Going West to the East
It all started shortly before I graduated from university. My dream had always been to live next to a large ski resort and spend my mornings sipping a coffee after a few jaunts down the mountain before checking into work.
Throughout college, I was an avid member of our ski club and spent spring and winter breaks driving out west to Wyoming and Colorado with 150 of the rowdiest and craziest people on campus. When the end of college approached, I had a handful of job opportunities that would have landed me in San Francisco, Chicago, or New York with a comfortable salary and a destined career path. From the time I was 15 I maintained steady “employment” for a small tech startup, starting out as a volunteer helping out after school, then as a stipend helper, and then as a part-time developer while I went to university. Everyone at the company considered what we did a hobby, spending nights and weekends after “normal” jobs pitching in and having fun. I saw an endless amount of potential in what we were building, so I decided to toss out convention and become the first full-time employee for one simple reason — I’d be able to move to the mountains.
My stay in Park City, UT was short and sweet. It was incredibly surreal living out my childhood dream so early in my life. It’s amazing how the pre-conceived notions we develop can completely change the way we view our future, regardless of how baseless and untrue they may be. The notion that I needed to be wealthy or that it was impossible to both live in the mountains and build a career felt insurmountable. And then I did it when I was 22 neither rich nor taking off of work nor retiring (unfortunately).
After a year in the mountains, my brother introduced the idea of moving to Seattle, WA. I had never lived in anything you would consider a city before, so I jumped at the opportunity to experience something completely new. After a year in Seattle, I met Jennie Armstrong, who always dreamed of moving to Washington, DC. About a year later, we packed our bags and headed east to the nation’s capitol. While in DC, Jen fell in love with the digital nomad culture and after about 6 months of encouragement convinced me to learn all about it.
I’d never thought about moving anywhere other than to english-speaking countries, largely due to perceived issues of language barriers, figuring out living arrangements, and worrying about finding places to work from with stable internet connections, all on top of growing a company in which having dependable internet is absolutely required. It wasn’t until Jen introduced me to Remote Year that I truly believed living, working, and traveling around the world could become a reality.
It’s now been two months since I applied and I’m back where it all started — a coffee shop in Seattle where I’m getting ready to take off in a little less than 6 hours to begin a yearlong journey with 74 other digital nomads. We start by heading west towards the East, starting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Six months ago I never would have told anyone I’d be visiting Malaysia in the next 10 years, and now I’ll be landing in Southeast Asia in just about 24 hours.
I’ll be posting regular updates, so be sure to follow this page to get notified when I post next!
