We’re living the dream we had. We sold it all and moved abroad to live a digital nomad life. It’s working, more specifically, we’re working. We’re making it happen.
We originally decided to live a digital nomad life, as a family, because we could. We both essentially work from laptops and there was no reason to stay tied to Arizona.
We homeschool our daughter so that wasn’t a factor either. In the following picture we’re investigating a dead bat that was brought to us as a gift from the cat of the house.
We wanted to run and explore the world. We wanted to move around and change it up on a regular basis. And. We wanted to save money. Living abroad, in many places, makes it easier to save money if you’re living the digital nomad life.
So, here we are moving around Europe at a pretty quick clip, living a digital nomad lifestyle. Taking trains and planes (I can’t decide which I like better, though probably trains). We’re trying different areas and seeing if we fancy anyplace in particular to stay longer.
I think we’re traveling too fast though.
I heard someone describe it: speed dating countries.
That fits. We’ve been speed dating countries. But, can you ever really get to know someone or a country in such a short time? Not likely. I think you can figure out that don’t like a place quickly whereas to know if you’ll like it more long-term takes time.
We’ve been bouncing around and only staying in places 2 to 3 weeks. The exception is currently we’re in a beautiful charming area of England. We’re living here for a month. It’s the Cotswolds area and it’s spectacular. Our location is perched high overlooking a valley of green, rolling hills, and cute towns.
The “digital” in my digital nomad life is writing ebooks (wrote three in three weeks – phew and starting the fourth now), blogging and finding ways to monetize it, and staying active on social media (twitter “KristensRaw” and Instagram: global_kristen).
I’m also going to start vlogging and posting videos on YouTube (as soon as I figure out what to say 😳🧐).
Greg has some consulting clients and he’s co-authoring the STEAMTeam 5 children’s book series. He also has an active role in my ebook creation. He’s responsible for proofreading and editing, making the covers, and creating the books through Amazon.
It’s fun teamwork. I love working with my husband, and we do it well.
Our digital nomad life has a lovely little routine.
I wake before everyone and have my coffee, check email, and just chill. I (currently) look out one of the many beautiful windows in this old country cottage house.
Kamea usually gets up shortly after, and I get her breakfast while she plays on her iPad.
Greg gets up a bit later than that. He starts his day with coffee and we chat strategy about our current projects at the table.
Then, we all get down to work, including Kamea (she has her own little homeschooling schedule we created).
We break for lunch. It’s always something simple. For me, as I’m back on my carnivore diet, will be beef or chicken. I have a system down for whipping that up quickly. Kamea and Greg partake in the meat and then have a plant-based side.
A digital nomad life can mean too much time sitting.
Therefore, I get in some kind of workout in (a walk, short jog, or I use the SWORKIT app (fitness makes me feel good!). Sometimes I take multiple short breaks for physical activity, even if it’s just doing a 3-minute plank (those are hard!).
Then, we get back to work again.
We eat dinner. It’s the same routine as lunch. I eat meat and they eat meat with a plant side.
We eat all of our meals at home.
It saves money and time. I think we’d get some extra drips of culture if we ate out more. However, we do get culture from visiting different grocery stores and checking out the different foods there, witnessing and observing the locals, and interacting with the employees. One of my favorite things about England is how friendly and polite everyone is.
We save eating out for travel days, when we’re moving from one city or country to another. This allows us that chance to sample different foods. 🍴 It’s one of Kamea’s favorite parts of a travel day, because I pretty much let her eat what she wants.
We watch a movie at night or read. Kamea is reading through the Harry Potter series. She just finished book 4 and so we watch each movie once she finishes reading it. She spends the whole time trying to tell us what is going to happen before it happens. 🤪
We go to bed.
Rinse. Repeat.
It’s really quite the normal life, yet…
The difference is that we’re moving around the world while we do it. This adds so much texture to normal “living life.” It seems very basic on the surface, but living the daily grind in different parts of the world makes everything more interesting.
I mean, just look at all of these cows. They’re roam the commons area / golf course in this part of England where we walk. I get a kick out of it every time.
I won’t lie, I look at them and see a bunch of grass-fed beef. 😻
Many things are simpler now that we live a digital nomad life.
By definition we’re moving around, and this means we don’t have a lot of stuff with us. I find freedom in that. Less stuff is less I have to think about.
Minimalism is a bit more challenging for our daughter…
Thankfully her ipad serves her well, and she uses it all day for education and entertainment.
She’s learning that we can’t keep and collect a lot of things because space is limited.
Therefore, she’s taking on the challenge of letting things go, as she decides to take new things in. She likes to visit the local toy stores and see what’s new and maybe different. This usually prompts desire, which means making room for it or letting something else go.
We’re also teaching her how experiences (like slow traveling the world) can enrich her life, even more than most “things.” For now, she’s giving me a little bit of the stink-eye when I tell her that. I think she wants to believe me, but doesn’t yet.
Living abroad is not without its challenges.
I started cranking out books this month and I wanted to blog more. So, I decided a laptop was in order. I’m currently working on an iPad Pro (9-something inch), and it’s not easy.
But, when we went to buy a laptop online in England, we couldn’t use our American credit cards. 😡🤬
Over all, though, I wouldn’t change what we’re doing.
The journey our family is on is challenging us at times, transforming us at times, and enriching our lives all around. Our souls are stretched as we learn new things and make room for a bigger life.
Looking ahead to our Digital Nomad Life in 2019…
We have our 2018 planned and accommodations are booked. Now, I’m already looking forward to planning 2019 because they’re is just so much of the world to see. I’m itching to get to a region of Europe with more people living the digital nomad life. I think it would be fun to connect with that energy.