I made it to the day 90 of my nomadic travel journey. It has been a humbling experience to live without a “permanent home”. I think the concept of not having a permanent home is a scary thought for a lot of people. Having a permanent home is never a priority for me, maybe because of my childhood upbringing. Growing up, I lived with my big family for most of my life and probably was only a few years when I actually had a permanent house belong to my parents. I think for that reason, having a permanent house with a yard and a picket fence is not really my priority in my life.

I am glad that I decided to leave home in September 2021. In the period of 3 months, I noticed a lot of changes within myself and I appreciate small things even more now. I love to be able to not working the normal 9-5 job (of course most people love to be able to do this as well) but I notice after not having 9-5 job, my creativity level improved significantly and I have less stress which is helpful for my mental health.

I spent $2286.59 (per each month) for the period of 3 months. That’s average of $76.22 per day. That’s including fees for visas, health insurance, and other unexpected expenses. Some people said “Oh that’s a huge budget”. I honestly don’t have a set budget. All I know is that I want to spend less for accommodation and still be able to enjoy food, wine, sightseeing and truly experience the life of traveling. I visited 5 countries and 12 cities with that budget. Sure, I could try to only live of $40 budget per day but I don’t think I would be happy to limit myself on things that actually bring me joy. That’s the thing about being a nomad and live the full time travel lifestyle, you need to make it your own. Set a budget that you know you have. Don’t limit yourselves on doing activities or things that bring you joy. Money will always comeback but experience and memory are priceless.

I stayed at 4 hostels, 4 airbnbs, 1 free accommodation in exchange for volunteering my time teaching ESL through Workaway, and 4 hotels (for free using my airline miles points) throughout my journey. I noticed how I appreciate small things when I found them at my accommodations. Bigger comfy bed is always appreciated. Shower heads with excellent water pressure are essential. Kitchen with hot water maker for tea or coffee is so great. At the end of the day, I am thankful that I have a place to stay to rest and also a place where I can be productive.

I also fell in love with Italy. I was surprised by it because I thought for sure that I would fell in love with Spain more than Italy. I fell in love with the beauty of Italy. Every city that I’ve visited in Italy are full with beautiful places. I also fell in love with the culture, the language, the food, the wine, the gelato, and the people. I love how Italian people are so passionate when they speak. I am missing Italy everyday since I’ve left Rome. I’ve met so many amazing people in that country and I felt that I left my heart in that country. I hope, I can come back to Italy someday.

One thing that I don’t think anyone can help me to prepare for is how to handle grief as a nomad. Since I started my journey, I lost my grandfather, a friend, and the most recent my cat passed away. It’s the hardest thing that I’ve ever had to deal with. It’s hard to process our sadness when we are so far away from family & friends. Yes, we can talk about it through phone calls and video chats but nothing compared to actually receiving hugs from your family and friends. The thing about life is that it will continue to happen and life don’t care about your situations if you are a nomad or not. We will still experience everything throughout of our travel journey. We will fall in love, have our hearts broken, people that we love will die, accidents can happen, sickness can happen. However, I think that’s the beauty of living, with all of these not so happy events in our lives, there will be events that make us happy as well.

Here are events that make me happy throughout my travel journey:

When my first flight from San Francisco to Barcelona prepared to land at the airport. I saw the skyline of Barcelona from the tiny plane window and suddenly everything felt so real.

I’ve met so many travelers at hostels, through facebook travel groups, and they taught me so many new things. I’ve made friends from all over the world.

Eating all the delicious food and it’s so true that food taste so much better in Europe. So believe the hype!

Seeing all the magnificent art such as the statue of David in Florence, Mona Lisa painting in Paris, and so many other statues and paintings by famous artists.

I went on fun dates with local men who shared laughter, stories, and passion with me. Just like the food, the men are so much better in Europe. Again, please believe this hype!

I fell in love with someone in Italy and even though things are not working between us as a long term relationship couple, I cherished that week that I’ve spent with him.

Hearing all the foreign languages around me and how that just blew my mind knowing that there are so many languages in this world.

Knowing that life is too short and I am grateful that I am able to experience this journey. No words can describe how I feel inside my heart and I hope I will never forget about this part of my life.