START YOUR · I found Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art...

START YOUR ADVENTURE: The Ultimate FAQ

for Nomads By Stephanie Lee

This is a free guide for fellow Nomads brought to you by FY!S. Share freely, but please do not resell. Find more awesome guides and more articles on fitness, travel, and getting shit done at Thefyslife.com.

2 Start Your Adventure: The Ultimate FAQ for Nomads

Table of Contents

NOTE: Click on a question or section to immediately jump to it in the document.

Introduction 4 Ground Zero: Preparations to Leave Home 5

§ Where is your home base? 5 § Do you pay rent or mortgage while you’re gone? 6 § What do you do with all of your stuff? 7 § How did you convince yourself to get rid of things? 8 § What about your car? Did you get rid of it? 9 § Where does your mail go? 10 § How do you afford to travel? 10 § How do you find work? 11 § What's the best work for digital nomads? 13 § What's your best advice to get started as a digital nomad? 14

Travel Planning and Logistics 16 § How do you decide where to go? 16 § How do you usually plan for your trip? 18 § Do you need visiting visas for every place you want to travel to? 20 § What do you think about minimalism? 21 § How do you decide what to pack and bring with you? 22 § My packing checklist 24 § What are your recommendations for bags? 26 § How much money do you need? 27 § How do you get cash as you travel? 30 § What kind of travel insurance should you get? 31§ Is travel insurance even necessary? 31 § What tech and apps do you absolutely need to use during your travels? 33

Day-to-Day Success 36

§ How do you deal with being alone? 36 § If you travel solo, how do you meet people on the road? 37 § How do you travel with friends or family? 39 § How do you balance work and travel at the same time? 40 § What do you do to stay in shape? 42 § How do you find gyms? 43 § How do you eat healthy while traveling? 44

Thanks for reading! 47



Introduction

Thanks for stopping by. You're probably wondering WTF corner of the internet you've just stumbled onto.

Let me introduce myself: I’m Stephanie, some fitness-loving internet person who left behind the 9-to-5 cube life at the age of 29 to, initially, live

in Japan for months. A short stay there very quickly led to the realization that I had the freedom to go anywhere while still leading a very fulfilling

career, digitally. Some people call me a “digital nomad”, but really, I’m just a fancy remote worker. To date, I’ve stayed for months in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris, London, O’ahu, and more.

I will admit that I never planned it this way. I’ve been a writer and editor at

various media giants, with very unremarkable salaries. I don’t get subsidized or quite travel “on a budget.” It was only after leaving those



sterile cubicle farms that I realized how truly fortunate I am to be in this position.

On FY!S, I promote a different brand of “freedom” from other so-called

digital nomad experts. The standard sell is that anyone can do it if you just take this 7-day course or ditch everything and “just follow your passion!”

In reality, passion, risks, swallowing your fear--they’re all only a small part of it.

The rest is--gasp--just like any other freelance or small business

professional! You still have the same “problems” of wanting to make more money, finding the time and discipline to do it, managing your finances, taking care of yourself both emotionally and physically, and all while living

what you think is a fulfilling life for yourself. There are both good and the fugly sides, because as with any road in life, even this one has its ups and

downs.

I don’t believe you need to be exploding with wealth or be penny-pinching to sustain this lifestyle. You do need guts and to think about emotional and physical health, productivity, and your money very differently and

pragmatically. So if you’re ready to have your ideas of "success", "freedom", and what's possible out there gutted open, roasted over an open spit, and

eaten with sriracha, then read on.



Let’s Get Started

There are a lot of questions about the nomad life. Below I’ve collected the

most common questions I get and answered them with my own insight and experiences. I won’t claim that my methods are optimal, but they may serve as a fair reference point for you. And chances are good that your burning

question has been addressed.

Ground Zero: Preparations to Leave Home

Where is your home base?

When I’m not schlepping it from one part of the globe to the other and

back, I call Los Angeles my home base. You’ll notice I say “home base” and not home.



By default, being a nomad means you trade in your roots for the luxury of coming and leaving as you please. But it’s important to establish a home

base, or any location that you can return to and rest comfortably in-between your vagabonding stints. Employers, credit card companies, bill

providers, banks, and any other major services require you to have a physical address to set up accounts.

Plus, knowing that you have a familiar place you can return to can be very important for you mentally. Once you’ve adopted the nomadic mindset,

home can be bittersweet. Unless you hold onto a house or leasing agreement while you’re away, your definition of and feelings toward home

become quite different. I talk about that more in my article “Where Is Home for the Digital Nomad?”.

Do you pay rent or mortgage while you’re gone?

No, not exactly.

I definitely don’t bother with any rental agreements or contracts. I just don’t find it economical to have to pay rent or mortgage for a home I barely

stay in, not to mention also paying for my living accommodations in whatever location I’m at. I have my own property, but it is currently being

leased (over several years) and managed by a third-party company. It’s worth noting that it was rather easy for me to shed my leasing

agreement because of my situation. I had already relocated from my true home in California to work in Boise for a few years. So before I actually took



up this lifestyle, I simply let my lease expire, moved back to California, and took off from there.

Now I rely on Airbnb or my family for providing my temporary homes until

I head to the next destination.

What do you do with all of your stuff?

The first time around, I sold or donated about 85% of my things, mainly the heavy furniture, kitchen stuff, and a lot of my clothes. I put the rest of my

belongings in storage at my parent’s place. It wasn't easy, but I've slowly learned to do without on much or don't expect absolute luxury to lead a rich

life. It sounds counterintuitive but car and house upgrades don’t really make me happier after a certain point.

Besides, having too much stuff strains this freedom of coming and going, which makes this lifestyle so appealing. I don’t imagine I will be extremely

minimal for the rest of my life, but for now, I can do without extra junk.

You can probably sell or give away most of your belongings. The rest of it can go into storage where you'll still have to pay a monthly fee, which can

definitely add up when you're on the road for a while. You'll have to figure out if what you're keeping is truly worth that cost.



How did you convince yourself to get rid of things?

I found Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, to be extremely helpful with teaching me to detach my emotions from physical objects. There was one

particularly effective idea that kind of makes you seem loony at first. It combines sunk cost and expressing gratitude for how the item has already

helped you--whether it's a shirt, a couch, or a spatula. In economics, sunk cost is the idea that you’ve already paid for something

(with money, time, energy, or all of the above) and no amount of wishing can return those costs to you. The natural inclination for any time we fork

over our own cash is, we cling to this object, hoping to squeeze every ounce of value from it and get our money's worth.

At a certain point, however, when the item has it’s already more than served its purpose or provided the value or happiness--however brief--you

wanted out of it. So, Kondo suggests you be a weirdo and tell the item, right before discarding it, something like “Thank you for helping me and my

happiness. You may go now.”

And strangely, this acknowledgment just makes it easier to discard it. Put it another way, she argues that if you do decide to hang onto the item but put it in storage indefinitely, that's a fate worse than dumping it. Not to

mention a waste of space.



Material objects should always, always enhance your life or help you remove a negative from your life. If it starts to feel like a burden or is kept

because of some sentimental attachment, then maybe it’s time to look at it as having already fulfilled its duty. Then chuck it and never look back.

What about your car? Did you get rid of it?

I've kept my car because I've already paid it off and figure I need it every time I come back to Los Angeles, which is a sprawling metropolis. I leave it with my parents and I text them every week to remind them to start my car

and let it run.

Depending on how long my trip is--if it's over a year--I may put my car in standby mode with the Department of Motor Vehicles. That way I can also

freeze my car insurance. For trips shorter than a year, it's still a good idea to freeze your car insurance to pay a lower fee, but it really helps to have a good insurance agent for this.

The extra cost of the insurance (when it’s on standby) and registration are

worth it to me because of where I normally go home to. If you can get by without a car and ride your bike, take public transportation, or use

economy-sharing rides like Uber and Lyft, then more power to you.



Where does your mail go?

My physical address and all of my mail go to my parent’s place. I’ve switched as many of my statements, like credit card statements, phone bills, notices, and so on, to paperless and online statements.

For all other physical mail, my family takes care of it. I am grateful that they

are fine with organizing mail for me and I trust them with my mail. I’ve asked them to flag important things, open them if they see fit, and just message me if there's anything I need to attend to.

If you don’t have the option of asking someone to help you sort your mail,

the U.S. Postal Service can hold your mail for up to 30 days. If you’re on the move, you can also look into a service like travelingmailbox.com. They scan

your mail or package and forward them in bulk to your current mailing address.

How do you afford to travel?

I’m a freelance editor and writer with a stable number of clients. That’s my

advantage from having been writing and editing professionally over the years.

The 21st century allows all of my work to be done online, as long as I have my trusty laptop and reliable internet. (But when the internet is seriously

being a jerk, it's all I can do to not break down and sob uncontrollably.)



Since 90% of what I do is call, write, and edit, I really just need access to email, Skype, and Google Docs.

I’ve also set up most of my payment terms and systems so that I can be paid

in U.S. dollars, electronically, wherever I am. Services like Lystable and PayPal (if we go a little more old school) make it pretty easy, but most of my

clients have their preferred system. Occasionally, people remember that paper checks still exist. If a client sends me one, I am fortunate enough to have a family member who can take care of depositing it in the bank for me

(usually by physically going to the bank or taking a photo of it via remote deposits).

How do you find work?

Ah, the million-dollar question, and I’m going to answer this in a rather roundabout way.

I’m a freelance writer. Most people have preconceived notions about what that means, which is understandable. By nature, freelancing for anyone can

be very erratic. Some months you’re flush with clients and cash, but other months you might be treading on scorched earth.

It’s possible, however, to do really well as a freelancer, like well-into-the-six-figures well. But just like anything, it’s not passive work and requires

the right attitude and mindset.

And a network.



Over the years, I’ve built a specific skill set beyond writing and have leveraged my positions at various companies to expand my network--

mostly made up of people I call my close friends, but also many, many, many more whom I have very loose but still important relationships with.

“Your network is your net worth” is an oft-repeated quote (and the name of

a book) in the entrepreneur/business world, and while you may roll your eyes at it, it's not a load of crock. Without the people who have helped me, I would not be where I am today. At the same time, without being proactive

enough to cultivate my relationships with them in a human and authentic way, I would not have my network.

Networking gets a really bad rap. It sounds very matter-of-fact and business-like, but note the difference: There’s “networking”--the

schmoozing, the shuffling of business cards, the “What can this person do for me?” mindset--and then there’s creating real human connections, which

starts with, “How can I create value for someone else?”

The other component to that is that you should aim to give a gazillion times more value than you ever hope the other person can reciprocate. This wasn’t easy for me. I have only-child syndrome, which is all about me. One

of my good friends, Sol Orwell, has been hammering into my head to basically “do or say things to people that you would want others to do or say

to you.”

This means that if you find a great article or book, think about someone else who would enjoy or benefit from it. Regularly wish others well on Facebook



or other forms of messaging. Tell someone you're thinking about them. It just feels good to make someone else feel good.

As a result, I am very grateful to say that I have steady clients and

customers who actually want to work with me every week. Through them, I am able to meet more and more people and talk about fitness, beer, donuts,

video games, or anything.

What's the best work for digital nomads?

Most digital nomads have skills that can be leveraged in the tech world. They're writers (such as myself), graphic designers, coders, marketing

consultants, or consultants of some type. You can also create your own online business. Those are the most common types of work that easily come

to mind. If you don't have those skills already, all of this might sound like an elusive,

pie-in-the-sky dream. In reality, you only need to build a skill set that allows you to do any work online. Or more likely, you already are good at

something, but didn’t realize you can actually make money off it. Maybe you’re really good at playing poker. Some of my friends are successful

online poker players and they do it at home anyway. You can also be a virtual assistant. Or an online personal trainer. Or a speaking coach.

Modern day has amplified the number of possibilities that the choices can be both a blessing and a curse. The biggest barrier is you and the mental



walls that have predetermined what is possible and what isn't. And oftentimes these walls are a lie.

There’s no “best” work for digital nomads. The best work obviously is the

one that lets you do what you do, free from financial worry. It’s the kind that you know if one or two clients slipped away from you, you know you

can still get more. If you want a "quick" means of escape, teaching English in Asia or Latin

America is one way to get paid to go to a country and live there. The pay is low and the work can be awfully boring, but I've been told that the

experiences as a whole can be eye-opening. Word of caution: freelancing or entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone. None of it is passive work. At least certainly not in the beginning. All those

promises of “passive income” takes a crap ton of long hours and aggressive work before anything becomes “passive.”

What's your best advice to get started as a digital nomad?

Beyond finding a way to make money remotely, I encourage you to go back to the previous questions to make sure you don't overlook the small details

like your mail, automating statements and payments, and what to do with your car insurance. But here's another that I see a lot of people ignore:

Debt.

Get rid of your debt first. Seriously.



A big part of the reason this lifestyle is possible for me is that I had already paid off my debt (it just worked out that way) and have someone taking

care of my property. I highly recommend holding off on that glamorous, world-traveling lifestyle until you’ve paid off any major debt. This includes

your school loans, any massive credit card debt, a car, or a house (although the house can be tricky).

Whatever your debt is, you don’t want to have it looming over you and use "traveling the world to find your passion" as a stupid and short-lived excuse

to escape it.

Getting rid of student loans, for instance, is already hard enough, so if you’re out prancing on the beaches of Maui or the countryside vineyards of Nice, it gets that much harder. Then there’s interest to consider. And if you

have any desire to save more money (and let’s face it, who doesn’t?), you’d be in a much better position if you make bigger monthly payments to

minimize the interest as much as possible. Over the long term, that’s thousands of dollars saved if you have to pay for loans of $20,000 and

more. For savvy personal finance stuff (which, hey, still applies to people who

travel), I highly recommend you check out personal finance expert Ramit Sethi, my buddy and fellow Lifehacker writer Kristin Wong, and Mr. Money

Mustache. All of these people preach very, very smart, non-B.S. matters on living the best and richest life you can (without actually needing to be rich,

in the traditional sense).



Paying off your loan before you screw off on planet Earth is basically me encouraging you to "front-load" the work. That is, do all of the difficult crap

in the very beginning. When you front-load taking care of your loans and automating important things before you leave, you won't have to deal with

the hot mess later. You'll be glad you did.

Travel Planning and Logistics

How do you decide where to go?

I pick a place out of a special Sorting Hat. Nah, just kidding, though that would be cool, wouldn't it?!

In truth, where you want to go is a question that only you can answer. This

is based on you and your needs, though I know a lot of people choose



destinations based on cheap airfare and what their budget allows. So allow me talk a little more about my own process.

I’m a solo female traveler who needs internet to work and loves to eat and

work out. Based on these needs and wants, I immediately have a couple of absolute necessities: safety (is the place relatively safe for solo travelers and

travelers in general?) and reliable internet (how easily can I find internet and is it fast enough for video calls?).

Safety and internet, then, are no-brainers for me.

Once those needs are met, my secondary needs are awesome food and places to work out. They’re less of a big deal because I’m an adventurous eater and can rejigger any food to fit my health and emotional needs. I can

also work out anywhere by either finding gyms or getting creative with bodyweight and other types of workouts (I'll cover this in the next section).

If the place has somewhat developed public transportation infrastructure

and nice weather, that’s a bonus! In the very beginning, I selected places that I’ve always wanted to go, and to

an extent, I still do. After all, any bucket list places usually translate to big cities that are well-worn by other tourists and have decent internet.

Priorities and preferences can change over time, and that's okay.

Chances are, you probably already know where you want to go, but finances perhaps might be the limiting factor. You just don’t know for sure unless



you do the proper research, so here are a couple of excellent resources to help you build a better planning framework for any long-term stay.

1. Nomad List: You can customize your search according to your

preferences, including the month of travel, your monthly expenses, if it’s family friendly, if you want to be near a beach or mountains, and

so on. It gives you a quick yet comprehensive overview of the place you want to visit.

2. The Earth Awaits: The Earth Awaits is similar to Nomad List, but it

includes additional categories, like lifestyle, pollution, crime rate, and attitudes about race and LGBTQ community, that paint a real, clearer

picture of your finances and quality of living. The basic search is free to use, but you can choose to pay a monthly subscription to access their more advanced options, which may be helpful if you’re

researching school information for studying abroad.

How do you usually plan for your trip?

When planning for a long-term trip, the most important couple of first

steps are to check that country’s visa requirements, book your flight, and set up accommodations that you won’t regret. (If we’re being honest here, I

also check the absolute best things to eat.) If you have a U.S. passport, you can enter many countries without prior

paperwork, but you should still check before you go. For more on visa requirements, check the next question.



For booking flights, there are a ton of “travel hacks” to find incredible deals on flights. Travel-hacking is essentially about finding little loopholes to

game the system and using credit cards to rack up rewards to get things for cheap or free. Here at FY!S I don’t focus on this hacking aspect, as there are

many other sites and bloggers who do a much better job of it than I. Instead, I like to keep it pretty simple.

Because a lot of the best deals are often so spontaneous and only stick around for a couple of hours, flexibility with your travel dates is the best

way to fly on the cheap. I’ve signed up for Airfarewatchdog, which helps me stay on top of cheap airfare.

When I start searching for flights, I start with Kayak or Skyscanner. They’re both great aggregators of deals and flight information from around the web.

They give you an idea of the baseline prices for around the time you want to leave. If you want to have more control over your flight, check ITA’s Matrix,

a free tool that gives you a more detailed breakdown of the flight's itinerary. More experienced travelers may use ExpertFlyer.

The point is to not book directly from these sites, only research. Because once you find cheap airfare, you'd generally benefit more by going on that

airline’s website to find the same flight. Oftentimes, if you tweak the flight information there for different dates, currency (if you’re flying

internationally), and airports, you might strike some real gold. If I’m already overseas, I check sites like Momondo and Mobissimo, which tend to

search foreign sites better.



And finally, for booking accommodations, I typically stick with Airbnb because it’s currently used worldwide, easy to track my expenses and trips,

and Airbnb’s policies tend to be a lot more comprehensive and safer, relative to other similar services. For more on using Airbnb to live around

the world, check out my guide here.

Do you need visiting visas for every place you want to travel

to?

Visa requirements depend on your nationality.

I never realized it before, but only after my recent travel had I learned to be very grateful for my U.S. passport. It allows me to enter many countries on

a 90-day visitor’s visa without much hassle. (Canadian passport-holders can look here.) If you have a passport from a third-world country, it’s

possible to travel well (Blogger I Am Aileen talks in-depth about that here). There are plenty of exceptions even for U.S. passport-holders, however, so

it’d be smart to look into that country’s visa requirements before you head there.

Project Visa and IATA’s website are both great resources that easily help you make heads or tails of visas based on your nationality. You just plug

your destination and associating information and it’ll tell you what you need to know.



What do you think about minimalism?

Minimalism is a hot trend among travelers or aspiring travelers. I have my personal gripes with the whole “movement”, mainly because being minimalist has become this capitalistic command and a label whose

implication is: material objects are your ball and chain, and you cannot truly experience many of life's majesties if you are distracted by an excess of

stuff. Sure, there’s plenty of junk and noise in our lives that minimalism appears

to be a noble and refreshing movement. At the same time, our current society has democratized having less stuff and replacing it with stuff that

makes it appear as though you have less stuff. In other words, minimalism can be gained only through purchasing it--oftentimes for a high price.

It’s basically smart business. For the privileged.

You'd have to be pretty well off to be able to say “I don’t need anything anymore.” Because a minimalist who’s content with her 500-square foot

apartment in San Francisco that has nothing but one 400-dollar desk and chair, six $80 shirts, and a $3,000 Macbook Air is very different from a

“minimalist” who’s living under a bridge and has only his tattered shoes and shopping cart full of recyclables which he hopes to turn in for a bit of cash. They both don’t have a lot of stuff, but guess who thinks it’s a good

thing.

Depending on who you ask, it just seems paradoxical.



I do agree, however, that paring down on stuff benefits the traveler. It’s harder to leave when stuff bogs you down, especially if you’ve bought those

things with credit and thus have debt. More importantly, the whole idea has made me smarter about what I choose to spend my money on. Nowadays I

think, “Do I really need this? And will it enhance my happiness?” And if the answer is no, I don’t buy it.

How do you decide what to pack and bring with you?

Real talk: If you are looking for the minimalist way to travel, I am not the

best person to model after.

I never understood those people who manage to stuff their belongings for the next several months in a backpacking bag. It gets so bulky and unwieldy

and makes things really awkward when you have to navigate through crowded streets, like those in Tokyo.

Also, I am, admittedly, a bit of a high-maintenance traveler.

As a kid, my mom had hammered into me a very elaborate skincare routine, which is important to me, and so I have a small bag dedicated to just my

cosmetics. Yes, I’ve already downgraded the size of the bottles and skipped over extraneous steps in the routine. But it’s not just skincare. I also bring my own Aeropress coffee maker and Hario portable grinder. Because

coffee. Then I have one or two workout outfits, my travel-friendly workout shoes, and suspension trainers for my fitness.



What I’m trying to say here is, I pack things that other travelers may simply ditch or scoff at. But I put up with them because they’re that important to

me. When you pack, there are a couple of questions you want to ask yourself:

§ Are your clothes versatile enough to help you comfortably adapt to

the changing seasons and climates? § Can you ditch your stuff if needed? Similarly, are there certain things

you can just buy at your destination?

§ What are my priorities and “bits of home” that I can bring with me? § If I bring these things, how can I reduce my overall packing weight?

That third question helps keep my homesickness in check. Whenever I made coffee wherever I was, the smell of my coffee brewing would be this

uncanny reminder of home.

When I got ready for my first long-term trip, I was initially flummoxed by how to pack for mildly humid weather, snowy winter, and then a pleasant

spring--three very different climates! The answer was layers and packing cubes. I had made many mistakes in packing the first time around, and in the end, when spring (and then summer) came, I had to ship my winter

things back home.

In short, bring at least one rain jacket, a down jacket, and many different layers (thermals, long sleeves, button-ups, hoodies, etc.) if you’re going to

be traveling through a winter season. Here’s a handy packing list for you to reference for your own long-term multi-season packing trip.



My packing checklist:

Essentials

❏ Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card

❏ Charles Schwab ATM card

❏ Passport

❏ Sleeping mask

❏ Pack of earplugs

❏ Small medical kit that includes band-aids, antibiotics, ibuprofen, hand sanitizer, hydrocortisone (for skin breakouts)

Clothing

❏ 4 t-shirts

❏ 8-10 pairs of underwear

❏ 2 regular bras

❏ 2 sports bras

❏ 1-2 nicer shirts/blouses

❏ 1-2 long-sleeve shirts

❏ 1 rain jacket

❏ 1 down jacket

❏ 1 hoodie

❏ 2 moisture-wicking workout shirts

❏ 2 tank tops

❏ 2 pairs of jeans (different colors preferably)

❏ 1 pair of sweatpants

❏ 2 pairs of shorts



❏ 8 pairs of high-quality ankle socks

❏ 2 pairs of workout tights

❏ A microfiber camping towel

❏ A bathing suit

❏ Merrell Vapor Glove shoes (for working out and hiking)

❏ Chuck Taylors or Vans (walking and they match everything)

Toiletries and skincare items

❏ Toothbrush

❏ Refillable bottles with shampoo, conditioner, and body wash

❏ Deodorant

❏ Mini brush

❏ Caudalie cleansing milk face wash

❏ Skin toner (used to use AD+ Atorrege and now use La Roche-Posay)

❏ Shiseido face sunscreen

❏ CeraVe moisturizing cream (for day use)

❏ Caudalie night cream

❏ La Roche-Posay eye cream

❏ Tweezers

❏ Nose hair trimmers

❏ Nail clippers

❏ Stila eyeliner

❏ Wet & Wild brow kit

❏ Eyebrow brush

❏ Biore makeup remover wipes



Gear

❏ Suspension trainers

❏ Laptop

❏ Kindle

❏ Earbuds

Miscellaneous

❏ Ziplock bags

❏ Zip ties

❏ Paper notebook

❏ Whey protein

❏ Vacuum-insulated water bottle

❏ Combination lock (for the occasional locker use) If I forget anything or come across a situation where I lack the necessary

clothes or items, I just buy it.

What are your recommendations for bags?

On my cherry-popping nomad trip, I had an embarrassing amount of stuff, which became a real thorn in my side whenever I had to move from one

place to another. I can only be thankful that I had built a lot of physical strength to handle all the moving around, up and down stairs and through

crowds and side streets, with 40-50 pounds of stuff in tow.



Since then, I’ve downsized to a Minaal Carry 2.0 bag as my main travel

backpack, along with a smaller rolling luggage from Burton (as I said, I can’t imagine stuffing everything into just a single backpack).

The Minaal is comfortable even for long days with it on my back and has a

very secure pocket for my laptop, along with compartments for numerous other items. It’s the kind of backpack that can turn into a handheld carry-on, too. One of my favorite aspects about it is that even when you stuff the

bag like a Thanksgiving turkey, it still stays relatively compact and avoids puffing up obnoxiously. This is a huge plus for when you're on a busy train

or in generally crowded areas: a bulky backpack is a bigger pain than its worth.

The Minaal is quite pricey, though, at $300. If that’s outside of your budget, a more manageable and popular daypack is the Tom Bihn Synapse 19. It

comes highly recommended from many other long-term travelers.

I also like my compressible REI Flash 18 bag that I often use as a smaller daypack for when I don't bring my laptop around.

How much money do you need?

I mentioned earlier that The Earth Awaits and NomadList can give you a

bird’s-eye view of how far your budget can go. I also recommend using Budget Your Trip to establish a fair baseline, and then pad that with an

extra 15-20%. That way, you plan to have a bit of cushion if you end up



traveling a bit fast and loose without ending up in dire situations where you’re missing a shoe and wondering if the nice family that took you in is

going to harvest your organs for beer money.

This strategy, of course, assumes that your money situation stays static the whole time. Working and traveling together change your money situation,

where it’s a bit more flexible and you just track your monthly income and expenses. I use Mint to monitor my cash flow, but I’ve heard others use Wave or TrailWallet.

All in all, how much you need for travel is something only you can answer,

not a Magic 8-ball or anyone else. And truth be told, it’s your spending habits and your mindset about money that’ll run the show. Part of that, I believe, is understanding the difference between being frugal and being

cheap.

Frugal and cheap are not the same thing.

They’re often used interchangeably, but they’re galaxies apart in meaning. This is a lesson that took me far too long to learn, but once I did I’ve been able to travel better and enrich my traveling experiences (without paying

out the wazoo, of course). The most important distinction among frugality and cheapness is cost versus value.

Cost is a hard number; it’s measurable. The number is high or it’s low.

Value, on the other hand, is subjective, calculated based on, essentially, your long-term happiness level. You can argue, too, that the cost of



something contributes to that happiness level, but it’s not the only measure.

Cheap people often care about the direct cost of something, whereas frugal

people prioritize the value of something. That means a cheap person only cares about getting the lowest price, no matter if the quality of the item

hurts them, or worse, costs them more money down the road. A frugal person would ideally like to keep costs low, but are willing to flex their purse strings for something that is important to them.

With frugality, it comes down to picking and choosing what to spend your

money on. For example, in my article on where to stay in Tokyo, I suggested that you spend extra money to stay more central out of convenience and in order to fully appreciate Tokyo’s uniquely manic atmosphere; but also, in

the long run you save on transportation costs and a whole lot of frustration and hassle.

Cost versus value.

Part of the fun of traveling is spending money in ways that enhance your experiences, but only if it makes sense and it’s something you truly care

about. One question I often ask myself is, If I came across this opportunity back home, where the novelty of being in another country is less influential,

would I still spend this amount of money on this thing? This is kind of my test to see if I truly care about that thing, or if I’m just wearing “travel

goggles” (like beer goggles, but for travel, you see?).



How do you get cash as you travel?

Sometimes when I eat with friends in another country, I offer to foot the entire bill with my Chase Sapphire Reserve card and ask that they give me their monies.

That’s one option. In most cases, I withdraw from a foreign ATM (though

with a bit more paranoia than I care to admit). Most countries’ ATMs are legit, but I’d think twice about going to a terminal that’s not part of the bank or wedged in the dark corner of a dank bar that faintly smells of urine.

The only problem is--and it’s quite a big one--foreign ATMs typically charge you a flat $3-5 fee for using the terminal, in addition to your bank also

potentially charging you transaction and conversion fees.

Hey, no big deal the first or second time, but after five or 12 times? That’s a fancy sushi dinner down the toilet! When I returned home the first time, I calculated how much in ATM fees that I’d actually collected: over $50.

OVER FITTY. And that was me being conservative. I might as well have grabbed a fistful of bills, lit them on fire, and danced around the ashes.

Same thing.

Then, a good friend of mine told me about Charles Schwab’s High Yield Investor checking account, and I wondered how the hell I went for so long without it. When you open an account and use their ATM card, you get

reimbursed for any and all ATM fees every month, no questions asked. You do, however, have to already have a primary checking account from another



banking institution to be able to open one (and be sure to open it before you go overseas).

That’s just as well, because you can now treat this Schwab checking account

as your travel-only account. Just transfer a certain amount of money from your primary account to this Schwab account via the online dashboard,

then make it your go-to travel ATM card, and profit. And if you lose this card, you don’t have to worry about someone having

access to all of your money.

What kind of travel insurance should you get? Is travel

insurance even necessary?

A lot of insurance (think rental car insurance, for example) preys on us

worry wart’s insecurities and hand-wringing thoughts of what if my pants spontaneously catch on fire and I lose my wallet? For short trips, it’s a bit of

a gamble. For long-term travel, your safety abroad shouldn’t be viewed like an optional nosejob. Hopefully you won’t ever have to use it for medical emergencies, but you’ll be glad that you had the foresight to get insurance

before shit really hit the fan. Here’s what you need to know.

First, realize that travel insurance is not quite the same as medical insurance. General travel insurance protects the logistical aspects of your trip--flights, hotels, lost luggage, and so on--in case something comes up.

Medical insurance protects...well, you. Before you leave, you absolutely



should check with your primary medical insurance provider to see the extent of your coverage worldwide.

Some providers will cover doctors in other countries as long as they are in-

network, and if not, ask about what they can cover and if you need supplemental policies. If you don’t have a primary health insurance for

whatever reason, you can check BootsnAll for a detailed breakdown of different insurance options at different price points.

Some travel insurance do include medical coverage, too, but the two can also be unbundled. So figure out the exact coverage you want. If you don’t

need medical insurance and you mainly want to protect your costly investments in flights, accommodations, or lost, stolen, or damaged property, then you need a trip cancellation policy. If you want some sort of

medical coverage, choose emergency-only or get a more comprehensive plan that can cover a high medical bill.

Many companies can cover up to $100,000 in medical bills, which is

generally a good amount. Frankly, I wouldn’t go anything less with $100,000. Your health is worth it. Not only do you want a high ceiling for medical costs, but ideally, you would want your insurance to cover

emergency evacuation. Let’s say, for example, you’re on a boat somewhere. You’re having a good time, but suddenly you grimly suspect that the all-

you-can-eat lobster tails might’ve been funky. Or maybe it was the five frozen margaritas in a row.



Whatever the case, you fall very, very ill and need to go to the emergency room. A good insurance will cover a helicopter to fly out to your boat,

wherever you are, and whisk you to the nearest hospital. A popular insurance option that a lot of nomads and travelers gravitate toward is

World Nomads. Insurance provides a good cushion for that “just in case” mentality, but mostly, it’ll save your ass from ponying up an exorbitant

amount of out-of-pocket fees. When you inquire about your insurance, make sure to ask what is not

covered. And if anything happens, be sure to keep all documentation. You only need to experience this once and deeply regret not getting insurance to

always get insurance.

What tech and apps do you absolutely need to use during your

travels?

Even though I’ve written about useful gadgets and apps for Lifehacker, I try

to keep my own arsenal as simple as possible. The below is a combination of tech and tools that I bring with me for work and travel.

§ Macbook Air: This is obviously the glorious source of my Netflix binges and, of course, my work, my life’s blood.

§ iPhone 6: I’m not a smartphone stickler, so there’s no specific rhyme or reason to this particular model. It was simply out of necessity and cool at the time. But the iPhone has become my go-to for pictures and

all my apps obviously. I use the JOBY GripTight Gorillapod, which is



a mini-tripod for my phone and lets me MacGuyver weird and creative setups for selfies (super important).

§ GoPro Hero 4: The GoPro Hero 4 serves as my inconspicuous camera for either videos or more dramatic wide-angle shots. Because

I have an attachment that lets it stand on its own, I can set it up on various terrain to help me take janky, self-timer photos.

§ Canon Powershot G7X Mark II camera: I bought this for the sole intent of recording videos of my travels, but I haven’t lately. The video and picture quality are really good, and its compactness and

easy-to-use interface make it my go-to travel camera. Even if I’m not taking video, I use it for my photos. If I could choose my point-and-

shoot all over again, I might veer toward the Sony RX100. § Kindle Paperwhite: One of my favorite things to do is go to a new

coffee shop anywhere and read for a couple of hours. The Paperwhite

keeps all of my reading material in one place without the extra weight.

§ Google Maps: I always use Google Maps to help me figure out where I am, even if I’m not using navigation, and point out nearby

places of interest. I’ve happened upon some of my favorite low-key neighborhood spots with it. Plus, I love being able to download maps to use offline. I have found, though, that it doesn’t work reliably in

places like Seoul, where they used their own variation of Google Maps.

§ Mint: Mint is an easy-to-use app that lets you sync all of your credit cards and bank accounts to keep your eye on expenses. You can set

your budgets if you wanted to, too.



§ Evernote: For as long as I can remember, I’ve used Evernote to collect my notes and random musings and also organize my to-do list.

Whenever a thought suddenly strikes me--whether that’s on a train in Tokyo or eating alone outdoors in Paris--I pop open the app on my

phone, blur my thumbs across the keyboard, and then sync it up with my Evernote on the laptop when I can review my stream-of-

consciousness thumb-mashing. § Google Translate: Imagine being able to understand what the

person means when he keeps yelling merde! and responding

appropriately. It can use voice or text. § LastPass: I only recently hopped on this LastPass bandwagon, but

basically, it lets you securely store all of your passwords in one place so you don’t have to try to remember the gazillion different logins that you have; you just have to remember the one that logs into your

LastPass account. § Uber/Lyft: Well, it’s definitely handy to have when you need to

quickly transport your luggage from one place to another and forego the crowded public transportation.

§ Followup CC: One of the few ways I can control and manage my inbox and set up reminders or auto-responders.

§ WhatsApp, LINE, and other messengers: When you travel and

want to keep in touch with people back home without incurring exorbitant international texting fees, you can use WhatsApp, LINE,

iMessage, or things of similar nature to communicate with people anywhere. When you travel, you’ll discover that most people use

WhatsApp, though the default messaging app depends on the



country. For example, LINE is popular in Japan and KakaoTalk is popular in Korea.

This is not an exhaustive list. There are apps that I use occasionally, but I

use the above all the time.

Day-to-Day Success

How do you deal with being alone?

Unless you’re lucky enough to be traveling with someone, nomad life is a lonely road. I do meet people while traveling (more on that in the next

question), but as you can probably imagine, it’s a very different interaction from a close friend whom you can bond on a deeply emotional level. Being away from everyone I’ve known for years when the important stuff happens



can be painful, but the blow is softened by the fact that I can return at any time and sort of resume my relationship with my closest friends.

Obviously, I’ve chosen to do this, and I often struggle with coming to terms about the sacrifices I’ve made to pursue a life of perpetual novelty and

wanderlust. In the end, I keep these lonely thoughts at bay by keeping myself busy with work and exploration and my mind and body as healthy as possible through journaling and fitness.

About once a month, I send postcards to family, friends, and readers to let

them know that I’m thinking about them. It’s a fun and cathartic way for me to ease these feelings of loneliness. Plus, it makes me smile imagining the smile on their face when they receive my messy scribbles. (If you’d like

to get a postcard at some point, you can sign up here.)

If you travel solo, how do you meet people on the road?

Throughout my solo adventures, I’ve been fortunate to break up the

solitude with myriad instances dedicated to sharing meals and drinks, arguing about the correct pronunciation of GIF, going on hikes, and

generally connecting with other human beings without any sort of ulterior motive.

About 90% of these were chance encounters that I merely capitalized on. That means, I purposely put myself in situations that allow me to easily

meet people and then actually started chatting with people, as long as I can



get over that nagging fear of coming off like a dope. One of the easiest places for this was a hostel. Hostel occupants are fellow travelers who are

also like a fish out of water in a strange country and are easy to bond with over mutual travel convenience and bizarre observations of the local

customs.

When I travel, I don’t spend much time at hostels because of issues with privacy and general lack of quiet work spaces. Rather, I spend most of my time meeting people, in particular locals, through Airbnb. If you truly want

the fully immersive experience, meeting and living like a local is the way to go.

Sometimes my friendly terms with the Airbnb host lead me to meeting their friends and other locals. When I stay long term in a city, I’d check Facebook

groups to meet up with a varied assemblage of locals, transplants, and fellow travelers. Maybe it’s a Facebook group for running or ultimate

Frisbee; just search for groups based on your interests. In my experience, most major cities have plenty of active Facebook groups for anything you

desire. It’s a great way to keep abreast of events and attend to meet people. Along a similar vein, technology lets you connect to people with common

interests from anywhere in the world. I’m talking about apps like Meetup.com and Tinder. I can’t tell you the best hacks for them since I

didn’t use them. I do, however, like NomadList as a way to connect with other digital nomads and remote workers. All in all, meeting people is a lot

of work.



Make no mistake, meeting people is 100% being comfortable with and proactive about talking to strangers, albeit very rewarding. For more, I’ve

written a whole guide on meeting people as a solo traveler and tips for talking to strangers here.

How do you travel with friends or family?

As someone who needs to be very protective of my time for work, it’s difficult to travel with others, especially if they don’t understand the nature of what I do.

I’ve traveled with friends and family members who have flown out to meet

me at various destinations, and although they were understanding of my work and deadlines, it was a constant struggle between balancing my time

with them and tempering the guilt that bubbles up whenever I have to leave them alone to get shit done.

I often support the strategy of front-loading your work, where you try to get a lot of things done before your friends, family, and general shenanigans

suck up the rest of your time. Maybe you can carve out undisturbed, quiet time to work earrllyyyyy in the morning or late at night. It does mean,

however, that cramming productive sprint sessions can be stressful. And in my experience, the added stress and anxiety of front-loading your work around your family and friends’ schedule may not be a long-term solution

unless you’ve already made that part of your daily routine. My dreadful 6 a.m. mornings only worked for so long before snoozing the alarm about a

dozen times became way more appealing.



Another crucial consideration is to set very clear boundaries on when and where to dick around and when to bunker down. And so I tell you, dear

reader: if you’re working and traveling with someone who isn’t working, it’s helpful to establish some ground rules on how much each party is willing to

accommodate and for how long. In my case, it was often temporary--usually a few weeks. Whenever I knew I had a long day cooped up in a

coffee shop or coworking space, I encouraged them to explore on their own, and then we could meet up for food.

It still was a struggle to be productive. I just don’t think there’s a blanket solution here. Every dynamic will be different, though setting crystal-clear

boundaries and communication could help you from wanting to strangle each other.

How do you balance work and travel at the same time?

It depends on your work situation.

My clients expect me to produce and deliver stuff every single week, in

addition to other projects that are a bit more irregular but still require a lot of my time every week. In essence, I am juggling full-time work while

traveling, which is actually a lot harder than it sounds. Some days I’m so busy working that I’m unable to leave the house to explore the fantastical, foreign world outside my window. That has led to many episodes of

anxiety-filled manic depression.



It took a long time, but I’ve finally learned to identify important and urgent work, hire help, and generally be much more protective of my time. Much

of finding the balance between work and travel is being able to ruthlessly prioritize what you really need to focus your attention on and what can be

shoved to the next day, without feeling guilty. You can read about some of my work habits here, but you’ll notice the overriding theme is to create a

system that conserves mental energy as much as possible. In our day to day, there are three scarce resources: time, money, and

energy. I believe that as long as you have energy you can figure out how to shuffle your time, and in turn, convert that time into money. But the very

nature of traveling--making new, exciting discoveries and getting high off novelty--make up the lion’s share of your energy and turns staying productive into a real challenge.

When you’re somewhere new and unfamiliar, everything requires conscious

effort and thought for even the most mundane tasks: where and how to find coffee; where to do laundry and how often; how to not look like a jackass in

front of locals; or should you check out the mom ‘n’ pops restaurant down the street or check out that highly reviewed place on TripAdvisor?

The most powerful counter to a never-ending series of exhausting questions every day is to establish a routine: know what you’re going to do, what you

will work on and when, without batting an eyelid. Ironically, we tend to give our same-y routines crap until unfamiliar customs and environments throw

you into perpetual mental Tetris.



Whenever I head somewhere new, I spend at least the first couple of days scoping out my surroundings to nail down a new routine. The most

important things I look out for are coffee shops (outlets, Wi-Fi, good coffee and environment), public transportation, grocery stores, gyms or parks for

working out, and quick sources of food.

What do you do to stay in shape?

I’ve always been sort of a fitness junkie, to the point of working out five times a week, without fail, and perfectly nailing my 140 grams of protein

each and every day. Traditional gym workouts were life. When I started traveling, I worked out five or six days a week with my suspension trainers

and squeezed in a gym session whenever I could find one.

But it was difficult to stick to a very rigid regimen because of the changing physical environment, which affected my routine, and availability of foods.

I knew that I had to adapt.

These days I still value fitness, but instead of obsessing over how many days I work out, with a non-negotiable number of sets and reps, and hitting my

nutrition and protein needs perfectly, I tell myself to settle for “good enough.” It wasn’t easy for me to accept at first. Eventually, my white-knuckled grip on my fitness loosened when I finally just accepted that my

mental energy is like a tree branch: it has to bend from repeated, daily invisible forces.



I’ve decided that forcing my body to be a textbook specimen isn’t my priority (or very realistic) any more. That said, working out is still

something I strive to do regularly to keep myself in shape and strong. I believe, after all, that the physical strength and discipline I’ve built over the

years in the gym are why I can travel as independently as I do. Plus, regular workouts keep my focus and concentration sharp, help me get better sleep,

and overall let me feel accomplished and grounded in an otherwise constantly moving lifestyle.

During my travels, I was able to walk everywhere, go hiking, join communities for Frisbee and other fun sports, rock climb, and any other

activity I can find. For strength training, I did bodyweight programs and work out on my travel-friendly suspension trainers, which are a pair of straps with handles.

All of this actually isn’t very different from what I do at home, but I will say

that my intensity has dialed down.

How do you find gyms?

The first thing I’ll tell you is, your success with finding something depends

on what you’re looking for. If you want cardio machines and group classes, you can find one, no sweat. Love and breathe CrossFit? Your tribe is all over the world, too. Well-equipped weight rooms (especially ones with a squat

rack), on the other hand, can be few and far between. When you find one, it’s like finding a bag full of money on the side of the road: cha-ching!



The real wrench in your gym-going plans, though, is budget. How much are you willing to spend on gym membership alone? Because when you do find

a gym, the membership fees will be a swift chop to your throat and bank account. I’ve paid anywhere from 70 USD on the cheaper end to 180USD a

month for monthly gym access.

It’s a broad range, for sure, and I’ve had minor success negotiating monthly membership fees, but gyms abroad still cost me quite a bit more than I would’ve liked. What’s more, some countries require that you have a local

bank account to start a membership, which is merely an additional, albeit frustrating, roadblock.

All in all, I recommend against counting on gym access. If you want to travel and stay in shape, your best bet is to go with a bodyweight program

and combine it with suspension training. If you do find a gym that doesn’t cause your budget to hemorrhage, it’s merely a bonus.

How do you eat healthy while traveling?

As you probably already know, the hard part is figuring out what foods are available and familiarizing yourself with the nutritional profile of these

foods. Certain staples will be recognizable from country to country, such as rice,

chicken, pork, fish, some tubers, and so on, but of course, it’s the preparation methods, seasonings, complements, and sauces that muddy up

ideas of their overall healthfulness.



Most sauces tend to be heavy in sugar and fat, for example, so going light

on any sauce is always a good strategy (though it’s worth mentioning that it’s considered bizarre to request that sauce be on the side in many

countries outside the U.S.). Also, I doubt I need to dwell on anything that’s fried--you can bet your lucky sock that these are calorically dense and not

the best option for you. The other thing that’s overlooked when you travel long term: you’d also be

hard-pressed to get enough veggies, fiber, and protein in your diet if you eat every meal from a street stand or restaurant.

Now I’m not saying you have to shrink away from flaky, buttery croissants, dodge vendors hawking hot, curry fish balls, or turn your nose up at

freshly-pressed panini sandwiches. Those delicious options are best balanced out with meals at home, where you can control the ingredients

and add more fiber, veggies, and protein. Not to mention cooking most of your meals is a money-saving maneuver. This does mean you need access to

a kitchen, and it’s one thing I make sure of when I book my accommodations. Will the host or place let me cook? How well-equipped is the kitchen? Is there a grocery store nearby?

Even if your kitchen seems sad and limited, you can do wonders with just a

stove, pot, and microwave. There are hard-boiled eggs, of course, but I’ve also made scrambled eggs, salmon, and many one-mug miracles in the

microwave. In some countries, I’ve learned to cobble together healthy Frankenstein meals by assembling disparate, ready-to-eat components. For



example, in Japan, many of my quick meals were onigiri (rice balls) paired with a pre-packaged chicken breast that was meant for salads.

Nothin’ fancy, but they were tasty, cheap, and convenient.

Thanks for reading!



Wow, thanks for sticking with me all the way here.

Hopefully, you’ll find these tips useful to help you better prepare for the nomadic adventure of your life, however long or short it may be; or even if

you're already in the middle of one.

Nomad life isn’t just a glamorous jet setting vacation. It’s a life that needs all the technological and emotional help it can get. The good news is that I continue to share my honest views and opinions about this life, as it relates

to fitness, personal health and development, travels, and getting shit done on FY!S. Hope to see you around more often. If you’d like to show more support:

§ Like my Facebook page by clicking here. You’ll get somewhat

frequent doses of musings and links to my articles from around the web.

§ Follow me on Twitter. Lots of travel updates there and silly jokes, too.

§ Follow me on Instagram. Keep up with my fitness and travels

visually!

Hope to see you around. Don’t be shy, say hi!

--Stephanie

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