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I'll kick this forum off!

I'll kick this forum off!

TravelGirl84
TravelGirl84 173 XP · · 24 replies

Just wanted to say hi.

Although I am not a full-time nomad, I am working toward that goal. My home base is Minnesota, but I am currently in Arizona for the summer. Right now I work Sept-May at a school with summers off to travel and housesit.

I love connecting with other Nomads to learn the options and possibilities.

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Replies (24)

TraciTravels

TraciTravels

311 XP

8 months ago

Hi, nomad friends! I've been nomadic since 2022. I downsized and sold all my stuff. Now everything I own can fit in the back of a car! I have a few bins at friends' houses. 🙂 I mostly travel internationally, mostly to Mexico, although last year I also spent time in Spain. I try to slowmad by staying places for at least a month, but it doesn't always work out that way. When I'm in the States, I'm with friends, partners, or family, which I find is the truly challenging part - having roommates again. 😅 No kids, no pets, not tied down, and fortunately my partners are supportive of my journeys, sometimes going with me, and are also polyamorous like me. It's a fun, busy lifestyle. I'm coast FI and not really accumulating or drawing down currently, quite literally coasting.

carbonwong

carbonwong

84 XP

1 year ago

Hi all, I am Thomas, currently living in New Taipei, Taiwan. I was born and raised in Hong Kong, immigrated to the US for 12 yrs for university and work, moved to China for a few years, then Hong Kong, and finally Taiwan. I got laid off by my remote job in Sept 2024, could not find a new one since all relevant jobs are either back to US office, or remote in US only, and decided to passive income FIRE in Taiwan. Already traveling extensively in Taiwan and East Asia, and may end my TW apartment lease next year and travel around the world (especially South America and EU). Recently read Bill Perkins' Die with Zero, so want to complete strenuous travel and activities when I am now still young. Happy to discuss travel plans and ideas!

wandereranthony

wandereranthony

565 XP

9 months ago

Yay Taiwan! My wife, 2 kids and I were in Taoyuan and Taipei for 2 months in early 2025, and we can't wait to visit again.

What's your perspective on China and HK? We've been pondering when we want to visit there and where we want to go.

Would love to know how your travel plans are shaping up. We'll be back in Japan for spring and fall this year.

Jeff Ballard

Jeff Ballard

378 XP

1 year ago

Love Taiwan, did a bike trip there for a month earlier this year. Such kind people and fantastic food

brooke

brooke

48 XP

1 year ago

Hello! I’m Seattle based but planning on a move to France in the coming years. I previously took 18 months off work to travel full time and it was one of the best decisions of my life. I’m starting to dig into details about moving abroad and want to get EU citizenship eventually. I love chatting about all things travel!

Jeff Ballard

Jeff Ballard

378 XP

9 months ago

Hey, just got my French one year renewable residency (VLS-TS) visa. Would love to connect, I'll try to send you a message here but I'm also Jeff Ballard on the ChooseFI FB group

MattR

MattR

118 XP

1 year ago

My family is in Georgia and were FI a few years ago, but didn't know what it was called. We have always traveled a lot, but are doing it more and more now with a focus on missions. We spent the summer in Mexico together as a family with a local ministry there and loved it and are currently accessing what more time there would look like. While we are not 100% nomadic or expats all the time, we fall in to both categories often throughout the year. I look forward to learning from you all and offering any bits of knowledge our journey can provide to others.

TravelGirl84

TravelGirl84

170 XP

1 year ago

Thank you to everyone who responded! I love reading everyones different journey!

Jeff Ballard

Jeff Ballard

378 XP

1 year ago

Hey, I'm Jeff. I've been a nomad for the past two years since reaching FIRE. It's been a great time. I've hiked thousands of miles across four countries, spent four months in China, and visited a bunch of other places in between. What's surprising, though, is that after thinking for most of my career that I wanted to be a full-time nomad, I now know that I do want a home base, at least for part of the year. I have met a lot of wonderful people along the way, but I think a lasting community is something that just needs a physical space to create. I've seen a lot of successful people who find community along the way, too, so this is just my personal experience. Going to in-person FIRE events for the first time this year has been a game-changer as well.

would love to hear other people's perspective on this.

Also I still plan to travel and have adventures for the majority of the time. Always looking for people interested in off the beaten path places and human powered or overland travel. Let me know if that sounds like you :)

I dont think i get notifications for this consistently so if you want to connect my Instagram is the same as my name above.

suzymaywander

suzymaywander

77 XP

1 year ago

Hi! We live between Denver, CO and Sevilla, Spain with my remote working husband and my kids age 5 and 8. I love the variety! I started the Wander Worldschool and Slow Family Travel podcast to highlight long term traveling families, worldschool opportunities and all the financial and logistical ways to make it happen. Let me know if anyone has questions about basecamping in 2 different locations!

wandereranthony

wandereranthony

565 XP

1 year ago

Sevilla! So many memories of the orange trees :)

mollyborillo

mollyborillo

13 XP

1 year ago

I just started listening to your podcast and am so inspired! I have 3 toddlers and my husband and I have a goal to worldschool / gap year / geo arbitrage. Not exactly sure how it will look yet but aiming within 4 years to reach Barista FI and have this flexibility. Thank you for the great content your producing!

dm7

dm7

185 XP

1 year ago

What's up! My wife and I went full time nomadic for about a year after we sold our house in NC. We lived in a travel trailer and moved around the USA a lot and a little into Canada. When it's gets cold, travel becomes harder. We spent the winter months in Tucson AZ.

We are renting a place now in VA to use as a home base and because my wife got a bit worn out by the life on the road. Nomading is romanticized currently but it can be hard at times and it's definitely not for everyone.

We still do some trips. We just got back from 7 weeks in New England and Eastern Canada (New Brunswick & Nova Scotia)

wandereranthony

wandereranthony

565 XP

1 year ago

Hi Libby, I'm Anthony, and my wife, 2 kids, and I have been nomadic since 2022. We travel full-time, sometimes in the USA, sometimes other countries (in Japan right now).

Stephanie C

Stephanie C

169 XP

1 year ago

Hello. My husband and I are originally from Nebraska. We retired in 2018 and 2019. We became nomadic when I retired in Sept '19, but sold the house in February '19, lived in a sublet in our city for a few months and did an epic 6 week road trip in my work car before moving to Puerto Rico.

We travel full time. We tend to stay in one place 4-8 weeks but have stayed up to 6 months (that was the lease terms of the condo we wanted...hubby was recuperating from an illness). We do some housesitting but not much anymore.

Currently in California but heading to Mexico to finish up our permanent residency (hopefully...appointment at the phoenix consulate in 3 weeks)

tortugas

tortugas

327 XP

1 year ago

Let us know how your Mexican permanent residency process goes! I have temporary residency and will be applying for permanent residency next year. Which Mexican city will you be doing the second part of your permanent residency in? I received my original and 3 year temporary residency extensions in Mexico City.

Stephanie C

Stephanie C

169 XP

1 year ago

We are planning to go to Ajijic to stay and Chapala for the IMN appointment. Really hoping for RP but we aren't technically retirement age.

tortugas

tortugas

327 XP

1 year ago

Let us know how you like Ajijic & Chapala! I'm thinking about going to San Miguel de Allende but I've heard it's really expensive. I qualified financially for permanent residency when I applied 3 years ago but, they wouldn't give it to me since I was still working.

Stephanie C

Stephanie C

169 XP

1 year ago

Mexican permanent residency achieved.

We had our appointment at the Phoenix consulate in late August.

We arrived In Ajijic in September and hired a facilitator to help with the IMN process in Chapala. Likley we could have figured it out but IMO worth the expense to have someone else do all the back end things. I received my permanent residency card on the same day. Husband had an issue in the computer so had t9 return 3 days later.

Ajijic was hotter in September than we expected but we are enjoying how walkable it is to everywhere and all the fresh markets.

tortugas

tortugas

327 XP

1 year ago

Congratulations on receiving your permanent residency with the help of a facilitator! So nice that you have that done and can focus on enjoying Mexico.

Thanks for mentioning how hot you found Ajijic to be. I'm still trying to decide which city I'm going to next but glad to hear that Ajijic is walkable. Living in a walkable city is very important to me.

I'm enjoying gorgeous midwest fall weather right now but know it won't last long.

Let us know if you explore any other cities!

Stephanie C

Stephanie C

169 XP

1 year ago

We have spent considerable time in Puerto Penasco (easy to drive to from Phoenix) definitely a weekend vacation town and the expats that live there tend to be on the income extremes. We found some lovely people but we didn't really fit in. Not walkable in most areas.

San Carlos. I loved it there. On the water but cooler than puerto Peñasco. We made fast friends and had community almost immediately from volunteering at the thrift shop and the parrot head group. 5 hour drive from Tucson. Guymas was nearby with a Sam's club and other bigger stores. Dessert climate but also surrounded by mountains.

Cozumel. Completely walkable or taxi and bus is easy to get. Gets busy on cruise ship days. Loved our time there and did some scuba. Probably wouldn't go back for extended time.

San Miguel de Allende. Beautiful city, beautiful architecture. Lots of expat meet-up but we never really found our grove here. Too much expensive dinners. We also stayed too far in the outskirts so a walk to town center got boring. It's cool in the evenings in winter. I was not prepared.

Ajijic we have been here twice now and plan to come back. Proximity to the Guadalajara airport and drivable to other towns makebit an intriguing spot. But traffic has gotten crazy bad just since we were here in 2023. A bike or walking is the way to go, IMO. We "plan" to return next year for 9 months. Will use as a base for week long exploration in Mexico. We plan to bring our bikes but the rental we are looking at also comes with a car.

Ask me anything (I do a terrible job of checking this feed)

tortugas

tortugas

327 XP

1 year ago

Thanks for all of the city by city details! I think it's a good idea to have a home base to come back to in between travels so I'm glad Ajijic seems like a good city for it.

I started another thread in the Nomad section that has more information about me:

Solo Female Retirees/Travelers

Solo Female Retirees/TravelersDiscussion

I'll send you a DM if you would like to talk more in depth about Mexico.

tortugas

tortugas

327 XP

1 year ago

Hi All!

I started a new thread for solo female travelers in the nomad category. I'm happy to hear there are others who have not given up their home base and still enjoy traveling when they can. I spent last winter in Mexico and hope to do so again this winter. I've studied/worked/traveled to several countries and like having a home base I can come back to whenever I need to recharge and save money. Looking forward to having more conversations about travel so thanks for getting things started!

RoamingRetirement

RoamingRetirement

91 XP

1 year ago

Hi Libby. My husband and I FIRE'd last summer and have been part-time nomads since January. We currently travel about 10 weeks at a time and come back to our home in Virginia for 4-6 weeks between trips. So far, we have enjoyed this style of travel (2 trips in and the next is in September). We aren't ready to sell our house to go to full-time nomads yet. We tried out housesitting locally and decided it wasn't the best path for us right now.

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