NuNomad

How's This for an Office View? Heredia, Costa Rica

Unlike my Nu Nomad partner Ricardo, who nomads continually and has for years, I have not broken away from a home base that completely. For me, nomading has meant developing my coaching business until it is completely mobile and having the freedom to work from wherever I like for as long as I like. However, having 3 children of school age we do stay home for extended periods.

Today, though, I am enjoying my ability to nomad. When my mother in law decided we should all go to Costa Rica I knew I could continue to work so our family was able to double our time with her here as compared to the extended family.

We flew in yesterday to San Jose and have spent our first night in La Condesa Hotel in Heredia (a neighboring area to San Jose. This must be one of the most beautiful locations anyone has ever found to build a hotel and the place that was built is quite grand in a "grand old hotel" way. The picture I'm including is the view from our room. The rooms are 2 floors high with a loft layout so that each room has it's own staircase. The central dining area is open air and the grounds are extensive. There is free wifi in the room which I'm using to write this blog.

This isn't a place most of us could stay for an extended nomading experience because the price isn't cheap, but if you wanted to treat yourself to some luxury for a night or two this is definitely the place to do so.

Heredia is a charming place with many small shops and the hustle-bustle of lots of pedestrian traffic. Many cafes boasted "Internet" on signs so I'm led to believe it would not be difficult to work in this town. You can expect numerous church spires rising from this town that sits at the base of small mountains. We were also treated to the site of many fruit vendors, a lovely town square, and homes from cute little bungalows teeming with flowers to the gated homes of the president's extended family who made their fortune in coffee.

I would definitely encourage anyone to check it out! Today we move on to an eco-lodge in Sarapiqui.

Meet the Nomads - Again! - Catching up with the Atkins Family as they Circle the Globe

By Carmen

We last interviewed the Atkins family in May of 2007 as they were in the preparation stages of an around the world trip by bus while homeschooling their 4 children. At that time, the Atkins were overhauling their vehicle to accomodate their trip. Now they have been on the road for 6 months so we thought we'd get in touch and see how they're doing.

Manny, when we last interviewed you and your family, you were in the process of building out your bus and planning your trip. Now you have been on the road for several months. What countries have you visited so far?

We traveled through France, into Spain back into France, across to Northern Italy. Joe then had work in Monte Carlo, so we stayed in Antibes, and went in to work with him pretty much every day, which was wonderful! Back in to Italy, to Rome and beyond. We took a ferry to Greece, drove up through Bulgaria, into Romania to play a couple of concerts for the charity Growing Care. Back through Bulgaria and into Turkey, we spent Christmas in Istanbul, and New Year in Athens. Crossed back into Italy and came back up to France where we are taking a pause after traveling 15,000Km and being on the road for six months.

If you were advising a NuNomad as to what locations in Europe are most Nomad friendly (ie, low cost of living, widely available internet, quality of life) what would be your top picks?

Sometimes we’ve found the best internet access in the most surprisingly remote places (virtually the whole of Bulgaria seemed to have free wifi! just no shops!) and our favourite Italian campsite, in the forested mountains just outside Deiva Marina, had free and excellent wifi. And yet we struggled to find wifi in some capital cities - which surprised me! We have stayed mainly in campsites; which often offered wifi and always had useful info on public transport into the city etc. The free hot water, ability to plug in to electricity, and use of washing machines made sense for us as a big family. We often stayed overnight in truckstops on the autoroutes, when travelling from place to place, but then we’d seek the security and facilities of a campsite to base ourselves. The city sites tended to cost double the rural sites. Spain was cheaper than Italy and France, and the Spanish really know how to run a city! Greece was cheaper still, but we were there very much out of season. Turkey would probably be my top location - not too expensive, good internet, and the warmest and most generous strangers we ever came across. Istanbul was vibrant, and exciting. You cross from Europe to Asia and back, all within one city! Here’s a link to the blogs while we were in Turkey:http://web.mac.com/harryatkins/WTTW_Blogs/The_Family_Blog/Entries/2007/12/22_-_Turkey.html

Was this your original itinerary or have you changed? If you have changed itinerary what factors caused you to do so?

It was always our intention to have a fluid itinerary and while we were in Spain, we decided we weren’t ready to go into Africa. We thought maybe we’d head for North America, but in our (long) search for crossings for us and the bus, we discovered Grimaldi Freighter Cruises. Their office in Naples have been really helpful, and we were thrilled to find we could cross to Argentina. We were booked to travel in April. In fact this crossing has been cancelled, and we are now booked onto the November crossing.
This delay has coincided with a bit of a financial crisis for us: some money we were relying on has fallen through, and so we need to re-fuel our funds. We’ll sit tight for a few months here in France, live as cheaply as we can; earn as much as we can, and learn French! And hopefully be ready to get on the boat in November.

What caused the decision not to go to Africa?

We found it almost impossible to find a realistic crossing from Egypt to Kenya, which was our original plan; also the political situation in Africa seemed to be more and more unsettled. We decided we weren’t comfortable taking the children into a situation where we would be so vulnerable. It was a big disappointment, but Joe and I felt strongly that it was too early in our trip to be facing those kinds of challenges. Life on the road was going so well, and to be honest was exciting, interesting and challenging enough. I have to say though, that now we’re six months in, and have crossed borders in the dark and snow, I’m really excited about changing continents!

How has it been to be in the bus on the road with a large family? How have you all adapted to the close quarters?

The joy of a big family is that no-one ever gets left out; there’s a constant variety of different combinations. We run a very harmonious team to keep everything ticking over, and the children take as much responsibility for the tidiness and running of the bus as Joe and I. It works really well, and it all runs very smoothly. Being so close has become a way of life now, even sharing our huge top bunk with Arthur, our seven year old, feels completely natural. Going to bed is reminiscent of the end of “The Waltons”!

Looks like you’ve been playing music as a family band along the way. How do you set up your concerts and get an audience?

The music has been a great family focus. it tends to come in bursts. We played some summer concerts, at campsites and for friends; and a big Birthday Party last September. Then we played the two concerts in Romania. They were a real adventure. One was for the children the charity helps; they have so little, and live a hard hard life. It was a real pleasure to bring a live gig to them, we felt so appreciated, and it was very humbling! The other was in a big theatre as more of an awareness-raiser with local dignitaries etc. Here’s the blog link to the Romanian concerts - http://web.mac.com/harryatkins/WTTW_Blogs/The_Family_Blog/Entries/2007/12/7_Politics%2C_Philosophy%2C_Harmonics_-_Romania_2.html
We’re playing a gig in a couple of weeks here in France, a musical evening already organised, so audience gathering is not down to us! but we hope it will lead to a few more. So we’re practising hard at the moment. We’ve made no more than a free supper so far, and it would be great to earn a bit; but playing for pleasure carries less pressure!

What are you learning along the way that you didn’t expect?

Just how rewarding home-schooling is
I don’t miss England at all!
I never crave time to myself, away from the family.
The Turkish generosity is boundless.
There are more good people in the world than the media would have you believe! (Actually, I did expect that to be the case!)

How is the bus holding up?

She’s in fine form. She’s running better now than she was when we left the UK. We’ve ironed out oil-leaks and air system problems; fixed the radiator and had the heating re-instated. She’s happiest doing the kind of long, steady, regular drives we do, so really she’s in her element! There is a harmony and trust when we’re driving that’s hard to describe. The bumpy roads of Romania took their toll, and we had some quite big structural repairs to take care of in Turkey. But all in all she’s looked after us, and we’ve looked after her and the respect is mutual!

What has been the greatest highlight/positive experience of the trip so far?

There’ve been a few!
Parking on the waters edge at Camping Fusina, and watching the sun go down over Venice took some beating!
Driving through Greece in the crisp winter sun; snow capped mountains to our left, and crystal blue sea on our right...music playing, family singing... deep inner peace!
Christmas day in Istanbul! waking up to stockings in the morning, and a boat trip across the Bosphorus sea in the evening, the city illuminated magnificently in the moonlight.
I can’t even begin to put into words the way this trip and the preparations for it, have bonded us as a family. It has enriched our marriage and deepened all our relationships.

Welcome to the World.

Meet the Nomads - FB Fabulously Broke in the City!

by Carmen Bolanos
November 9, 2007

Meet FB, a consultant, nomad and blogger who maintains her anonymity for her blog, Fabulously Broke in the City. A recent college grad, FB is passionate about paying off $50,000 in student loans before 2009. In fact, that's a lot of what her blog is about - how to save money. A big part of FB's answer for how to do this is to have a 100% nomadic lifestyle. Interested? Read on....

A lot of people aspire to a nomadic lifestyle because they are drawn to the romance of traveling. You seem to have adopted this life to pay off your debts and start some savings. Can you tell us how you got into being a nomad?

It was really more out of chance than anything.

I graduated almost 2 years ago, and just happened to accept an offer and a career that meant 100% travel. At the time, I didn’t really understand what 100% travel meant, but after the first year of paying $1600 for an apartment that I only stayed in and saw 2 months out of the 12, I realized it was A) stupid to keep paying for such an expensive storage unit and B) it was an opportunity to get rid of one of the biggest living expenses in most people’s lives – shelter.

So one day, I looked at my husband and said: “Oh my god, we could be modern nomads”. He laughed at first, but he slowly came around to the idea, and now has full embraced it in the name of paying off debt. Modern because we are very into technology and this is a new way of living for us, and nomads because.. well, we don’t have a home.

So, less than a year later, we finally made the decision to give up the apartment early 2007, and have only been doing this for a short amount of time, but so far it’s worked out quite nicely for me. I’m hoping to be on a client project 100% of the time next year so I don’t have to worry about paying month-by-month rent, and /or any of that other stuff. I’d willingly give up all of my vacation weeks for that opportunity to be working 100% of the year. How strange is it to be saying that?!

What kind of education or experience does someone need to do the kind of work you do?

Well as a consultant, they generally hire from big name colleges (not all do, mind you), and I got an undergraduate honors degree in business administration, with a specialized concentration in management information systems.

I think anyone could be a consultant. You just have to be given the chance to get your foot in the door. All it takes is the right frame of mind, and perspective, and whether or not you have an affinity for what a consultant does on a day-to-day basis, which can range anywhere from being a project manager of sorts, to having a specialized knowledge in your field – be it strategy and change, human resources, airlines and their tax schedules and laws, supply chain management, finance, information systems, etc., and to be dealing and treading lightly with client members you are not familiar with yet and/or executives who will question your decisions on a daily basis because you have to constantly prove and sell yourself every time you go to a new client, as they don’t know you and what you can do yet. So if you are a person who doesn’t like a challenge, or constantly having to prove themselves, this may not be for you.

But in general, there are many types of consultants in the world, with different skills and specializations, you just have to find the right combination that resonates with your skills and strengths.

As you say in your blog, you have put your personal belongings into storage and you really don’t return to your home base. How does this work?

I put all of my furniture and all the sorts of things associated with an apartment (decoration, towel racks, furniture, etc) all into a storage location in another more rural city because it’s cheaper and you get more space than if you rent a storage location in an urban city. My clothes, shoes and day-to-day things that I need to access on a regular basis but cannot really travel with all the time, are kept in my home city’s storage location, where if I go back, I basically go to the storage location, pick up what I need, and rent an apartment month-by-month when I need to be in the office. Then when I’m on another project that isn’t in my home city, I put everything back into that urban storage location, and leave.

What do you bring with you when you travel?

Generally… clothes (work outfits and a pair of jeans with a sweater – I tend to wear work tops with jeans anyway, so everything I own is multi-purpose for work and play), a frying pan, a kettle, a gaming system (like a Nintendo Wii), 4 pairs of shoes (winter boots, running shoes, ballet flats and a pair of heels), my toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, facial lotion, razor, etc), makeup, perfume, an umbrella, jewelery, a wireless router, 2 laptops (one work, one play), laptop bag, iPod, 2 RJ45 LAN cables, a cellphone, a PDA, etc etc. Basically everything I need.. IMMEDIATELY. I don’t bring things like furniture, a special pillow, décor, none of that. I only bring technology, clothes/shoes and toiletries.

How often have you had to rent month to month in between consulting gigs?

Usually once in between every gig. I usually beg for projects right away, or try and be staffed on a project immediately after leaving my last one, but sometimes that isn’t feasible. I’ve been lucky so far, and if it’s only a week or less in between projects, I crash at my friends’ places, or my parents’ house.

Your husband travels with you. What are the pros and cons about this? Do you have any advice for people making a decision about traveling alone or traveling with others?

PROS: He cooks sometimes, sort-of cleans (tidies up), organizes the travel arrangements and logistics of all that, and drives me everywhere. Plus, he’s fantastic company and he is my best friend – I can always relate to him, tell him how my day is going and basically have my own support at home when I’ve had a tough day.

CONS: You always have to consider his feelings and needs when you’re accepting offers to go out to company dinners, or outings, and whether or not he can come along. I sometimes feel restrained and guilty because he doesn’t know ANYONE in the city, whereas I have work colleagues on the client site, and my own company colleagues. It gets to be pretty guilt-inducing. Oh, I guess to reduce debt further, he could be working part-time here and there, but… to be honest, I couldn’t care less if he did or not.

As for advice about traveling alone or having others with you.. I’d totally recommend that if you are someone who NEEDS a familiar support and network , then bring someone along. But they have to also be in the same mindset and love to travel and/or deal with challenges, and they have to also be OK with being alone for very long periods of time. But if you are someone who is more independent, and can adjust being by yourself for a long period of time, then you don’t need anyone to go with you, you just need to be sure that you really are a self-entertaining, self-sufficient sort of type.

You must know hotels better than 90% of us. What makes a hotel better or worse for a nomad? What do you do to make the room your home?

I basically treat interviewing hotels like I’m looking for a permanent apartment.

MUST-HAVES for Nomad Hotels
- Have a full-sized kitchen (stove, sink, microwave, fridge, and an optional dishwasher)
- Has laundry facilities on-site (the coin operated machines as well as dry cleaning)
- Have a rewards program, because you’ll be there for 5-7 months, and racking up the points at ONE hotel is better than having lots of points across different hotels
- Has security and front-desk staff 24/7 with a keycard lockdown, MANDATORY for entry after midnight (i.e. you have to swipe in your hotel room card before even entering the hotel after midnight)
- Has a clean bed with fluffy pillows preferably in a separate room, very apartment-like
- Has a couch and a TV
- Has a decently sized bathroom that you can fit into
- Has storage – dressers, cabinets, drawers, closets. Some hotels really lack this
- Has cleaning staff that come in every day, not once every 2 weeks – the reason being that having the option to have them come in and clean whenever you want to fit YOUR schedule, is better than not being able to let them in on that ONE day, and missing your chance for 2 weeks
- Looking at who stays there on a regular basis – business people, families, no shady characters and party-animal college students who just want to trash a hotel room for a weekend
- Location is important: near a grocery store, near a pharmacy, near a post office, near a Starbucks (*grin*) and near a couple of restaurants is nice because you can just walk to get a meal if you are too tired to cook
- Has indoor parking if you’re driving
- Has a voicemail system so people can dial your room directly and leave you voicemail messages instead of always going through the front desk
- Has internet/high speed connections in the room
- Is close to my client site – close as in 5 km or less away, so I can walk in the mornings
- Has a list of fees and different charges for things like telephone calls up front

OPTIONAL for Nomad Hotels
- Has a gym or a swimming pool
- Has a complimentary HOT breakfast in the morning (no Continental Breakfasts, thanks. They end up being cold fruit, cold cereal, cheap trans-fat-saturated muffins and coffee and tea)

Have you been traveling only within Canada or internationally?
I have only been in North America, but I’m still hoping.

Any thoughts on what makes a city more or less accommodating for you as a nomad?

If it’s more urban, I’ll be fine. Most companies are located near urban centers, and I tend to “live” and stay downtown, so everything is within walking distance for me. I’m happy if I just have a hotel, pharmacy, grocery store, a couple of restaurants and some form of entertainment or a park, or SOMETHING to walk around and look at.

But it’s when you don’t get a company that’s urban, and is in a more rural setting, that you run into problems like finding a hotel that you normally patronize for the points, restaurants, and entertainment. I haven’t encountered that yet, but…. there’s a first time for everything. I hope I don’t have to ever deal with that but.. 

Oh and if one of the languages is English, I’m set. I’m not against learning another language or picking up a couple of phrases here and there, but it’s going to be a hard road ahead if they only speak another language and I’m supposed to do my job on time and under budget.

Any advice for other people who might want try this lifestyle?

Be prepared to be very lonely and frustrated. Sometimes not knowing the language, the local culture and customs, the slang, and constantly being in a new company environment without any support networks like your friends and family – it can be daunting for those who hate constant change and take a long time to process/learn and absorb new things (like learning new business processes, systems, taxes, ways of thinking). Because once you know and learn everything, you’re off the project and on a new one, where you have to learn everything all over again.

You have to be quite social and outgoing as well, because if you’re an introvert who likes to keep to themselves, and only opens up after knowing people for a while and finally feeling comfortable with them, you’re going to run into problems making friends at work or at least getting on their good side and making going to a new work environment more bearable. You also have to be prepared to put up with company politics, budgets, and financial constraints – meaning they may ask you to do things you don’t want to do, like stay in a bad hotel, carpool with 5 other consultants, spend as little as possible, and deal with the headache of waiting for them to reimburse you for plane tickets, meals, laundry, taxis, etc. The bean counters will (almost always) fight you every step of the way. And then you have to be careful when you do your taxes at the end of the year to claim everything properly and by the book, and to make sure they haven’t messed up on anything on their end or on yours for that matter.

You’re already over half way through with paying off your student loans. Congrats! When do you expect to be done and what will you do when it’s all paid off?

Actually I’m only at 38%. I messed up on my calculations when I re-ran the numbers last night. *embarrassed* I expect to be cleared my loans by December 2008 (all $53,000 will be done! DONE! DONE!). But I’m realistically aiming for the end of December 2009, assuming unforeseen circumstances.

When it’s paid off, I’m taking a 2-week vacation or a cruise (on the cheap, fun and frugal of course), and paying it in full with cash instead of on credit card which is going to feel very cool.

Then, I’ll buckle down, and start saving for a down payment on a home. I’ll be 25 or 26 by the time my debt is paid off, so I have 4 to 5 years to aggressively save every penny I can, before I turn 30, which is my deadline age to buy a home.

I have to note that it’s quite easy to get into the mindset of saying: “Oh look, I don’t have a $1600 gorilla on my back (rent), and I get a lot of the comforts of life paid for (food for example), so I can relax and start spending more than I did before because there’s more leeway”.

In fact, we were in that mindset for the first month or so of our modern nomadic lifestyle. It wasn’t until I started tracking my expenses that I realized we were A) wasting a lot of money and B) buying items that we’d have to carry on a regular basis on every project and/or end up putting it in storage. So essentially, we were spending our money on JUNK and STUFF that we’d have to just put and store away in our already bulging, overstuffed storage locations. We were spending money now, to enjoy the items later, which makes no sense logically, financially or economically.

Now, it’s more of a game for me (my husband is reluctant to see it as an enjoyable experience) to see how low I can get our personal expenses (clothing, overages on food, entertainment), and currently we’re trying to stick to a budget of $500 a month, not including our personal “fun” money, debt repayments, retirement savings, or emergency fund savings.

I think it’s a great lesson for us to learn now and to KNOW that we can spend less than $500 a month in basic, personal expenses. So when we go to finally settle down, I have a good idea of what we can spend as the bare minimum then tack on the cost of the apartment, utilities, food and transportation. Which makes estimating our future living costs a lot easier.

Get Inspired - Host a Nomad!

One of the best ways to get inspired about nomadic living and also meet some very cool people is to consider hosting a nomad in your home. For the last couple of weeks our family has been hosting 3 nomads in our home. (yes, the house sitting has overlapped some and we've been moving between 2 households for a few days but don't even let me get into the complications of my life at the moment!)

For the second year now we've been the lucky host family for Trapeze Experience as they've held trapeze camps at my children's school. Last year we had four guests and their dog, Gia. This year there were only three. I have to say their stay with us has been one of the highlights of the year.

It's a pleasure to meet a group of people who are living their passion. Doing what they love and seeing the world while doing it. In addition, they had wonderful stories to share about their travels and their work, which for them included gigs like Club Med, Cirque du Soleil, O, Ringling Brothers, and touring with Paul McCartney. We shared many meals together, many glasses of wine, and lots of laughs.

One of the greatest parts of the whole experience was for my children to get to know these people. It's a chance for the kids to see that there are a lot more options for life than getting a 9-5 job in a cubicle somewhere.

If you ever have the chance to host a nomad in your home, I highly recommend that you give it a try. If you don't have connections to people coming through town, you might try Couch Surfing or the Hospitality Club. Both are sites that match up hosts with nomads.

Stay tuned later this week, I'll post my interview with J., Randy, and Russell of Trapeze Experience in my next installment of the Meet the Nomads series!

Wanna Be a Nomad and Don't Know Where to Start? Try Housesitting!

by Carmen Bolanos

At Nu Nomad we often get emails from people who want to live a nomadic lifestyle but aren't sure how to make it happen. There are many issues to think about: finding an income source, preparing your home-front, planning your trip, etc. For a lot of people finances are a sticking point.

One way to save a ton of money as a nomad is to house sit instead of paying rent on an apartment or hotel room. Believe it or not, there are people all over the world who are looking for folks to guard their homes, walk their dogs or read stories to their cats while they go tour the globe themselves. House sitting opportunities can range from a few days to months or years duration. Duties required can range from as little as putting out food for a cat to exercising 26 sled dogs, shooting at bears, and clearing forests in Alaska.

Where do you find out about these opportunities? I belong to a house sitting website called House Carers. For a membership fee of $30.00 US per year, I can choose a variety of preferred destinations and I receive an email anytime a house sit becomes available in these destinations. It's a bit like a Match.com for house sitting. If a house sit opportunity looks attractive I can email anonymously to the owner. After a few exchanges, if we feel comfortable we can begin exchanging personal information and making plans for the sit to occur.

One thing to be aware of if you want to do this, however, is that you will have a lot of competition. Often I respond to house sitting opportunities, only to receive a canned response email that reads something like "We've had so many great responses....". So - if you want to raise your chances of being picked as a house sitter treat the situation as you would any job you were applying for. Here are a few things you can do:

* Get some house sitting experience from friends/relatives/co-workers when they travel that you can list for potential hires.

* The more variety of situations you can accumulate (types of pets cared for, types of property cared for) the better.

* Do a great job! Keep the animals like they were your precious children and keep the home clean and cared for.

* When the house sit is over ask for a letter of reference from the owner.

* Think about putting up a web page for your house sitting endeavor. Describe yourself, what makes you a great house sitter. List your experience and post your letters of reference.

At the moment I'm writing this I am actually house sitting for a friend. Our duties are to care for 2 puppies, a cat and a tank of fish in addition to bringing in the mail and keeping the home clean and safe. In exchange our family is enjoying a great pool (picture above) trampoline and all sorts of games and stuff we don't have in our own home. It's a bit like a vacation in our home town and will be a great house sitter resume builder.

The Double Edged Sword of a Nu Nomad's Life

When I first began coaching and realized that I could be completely mobile with my profession, I thought the heavens had opened up and blessed me beyond belief. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I could take fabulous trips with my family and maintain my income at the same time while not being a slave to any corporate machine.

Don't get me wrong. I am incredibly blessed and very grateful for the opportunities I have had and continue to have. However, for those of you hoping to adopt a nomadic lifestyle or perhaps who are already in a nomadic lifestyle - beware!

I was in about my 4th year of working remotely when I realized that my work and personal lives had mixed so thoroughly that I had not had even a week without my laptop, telephone headset, and scheduled clients. I was so enamored with the idea that I could work from anywhere that that is exactly what I did. Worked from everywhere! I even worked when sick and up to the end of my pregnancy. I remember having to tell my clients who had never met me face to face, "This is a strange thing to say since we've been working together many months, but I am actually 9 months pregnant, so if I don't answer the phone next week, please understand I'm probably giving birth". The following week I was back on the phone with my new born in my lap.

So this is the two edged sword. When you can take your work with you - be sure that sometimes you don't. Everyone needs a break from work and just because you may be sitting with your feet in white sand gazing at a beautiful ocean, if your laptop is in your lap you're not on vacation!

No matter where you may be, Nomad, be sure to give yourself a few weeks a year to leave the work behind.

Meet the Nomads - The Atkins Family - Around the World in a Bus with 4 Kids!

About a year ago when I began this blog and was planning our time in Europe with 3 children, I ran into Manny Atkins on a travel forum and have been fascinated by her family ever since. The Atkins family are a departure from our traditional NuNomad profile in that they are not taking their careers with them on the journey. In contrast, the journey has become their career. This family has a truly adventurous heart. They have sold their home, given up their jobs, and devoted themselves to a worldwide journey in a bus with their 4 children. I strongly recommend you visit their web site Welcome to the World and look at the progress of their bus conversion as well as their planned round the world route. And because I like them so much - I'm giving them a plug. The Atkins currently need some help raising funds for fuel along the way. Pitch in and be a part of the adventure!

I understand you have begun a project in which you and your 4 children are converting a bus so that you can travel around the world as a family. Tell me what inspired this idea?

Joe has traveled internationally through his work as a lighting designer for theatre, film and conferences. For years he was the one seeing the world, but unable to share it with the family. A few years ago, Harry (now 12) suggested it was time we all saw the world together…and the dream was set in motion.

How long had you been planning this before you actually took the first steps to make it happen?

For me, I’d say it came as a bit of a thunderbolt decision when we sold our house. For Joe, it has been something he has wanted to do for many years. With four young children,I hit a turning point when Arthur (now 7)hit four. His maturity then made everything seem possible, the years (deliciously happy ones!) of pregnancy, babies, nappies, pushchairs, had come to an end, and I felt that our family, and indeed our marriage, entered a whole new phase. It became easy to go and join Joe for a few days while he was working away, and family holidays became much more adventurous. (We all skied for the first time)

How have you funded your project so far?

Basically we sold our house, cleared our mortgage and all outstanding debts, and the remainder has financed the bus; the build; and the trip. We are on an incredibly tight budget with no safety net, but so far everything has costed out much as we expected it to.
The advantages of needing to do as much of the work on the bus ourselves as we possibly can, have been plentiful. The fact that we know how and where and why everything is where it is will be a huge plus to repairs along the way; but more important by far is the amazing sense of achievement for us and for the children. They really will be living in a home they have built with their own hands.

What kind of backgrounds do the two of you have that have prepared you to do this?

A huge amount of optimism!
Joe has worked all over the world, and is very practical and resourceful. I am fearless in asking for help from anyone, and as a family we tend to try and see the good in all situations however challenging. (Easy to say before the trip!)

Have you always home schooled or is this also new for your family?

No home schooling is new to us. Harry has come out of school already to establish a rhythm of home schooling, and to decide what we want to take in terms of resources. It is working so well; he’s the right kind of self- motivated personality to take it on board. In fact they all have a thirsty love of learning, so I can’t wait to be on the road where traveling will be our lessons.

How are the kids doing with the project?

They are truly a magnificent bunch; I am in awe of their dedication; maturity; and team spirit. We have all worked so hard on this project, right from its early planning nearly two years ago, to the intense build period from last November.

I believe you have plans to communicate with schools during your trip. Tell me about that.

We want to share as much of the experiences we have with as many people as we can. It seemed sensible with the ages of our children to link up with classrooms of compatible ages via email, skype and through the website.

What technology will you use to do this?

We think we will use a BGAN system used by journalists and the military to keep online whenever we need. It seems the most appropriate for our needs, but is fairly expensive, especially in tariff terms, so if anyone has any better suggestions or can put us in touch with anyone who may want to get involved in our project financially, we would be keen to hear!

Do you have any particular brands you are choosing?

The BGAN terminal we have been looking into is made by a company called Thrane and Thrane

So far, what have been your biggest challenges?

We had a period of time just before and after Christmas when the workshop which we had been kindly lent the use of by a friend started letting in so much rain water that we spent days trying to secure huge tarpaulins over the roof, only to have them blown off again in the gales and storms that just kept on coming! The workshop was about 45 minutes drive away, so whenever it blew here we were just imagining the damage there! Very stressful! In the end when the leaking roof took the power out, we knew we had to move. We were then unbelievably lucky, as our neighbour offered us the use of the field behind both our houses. We have been able to use our own workshop, and we’ve had nothing but sunshine for weeks now… very different experience!

How about your biggest success?

There have been a few big success moments… but nothing can quite top turning on the power, and running water through the system…and everything working! We felt triumphant!

You’ve done a beautiful job with your bus conversion. Still – this will be pretty tight quarters for 6 people. Do you have any thoughts on how you might get private time while you’re on the road?

I think Joe’s design of the bus has meant there will be places to call our own, and I think that will prove valuable. The ‘pods’ will be little sanctuaries for the kids, and having their own workstations will work well too. We are buying a big bell tent for shady outside living when space allows, and I imagine we will be living outside a lot of the time.

In planning your trip, what have you found to be a good source of information for acquiring road maps for different countries?

I haven’t yet detailed the route by roads, it is an imminent stage of planning, any useful suggestions?
I have, however, just bought the Camperstop 2007 guide to all the motorhome stopovers through Europe which I think will be invaluable. I bought it through Vicarious Books

Do you have any re-fueling concerns as you travel? How many kilometers/miles per gallon does the bus get? How much fuel does it hold?

The 2 tanks hold just over 200 litres of fuel each, and we hope that that will take us about 1,500 miles. (Of course that is an informed guess at the moment, we will have a much more accurate idea in a few months.) My theory is that coaches go everywhere in every country we will be traveling through, and that re-fueling will not be too much of an issue. We have just set up an easy sponsorship opportunity for people or businesses who want to support us: SPONSOR A TANK OF FUEL!
And join our Hall of Fame! £200 just about fills one of our tanks here in the UK, so far the campaign has proved successful in our eternal search for funding.

Do you plan to sleep in the bus 100% of the trip? If so – any safety concerns?

We will make ourselves as secure as we can, and then trust our instincts and try to make sure we don’t take unnecessary risks. We certainly plan to be with the bus whenever it is possible, and really hope to be able to travel with it when it has to moved as freight across the sea.

Do you have any advice for others who might like to drive around the globe?

Watch the website, and learn from our mistakes and triumphs! I’ll have to answer that one properly when we’re on the road!

Holiday Homesickness

As U.S. holidays approach, those of us who are traveling the world can start to experience some homesickness or longing for our familiar traditions.  I remember the year I lived in Japan, spending about $38.00 on a jar of Skippy Peanut Butter from the Ryubo department store around this time of year simply because I wanted to feel some of the comforts of home. 

So - what can you do when you're dreaming of turkey with dressing and looking down at a table of noodles and fish?  Well, some obvious things come to mind.  If you're traveling alone, you could seek out other Americans and get together for an improvised holiday.  If you're traveling with family, you may be able to improvise together well enough to feel that sense of community.  You can of course, call or Skype home on the given day and chat with Aunt Martha and Cousin Brad to get a vicarious report of the festivities.  You could get online and see some videos of Thanksgiving parades or subscribe to watch the football game.

However, looking back on my holidays away and my melancholic longing for all things familiar, here's what I wish I would have done.  I wish I would have remembered that my traveling experience was unique and that while I may have been missing a piece of pumpkin pie, there would be many more just like it waiting for me in the years to come.  I wish I would have focused myself on what was special about my new culture and new surroundings and really taken the time to immerse myself in their customs.

So for these holidays, my hope for you is that you will really savor the present and be thankful for what is in front of you, whether it be turkey or mackerel.  Let yourself be carried away by the bounty of the earth in all its variety.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Family Nomads - Probably the Most Fearless of All!

When I set off on my last adventure with my 3 children (later met by my husband after a couple of weeks) I searched the web for extended travel with kids and found very little.  However, since then, it seems family nomads are jumping out of the woodwork.

In my opinion, these are some of the most fearless nomads of all.  It's one thing to pack yourself up and set off on an adventure not knowing where the wind might take you.  It's another thing to do so with your children.  There aren't many people who have the courage to attempt it.  However, the rewards can be great for you and your children.  How many kids get to learn about the Romans by actually walking across a Roman acqueduct or learn about other cultures by actually playing with children on a playground in Costa Rica?  You can't beat experiential learning.

Some of the folks I've met so far include the Atkins family who have sold their belongings, purchased a bus that they are converting for themselves and plan to drive around the world with their 4 children while home schooling.  What a wild adventure!  They chronical their progress at Welcome to the World .  One of their hopes is to communicate with schools while they are on the road, bringing information about the world to kids who are in the classroom.  Very cool!

Another set of adventurers are the Tanenbaums who you can find at Travelin T's .  They traveled for a year starting September 05 and covered the US, Europe, Africa, South America, and Mexico.

And finally, another great family travel site is Backpackermom .  Marina is an expat living in Costa Rica with her child and writing about it. She's got a lot of information about kid friendly stuff in this country.

My hat is off to all these families.  You've given your children an immeasurable gift. 

The Human Side of the NuNomad

One thing I've realized on this trip has been that although my technology set up for the most part went off without a hitch, I as a human being was not so infallible.

When you are living as a NuNomad (taking your profession with you abroad) it's important to factor in your human frailties.  For instance, I was not prepared for how many days of mental cloudiness I would experience as a result of jet lag.  This would have gone unnoticed if all I had to think about was the next restaurant to choose, but it became an issue when trying to juggle client hours and four time zones.

Secondly, no matter how lightly I tried to pack, my suitcase became heavier every time I had to move it. The need to carry a laptop, related wiring, camera, cell phones, their related wiring, extra batteries, etc. should be taken really seriously on the physical level. Whatever you can do to minimize the weight of your equipment should be done.  What feels ok when you give a trial lift in your living room can feel like a dead elephant when you're getting up the fourth flight of subway stairs on a 98 degree day with no air.

I have also learned to factor in more time between each move before scheduling work.  Each time we moved from one place to another unexpected issues arose.  The more crash time I could get on the arrival end, the more likely I was to be clear headed and organized by the time I started work.

I guess the biggest piece of learning for me was this: It is much easier to stay put for extended periods in one place and do sight seeing day trips than it is to physically move your location from place to place.  The more you can minimize the number of times you move during one journey, the less stressful both mentally and physically your experience will be and the better able you will be to continue your work.

So - do I wish I stayed home after all the stress? No way!! All I have to do is remember what my office looked like and I am 100% sure it was all worth it.  We're still on the final leg of our journey now - the beach in Connecticut - and planning to extend our time here. Take a look at my French office below