@jasoncookdesign

tl;dr: introduce yourself in this thread.

We must all get sick of the same backpacker travel questions when we meet new friends, I know I do.

You know the ones - where are you from, where’ve you been, where are you going, what do you do, how long have you been doing it - etc.

The novelty of answering these questions wears off after maybe a week, but they’re nonetheless insightful and no matter how much we hate them, we find ourselves asking others.

So let’s bring the dreaded backpacker questionnaire to NomadForum and introduce ourselves shall we?

**

• what’s your name?
• where are you from?
• how long have you been away from home?
• what do you do?
• where are you currently?
• where are you going?
• what has been memorable for you so far?
• will you go home anytime soon?
• what have you learnt during your time as a nomad?
• [insert your own question here]

**

No need to answer them all if you don’t want to
But the more you share… The merrier!

Does anyone have recommendations to handle physical mail? In the USA, I’ve noticed various services over the years where you get a physical address that you can change your address to, they receive your mail, scan stuff and send you PDF’s.

Has anyone used these types of services? Impressions?

Hello fellow Nomads!

I’d like to be more than just a Shengen stamp in the EU. What are the easiest ways/countries to be an EU resident (perhaps even permanent).

I heard you can buy cheaper property in Bulgaria or a business in Lithuania. Does anyone have suggestions?

Happy Nomading!
Andrew

Are there guys here with income over $10k month living more luxury-like lifestyle? I struggle to find friends with similar lifestyle who can travel anywhere and not care about the money, who can go to a nice restaurant or bar and not look at the prices.

I am not a douche bag (mostly) who only cares about the money, but the majority of people I met are trying to spend less and it kills so many opportunities to have fun… I am not rich at all, but I hate “backpacker” lifestyle and call myself a “flashpacker”.

I used to live in Bangkok and I visit this city frequently. Now I’m in Saigon and going to Taipei in the end of Nov. Anyone wants to connect?

I’ve been traveling for over a year, and I’ve been working on 3 month contracts in locations abroad to sustain travel. I wanted to see what the community was like as far as digital nomads go. Are you trading your skills for $$$? and if so, how are you doing it?

(I’ve also wanted to try this, but haven’t been to successful.)

What’s the latest on how to avoid ATM/bank/foreign transaction fees? How do you keep track of money spent when you’re never quite sure of the exact exchange rate? I normally use YNAB to keep on top of my budget here at home, but I’m dreading keeping tabs on all the minute foreign transaction adjustments abroad…

I’m looking at this to check out some of the banking options: http://thepointsguy.com/2014/02/the-top-11-checking-accounts-for-avoiding-foreign-atm-fees/

Have you used any of these?

Nomad List has passed 200,000 monthly users this month, after being launched just a few months ago.

Since the launch I’ve worked hard to make the site better. But apart from improving the list itself, I’ve expanded by organizing meetups for nomads everywhere, launching a chat group, a forum w/ AMA with remote startups, a job board with remote jobs , and a blog with interviews with famous nomads.

I have a few more plans written down, but I’m mostly interested in your ideas where I should steer this ship, and also any feedback on what I’ve been doing right, and more interestingly: wrong.

I’ll warn you before you start reading. This kind of gets personal and I’m not expecting everyone to openly spill their life stories as a reply. Just try to see it as something to think about. There’s no need to reply if you’d rather keep it to yourselves. But if the following is something that you think fits your life, I’d be happy to hear about you privately or in an open reply. And another warning: I’m not trying to tell that you’re all probably somehow phobic and weirdos. I’m just curious to hear if I’m the only one thinking like this.

I introduced myself last week and since then I’ve started thinking a bit more critically about my life. I’m kind of generally allergic to words like “for life”, “permanent job”, “forever” and so on. (I’m not going to tell you about my relationships with women, don’t worry. ).

During the last ten years I haven’t done the same thing (job, studying traveling) for two consecutive years. There’s always been a change. I always saw that as something that just happened and as something that has made me the restless vagrant I am. Right now I’m starting to think it might be something that I’ve had all along. I’m calling it commitmentphobia.

I’m a teacher and my position is turning permanent in August. It’s actually something that traditionally is seen as a good thing, but I have a feeling of getting a big heavy lump of lead chained on my ankle. Which is actually complete bullshit. When I’m permanent, I can actually take up to six years of unpaid leave, which is a privilege that not many have. Since I’m rationally aware that the feeling is completely groundless, but I still can’t stop feeling that way, I’m thinking it has to be something more unconscious.

I’m reading a book right now that has started to clarify the ants in my pants a bit (the German translation of “He’s Scared, She’s Scared” by Carter and Sokol). It’s more about commitment in a relationship, but there are so many stories about people who can’t do the same job for long or can’t settle down in one place that it immediately reminded me of you guys, modern nomads. It could be kind of like an occupational disease for nomads. Or maybe it’s more like a requirement for the lifestyle and then it wouldn’t be a disease, but something helpful. All a matter of perspective, I guess…

As I said, I’m just kind of starting to think about this and I’m absolutely not ready to call myself a commitmentphobic yet, but I can’t escape the feeling that it just fits a bit too nicely. Are there any others here who think this might be a quality or a personality trait you possess? (Or that possesses you?)

-Harri