america). I drove 2 hours to another town, booked a phone booth in a coworking space and barely made it to the meeting. I didn’t get the job and I blame my poor interview performance to being so stressed.

- Missing my family, my culture, my friends back home. I met great people but I don’t feel like they’ll be around forever as they are nomading too. I have friends all over the world now so we need to travel to see each other. However, at home, I have a “sure-thing” community. It feels warm to have that, I don’t take it for granted and want to go back to nurture my people

- The logistics of traveling take up a lot of headspace. If I weren’t moving this much, I’d have free time to take up new hobbies, learn more skillsets, increase my knowledge and maybe even start a business.

- Traveling and adjusting to new places regularly doesn’t allow for routines. It’s really hard to figure out how / what to cook, where to shop and do laundry, where to work from and hang out, which gym has the best equipment

- It’s sooooo expensive to travel. I save up while in some countries because cost of living is low but I can imagine that depending where you earn from (US vs. Europe vs. a country with low wages), it can be a different experience. If you’re making +100K a year working in tech for a US-company, you’ll probably save while abroad. If you’re from Indonesia making 10-15K a year, your entire income will go on flights and temporary accomodation. That’s not sustainable if you want to grow your networth and find financial safety

- Networking is hard as a nomad. As your career evolves, you need to be in the right rooms physically. There are even roles that are challenging to do remotely. For example, if you want to climb the corporate ladder and become an executive, you’ll probably need to be in the office. Unless you’re in tech, many roles require in-person representation.

- Don’t have kids but can imagine if I had them, they’d probably want to stick around their friends. I know some children adjust well when they are little. I met a few nomadic families that loved to travel and others that settled down once their kids (teenagers) expressed they didn’t want to leave their friends.

The only barrier to me settling is… that I simply don’t want to!!

In late 30s now, with partner and kids, and being nomadic is all I’ve ever wanted to do. Have had a few settled periods while having kids and navigating finances, but as soon as we can, we are always back to it.

And even when I have been “settled” for a time, I still consider myself nomadic just travelling extra slow for a while!! And maybe we’ll go slower at times again, when the kids are older, or when we are older - but the longer I stay in one spot the more stagnant and depressed I get, so I really can’t imagine ever truly settling in one spot, ever!

I won’t go back to the u. S. until the maga thing is over with