Sorcha Porter

When we embarked on this mad mad journey that is now our life I (Sorcha) had a few major bucket list items to check. One of them was visiting Morocco. I was also really nervous about coming to Morocco, even though I was the one who wanted to take us in the first place. I had heard horror stories. That it was dangerous, that it could be unsafe for women, and of course growing up in a Jewish/ Christian household I hadn’t had a lot of positive/ any real education around Islam. I was also worried as a business owner that it would be difficult to work because many people had told me that Wifi in the Medina (where we stayed) is spotty. Now that we’ve been here, and have experienced the Medina and city I thought I would put together a Digital Nomad Guide to Marrakech.

1. How to get to the Medina from the Airport.
2. How to get Wifi.
3. How to Navigate the Medina.
4. Battery pack, why it’s important, why every nomad needs one.
5. What to wear.
6. Shopping tips.

How to get to the Medina from the Airport.

The easiest way to get to the Medina from the Airport is to contact your Airbnb, riad or hotel and have them arrange a transfer. It is VERY IMPORTANT. You do not want to try and hail a taxi at the airport, as that can easily lead to you being brought to the wrong place. Many Taxi drivers have relationships with Riads where they get a cut if you stay at the Riad they bring you to. So they may try to bring you to the wrong place. Additionally, you should only pay around $15 for a cab. There is a fixed rate for all cabs from the airport. You should ask the Riad to make sure your Taxi driver will have the name of your Riad or yourself on their sign (don’t just ask the drivers there if they are supposed to take you, they will just say yes and then you’re off to god knows where!). Additionally, if your Riad is in the Medina you should ask the Riad/ host to have someone meet your taxi at a drop off point so that you can be guided to your Riad. There are NO CARS allowed in the Medina, so you cannot get dropped off in front of your hotel/ Riad if you stay there. I do recommend staying in the Medina if you are in Marrakech for a short time (less than a month) as it’s walkable and has easy access to everything you want to see in Morocco- tours, food, shopping etc.

How to get Wifi.

I wish we could be those people who disappear for weeks at a time not looking at the internet and taking in the beauty of the world around us without the interruptions of technology but we run a software development company… and that’s just not our life. We NEED the Internet and having access to it is imperative for success. So we carry a Skyroam around. Skyroam is basically a mobile hotspot. The device costs between $100-150 (depending on the time of year, and sales going on) and then you can buy data on a monthly/ daily basis. We have a European sim card so we always have data in Europe and while we could have purchased a sim here in Morocco we decided it would just be easier to use our SkyRoam. We pay about $50 every couple of months and use it in areas where our data poops out or doesn’t work. It’s got a really great range and can connect to all of our devices at once. It gives us peace of mind while traveling in remote areas knowing we’ve always got access to google maps or WhatsApp in an emergency. AND it works brilliantly in the Medina (where many phones don’t work).

How to Navigate the Medina

The Medina is a Maze and unless you’re some sort of savant there is no way you could possibly navigate the Medina by memory at first. I recommend that when you get to your Riad you mark it on Google Maps as well as the nearest Medina Gate to you. I also like to mark the nearest cross street or landmark. For example, we are around the corner from a Bakery and the Kings Palace Gate. So I have those marked as well as our Riad. This way if you get lost in the Medina you can just start walking towards the direction of the dot on your map (many of the streets in the Medina are not marked) If all else fails, you can stop and ask a shop owner where your gate is. DO NOT follow anyone that offers to show you how to get back to your Riad. They will 9/10 times expect you to pay them or they may try to take you to their family/friend/employer shop.

Bring a Battery Pack

There is nothing worse than having your phone die when you need it. Oh, wait, yes there is, having your phone die, when you need it, in the middle of a maze in a foreign country… yah, that’d be worse. We have a Pocket Juice battery pack that we picked up for $40 before leaving the states. It charges our phones and laptops and lasts for like 10+ hours and can charge multiple devices at once. It isn’t the cheapest battery pack you can buy but it was a great investment and has come in particularly handy on this trip. Since we use our phones for photos, video, translation, and mapping we burn through battery pretty quickly. This thing is a lifesaver. There were a few times where I don’t know how we would have found our way back to our Airbnb without it.

What to Wear.

We are part of a lot of travel groups and whenever someone goes to Morocco I see people asking what they should wear. It’s true, Morocco is a Muslim country, but when it comes to what you should wear the answer is, what you are comfortable in. Keep in mind that most people dress modestly but I have friends who are American and live there full time and when I asked they said they just wear what they want. We were there in winter so we dressed as we would in southern CA in the winter. At night it got very cold, so lots of light layers were what we did most. I wore this (below) almost every day.

Shopping Tips.

Most prices are negotiable in the Medina. Almost all shop owners will barter. And if you’re a strong negotiator you can get a great deal. I had a couple items I really wanted from Morocco. A large wool scarf. a leather carpet duffle bag, slippers, things I’d seen in shops on Instagram. I got all of these things, for under $200.

Avoid using guides/ drivers for shopping. Guides and drivers are good for sightseeing but if you want to shop, you should definitely hoof it and find your own stuff. Guides and drivers often have a relationship with shops that they take you to. And while some may be genuine and will actually negotiate a fair price for you, many are just splitting the profits with the shop owners. I met someone while here who was also from the US and who used a guide. I bought this duffel bag in a shop in the Medina and negotiated a price of about 600 Dirhams for it. Frankly, I think I could have negotiated it lower but I felt $60 was still a very good deal and don’t necessarily believe in bartering people out of their livelihood for the sake of a good deal. I had the shop owner throw a small backpack in for free, so really I paid about $50 for the duffle. The other American I met used a driver/ guide who took them to the “best leather shop in Morocco” and told them that 1600 Dirhams for the bag was a very good price, and he “negotiated” for them. She bought 6 bags for $1300 …. I could have gotten the same amount and quality bags for probably less than $300.

The deeper in the Medina you go, the cheaper/ more competitive the prices get. Like any shopping experience or market the goods near the entrances tend to be more expensive than those in the center. The shopkeepers know that you’ve not had the chance to compare prices and they will try to take you for all your worth. Don’t let them. Take the first day and just walk the Medina, get a sense of the different prices, the different options. Be prepared to say NO as once you start asking about price they will start the haggling process. It’s very easy to get sucked in. But don’t let them, just keep moving and learning about what things cost. Then the next day go back to the stores with the best prices/ goods and haggle for your stuff. Don’t settle for anything more than exactly what you want to pay.

Inspect items for quality. It’s important to take a look at the quality of the items you’re wanting to buy. I bought a large wool blanket scarf for $20 US (200 dirham) and while I could likely have gotten the same looking scarf for less I saw a large difference in quality of the scarf. Be sure to examine the stitching and thickness of bags, the quality of the weave on an outfit and the construction of the goods you want to purchase. Don’t get hung up on what is cheapest, look for the best value for money, not the one that costs the least.

Don’t be afraid to walk away. If you aren’t happy with the price, don’t be scared to walk. A lot of times, the shop owner will come after you and give you the price you were asking for.

Hey, hey! My name is Angela, I’m a digital-nomad-in-training (currently in Spain, after being in Paris and Ireland, and heading to Africa next). I’m also the owner of an awesome branding and web + graphic design agency (Hot Mess Consulting), which allows me the opportunity to work remotely from anywhere. 

Ok, you got me, I’m already lying! There’s no such thing as a digital-nomad-in-training. Because being a digital nomad, kind of like being a business owner in general, came with no guide book. And that’s the first thing I want to share about my journey thus far: there are no rules, there is no one right path, and good gravy: if I can do it – you can too! 

Let me back up a little bit though. Just a year ago, I had not a single clue that I would soon be embarking on such an epic adventure. In fact, I didn’t even have my passport yet! The idea of world travel was just something I would slap on my latest vision board and think, yeah one day! I also had just hired my first two employees for Hot Mess and they worked with me right in my apartment (I was able to squeeze three desks into my living room/kitchen area) because I wasn’t ready to handle the unique challenges of training and managing remote employees (quite yet, anyway). I was also still running my other business (Thongin’ It Boutique), an online + mobile women’s clothing boutique, out of the garage underneath my apartment (with my huge pink converted fed-ex truck parked in the driveway when one of my girls wasn’t out selling from it at a show or local market).

The truth is that as I type this out, I realize how crazy it all may sound. But I never really had time to stop and think or worry about that, all I had time for was to keep on going full speed ahead. And if there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that if I decide I’m going to do something, there’s very little that can stop me (even my own fears and insecurities, which there is no lack of, believe me).

Switching my business responsibilities from needing to have a physical presence to be able to lead a fully remote team, was not originally about travel. It was just more about freedom. I was burnt out, and I knew what I was doing wasn’t sustainable for me. So ever so slowly, I transitioned my employees to remote (we are now a team of 5), and eventually put my boutique on hold altogether. 

As I was emailing a new friend of mine, Sorcha (yes the Sorcha of Sorcha and Matt’s Grand Adventure) about how burnt out I (still) was, she mentioned that I should meet up with her in Champagne France late November and make a couple of weeks out of it. Suddenly, something just clicked for me. NOW is one day, the one day I said I’d travel! And, instantly, I knew two weeks in Champagne just wasn’t going to cut it. I was really ready to do this, to go all in. And less than 5 weeks later, I was headed to my first stop (Ireland). 

So that’s my story, in a nutshell! I’m still only about 5 weeks into my digital nomad adventure, but I’ve already learned so much. Here are some tips if you have even an inkling of doing this yourself one day or have just started planning for your adventure:

1. Get real about what is getting in your way.

It’s easy to think it’s money – but most of the time, that’s just not the truth. Through pet-sitting or even just AirBnB rentals, it’s actually quite affordable to live abroad. And even the travel itself doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. I got to Ireland for $333 by choosing the lowest cost day/time to travel that I could. And hopping from one country to the next by plane, now that I’m here, has only been around $150-190. It will be a little more costly to get to my next destination (Africa), but I will also be staying with one of my Hot Mess gals while I’m there (whom I’ve never met, but I am so excited to meet, by the way)! 

And while having money saved up would be a great idea, really the main thing you need is just a solid source of income (that you can earn remotely). This doesn’t mean you have to own your own business either, you just need to find a remote position (and listen, if you think it will be impossible to find a job like this then you are right, but more and more companies are building remote teams these days, so it’s really not that far-fetched)!

2. Know that it isn’t always as glamorous as it may seem.

If you are going to be making a lot of sacrifices, and big decisions, in order to make this digital nomad dream come true, then there is something else you need to know. And that is this: whatever your internal struggles are, they will be coming with you; whatever your physical struggles are, they will also be coming with you. In other words, you are still going to be living this crazy thing called life, you will just be living it abroad. And I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not a picture-perfect vision of mental or physical health myself, so if you are – maybe this won’t apply to you. But personally, I deal with anxiety and depression at times, and I’m pretty darn overweight too (so walking, in general, is honestly a challenge). 

Anyway, my point is that every day is not an amazing adventurous walk in the park (and even if it were, I’d run out of breath or my feet would start hurting real quick, so there goes that lol). Ok jokes aside, I still have to wake up and decide that today is a new day and it’s going to be a great one (even if I couldn’t even get out of bed at all the day prior). And if I could turn this all into a lesson for you? It would be: don’t wait just because you don’t have everything else all figured out (or you could be waiting forever). And be kind and patient with yourself. This is all about YOU. It’s your life. It’s your journey. You can go at whatever pace you want. You can carry whatever baggage you’re not yet able to let go of. You can cut the day short if your heart or feet are throbbing. You’re allowed to be human. Even on your glamorous journey abroad. 

3. On that note, again, it’s all about YOU. There are no right or wrong answers to anything.

Ok if you’ve made it this far, you probably have already figured this out. But just in case you need another reminder. There is much to be learned from those ahead of you, but at the end of the day, the decisions are yours to make and there are no wrong ones. From where to travel, or what to pack in your bag with the precious space you have, to what sort of accommodations you will be staying at, what to do each day, how long to stay at each location, whether to cook most of year meals instead of going out to eat, whether to spend time learning some of the language of the countries you are in or not, whether to use Uber or take advantage of the affordable modes of public transportation, whether to swipe right or left on that cute Spanish boy with the amazing eyes and then whether or not to actually meet up with him, and everything else in between. The important thing is for you to learn how to listen to yourself (and trust yourself) above all else. What do YOU want? Ok! Go there, do that! 

I’m sure in another few months, I’ll have a whole new list of tips for you. But until then, I’ll be walking in that amazing park (MY amazing park) and I hope you are walking in yours too!

Cheers!

Angela, Hot Mess Consulting

Follow my business and travel adventures on Facebook: www.facebook.com/hotmessconsulting

When we decided to go to Budapest the first thing that came to my mind was “We MUST go to the Budapest Thermal Spas!!!” I was so excited having seen so many photos and Pinterest posts about them. But other than general imagery about what to expect we found it difficult to locate practical information about them. Like do you need to wear shoes? How much will it cost? Will there be food there? Should I bring my own towel? What is the best Spa to go to if I can only go to one? Where do I put my stuff while I am in the pools? So now that we have experienced the baths in all their glory we thought we’d write a guide to Budapest Thermal Spa’s and Baths.

Which Baths should you go to?!

First thing’s first you have to decide WHERE you want to go! Budapest has LOTS of thermal spas and baths all over the city. We did a bit of research, got recommendations from friends and family, and did a bit of Pinterest-ing and decided we really wanted to visit the Gellert and Szechenyi Baths. There are far more options than just these two. The Ruda’s and Thermal Beer Spas ALSO looked really exciting but we didn’t have enough time for all four! If you can only go to one spa, then we recommend that you go to Szechenyi. The reason being is it was (in our opinion) the most beautiful. Having been a lot of places in Europe the Szechenyi spas gave us the most Eastern European vibes. The building that it is in is constructed to look like a palace. It has a yellow and cream-colored exterior with traditional arches and ornate marble statues. It is visually stunning. While we also thought the Gellert Spas were gorgeous we both agreed if we came back and could only go to one it would be Szechenyi. Additionally, Szechenyi has 3 outdoor pools, (they have several indoor pools) all of which were in working order when we went. Whereas Gellert only had 1 outdoor pool and its large wave pool was closed for winter.

What should you bring to the spa?

While it does have some information on the spa websites about what to bring/ dress code these things aren’t suuuuper obvious or easy to find. Therefore we got to the spa and were slightly underprepared. Most of the spas require slippers or sandals in the communal areas. We didn’t anticipate this, and they wouldn’t allow us to wear our Allbirds sneakers, but you can purchase sandals there. What we didn’t realize (because the front desk guy, conveniently forgot to mention this) was that you could also rent slippers. We ended up buying slippers for about $20 for two pairs. Had we known renting was an option we would have rented, however now we do have some slippers that we can use on the road and that also double as a souvenir so we’re not too mad about it.

No idea what the cost to rent slippers is but the cost to rent robes is around 2000-3000 HUF (which equates to around $6-8) so I imagine the cost of the slipper rental would be less. You can also rent towels and even swimwear at the spa, which we didn’t know, so we did bring our own. It all costs more than bringing your own items but rest assured if you are in Budapest and didn’t bring something you can likely rent or buy one at the spa.

How much does it cost to go to the Spas?

The average price of all the spas we went to/ looked at cost between 5000-7000 HUF which equates to around $15-20 per person. The prices are higher on the weekend, additionally, it’s more crowded on the weekends, so we recommend going during the week.

Where do I put my stuff when I am in the pools?

As content creators who carry a lot of expensive cameras and tech gear around with us basically everywhere we were super concerned about what to do with our stuff while at the spas. Thankfully the price of admission includes either a locker or a private cabin. If you get a Cabin it provides a lockable room for you to place your belongings in and to change in. If you get a locker you get a locker which codes to your wrist band and opens and closes only to your band. Cabin tickets are more expensive than lockers so we only purchased locker tickets. Lockers do not include private changing areas. Though the way the lockers worked at each spa was slightly different. The Szechnyi Spa had a men’s, and women’s locker room, whereas Gellert had a shared locker room. Since at Szechnyi it was a gendered locker area Matt and I felt totally comfortable changing in the Szechnyi spas. At Gellert, they had all the lockers in the same area with changing rooms, reminiscent of a fitting room at a department store, scattered throughout. The changing rooms had doors that locked from the inside but there was only a handful of these and men and women both used them. So there was a bit of a queue to get into one. Again, we were totally comfortable changing in the Gellert Spas but if you are reading this and aren’t comfortable with changing in front of others or with other genders close by you may want to consider a cabin ticket.

Is there food at the spas?

YES! There is totally food at the spas. Both spas have bars, and restaurants, actually I believe they had a couple at each! That said they were not cheap. We spent about 3-5 hours at each spa and just timed it so we ate before and after.

Other Spa tips!

How to get there: Both spa’s we went to are easily accessed by public transit lines. We found Budapest to be a very walkable city and that Gellert and Szechenyi were about a block away from the nearest tram/ metro stop. The cost of a 24 hr metro ticket is about 1500 HUF, which is just shy of $5. It works for busses, trams, and metro.

Drink LOTS of water and take breaks: The spas have a way of sucking you in and the warm water makes you never want to get out of the pool. But be wary, you can get super dehydrated and overheated sitting in warm waters for too long. We’d get out every 20-30 minutes and walk to another pool, or sit on a lounge chair for a minute! Matt even dunked himself in an ice bath! (It’s a real thing.) All the spas have pools that are cooler, (like 75 degrees instead of 100) so if you want to cool off but aren’t ready to get out of the water go from the hot to the cold pool and let your body temperature go down. Also, bring a water bottle and be sure to drink every time you change pools.

You can buy tickets online or in-person: We purchased one set of tickets online and one in person. We didn’t have issues with either but we were there in the offseason. The websites for all of the spas recommend purchasing ahead so you can skip the line at the ticket counter.

There is no real dress code and no one cares what you look like!: This was probably our favorite part of the spas. I find in the US that people can be really judgy about what body type belongs in what swimming suit etc. At the spa’s (and in Europe in general) no, one gives a shit. There is no real dress code and everyone just wears what they are comfortable in, there were no rude teenage girls laughing at full-figured women, or obnoxious college bro’s harassing people. I saw women in swimming suits that looked like dresses, and men in teenie weenie speedos and everyone had a great time. As long as you are comfortable and have some form of swimwear on you’re A-OK.

We ABSOLUTELY recommend going to a thermal spa if you visit Budapest and would go so far as to say its a MUST do.

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Also if you enjoyed this check out our other travel tips!

By: Hoopla Adventures

There is often a quite visceral reaction to describing yourself as a ‘digital nomad’. People sell it as a quit your job and make millions of lifestyle, but it’s not all glamour and luxury travel.

Maybe for a lucky few this is the case, but for most people working online is limited to your skillset and experience. We can teach and write online which means we can take it on the road, but even that took years of training and working in different fields to achieve. 

Our own personal goal is to experience the world, learn from different communities and start an eco-home and sustainable business at home one day. After volunteering and living in remote places, this is what we have a passion for, but everyone has different motivations in life and that’s what makes this world so interesting. Wouldn’t it be terribly dull if everyone wanted the same out of life?! 

No matter your goals, if being a digital nomad works for you then absolutely go for it but go in prepared and manage those pesky expectations. 

1. Slow travel with full cultural immersion is our style of travel!

The one certainty that either of us had, even before meeting, was travel. Working in other countries has allowed us to be immersed in other cultures in a way we couldn’t have if we had only passed through. That realization combined with a want to learn about the world and to help communities along the way lead us to a peculiar combination of jobs to achieve this lifestyle. 

We volunteer to live in a local’s house and look after pets, gardens and take this as an opportunity to learn new skills related to permaculture, self-sustainable living, exploring a new place and learning from locals about the culture and history of where they live. We also love animals and looking after someone’s pet is helping them to not worry that their fur babies! 

Slow travel also allows for a more sustainable travel experience, which is something we write about professionally to try and endorse. Longer stays have also resulted in volunteering with local community projects and in between house sits we can volunteer too while keeping on top of online work – teaching languages, writing commissions and our own blog.

2. Staying motivated is achievable

With so much going on it can be a hard job staying motivated. When we’re tucked away in the countryside with a few animals to keep us company, it suddenly becomes easier to say we’re going to use this time to work hard on our various online jobs. 

Motivation is often fleeting, and if like us you suffer from anxiety or other mental health issues it can be that much harder. In our pre-travel lives, we worked jobs that sometimes meant we did 50-60 or more hours a week. This really wasn’t helping and it’s only since making the transition that we’ve both had a clearer idea of the life we want. 

We are big believers in writing down your thoughts, ideas and keeping logs. A to-do list is simple but effective and taking a break when needed is just as important. Without sounding preachy, another thing that’s helped is mindfulness meditation and keeping healthy by walking, yoga, eating well and being outside are all things that keep our brains active too. 

3. If we need a day off that’s totally acceptable.

When you’re in between sits or city-based there are distractions, people, enticing coffee shops and exploration to be done. What we say is don’t deny yourselves these experiences. This is what travel and living on the road is all about! It’s important to work to make money, but if you have a schedule and finish projects then for your own sanity, get out and enjoy your surroundings! 

There are days where getting out of bed is impossible, and these are the times we need support. This happens at home, and on the road, unfortunately, you can’t escape your own thoughts and sometimes you get sick. We’ve had bouts of flu or food poisoning and it’s at these times you have to listen to your body and recover. As common sense as all this sounds, if this happened at home, we were much more likely to still go to work and not deal with what was happening to us. 

Just being able to say, this a day for nothing whether it’s Sunday or Wednesday has been a revelation. There are times when work is all-consuming and deadlines mean you work more than you would in a 9-5 job, but there are other periods where there’s less work and it’s acceptable to have some more ‘me time’. 

4. We can enjoy each other’s company without killing each other.

Being in a relationship, however you frame and shape what you have together, is much more than curated moments on Instagram. It’s big fights, petty arguments and giving one another the silent treatment. Sometimes we spend whole days doing our own thing, which we think is healthy! 

What we have found is that we are a fantastic team, who make each other see things from different perspectives and encourage and support each other when needed. Whoever says they don’t argue, even just a little bit while living 24/7 with someone must be a miracle worker! 

We love finding time for one another, date nights and planning together and when we make something together like an article or a trip, we’ve both dreamed about happening it’s the best feeling in the world. Yes, we throw insults at times, but in all honesty, we couldn’t imagine a life without each other. 

5. We are constantly learning and smashing stereotypes.

Traveling is really all about smashing stereotypes and gaining a more in-depth understanding of cultures and communities. As we live for a month or a year in various countries, we have had our own preconceived ideas of other cultures challenged and had to re-think and explain our culture to others. 

No matter your upbringing, you are susceptible to certain stereotypes and while at times there are elements of truth, it’s often not right. You begin to learn a new worldview, it becomes less scary or alien, you see the power of human kindness and notice similarities between different cultures and common problems within society. 

We have been able to write about sustainable travel and living in our time as digital nomads and it’s always exciting to see what communities are achieving and how they preserve their culture or become more open to outside influences as we seek to understand the world a bit better. 

6. Wi-Fi does dictate where we can settle for prolonged periods but it’s manageable.

A frequent problem digital nomads face is that wi-fi dictates where you can go and where you can work from. Often if you’re accommodation is ill-equipped then you need a café to work from. While this seems limiting, as house sitters we have found we can plan sits for longer periods in houses who have strong internet connections. 

It means sometimes we turn down dream sits, but we have still secured house sits in remote places in eco-friendly homes with good connections, usually because the homeowner works from home themselves. 

Our plan is to save in places with a good connection and take time to travel to countries where it’s harder to work online. Living this lifestyle allows for chunks of travel and we can plan accordingly as we go. Yes, it is a nuisance, but this is where planning becomes a more useful tool! 

7. Money is vital to travel, but we keep finding ways to make travel happen.

When we initially left home we had no money, we just left and worked music festivals as bar managers and builders for three months. Then took on remote seasonal jobs and got into management positions at a hotel in the French Alps, before working on a farm in Italy and teaching in Slovakia. 

While we worked these jobs, we worked on our blog and got the incentive to switch to house sitting and working online as digital nomads using the skills we had accumulated over the years. This wasn’t a quick process. We didn’t just quit our jobs and go for it. This was a long, thought out process that took time and perseverance to achieve because you need money and security to continue with this lifestyle. 

We have been so close to giving up, but we seem to always find little jobs or volunteer projects to bridge gaps and this has led to a more consistent online career we can both do. By having time to work online we can spread ourselves around a bit more! 

8. Combining our skills makes for a formidable team!

This brings us to the skills section of the article. Being late twenties and mid-thirties, it won’t be a surprise that we have had various careers and jobs. Combined we have worked in journalism, accounting, hospitality, management, support work, communications and even a local market job!

We both had a similar work ethic drummed into us from an early age, and we’ve always been taught to be self-sufficient and open to anything to keep ourselves afloat. We’ve taken this ethos and our combined skills to provide us with the tools to make this digital nomad life viable. 

We have teaching qualifications so we teach, we have hotel management experience so we can look after estates and houses, one of us is a published journalist so we write and one of us loves photography so they take the photos for our blog, even support work lends itself to having first aid skills which puts homeowners at ease! 

9. Budgeting and planning are essential.

We’ve talked about making schedules, to-do lists and allowing time to recover or have a day off but being able to budget and plan are two essential things to stay on top of. A digital nomad will most likely be freelance and have to think about tax returns and while you travel you need enough money to buy that bus ticket or your accommodation.

With house sitting we have to match dates and places, for example, we know next year we are in the German Alps but our next sit is three weeks later in Norway so our goal is to travel and find a week or two house sit in north Germany or Denmark. 

There are all kinds of things we use to make this easier. Spreadsheets and invoices for our taxes, apps for car sharing and cheap travel comparison alerts, we are signed up to volunteer work websites, house and pet sitting websites with our sits on a calendar and you can make a budgeting plan too with your weekly allowance or what you want to save. 

There are so many tools for travelers and digital nomads, that are all there to make it easier to navigate or provide stop gaps and cheaper travel options. Travel isn’t an easy lifestyle, but it allows us to do the things that make us happy even if not everyone agrees. It would be tragic if we didn’t allow ourselves to at least try even if sometimes that means adulting is required. 

10. Living out of our rucksacks is liberating!

The adage of ‘less is more’ applies to the digital nomad lifestyle. We can be incredibly happy without 40 pairs of shoes and a walk-in wardrobe. We sold our stuff and stored sentimental things at Jen’s mum’s house. We have two big rucksacks, two small rucksacks and a small cabin bag that is mostly for the tech we need to carry (laptop, headphones etc). 

Carrying your life on your back or in a conventional suitcase, whatever your jam, is liberating! We pre-warn homeowners on house sits though, as the sight of two people with their whole life in toll can seem strange at first. This isn’t a conventional lifestyle and you will have times where people will be taken aback or maybe have pre-conceived notions of what a “backpacker” is like. 

Last year Jen worked at an English immersion camp and was told her backpack meant she would be a troublemaker! While we would love to live up to that preconception, the truth is we’re not that exciting nowadays, and we are somewhat responsible people.

One day we’ll find a place we love and settle down into a new adventure of hopefully building an eco-home, but right now we love our minimalistic life and the opportunities it gives us. 

A little Bit About Us.

We are Jenni and Henry, after leaving our home in Edinburgh we have spent the last three years working various jobs on the road from festival bar managers, hotel managers to teachers! 

Recently we decided to start house and pet sitting full time, working online as teachers and writers to travel a bit more freely and to expand our own website. 

Traveling in a sustainable way is something we explore in our writing, and we are big believers in real talk, and sharing our alternative lifestyle to hopefully inspire others to do things a wee bit differently! 

Check them out at: https://hooplaadventures.com/