555 nomadic days behind
I expected us to slow down already, but it doesn't seem to happen. We've been moving at least once a week for the last 10 weeks or so, and I'm surprisingly comfortable with that. It looks like the rest of the year is going to be mobile as well.
Since we have a nice round number 555 of days behind, I figured I should write something. I was actually supposed to write already 55 days ago to be honest. So what's been going on after the previous reflection post, 300 days of open road? Well, this time it's been more like off-road. But that's fine, I like off-road, it doesn't have to be easy. We haven't had any serious problems either.
Last Fall we were thinking whether to head east or west for the winter. I'm happy we decided to go to Americas instead of Asia, even though our great Latin American tour ended up meaning three months in Mexico and a visit to Guatemala. It opened up a whole new world to me - the Spanish speaking world. As a coincidence, we spent some time in Spain both right before and after the Americas. On the first time I knew just a few words in Spanish, on the second time a few hundred, and it was a totally different experience. Besides larger vocabulary, getting rid of the fear of making mistakes and sounding stupid has made my life much easier and more interesting.
Even though we've seen quite a bit of the world on the side, my thoughts are often in the work. I've been thinking how we could better build on what we have, instead of trying to come up with revolutionary innovations. We already have a whole bunch of knowledge and skills, and we're busy doing all sorts of things. How can we keep on doing what we are doing, but so that there's more value created for others on the side? We want to build a business around our life and not the other way around. This has so far been a rewarding path in many ways but no gold mine financially. As long as we are not starving however, I'm going to keep on pushing forward this way.
What about our 24/7 relationship? Still happy together. I've come to think that technology has a part in that too. While it brings far away people together - and we are more in contact with people back home than ever - it tends to push apart people that are close by. This is often seen as a downside, but in our case it's also a good thing. It enables us to stay longer in the same room without getting at each others throats. Spending an evening together, both glued to our tablet screens isn't the most romantic thing I know, but it helps maintain peace at home.
The plans for the rest of the year are slowly coming together. It seems the path is taking us to Germany, Slovenia, Hungary, Greece and Turkey. How long are we going to continue? The question comes up every now and then. We don't know. We haven't yet found a place where we would want to settle down. And the longest time we've stayed in one place has been one month. We've been discussing about staying for two or three months in one place, but even that doesn't seem to happen. Until we are able to do that, having our own place sounds far fetched to me.
The funny thing is that I don't think of myself as a traveler anymore. Being on the move has become the new normal. In the beginning I was worried about whether I'm fit for long term travel. That's obviously not the case, but now I have another concern:
What if I'm not able to stop?
We are Mirje and Antti, a 30+ digital nomad couple, entrepreneurs with restless feet and passion for experiencing the world. more »