Digital Nomadism, so how did it all start for us?
To be honest, the idea started cooking around 4 years ago, about 2 years before starting our journey. At that time I was working for the police for almost a decade and Yarden had been working as a software developer for around 2 years. We had this wish of traveling without a time limit, and without burning all of our savings to do so. And not just travel, but also to experience foreign countries more deeply. The strange thing is that we haven’t heard about people with similar desires, or even this term “digital nomad”.
It’s important to say that the reason for leaving everything behind wasn’t from a place of discomfort or lack of satisfaction. We were happy, but once the idea surfaced, it was hard to put it back in the bottle.
All of this was of course before Covid times, when a valid passport and a destination was all you needed. But anyways, it was clear that to realize this journey would be required to create income while on-the-go, and it would be even better if it was something that we both enjoyed doing.
So we started to throw ideas. Yarden had some techy background in computers and he wanted to use that skill to do more visually creative things. As for myself, I didn’t have another profession in hand, so I started to investigate new areas of interest that wouldn’t require a brand-new degree of some sort.
There isn’t a “right way” of creating income while nomading. There are those who will choose to become independent (or remote employees) in the field they are coming from, and those who will seek new endeavors. What works for some might not work for others. If you don’t have a clue where to start, the recommended way (if possible), is trial and error. Decide something, try it, change it, get better, until you are happy enough.
In the meantime, we were able to come up with an initial plan – Roza would study graphic design, and Yarden would explore more tools for creative coding and 3D. After that, we would quit our jobs, fly to Europe, buy a campervan, and start our journey on wheels …hoo-hoo!
Now the practical step – creating our new toolbox, each in his or her own field. We remember being in our apartment in Tel-Aviv after returning from work and focusing on exploring our new passions until funny hours. This memory is well-engraved in our minds. We don’t know if it’s because the dream became more and more real in those moments, or because of the fact that we started to create something big together, for the first time. Oh yes, we decided that starting a mutual business that combines our skills will probably be better. Time will tell.
One step further, Pixtory was born – uur nomadic studio. We left our jobs, found a tenant to replace us in the apartment, and sold most of our properties except a few boxes that still sit somewhere in our parents’ house. We had a one-way ticket to Germany! It was happening! But then … guess what?!….Covid! We didn’t have an apartment or a car, and despair started to kick in. So without many choices, we start on our nomadic journey in our own country, until things would get clearer and we would be able to take off.
Without getting too much into details, this period included three months of waiting, putting in a lot of effort into our new business, making tons of calls with different embassies to understand which countries were open for us, and three flight tickets that got canceled. Then, in something that we thought was going to be our “last attempt”, we bought a ticket to Serbia, a country that we never thought about before. Of course, the van idea wasn’t relevant anymore in a reality where every border crossing is as good as rolling a dice accompanied by mountains of bureaucracy. But finally we were in the air. It was finally starting!
At first we moved pretty quickly (compared to today), and then we realized that we needed to slow down because it felt too exhausting and expensive. In that year, despite the challenges of the pandemic, we got to visit Serbia, Slovenia, Austria, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. We even lived and got married in Croatia (it wasn’t planned, by the way)!
We started to form “our way” in this world of digital nomadism. In other words, we had to learn what works for us inside this big salad of endless options (and dilemmas) that this lifestyle brings with it. How to look for accomodation and which ones to choose? How to meet more people and feel less lonely? How to spend less money and keep track of expenses? … And what do we even like doing with our free time?
The way is yours only!
On the way we met all sorts of “veteran” digital nomads and it was always exciting to get inspired by their stories and share experiences. Although in some of the conversations, we felt this dictating tone of “how should it be done(!)”. Meaning, how long it’s best to stay in a place, where to live, what your luggage weight should be, how many hours a day you should work, etc. And of course it wasn’t coming from bad intentions, just their point of view.
Everyone has a different style of doing things, and it should be a result of personal choice. You should discover the pace that is right for you and the size of your suitcase. We knew people who moved every week or two, and some who stayed for a few months or even years. Some people search for a connection to nature and spirituality, while others look for impressive buildings and parties, or parties in impressive buildings. Go figure. The crazy thing though, is that it’s also dynamic, changing. And it’s totally fine. You might suddenly change plans because you fell in love with a place that didn’t impress you initially, or you might be badly disappointed by a place that you expected to be nothing less than Alice’s Wonderland.
Time flies, and since embarking, it has been more than 2 years. And how are we? Still nomading, writing these lines from Bali (a small dream in itself), after a lovely period in Thailand, and already looking for our next destination.
If you read so far and still have no clue regarding our message, then sorry. But maybe a few catch phrases will help to make it clearer –
Create the change you want.
Everything is up to you.
And the way that is right for you, is the way!
Of course if you are nearby, reach out to say hi! The truly best part of it all is to meet new souls and share the experience together.
