17 Comments

  1. Making my Peace with Ikea - Grounded Traveler
    September 3, 2012 @ 8:00 am

    […] have no intention of being a nomad, but travel is important enough that a bunch of expensive “grown up” furniture seems […]

  2. Debbie Beardsley @ European Travelista
    May 11, 2012 @ 11:35 pm

    I’m with you Andrew! I’m not sure the nomadic life is one for me although I’d love to travel in Europe for 3 months or so. I really think I’d prefer staying in one area and exploring the nearby environs!

    • Andrew
      May 12, 2012 @ 9:32 pm

      I am all for travel and yet happy to have a home base.

  3. 10kJuan
    May 9, 2012 @ 12:50 pm

    Loved this post. I’ve been living in São Paulo as an expat for over a year now and have similar feelings. I’d always wondered if it’d be better to stay grounded for awhile rather than hopping on and off trains, planes and automobiles every few days and now the wondering is over. Loving having a new hub and experiencing life as a local here in Brazil. Every day is an adventure. Sensory overload.

    Safe travels!

    • Andrew
      May 9, 2012 @ 11:02 pm

      Congrats on your year. Glad you are enjoying it. That sensory overload is grand sometimes and too much on others. So much of the expat life seems to straddle that line.

      Where are you from originally?

      • 10kJuan
        May 10, 2012 @ 5:48 am

        Born in NYC, lived in Miami for 15 years, Chicago for 2, traveled to 30+ countries after college and finally took the dive March of last year, havent looked back. How long have you been away from home?

        • Andrew
          May 12, 2012 @ 9:29 pm

          I moved out to Germany 4 and a half years ago. Sounds like you have an interesting set of travel stories too.

  4. Justin
    May 8, 2012 @ 3:25 pm

    Great thoughts Andrew.

    I totally get what your saying. I feel the same way and I know the “overwelming” feeling your speaking of. My mind is restless as well.

    I do think there can sometimes be a general misconception about travel. For me, travel can very much include staying in one place. It’s not about racing around and checking off boxes on your bucket list. I love diving deep into a place. I won’t do it any other way. Slow and steady. If that includes renting an apartment for a year in Vietnam so I can explore the culture – than so be it. To me this is travel, and it’s nomadic. Having the ability to pick up and move when we want – that’s the goal. That’s nomadic(I think).

    • Andrew
      May 9, 2012 @ 11:01 pm

      So the point is the freedom to move, but not necessarily the requirement. Is that what you mean? I am totally behind that. I want the ability to not be chained to an office and take a week train trip across Europe, but still have a place to come back to where people know my name and I don’t have to work so much to understand how to buy my daily food.

      Loved your article on the brain thing for travel.

  5. D.J. - The World of Deej
    May 8, 2012 @ 2:35 pm

    Great post…and I’m with you here. As much as I’d like to think I could be a nomad, I know my need for some sort of home front wouldn’t make it possible. Even on our “long” trips of 2-3 weeks, I start to get restless with being away…my travels seem to be better served in short bursts…

    • Andrew
      May 9, 2012 @ 10:58 pm

      Short bursts are good. Though I notice that the faster i travel in those 2-3 weeks the faster I burn out of it and need home. If I can go slow enough I can stay away from the home longer.

  6. Ariana
    May 8, 2012 @ 10:57 am

    I feel exactly the same way, Andrew! I just cannot enjoy travel as much if I haven’t been home in a long time. I love being alone in my house, with little stimulation, because like you, my thought life is very active, and I seem to always be processing something big. Being an expat in Europe is the perfect set-up, since we can be come home from so many places so easily. We did do the nomad thing (unintentionally) last year, but it was a huge discipline to try to enjoy it!

    • Andrew
      May 9, 2012 @ 10:56 pm

      Yup totally. I would love to find more alone time in my life. I love it when I find that line before boredom sets in and yet after the chaos from outside fades where the mind just spins perfectly and all kinds of creativity comes up.

      Definitely don’t have the discipline to enjoy nomadics. I want a home base, even one not my actual home, for a month or two to actually explore a place.

  7. Laurel
    May 8, 2012 @ 9:33 am

    I agree, I love being an expat, but I also love settling in a place and exploring from there. The longest I’ve traveled for was 6 weeks and that was too long. I love traveling, but in shorter spurts and I always love going home afterwards.

    • Andrew
      May 9, 2012 @ 10:50 pm

      My home as an expat is my home. I don’t really have the need to go back to the US so often. I definitely enjoy coming back to Freiburg after traveling though.

  8. Jeremy Branham
    May 8, 2012 @ 8:58 am

    I am with you 100% on this one. I am serious when I say that I had this EXACT conversation just 2 hours ago. I was discussing whether I wanted to travel full time. I don’t think I could. I LOVE to travel but like you I am introverted and need a home base – those were my exact reasons for why I wouldn’t. I need a place to call home, security, to feel at peace. You basically wrote exactly what I was discussing.

    This isn’t to say I don’t love to travel or wouldn’t take some long periods to do it. I just don’t want to live out of a backpack for a year. As travelers, we all have different styles and preferences. And I believe our decisions with how we want to travel are OK too.

    • Andrew
      May 9, 2012 @ 10:48 pm

      That is so cool that you had the same conversation at the same time. Glad we are on the same wavelength.

      I don’t mind living out of a backpack so much as I don’t want to keep having to repack it. I don’t really like being stuck somewhere either, but like the home base concept. Our decisions on how we travel are Definitely all ok.