nomadznu

Lol. We did the roads with a small (expensive) rented car. Airco and everything. And then we did it with the beetle: noisy, difficult to steer, fun. It doesn't imply good. It implies 'unforgettable' ;)

In Belgium (and other countries in Europe) there is a gap-year remuneration. It's a bit like the mini-retirements Stefan Sagmeister is talking about. They are meant for this sort of stuff.

Next to that there are several ways to do what you want to do: like studying abroad, volunteering. We're not saying what we did should be 'copied', we're saying 'figure out what you want, and find a way to do it' A way that fits you.

And that's not the other thing mentioned on the comments.

We would advise not to do this while staying in hostels. Hostels are way too much fun, packed with people travelling and having fun. One needs a work environment to get work done.

Our trick was: arrive in a city/location and stay in in hostel/hotel for a few days. Meanwhile drive around/ask around/do couchsurfing to get to know places/check the local craigslist. And find yourself an apartment to live in.

Couchsurfing helped us a lot to get to know locals. A co-office did the trick in Buenos Aires. It costs money, but sitting in a coffeshops costs a lot of lattés too. :)

Hi Joeri. From Belgium too I presume. It indeed helped we're from Belgium, regarding the insurances. On the other hand: for US citizens this way of living is even cheaper if they are paying health insurance in their home country. Because that's so darn expensive over there.

That's why so many people go to Thailand: health care is inexpensive and very very good when compared to the costs related to it in their own country. We had to go once: the total costs medicines included: 37 euro. I never took the bill to my health insurance to be reimbursed...

So the insurance thing is nice, but you have to compare it to the real costs.

As far as what you're saying on Belgium: we totally agree: We came back to Belgium in Feb, when it was rainy and people where still complaining... And suddenly it was Spring and well, heaven.

I myself have been living for 2.5 years abroad before this one year trip. Coming back to Belgium, Ghent, is always superb. We love it. And we found our home quite a while ago. It's Ghent. One of the most beautiful cities in the world.

But we love travelling too. And that's why we decided to do this trip: we didn't want to wait until we're retired to do what we love to do.

In our ideal lifestyle we'd do this each year for 3 to 4 months. Just like grandparents who skip winter in Spain, but our destinations would be a tiny bit different :)

If that's the message you got from this, I guess you read it differently than what we meant. We're not saying this lifestyle is 'walhallah'. It comes with risks, costs, and you have to be 'strong' to do it. Hence the remarks we made in the presentation. But that's what we were willing to 'pay'.

What we meant to say by the presentation is that living the life as it is preached in modern (capitalist) society can be questioned.

For us, travelling is far more important than building that big career and earning a lot of money. Instead of living the life expected and waiting until we're 67 to do this while retired, we decided to do it now. For someone else their dream might be totally different, and the solution to that too. That's exactly what lifestyledesign is all about: designing your life as you want it.

Check out the Ted video of Stefan Sagmeister on mini-retirements. It might give you a different perspective :)

So I totally respect you view on travelling: I can imagine that many people think 'I don't want to work on a vacation'. But the main thing was: when you like travelling, and you want to do this now, it can be done.

*Saying webdesign or online communication is not 'serious stuff' is in a way hurting a bit. Ouch :) I mean: I've built my experience over the last 11 years. Saying it is not that valuable is, well, cannot really give a good reaction to it.

Yes we often sticked to the nine to five work template, doing the fun stuff in weekends and vacations. And off course, when you take the moped after work to go and see that sunset, that's also heaven for a few hours :)

Again GTD is a good way to make your way through work.

Also: when you're on the road, you won't need to go and see family and friends. You'll miss them. But a lot of time is free to do other stuff.

For us the solution was to rent an co-office space in Argentina (a great one btw: urbanstation.co.ar) In Thailand and South Africa this was less of a problem: in those places we had a small spot to work and we often went to internetcaffees in CapeTown, doing the real work at home, disconnected from the web. Which is immediately a good trick: disconnect from the internet and you'll get most of your work done: prepare work, mails etc. Then connect, send everything, get the mails, and disconnect again. GTD and sticking to it is a large part of making this work, otherwise you're or online on Facebook all the time, or working too much :)

Hi there, Ine here from Nomadz.nu, one of the 2 girls of the presentation :) This post is really interesting, and about the same thing we'd say. We're European, so for us things are a bit different when it comes to insurance and retirement savings, but all in all it's pretty similar. Especially the part where people say: We can't do this because ... (fill in the dots) They can. Because we did. :)