Author Topic: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?  (Read 67391 times)

Threshkin

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #100 on: February 04, 2016, 09:07:50 AM »
Good thread, following.

Ozlady

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #101 on: February 05, 2016, 03:27:26 PM »
DH and i used to travel a lot in our younger days; think India, China, Vietnam, Indonesia most of SE Asia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Europe ..he also drove a Land Rover through Africa for a year sleeping under the stars and kicking soccer balls with the village kids...he spoke of seeing clear skies at night with satellites zooming across the sky...truly unforgettable!

We had a blast...AND THEN.... THE KIDS ARRIVED!!! and now we are STUCK,TRULY STUCK ....

I read these posts and i yearn , i truly yearn for those years again...now that they are teenagers, we may venture out again BUT we could never do those 1/2/3 years long away- from- home journeys again as we will miss the kids on the road!  One truly underestimates those heart-tugging strings!

SO my advice is...go for it!  Don't over analyse and die wondering ....They were the best years of our lives, tucked away in the corner of our memories.....forever!

FrugalZony

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #102 on: February 05, 2016, 04:53:03 PM »
My SO has been slow travelling in a custom built RV since 2006.
He did a couple of trial runs in Europe, then shipped the thing to South America and slowly made his way up here to the US.
He also has an online picture diary, but his blog is not in English.

We only met at the end of 2014 and got married a couple of months ago.
We are now planning our joint Nomad life in a bigger less customized RV and will be covering North America and possibly parts of Central America once I am ready to join him in FIRE later this year.

I already sold my house a few months ago and am in the process of sorting through any leftover stuff I have sitting in storage.
We already live in our new RV and are still working on it. So the only ties I'll have here in the city are my friends.

I have had my share of nomadic experiences (3-7 months at a time) mostly in Asia, Europe and North America, plus have lived and
worked in different countries, but there is still so much to see in the world, I can't wait to explore more.

I too, am worried about being away from close friends and the effect that not having a fixed home base for a while, but the wish to travel and explore with someone who shares your dream currently is stronger...

It's interesting to see how many people on the boards are interested in one form or another of this lifestyle. It gives me hope to meet folks
with shared interests on the road. DH has made some friends, whom he has met up with in different locations throughout his travels,
so it's possible, but I wonder if there's a way to be more systematic about it.

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #103 on: February 05, 2016, 11:57:35 PM »
Our first trip will be a road trip in November 2016 from Nanaimo to Central America, through the USA and Mexico, in a Mitsubishi Delica.
When you do get here and start planning this trip let me know, I will put you in contact with my friend in Nanaimo. He did this exact road trip on his KLR from Nanaimo to Panama and back.

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #104 on: February 06, 2016, 04:53:21 AM »
DH and i used to travel a lot in our younger days; think India, China, Vietnam, Indonesia most of SE Asia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Europe ..he also drove a Land Rover through Africa for a year sleeping under the stars and kicking soccer balls with the village kids...he spoke of seeing clear skies at night with satellites zooming across the sky...truly unforgettable!

We had a blast...AND THEN.... THE KIDS ARRIVED!!! and now we are STUCK,TRULY STUCK ....

I read these posts and i yearn , i truly yearn for those years again...now that they are teenagers, we may venture out again BUT we could never do those 1/2/3 years long away- from- home journeys again as we will miss the kids on the road!  One truly underestimates those heart-tugging strings!

Huh.  We're out traveling the world, and just had our first (a week old now), and don't imagine we'll stop traveling, or get "stuck" because of her.

What about having kids made you "STUCK,TRULY STUCK" (in shouting capital letters, no less)?  Why couldn't you continue traveling?

I read blogs of nomad families, it does seem rare, but some make it work, but many do settle down.  I always assumed that was by choice though.  How did you get stuck?  Very curious, and wondering if somehow it will happen to us, though I can't imagine it yet.  :)
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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #105 on: February 06, 2016, 09:29:03 AM »
Did anyone think you were crazy when you first started out?

We had taken some pretty long trips before we made the decision to cut the strings, so the people around us were already used to us wandering around exotic places on motorcycles. Our core group of friends are all riders and "Road Trippin'" is very much a part of that culture, so they were very supportive and excited for us. In fact, we had made our intentions known very, very early. A friend of mine forwarded an e-mail I had sent him informing him of our grand master plan to ride around the world for a few years. That e-mail was dated 2005. We left in 2012!

So for the few years leading up our leave date, we kept talking up our journey. So much so that our friends would roll their eyes and give us the "Ok, whatever, dreamer" look. I think when we finally left, it was a bit of a shock to some. :)


"The Wave" in Arizona


The most outspoken objectors to our new lifestyle was my family. There had a lot of concerns and fears for our safety, physically and financially. My parents are old-world Chinese and they place a lot of emphasis on appearances and status. You don't choose unemployment and live in a tent and brag about it in that culture. So there was that hurdle.

Our blog is cross-posted to a lot of motorcycle forums and the support on-line has been overwhelmingly positive. It's even spilled over into the real world. In every continent, offers continue to pour in for a roof over our heads, hot meals in our stomachs and a garage to perform maintenance on our bikes. We've connected with a lot of kind and generous people on the road over the last few years and made many lasting friendships around the world.


Baracoa, Cuba


But there were a few comments online, especially in the beginning when we first started out, that were less than kind. The negative reactions seem to come from different places. Some misunderstandings about what we were trying to do, some unable to digest just how unorthodox this kind of lifestyle is, to criticisms about our privileged lifestyle - the ability to quit our jobs and live unsupported for a chunk of time while others barely survive hand-to-mouth. Stuff that's familiar to many Mustachians, I suppose. Some good philosophical debate over how society would function if everyone were to choose this kind of "drop-out" existence.

Those kinds of reactions are in the extreme minority, but because of the anonymity of the Internet, they're a lot easier to air publicly. These opinions may be held by some of the people that we know in real life, and they may be just too polite to address them to our face. Or we may just have awesome friends, which is what I'd like to think. :)


Galapagos Islands

Nobody in my life is doing the things i read about on here or see on youtube .

Yeah, that's difficult when you don't have any in-the-flesh templates to base your lifestyle decisions on. You can't help but think that what you're doing is either a brilliant idea, or a spectacularly bad one. And you start to doubt which side of the bell curve of common sense you fall on... :)


Kogi Tribe, Northern Colombia


We used to take really long, yet ultimately unsatisfying vacations by motorcycle. Each trip ended, leaving us wanting to stay out for longer and longer; to be able to take our time instead of rush through a checklist of destinations, hurtling towards a "dreadline" on the calender - the day that we had to show up back at work.

On one of our trips, we had just spent 32 glorious days in Europe, wandering around the old continent on our motorcycles. We were at Munich airport, in the cargo hangar crating our bikes to ship back to Canada, when we met another motorcycle rider who was uncrating his motorcycle. We talked for a couple of minutes and learned that he had just finished a nine-month trip from Argentina to Alaska and was now heading home back to the UK.

We were blown away! We thought 32 days was a long time, but 9 months! Seeing and talking to this person in the flesh made our dreams seem vivid, possible and obtainable. He wasn't just a story on the Internet or a viral video on YouTube, he became both an example and an inspiration. Five years later, we left on our own nomadic quest on two wheels.


Amphitheatre in Pula, Croatia


Nomadism is a virus. For some people, it doesn't really take hold until you meet someone who's actually doing it. In our travels, we know of three separate couples who have started their nomadic journey after meeting us in person. A couple from Seattle who hosted us early in our journey are now digital nomads. They've been on the road for over a year now doing location-independent work online in exotic countries around the world. Another couple we met in Calgary have been on the road for 10 months now. They quit their jobs and sold everything a year after meeting us. Our very good Belgian friends did 9 months in North America after reading our blog, they are back at home working and saving up for their forever journey.

I'm not big-headed enough to think we're particularly inspiring people. It's just that in-person meeting is so productive in being able to talk, and ask questions, and satisfy all that curiousity and quell all of those doubts about, "Can I do it? If *they're* able to do it, it *should* be possible"...


Sahara Desert, Morocco


Well, I've written an essay here, so to break up the wall of text above, I'll just go back and sprinkle some pictures from our journey in between. :)

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #106 on: February 06, 2016, 11:04:31 AM »
Love those pictures Gene.

Who is the photographer, you or DW?


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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #107 on: February 06, 2016, 01:21:04 PM »
OMG, this is an awesome post, EJ! I'm FIRE and DH still works, primarily because his mother has Alzheimer's and lives with us. We were just talking this morning about how much the life we've constructed to keep her safe (nice house, DH walks to work so he can be nearby if needed, FI but not RE for him) is something we both see as temporary. We are both itching to get out on the road. We usually keep this desire cranked down to a manageable level, but this post has me struggling. In a mostly good way. It's the carrot that awaits us when his mother's journey is finished.

Aussiegirl

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #108 on: February 06, 2016, 04:17:03 PM »
Endless Journey, fantastic photos that just light the fire of my imagination! 

540 days to go till FIRE and I'm counting every one!

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #109 on: February 06, 2016, 05:53:55 PM »
Our first trip will be a road trip in November 2016 from Nanaimo to Central America, through the USA and Mexico, in a Mitsubishi Delica.
When you do get here and start planning this trip let me know, I will put you in contact with my friend in Nanaimo. He did this exact road trip on his KLR from Nanaimo to Panama and back.

Deal. I am quite eager to start that journey, which will happen at the same time as my other life journey from the Arctic to the Gulf Islands. Too bad it won't be on a motorcycle. I still have my first bike, a vintage Tiger I got when I was still a teen. Unfortunately my DW has grounded me. I might be able to negotiate riding it on Gabriola, and probably no more than every Sunday afternoon...Right now, the bike is parked in our Calgary condo parkade. Once in a while, I put my leather jacket on, kickstart it, and ride helmetless around the parkade for half an hour, pretending to be Marlon Brando LOL

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #110 on: February 06, 2016, 09:16:37 PM »
Love those pictures Gene.
OMG, this is an awesome post, EJ!
Endless Journey, fantastic photos that just light the fire of my imagination!

Thanks, guys!

We are both itching to get out on the road. We usually keep this desire cranked down to a manageable level, but this post has me struggling. In a mostly good way. It's the carrot that awaits us when his mother's journey is finished.

Wishing you all the best during this time.

Who is the photographer, you or DW?

I take most of the pictures that are posted on the blog, but from the above, Neda took the Wave and Galapagos pictures. A few years before the trip, we bought her a nice DSLR camera because she was interested in photography as a hobby. But I started borrowing the camera more and more, and now it's become more of my hobby...

She's a great photographer, but she's also a better (looking) subject than I am, so it works out.



Overlanding is a time-consuming endeavour. When we're traveling, we spend a lot of time planning and researching for routes, destinations, sights to see along the way, where to stay each evening, where the grocery stores are, where to do laundry, what to prepare for border crossings, what the currency exchange rates are so we don't get ripped off, etc. It helps occupy the hours between the time we're actually on the road.

However, when travel fatigue sets in and we drop the anchors for a few weeks or months, that sudden influx of free time becomes a bit overwhelming.

I don't have a problem with this because I'm naturally very lazy. I'm content with sleeping, eating and watching TV or movies or surfing the net for hours (or days or weeks). Plus I have the blog to work on and editing photos is very time-intensive.

However, Neda is a very high-energy, driven person, unable to sit still for long periods of time without pushing some project forward. She's struggled in the last year or so because we've done more anchoring than overlanding due to travel fatigue. There are countless threads here on the MMM forum about retirees who feel directionless, get bored and don't know how to occupy their time post-FIRE. That's Neda.

The main issue for her was finding a hobby that's portable and whose materials don't take up a lot of space on the motorcycle. So learning to play the piano and painting is out. It's taken awhile but she has discovered cross-stitching and every place we anchor down, she has been able to find a drop-in yoga studio to take classes.



She's also a very extroverted person. Meeting locals is a very rewarding aspect of the nomadic experience, but sometimes when the language barrier gets in the way, it helps to meet up with ex-pats or fellow travelers. We've discovered a lot of on-line resources like meetup.com and expat.com where it's easy to find people to hang out with and pick their brains about where we've currently landed.

We've had more success with meeting up with Digital Nomads than ex-pats though. People who've made a permanent home somewhere are bit more wary in investing their time in a relationship with someone who's just going to move on soon. We've met up with a few ex-pats and inevitably the conversation turns to: "So how long are you intending to stay?" When we tell them we may leave in the next few days or weeks, there's always a bit of cooling off in the intensity of conversation and interest after that. :(

Although we've been on the road for so long, we're still fine-tuning the nomadic process, or rather the spaces in between.
« Last Edit: February 06, 2016, 09:21:02 PM by EndlessJourney »

FrugalZony

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #111 on: February 06, 2016, 11:38:07 PM »
Those pictures are lovely!!
Love the Yoga pose in motorcycle gear!!!

I am a bit worried about what you describe about connecting to folks while travelleing and people not putting in the time investment,
once they realise you are only travelling through.
DH has made some friends while travelling, but it's still a lot harder to do, than whilst living in one place...

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #112 on: February 07, 2016, 01:47:18 AM »
Those pictures are lovely!!
Love the Yoga pose in motorcycle gear!!!

Thanks!

I am a bit worried about what you describe about connecting to folks while travelleing and people not putting in the time investment, once they realise you are only travelling through.

Well, you can see it from their point of view: say you're a permanent stay ex-pat and you meet a whole group of folks on one of these meetup.com meetings, like a hike or a photography club. One guy lives down the street. You know he's going to show up to the next meeting next week, and the next one after that. Another guy is just in town for a few days. You're never going to see him again. You'll be friendly to the traveler but you'll probably be more apt to make plans with the guy that lives down the street that you'll see every week.

You'll have more luck connecting with other nomads and travelers. There are great online resources to find and arrange meetings, and keeping in touch via Facebook is a natural extension of this.

DH has made some friends while travelling, but it's still a lot harder to do, than whilst living in one place...

We met an Australian guy at a motorcycle travelers meet in Cambria, California in October 2012. He was also riding around the world. We kept in touch online and ran into him again on the sailboat between Panama and Colombia, this was in April 2013. Then a year and a half later, in October 2014, we all found ourselves in Croatia, so we hosted him in our tiny apartment and in return, when he scored a beautiful villa in the French Riviera over the wintertime, we stayed with him for a week in luxury! That was a good exchange for us! :) Then in April 2015 we ran into him once again in Morocco where we shared an evening together drinking schnapps which he smuggled in from Europe and we compared our drunken notes in a run-down riad in a lawless quarter of Tangier.

The world is such a tiny place when you're nomadic. While on the road, the people you'll make the closest connections with are going to share the same interests and outlook as you do, and chances are they won't be the 9-to-5-commuters or the stay-at-home-PTA-parents type of people that you used to hang out with when you were living that same kind of lifestyle.

They'll be totally better... :D

Ozlady

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #113 on: February 07, 2016, 02:20:59 AM »
DH and i used to travel a lot in our younger days; think India, China, Vietnam, Indonesia most of SE Asia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Europe ..he also drove a Land Rover through Africa for a year sleeping under the stars and kicking soccer balls with the village kids...he spoke of seeing clear skies at night with satellites zooming across the sky...truly unforgettable!

We had a blast...AND THEN.... THE KIDS ARRIVED!!! and now we are STUCK,TRULY STUCK ....

I read these posts and i yearn , i truly yearn for those years again...now that they are teenagers, we may venture out again BUT we could never do those 1/2/3 years long away- from- home journeys again as we will miss the kids on the road!  One truly underestimates those heart-tugging strings!

Huh.  We're out traveling the world, and just had our first (a week old now), and don't imagine we'll stop traveling, or get "stuck" because of her.

What about having kids made you "STUCK,TRULY STUCK" (in shouting capital letters, no less)?  Why couldn't you continue traveling?

I read blogs of nomad families, it does seem rare, but some make it work, but many do settle down.  I always assumed that was by choice though.  How did you get stuck?  Very curious, and wondering if somehow it will happen to us, though I can't imagine it yet.  :)


I hesitate to reply but amongst a myraid of reasons (and i would keep them short so as not to come across as discouraging...)

1) kids came in quick succession 1,2,3...enuff said!

2) i wanted the kids to bond with their grandparents and uncles, aunties and cousins and that can't wait !


BUT hey! do whatever that floats your boat....just that for DH and i, we went quite hard BEFORE kids and we plan to go hard again pretty soon!

YK-Phil

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #114 on: February 08, 2016, 09:07:11 AM »
DH and i used to travel a lot in our younger days; think India, China, Vietnam, Indonesia most of SE Asia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Europe ..he also drove a Land Rover through Africa for a year sleeping under the stars and kicking soccer balls with the village kids...he spoke of seeing clear skies at night with satellites zooming across the sky...truly unforgettable!

We had a blast...AND THEN.... THE KIDS ARRIVED!!! and now we are STUCK,TRULY STUCK ....

I read these posts and i yearn , i truly yearn for those years again...now that they are teenagers, we may venture out again BUT we could never do those 1/2/3 years long away- from- home journeys again as we will miss the kids on the road!  One truly underestimates those heart-tugging strings!

Huh.  We're out traveling the world, and just had our first (a week old now), and don't imagine we'll stop traveling, or get "stuck" because of her.

What about having kids made you "STUCK,TRULY STUCK" (in shouting capital letters, no less)?  Why couldn't you continue traveling?

I read blogs of nomad families, it does seem rare, but some make it work, but many do settle down.  I always assumed that was by choice though.  How did you get stuck?  Very curious, and wondering if somehow it will happen to us, though I can't imagine it yet.  :)


2) i wanted the kids to bond with their grandparents and uncles, aunties and cousins and that can't wait !


Not only this can't wait, but if you fail it, it can't rarely be corrected. I know from experience, having been an "expat" for most of my life, raising four children who have no connection whatsoever, physical or otherwise, with neither my family or their mother's. Although my children developed other useful social skills, living without knowing what family is about is probably the biggest regret of my entire life.

Threshkin

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #115 on: February 08, 2016, 09:38:26 AM »
My favorite blog on nomading with (and earlier without) kids.

http://www.bumfuzzle.com/

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #116 on: February 08, 2016, 09:48:13 AM »
My favorite blog on nomading with (and earlier without) kids.

http://www.bumfuzzle.com/

Yeah, Bumfuzzle's great.

The wife and I have read their blog for years, since well before MMM existed.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
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livingthedream

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #117 on: February 08, 2016, 03:17:47 PM »
My favorite blog on nomading with (and earlier without) kids.

http://www.bumfuzzle.com/

Yeah, Bumfuzzle's great.

The wife and I have read their blog for years, since well before MMM existed.

Me too. I was trying to think how long I've been reading their blog the other day and found an email response Pat sent me from the middle of the Pacific on their catamaran via SSB radio relay.

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #118 on: February 08, 2016, 03:42:42 PM »
My favorite blog on nomading with (and earlier without) kids.

http://www.bumfuzzle.com/

Yeah, Bumfuzzle's great.

The wife and I have read their blog for years, since well before MMM existed.

Me too. I was trying to think how long I've been reading their blog the other day and found an email response Pat sent me from the middle of the Pacific on their catamaran via SSB radio relay.

Haha, wow, that's awesome!
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

Threshkin

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #119 on: February 08, 2016, 05:58:21 PM »
While nomading definitely has a siren song to me, one of the things I have noticed is that pretty much all nomaders seem to do is sight see, take pictures and blog about it. 

Granted, my sample set is self biased, I read blogs about nomading with lots of pictures.  I am sure there are plenty of nomaders who don't blog or take pictures but they are harder to find.  In general, I suspect the lifestyle would be hard if you have other interests that require equipment. 

Gene, you touched on this briefly in an early blog post where you talked about Neda taking up cross stitch because it gave her something to do during down times.  While my DW and I both love traveling, seeing new places and meeting new people it would be difficult to completely give up our other passions.

I guess everyone needs to find their own balance and while one lifestyle may be alluring it may not fit when balanced against other passions or commitments.

arebelspy

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #120 on: February 08, 2016, 09:09:01 PM »
While nomading definitely has a siren song to me, one of the things I have noticed is that pretty much all nomaders seem to do is sight see, take pictures and blog about it.

i don't think this is necessarily the case.

the reason we don't have a blog is cause we suck at pictures.

in my travel thread, i have pictures, but like, we spent a week in munich and came out with like 2 pictures?

we've been in Istanbul about two months, and have about 5 pictures.  my uncle just posted on my facebook timeline I need to post pics of our baby... which we had over a week ago.  we suck at facebook, and pictures.  eh.  not worried about it.

the thing is, you have a survivialship bias problem.  of COURSE all the blogs by nomads you read are nomads who blog.  the nomads who DON'T blog/take pictures you never hear about cause.. they don't blog!  :P

if you want to blog or take pictures, do it.  regardless of travel.  plenty of blogs the people don't travel at all, but blog and take pictures about their knitting.  or their garden.  or their cats.  or whatever.

and plenty of nomads have no blogs.  just because some nomads do, and travel is their hobby, and they enjoy it so they write and share pictures about it, i don't know why this would affect your decision to nomad/travel in any way. 

:)
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

limeandpepper

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #121 on: February 08, 2016, 10:07:41 PM »
While nomading definitely has a siren song to me, one of the things I have noticed is that pretty much all nomaders seem to do is sight see, take pictures and blog about it. 

Granted, my sample set is self biased, I read blogs about nomading with lots of pictures.  I am sure there are plenty of nomaders who don't blog or take pictures but they are harder to find.  In general, I suspect the lifestyle would be hard if you have other interests that require equipment.

Of course nomads who don't take pictures or blog are harder to find if your main source of information on the nomadic lifestyle is via the internet. If you don't like doing either of those things, you don't have to. There are many other things you can do.

My partner and I enjoy taking pictures and processing them, and I do occasionally blog, but it is certainly not the only thing one can do during travel downtime. We're not much into drinking and partying, so at night, we typically watch TV shows, play games on our devices, or if we're feeling social, hang out with other people. If you're into music, perhaps you could consider learning how to play a small instrument that you can easily bring on your travels. If you do martial arts, you can usually find a school where you can participate if you're in a major city. If you like reading, drawing, or playing card games, those are easy things to do wherever you are. If cooking is your thing - do slow travel and stay in accommodation with decent kitchen facilities. Instead of thinking about what you can't do as a nomad, think about all the things you can do. Plus, aside from hobbies, you'd probably want to keep in touch with friends and family when you have free time.

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #122 on: February 09, 2016, 01:29:52 AM »
I suspect the lifestyle would be hard if you have other interests that require equipment. 

While my DW and I both love traveling, seeing new places and meeting new people it would be difficult to completely give up our other passions.

I had to read this a couple of times to figure out that the question you're really asking is "Why Nomad?"

Why full-time travel? Why not keep the home and all the toys? Travel extensively for a few months, then come back to pursue all your hobbies that require equipment, a larger chunk of time and other people to do it with? Then continue traveling again in installments?

I think the answer is going to vary by individual. But I think for a lot of nomads, the answer might be something like, "I just want to xxx all the time" (get your mind out of the gutter! :) )

For us, the one grand passion we have is motorcycling. I'm not sure if you know any motorcyclists, but if you do, you may know a few of them who have said, "I just want to ride all the time. Every day". Or, I'd love to ride from the top of Alaska, to the bottom of Argentina".


Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah


So some nomadic journeys are quests. Especially the overlanders who measure their progress with squiggly, red continuous lines beginning from the last place they ever called "home", through all the points where they've since laid their head to rest for a single night, a week or a month. But it's never those points that are the raison d'etre for the journey. Instead, it's about all those experiences that happen in between those points.

Those kinds of quests take time. And if you're not independently wealthy, it's cost-prohibitive to maintain a permanent residence waiting for you for the months or years it takes for you to complete the journey.

But that's overlanders, which is a very niche segment of nomads. Back in our old life, we'd go out to Whistler to snowboard at least once in the season. On the slopes, we'd meet so many young people who abandoned a stationary life to chase the endless winter. They'd do this for many years - migrating from one hemisphere to another, Switzerland to New Zealand to Canada. They'd find a job teaching skiing or snowboarding or working for minimum wage in the chalet in return for a free lift pass. Living with six other people in a cramped apartment because: "I just want to ski all the time. Every day".

And then the rest of the world looks at that kind of lifestyle and thinks, "Yeah, I like skiing/motorcycling/travel as much as the next guy. But not *THAT* much!"


Snorkeling with giant turtles in San Pedro, Belize


Choosing nomadism to pursue motorcycling, snowboarding or full-time travel for the sake of travel itself is a fringe lifestyle. Not many people pursue a passion with such single-mindedness, especially to the exclusion of other hobbies that require a more settled life. But we weighed it out and came to the conclusion that it was worth it. Not everyone reaches the same conclusion.

It's an interesting process, selling, giving away or throwing out all your possessions except for what you can fit in your backpack, or the panniers on your motorcycle, or the back of your van. I'm a packrat, and I wanted to keep everything. I wanted to rent a storage locker, have my old life waiting for me when we finished traveling. But due to finances, we couldn't afford a storage locker that big (it would have had to be basically the size of our home), so we went through the (painful for me) exercise of sell/donate/toss.

Everything that passed though my hands during that process, I thought, "I don't want to get rid of this. I'm going to really miss this". But it didn't take very long on the road to realize that I didn't miss 99% of my old possessions. They were just distractions; stuff I filled my life and closets with just because I had the money and storage space.


Hiking in the Tatacoa Desert, Colombia


But back to your question, what about the hobbies and activities we used to do? We discovered we only went snowboarding because there's very little else to do during the harsh Canadian winters. Once we were on the road chasing our own endless summer on motorcycles, we found that we didn't miss our snowboards at all. Nor our rollerblades, or ice skates, or mountain bikes, or the 20-piece crock set. Those things weren't as important to us as we thought they were. And the hobbies that we wanted to continue pursuing turned out to be very portable and mobile.

Neda loves yoga. Her yoga mat rolls up real small on the bike and she's able to find drop-in yoga classes anywhere that we anchor down for a while. She loves hiking and we make sure we hit all the exotic hiking destinations all over the world, national parks in Southwest USA, deserts of Africa, jungles of South America, the jagged fjordlands of Norway, etc. We both love motorsports, and traveling around the world has given us the opportunity to catch international motorcycle races live that previously we could only have watched on TV. I just picked up tickets for the World Superbike races in Buriram, Thailand next month!!!! Very excited! We've played beach volleyball on three different continents. I've rented a guitar when we've stayed for longer than a month in some places. There is no shortage of ways you can fill your time with entertainment and leisure.


View from the grandstands, World Superbike Race, Assen, Holland


Gene, you touched on this briefly in an early blog post where you talked about Neda taking up cross stitch because it gave her something to do during down times.

Yes, but this is something entirely different. As you can see from above, it's dead easy to fill our lives with entertainment and recreation. What I was trying to convey earlier, by referencing some on MMM exclaiming that they were bored of their post-FIRE life, is that some people are so driven that they need a past-time that's competitive, or stimulating and satisfying on a physical or creative level. An activity that develops a quantitative skill so that you can measure yourself getting better at it with each passing day. Or a project that has an end-goal, that becomes something tangible that you can admire with self-satisfaction, as opposed to just filling in the hours with unchallenging, yet still pleasurable activities between travel.


Yoga retreat, Vilcabamba, Ecuador


For me, it's writing and taking pictures. It stimulates my brain and having the last decade of our travels on record, I can see the progression in my writing and photography. Neda gets excited every time she comes back from yoga classes and she's mastered a new pose. And she *loves* cross-stitching, sometimes I think more to admire the progress than the actual process...

The bottom line is that you don't have to have a permanent address to enjoy most of the things you did when you had a home. There are some things that do require specialized equipment and a place to store it, rigidly scheduled time and a fixed community to participate with (I miss the regular Thursday night jam sessions with my old band), but as you yourself said:

I guess everyone needs to find their own balance and while one lifestyle may be alluring it may not fit when balanced against other passions or commitments.

Right now, this is the balance. This makes sense to us.

Nomads represent such a minuscule segment of the population. The sustainability of this kind of existence is fragile, apt to be disrupted by lack of funds, boredom and wavering dedication or just plain loneliness.

And it's probably not forever. It's rare to see people on the road for longer than a year. I only know a handful of overlanders who have been out for over a decade. Nomadism for most is merely a brief episode in their life, but one that has provided the most intense experiences, fraught with the kind of adventure and discovery that can only be experienced without the safety net of a full-time job or a permanent address.


Road never ends, even when it does. Outside Panajachel, Guatemala


Nomadism is a perpetual free-fall through the world, as opposed to jumping down to the next ledge below, going home for a while, stocking up on more climbing supplies then coming back later to rappel down to the next ledge. Instead, it's unbroken inertia, ceaseless velocity, it's improvising on a budget, thinking on your feet, changing plans at a moment's notice, then getting those plans smashed to bits and having to discover new ways of doing things in new places, as opposed to always doing things the old way but in new places.

It's not for everyone, but for some, it's the dream of a lifetime.

(I wrote a lot again, so added more pictures for illustration)

Kerowyn

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #123 on: February 09, 2016, 10:44:06 AM »
EndlessJourney, this thread would be worth reading just for either your photos or your essays. Thank you so much for sharing :)

FrugalZony

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #124 on: February 09, 2016, 01:14:35 PM »
..................
It's not for everyone, but for some, it's the dream of a lifetime.

(I wrote a lot again, so added more pictures for illustration)

This was a beautiful read! Thank you!

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #125 on: February 09, 2016, 01:15:24 PM »
@EJ, you're good! You should write a book. I'd buy it if you made a version I could read on my Kindle while we're on the road. :)

Aussiegirl

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #126 on: February 10, 2016, 01:44:15 PM »
Love it Endlessjourney! 

Thank you......

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #127 on: February 10, 2016, 01:46:21 PM »
I think Paul Théroux has some serious competition here. This was a great read...and the photos!

EndlessJourney

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #128 on: February 21, 2016, 11:24:37 AM »
Thanks everyone!

I don't really post much here, but I do keep a regular photo-blog about our travels, not so much about finance though.

We're currently in Northern Thailand:


Staring up at the night sky, watching thousands of orange lights float up into the dark clouds above us


If you're interested, more about the "fireflies" here: http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/273.html

flyingaway

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #129 on: February 21, 2016, 02:10:16 PM »
I like to travel a lot, see new places, eat local food, and experience different culture. But I do not want to be out there for more than a month.

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #130 on: February 21, 2016, 11:21:49 PM »
Thanks everyone!

I don't really post much here, but I do keep a regular photo-blog about our travels, not so much about finance though.

We're currently in Northern Thailand:

If you don't mind me asking and veering slightly off topic:
When you go to a new continent (assuming a water crossing), do you have your bikes shipped, or do you buy new ones after you arrive?

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #131 on: February 22, 2016, 11:04:13 AM »
Somewhere up thread I asked this same question and EJ gave a very detailed answer so you might look for that back a couple of pages. Short answer: they ship them but have also used bought when they couldn't ship or were waiting for them to arrive.

Found it. Thanks!

EndlessJourney

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #132 on: February 22, 2016, 11:53:07 AM »
When you go to a new continent (assuming a water crossing), do you have your bikes shipped, or do you buy new ones after you arrive?

A bit more info if you're interested:

We've taken many non-nomadic motorcycle vacations back when we had a home and jobs. While we like riding our own bikes, the deciding factor back then was cost. We took a 32 day vacation in Western Europe and it was cheaper to ship the bikes there and back, considering renting equivalent motorcycles worked out to $150/day. However, when we took a vacation to New Zealand for two weeks, it was much cheaper to rent. Same with India and Iceland.


Vatnajokull glacier, Iceland. You can see ice-climbers in the middle of the picture for scale


Right now we're on a grand overlanding tour, so the whole point is to take the current motorcycles with us everywhere we go.

So far we've entered and exited countries which do not require a Carnet de Passage, which is a passport for your vehicle. It guarantees that you will leave the country with your car or motorcycle and not try to sell it and bypass import restrictions. To get a Carnet, you need to put up a bond that's returned to you upon cancellation of the Carnet. Each country has a different requirement for the bond amount. Some countries only want you to put up the value of the vehicle, however India and Nepal require you to escrow 500% of the value of the vehicle!

We've gotten around the Carnet situation in South East Asia by purchasing cheap dirtbikes in Thailand, which we can take to Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. We did look at renting, but you cannot take a rental motorcycle across borders. We plan to sell the dirtbikes when we leave and still be further ahead financially than if we rented because of how long we are staying.

Northern African countries do not require a carnet but when we cross further south into the continent we will definitely need to obtain one. Same with Australia. I've heard Japan needs a carnet if arriving by air, but they waive it if you arrive by boat, which we would probably do either from Russia or South Korea. The rules seem to change year by year, so we don't really spend too much time researching until a few months before we intend to cross the border.


Boston Bay, Jamaica


Cuba (before the embargo was lifted) was a unique situation for us. They generally do not allow imported vehicles on the island, but since we arrived by sailboat, the captain listed us as "crew members in training", and we were able to temporarily import our motorcycles with us as private vehicles and not as tourists. We were issued Cuban license plates and everything!

There are some heavily regulated countries that do not allow private vehicles unrestricted access in their country. Myanmar and China all require you to hire a government-approved guide to travel with you, and it's not cheap. I read about someone who was able to get a guide appointed to him to travel through North Korea, that sounds fascinating!

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #133 on: February 24, 2016, 10:52:33 AM »
God, I love this thread, especially EJ's posts. Wow!

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #134 on: February 24, 2016, 11:30:01 AM »
God, I love this thread, especially EJ's posts. Wow!

Read the blog!

Dicey

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #135 on: February 24, 2016, 12:33:58 PM »
God, I love this thread, especially EJ's posts. Wow!

Read the blog!
Yeah, I posted that comment so I could find the link to the blog later...

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #136 on: February 26, 2016, 06:33:31 AM »
Feeling Envy! luv it! please keep sharing

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #137 on: February 28, 2016, 08:47:37 AM »
Just got back from my longest vacation since 2008. 2 weeks in Argentina. Pure bliss. In the airport on the way home I made a list of countries and states I want to visit. So tempting to sell my apartment, bank the gains and take off. Trying to hang in there for about 8 more years to decrease the amount of time I'll need to support myself on savings and increase my stache. The market is making me sad, but hopefully the investments I'm making now will pay off in the future. In the meantime, I'll just keep drooling over EJ's photos, stay in good shape so I'll be ready to do long treks and surf when I can hit the road for longer and enjoy the few weeks a year when I can travel.

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #138 on: February 29, 2016, 02:31:55 AM »
Love this idea, and once I reach semi-FI in 5 years, I plan to do a good year or two nomad-ing  - South East Asia is where I want to spend most of my time after a Trans-Siberian train journey and some exploration of China.

I'm hoping to be able to keep expenses low, ~£20k a year travelling to allow me to remain fully retired...

flyingaway

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #139 on: March 01, 2016, 08:19:45 AM »
I am thinking to visit several Latin America countries: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, this June or July. I heard it will be the rainy season there. How bad it could be?

EndlessJourney

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #140 on: March 01, 2016, 08:45:15 AM »
I am thinking to visit several Latin America countries: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, this June or July. I heard it will be the rainy season there. How bad it could be?

It really depends on the region. Some of the countries you've listed are huge and have different weather patterns depending on where in the country you are.

We traveled overland through Central America twice, once in the dry season and again in the rainy season. Having come from a temperate climate where precipitation stays pretty much constant the whole year round, I found it remarkable just how much drier the dry season is and how wet the rainy season is. (duh)

We spent three months in Mexico during the dry season and got rain a total of three days, and most of it were sprinkles. Just one shower that I remember. We spent another three months riding through Central America during the rainy period and got rained on *every single day*. Typically torrential downpours.

*However*, it doesn't rain 24 hours a day. Every region has a daily pattern which dictates when the rains come. We stayed in Antigua, Guatemala for a month. It never rained in the morning, but like clockwork at 2PM every day, the skies opened up something fierce. The locals all got their shopping, socializing, etc done by 2PM. When we moved along to Granada, Nicaragua, the rains came in the morning but cleared up by late afternoon. Talk to the locals and find out what the pattern is where you're staying. You can always find a daily dry period to get stuff done, hopefully it's not in the middle of the night!

One thing I can say about rainy season is that the scenery is waaay more lush than dry season. All the leaves get this deep dark beautiful shade of emerald. Most of the time in dry season all you see are a lot of shades of brown... So enjoy that! :)
« Last Edit: March 01, 2016, 08:46:54 AM by EndlessJourney »

flyingaway

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #141 on: March 01, 2016, 08:55:57 AM »
Thanks, EJ, for the helpful information. Enjoy your riding in Thailand, I was there a few years ago.

EndlessJourney

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #142 on: March 01, 2016, 09:01:34 PM »
Thanks! We're really enjoying Thailand!

What do you plan on doing in Central America?

Reason I ask is that during low (rainy) season, some activities like snorkeling and scuba diving are harder to do. We lived in a dive shop in a small fishing village just outside of Santa Marta, on the Caribbean coast of Colombia for a month. The waters were very choppy and storms stirred up silt on the shallow sea bottom for snorkelers  so the operator didn't run every day. Plus he had difficulty filling boats because of lack of tourists, so you might have to dive on their schedule not yours.

Something to think about since you mentioned Belize, and outside of diving, I don't know of what else there is to do there! :)

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #143 on: March 02, 2016, 03:30:49 AM »
I recently worked out that I spend more than half the year traveling - does that make me a nomad? I thought I was a stay at home!

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #144 on: March 02, 2016, 04:40:17 AM »
I recently worked out that I spend more than half the year traveling - does that make me a nomad? I thought I was a stay at home!

I always nomads didn't have homes, but continually moved, so "vacationing a lot" didn't qualify, but I'm sure there are a million definitions, and it fits under some.  It's not like there's a badge or anything.  :)
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EndlessJourney

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #145 on: March 02, 2016, 05:14:19 AM »
It's not like there's a badge or anything.  :)

Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!

(but if you do find one, pick one up for me, eh?)

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #146 on: March 02, 2016, 05:53:54 PM »
Thanks! We're really enjoying Thailand!

What do you plan on doing in Central America?

Reason I ask is that during low (rainy) season, some activities like snorkeling and scuba diving are harder to do. We lived in a dive shop in a small fishing village just outside of Santa Marta, on the Caribbean coast of Colombia for a month. The waters were very choppy and storms stirred up silt on the shallow sea bottom for snorkelers  so the operator didn't run every day. Plus he had difficulty filling boats because of lack of tourists, so you might have to dive on their schedule not yours.

Something to think about since you mentioned Belize, and outside of diving, I don't know of what else there is to do there! :)

Hi, EJ: I just want to take out these central America countries from my list. Since my wife does not seem to want to go with me this time, I am thinking about a solo backpack style travel in June or July. It would be miserable if it rains every day and all day. By the way, we are going to Costa Rica in about a week.

I am teaching at school, so I can only do my travel in summer. Winter break is too short and I have to stay with my family.
« Last Edit: March 02, 2016, 05:56:16 PM by flyingaway »

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #147 on: March 03, 2016, 01:40:49 AM »
Almost. All my belongings fit in two bags, so I'm good to go anywhere anytime. I was planing to do so 3 months ago when I quit, but decided it would be better if I start things slowly, hold my position, measure all my expenses and possibilities, etc.

Even if I go on with that, it won't be that wild. I might stay in the same place for a few months, maybe a whole year, than move again. I like daily routines, waking up and know exactly how my days is going to be.

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #148 on: March 05, 2016, 08:15:57 AM »
I recently worked out that I spend more than half the year traveling - does that make me a nomad? I thought I was a stay at home!

I always nomads didn't have homes, but continually moved, so "vacationing a lot" didn't qualify, but I'm sure there are a million definitions, and it fits under some.  It's not like there's a badge or anything.  :)

Oh great...Now we have the "Nomad Police"...

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Re: Anybody out there living the life of a nomad?
« Reply #149 on: March 05, 2016, 09:13:01 AM »
Thanks! We're really enjoying Thailand!

What do you plan on doing in Central America?

Reason I ask is that during low (rainy) season, some activities like snorkeling and scuba diving are harder to do. We lived in a dive shop in a small fishing village just outside of Santa Marta, on the Caribbean coast of Colombia for a month. The waters were very choppy and storms stirred up silt on the shallow sea bottom for snorkelers  so the operator didn't run every day. Plus he had difficulty filling boats because of lack of tourists, so you might have to dive on their schedule not yours.

Something to think about since you mentioned Belize, and outside of diving, I don't know of what else there is to do there! :)

Hi, EJ: I just want to take out these central America countries from my list. Since my wife does not seem to want to go with me this time, I am thinking about a solo backpack style travel in June or July. It would be miserable if it rains every day and all day. By the way, we are going to Costa Rica in about a week.

I am teaching at school, so I can only do my travel in summer. Winter break is too short and I have to stay with my family.

It's worth investigating the weather patterns on a finer level. About 4 years ago when I got married, I wanted to go to Costa Rica for a month. Did some research and realized that October -- when we wanted to go -- was "the rainy season," but less so on the Caribbean side. So we ended up renting a house 100m from the sea, in the jungle, in a largely undeveloped part of the country, and it was amazing. It rained maybe 2-3 days a week, and was over by 10 am most days.

So, maybe you can find places in CA where the weather patterns are not-so-rainy, and orient your travel around them?