It has always been my dream to see the world and explore other cultures.
However after getting married, building a house and family my dreams were pushed to the bottom of my list.
We lived in our dreamhouse and did everything that was expected from us. Yet we missed adventure. We were focussing on things that were wrong for us: the mortgage, expensive ballet lessons and little outings. Exploring the world together just matters more to us.
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A new business
To escape this life I swapped my personal Instagram-account for a business account about 2 years ago. I hoped to convince people traveling was possible on every budget and for everybody. But also to promote (lesser known) destinations, unique accomodations and activities.
It really is a job from the heart. Though my business was growing slowly I got immense satisfaction from it.
Over the last year my business really started to take off. There were days I was busy for hours simply answering questions of people searching for the perfect holiday or unique trips for the family.
I also planned and executed amazing collabs with hotels, touristic agencies and brands within Europe, one of the harder influencer markets.
Pandemic
But by the end of February all of a sudden the whole country and half the world was locked down and my business seemed to go into the same direction.
We stayed inside for 3,5 months. Then we heard our summertrips to Ireland (promoting a camper) and to Iran (taking a presstrip round the country) were cancelled due to covid-19.
The turning point
In the meanwhile Daany also heard offices stayed closed until the 31st of August at least.
That moment we decided to take the leap and just leave.
We had two weeks to rent out our house. Decide to keep on homeschooling both girls. We packed our belongings in a hand luggage bag and left for Austria with our international passports and negative corona-tests in hand.
This is how a pandemic and cancelled trips made us digital nomads overnight.
Friends and family expect us back after a week or three. After a month the questions started coming; ‘Are you staying there?’ ‘Are you moving?’
And every time we answer that question it feels so liberating to say: “We don’t know.”
Because that is what a digital nomad is … a person flexible enough to live and work anywhere.
We sure know it won’t last forever, but for now we are living our dream.
