I think this question has been posed before, but I can't find the thread and I remember it being framed in a way that did not lead to productive discussion.

On one end of the spectrum, there are the obsessive compulsive traveler's century club members who make it their life goal to "visit" every country. They typically spend only a few days in each country and invest huge amounts of time and money to jump through government hoops to visit places like Equatorial Guinea.

These people are all breadth and no depth.

On the other hand of the spectrum, you have the opposite. The people who never leave their home country. They have a complete understanding of their own culture but never expose themselves to anything else.

I think most of us on RVF can agree that neither of these extremes are appealing. So--out of curiosity--where do you fall on the spectrum?

Personally, I can no longer do the "hop around different countries for a few days each" routine. I find it very unsatisfying and feel the need to stay a minimum of a week or two in most destinations. Knowing that we all only have a finite time on earth, I think it can sometimes be difficult to find the balance between exploring all of the places that interest you and staying long enough to have a meaningful experience.

Have you found the balance in your travels?

I've long thought that travelling too much disconnects you from the positive benefits that come from being established in one place, having a social circle and the advantages that developed local knowledge affords you.

On the other hand, I'm terrified of boredom and probably would be in my home country of Canada.

I've found a happy medium. Years of life in Beijing, which while I've been here long enough that I'm far past the adventure stage, it's a prime launch pad to visit most of Asia on the cheap.

Best of both worlds.

I have to agree...I've become kind of put off by the "digital nomad" lifestyle recently, both for the reasons listed here, and those in Kyle Trouble's recent article on the little frustrations of living abroad.

Changing locations constantly is also exhausting. Woking online and being location independent is great, but there are so many advantages to having, real, face to face connections and relationships, which are harder to establish if you're moving around all the time.

I think the ideal lifestyle is a 9/3 month split or 6 months at your home base and 6 months somewhere else. This way you get to experience the pros of living abroad without as much of the cons that would begin to wear on you if you lived there fulltime.

Personally, I intend to set up a homebase in either Florida or Texas and use it as springboard for trips to Latin America (and elsewhere, occasionally).

Obviously this is not a option for everyone but if you are able to pull it off, it seems like the best of both worlds.

I only travel abroad for extended periods because Canada is a frozen Siberian shit hole for four months each year. If we had decent weather then I'd be happy with a couple of short trips each year to check out other places.

I'm with you OP.. although most of my time is spent overseas doing contract work in warzones, when I'm away from that, I enjoy spending at least a week in a country that's new to me.. unless it's a place that can be done in 3-4 days ie. Amsterdam (although I've never been, nice airport though).

I usually get 3-4 months off for every 4-6 months spent working, so I'll take that time and establish a "base" for where I want to travel from. I won't ever travel to a "base" directly, or at least I won't anymore... I'll take the long way around (ie., I live in Vegas, but to get to Paris, I'll fly over the Pacific versus the Atlantic) and spend a week in a city that I would like to visit, then fly to my "base" and hang out there for a month or two. From that base, I'll travel around to other places that aren't too far away.

As a guy with with a full time job, for the most part I go on vacations to unwind, do some interesting sightseeing, and light activities. The goal is to have a week or two of pleasant and not difficult days.

I don't really travel "for" culture, bangs, making friends, learning. It's nice to have bit of those things as well, in a not-too-serious way. Mainly I just want good food, interesting views and relaxation.

I've had to make a stop in order to set my thing straight after almost 7 years of bumming around the US and Europe.
As I have no place to return to because I burned all them bridges a long time ago and far,far away it was a good a time as any to start.

I like to stay put in places for a longer amount of time. Which is why when I'm on the road for work once a month I keep going back to the same cities again and again (right now I'm often in Rotterdam)

You can barely learn anything from being in a location for 3 days and going to another one.

I travel to a different place for what it offers me.

If I like beaches, cheap food, friendly people, low crime etc then that's the place for me, and I am not worried about visiting it repeatedly.

There are also exotic things I want to see or do, but I am not into "crossing countries off the list" for the sake of it.

Budget. I don't work, and live off a discretional 1100-1300 US a month. Wherever is cheap to get to/stay in from Cali. My usual haunts are Guatemala (7 trips), Mexico, different parts of Latin America. If I see a deal on airfare to a cheap Asia locale like Philippines I'm in too

I for one would like threads on key countries (perhaps all countries) limited to one year (world changes fast...a lot of info is outdated)

What takes time is sifting through forum threads filtering (short stay versus long stay reports) currently I'm paralyzed on Colombia and scoplomine ..meaning is that for only nightclub hopping, hostel members or LT-stay peeps ..I got no clue!.. other than the stories I read here which are worse than the government advisories!......I think I can stay out of trouble there for 2 months

Chasing meaningful experiences for me once meant...Long haul flights to Phill's (which HURT)..to the point I started doing Toronto-Honolulu(layover)-Guam(layover)-Manila on United Airlines (and they blow)

Regardless 6-7-8 hour flights ( WE and EE and SA) I currently do ... Long stays/memorable experiences/vibrant cultures/good infrastructure/reasonably safe/cheap/friendly people (pussy would be nice but I like coming home with a clean tool)

And I'll echo another poster...GET ME THE FUK AWAY FROM CANADIAN WINTERS!!!!(not the hockey)

Quote: (09-03-2017 10:25 AM)NovaVirtu Wrote:  

I have to agree...I've become kind of put off by the "digital nomad" lifestyle recently, both for the reasons listed here, and those in Kyle Trouble's recent article on the little frustrations of living abroad.

Changing locations constantly is also exhausting. Woking online and being location independent is great, but there are so many advantages to having, real, face to face connections and relationships, which are harder to establish if you're moving around all the time.

I think the ideal lifestyle is a 9/3 month split or 6 months at your home base and 6 months somewhere else. This way you get to experience the pros of living abroad without as much of the cons that would begin to wear on you if you lived there fulltime.

Personally, I intend to set up a homebase in either Florida or Texas and use it as springboard for trips to Latin America (and elsewhere, occasionally).

Obviously this is not a option for everyone but if you are able to pull it off, it seems like the best of both worlds.

Thanks for those kind words!

I slow travel. Have worked online for over a decade. Originally from UK but only visit in June or July. I get terribly depressed in UK or Northern European winters.

Favourite spots are Spain, SE Asia, Mexico and Aus/NZ.

Manage to save money for my future by avoiding expensive countries and high seasons. Aus and NZ are very cheap for me as I spend months camping and hiking.

Will end up single as I am far too selfish to share my life with a chick. Hey ho, life is sweet. No responsibilities or stress really keeps you looking young and healthy.

I feel like most the time a lot of backpackers do shit just so they say they did. Some guy I met in Central America was talking about how he wants to hike to the top of every mountain in Central America.

That is a total faggot thing to do, what is the point? A lot of time money and effort to do the same thing you've already done a 20 times, often with very similar views and basically the same hike. It's just something that they can post on their facebook to get likes and have some liberal douche bags comment.

If I travel I prefer to stay in a city at least a few weeks, I'd rather stay and really get to know one place then be on a bus every morning and checking in and out of hotels/hostels constantly.

^pretty much summed up my current attitude towards travel.

lol at the mountain thing

It's my opinion that you need a solid 10 days in a place. A couple days to get organized, and then a full week to get a vague sense of what it's really like.

I'd like longer in some places and sometimes have to divide my time, but in general, it's worked well.

I've only recently (last year and a half) started to travel more frequently and for longer periods of time. For now I like keeping my base in Vegas and then visiting places for no less than one week. Usually two weeks is the minimum. This current trip I've just been touring the Balkans and staying a week in each city. I'm mostly doing recon but I feel a week is long enough to get a feel for the place and also get some contacts through daygame.

Quote: (09-05-2017 10:13 AM)invictusiii Wrote:  

I've only recently (last year and a half) started to travel more frequently and for longer periods of time. For now I like keeping my base in Vegas and then visiting places for no less than one week.

How do you like Vegas as a travel base? I have a mixed opinion about it but it's on a short-list of possibilities.

When I was younger, I was excited by the prospect of traveling to a new country every week, but after just over a year of traveling as a digital nomad, I truly believe that the best way to travel is to make some country your home, for at a minimum - 3 months.

Travel is exhausting. It's difficult to stick to a healthy routine if you're traveling every week; I like to stay in a country for 3-months, learn the language, experience the culture, and use that location (my home base) as a launchpad for traveling the rest of the region.

I've been in Poland for over a month now, and although I'm based here, I've visited Slovakia, and Serbia (both short flights under 2-hours).

I think this is the healthiest and 'realest' way to travel.

Quote: (09-05-2017 10:15 AM)Jetset Wrote:  

Quote: (09-05-2017 10:13 AM)invictusiii Wrote:  

I've only recently (last year and a half) started to travel more frequently and for longer periods of time. For now I like keeping my base in Vegas and then visiting places for no less than one week.

How do you like Vegas as a travel base? I have a mixed opinion about it but it's on a short-list of possibilities.

I like it because rent is relatively cheap. There are also a lot of cheap flights in and out of Vegas. It's nice as a US base. I do find myself spending more and more time in Eastern and Western Europe though so it may be time to start looking at basing myself closer and putting my things in storage. I have the freedom to travel while working but I'm still beholden to my employer in the US so it's not entirely ideal. Looking to break free here in the next few months though so we'll see. I see Weekend Cassanova's suggestion as the best for life balance. Definitely have not hit the gym since I left about 2 weeks ago. Hard to keep a routine when changing cities every week.

Vegas is indeed a great base, you can meet tourists all the while and still keep things "exotic" while stuck in the US. The airport is pretty big and everyone flies in and out of Vegas, so it makes getting away relatively easy. With cities like SLC, LA, SD, SF, Phoenix, Tempe, Tuscon, etc. <8 hours driving, it can be a great place to base weekend getaways as well.

As invictus mentioned, it's still cheap as far as a cost of living, but if you want to "ball out", you can definitely do so.

I have traveled enough to realize that going around the world and experiencing new cultures isn't the key to my happiness. Its just a thing to do.

It has served as a very rewarding hobby for me, but you are correct. It is absolutely not the key to happiness

I just see a lot of travel memes on social media nowadays about "collecting memories, not things" or "travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer" kind of bullshit. While I appreciate my travels, I have other things on my agenda now. Get rich and independent. Taking a few weeks off to explore the world will just get me off of my path.

Some people are just absolutely obsessed to do an activity still and to constantly travel, explore, etc. I guess good for them, but I guess I've done almost all of my personal travel bucket list already, so I don't really see the big deal.

I think now my mantra will be short trips, work my ass off and when I get burned out and have a stash of money to absolutely burn, go Big Baller and clear my head.

When I first left the U.S. my plan was to travel from country to country every 3 months, but I ended up gravitating towards the other side of the spectrum. Traveling can be fun but it is tiring if done too much. I prefer to have a base, with an apartment or a house to live in, and an office where I work, and go on trips out of town once every couple of months.