Why I wanted to become a digital nomad + what are my plans

Today is the last day I will be in my home country for a while. Tomorrow I am getting on a plane to officially start my life as a digital nomad. So of course, here is a blog explaining why I want to do this, what exactly I am going to do and how I got to the place where I was able to do it.

So what is ‘this’ and ‘it’ exactly? Well, earlier this year I became a fulltime freelancer. I write books, and I edit, translate and format books of others, either for authors or publishing companies. This is a job that can be done 100% online and that provides me with a lot of freedom. I have e-mails and I have deadlines, but how I choose to work is completely up to me.

Being a fulltime freelancer with all this freedom, got me to thinking. Why am I still sitting in my one-person studio in Amsterdam, when I could be doing this from wherever I want?

The answer was a noncommittal shrug and some research into the best places in the world to be a digital nomad.

It’s funny, I actually wasn’t sure for how long this was something that played in my mind until a former colleague of mine recently said: “Ah, so you’re finally doing it?” We had last worked together like three years ago, so even back then I was thinking about it. Probably the idea came to me the moment I got back to The Netherlands after traveling to Indonesia and France. I was already wondering how I could orchestrate my life so that I could go abroad for a longer time again. I remember clearly that at some point I knew that if I wanted to do it, I probably had to have some sort of freelance business.

So how did I finally get to a point where I am able to go abroad again? I continually took tiny, tiny steps in the right direction. I started offering my services for a very low price to see what it would be like to work as a freelancer. I did courses and trainings to educate myself and level up my skills. I approached possible clients to ask for work. I worked on my content and reaching out to followers I already had. Little by little I did things that helped me to get where I am now.

I spent a lot of time researching different places to live as a digital nomad, but honestly, I already knew where I wanted to go: Back to Indonesia. I loved living there and Bali is an excellent hub for millennials just like me.

A question I hear quite often is: “What are your plans exactly?” The funny thing is, there is no real plan. That was kind of the whole point. I want to NOT create an exact schedule of where to go, what to do and when to do it. I want to go with the flow (let out my inner hippie, hah!) and live in the moment. But there are some things that I currently have in mind.

  • I want to live in places for a longer period of time. I don’t want to actively travel, but spend one or two months everywhere (maybe longer). I like to take my time, really become part of a culture and a place to get to know it, not jump in and out like a proper tourist.
  • I will start with countries that allow me to live off of less money, so I can see how it goes and work on creating a financial buffer that allows me to also live in countries that are more expensive.
  • I will keep working as a freelancer and have no plans to also work for companies in the countries that I visit. Often that’s not allowed on “regular” visas anyway.
  • I have no timeline in mind. Before I kind of thought it would be at least three years, and I still think that. But I have no idea if it will ONLY be three years.

The plan is basically to keep everything as flexible and open as possible. For me this is the ultimate feeling of freedom. Not being stuck in rigid schedules or routines or places, but going where I want to go, when I want to go and with whom I want to go.

I don’t want to end up on my death bed and think “what if”… I want to take action. I want to get the most out of my life and live with no regrets. Nothing is allowed to hold me back, not even myself. So I’m going. I’m getting on that plane tomorrow and starting a whole new life (sing on the tune of A whole new world).

Tell me, what is your definition of freedom? Let me know in the comments!

5 years later…

It’s been a while since I last posted on this blog. Not because I haven’t traveled, but because I wasn’t traveling for long periods. A vacation here or there, a citytrip or a beach holiday. It was fun, but not blog worthy.

But now I have plans. Big plans. But before I dive into those in a new blog, I will tell you a little bit about the last five years.

After living in France for a few months, I went back to The Netherlands to do an internship at a publishing company, and to finish my studies. It was the last phase of my education, so after completing that, I was ready to find a proper, adult job! Which I did. I worked for a big bank in The Netherlands. I got a steady contract and a promotion and a raise. I had fun colleagues and I liked the position I was in for this job.

But still something was gnawing at me. Was this all there was?

I figured I would need to get into the kind of job I had wanted ever since I applied for jobs as a student – I wanted to be a recruiter. So I quit my job at ING without having found a new one yet – it just felt like time and I thought it would be quite easy to find a recruitment job as there always seemed to be a lot of demand for this. I wasn’t wrong.

I ended up working for an amazing start-up that focused on tech-recruitment. It was a classic example of not wanting to leave because something is so good (like the co-workers I had at ING), but then leaving anyway and finding something even better! The team at this company was so much fun and I have made friends for life there (that I actually see outside of work too).

It was during the first few months of covid that I realised I wanted to move more into a field that really suited my natural capabilities. Ever since I was little I liked writing and stories, and also in my professional life I always gravitated towards the tasks that would allow me to use my communication and writing skills. So the next step in my career was to become a copywriter.

In the meantime, I was also writing and publishing books. I published a few books as an indie-author and in 2021 I got a contract with a digital-only publishing company. The years that I have spent in the book world allowed me to develop a network. I got to know a ton of amazing writers and editors and readers.

So when I became a copywriter, I chose to do it part-time. On the side I was working on my own business, in which I work for authors and publishers. I edit, format and translate books. I loved it and decided to go for it fulltime in the summer of 2021.

And that’s what I do now. My work is 100% online, which allows me to do it from anywhere in the world.

So… guess who’s back?

I’ll tell you more about my plans for the future in an upcoming blog!

These are a few of my favorite posts (highlights of the blog so far)

Can you hear the Sound of Music song after reading the title of this blog? Yes? You’re welcome.

Soon I will start traveling again and there is a post coming up about what my plans are, but before we look to the future, I would like to stop for a second and appreciate my past self for the amazing things she wrote! I spent all afternoon scrolling through my old posts, and I love them!

When you travel you really get back to the basics of life. Figuring out new things, meeting new people, being on your own… There is a lot of wisdom in that, and I am so glad I shared this wisdom when I was abroad.

I know there will be a lot of different people reading my blog from now on, as it’s been a few years. And not only have some of my friends changed, there is also a lot of other people that know my name and like to follow what I do (on a small scale, I am in no way a travel influencer XD), so welcome!

I thought it would be nice to quickly recap the traveling I did five years ago, by sharing five of my favorite posts on the blog so far.

  1. My experiences at the 10 day silent meditation retreat.
    It’s quite a long read, but it’s very funny – if I do say so myself. Not talking to people for 10 days does something to you hahaha!
  2. How I ended up in the back of a cop car on New Years Eve.
    This is one of those everything-seems-to-go-wrong-but-it-was-meant-that-way stories.
  3. Ups and downs of a mountain (and travel).
    This describes a very deep low, and the silver lining that came after.
  4. Daily life in Jakarta.
    I lived here for five months to do an internship, and in this blog post I tell you more about the day to day!
  5. What to expect from a bus ride from Vietnam to Cambodia.
    This was at the time my worst travel experience, but in hindsight a hilarious memory.

I’d recommend one or more of the above, but if – like me – you cannot get enough, here are a few more that are a bit shorter, and you may also enjoy:

  1. Running into an old friend.
    ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD. The greatest coincidence ever.
  2. How I became an instant millionaire by traveling.
    I was big on clickbait-like titles and I will not apologise for it.
  3. Extreme highs and extreme lows.
    Yes. Again. That’s traveling for ya.
  4. The power of communication (and languages).
    This is about how your personality changes based on how fluent you are in a language.
  5. Creating your own normal
    A motivational blog about saying ‘screw you’ to societal norms ;)

Life in Lyon

 

During my time in this French city, I really enjoyed the little things. I was extremely happy every time I went to the market on the square behind my building, where I bought large amounts of fruits and was always greeted with a smile and sometimes even free stuff! I also really enjoyed an evening at home with a good book, a walk along the Rhône, taking a bath, drinking my morning smoothie, talking to my friends, writing, improving my French… I have not done a lot of big things and I actually haven’t really traveled outside of the city during these months, but I don’t regret that. I needed it like this and it was great.

Every week there was an event from Couchsurfing; a boardgame night in the center of Lyon. It was in one of my first weeks there that I went to one of those evenings and I became a regular instantly. We played all sorts of games with people from all kinds of different countries and it was such a blast, again and again, every week. I’m still sort of amazed by how much fun I’ve had there every week. The people who showed up were very nice and I spend a lot of time with the ones who were also regulars outside of these nights too. I’m very happy with my group of Lyonnais friends, even though I did betray one of them in a spy game and they didn’t feel like they knew me well enough until we played a game of two truths and a lie. I would have thought inventing lava sharks and mushroom cacti were ingredients for a lifelong friendship, but I guess it takes more than that ;)

I actually didn’t take many pictures throughout the summer, so in my last week in Lyon I went crazy with my camera to capture all the great memories. You may not enjoy watching them as much as I do, but I hope they are at least a little entertaining :)

Creating your own normal

Most of the times, when somebody asks you if you are happy, it is very likely that you will have to think about it. It seems like such an easy question. Are. You. Happy?

Turns out, not that easy to answer. And I feel like often people are measuring their happiness the wrong way. We all have an idea of what our perfect life looks like. And in measuring happiness, people are often trying to figure out how far off they are from that perfect life. So often, when asked the age-old question, the response will be something along the lines of “I wish I had more money”, or “I’m not quite happy with my current job”, or “I still haven’t found the love of my life”. In my case, it would be “I’d like to exercise more” or “I want to spend more time writing”.

But creating and analyzing the gap between your actual and your ideal life does not happiness make. Nor does it measure happiness. If anything, it shows you that you want more. More time, more money, more love. But even if you have a million dollars, you have all hours of the week free to spend on the hobby’s that you can choose… You will always want something more.

Maybe this effect is created by our current society, or our culture. Maybe it’s all the motivational speakers screaming you can do anything you like and be anyone you want. Maybe it’s fear that always tells us to strive for more.

Whatever it is, it will always be there. We will always want more. And I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but it does mean that if you will measure happiness based on this gap you create by wanting more, you will never be happy. Because guess what. Goals expand. Goals multiply. Goals change.

You also hear many people say that if you appreciate what you already have, you will be happy. This makes more sense to me: stopping the focus on all you don’t have and focus on the things that you do have, the goals you have already reached. Gratitude is a good thing, for sure. And although gratitude alone is not the key to happiness, it will make the gap between your perfect and current life less prominent.

I’m currently reading a book about mindfulness and I read an interesting part that I’d like to share. We are all very hard on ourselves nowadays. And I don’t mean giving ourselves a hard time if we fail in striving towards all these goals we set, although, yes, that too. But we are constantly analyzing how we feel and why we feel that way. Maybe in your life, if you think about your job, your family, your possessions, you are sure you have it all. The ingredients for the ambrosia called happiness are there. And then you wonder why it is then, that you don’t feel happy all the time.

Instead of accepting this feeling, we challenge it. We fight it with all our power, because we want that happiness. It is the ultimate goal. We question our feelings and wonder where they come from and scold ourselves for not being happy or content. I believe this causes a downward spiral that in some cases can be called depression.

It has been really bothering me lately that the world has these preconceived notions on what will make us happy, when the majority of the population cannot say with any kind of certainty that they are in fact happy.

I’ve recently read Fightclub (and watched it too) and I was really struck by the part shown in the link (which is more elaborate in the book). Parents tell their kids to go to school. They have to go to college afterwards. Then they should get a job. Marry. Mortgage. KIDS. And then what? They seem like clearcut ways to become happy. They are blocks that can make up a life like pieces of Lego create all sorts of awesomess. They are perceived as the normal way to live your life. But they never guarantee it.

I hate that the world, our society, what- or whomever has decided that we have to follow certain paths. That we are limited to certain pieces of Lego. We have to go to university, we have to get a job, get a spouse, have children and that’s that.

That. Is. Not. That.

You don’t have to do shit anything and you can do everything.

People sometimes tell me they envy the life I’m living right now. Living in different places, traveling, meeting people from all over the world. I get it, but I don’t get it. It’s not like I have anything going for me that others don’t. I just decided to do it. I saved up money, and I’m not the kind of person to do anything that I don’t like to do.

So I don’t.

So in a way, maybe I am like these motivational speakers encouraging you to do whatever. And to not do whatever. Yes, lead your life, set goals. But let your life flow. Go with it. Let things happen. Stop trying to control everything. Enjoy what you have, and take time to figure out what it is that you want to do, not what society wants you to do.

These themes, happiness and normalcy have really been keeping me busy lately. I’m living an awesome life right now and yet there are still the inevitable moments during which I feel unhappy, and those who know me personally may know I’m the analyzing type of person. I want to know why I feel unhappy, but feelings are simply not easily caught up in logic. There is not always a reason and in fact, I believe that the only reason for unhappiness is you. It is your mindset that decides if you feel happy or not.

But that’s kind of a confronting thought, isn’t it?

Because it means you are responsible. It means you cannot blame your job or the people around you. You cannot blame your life.

Because it’s you.

Roadtrip in France

The weekend before my 25th birthday was really special to me. One of my best friends came to visit me in France and we drove all throughout the area, stopping in different beautiful places, taking pictures and laughing. It was really grounding to see her there, because I was already feeling rather miserable and had decided to leave my job at the camping site. She traveled very far, using not the most comfortable ways to travel, to see me for just two days. And it was great. I felt understood and remembered that there are people in this world who are on my wavelength, which is a feeling I was missing there.

She brought me presents for my birthday – which were perfect and showed me she knows me well :) – and a card from another one of my best friends – which contained words that I needed at that moment – and we slept together in one of the huge safari tents. I liked the slumber party, I liked the company, I liked the travel vibe we had going. Honestly, I really liked being able to complain about everything at the camping site too. Roadtrippin’ together was great, even if I did occasionally drive past our goal (an available parking space, mostly), making us having to drive in a circle to end up there again.

Saying goodbye to her on my actual birthday was really hard for me, because it meant I had to stay there by myself for even longer and having spent two full days with her made me realize how great life could be. How awesome my life is. How great my friendships are. How much I miss being able to connect to people on an intellectual level and feeling understood.

Well, this all sounds rather dramatic, I’m aware of that, but that’s the way it felt. And honestly, this weekend is really the only good great memory I have of my time there. So seeing the pictures again… that’s just magical.

 

Schermafbeelding 2016-08-25 om 11.52.39

Sharing is not always caring

I’m sure we are all familiar with this situation. A friend of yours says you have to watch a certain movie, because it has changed their life forever. There goes two hours of your life. Or maybe they would like you to read a book that has the best storyline ever. You could end up giving it six hours of your valuable time. Or if you are really unlucky, they will recommend a tv-show with five seasons, causing you to spend a whole week binge-watching.

When we find something we enjoy, we want to share it with everybody we know (most commonly our close friends and family). You want to tell them how great it was, that it was so funny, they should absolutely watch it. Your life won’t be complete if you haven’t.

And it got me thinking… I am also the kind of person who likes to share their enthusiasm with friends about these kinds of things. If you have read something that felt important somehow, you want to share it. But while doing this, often we forget to think about our target audience.

Not everybody has the same interests as you. Maybe a dramatic film that has no joke in it whatsoever is not the best thing to recommend to your friend who loves comedy. Sure, you may want to share your passion for this newly discovered picture, but if you don’t keep in mind what your friend likes, this may only result in disappointment. I’ve watched movies that I love with friends who start to tear it apart and pointing out all of the flaws. Maybe after that, you won’t like the movie as much.

We have ALL been in the situation where you show somebody a clip from Youtube of something you have laughed about for days, but your friend watches it with a straight face and a frown, wondering why you would want to show them this video. Usually, about halfway through the video, you will be tempted to say something along the lines of: “Just wait for it, the funny part is coming”. But you already know that this viewing is a bust.

So yes, on the one hand you should think about the person you are sharing your newly discovered awesomeness with, but on the other hand, it can say a lot about you. It is a chance for your friends to learn more about you and what you find funny or moving.

When I was discussing this with my Lyonnais friends, they gave me an interesting new insight. If somebody recommends something that you really love, it proves how well they know you and it can strengthen your connection to that person. I must say, I agree. I always try to think of the person I’m recommending to when recommending something and it can feel rather special when somebody who gives you a recommendation introduces you to something that becomes meaningful to you.

I guess the point of this blog is: be mindful of what you recommend to whom. The philosophy of: ‘They should read or watch this because I liked it and thought it was awesome’ won’t always cut it in the world of sharing interests.

Solo adventures in the Ardèche

I’m late in uploading all of my pictures, as you have recently enjoyed some from six months ago and also a few from nine months ago. So now, uploading these pictures from four months ago is not so bad. Soon there will be more pictures from the same period and even a few recent ones!!!