TRAVEL | NOMADIC | NOMADS

"So what do you want to do in Ghent while you are here?" he asked.

We had just arrived at his home in Belgium a day earlier and would be visiting him for a week. Paul is a world traveler who we met while we were in Tanzania in 2022, traveling overland from Uganda to Botswana. We also crossed paths in Canada while we were there, and it was then that he invited us to stay with him the next time we came to Europe.

In September of this year, we took him up on his offer. We knew he lived in Ghent, but we didn't do one ounce of research into what Ghent had to offer. You see, we prefer not to look into places too much before we arrive, as we feel as though we will ruin the element of surprise that gives us such joy when we discover a new place. We truly had no idea what we wanted to do in Ghent while we were there.

"I don't know. You are the one who lives here; you tell us what to do!"

Of course, having a local tour is simply the best way to see a place. We knew we would be in good hands, and we were leaving it up to him to show us the best of what his hometown had to offer.

"But you must have some idea of what interests you." He said.

"We don't really plan anything when we visit a new place and trust that we will see what we are meant to see when we get there." I could tell that he thought this was some sort of hippie nonsense. But I was dead serious.

He leafed through some pages of a local Ghent guide that he had on hand while teasing out our interests so that he could figure out a plan for us for the week. I'm pretty sure that he was shocked that we had no idea what was on offer.

We became nomadic in 2017

It was in January of 2017 when I made a decision that changed our lives. It took us nine months to sell all of our possessions and shut down our lives before flying off to Costa Rica on a one-way ticket. We had no idea what was in store for us, but we needed a change — something to shake things up a bit.

We didn't know then if we would do this for one or two years or maybe even more. But seven years later, here we are — still nomadic and still loving the lifestyle. However, we also know that we need to pay extra attention to our mental health and physical well-being as we move around the world. This means not seeing and doing everything that comes our way.

We have realized that it is an impossibility to experience everything in each place that we visit, so we don't even try. Plus, we tend to arrive at a place and plan to stay a while. We don't race from place to place — if we can help it — and prefer to spend numerous weeks in one place.

But what do we do?

While visiting our friend Paul in Belgium, each evening, we would gather around his kitchen table and exchange stories of travel. One night, in particular, he learned that we had spent 3 months living in Sudan in 2021. By the time this conversation rolled around, I had gone to our room to work on my computer, but I heard Chris talking to him.

"What the hell did you do in Sudan for three months?" He asked, surprised.

I can't remember what Chris said exactly, but it got me thinking.

'What did we do?' I thought to myself. 'We lived there. What were we supposed to be doing?'

The next evening, we were back in the same seats, and the topic came up again. This time, I was ready for his question.

"I'm still fascinated by the fact that you spent three months in Sudan. What is there to possibly do for three months?" he asked again.

We slowly went over what we did in Sudan and when I told him that we rented an apartment in Port Sudan for two months, he was aghast. "Two months in Port Sudan! What is there to do that occupied you for two months?"

"Well, pretty much every day, we went to the market to buy food. We would go to the local coffee stands and have coffee numerous times daily, sitting and chatting with the locals. We met with some young guys who found us on Instagram, and we had coffee with them a few times. We worked on our YouTube videos." I still wasn't sure what he was asking us. What did he expect us to be doing?

Then it dawned on me.

He was trying to figure out what there was to see as tourists in Sudan because that is what he thought we were. And I guess, in reality, it is what we are, but we rarely feel like we are tourists when we are living our nomadic life as we prefer to try and fit in with the locals as much as possible.

Of course, the reality is that there is not much to do in Sudan as tourists. But we did see some pretty cool pyramids, visited the ruins of a city built out of coral, and stayed in a beautiful mountainous area for a few nights, where some locals took us on a tour to see their fruit orchards.

But the fact of the matter is that we didn't go to Sudan to DO anything. We went there to see the country, and it just happened to be on our route as we travelled by bus south from Egypt.

This whole conversation has had me thinking for the past while. I keep wondering, why is it that we have to be doing anything anyway? And it has me realizing that there is a big difference between those of us who have a home base and go on trips, and those of us who don't and are truly nomadic.

I don't think Paul understands what nomadic means to us, and I don't think he truly realizes that we have no home to go back to when we are finished with our trips. In fact, our trip is never finished — and therein lies the major difference between nomads and travelers.

What makes nomads and travelers different?

Here are some other key points that genuinely make us different:

• As nomads, we know that it is impossible to see and do everything, so we don't even try. Travelers will plan two to three weeks of seeing and doing everything that they can in one place, then will return home or move on to the next place.
• Using short stints of time to travel, travelers can expend a large amount of energy and will focus directly on the things that they hope to accomplish in each place. Nomads tend to arrive, look around for a few days, talk to people, learn the vibe of the place, then maybe do a 'tourist' thing if they feel like it. We don't do too much because if we do, we get tired and burnt out over time.
• Travelers feel like they will only ever be in the place they are visiting once so they better take advantage of it by not missing anything. Nomads know that most places are not going to be that different the next time, and know that if the need to, they can always come back.
• Travelers are not as interested in getting to know the locals because they don't have the time to make the connections. Nomads take the time to find locals and get to know a place through their eyes and recommendations as much as possible, making friends around the world.

Blending in with the locals

You see, there is a difference. While our friend Paul would have been bored to tears in Sudan for 3 months, we were anything but. This is because we took the time to sit in one place and somewhat integrate into society. We rented a typical apartment in a Sudanese neighborhood, blending in as much as we could.

Of course, all of our neighbors knew that we were there, and when power outages happened at night, which they often did, we would head outside with everybody else and sit on the curb until the lights came back on. They would ply us with questions and practice their English, while it gave Chris an opportunity to practice his Arabic.

In Guatemala, we rented a house for 4 months. We were in the middle of a Guatemalan neighborhood, and we got to know the resident drunk as he would stumble up to our fence, wanting to talk to us most days. One day, he was lying in the road passed out, his daughter crawling all over him and using him as a jungle gym. It is sad to witness, but real life nonetheless.

It is through these experiences that we truly start to get a sense of how others live on this planet, and one simply can't do that when they are passing through quickly.

Are we digital nomads?

Of course, everybody wants to label people these days. When we first started out on this journey, we did call ourselves digital nomads. And I suppose we technically are that, but we hate the generalization and we don't exactly fit under that umbrella either.

For one, we don't frequent digital nomad hotspots — those towns and cities on the planet where digital nomads flock to. In those spots, they find a sense of community when they find other digital nomads.

We don't haul our computers to coffee shops or co-working spaces. We prefer to work in the quiet of our accommodation, and when we leave, we like to explore the place we are staying in by walking around as much as possible.

We also don't solely rely on digital income to survive. As of 2023, we are now returning to Canada for a few months of the year to make some money that mainly carries us around on our travels. We found the stress of making money solely online was too much. It's challenging to find a steady income, which makes it hard to budget from month to month.

We are also nomads in our home country

But even in our home country, we are still nomadic. We don't have a home base to return to and we move around from town to town, visiting friends and family, while working odd jobs to make money. In a few instances now, we have found jobs where accommodation is provided to us, so we aren't forced to settle down and rent anything while signing long-term contracts.

We only discovered this possibility in 2023 when we returned to Canada the last time. Previous to this, we were concerned that if we returned for a long length of time, we would become trapped in the same circle we found ourselves before — working to live. But by realizing the possibilities of continuing our nomadic lifestyle, while even in our own country, we are able to make money legally and save up for our next flight out into the world.

We will continue with this nomadic life

This past winter, we have found ourselves traveling around Europe. Mostly, we have been visiting friends as we move from place to place, which has had us moving much faster than we are used to. Plus, it has meant that in each place, we are taken around and shown the highlights of the place that we find ourselves in.

This has been amazing, but it has also been tiring. While we have appreciated our friend's kind hospitality immensely, we also look forward to finding ourselves back in our familiar routine where we can work on the projects we want to, relax when we feel like it, and take each day as it comes without too much planning.

I don't know how long we will keep doing this, but it is working for us for now. Our life is filled with new experiences, meeting amazing people, learning about cultures, and trying delicious food as we move around the planet. At this point, I can't imagine myself doing anything different.

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