Do you daydream about quitting your job and traveling around the world? What about taking it a step further and building a location independent career, so you can live and work wherever you want to?
I can remember the first time someone labelled me a “digital nomad” on a major blog… Two-and-a-half years ago these were the words of Corbett Barr—back when his site was still called Free Pursuits. Corbett listed me among the top 10 Digital Nomads to Learn From, alongside Tim Ferriss and Rolf Potts—two truly incredible writers who inspired me to follow my own path in life—as well as huge A-list bloggers Chris Brogan and Mike Elgan, and big names in the travel blogosphere including Christine Gilbert from Almost Fearless and Chris Guillebeau of Art of Nonconformity fame.
I wasn’t quite sure what I thought of the label at first, although I was immensely honored to be among such incredible company. I was excited! Reading Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek and Rolf Potts’ Vagabonding had been a turning point in my life—those two books opened my eyes to whole new possibilities and put a fire under my ass to create a life of my own design, and try my hardest to enjoy every moment of it.
Not long after in late 2009, Jonathan Mead used me as a case study in his manifesto The Zero Hour Workweek, which played off of the ideas in Tim’s book, but took them even further to encourage people to build businesses that basically allow them to get paid to be themselves. Soon I was being interviewed about my live-and-work-anywhere lifestyle, and people started calling my story inspiring, and asking me about my travel experiences and advice for overcoming travel obstacles.
Sometimes I’m a bit embarrassed by the buzzwords (digital nomad, location independent… and lifestyle design… there’s another one!) but eventually I embraced the title Corbett had bestowed upon me. Who’d have known that just two years later I’d be running a business course called Digital Nomad Academy with the help of Corbett himself and several other hugely successful remote-control entrepreneurs I look up to!
Like many people, sometimes I feel like the small (but growing) online niche we’re in is a bit too cliquey, too markety, and sometimes people get big egos, or they feel under pressure to maintain the appearance like they’ve got everything figured out and their lives are just so cool.
I know, because I’ve been there… but I’ll be the first to tell you, nobody has it all figured out. I’ve been broke as a joke many times along my journey, I’ve been stuck up a creek with no paddle many times on my travels, I’ve experienced immense business failures, I’ve been stabbed in the back, I’ve been discouraged. But, this is an incredible life we’ve all been given, and I’m grateful for the amazing adventures and obstacles I’ve experienced. I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything.
I’m even more thankful for the people around me who have helped fuel this adventure. It has its ups and downs for sure—I was defrauded and went through several down months. I wasn’t confident everything might not collapse at times. I took a break from blogging and let some of my friends use this platform to share their writing and their projects with you (I see no point writing unless I actually have something to say, but once I conquer the challenges laid out in front of me, maybe then I’ll have something of real value to share about them).
But despite the challenges of living an unconventional life, I have no plans to quit traveling, meeting new people, and having new experiences anytime soon, to stop experimenting with my own businesses, to ever go back to a 9-to-5 if I can avoid it, to move back home, or to stop blogging about this weird journey. Living life your own way, you will definitely be confronted with setbacks, and the journey will be more challenging than living according to someone else’s prescribed path. But it is absolutely, 100% worthwhile.
My girlfriend and I are fortunate to live for now in one of the most beautiful regions in the world, in a three-story townhouse surrounded by forests and beautiful limestone mountains, all for a fraction of what it would cost back in California.
Emily and I recently spent a week in Singapore, and it was the most fun I’ve had in months! We were trying to decide what country to visit for a renewed visa and I decided I really wanted to visit old friends there. She teases me that I can’t travel anywhere unless I know someone there, and when I thought about it, I realized it’s not far from the truth.
Undoubtedly when most people think about travel, they tend to think of places, monuments and landmarks like the Acropolis of Athens, the Roman Colosseum, the Eiffel Tower, London’s Big Ben, Bangkok’s reclining Buddha, Krabi’s mountaintop Buddhist temple, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. Each of these are fantastic places I’ve been able to see on my travels. But what really has made my travels remarkable are the people I have met and the experiences I’ve shared with them.
I became very close with my French professor in high school, who was also a huge influence on me (as far as my interest in travel, culture, art, music and languages). The very first time I traveled outside the U.S. was a trip with some classmates to France, and what made it special was the wonderful family I lived with for a week on the Mediterranean coast in Cannes, as well as the time I spent with Mssr. Hodgins and my classmates wandering around Paris.
London is probably one of my top three favorite cities in the world to visit. Although I really enjoy wandering around on foot through London and sightseeing, it wasn’t the London Eye or the Houses of Parliament that kept me coming back… it was because I first traveled there on my own to visit my cousin Ian, who spent a year as an exchange student there, and it was the fun crowd of college students I got to know—James, the Toms, Sarah, Dav, Elaine, and many more—when I visited him for two weeks that made my experience so special.
I traveled to Spain for a three-week Christmas and New Year holiday with my friends Paul, Tim, and Ryan. Barcelona was a stunning city with great food, equaled by the gorgeous views and historical Old Town on Ibiza (and it’s nightlife), but what really made the trip special were the incredible friends we made—Meye and Barbara, two amazing women who took it upon themselves to show us all the best restaurants and pubs in town, introduced us to friends, showed us the parades and the local Catalans celebrations, and invited us into their homes for Christmas dinner!
Greece, Turkey, and Italy are infused with history, vibrant culture, and amazing sights (especially for someone who studied history at university) but what made my travels there special were the memories and time I spent bonding with family.
When I first arrived in Thailand, it was two Thai friends I met—Poon and Om—who spent three days driving me all around Phuket on their motorbike showing me the sights.
Bangkok is a huge metropolis with great nightlife, great food, a big flag on the backpacker trail. But what made it so much fun for me was the people. I got caught up there for a year and a half eating cheap street food all the time with Migration Mark, Joel, Ryan, May, Nalin, Bank, and Aum, going out partying, and running fun monthly mixer events and volunteering with Dwight Turner, Christina, Craig Gonzales, and others. I remember the first day Sean Ogle landed in Asia, and we went with my sister and my friends Chris, Ryan, and Nick to explore the ancient ruins and Buddhas at Ayutthaya, coworking with David Walsh and Derek Johanson, planning a TEDx conference with Rob, Greg, Andrew, Chris, Karla, Fluke, and more.
Travel puts me face-to-face with friends—many friends I’ve known for many years from school or work, but also many who I’ve met and become friends with through running my business online.
In Bangkok, mostly through Twitter and the Bangkok Tweetups that Dwight and I would put on, I also was able to meet in person with awesome bloggers Dan Andrews, Adam Baker, Benny “the Irish Polyglot” Lewis, Gary Arndt, Matt Goult, Jodi Ettenberg, Jonny Gibaud, Marc Gold, Ross Hill, Kevin Revolinski, Wes Nations, Ryan Martin, Mark Powers, and many more.
Warning: I’ve linked to a lot of people in this post! But I want to share each and every one of them with you (I’m definitely missing more than a few, too) not to gloat… not because I’m some celebrity, but because I’ve been blessed to meet so many truly cool people from around the world—each of them working on their own unique, interesting things—and each of them has at some point or another in my travels made a profound impact on my journey in their own small way. Because of that, I do encourage you to check out each and every one of these folks and discover how they’re making the world a more interesting place. I owe it to them to share what they’re doing.
In Bali I met Kyle and Bessie Crum doing yoga in the rice paddies, Stuart McDonald eating ribs at Naughty Nuri’s, Jez Tryner for a drink, and spent time with my friends Jerm and Vie at their lovely condo.
In Kuala Lumpur I met Nomadic Matt Kepnes while wandering around hostels, Dwight and Mark and I met our travel buddy Agnes (who drove us at lightning speed at 11pm one night to see the cozy little town of Melaka, on a whim!) through Couchsurfing, and I met Hani Khaursar, Vishen Lakhiani, Brian Wong and others on a subsequent trip when I spoke at a conference.
Phnom Penh has been home to my two friends Brittany Sims and Caron Margarete who, along with some of Cambodia’s footballers showed me the town and made me feel right at home.
Here in Krabi, I spent considerable time climbing and beach partying with my friends Alicia, James, Vanessa, Peter, Jane & Toto, and I finally met in person with my blogger buddies Carlos Miceli, Colin Wright, Adventurous Kate McCulley, Backpacking Matt Kyhnn, and Shannon O’Donnell, who’ve all stopped by on their travels.
When I traveled back to the States this year, in Austin, I met up with Markus & Ashley, Nick Reese, Jenny Blake, Ridiculously Extraordinary Karol Gadja, Where is Jenny Leonard, Andy Drish, Andrew Norcross, Thursday Bram, Technomads Chris & Cherie, and many other good folks for a week of awesomeness while South by Southwest was on.
The San Francisco Bay Area is home to a host of inspiring folks like Ramit Sethi, Corbett Barr, Amber Zuckswert, Charlie Hoehn, Lorna Li, and serial entrepreneur Rajesh Setty (and I also had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Chris Ducker there, who usually plays an Englishman in the Philippines).
Los Angeles is or has been the stomping grounds of my very good friend Ryan, entrepreneur Jun Loayza, blogger Jonathan Mead, dating coach Jordan Harbinger, my friends Dariane Nabor, Laurenne Sala, and many other cool peoples.
In past trips to Singapore, I’ve met other cool nerds (like myself) Adrianna Tan, Ziqi Koey (who also just visited us here in Krabi!), Guyi Shen, and many more.
This trip, Emily and I had an incredibly fun time together… we did all the touristy stuff: we walked all around the city on foot, stayed on the beautiful riverfront in Boat Quay, gorged ourselves on amazing delicious food from all around Southeast Asia and beyond, we hung out at the marina by night and took in all the city lights, wandered all around the big fancy new Marina Bay Sands resort and casino, went to a Salvador Dalí exhibit, to the cinema, briefly to a concert hall, and much more. But our time together there also reminded me that one of my biggest motivators is the people I get to share it with.
It was seeing my friend and singer Shimona Kee for her birthday and enjoying the hip young local music scene, having a lovely homemade dinner with Michelle at her impressive 16th-floor apartment, having a drink, a shisha and a catchup with my old friends John Berns and Martin, and getting to meet Derek Sivers in person (the very down-to-earth, engaging, but brilliant and wildly successful gentleman who founded CDBaby) to chat about travels, businesses, failures, and planting multiple flags (BTW you absolutely must watch this fascinating, short 8-part video series by Sivers). Getting to interact with, have fun with, learn from, and learn about all these fascinating people that are all doing their own interesting things—that’s what makes travel so much fun for me.
Running my business online has meant I’ve built friendships with people all around the world. Interacting with people through Twitter alone has connected me to dozens and dozens of new people that I’ve actually become real friends and done business with.
The point is, I’m just an average dude—but because of the way I choose to live my life, the way I run my business, and the way I reach out to connect with other people out there, I’ve had an extraordinary experience making new friends all around the world. The tools I’ve used to build an international network of friends and colleagues are also available to you.
Being location-independent, running a business online, and being on the move—living my life this way has opened many doors to people and experiences I wouldn’t have back in my “normal” life, that I would have never dreamed I’d have. My passion and what drives my journey is the interesting people I meet… making new friends and having fun new experiences with them, learning from them, and growing with them. Your interests, what drives you, and the life you want to have may look entirely different to mine, but whatever they are, there are millions of people you can connect with out there in this small little world of ours. The amazing journey I have had, like many others, is only an example of what anyone could do. You only need to start opening doors.
It is the same for me. I travel solo almost always but then what I remember are the people I met
This post could not have come at a better time.
Lately, the more forward momentum I build, the more exhausted I get. It’s a great reminder that being able to share an experience with someone else can amplify that experience. It’s also a great reminder that I need more balance in my life, and less time away from my computer, which I think will in turn fuel more computer/life/work productivity.
I definitely need time away from the laptop, although when I’ve lived on my own I could definitely sit on there about 18 hours a day and hardly nourish myself.
I think my girlfriend still believes I spend too much time online (especially maintaining the relationships is what’s very time consuming, and it’s easy to feel like it’s not a “productive” task, but I’m still convinced that in the long run its probably the most important).
Anyhow, as you said, that’s why I try to go out several times a week to meet up with people face-to-face, enjoy a nice long dinner, share drinks with some non-bloggers, etc. I find the social interaction does fuel me with renewed energy that I don’t get when it’s just me and the laptop.
I have 18 hour runs on my computer when I’m learning something new, starting a new project and am generally really excited about what I’m working on.
You said that people make up the journey, and it’s so true. I’m realizing it on a local level. I think that’s where my imbalance is coming from. I started to gain a lot of momentum with my online passion projects, then I added more side work, an awesome internship and some classes — I thought I was adding all good things, but then I found that I kept on saying that I couldn’t go to X, Y and Z and I couldn’t hang out with X, Y and Z because I was working. I think that’s when things turned downhill.
I’m feeling exhausted most of the time. At first I didn’t understand why. I thought, “Why am I not satisfied? 90% of what I’m working on I love.” I think the answer is that I was overworking myself, the 10% that I didn’t love was draining my energy, and I kept missing out on friend and family time that I always made my first priority in the past, and I missed it.
Human interaction plays a Huge aspect in my happiness and recharge factor. I should take this knowledge I’m writing right now and apply it to my life:
1) Dump the 10% that’s draining me.
2) Manage my actions better so I can say “Yes” to family and friend interaction.
3) Go out more and make more friends.
Those are excellent reflections & realizations to have, Emelina. Remember energy is cyclical, and if you overwork yourself you’ll burn it out—so you’re right about how important it is to re-charge your batteries.
Awww, Cody, I was going to comment on this before I even saw the mention.
Could not agree more — these days, I travel for the people. I’m heading from northwest England down to London tomorrow and up to Edinburgh next week — both for the sheer purpose of attending travel blogger get-togethers. No other reason (although it will be nice to finally visit Scotland). The people make attending these events, and spending the money on transportation, SO worthwhile.
Also…10 months ago, you told me that I’d be a total digital nomad a year from now. I didn’t quite believe you…and yet here I am.
Thanks for believing in me. And Krabi really was one of the absolute best parts of my six months in Southeast Asia.
I’m really glad to hear it Kate! And happy and proud for you that you’ve come so far!
That’s a whole lot of people! I have the same problem writing stuff just to write, when I have nothing valuable to say. You’ve got a lot to share, so glad you’re still here!
Thanks James! And yes, it is a ton of people!
I’ve been very fortunate to have so many cool people involved in my life.
Well it isn’t just some random coincidence. You put out some good stuff and sharing your adventures (good and not as good) are a big part of why you have those people in your life. Thanks for what you do.
Killer post Cody. Despite the beauty of a place and its amazing sights, I do fully agree that the people leave the most lasting impression. It’s so much more fun to have an experience with another person whom you can recall it and talk about it again.
I can still remember holding on for dear life on that speed of light trip from KL to Melaka while singing songs and recording videos. That was a fantastic adventure which wouldn’t have been nearly as good without you guys!
Agnes is Speed Racer!!
Dude, that was an epic post.
YAY! The older I get, the more I realize that people are the answer. You could be in that same townhouse without Emily, and it would not be the same! By the way, that townhouse looks SWEET! I can’t wait to come visit you and get traveling again.
Just finished a project that should have me nomadding in no time! YES!!!
So excited for you and your adventure and to hopefully run into each other in so many other places. So far, we’ve got KL and LA. We need some other spots with good initials!
Laurenne, I hope you make it out here to Thailand soon! You’re always welcome here! Would be great to catch up, and yes let’s see where else with good initials? SF, NY, SXSW, BA… ??
Hey buddy, thanks for the mention. This is one awesome article, I should do one like it sometime too!
You’re right that people make this journey what it is. Hope to see you again at the end of the year!
Maybe we can high five mid-air as we swap places Thailand Bali!
Cody, that’s a lot of meet ups- I’m amazed you had time to fit in getting DNA off the ground!
4 years in and this is the first trip we’ve really looked to make connections with other people doing similar stuff. I did struggle a bit on our last trip with feeling quite disconnected from any sort of network but wasn’t sure how to action it, or why simply being ‘away’ wasn’t enough anymore. But with some low key cyber stalking to thank I am definately feeling the benefit of spending time with people who ‘get’ a lot of the same stuff we do. It must be really cool for you seeing different connections unfold with different people all over the world.
So on that note, see ya tomorrow! (is Matt in charge of destination?!)
Hannah x
I definitely could have achieved probably 10x more output and increased my earnings quite a lot had I not put so much time and effort into meeting with people, traveling to events and meetups, and straight up organizing events… Probably would have a few DNA-scale projects bringing in income! But, the tradeoff in the long-run I think is priceless—fun times, good learning experiences, growing experiences, and fantastic connections that open all kinds of new doors.
It think to some degree or another we’re all motivated to travel out of curiosity. Personally, I want to see what makes us, homo sapiens, human. When you travel all of the differences you see make it impossible not to notice how incredibly similar we all are.
It’s not the easiest path, the location independent work life, but big rewards require big risks. I’m of the mind the bigger the bump in the road, the higher off of it you fly when it hits you. Falling afterward, is optional.
“big rewards require big risks.” – Definitely!
“the bigger the bump in the road, the higher off of it you fly when it hits you.” – that’s great stuff.
I agree about curiosity and specifically with other people. Life is one big learning experience, and traveling and meeting a wide variety of people from all different backgrounds, careers, cultures, etc., is like learning on speed!
Thanks for the comment Anil!
I’m such a slacker compared to most of the people you mentioned. I don’t travel the globe, except for business. I’m not exactly living a lifestyle business. It’s not as glamorous as that.
What I loved most in the post was your explanation that so many people often miss: that there are huge setbacks. If you’ve not yet written in more depth about it, the methods and mindset you use to confront those setbacks, work through them, and come out would be interesting to know.
And I wish you well on your journey. It’s exciting to read about it here.
Wow Chris, thank you for the thoughtful comment! I’m a huge slacker compared to most as well (including yourslef!)
Anyone who chooses to do their own thing will quickly realize there are setbacks—I try to be realistic and as transparent as I can about them. And yes, that’s a great idea, I will have to write more about the keys to staying course, getting through the rough spots, and overcoming challenges, as soon as I truly make it out of the woods and have learned the positive lessons.
Thanks for your well-wishes too Chris, and sincere thanks for stopping by here!
Lovely post! Since we travel non-stop as a family ( 43 countries on 5 continents on $23/day) into our 6th year now with a school age child, our reasons are different than a single or couple.
We’ve become accidental pioneers in the digital nomad field ( case studies in both 4HWW and Art of Noncomformity) but have the perspective of a family with a school age child.
We love the people we meet and the good friends ( in several languages with repeat longer stay visits) that we bond with through our world travel, but we travel primarily to educate our child as a global citizen, raise her as a fluent as a native trilingua/triliterate in the world’s major languages and have freedom, fun, explorations and TIME together.
We never expected the online and social media connection to add so much to our travels and love that and things like the fun “tweet up” we had last night in Florida, but the time with family is our priority always. We’ve never made it to any conference and don’t really plan to unless one happens where we are. Love the advantages of friendships online, but also love as much unplugged time as possible and time in nature.
My passion and what drives OUR journey is freedom, best education for our child and TIME with my family. Love exploring exciting places like Bhutan, Jordan, Bora Bora etc, but also love just hanging out for months relaxing like our last 3 months in Barcelona at a beach resort with dear Spanish speaking friends ( our 16th time there) or wintering in a resort in tropical Asia while kidlet immerses in her Mandarin.
We love our travel lifestyle, so have no plans to stop. I think we’d find it impossible to live a “normal” life at this point…this seems normal now!
Time with family and a great education—those are two awesome goals and also two long-term investments I’m hoping to make with my business & lifestyle. Hopefully one of these days in not too long I’ll share that experience with you and many others!
As you read from my post, Barcelona is one of my favorite spots as well! I look forward to another visit
Thanks for your comment Jeanne!
Hey Cody! Great hanging out with you in Austin earlier this year.
As I’ve mentioned before yours was one of the blogs I used as a catalyst to start my own a couple years ago. Always appreciate your support and looking forward to more hangs somewhere in the world.
Definitely Karol! Looking forward to it
Great post man. It’s easy to forget what’s important. Glad we got a chance to hang at SXSW.
Great to talk to you man. Getting the ling-lings off your back will really help you break back in.
Good to see you.
cg
Although I’m sure a post saying that you met only me would carry the same emotional weight, it’s still a pretty good read. Heh.
Kidding man, good one, and yeah, Bangkok’s an interesting city but it would only be half as fun without the people I meet from around the world. You were also the first person I met via Twitter for the first time and it opened my eyes, man! Don’t forget you also have a positive effect on people, brother.
Hope to see you in November.
Hahaha! I miss your sense of humor, we need more like you down south my friend!
It’s true, the peeps up in that city are ridiculously awesome and I miss you and the whole crowd. Hope to see you for November as well my friend, congrats!
What journey are you on?
I have 3 ‘journeys’ right now:
1. Journey with RewardMe: build a successful startup and sell it within 3 – 5 yeras
2. Journey with Kim: Kim and I are moving in together in San Francisco. It’s the next step in our 4-year relationship
3. Journey to build a revenue generating business on the side: I have a few projects cooking up that I’ll show you soon
What are the people, places, and experiences that have meant the most?
Number one would be Kim of course. She’s stuck with me through thick and thin, money or no money; I feel very blessed that have her in my life.
Online, you, Carlos, Jenny, Monica, and many others are my closest friends. I see you as motivational points for me – every time I speak to you guys, I need to have made some serious progress.
My startup team has been together for over 3 years. We know each other so well, have been through so many fights, but will stick together to the end.
Glad I could be part of your journey man! I wish you all the best with RewardMe bro, keep me updated!
What a wonderful round-up post and tribute to the new friendships technology has allowed us. I truly can’t imagine what traveling these last three years would have been like without the random tweet-ups to meet Twitter friends in real life and the community of lifestyle and travel bloggers all over the planet always ready to share an evening.
My nights in the Thai islands were epic Cody and it was great to meet you in person, hopefully our paths will cross again!
I hope so also Shannon, I’m sure they will. Still in Chiang Mai now??
I can’t speak for my wife, but what motivates me is that one day I will be on my death bed and I want to be able to look back and say that I don’t have any regrets. I bit fatalistic, I know. But it’s not only about happiness, either; it’s about satisfaction and fulfillment. I want to do things I am proud of and that are personally rewarding.
Thanks for this daily dose of inspiration man!!! Love hearing your story, and thanks for letting me use your theme for the last few months.
I’ve tweaked it and will relaunch in a few weeks!
Surfs up,
Of course Sal! Thanks for being part of this community man, and I’m always glad if you find inspiration here at TH.
Nice to hear from you again and see you blogging. You’ve certainly managed to meet up with some inspiring and interesting folks along the way.
I was reminiscing recently on the path that has led me to where I am today, and similar to you and many others I’m sure it certainly hasn’t always been easy. I don’t claim to have it all figured out, but right now I’m happy basing myself in one of the most beautiful places in the world – more beautiful perhaps than Krabi!
Here’s to many more years of living an unconventional yet satisfying life. I’m glad our paths have crossed once and look forward to the time they cross again.
Me too Matt! You’ll have to share with everyone here—what is this mystical place more beautiful than Krabi??
What a roll call of great people, Cody. Quite a few of those names I have met myself and call friends. I’m surprised we still haven’t crossed paths but I am back in Thailand and SE Asia from next month so maybe next time
Let me know if you’re in the vicinity of Krabi, James!
Wow, great post and thanks for the link to those videos by Derek Sivers! Just what I needed after a day of banging my head on my laptop over SEO and Web2.0 backlinks…
Just started reading your blog after it was recommended by a friend. I’m in the throws of trying to build a location independent business too, which is proving to be harder than I’d anticipated.
Looking forward to reading more of your posts.
Tom.
Great post. I really enjoyed reading it, especially as I just started on my own adventure!
Life is an amazing wonderful adventure if you make it so. Personally, I love all the interesting people I have meet. I love that I don’t have to concern myself with money anymore. I love that I can choose who I want to connect with in my life and who I can ignore.
Also, it really is cheap in Asia – I can’t stress that enough. When I tell anyone that I literally spend 700 dollars a month to live – pay rent, travel, do fun stuff. No one believes me.
I spent the last weekend in Hua Hin with my girlfriend, riding motorbikes, staying in a resort hotel, sailing out into the bay of Thailand, having amazing Indian food.
Being on your own – truly… cut loose from where you grew up, from those you knew, from having a job and the inbred relationships that come with it teaches you how to make your own life. That I believe is one of the most profound lessons a person can learn.
Once you can go anywhere and make it on your own, freedom is yours.
Man, I can’t wait to do stuff like that. Moving to Thailand in January will be the start of my adventure.
I’ve yet to make any serious money online but am fortunate enough to have a talented girlfriend who helps keep my head above water while I get established.
Live cheap, live free.
Tom, let us know when you come to Thailand. Might have to come visit us down here in Krabi!
Hallelujah! More power to you David! Sounds like you’ve figured it out
Just found your site and I am blown away. You living location independent to the fullest.
Hey Cody, personally without connecting with others I wouldn’t have visited Milan, Munich and Morristown New Jersey (random I know) in the last few years, and that was before I started working towards that kind of lifestyle. You are 100% right on what you say, the people and the experiences are the important part that is so often forgotten in favour of the possessions or the star rating of the hotel you holiday in.
Hey Cody, love the post mate (got directed here by an acquaintance on Facebook, and got hooked in by the idea of mixing work and traveling together).
Must say, its amazing what you (and others like you are doing). Hats off to you. Though at the same time I envy you, not because I am not capable of doing the same, but there are other bureaucratic and red-tape restrictions that would stop me from traveling to many places without a visa (and that is quite expensive). Honestly, I could only dream of living and working in California, no matter how expensive it gets (as long as I can survive and enjoy, of course). The culture where I come from, that is the dream.
Having lived for a considerable period of time in England, I have learned to appreciate ‘quality of life’, which for me depends on freedom and clean air. Coming from an Indian background, that’s a luxury that no one has. So I keep on fighting the urge to be re-absorbed by this culture, but no matter how hard I try, bureaucracy brings me back here. Its like a fish fighting to swim against the current, but the current keeps pushing it back. If this life goal of mine – same as yours – was achievable, I’d certainly go all out. So then my dwindling optimism envies you, not for the success that you achieve, but for the life you live, which in itself, is a success!
Sorry about the mini rant, keep enjoying
Hey Neeraj, I’m really glad to have your comments here. All I can say is, I understand the added complexity for a lot of people if they want to go to the US (especially) and other western countries, but I would say there are many many places I’d rate way before I’d rate the US. Plenty of inexpensive countries where you can find fresh air and good living conditions, and a much, much lower cost of living than in North America.
Hi Cody,
I’m a bit of a late bloomer as you know. I certainly haven’t done much in the way of globetrotting, but like I said in my post it’s never too late to get started. I’m planning on some changes and while world travel isn’t in the mix, at least for now, your site is one of the places where I have found that attitude and excitement I enjoy so much.
There’s a lot of inspiration and good energy here.
Being location-independent and running a business on the move is quite a bit different from what I’m doing right now. BUT, ever since I’ve started on this blogging journey, I’ve certainly experienced what you are focusing on here … people! I’ve only been involved in social media since May. And I’ve only been blogging since September, but in that short time I’m amazed at the quality people I’ve met along the way.
My blog is quickly becoming an accountability platform for me. It’s an exciting place to be and it makes it so much easier to follow through on big plans. The people you meet are also there to remind you of your big plans
Nice post and that is quite a list of fine folks above!
Thanks Craig! I’m really thankful you’ve found me, and found my writing inspiring! I agree, I think starting a blog is the most influential choice I have ever made as far as establishing a wide-ranging network of friends and colleagues. Glad you’re a part of it here!
Yes, enjoying it and will certainly be coming back