The world is ginormous and there's so much to experience and explore! How do I choose the next country to visit? Thankfully, I have very clear life goals for this stage in life and that's how I begin, by understanding what is important to me and why.
Facebook Groups & Google
My choice of nomad life truly began for me because of Facebook and Google. I belong to a long list of Facebook groups for Digital Nomads (DNs) and travelers. It's where I found there are hundreds of thousands of nomads all around the world. And I've found the groups for women to be particularly helpful and encouraging. By participating in these groups, I learn where thousands of DNs are traveling, their likes and dislikes, and gain a bunch of recommendations. If a country and city sound particularly interesting to me, that's when I dive in deeper; looking for groups specific to that area. More importantly, I start searching for groups that include Expats, you know those people that left their home country to go live in another. Expats, short for expatriates, have a wealth of knowledge because they've already done a ton of research, made the move themselves, and have lived in the location that I'm scoping out.
Climate and Water
Chasing warm to hot tropical weather while staying in coastal communities is my happy place. I grew up in landlocked states and spent most of the first 39 years of my life in Kansas, Texas, Illinois, Louisiana, and Arizona, in the US. Any beach or ocean experiences were in the form of short vacations. So the thought of living in towns with soft white sand and crystal clear waters was my dream; and now I'm living it! For me, there's something that warms my heart when I gaze at open water, whether it's an ocean, sea, bay, or lagoon. I absolutely love the feeling I get inside. Since I understand this about myself, and I like being a happy person, I chase what makes me happy.
Over the years I have learned my happy place has temperatures between 75F to 90F or 24C to 32C. This is where Google becomes one of my best friends. I begin by searching with key phrases like: "Countries with warm weather in January," or "best beach towns for Spring in Europe." By using lots of keyword searches and thumbing through article after article, I come across some intriguing ones like this, Around the World in Perfect Weather. The author of that article was traveling super fast around the world but they identified the places and times of year that worked for them. Because I'm a nerdy spreadsheet girl and I can understand and analyze content better in that form, I took the info from the article and put it together in a way that I enjoy, and added some additional information. Here's my version.
Google Maps is a helpful tool for me. It allows me to look at coastal regions around the world as well as zoom in to some of the smallest islands. Because I want to live by water and beaches as much as possible, exploring the world map is a relaxing way I can spend some of my time. I love the street view too within the Maps. Although the images might be old, I like seeing what a community looked like once upon a time. If I find a place intriguing, then I can pop over to YouTube and see if anyone made videos of a place. Of course, there are hundreds every time, it seems.
Duration of Stay
Once I figured out where I think I want to go, how long can I stay? Or how long do I choose to stay? First of all, I travel as a lifestyle choice. I do not travel for work or to work. I travel to learn about a country and experience life as a local. For these reasons, I choose to travel and enter countries on tourist permits or visitor visas. The actual name differs from country to country so it's important to look up the country's government website and see what your options are.
As a U.S. passport holder, I can generally stay in a country for 30 to 90 days as a tourist/visitor. Often I can enter and obtain a passport stamp (permit to be there) but other times I need to apply on a website so that the particular government knows who to expect. For Turkey, I had to fill out an online form to indicate my arrival date, and pay about $50 for my visitor visa which was good for 90 days. In that particular country, I could come and go as much as I wanted on that visa during those 90 days, but after that expiration date arrived, I would have to stay out of the country a full 90 days before I could return. This is quite different from my experience living in Belize, where I got a 30-day permit upon entry, and then every month I went to an immigration office and paid for another 30-day stamp. Thankfully, they started administering 90-day stamps so they wouldn't take up so many pages in a passport. Belize is also super unique in that it allows visitors to keep extending their stays. The Dominican Republic is like this too, but I'd say those countries are rare in their immigration laws pertaining to visitors.
Many countries have what's called a 90/180 Rule. Meaning, you can stay within that country for 90 days out of 180 days, or 3 months out of 6 months. When your 90 days are expired, you must remain outside of that country for 90 days before returning. And then there are countries that have a rolling calendar. This is the case, particularly for Europe and what's called the Schengen Zone. Europe has 20-some countries in the Schengen Zone and other 20-some countries outside of this zone. Earlier this year I lived in Spain, Gran Canaria, and Italy. All three of those countries are within Schengen. Now I did not schedule my 90 days in the zone all at once. For part of April and May, I was in Spain and Gran Canaria. Then in June, I went to Croatia, which is a non-Schengen country. Come July, I went to Italy and Greece which are in Schengen, and that's where I spent the rest of my 90-days. At this point, I needed to stay out of Schengen countries for at least 3 months, because I wanted to enter again before the end of the year. That's when I did research and found Turkey and Montenegro as interesting countries I'd like to enjoy, they are out of Schengen, and have weather and water, which I love so much.
Schedules of Family & Friends
Another factor that contributes to my choices of where I go and why are family and friends. This year I had a friend and my sister join me in Barcelona, Spain in April as we wanted to have fun on a Mediterranean Cruise together. Neither of them had been on this cruise itinerary or to the countries so this was a great way for us to enjoy time together and make memories exploring new places. My mom is meeting me in Portugal (a Schengen country) in November. That's why it was very important for me to stay out of Schengen countries in August, September, and October, so I could be allowed into Portugal to meet my mom. She and I are going to meet and hang out in Lisbon, then have a blast on the Douro River via a cruise, followed by several days of relaxing in Porto. We are both super excited to see each other and soak in what Portugal has to offer!
It seems like I have visitors or plan vacations with family and friends 2-4 times a year. Once we have dates and locations set, these take priority over any of my choices of where to go and when. I'm doing my best not to zig-zag across the entire globe as it's exhausting and expensive to keep traveling to far destinations once right after another. That's why my first few years of nomading, I was around Central and South America, and the Caribbean. There was plenty of distance travel involved but nothing like trying to go from South America to Asia, to North America to Europe. Hoping back and forth like that is not what I want for my life right now. However, I do love to keep my schedule somewhat flexible. This year, when I relocated to Europe, it was my intention to stay in Europe for a year or two, navigating Schengen and non-Schengen countries. Well, Europe has legit winters and I HATE, like truly HATE, cold weather. When I learned places like the Canary Islands or Cyprus just weren't going to have the warm tropics that I love, that's when I decided to go chase that warm weather. Southeast Asia kept coming up in search results for climate and beaches that will meet my needs for December. That means, once my mom and I part ways at the end of November from our time in Portugal, I'm taking some long-haul flights to Thailand.
Modes of Transportation Influencing Locations
Once I determined Thailand was where I want to winter, then I searched transportation options. Now, I already took a transatlantic cruise from NYC to Barcelona to relocate from the Americas to Europe. That allowed me to stop at countries that I had never heard of, or have thought of spending any time in. So of course, I tried to find any cruise that would take me from Europe to Asia, which passes through the Suez Canal. How cool would that be?! Taking a repositioning cruise from Europe through the Suez Canal, would allow me to visit countries like Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai; then onto India, Sri Lanka, and Singapore. Now that are some travel goals right there!
Unfortunately, no cruises are going that way in December. It's not the season for those routes, so that takes me back to good ole flying. Many hours of searches for flight itineraries resulted in an affordable option with Oman Air. I'll be flying from Porto, Portugal to Munich, Germany for a layover, and then onto Muscat, Oman. With a multi-city booking, I get to stay in Oman for 5 nights to explore Muscat which will have hot weather. They also are supposed to have good snorkeling, so you bet I'm booking an excursion to get back into the warm ocean waters again. Finally, after my week in Oman, I'll finish my flight itinerary to Thailand, landing in Bangkok. At this very moment, I have not planned specifics as I'm still researching. But I think I want to hand on the islands of Koh Samui and Koh Phangan for December and part of January. I have a friend going to Phuket in January, so I may go hang with her. And then in mid-February, I have 14 friends going to Bali, Indonesia, so I'm planning on meeting them there.
Some of the Apps and websites I use to determine transportation options are: Rome2rio, FlightConnections, Hopper, Skyscanner, and Skiplagged. In a future post, I will go into detail about how I choose specific cities and accommodations.
Cost of Living - Geoarbitrage
How do I afford to travel full-time? Honestly, I spend less living a nomadic lifestyle than a traditional one. When I lived in the US, over a dozen cities and 5 states, I developed a horrible addiction to consumerism and I was heavily influenced by, "Keeping up with The Jones." Looking back now at my spending habits, I just want to whack myself across the head. I would have no problem buying anything and everything because I have credit cards, and multiple simultaneous jobs, so I could always pay them off next month, or the next month, or the next. DUMB, DUMB, DUMB, DUMB, DUMB.
By becoming a minimalist that lives out of a suitcase, I simply cannot buy crap anymore. As much as I have a craving too, I see something that is super pretty or neat, I look at it, enjoy a moment, and then keep walking. I also track every single penny I spend. That has been super cool to learn about my spending habits, and how they change by time of year or country I'm in. I've been tracking my expenses in WanderWallet and TrailWallet on my iPhone. Unfortunately, both App developers stopped the upkeep of these apps and removed them from the App Store. So I'm seeking a new one to use for 2023, and will finish this year's tracking in TrailWallet.
I use geoarbitrage, which is when you live in areas where you are earning a stronger dollar than the local currency, so your money goes further. This is how I also balance navigating between high-cost-of-living countries with low-cost-of-living countries. This year, I have had some pretty high spending months. But then I spent very little when living in Turkey, and once I get to Southeast Asia, my expenses will drop significantly too because it's just a cheaper region of the world to live in. My basic strategy for budgeting is choosing an annual amount of money I want to spend for the year, tracking my monthly spending, and making it balanced by the end of the year. I really like this method because my income is variable and it allows me to keep a flexible schedule. If something comes up and I want to do something more expensive than originally planned, I don't have to freak out. I make adjustments to compensate for the higher spend now, for a lower spend month later. I'll go deeper into this in a future post.
There you have it. What influences my decisions to travel to a particular country?
Learning where other nomads travel.
Chasing hot weather and coastal communities.
Legal length of time in a country.
Family and friends who visit me around the world.
Modes of transportation.
Cost of Living
Where have I been and where am I going?
Check out the Itinerary page.
Photos of my friend Cecily and sister Liz when we cruised the Med in April 2022. And pics of my new friend Teddy. We met in Croatia in June 2022 and reunited in Turkey in October 2022. Can't wait to make more memories with all of them in the next destination!