#neworleans #savannah #charleston #columbia #raleigh #richmond #digitalnomad #travel #usa #cultureshock #reversecultureshock #amtrak #publictransit #bus

Reverse culture shock is when you return to your own country after going abroad and have the feelings of strangeness and bewilderment that you had when you arrived in other countries. My first experience with reverse culture shock was after a month long trip to Japan in which I lived with a host family and went to language classes. When I arrived at the airport, I was aggravated that everyone stood right up the baggage belt, even when their bags weren't there, rather than giving space for others. Then they wouldn't make space on the escalator for people to walk by. But those are super minor things. The next thing that I found was that the smell of American food made me nauseous. I couldn't eat my favorite pizza because the greasy smell made me want to puke. I had a hard time eating anything for a month.

As of January, 2025 I've come back to the US after traveling for a year and half in Latin America – and boy, do I have some reverse culture shock now. And I still do five months later. Some of the first things that I noticed were that the conversations that I overheard were much more rudimentary than what I was used to, to the point that I thought, “Wow, I'm really feeling that national average third grade reading level.” But maybe that was me just being in a bad mood and being a bit dick-ish. The summary of the main difference in conversations in the US vs elsewhere was, as you could probably guess, the political commentary nature of it all.

People all over will occasionally bring up politics. In Ecuador, I was told of various administrations, how one government started on a very populist/socialist note in rhetoric and then took office to become the most corrupt government they'd had with none of the populism. I guess that never changes. In Argentina, things were fresh under Milei's inauguration and austerity policies. Most people I spoke to were upset and concerned and protests against the privatization of universities were everywhere. But some were hopeful of the promise of stability after hardship. Did you know that in the past the Argentinian government tried to privatize universities and people occupied the universities with guns and shot at police to stop it? That's a story.

Back in the US, everything I heard was parrots of major media outlets. People seem to have strong opinions of things without actual understanding of how they work. Perhaps that's universal, though I doubt you could get most Americans to define Capitalism without the use of words like “freedom”, “hard work”, “dreams”, or “justice.”

There seems to be more anger here

While traveling through more than 20 countries in my life, I've never had any bad experiences in hostels with other guests. When I came back to New Orleans, it was almost part of the routine that people would get into tiffs with each other, with staff, with people around them. Courtesy in shared spaces seems to be on a different definition than what I expected. Also, dudes in the US snore more and more loudly. The men's dorm rooms also smell worse. My god, do they get musky quickly. That wasn't a thing nearly as much in Latin America. Sure, some people snored, but Americans take it to a whole new level – even to the point of me checking to see if my ear plugs are working.

But there were other instances. At most hostels I stayed at in New Orleans there was some kind of drama between guests, staff, and workers, in all directions, on a regular basis. There are a couple of hostels in New Orleans that I'm just not going back to. I've never done that before. But it's also the same with people there in general. Even riding a bike along side someone on a road in New Orleans, the guy started yelling at me. I pulled up next to him because the road wasn't safe to ride on and I thought I made a biking buddy.

Thankfully, other places in the US aren't as high-strung as people in New Orleans. I do want to say though, there are plenty of kind people, but there is also a lot of poverty and stress. More-so in the US than in other places I've been, even super poor ones. There are a lot of reasons for that, I think, and poverty being almost illegal here doesn't help. At least other places allow shanty towns, so people can get SOME kind of shelter. I'd see people hanging out nice looking work clothes to dry outside of some piled up bricks and a rudimentary roof. They were poor and doing what they had to get by with what they had. It's not ideal, but it's better than the option in the US, which is none.

But what about some of the good stuff?

There have certainly been good aspects of traveling back in the US and I don't want to spend an entire blog bitching. The food, music, and culture in New Orleans is still some of the best, and despite its problems it's still one of my favorite cities globally. I've also been traveling up the east coast along the Amtrak, so I'll share some of that.

Savannah, GA

I started my rail-road tripping after Nola in by flying to Savannah, GA. A lot of people praise the city for being beautiful and like a nicer version of New Orleans. It certainly has a similar feel. I wasn't even tripping over the sidewalks!

wrap around porches!?

I wish I had taken better pictures, but you can find professional ones on the internet, anyway 😜. From there I arrived at my B&B, as there is no longer a hostel in Savannah. It looks like it got the Covid.

Savannah's Central Park (Right behind here is the monument to slavers though)

rocking chairs at the bus stop!

Also, you get welcomed into town at the airport with rocking chairs while you wait for the bus into town. That's some southern hospitality right there! Not only that, but the bus takes you to an actual bus terminal with coverings, signs, wait times, etc. It actually treats you with respect, something unusual in American cities. I loved it, but was in a rush to transfer and couldn't get a photo. I need to improve my photo taking if I'm going to write a blog.

I also arrived during the Savannah Music Festival, where artists come from all over the country and even internationally to play here over several weeks. It was a very rich cultural experience.

They love the arts here! Look at that $2,500 donation!

So why is the largest monument in Savannah to slavers?
This thing is like 30' tall and protected by an iron fence while next to it is a monument to volunteers in the World Wars that's like 4' tall. What a way to show your priorities. There is a lot of rich history to be proud of. Why the insistence on memorializing the worst aspects of humanity, I'll never understand. Savannah isn't the only one, of course.

But that being said, there's also a really good African history museum that you should check out. It's small, but it has a lot of original and replica pieces you can view in a tour. Mine was given by a history graduate student and she did a fantastic job! I highly recommend a stop there.

photo of an African statue. It features a mother with long breasts supporting two children. The long breasts were an indication that she had raised surviving children and was a mark of honor.

You can really have a good time walking around not just the town center, but the old town as well. They did unfortunately rip up the tram lines and replace some of them with buses that look like trams. Public transit was actually workable for a lot of areas that I was staying in and I used it a good bit. Cycling is also a good option here, as most streets aren't too busy. I love the parks in the city and the overall planned layout.

Charleston, SC

From there I went to Charleston. There IS actually a hostel here! Woohoo! It also has a 7 day stay limit. Not super great if you're nomading and working.

Charleston is beautiful, but also super touristy. It seems like there aren't a lot of locals who live in the old town anymore. Most residential looking buildings that I saw seemed to be AirBnbs. Working there was not very easy. There are some cafes you can go to, but in the older cities they tend to be smaller and not as easy to work out of. The options I used were to go to the city and museum libraries. They had good internet, though the university library, I couldn't get the internet to work for me – likely due to my computer's corporate security, which does happen at times.

I stumbled upon an old book store that had quite a gem. Look at this one closely. It gets worse the more you look at it 😂.

Charleston has museum alley/road and the city has a ton of good museums, including the African American History museum and the city museum, both of which I highly recommend in addition to the other ones of the area. Charleston seem to take a different attitude about history from Savannah in that they show the history and don't celebrate the awful bits.

The city itself though is pretty much just a tourist hub. If you want to run in to some locals, it seems better to go away from the center a bit. This isn't to say that King Street is bad or anything, but you will find a lot of bachelor/ette parties, spring break, etc. I was walking with someone from the hostel and heard a young-un shouting with his friends that they were going to some bar and my friend and I looked at each other and said, “We're not going to some bar.” I'm old. I know.

I did like the city, though. They have a really good farmer's market where I picked up both food and a local spice blend that I'm still using. People were friendly, spring time weather was great. I did see something absolutely ridiculous, though, that makes me thing the city is run by a bunch of old farts:

A sign at a park with no loitering!? There are benches here! And no profanity, skateboarding, loud music. Might as well say no teenagers, too!

Outside of Savannah is an old oak tree called the Tree of LIfe. You can get there by car only. It's absolutely worth a visit! There's an old gentleman there who paints the tree almost daily. I was talking with a local about the tree and he brought up the gentleman and said that he's gotten pretty good! You can find his paintings at the old french market in town. If you see someone painting the tree on an easle, give him a chat!

The roots of this tree are as large as the branches. That is wild. They are taking care to try and preserve it, as it's fragile in its old age. Some of the large branches have fallen off or been cut and sealed with some kind of sealant.

Columbia, SC

One way to get a feel for a city is the sense or feeling of dignity and respect you receive as you arrive. What I mean is, when I arrived by bus from Charleston because the train involves going back to Savannah and transferring, I arrived not in town near the Amtrak station, but far outside of town at a warehouse. I had to order an Uber to pick me up. The driver told me that they moved the bus stop away from the Amtrak near the town center to outside of town because the city didn't like the “undesirables” hanging out there.

That sense of lack of dignity was a good indicator for my stay here. I don't really like Columbia. The majority of the city is parking lots and while locals say that it's walkable, it's not super pleasant. They do have parks that are pretty decent, but public transit and bike lanes aren't really thing. The lack of a hostel meant that I had to stay at a hotel. I had booked 3 nights, but when I arrived in the city, I wished it had been 1 or 2, but it was fine.

Here's what I mean about the look of the city as you're walking around:

This part of the road is brick, which makes it feel slightly less car oriented, but it's still cars first.

This is one of the more pleasant parts. Notice that this parking lot is an entire city block. Right behind it on the other side of the road is another block sized parking lot. It's spring break at this time, so notice the total absence of automobiles. The actual downtown isn't as pretty, but just as much parking. There's even parking right in the middle of the avenues! It's so dangerous! And ugly. It's so ugly!

The city is just not that pleasant to walk around, despite the fact that there is decent tree coverage, which definitely helps with the heat and sun.

The art museum was closed for renovation, but the park was open near the government buildings with the same massive slaver statue in the center.

When I finally left I walked 20 minutes at 6AM to the train station. I tracked the train on my phone and it was a 1.5 hours late from it's 4:30am departure. When I arrived the others who had been waiting since around 4AM were audibly jealous. Amtrak doesn't really start getting decent until you get to DC.

While I didn't like Columbia overall, I did see a bit of humanity there that reminded me that kindness still exists in people.

Bitty and Beau's

Bitty and Beau's is a coffee shop chain in the region that employs people with down syndrome to run the place. They are treated no differently than anyone else. They actually run the cafe – they stock, take and fill orders, everything. They're not left pushing carts because nobody knows what to do or has no expectations for them. They are treated with dignity there. I love it.

What I gathered is that the founders had two children with down syndrome and made a coffee shop for them to be able to work. They say that 80% of people with these disabilities are unemployed, even though they can do things. They've opened multiple stores around the country.

The yellow pins are the stores and the red are where people are from. The university is here and they get students from all over the world!

They even wrote nice messages for you. 😊
I'm really glad that I found this place.

Raleigh

I really liked Raleigh overall. When I arrived at the city via the Amtrak, I was greeted with a station that looked like it was an old factory. It was really cool – and right on the edge of downtown! It also looks like they're doing some kind of bus expansion right next to the station, so I wonder if that will be for inter-city buses or something. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the station, it's really nice!

But I did go to a nearby coffee shop got a photo of the barista's Frieren tattoo!

Unfortunately Raleigh also no longer has a hostel. The only place that I could find that wasn't insanely expensive was the Red Roof Inn outside of town to the south in a bit of a no man's land. But! There was an express bus that stopped a few blocks down, so while not pleasant, it was frequent enough to use. Coming back, however, was not pleasant. How do you cross this road!? There are no cars in the photo now, but I had to wait a while to get this photo. This is the major road going out of the city in that direction, so it's always packed with high speed vehicles.

The express bus brings you through town to a really nice bus station. It's where all of the city buses link up right in the center of town. They have TVs with arrival times and announcements and it's totally covered, so you're out of the heat and elements. It's nice to be treated with dignity.

As far as working goes in the city, it was pretty doable. There were quite a few good cafes to work at and I saw a lot of university students doing work as well. The downtown area was very walkable, so I was able to change locations if wifi wasn't working out or to go get lunch.

They also had a pretty big festival there! There were all of these stalls on this road and at the stadiums on the outside of downtown were concerts. For this festival, you pay for a day pass and get unlimited small glasses of beer.

It wasn't at the festival, but I tried an oyster beer! It was definitely interesting. It had the hints of oysters, but not overwhelming. It's something I'd try once haha.

Earlier in the day I was talking with the owner of this bar, which is Slim's Dive Bar. They were very nice and have good music shows there on the regular!

Richmond, VA

I was originally going to pass on Richmond until an uber driver really talked it up for its architecture. He really emphasized that I shouldn't miss it. I was skeptical – what was I going to get? Slaver shit?

I was actually wrong. Richmond felt oddly progressive compared to some other southern towns 😒 (Columbia). There's no hostel, of course, but I was able to find a hotel for a few days at not too bad of a price outside of town right by the bus line and, to my surprise, it's actually BRT! Like with its own lanes in the middle of the road with platform level boarding and everything! And totally free! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

The back glass walls are really cool, with maps of the route and neighborhood. The QR codes are supposed to be information on the area, but they didn't work for me.

Raleigh has really good art and science museums. The science museum had an arrow pointing to trains, so you can guess where I went.

The art museum was massive. I kept getting lost in it. Also, the art museum was free except for the Frida Kahlo exhibit (I don't remember if the science museum was).
The grounds around the museum are very welcoming and lots of people were out enjoying the sun, picnics, playing, and relaxing.

Walking around is entertaining as well!

I love the hands!

In addition, I got to see a music show in the old theater. I noticed that the dancing people in the paintings are different on each part. I love the architecture! The music wound up being country, of course. I didn't know what I was getting in to, but I didn't have plans and I saw a show was happening, so I bought a ticket.

There are some cool buildings in downtown too.

Overall the downtown had some cool buildings, though the unfortunate part is there were areas with a lot of closed businesses. There still were some, but I saw two whole blocks with everything shuttered. There were, of course, the confederate white house, a pathetic looking building surrounded by a hospital. It's hard to get to, as it should be. And it was just some dude's house, so calling it the White House is trumping it up a bit. The daughters of the confederacy had their building right next to the art museum. Theirs looked like a mausoleum, which is where their ideology belongs anyway, so maybe that's fitting. I thought I had gotten a picture of it, but I probably decided not to give them the dignity.

I actually enjoyed my visit to Richmond. It felt like it had some actual progressive aspects to it. I had some good food, friendly people, it was not difficult to get in to town with the BRT, and the free transit and museums was super nice! There are other parks and areas to visit that I didn't cover.

I'm glad I visited!

There are more places that I visited as well, but this part is already too long. By the time I was getting to this area, the fascism was ramping up to another level, so the next posts will show some protests!

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A common set of questions I've gotten from people about my travels are about the topics of romance and relationships while traveling, such as how relationships even work, what are people doing around romance, and how do you handle the temporary nature of everything when you're constantly moving. It is true that it can be difficult to maintain relationships when you're constantly saying goodbye. That does not, however, seem to be stopping people. I've had quite a few conversations with people about it, so I figured I can share some of them here along with some of my own observations.

#travel #relationships #digitalnomad

How people seem to view romance, relationships, and sex while traveling

There are a few different spectrums or styles of romance that I've noticed while traveling the past year and a half. One type that I encountered is people who are just on vacation or are short-term traveling and want to sleep their way through as much of the trip as possible. A lot of it may have to do with being away from your own watering hole, so you know you won't run into them again. Other factors, I believe, are that they're on vacation and want to have a good time, as they're having fun anyway. Additionally, who doesn't want the “We met in Paris” story of their relationship? I mean come on, we all do.

Continuing on this concept is the idea of novelty. New places, new experiences, new people, new experiences with new people. If that's what someone is looking for there are plenty of people to find along the way who are either looking for or are open to the same thing. It's fun and exciting, but there's also the aspect that there's a time limit. The eminent end of the trip makes the feelings stronger and even bitter-sweet. There are a lot of mixed emotions that can intensify how your connection with this other person feels. As if you are both racing the clock. This applies more to shorter term travellers than those who are traveling for longer.

Amongst those I met who were nomading longer, hooking up didn't seem to be as much of a priority. It still happens, of course, but it could be that it got old, or the novelty wore off, or people got tired of constantly saying goodbye. It's not like people weren't open to travel relationships, of course, but it didn't seem to be as high of a priority compared to the short-termers, vacationers, or recent starters. I did meet a few long-term travel couples. Most of them already knew each other and set off on the nomad life together. I did meet a small number who met while traveling. In those relationships, I saw two styles: one in which they traveled together the majority of the time, and the other being that they would travel together for a while, then split and do their own thing for a bit before meeting back up. However, it was quite rare to meet couples who met while traveling and kept traveling together. The majority of people were single, but pretty much everyone said that they'd like to find that person to travel with. That's easier said than done for a variety of reasons.

The obvious reason is that, duh, you're traveling. The problem with travelers is that they travel. They have different goals and wants. I think that there are some less obvious reasons as well. The main one is that dating or finding your match doesn't get much easier. You do meet a lot of open, like-minded people when you are in environments where nomads congregate, but matching with someone still needs more than that. So, the normal problems of dating still apply. However, you do help your odds a bit because you're placing yourself in an environment to meet people with similar interests and values. The other obstacle that comes into place is that this pool of people is smaller. While there are plenty of other nomads, it's not the equivalent of endless swiping in a local city by any means. Unfortunately as well, the odds of saying goodbye are pretty high.

Even if you are spending several months in a place and meet someone doing the same thing, people usually have different ideas on where to go next. It's not like you can't meet up again later, and many do, but you are saying goodbye and it can get tiring emotionally doing it over and over again. But that doesn't mean to stop; sometimes you just need a break for a bit. You make wonderful and beautiful relationships of all types with people while traveling. Each of them will hold a special place to you, so sometimes people are worn out from it for a bit, but become open again after taking an emotional rest.

I've noticed within my own self is that the excitement feeling of travel relationships was a lot stronger when I started and felt fresher, but over time that both wore away and wore me down. I had to learn to say goodbye and be comfortable with it. One of my biggest lessons while traveling was becoming ok with things ending, whether that be trips, experiences, or relationships. Of course it's not like your connection to the person is over; you can still call and reconnect. At some point I realized that I may have become calloused. I didn't always put as much effort into getting to know people quickly. I normally am quite good at it. I used traveling as a way to practice opening up and doing so gives other people permission to open up as well. I became very close with others very quickly because I “went past the bullshit and opened up” as someone once told me. I'm glad that I have a helpful tool to do this.

My favorite thing to use to get to know people quickly is a card game called “Big Talk.” It's not really a game, it's a set of open ending questions that people can answer and works great in small groups. I tried it once in a larger group, but there's a mismatch with openness in a larger group like this.

I'll give you an example by picking a random card and how I would answer it.

What advice would you give yourself five years ago?

I would tell myself to be more open to relationships with people that were already around me. I was probably too afraid of “shitting where I eat,” so to speak. I'd also tell myself to not be afraid to leave a job that was a bad fit. I actually got fired from a job after working for two years that I should have left 6 months in. I was miserable and progressively couldn't mentally function in my role from it, but I was afraid of the job market at the time. Maybe also the idea of doing the change felt like a lot and I didn't want to have to relearn everything and get on-board at a new company. That would probably be my main advice. It was a hard-learned lesson that had a lot of suffering along with it that could have been avoided.

I strongly recommend the Big Talk card game. I've had it with me for years and it has helped me deepen the friendships that I already have and create rich, new friendships quickly. My main tip for it is to expound on the reasoning behind the answer that you give. Answer the question, then explain the “why” behind it.

I think that I need to get back into doing this with people. Being open is a necessity for long term travel, I believe. We need connections with others as human beings, so when you are frequently moving on and making new connections with people, having only shallow interactions all the time can make you feel isolated even when surrounded by others. At least it does for me, anyway.

How have cultural differences played a role in romantic relationships

Culture plays a not very surprising role in how relationships work when you are traveling. One example that happened with me is that I was with a woman from South America and I thought I was being pretty affectionate for a gringo, but she told me she wished I was more affectionate that my lack of affection was hard for her. I love that stuff, so you don't have to ask me twice, but I was a little bit confused as to what more I could do. I was just out of ideas. Latin American culture is so much for expressive in the romance department than gringo-land is. I also heard from old friends who moved to the US that this cultural difference was hard for them.

There was another funny difference that I discovered in South America – opening doors. I'm raised in the southern part of the United States, where opening doors for women is considered good manners, along with saying “sir” and ma'am, though I believe the latter may be becoming less popular since people in other places take it as you calling them old. I was discussing the opening of doors culture with some Argentinians and they viewed the practice as almost patronizing or treating them like children. Now, I like doing small gestures like that and, again, I was raised in a place where not teaching your children to do so was raising them with bad manners, so I thought it was quite funny. No one really seemed to have much appreciation for the practice down there. It's not like anyone was overtly offended by it (except for some people from California at a few points), but very few Argentinians I spoke with seemed to like it. If anything, they were a bit confused by it.

But aside from this, cultural differences while traveling are pretty much the same as they are anywhere else. The main difference is that you're more likely to encounter them since you're meeting people from all over the world. The good thing, though, is that you become more aware of differences and can better take things in stride and laugh at the misunderstandings, as there will be a lot of them. It's not different while traveling vs at home.

While I wasn't a super-dater while traveling by any means, the connections I made along the way helped me to become a better person. Each person, whether friend or romantic, left me being a better person. I still mentally cringe at some gaffs that I made along the way and I remember several times that I hurt someone's feelings. I learned from it. But overall, I think that mantra stays the same. Say “yes” to opportunities, walk through open doors, and enjoy the ride of life with all that it brings.

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Posts

Nomading through the US after being gone for a year and a half – June 14, 2025

Riding a bike in New Orleans – March 23, 2025

Relationships, Romance, and Saying Goodbye while Nomading – March 5, 2025

How I embraced minimalism as a digital nomad – March 1, 2025

Things I got rid of while traveling – February 13, 2025

How I became a nomad

I've been a digital nomad for about a year and half now, but my journey as a nomad began a long time ago while I was in university. We had a summer program in the Spanish curriculum where we'd go to Costa Rica and live with a host family and go to language school. After university I traveled to Japan and Europe for vacation.

While this was happening, I got the courage to ask my work if I could work remotely from other cities in the US for short periods. I thought I'd get fired just for asking, but it turns out nobody cared as long as I got my work done. I started with one week to test the waters, then two, then three, and then my house burned down so I made the move to Austin, TX. Eventually I spent two months in the Netherlands to see if I'd want to live there.  After four fun years in Austin I decided it was time to do what had been in the back of my mind for a while and sell everything to begin traveling full time. Between my trips and my life as a digital nomad I've learned to embrace a life of minimalism and learned many lessons in adaptability. I hope to share my experiences and give a head start on some lessons learned in the nomad life.

How to embrace minimalism while nomading

The dilemma  – we all know it. You want to bring everything. No sacrifices. No compromise. Everything you could possibly need with you and available at all times. The natural problem is that you have some combination of limited space or a limited spine.  You have your clothes, your shoes, your portable work environment, a monitor, keyboard, stand, all the medicines and everything that you could buy more cheaply abroad. You CAN absolutely do this – it may mean that you're lugging around one or more giant suitcases that will soon have a broken wheel from cobblestone streets and that you're paying quite a lot in baggage fees.

It might be time to slim down. Or not. That actually depends on you and the style of your travel. It does not necessarily depend on your desires to have everything available, though.

How are you going to embrace your new limitations and the minimalistic environment that you are now in? My first question to you is “How often are you moving places?” Are you moving every 2 weeks or so? Are you picking your luggage off of buses and then walking uphill a mile to your new hostel? Or are you staying more long term, such as in a CoLive space, a rental, or with a host family?

These questions will influence how you embrace minimalism. If you are traveling more frequently, you'll want to pack lighter. This is the reality that I've embraced. I tend to travel in ticks and tocks of slow and fast. I'll travel about every 2 weeks and then I'll stay in place for one or more months. This is my luggage.

Nearly all of my possessions are in these two bags. Despite the fact that I did what many new nomads do and over-pack things that I wound up not needing (see Things I got rid of while traveling), I eventually slimmed down to things that are more essential. You would think that I've made sacrifices by not having more things, but the reality is that I've actually found more freedom.

Having less gave me more

It is nothing for me to pack my bags and be on the road to a new place. My spine is thanking me. You know the spot, right between the shoulder blades. By being able to carry my bags, I don't have the worry about terrain and by packing lighter, I can fit both my duffel bag and my computer bag on a plane without paying for baggage fees. This also means that I don't have to worry about lost luggage or waiting to get my bags from an airport.

There were quite a few times, however, when I wanted to buy something and decided not to because I don't have much space in my bags. I could always mail something back home to my parents – and I probably should have done that more often. But there's something else that I realized. When people ask me what those things were, I don't remember. Maybe they weren't that important after all.

What having more can get you

Not everyone has to travel the same way and what works for me may not be your vibe. You might be perfectly willing to deal with heavier luggage. I know nomads who traveled with large suitcases, but they tended to do longer travel, often a month or more at a time. What I saw them get was more space for hobbies. One person would travel with a bunch of card and board games, another brought extra hiking gear, and others just had more clothing options. Mostly jackets as those are some of the worst offenders for space. They didn't necessarily mind baggage fees or large luggage because they didn't move very often. One person would find a place to store luggage for a while and come back to get it.

There are always options and everything is a trade-off. Just don't be the person I saw who gave a backpacker hostel a bad review because they had massively oversized luggage and the staff didn't help them bring it up. I imagine the staff was laughing a little bit. It's a back-packing hostel. It's in the name.

How you can embrace minimalism on your trip

If you are just starting out or are looking to begin the nomad life, I'll give you a few tips.

If you have two sets of something “just in case,” just bring one. You can get another when you get there. For me, winter clothes were a big one. I managed to do well by getting some thin base layers that roll very small and don't take up space. I pair these with synthetic pants instead of jeans for a wider comfortable temperature range as jeans are often too hot for me.

If you say, “This could be nice to have.” Don' t bring it. You should know that you'll use it frequently and you can get it if you need it when you're there. It could be extra medicines, or a GoPro that you use twice. Guilty. I no longer travel with them, but I did bring them with me on a trip to Iceland because I wanted those photos. Traveling with them forever for me has a very low payoff to effort/cost ratio. Space is one of my most valuable assets, so I traded them out. I will say, however, that things that are small and flat can be a bit of an exception to this idea, as the don't take up much space or weight.

Jeans are a big space offender. I haven't been able to effectively travel with two pairs. Sometimes in winter I'll stock up on an extra one, but by spring I'm giving it away.

The key, however, is to be flexible. Nomading will stretch your ability to be flexible. You will be forced to find last-minute accommodations. You will miss a bus or a flight and you'll figure it out. It's not a big deal. You'll get there and it'll be fine.

Oh, and don't bring winter clothes with you in the summer time because you'll need them later. I know of someone who's travelled for years and their approach is to buy and give away clothes every six months. I go with a versatile set of breathable synthetics from 32 Degrees, but I can't find them everywhere. Have what you need for when you need it.

What if you want the extra clothes but want to travel light?

Remember, you don't have to have everything all the time. You can have something for an event and leave it behind or give it away. Ask your local accommodation staff where you can find some good thrift stores and local markets. Second hand stores are great for finding interesting clothes or party gear! However, I would avoid malls. Often times they'll point you to a mall because there's a lot of stuff there. You can find the designer clothes, but you'll often be paying imported prices. Local markets can have a lot of clothes, but they are mostly your standard stuff. Thrift stores are often where it's at. I have a friend who buys dresses as her outfits because they're both a full outfit in one piece that takes up hardly any room (jealous) and she finds very nice pieces in local thrift stores for a few dollars. I have other friends who find great, interesting pieces to dress up for at events and festivities. My appreciated second-hand store find was a breathable button-up shirt that didn't require ironing for $5. I still have that shirt and it's great in the warmer weather.

Be ok with letting go, and get some more later. Sadly this also applies to friendships while traveling. Think of these experiences not as things to be held on to, but moments of connection along journeys. You're together for a little while and you intertwine, share yourself with others, and you say goodbye. Not always forever, but sometimes. Rather than it being a thing of loss, it's another memory that you can cherish. Maybe even a couch on a future trip!

How to balance being minimal while still doing a lot of fun things

The wonderful thing is that having less on hand at a given moment doesn't mean that you have miss out of fun. It may mean that you might rent equipment, but that extra cost may be a good payoff for not having to carry things around. You can make that judgement for your own case. I particularly enjoy tours, food tours, live music events, and good cocktails. Unfortunately, finding what is going on can often be tricky. What's helped me out a lot is:

• Ask the host staff what instagram/social profiles I should follow or where I should go to get started. I can then ask people there and check posted schedules.
• Search if the city you're in has their own website. Often times these websites don't show up in general internet searches, but they may have a calendar of all events that are happening.
• Search for local nomad groups in the area. This came to me quite late in my travels. I stumbled upon a nomad group in Córdoba, Argentina and went to a soccer game with them. The also offered discounts for local work areas and living arrangements.
• Look for facebook groups in the area. I'm particularly bad at this one since I strongly avoid the website, but I've met people going to cool events or groups and they told me they found it on facebook. Yuck, but we must do what must be done to have fun!
• I love dancing, so I'd go to local group dance classes to meet locals and ask them what's going on. They often know the musicians who play during socials and what they're doing around town, which means that something interesting might be happening.

The number one lesson that I've learned to have fun is simply to say “Yes” to invitations, even when I'm tired or don't feel like it. I rarely regret ever saying yes. Of course, I have my limitations and can't keep up with the youngest crowd and neither do I want to (old man yells at cloud). But saying yes has been a great way to get out of my comfort zone and find new things.

Perhaps another lesson that I'm still learning that helps with that is to not let my job dominate my life and to take off what I can. Unfortunately, the limited time off that we get in the states disappears very quickly when you have to deduct a half or full day on a Friday, but it's worth it!

Ultimately, embracing minimalism while traveling shouldn't be a goal or a thing that you feel like travelers have attained. It's a thing that will happen because of the limitations of your means of travel. Be adaptable. Get the things that serve you while they serve you and let them go when they don't. Everything has a price and a trade-off, whether that's convenience, weight, space, or money. Regardless of what you choose, you'll meet amazing people, see amazing places, and make memories for a lifetime. Do write some of them in a journal though! ;)

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If you are considering long term travel, you may have thought about what you should get to make things easier. When you then searched for what you should do, you probably found a plethora of blog posts and ads trying to sell you something, often something that is not even a good fit for traveling lightly or for long term. Not to mention that these things are often quite pricey.

The key thing that you don't realize before you set out is that you'll eventually get rid of a lot of the things that you thought you needed. Either they're too heavy, too bulky, or otherwise not worth the space and weight in your bags. That's especially true if you keep your luggage as carry-on instead of checked.

Here are some of the things that I got rid of and some things that I added or swapped out.

Things I got rid of or swapped

My big circular power strip

Not exactly this one, but similar. The main issue that I found is that things that are rigid are harder to pack. This is a trending theme with the things that I've kept or gotten as replacements. Flexible things are easier to pack. I swapped this out for an anker power strip. The key with this next one is that the cord is flexible and the cube portion is easy to squeeze around things in my bag.

Blue jeans

Even though they weren't super thick in material, they were often too hot for weather that was just too cold to wear shorts, so I'd walk around sweating. Additionally, blue jeans do not fold or roll compactly. I instead swapped those out for some synthetic pants and some base layers, all of which fold compactly and give me more flexibility in temperatures during the winter. If I was spending much time below freezing, I could pick up thicker pants, but with the base layers as an option that hasn't been a need yet.

The downside of the synthetic pants is that they do NOT hide dirt well and I'd often get back to my hostel with the bottom few inches of the legs noticeably browner than the rest.

Dressier cotton shirts

They were slightly thicker cotton and didn't fold compactly. That's one thing I've noticed with my clothing: synthetics tend to take up less space and are easier to work with overall. Most of my clothes are from 32 Degrees since they make nice looking athletic clothing that dries quickly.

Slightly too thick flip flops

I use flip flops as shower shoes as you definitely do not want to go barefoot in shared showers unless you like athlete's foot. The ones that I had previously were slightly thicker on the soles and had a synthetic rubber strap. These wound up being difficult to pack with my 2nd pair of shoes in my bag's shoe compartment. I got thinner flip flops in Guatemala with cloth straps. It's not much, but it made fitting everything much more doable.

Way too many medications

You don't need the whole pill bottle. Seriously. You don't need access to 120 capsules of Tylenol at any given moment. And believe it or not, you can buy things outside of your home country when you need them. 😜 When I bought medication in Latin America, the pharmacists asked me how many pills I wanted. They didn't sell me the whole bottle, though you can do that if you want. Just bring 2 or 3 in a tiny plastic bag. You can buy what you need when you're there.

Cotton pajama pants

Again with the cotton! It took up a tiny bit too much space in my bag, so I found some synthetic and short inseam pajama shorts. This is one more trend that I've done: I've tried to get shorts that aren't so long so they'd not take up so much space in the bag.

Too large swim trunks

Same with the pajama shorts. I found some swim trunks that can double as workout shorts, but are also much shorter on the inseam. I could probably also go with a speedo, but right now I'm happy with the space that I have.

Pretty big thermos water bottle

I went through two water bottles before settling on what I have currently. It's still insulated, but smaller. I could carry my original one with me, but it was slightly too large. With this one, I have to fill it more since it's about half the volume, but I can also pack it much more easily. It holds enough, so I'll be sticking with this one.

What I've added

Those are some of the things that I've gotten rid of or swapped out. But what about things that I've added?

Probably my best addition is a square knife sharpener. It's flat and easy to pack, but it's been a meal saver since hostels and shared kitchens never have good knives.

My next favorite addition is a collapsible silicone measuring cup. It's also flat when collapsed and is something that many hostels haven't had on hand.

Something I keep considering getting rid of: an extra screen. It's flat and light-weight, but it still takes up weight and space, and I don't really use it that often. But when I do I appreciate it. I bought it off of a guy at a hostel in Guatemala for half price, so it was hard to pass up. 

Refillable tubes for shampoo, conditioner, and lotion. But the important thing is that these are more like bags than tubes, which mean they collapse when they're empty and they're sized for airlines, so I have never had to get rid of them. Even having multiple with shampoo in them, I've never had to dump them.

A hat/sombrero from Argentina. The sun in much of the country is brutal on the skin. I eventually had to get some extra protection. I found a local brand that hand-made in the country and bought it. One thing that I like about this had is that it ventilates well and that ventilation allows air to flow through, meaning that the wind doesn't carry it away very easily. The downside though is that traveling with a hat on buses and planes means that it's resting on my legs. Overhead spaces can get it squished or can be full of spilled soda or other nastiness, so on my leg it goes.

Wax cologne. Fulton and Roark make a cologne in wax form. It's great for travel and smells just like regular cologne. 

Something I tried to get rid of and couldn't

It's my toiletry bag. I got one that's rigid in structure, but holds a lot. The rigidness means that it's always the same size and doesn't compress. Additionally, the structuring itself takes up extra space. However, it's really nice being able to grab one thing and be ready for a shower, shave, or anything else. I tried to get rid of it for something smaller since I used to travel with less. But I went back to it because I now carry stuff I didn't used to worry about, like shampoo.

What I learned

Having limitations can be freeing. There were several times when I really wanted to buy something but didn't because of the space and weight in my bags. I also am full-time nomading, so I don't have a “home” to bring them back to, although my parents would happily let me mail things to them. The funny thing is I no longer remember what those things were that I thought I needed.

A trend that I've found to work is to focus on flexibility. Flexible things and a flexible bag (ie cloth instead of a hard shell) make it easier to fit your bag in places. Structured components take up space and make it harder to be flexible. Cotton really does take up a lot space if it's not a T-shirt. 

I never did use those 120 capsules of Tylenol.