Marie Starck: Travel is Richer Shared with the People You love
Marie Starck, 29, Canada, is an extremely talented, hard-working and easy-going soul. Her infectious laugh makes you feel like you are in front of the fire with warm cocoa in hand. For her Travel is all about people.
Marie has always wanted to travel. During her youth she often travelled between Canada and France, where she had family; which gave her a taste for life on other shores but it wasn’t until 2015 that the stars aligned enough for her to consider travelling abroad and working remotely.
The Remote Job of Dreams
In a job she loved, Marie mentioned to her boss about working remotely and to her surprise he said Yes. A kind of situation where you don’t ask, you don’t get. Once that excuse was removed, there was nothing keeping her in Victoria, Canada. So Marie packed up her life, let go of her apartment and set off for Europe, in particular Spain and the Canary Islands.
Life carried on for a while, as a Junior Software developer, Marie had long been accustomed to working online and talking to her colleagues on Slack, but what she wasn’t used to was having to work the same 40 hours in her old timezone. It left Marie feeling tired with the 6 pm-2 am shifts and really just feeling out of sync with her life. It wasn’t working and eventually she left that role.
After, Marie then spent some time in France with her family before booking to join a Digital Nomads Girls retreat in Javier, Spain. By now it was late 2017 and this was the first time she’d really met other nomads like her in person. It was an all-woman group and it felt good to touch base with a physical tribe, something she’d been missing out on on the road.
Standing On Her Own Two Feet
For the following few months, Marie existed on savings and began exploring her options. She met many successful entrepreneurs and freelancers, which gave her the confidence to start her own freelance business. Putting her hard-earned skills to use but this time to support the life she wanted to live.
Through some past mentoring programmes in Canada, Marie was connected to a fellow coder who was looking for a developer to build a product. Marie was her girl. Once that was completed, as a second project came Marie’s way and this time the project was so big it kept her busy for the following two years. Earning her up to $5000CAN per month for 30 hours of work. More than enough to live, travel and explore with.
The Ways of Nomading
Of course, the work element is only part of the story. All through this time, Marie was finding her nomad legs, exploring further and further away from her home country.
Europe being her first major destination, where she spent a year exploring the continent. Then a new adventure was challenged, when she attended the 7in7 Nomad conference in Colombia (2018). This was her first time in South America, which came with a whole host of new things to figure out. From financials to logistics. It was a success and with her focus being on building more relationships in the Nomad world, Marie left with a full contact list.
Marie had spent her first year of nomading in a new country each month, but it soon became exhausting and at 7in7 she learnt there were many ways to travel. Slowing down felt right, and she started to spend more time in one place. Getting to know it better and build connections. Marie had found her community at 7in7.
The 7in7 Life
When 2019 approached, Marie faced a new travel challenge. This time Asia! She flew to Thailand for her first taste and it was a bit of a culture shock, but being able to meet up with other 7in7er’s meant the 2 months she spent there were much easier. After Thailand, Marie joined up with her mother in Japan and enjoyed some family time. A strange concept after so long living the solo travel life, but good for her soul all the same.
With 7in7 becoming a guiding light for her travels, Marie travelled to New Zealand next, where the 2019 7in7 conference would be held (The 7in7 concept is 7 continents in 7 years). With a 3-month visa in the bag, she arrived early and explored the beautiful country, falling in love as she and a few friends made their way towards Wellington for another great conference and catching up with her tribe.
A Change of Plans
It was at a Book Retreat in Scotland (Nomad + Spice) where Marie heard the news about COVID, which resulted in her returning to France to stay with her grandparents to see out the pandemic. Weeks turned into months, and Marie realised she needed to change her plans.
Instead of travelling for the whole of 2020 and settling in 2021 for a year to work on a project, she decided to flip that plan. Marie wanted to use 2020 to build her Tour App; an app filled with tours created by locals tour guides. Then in 2021 she hopefully would be able to begin travelling again. Her only other plans as of now are to return to Canada for Christmas. The rest is open for life to decide (and maybe keep an eye on what 7in7 get up to!).
Marie’s Biggest Lesson: “If you become a nomad, plan it. Have income from a job because you can only figure out one thing at a time and travel can be overwhelming at times. Find your people because travel is exciting for 6 months. Then gets old and becomes about the people. It becomes so much “Richer” when you share it with the people you love.”
The Details
- Tour App — citysecrets.fr
- Technical Blog — mariestarck.com
- Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/travelling_pescatarian
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