Writer. Digital Nomad. Foodie.
And, I’m in love.
In fact, I fell in love with Europe when I came to Porto.
The short of it: Porto is beautiful, safe, friendly, hilly (good for my bum!), cheap (for Europe), and has wonderful weather.
We chose to live in Porto for six weeks as a digital nomad family for a few reasons.
[Read more…] about 8 Reasons Why I Love Porto For My Digital Nomad Family
My name is Kristen and I’m living the dream life that my husband, Greg, and I designed. We wanted to be digital nomads, and here we are doing it.
We wanted to move abroad.
We wanted to explore the world, and we wanted to show our daughter there is life outside of the United States.
We wanted to save money and pay off debt.
We wanted to achieve financial independence and “retire early.”
Our late-in-the-night conversations stemmed around our dream to teach our daughter about democracy on top of the Acropolis and evolution in the Galapagos. We imagined our daughter filling out college applications some day and having a distinct advantage because she’d be telling the story of how she traveled the world her whole life. That was and is our dream for her.
[Read more…] about Living Our Digital Nomad Family Dream Started Here
Yesterday, I shared how writing Morning Pages (every morning) changed my life.
I actually look forward to writing them every day. It doesn’t feel like a “to-do” – rather it feels like a luxury. It’s a little bit of “me” time that sets my day up for success. I experience more calm, I get more organized, and a weird sense of relief comes over me after I’ve dumped my mind’s contents into my Morning Pages.
[Read more…] about 6 Reasons Why I Type My Morning Pages
I was turned on to Morning Pages, when I first heard about them from Tim Ferriss. I thought if this is something he is really gung-ho about, then he had my attention.
I was living in the USA when I learned about them. My mom actually had the book, The Artist’s Way (this is the book that teaches you how to do them). I briefly looked at it, but the process didn’t call to me because it seemed it was for “real” artists. I write non-fiction and blog, so I questioned whether that qualified. (Silly me.)
Or, maybe it was the subtitle on the cover: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. I like to consider myself relatively spiritual, as I carry a couple of crystals with me on a regular basis -ha- but I wasn’t into reading spirituality books. (Except for The Tao of Daily Life, one of my favorite books in the whole world – so yeah, I guess I am spiritual in hindsight.)
Plus, Morning Pages seemed like an exercise I didn’t have time for in the morning. So, while I thought they sounded mildly interesting, I figured it was something I wouldn’t pursue at the time. Maybe later.
[Read more…] about Morning Pages Changed My Life. They’ll Change Your Life, Too.
As a digital nomad family, we move around and live in different countries. When we’re deciding whether to fly or take a train, from one country in Europe to another, we lean toward train travel.
I think it’s such a cool way to travel. I love walking on the platform, looking for our coach.
Train travel has a more relaxed atmosphere, overall, experienced by both passengers and employees. There’s not much rushing and security doesn’t seem as intense. You never feel cramped. I’ve yet to hear a baby cry on a train, or be forced to sit with my arm brushing up against a sweaty stranger who’s hacking his lungs out.
[Read more…] about Train Travel vs. Plane Travel in Europe – I Like Trains!
I hesitate to say that we are “back home” because I believe that home is wherever my family is. Whether that is in Denmark, Thailand, Mexico, or Arizona, I make my home wherever we land with our belongings and proceed to live our day-to-day life.
Some people said that at the six-month mark of traveling they wanted to go back to the United States from home-sickness, but I personally didn’t feel that. When my brother-in-law unexpectedly asked me, while we were in the United Kingdom, what I missed the most about the USA, I quickly replied, “nothing” (save for family).
However, I did think it was good for my daughter to come home and see her Nana and her grandma. Long-term travel was harder for her than it was for us parents, though she’s adapting and enjoying it more over time. So, we decided to come back to Arizona, earlier than originally anticipated.
Turned out I started looking forward to coming to AZ because I’ve learned a lot about what I want to have with me while I’m traveling the world. During the past six months I found that there were things I brought that I did not need, and there were things that I wanted and did not have. So I will take advantage of this time here to restock my backpack before we set out on another world travel adventure. (That’s a future blog post.)
When we came back to the U.S., the first thing I noticed was the wide roads and large vehicles everywhere. Coming from Europe where the roads are narrow and most of the vehicles are small, it was an interesting (and obvious) thing to compare.
I’m also noticing how accessible everything is and the number of choices are so plentiful here. I don’t know whether this is good or bad, as I don’t really have a feeling or opinion on it. But I know that if I want to get some ground beef, I have about six stores within 2 miles where I can buy it.
That was not the case in Europe. But you know what? We did just fine with one store – never needed so many choices.
I still eat a carnivore diet – still loving it – skin still glows, tummy still flat, PMS still awesome.
So, I will admit that I am very excited to be back in the land of the cheap ribeye (and T-Bone) steaks because I did miss those a bit.
When we landed, I immediately went to mygrocerydeals.com and searched for the best sales on steaks. I was instantly presented with many options, of course. I didn’t waste any time and went right out and stocked up.
But, I Love
Funny thing, I went about a week or so without my favorite ground beef patties, and when I made them yesterday I realized how badly I missed them – lol – humble ground beef. I’ve been eating carnivore but eating different things such as fish and sausages and steaks the past week. The ground beef was a welcome frugal carnivore option.
When our air plane was landing in Phoenix and we were taxiing on the runway, I had this overwhelming sense come over me of how expanded and resilient I realized I had become in six months of travel.
[Read more…] about Back in the USA After 6 Months of Travel – My Reflections