After living as a 'digital nomad' for the past 11 months, untethered to my previous Los Angeles life, I began to realize that I was living a more purposeful life on the road.
I loved Los Angeles, I still do. It was my home for 15 years. But my life was not fulfilling, nor was it challenging. I constantly felt the need to 'do more' and 'see more'. I felt that the perspective I was seeking was elsewhere.
So I made a somewhat rash decision to begin to minimalize. I began selling my possessions, to my surprise quickly and with great ease.
What was left over from my studio in Hollywood, I left in a storage unit. So my rent now became $120 per month.
I cancelled my bills and memberships, which dropped my expenses down to just the necessities. I was working full-time and transitioned to remote only. This task is much easier for me than others since my field of expertise is primarily digital and can essentially be done from anywhere.
I took three suitcases with me to Bali, Indonesia. I had visited Bali two months prior and knew that it would be an ideal place for me to recharge, reassess. My expenses in Bali, due to the exchange rate and the simple fact that things just cost less there, dropped by thousands per month. Not only was I making money, I was saving so much more than I ever had while living in Los Angeles.
Every 30 days, as in most foreign countries, I had to complete a 'Visa Run'. This means that in order to stay in one country, I had to leave that country every 30 days to ensure my visa stay valid. So I took this as an opportunity to explore. Airfare was rather inexpensive to the neighboring countries, all of which I had never been to, so it was an ideal excuse for me to travel.
I used Bali as my home base for 8 months. In Bali, I had friends, who quickly became family, and I even gained business clients. During this time, I traveled to Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and then moved on to Europe where I traveled to Greece, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Portugal and France.
I have traveled to over 17 countries in the past two years and over 41 countries in my life. I have been blessed to have been able to do this and continue to pursue my global perspective. However, as I continue my journey, I find myself with more of a desire to learn culture from the locals, outside the grasp of tour guides. I seek knowledge from varied generations in each country I visit, probing for answers about their feelings on their culture, government, future and past. My greatest source of education has been obtained through my travels.
My hope is to share my continued experiences as I circumference the globe. I have photographed and documented my experiences along the way, sharing to my social media as well as my website. I do this in an effort to expand the mindset for Travel and encourage purpose in others.
