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WE’VE BEEN TAKING stock of our nomadic life. We’re quite happy living as we are. But we’re also conscious that things could change at any time for multiple reasons, and we’re ready to shift gears if needed.
We aren’t exactly “living the dream”—because being nomadic was never our dream. We hadn’t even thought about it until a few months before we started our travels. We officially uprooted ourselves—meaning we sold our Houston home—after we’d been away from the place for most of the first year of my retirement. We didn’t want to stay where we were, but we also didn’t have a place we wanted to move. Now, as we enter our third year as nomads, we’re thinking of making at least a few smaller changes to our itinerant lifestyle.
Complaints? I have a few. But then again… (sorry, Mr. Sinatra).
I miss my kettlebells, and it’s hard to maintain my certified instructor standards without heavier ones, which you can’t find in most gyms. My wife is an amazing cook and enjoys it, but it’s less enjoyable when a kitchen has crummy pans and knives, plus she has her own fitness goals that are difficult to achieve when bouncing among whatever gyms are available, if any. It’s also a challenge for us to eat properly when dealing with different kitchens and different stores, especially so when you throw in certain dietary requirements.
To be fair, we’ve been able to enjoy some impressive kitchens and gyms. Still, inconsistent eating and fitness are our biggest day-to-day concerns. I realize these will strike some as minor issues, but people are different and, for us, such things are important. We’ll often go out of our way and pay more than usual for short-term access to a good gym or for the food that we need or want.
We rent a storage unit in Texas that we haven’t seen since we filled it, and it’s become a subject of frequent discussions. Hurricane Beryl nudged us toward action when it caused our storage facility to lose power for an extended period. When we go back to the U.S. in early 2025 to see our parents, we’ll grudgingly make time to go to the storage unit… and do something.
Our options range from further downsizing to a full or partial move of our belongings to Virginia, near where we store our car. On the other hand, we might soon find we’ve wasted time and money moving things we must move again or, alternatively, that we got rid of things we wish we still had. This used to be a mental obstacle to action, but we’ve gotten over it. Whatever we decide won’t be perfect, but it’ll hopefully improve the situation and we’ll stop talking about the storage unit for a while.
So far, these things aren’t enough to make us settle down. But we have been thinking about being in one location for a longer period. Since we started this journey in late 2022, we haven’t been in one place longer than five weeks. Let me tell you that, even if you only have a carry-on and a backpack, unpacking for five weeks is quite a treat, and three to six months has some real attraction.
It would be nice to be somewhere long enough to become part of a community and develop a routine that’ll last for a little while, even if it’s not necessarily where we plan to spend years. Would we move some of our things out of storage? Who knows? But for a several months’ stay, we wouldn’t be beyond buying things we need and donating them when it’s time to move on.
Where would we go? This is another frequent topic of discussion. We like England a lot and can stay in the UK for up to six months on a tourist visa. I’m partial to Italy and speak the language, but a tourist visa there will only get us three months. We haven’t found that many places in the U.S. where we’re excited to stay a long time, but that’s partially because so much of our travel has been out of the country. For no particular reason, some places in the U.S. that were once on the short list for our future home don’t hold the same appeal they once did.
We sometimes think about buying property, possibly to use as a base for a couple of months each year and possibly just as an investment. That said, we don’t keep a lot of cash or bonds in our taxable accounts, waiting for a home purchase that may never happen. Buying would almost certainly entail selling stocks in those accounts. We’d be ready to do this, even if the market were down, as we could offset this with a shift into stocks in our tax-protected accounts. This could apply not only to buying property, but also to any other eventuality that suddenly required us to spend significant cash.
Because of the inherent uncertainty in our lives, we value flexibility in our finances. Our next few months of travel and expenses are usually predictable, even though locations are changing, but we don’t know what we don’t know. A medical emergency or a serious health diagnosis could mean a move at short notice to get care.
It would be a place that isn’t home, nor necessarily a town we know or where we have a circle of friends. More likely than not, we’d initially deal with the situation outside the U.S. Likewise, a serious family situation might provoke a similar sudden move. With both of us around age 60, living in unfamiliar surroundings, and with four parents in their 80s, this is not an insignificant consideration.
We’re thankful that, as we consider possible changes, our current motivation to make those changes isn’t health, family or financial problems, or because there’s some necessity we’re missing. Rather, it’s the desire for more of certain things that aren’t necessities, but which are important to us.
That said, we also enjoy novelty and exploration. If we were to settle into a routine and a community, even if we enjoyed it, I suspect we’d want to shake up our lives occasionally. We like our lifestyle and we’re happy, and we recognize that the ability to enjoy it is a gift.
Michael Perry is a former career Army officer and external affairs executive for a Fortune 100 company. In addition to personal finance and investing, his interests include reading, traveling, being outdoors, strength training and coaching, and cocktails. Check out his earlier articles.
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I mentioned in this article from January that we planned to take advantage of being back in Texas for a short time to shrink and possibly even move the belongings we have in a storage unit. If anyone wondered what happened, apologies for the late update.
We were there a little longer than planned due to some minor medical stuff, but more importantly, quickly declared mission accomplished on the storage unit. We decided not to move our stuff, but we did reduce it enough to cut our unit size in half. We’re saving a few bucks, and even better, we no longer talk about it. Now unless something surprises me, we’ll likely go another few years without seeing it again.
Check out KETTLE GRYP to turn a gym’s dumbbell into a kettlebell.
Interesting. It looks to me as though with a larger dumbbell it would be a bit wide for ballistics (perhaps dangerously so?). And I don’t expect it would work well for overhead movements. But it is interesting, and inexpensive and small. Thanks for sharing.
Cool and inspiring.
Thanks Ben
I’ve enjoyed Michael’s writings at HD over the years. Like others, I’m not prepared / able to launch a fully nomadic life.
However, at age 58 and launching a new entrepreneurial venture that can be partially remote, I’m definitely interested in three- or four-week itinerant stints. These insights about scouting out fitness locations and cooking setups (all airbnbs are not created equal) resonate with me. Perhaps I’ll bump into Michael in Santiago, Lima, or Antigua Guatemala; all are on US time zones for easier video calls…
Thanks for reading and commenting. Another thing that isn’t created equal is internet connection. When visiting us in Italy my brother-in-law had to resort to renting workspace in a hotel the connection was so poor (not a problem with Italy, just this apartment). Likewise, speed and strength of security can vary.
Having a good VPN takes care of the security issue, and also avoids issues with sites that don’t like the fact you’re outside the US. (With VPN you can appear to those sites that you’re in the US.)
I, too, am one of the somewhat vicarious readers/travelers (I say “somewhat” because I have been able to travel, but not as often or as far as I’d like). I appreciate the collective tips and hope I’ll soon be able to use some of them – though I don’t see myself becoming a nomad. For the foreseeable future, I’ll want to come home to my little house in my little town “where everyone knows my name.” 😊