How Goni affords her lifestyle?

Published in

TravTribe

4 min readSep 6, 2018

Author(s): Kristin Jenkins, Shar Behzadian

Goni designed her lifestyle into Minimalism

To support her dual passions for vagabonding and scuba diving, Goni downsized her material life. Since then, the lightness of minimalism brought her the freedom to travel and dive all around the world.

“I wanted to have a job that I enjoyed, maybe even one where I could help and support other people. Of course, we need money, but not that much really. If you stop buying bigger TVs and better cars the money lasts for much longer, like travelling for a long time. I used to buy all that stuff. We had 2 TVs, 4 game consoles, and 4 computers in a huge apartment for 2 people. Now most of my belongings fit into one bag and that’s basically all I need.”

How Goni pays for her travel lifestyle?

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First, it was more challenging to figure out ways to financially support herself on the road. In Switzerland, she first used her academic skills to perform clinical research in order to save up for her first big trip.

Along the way, she started a travel blog to share her adventure. Later, when her savings bottomed up, putting her at risk of running out of money, she didn’t stop. Despite the challenge, she continued the journey and followed her passion.

Her blog soon built up an audience. And, her stories and photos of underwater photography caught many fans. Soon, she received job offers from a couple of companies to join as a social media manager.

Today, she works with a magazine that about underwater photography. The job enables her to be on the road and scuba dive while building websites, performing marketing and social media management for various companies.

She makes money out of doing what she loved; traveling and scuba diving.

How she quit her former fancy lifestyle in Switzerland to travel the world?

It can be difficult to follow your passion, when logic points the other way. It was difficult for Goni, too. But, she did anyways because she says: “do what you love and trust that opportunity will come.”

“When I was twenty, I was studying and I wasn’t the happiest person. If I could go back and give myself advice, I’d say ‘It’s gonna be all good. It’s going to be difficult at first and then you’re going to decide to travel and it will be the best decision you ever made.’ Be patient. Do the thing you think is working out and be patient and keep on working even if it feels like no one is interested. It will take a while. It’s worth it.”

“Since becoming a traveller, I have learned that in the end everything will work out and there are so many awesome people in the world who are here to help, if you are in need.

This might sound very cheesy, but I learned, even more, to live in the moment. Before, I thought a lot about the future, about how things could be better or about the past and what could have been done differently. I don’t do that too much anymore. Some planning is required, of course, but when that is done I am back in the present and enjoy the moment.”

Part of committing to a nomadic lifestyle has been allowing her priorities to shift freely, which can even mean giving into longings for a former life. Goni admits, “Lately, I am starting to miss having a home base, or at least a place to stay over a longer period of time.”

Afterall, being a traveler is a magical world that allows you to choose a new home every once in awhile.

“So, I will do that in Bali this September, to concentrate a bit more on working. Bali is awesome. The people are awesome. I have many friends there, and it feels like I’m coming home when I arrive. I’ve spent some months there but never more than three weeks at a time. And the diving is awesome. I can wake up, go to work and when I’m tired of working, I can walk outside and go for a dive.”

It all has been part of her story, from the initial leaving to finding a new ‘home’ across the globe. The beautiful harmony that Goni has found on the road parallels that very momentous scuba trip that propelled her into the world in the first place.

Life is a vast ocean — to really see it, you have to go far and just jump in. It can be daunting when thinking about just getting washed away, or being bitten by a shark. But there’s a whole world we cannot see just by sitting on the surface. But, once you take that plunge all the colourful creatures and amazing scenery will get you hooked on your new self-defined paradise, and you’ll be forever finding a way to jump back in.

How Goni affords her lifestyle?

Written by Shar Behzadian