Advantages of a Nomadic Lifestyle
Like anything else in life, living nomadically has its pros and cons. I was always enchanted by the idea of not having a home base, of living by my wits and resourcefulness and becoming rich in experiences.
The dream for me finally became a reality in 2018, before the pandemic hit. After eight painstaking years, I had finally finished my bachelor’s degree, only to feel less than accomplished. It had always been my dream to travel, and there I was in my late twenties with hardly any experience outside of my home state of Illinois.
I eventually bit the bullet, sold all my thing, and hit the road. It’s been a lot of ups and downs, but for the sake of this article, I will focus on my favorite parts of being nomadic. Stay tuned for my next article, where I discuss all the downsides.
Rent is Way Less or Non-Existent
Okay, so this is a generalization. Of course, you could go from living at your parent’s house rent-free to renting a place in Dubai, but that’s probably not your situation.
When I’m working at my seasonal job, rent and food are included. When I am actively traveling, I am either doing a Workaway, crashing at someone’s house, or staying in an Airbnb in a cheaper country than the USA.
You don’t appreciate just how much of your money goes to rent until you stop paying for it. Landlords get over on you big time in the states, especially in cities. If you take it out of the equation, you can actually save money pretty fast.
I know that this is a privilege on many levels, and not everybody will be able to do this, but I would encourage you to do your research and explore your options, it may be more doable than it initially seems.
You Make Friends All Over the World
Even if you don’t cover that much ground when you’re traveling, and especially if you do seasonal jobs or workways, you will meet people from all over the place.
I have friends in many places that I have never actually gone to, like Brazil, NYC, Nashville, and Berlin. It’s interesting to see the world through their eyes, and get a glimpse into another culture just through interacting with a local and hearing their various life stories.
It’s also nice to know, that if I ever go to any of those places, I will have a local to show me around or at least give me some good recommendations of things to see and to avoid.
You Can Always Walk Away From Things
It is nice to know that things can end soon if you’re not enjoying where you’re at or what you’re doing. Of course, this depends on how you’re doing financially at the time, and some other logistics. Generally speaking, you can always escape a situation when you live out of a car or back pack and aren’t on a lease.
It feels great to not be dependent and forced to continue doing something you don’t want to. Its also nice dipping out of a place like Chicago when winter hits, or the Sonoran desert when summer slides in.
Likewise, if you are in the act of traveling, and you are in an area that isn’t checking your all your fulfillment boxes, you can simply buy a bus ticket and hop along to the next spot.
It Makes Life A lot More Eventful
When I was living in Chicago and doing the normal routine of working a job and paying rent, I could look back on the last four years of my life like not much had happened.
I had a break up, I finished up school, I had been to some cool raves and parties, and maybe a few short vacations, but that was about it. Don’t get me wrong, there was plenty of valuable character development, but it felt slow.
Today, when I look back on the past four years: I lived on a boat, I learned Spanish, I experienced evacuating a forest fire, I lived in Las Vegas etc. It’s actually pretty wild all the things that have happened. It feels like in just the last four years I have gained enough stories for a life time.
It seems like a lot more life happens in a lot shorter of a time period when you live nomadically. I love it and am honestly addicted to it.
It Makes You More Interesting
Not that I wasn’t interesting before I started traveling, I think any and everybody is interesting if they can tell their story well. It’s just that, I didn’t really intrigue anybody by simply existing before I started traveling.
Now, if someone makes small talk with me and I tell them how I travel a lot, they are instantly interested in asking me a million questions. It definitely gives you a certain appeal or allure.
I usually downplay it, because I don’t always want to hash out all of my travel experiences to everyone who asks. But it’s definitely something I notice now, whereas before, I didn’t really intrigue people by simply being a guy who works at a bar.
You Have a Level of Anonymity
I always think of the theme song from Cheers “Sometimes you want to go, where everybody knows your name”. I’ve personally always felt the opposite, I want to go where nobody knows my name.
There’s something I find oppressive about being “known” by a lot of people. They have an idea of who you are in their head, and you can feel them keeping you in a box. It’s hard to break out of a mold like that when people feel that they know who you are, and what you’re capable of.
When you go somewhere new, and people don’t know anything about you, it feels liberating. You can be anybody, there’s no expectation on you yet, it’s a time where you can branch out and try different things.
You Are Constantly Learning
I’m not saying you can’t be constantly learning in a normal life, but this lifestyle forces you to adapt constantly. You need to learn different areas, learn their transit system, perhaps some phrases in their language, their slang, their food, etc.
It’s fun and enriching to see all the different subcultures that exist even within the USA. There are so many different ways to go about things, so many different perspectives to take, the options are endless and it keeps your brain on it’s toes!
It Can Ramp Up Your Love Life
Do I sound full of myself saying that nomadic living is kind of…sexy? It gives you a lot to talk about on dates, and the fact that you move around a lot contributes to your mystique.
Distance makes the heart grow fonder, and there’s something about only being in town for a limited amount of time that makes you all the much more appealing.
Not to mention, dating people from different cultures is a fun learning experience. You will notice and pick up on differences in etiquette that you took for granted in the culture you grew up in.
Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t like a sure-fire way to get more dates. I actually wouldn’t recommend nomadic living if that’s one of your only reasons for doing so. It has however, made dating more exciting and interesting for me.
It Can Make You More Social
I say can because there’s always the option to hide in your Airbnb for weeks on end. However, traveling really pushes you to be more outgoing and to put yourself out there more.
Even if you are more introverted, you will likely find yourself in situations with other nomads who don’t know anybody and want to make friends. It’s great exposure therapy for putting yourself out there more.
I actually wrote an entire article about how to make friends whilst traveling, check it out!
Exchange Rates Can Make Your Money Stretch
I hesitate to talk about this at times because of the gentrification problems currently happening in my beloved Mexico City.
Exchange rates are nice to take advantage of, especially if you’re working class or poor in the USA. It can be a relief to not worry about inflation as much, especially if you’re like me and don’t understand finance and investing at all.
I will say though, please don’t be the butthole tourist who keeps remarking how cheap a place is for you. It’s really annoying to locals and I find it disgusting how so many people boil their entire trips down to dollars and cents.
It’s not cheap for the people who live there, it is an immense privilege to be able to take advantage of exchange rates. Show some respect for the people and culture you’re in. Learn some of the language and cultural norms, it’s more fun that way anyway.
It Aint All Pros
I don’t mean to contribute to that Instagram-highlight-reel effect. Trust me, there are plenty of cons that come with traveling long term as well. Don’t miss my article on the disadvantages of nomadic living.
Just know that for most things in life, the pros and the cons are typically one in the same. Sometimes its more about finding cons you can live with than pros that really entice you.
Regardless, I love my lifestyle and after four years, I don’t see myself quitting anytime soon.
