Full-Time Travel: Nomadism Doesn’t Have to be Digital

BY PAM & ANGI ABOUT FULL-TIME TRAVEL

Nowadays the phrase “digital nomad” is a standard traveling around the world with your laptop and living a life that’s envied by many who remain home. At the same time though this term means that you inevitably have to work online to enable such a lifestyle.

And that’s exactly what puts lots of people off wandering the world – even if that’s their dream. Not everyone can and wants to work online. Many who have exactly that dream, carry out a job in which they don’t sit in front of a computer all day and live their life online.

Unfortunately, these people are often being left out when it comes to introducing the subject of a location independent life. If you inform yourself about how to earn money while traveling or extending the length of your journey, you often just come across jobs such as blogger, copywriter, social media manager, translator, and virtual assistant. But what if I have no clue about those fields of work or none of it really interests you?

There are Other Ways of Nomadism

We had a critical look at exactly this subject and found out that the reality actually is quite a bit different. By no means, you have to work digital or online to travel the world. There are plenty of others ways to redesign your life while still being able to get away from it all. However, you may not find it proper to call yourself a “digital nomad” then.

That’s how we felt. So a new term was needed. A phrase that implies that you’re on a trip – which doesn’t necessarily have to be a world trip. You’re on a journey trying to find out what makes you happy. And to find the one thing that motivates you every single day. Regardless of your full-time job and a system that prevents you from finding your own way.

From Full-Time Job to Full-Time Travel

Full-time travel is for normal people like you and me. They are on the verge though. On the verge from being employed to self-actualization. Either they have already quit their full-time job or are close to doing so. They don’t feel comfortable anymore or realize that there’s much more out there for them. That’s why they decide to go on a journey. A journey that allows them to figure out what they want for their future and how to get to that point.

And as the name suggests, this part of the society loves full-time travel. To finance their journey, full-time travelers work along the way. Their journey is possible in all its facets and so is their work. Even though a few might still start their online business, others carry on a job locally as a barkeeper, nanny or farmer. Some work freelance and the rest for food and accommodation. And again others combine the analog with the digital.

The goal of a full-time traveler is to find his or her passion. Some might carry out a job for years but don’t really know where their strengths actually lie. But full-time travelers strive towards the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: self-actualisation. For the first time in their life, they have the time and the possibility to deal with their doing and being. They want to build their own system in which they can design their own future according to their own conditions and dreams. And during this journey, they’re setting the course of action for their full-time life.

And Where Can You Find the Analog in a Digital World?

There are many different platforms on which you can find all kinds of jobs to extend or even finance your travels. HelpX and workaway are only two of them. They focus on analog work for food and accommodation and offer jobs in almost every country on earth. You just apply for whatever catches your eye, wait for an answer from the host and begin to work. Easy as such.

The advantage of analog freelance jobs is that you get in contact with local people all over the world. They make you feel as part of their community and you can actually make a difference with your work. For that, you receive the most valuable salary: gratitude and appreciation. And if with such work you even see a part of the world you haven’t seen before, that’s most certainly the absolute jackpot. At least in the eyes of a full-time traveler.

It’s Never Too Late to Start Your Own Full-Time Travel

With that said there’s just one more thing for the people who are still at home and are yearning a life according to their own conditions and vision: quit your full-time job and start your full-time travel to find what you’ve been looking for so long.

About the guest authors