Well, it happened again – HR came in to announce once again that my department had been laid off. This time at least, it wasn’t entirely unexpected, but still, big changes are coming – but I guess that’s also been the norm so far. What exactly this means for us, we don’t entirely know. We packed up and moved up to Marysville, Washington to rent out Briana’s grandparents’ basement. It’s better than it sounds – we have our own kitchen and everything, and no lease (we do pay rent, though). We’ll be free to get back on – or rather off? – the road again. But first, let’s step back and look at what brought us to this point to begin with and take a look at our nomad story.

Married with Maps – Our Nomad Story

Our Backstory – History

So this all really starts many years back, long before either Briana or I ever met. Briana was a military brat, spending a few years in Europe, and traipsing about the US with her family every couple of years. Really, she was a bit of a nomad before it was something that would even cross our minds. I was a bit more grounded growing up in Texas and Florida, but I did love watching the Discovery Channel and learning about different cultures. So the travel bug was planted a little early.

We met in college and once we graduated from the University of Central Florida – Go Knights! – we were eager to try somewhere new. My original career goals were to be an animator for a big movie studio, and the way things worked out, we were able to jump out to Dallas so that I could try to get a job at a local studio. Long story short, we were back living with parents in Florida six months later. We needed to move out though and we very seriously considered teaching English in South Korea – like we did months of paperwork and were one day away from signing contracts close.

But I was a little bit hesitant about it – and to Briana’s dismay (she was pretty excited about Korea and she wanted to try teaching there) – a job popped up in San Jose, California that seemed to be perfect for me. It was related to 3D modeling and was in California. It didn’t pay well and Silicon Valley is expensive. Maybe it wasn’t the best fit, but we did learn to love the area. 

A Layoff and a Plan

I was convinced that this job would be the right foot in the door to get me into a movie studio. Wrong! While it offered a bit of experience, it really wasn’t lining up anything. Plus one of the studios I was interested in (Dreamworks) shut down their branch in the Bay Area during our time there. Layoffs were happening all over the place – it wasn’t a great time for the industry. And then in April of 2015, just weeks after our wedding, I was laid off. We were not in a good position to remain in California, and really didn’t know exactly what to do. 

Now, I had already led the way on multiple moves – a few of which could be termed “bad decisions” on my part by Briana, so it was her choice on what we would do now. Luckily, a contact Briana had, managed to help keep us afloat with some freelance work while we finalized our plan. She already did some work remotely and now that she had gotten me some again as well she had the basic idea of being a “digital nomad” without actually knowing it was a term and something lots of other people were doing. 

Ever resourceful and a great planner, she got it all down. We would get rid of some of the things we didn’t need (though ultimately we didn’t get rid of much, definitely not as much as we should have) and put the rest in storage with the idea that we would possibly come back to San Jose again. We would then begin working entirely online – something we had both already been doing on and off for a while, but now we were going to do it full time. And for the most exciting part, we would begin doing this by housesitting for three months in Songtan, South Korea. Briana had been fairly desperate to get abroad again since she was a child and had been sending me things for years. While I really wanted to travel too, I didn’t quite get it in the same way – yet. It wasn’t just that, though. This plan really made the most sense for us in many ways. 

To say that we were excited wouldn’t do justice. It wasn’t teaching, but in all honesty, we really thought we might prefer being able to just work for ourselves and travel at our own pace. We didn’t know what we would do after our three months were up, so we decided to wing it. We left California and drove back to Florida to leave our cats and cars with our parents. In a way, I would say our nomad story started when we graduated as we were already moving frequently, but for the last month and a half in the states, we readied ourselves for what would become the beginning of our global nomad story together.

Anyeonghasaeyo, South Korea

Right from the start, our adventure was exciting. We left from Orlando, flying with Emirates Air on a thirteen-hour flight, with a fifteen-hour layover in Dubai, followed by another 10-hour flight into Incheon. Upon arrival in Seoul, our host who we would be housesitting for helped get us to Songtan and get set up in the country. 

The apartment we would be watching was on the small side, so our first night was actually spent at a love motel – a very interesting feature of South Korea – where we promptly crashed since we had barely slept at all over the previous 72 hours. The next day was a quick crash-course on how to survive in South Korea and take care of two dogs and then our host was off and we were left to ourselves in a foreign country. It was also our first time in Asia and really experiencing a new country together. It was wonderful, everything was new to us, from going to the grocery store to taking the metro into Seoul. We came to love South Korea and tried to explore Seoul to the best of our abilities. 

Of course, we ran into some minor difficulties here and there but all in all, it was such a wonderful experience. Winter in Korea is, well, cold but we had fun getting warm (and naked!) in a jimjilbang for a great winter activity. We lived with two lovable, but spirited dogs, giving them three walks a day. While we were there, though we weren’t making much and it was still hard to tell for sure, we realized that this whole remote work and travel thing might actually be possible for us. The kind of work I was doing was also more relevant to what I had been wanting to do than any in person job I’d had so far. Soon our time in Korea would be over, though and we didn’t have anything else lined up next. 

Nomading through Southeast Asia

I still had the idea of working for a major studio, and after receiving multiple “no”s from studios around Seoul (you kinda need to know Korean better), we knew we needed to go somewhere else (our 90 days were also coming close to up). Briana helped out finding relevant positions to apply for and I ended up with an interview with a studio near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Malaysia really wasn’t on our radar at all, but we decided, ‘why not?’ and went for it.

Our arrival to Kuala Lumpur was a little rough, involving sitting outside a huge condo complex at midnight without working phones and attempting to get into an Airbnb that we didn’t have the address for. Luckily, things worked out in the end and we managed to safely get inside and settled. We then home-based from our Airbnb for three weeks and explored the totally different vibe of Malaysia.

Malaysia would grow on us over time, and we would eventually visit Kuala Lumpur another three times as of writing this, and now it is one of our favorite cities. But, I didn’t get the job (partly because it turned out it was a different position than I applied for) – all for the best really. After some deliberating, we decided to head on over to Vietnam for a few months, starting with Ho Chi Minh City.

Culture Shock in Vietnam

We were not prepared for Vietnam, partly because our expectations were wrong. Also, probably because of the previous destinations. Korea was so modern and Malaysia reminded us of Florida. We can, however, definitely say that we experienced culture shock in Vietnam. The noise, traffic – the smell – it was all very overwhelming, but in an exciting way. A blend of motorbike exhaust, incense, flowers, coffee, and some sort of meat over a charcoal grill assaulted us every time we stepped outside, not to mention the cacophonous sounds of bike horns all the time. We had been wanting this kind of experience, though, something so different from what we were used to. 

Despite the absolute chaos, Vietnam would also grow on us, and ultimately become one of our favorite countries as well. Some of our favorite dishes come from Vietnam – the famous pho for one – and nary a day goes by that we don’t reminisce over cafe sua da, better known as Vietnamese Traditional Coffee.

The living was cheap; a filling meal could easily be just a dollar or two. We had ventured from Ho Chi Minh in the south to Hanoi and Cat Ba in the north on a spur of the moment flight. We actually booked an Airbnb and flight with less than 12 hours notice to Hanoi and met our host at the airport in HCM to pick up bedding. That was a crazy story unto itself, where we arrived at the wrong location and found ourselves searching for an unmarked building.

Finally, after two months, sorely in need of a little break from the chaos of Vietnam, we decided to get ourselves to Thailand and chill out in Bangkok for a month. Our freelancing had picked up a little, but we were still super-budgeting our travels. We didn’t do too much in Bangkok, mainly just getting work done and figuring out a plan. Though we still did see some of the sights, including some more off-the-beaten-path places. 

The Hectic Road Across the World

At this point, Briana had been doing some extra legwork to get us another housesit. We just barely missed out on a few, but finally, we managed to get an excellent housesit in Cyprus. However, that was still a few months – and thousands of miles – away. As our visa neared its expiration, we decided we had to check out Angkor – so we booked a bus to Siem Reap. Surprising to us, the bus was incredibly easy to deal with, as was the border-crossing – with the minor hiccup of having to bribe a border official because I didn’t have a passport photo. Despite going in the hottest month of the year there and biking around in those 100+ degree fahrenheit temps, we kind of wished we had chosen to spend more than a couple weeks but maybe we’ll just have to go back! 

Briana created a few different route options (based on price and, somewhat locations) for us to get to Cyprus and I chose the one where we would stop in Kuala Lumpur again, go to Indonesia to check out the fascinating town of Yogyakarta on Java, relax in Bali, and then make our way closer with a month in Sri Lanka and a quick stop-over in Lebanon. At the time, this was not her preferred choice of her options but she had really been wanting to go to Borobudur since she learned about Yogyakarta through a Skyscanner search. 

The constant moving was really beginning to take its toll on us though. While we remained in cities and countries for longer periods, since we had left South Korea, we had not remained in any specific place (Airbnb/hotel) for longer than three weeks, and usually, it was closer to two weeks. Consistently packing, moving, and setting back up was eating into our time and stressing us a bit. Part of the reason we kept moving around for the first part of the journey we wanted to keep our options open and didn’t plan very far ahead. We were new to Airbnb so we wanted to check places out first but almost every time we went to extend our place, it was already booked. We were also new to this lifestyle. But now we wanted a longer-term routine so we were really looking forward to our 3 months in Cyprus.

Difficulties on the Road

Sri Lanka would prove to be a difficult point for us. We had managed to operate on a pretty tight budget for all of our travels thus far – $10/night rooms in Thailand and Vietnam had proved satisfactory, but we should have paid a bit more in Sri Lanka. Our accommodation was rough, and while our hosts were incredibly friendly and helpful; no air conditioning (at our second place), limited internet, and frequent power outages made work difficult. In Weligama, we had to walk over a mile each way just to get drinking water. We didn’t always have a kitchen we could use, and the food we could get was usually either too expensive for our budget or poor quality (though our first host provided us with some great food). The mosquito nets helped at night but during the day we were bit up and we still slept with bugs crawling around us. Our health really began to deteriorate and we were just counting the days until we could have some sort of comfort again.

That’s not to say that we didn’t enjoy some of our time in Sri Lanka though. We did get to see elephants, leopards, and bears at Yala National Park. We spent a lovely day at Galle Fort. But we also got into a motorbike accident and were robbed on the train returning to Colombo for our flight out of the country.

Getting robbed really put a dampener on our trip, and it also made the next stage of our journey a bit more difficult. We still had a little bit of cash with us, but not much, and we didn’t have any cards from which to withdraw any money. One of Briana’s cards had expired a month before, and the other just days prior. Also, banks don’t like to send new cards to people in other countries without addresses, who knew?

Despite that, we managed to get through a week in Lebanon, dining quite happily on hummus, pita, and tzatziki, along with a few other dishes. Despite the short stay, Lebanon left quite an impression on us and we can’t wait to visit it again. The region may be in turmoil, but the land is still rich in history and has generous people.

Cyprus

After our whirlwind of traveling through Asia, arriving in Cyprus was a relief. Our hosts would be on holiday for three months and we would watch over their seven cats in a house to ourselves in the wine-making village of Dhoros up in the mountains. Yes, that’s right, seven cats – Briana’s dream. 

The serenity and tranquility of Dhoros and the housesit were exactly what we needed. Both my parents and Briana’s dad visited us – with my parents bringing my new banks cards – and we were able to get back to a normal schedule. One thing that really sticks with us about Cyprus was just how clear the sky was at night up in the mountains when the moon wasn’t out, you could actually see the Milky Way and we had a phenomenal meteor shower as well.

Having been out at this point for approaching a year, we started to really assess our plans. Freelancing was working okay, but we were finding the instability of income stressful. Our storage unit back in California was an expense we were reminded of every month and fees would go up. It was something we were going to want to address no matter what we did. We turned again to the idea of teaching English in South Korea.

Europe

Regardless, we knew we weren’t going to return back to the US until at least December and Briana wanted to go to Budapest. So, once again Briana drew up a plan, and it was decided that we would first go to Belgrade, Serbia and then finish up in Budapest, Hungary.

Arriving in Belgrade was fantastic. We were surprised at the city and what it offered, and it totally fit our style. The air was clear and crisp, a dramatic difference from the hot and pungent aroma of Southeast Asia and the scorching heat of Cyprus. Autumn was beginning to take hold and we found ourselves enjoying 2 am walks through the city streets.

Belgrade and Serbia as a whole was another country that had really never really been on our minds, it just made sense when Briana drew up our plans. But, as we kept discovering, these nations that were just off the typical traveler’s path would prove to be great. Belgrade was cheap, lively, and beautiful. Walks through the Kalemegdan Fortress and even just 3am walks around town were pleasant for us.

During this time, another opportunity arose for me back in San Jose, California. It would be a studio job – though with a university, not a film studio but it sounded like a perfect thing for me and it would give us some stability. The interview process would prove to be fairly long, going all the way until we were in Budapest, but we finally had a sense of direction.

With this in mind, we continued to explore Belgrade and later Budapest. Our trip to Budapest would be via a bus, and once again were blown away by how easy it made everything. We would stay in Budapest for six weeks, with Briana most excited for the Christmas markets that would begin to pop up shortly before we would leave. 

Budapest was another truly stunning city – which at this point may seem redundant. We were also beginning to develop a bit of a routine with our longer stays, though our hours were way off the norm. In fact, had it been required (and sometimes it was), working U.S. hours was no problem.

But before we were truly ready to return, it was time for us to fly back to the United States. We sort of hoped that it wouldn’t be, but knew that it could be the end of our nomad story.

Back to the US

We arrived back in the U.S. in early December with a big move ahead of us. Most of our stuff was in California, but we still had a fair amount in Florida with our parents – most notably our cats and cars. My job would start shortly, so almost immediately we got in the car and drove across country to California – again.

We got moved into our own apartment, quite comfortable – although we moved in during one of the heaviest storm days California had had in years. The cats were very happy to have us home again and Bodhi warmed right up to us (Nala took a little longer). We soon began to plan our travels and outings. We knew that we wouldn’t be able to travel as we had, but I did get more than many (3 weeks per year) and with some careful planning we would squeeze out a few extra vacation days here and there.

In our first year back we traveled to Canada, then Mexico, and then later in the year, we made a big trip out to Barcelona, Marrakech, Paris, and Uppsala. It was like a mini-nomad experience. We felt comfortable spending a little more than we had before since income was more stable which was nice. It was also nice to not have to work everywhere or worry about the internet quite as much. While we prefer spending more time in a city and getting a more local experience, we still really enjoyed all of our travels we did as vacations. There are certainly pros and cons to different ways of traveling. 

There were comforts to being home, but it wasn’t all perfect. Briana’s worked remotely but all she did was work and her stress was contagious. I had a good job which I liked but I still had a commute and some of the work became a bit more monotonous towards the end. The friends we did have didn’t live very close plus we wanted to save money for travel and a future home somewhere so we didn’t get out much.

I also had previously been stuck to the idea that a career is an important part of one’s identity but I was beginning to realize that a job was just that, a job not a life. While we really like San Jose, many aspects of our jobs, and having some stability, we sometimes longed for our life back on the road. 

The second year we started taking long weekend trips to interesting places in California – which was helpful. And we managed to take really exciting trips to Myanmar, Japan, and Hong Kong which would scratch that itch for the time. 

Towards the end (though we didn’t realize it was the end), it became necessary for Briana to quit her remote job. She ended up picking up a couple more flexible contract gigs. We actually toyed again with the idea of teaching English – and many, many other options. But we elected to stay longer. No other option stood out as the decisively right answer or necessarily a better fit. But it wouldn’t matter in the end.

Back Out Abroad

Shortly after renewing our lease for another year, the layoff came. There had been signs and warnings leading up to it, so I can’t say that we were too surprised. What might be surprising, however, was that, at least to me it actually brought a slight sense of relief. 

It certainly threw a wrench into our plans, but our plans are also always changing. So, with this announcement, we have our time back (in a way), and the decisions are back in our court. There is certainly room for improvement all around, but we are now better set when it comes to our freelancing and remote jobs.

After some downsizing, we made it up to Marysville, Washington. Now we’re renting from Briana’s grandparents, in their downstairs. Here we can spend time with people up there (we have family there, unlike here in the Bay Area), work in a way that suits us, and travel at a pace that we prefer. The move is unlikely to be permanent, but it means that we’re back out and moving and there are more adventures to come.