??? Days of Travel

Extending my travels into the triple digits

[Day 33/???] Even though it only took a few minutes to click the buttons and tap the keys which resulted in me getting the above email, it nevertheless represents what might turn out to be perhaps years of my future.

I’m currently in Playa del Carmen, Mexico on Day 33 of what was originally intended to be 99 days of travel. My plan was to go back home to Juneau, Alaska in April 2020. However, even as I booked my chapters with WiFi Tribe and Hacker Paradise, part of me knew it was a 50/50 coin toss of whether — come April — I’d be craving being back home in my own bed, or I’d be energized for more travel.

Rather than booking a return ticket from Florianópolis, Brazil, I hatched a crazy, secret plan that I wouldn’t admit even to myself until I was already well out the door: what would it be like to travel around the world with each of the different digital nomad groups?

And so here I am. Instead of flying from Brazil back to the USA, I will be sailing with Nomad Cruise from Cartagena, Colombia to Lisbon, Portugal. (Jeez, even saying that kinda made my stomach flip a little bit.) The details get a little bit fuzzy thereafter, but I’ll likely take the Nomad Train across Russia, then hopefully join Remote Year in their Asian locations. And then…?

Typically, this is the point at which I would be second-guessing myself. After all (I mean, let’s be honest here) that itinerary is kinda nuts. Especially for someone who is only on Day 5 of their very first nomad group experience.

However, a few things give me confidence that I am on the right path:

First, I am a big fan of following my inner voice. It’s rarely easy, but time after time I’ve found that it’s led me to such unexpected (yet positive) experiences, that when it speaks, I do my best to listen. And it’s definitely confirming this is the right choice.

Second, I am extremely curious. Not only about the world and my place in it, but about the different digital nomad groups and their cultures, values, and experiences. In just these last few days, I have come to feel like I know and love this group of twenty practical-strangers, and the general consensus is that it’s because of the shared values we each do our best to embody. I don’t expect to be able to reproduce this experience or these connections, but I am very much looking forward to seeing inside the different groups and getting to know more people in the digital nomad community.

And last but not least, my first day here in Playa del Carmen, I was working in a café where a woman about my age was giving tarot card readings. Now, I’ve only experienced tarot a few times in my life, but I believe that — spirituality aside — tarot is a great way to (as Paulo Coelho puts it in The Alchemist) “reach through to the Soul of the World.” Kind of like flipping a coin to make a decision, as soon as the coin is in the air, you realize which outcome you are hoping for the most.

My question for the cards was whether I should head back home to Juneau in April, or continue traveling. What I took away from my session is that if I go back, I will no doubt be happy to be home, and I will see it with new eyes; but unfortunately, my world will shrink back down again, as it has done every time I’ve returned to Juneau.

However, if I keep traveling, I will have experiences which will help me to break through The Illusion and see The World as One. When I do decide to make a home, it will be completely different for having had the experiences which are yet to come.

And so I’m going to give it a shot. Because (as many smart people in my life have pointed out) if I don’t like it, I can always just go back home. But if I don’t give it a shot, this will no doubt be one of those “What If?” scenarios that I will wonder about for the rest of my life. And who knows if I will have a chance like this ever again.

So, Nomad Cruise, ready or not, here I come!