How to Be a Good Nomad

If you want to be a fulltime traveling nomad, there are a few things you must be willing and comfortable to do. Some of these suggestions we make below for being a nomad are serious skills you need to travel full-time, other suggestions for how to be a nomad are a bit silly.

But all of these tips for being a nomad are ones we’ve gleaned from traveling full-time for over three years. If you can adapt to these full-time traveling skills, you’ll be a great nomad.

Be flexible.

We mean really flexible. The bus doesn’t come? No biggie, you can walk. They don’t use Uber there? Download Bolt. Political uprising? Pivot to a new country. Book the wrong night? Enjoy an extra stay where you are.

Things happen all the time in Nomad Life that you have no control over. Flexibility is the key to staying happy and enjoying your day.

Love the back seat.

Unless you rent a car, you will always be in the back seat. Whether it’s the back seat of your motorcycle taxi, the backseat of a Lyft, or the backseat of your new friend’s car, you won’t be the driver. Get used to it.

Drink the water.

It’s nice to think that you can control how water gets into your life by cleaning your veggies with iodine water, refusing ice cubes in drinks, and not eating street food, but you simply can’t. Do what you can–use filtering straws (like this one), boil water, etc., but the truth is, the tiniest drop of water can ruin the whole liter. Instead, eat a healthy diet, carry the proper diarrhea medicine with you, and be prepared with back up plans in case your indigestion gets the best of you.

Need tips on ways to carry water when you’re traveling, or how to get drinking water for free?

Know how to use your phone.

This sounds so basic, but your phone will be the tool that will get you into and out of all the situations you’ll find yourself in. Make sure you know how to use a data plan, you have a phone number you can dial from, and you can access someone in an emergency.

Know how to use Google maps.

Not only will Google maps help you get somewhere, it can provide bus routes, hail a taxi, locate property managers, track your location, record places you want to visit, and expose places you shouldn’t go. If you are new to traveling, start using Google maps at home even for places you’re familiar with. Get used to its functions now.

Learn five words.

Please, thank you, hello, good bye, two tickets. Okay, that’s technically six words and you can adapt “two tickets” to how many people are in your party. For solo travelers, this is probably “one ticket.” Learn them in every language for every country you travel in.

We like to take a screen shot of these words and put them on the home page of our phone until we’ve got them memorized. It usually only takes a day or two after using them (and being corrected) before we’ve got them in our memory banks.

Understand that you’re not on vacation.

Travel is fun, and your friends will think you’re in vacation mode. You’re not. You’re living your life, and a lot of your life is planning your travel. This takes a lot of time; more than you can possibly imagine. You may take vacations in nomad life, but you’re really just living your life, planning your trips, exercising in random gyms, and eating delicious and terrible food.

You aren’t a fashionista.

You will never quite be dressed exactly right. Your shoes won’t even be exactly right either. You’ll have to make due with hiking pants that double as dinner pants, skorts that work for dressy dinners, and beach sandals that finish sun dresses. Every piece of clothing and the shoes you carry will work double or triple overtime, and you’re never quite dressed exactly as you should be.

For shoes, we love Hoka Anacapa and Hoka Hopara. For clothes, we love Patagonia, Kuhl, and REI brands. Everything these brands makes seems to not only last long, but work double duty.

You can make MacGyver meals.

These are the meals you’ll fashion from the remaining ingredients in the cupboard before you move to your next destination. Instead of throwing out a half cucumber, three almonds, a cup of rice, and a partial head of broccoli, you’ll magically turn these ingredients into a meal.

You can sleep anywhere with any mattress and any pillow.

Otherwise, you’ll never get any sleep.

You can use any remote control.

You can navigate any washing machine settings, and know how to set an oven to any temperature.

You’re not picky about where to pee.

You can find a place to pee that’s not at your nightly accommodation.

You bank from your phone

And your computer and anywhere it’s necessary.