Last updated on September 20, 2016
For seven months, the gaping absence of Africa stories on my blog has nagged me. During this time, some of you wrote me with concern. Thank you, all is well. I needed time to sort out personal things post-Africa. As this new year takes shape, I am jumping (maybe limping) back into writing. And for starters, I thought it apt to share a bit about this past year that has gone unsaid.
It was a hard year for me.
I started the year on a high, speaking at a National Geographic Live event in Washington, DC, which scarcely seemed real — it was an honor I hadn’t dared to dream of when I left six years ago. And yet there I was, up on stage and talking to people about how they can create meaningful travel experiences. It was rad.
And yet, even then, as I confidently told the audience of my plans to travel across Africa, I was unsure if that was the right next step. I loved the lure of Africa, but never thought I’d go there solo. I left anyway. I arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa in early February and I already feared burnout. My Dispatches from Africa were darker, more critical of each experience. The problem, of course, is not with Africa; how could an entire continent be at fault?
My ability to cope with the highs and lows of travel skidded to a halt early last year. Six years is a long time to travel, and I wasn’t in a good head-space at the start of the trip. A series of setbacks — many not unlike those in past travels — began to snowball. I killed my pricey laptop a week into the trip. I was robbed in Cape Town… twice. Sketchy internet made working with my clients difficult. Traveling Africa was expensive and a lot of the hostels were empty of other travelers. I was alone all of the time. There is something to be said for persevering, though. It was poor timing, but dipping my toe into Africa’s range of cultures and history widened my perspective. Traveling through parts of Africa deepened my appreciation for travel. Even more than before, I believe travel creates so deep connections in our lives.
[divider_flat]I stayed the course throughout the spring. I checked-off bucket-list items and I found amazing local projects, the stories of their founders begging to be told to a wider audience. I was there with these incredible once-in-a-lifetime experiences, yet under it all, I couldn’t shake a deep depression. I was sad all the time. The last straw was contracting dysentery (again) a few days before my flight home. I’ve struggled with depression in the past, and there is a deep history of it in my family. Constantly traveling exacerbates the problem. I needed to stop moving and collect myself.
I kept it together for the two weddings I attended in June, just long enough to wish them well, then I broke down. I didn’t want to talk about Africa and I cried a lot. I had lost my ability for gratitude and perspective. Things are on the mend now. I’ve gotten help and I reconnected with friends. I slowed down and house-sat in Seattle for two months. For the past three weeks, my dad and I hosted family from Panama for their first visit to the U.S. (a visit complete with Disney World, the Kennedy Space Center, and plenty of time exploring Florida’s lakes and beaches).
[divider_flat]There was much good in 2014, too. This year made me examine my long-term goals and assess how I can better balance work, travel, and life. I was still making traveling the point of my life, and it no longer fit.
The whole of this is to say, I was working on me these past months. I was putting back together the parts that I allowed to break by constantly moving.
I haven’t figured anything out for sure. But six years traveling is a long time to constantly travel solo. Too long, maybe. I miss having a community and a set of friends. For years, I have loved picking a place and living for three to six months in a new city. I loved finding a new pop-up community of nomads like me, it added to the journey of self-discovery and fun. And each day I was grateful for my ability to construct this intentional life; it felt right.
[divider_flat]Now however, I’m considering where I can find a home-base from which to travel for shorter stints. I’ll leave for a month or two at a time, then home to work on other projects. Projects like lining up more college speaking this year, a second book, or any of the cacophony of ideas tearing through my thoughts each week. I will look back at my travels last spring with a fresh perspective; I will share stories in the coming months of the people and places from my time traveling across Africa.
[divider_flat]Also! I’m adding two new members to the A Little Adrift Jr. gang. My oldest nephew turned 11 a few months ago, and he informed me that “it’s my turn to travel with you, just like Ana did.” And since I was taking him, I figured I needed to take my 10-year-old nephew too, just to be fair. And though I won’t homeschool them, this summer I will scoop up my nephews for a month of roadtripping the Yucatan in Mexico. They are both already psyched and googling the beaches and cenotes we’ll explore while there. After that, it’s off to London in August for a wedding and hopefully a bit of time exploring Europe (I’d love to head back to Ireland).
At the beginning of each new year I set goals for myself. I’ve used vision boards in the past and I’ve also asked for accountability by laying out my goals on the blog.
Instead of goals, however, I have set one intention for 2015: creating balance.
What are you working toward in 2015?
That was nice.
Hi Shannon, just found you today, January 2, 2016, as I sit in my 143 sq. ft. studio in Shenzhen, China. Lazing and lounging with my Kenyan girlfriend, Wanja, and her friend, Grace, visiting us from an hour out of Shenzhen, where she’s a teacher.
Like you, I’m a plastic paddy, both parents 2nd generation Irish, from Mayo and Tipperary. I too love Ireland and don’t get there often enough lately but hope to return this year.
My compassion and support for you in the depression you were experiencing when you wrote this. But, I hope you know, as I believe, that EVERYTHING ALWAYS works out. My path from Irish Catholic to 60’s ‘ingest anything to get high’ hippie to quasi-Buddhist, at least in my thinking, has convinced me that it’s all grist for the mill.
I have complete power over what I let my crazy mind ponder or where I let it wander…or set up camp. This works for me, to train my mind in acceptance and gratitude. Of course, I also believe we all have our own path, and I am not preaching or proselytizing, only sharing my journey and offering my story as a possible salve.
You know we Irish carry a thousand year weight of oppression and struggle. Yeats summed up the Irish psyche, or one view of it, when he wrote, “being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.”
But, we also share one of the most beautiful cultures in the world. Nothing like sitting in a Roscommon farm home of an evening and watching the young children, from 5-12, boldly, confidently and proudly share their gifts, whether as dancers, musicians, or wordsmiths.
Ah, life is grand. Bright skies and sunny mornings to you, my sister of the spirit.
Thank you for all the kind words and for sharing your own experiences with finding balance. My dad and I talk about the debt we’re still paying from our ancestors, and though I have no clue the extent, I do believe that epigenetics can have a startling effect on some of the nuances in our lives. At the end of the day, however, I am grateful to have such a beautiful legacy in the Irish culture, and this year has shown a bright side to the previous darkness. I hope you are well and having a wonderful week in China. :)
Thanks for writing this! This blog post resonated with us as we’ve been traveling for a little over 9 months. It was surprising to us, as we never thought it possible, that we would need to find a place to slow down and rest from traveling. We decided to stay in Bali, Indonesia and will end up spending two months here total. Do you have any advice on a another blogger friendly home base? We’re thinking of switching to Chiang Mai after our 30 day visa, which we already extended once, expires.
So glad that the post resonated. And Bali is a fantastic place to stop. Friends stopped there this year as well and said it was exactly what they needed to recharge after so long on the road. In that region of the world, Chiang Mai is the next big hotspot that has a nice mix of local community, expats, culture, and food. I know that there is also a more business-building focused community in Ho Chi Minh city, but that always seemed a bit frenetic to use as a base to recharge! If you are up for switching sides of the world, Medellin is another expat hotspot, as well as Mexico! :)
I can’t begin to tell you how much I understand you. I have suffered from depression – the kind of thing that made me stare at the fire, tears rolling down my cheeks, for no other reason that I was deeply, deeply sad. There have been days when I could not even get out of bed. I sought and got help and all is better now. Having a balanced life is important. Not that my opinion matters, but I support your decision of searching a base and travelling for shorter periods of time. I intend to do the same, because I have come to realise lately that I do need to stay closer to my family. Stay strong!
I appreciate the support and you sharing some of your own struggles and how you have managed to find balance. It does matter and it helps to know others have gone through it and how they are moving forward. I hope you settling down near family goes well, it’s brave to admit and make the adjustments needed to feel strong.
<3 much love to you Shannon!
I really love the open and honest communication style you have Shannon … it obviously coincides with self reflection time … the beauty of ” time travel ” … to coin a new meaning … to self reflect
glad your healthy and balanced again …. hey we are human not robots ????
Thank you Robin, I like the idea of “time travel” — it really has been the hours on buses and trains over these years that have allowed me the time and space to reflect and better understand myself and place in the world. Many thanks for sharing :)
Very insightful post Shannon. I have thought that when I do Africa, for much of it I would bite the bullet and join a tour which I usually only did for a few days at a time and not often on previous trips but would have to do for much longer there. It is a different kind of travel place.
I have also thought that I should always keep a base even when home frustrates. There are things I like and need here. A little balance.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you Jane, your plan for Africa sounds well reasoned. It would have definitely changed the entire tone of the trip to have a group and have the logistics just work. I appreciate the kind words and I hope you make it to Africa soon! :)
I also know what you mean about “empty hostel syndrome”. I’ve experienced it even in places you wouldn’t expect with bad hostel/hotel choices or timing. On one trip many people were going in a different direction/taking a different route or we were just ships that passed in the night-never in the same place for very long. You do need your social time.
Exactly! That’s a good way to put it. Often the people I did meet and connect with were headed in the opposite direction, so it really was ships in the night. Well, I hope you have a lot better luck on your Africa travels, a tour at least for part of the time, or all, will definitely help that.
I would rate Cape Town as the safest capital city in the world…
I agree that balance is important. There is something to be said about having a home base. For myself, I think a some more travel would balance things out a little more for me!
I can definitely understand the need to get out there and make travel the priority for a time! I hope you are able to add a bit more travel into your balance this year :)
I can imagine the stress. We like to think of ourselves as nomadic creatures, but we’re not really. We like to settle and familiarise ourselves with things.
Always remember: you come first. Before the blog, before interviews, before book publishers, before deadlines. Your health and your happiness matters much, much more!
Thank you for the support Racel! I appreciate the kind words and advice. :)
I like,to hear more about your depression and how you are managing depression. Depression illness is often misunderstood. People with this condition often do not talk much about it. Depression is chronic illness that many have to live with. Please write more about this illness and how you are managing it at home and on the road.
Hi Alice, depression is a tricky one, so I am very far from being the ideal person to be giving advice on how to handle it. I highly suggest that you talk to a professional. That being said, for me, traveling slowly and really staying connected to friends helps. But going home and having a steady home-base was a big part of healing this past year.
I found the great article you referenced elsewhere on your website called, “10 Types Of Expats.” I was a white collar expat for 5+ years in the 90s. I encountered many of the worst variations of the 10 Types (as well as a couple more). Such dysfunction! Also, when nearly everyone has a departure date in the back of their minds – even if its 2 years away, and especially if it is a few months or less – they aren’t really truly present. Life got to seem really superficial. I reached a point of ennui. I left expat life and have been in the USA since the late 90s. The transition went well. I have a good career going and a strong level of happiness.
Now however 15+ years down the line, I am feeling the itch to be an expat again. The rat race elements of American life are getting a bit thick. I’d like to believe the additional wisdom that (hopefully) comes with age would allow me to better navigate the expat terrain. Also, I would seek to be in a location where the locals are more inviting (at my previous stops they were in general not) and also a place with a larger population or at least within an hour of a medium to large city (to provide more variety than I had back in the 90s).
So, with all the build up, where am I going with this? You’ve been an expat in many environments. You’ve seen the gamut. How much of a difference does a more friendly local population really make? Ditto the offerings of a medium or large city versus a small place – does it make life a little better, or a lot better? Does being older and wiser (bearing in mind my age is probably greater than yours by at least 10 years) make the realities of being an expat easier to process?
Or is it the case that being an expat has a shelf life, after which you just aren’t going to find it fulfilling? You have your drinks in the sun. And lunches and coffee shop meetings with people of 15 different nationalities. The photos are taken and saved. You experience 100 different flavors of unusual and different. And then that’s it. Been there, done that.
Looking forward to any comments you might have to offer regarding these ”easy” questions …
You ask some tough questions… its hard to say how you might find some of the places I have traveled, or the ones that feel like home to me. I know that after years in Thailand, one of the things I realized is that as much as I love the culture, there was just never ever a time when I would go beyond being the foreigner. Even if I learned the language, I would be an outsider. I say this because it’s part of what put a shelf-life on my expat life. I am looking for a home base but I want a place where I can truly form a community. For me, I find that it makes a huge difference if the local population is warm and open and willing to accept you. In Mexico, I felt that. I loved the town I lived in for six months and I felt like there was a path toward making it a home if it was what I wanted.
I think it’s less about expat live being something you grow beyond, and perhaps the connection of a community something that you want. If you’ve chosen a place where that is hard, then it would surely have a shelf life. And yet, there are places and communities where I have met many happy, old, and wise expats loving their lives and feeling connected to friends and the community and living a fulfilling life.
Not sure if that is what you were looking for as a response, but I hope it helps!
Cheers and best of luck. :)
Thanks for the response, Shannon. Appreciate you taking the time and enjoyed your input. We have similar takes on a couple of countries.
I’ve spent time in Thailand. The culture has its charms, and the cost of living in many areas is appealing. Reality, however, the language/alphabet is completely different, that is too huge for me to ponder tackling.
Mexico currently is at the top of my possibilities-being-mulled list. You mentioned in Mexico meeting, “happy, old, and wise expats loving their lives.” This leads to a concern I have. In the expat community, is nearly everyone either old and on social security, or a redux-hippie 20-something (or acting like one)? I’m in between. Did you find there to be a decent number of people in the 30 to early 50s age range? If so, in what specific locations in Mexico?
That’s tough. There are a lot of the two expats you describe, but the others do exist. I am far from the expert on regions of Mexico, however, I really don’t have a good idea of them all. That being said, I think that Guanajuato or San Miguel del Allende could be great… they tend to attract those middle years because they are very liveable cities.
I wandered over from the Daily Mail article (don’t judge). Loved the write-up and did my best to not read the comments..:). I’ll spend some time today reading through some of your back posts! Travel burnout is a real thing. I know enough about myself (’cause I’m old and wise) to know that I need a home base and traveling continuously just isn’t for me. There’s a time and place for everything. I’m sure you’ll find the almost-perfect balance for life, community and travel.
Thanks Megan! Glad you wandered over (I kept telling myself to stop reading the new comments too) and that the site resonates with you. Thanks for the support on the balance front — it’s hard to believe it’s already nearly March, but so far I’ve made strides in striking that balance between travel and grounded community. Happy travels. :)
Beyond those obstacles you made it through. Congratulations Shannon for your travel and for finding the balance!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Thank you Christian, I appreciate the support! :)
WOW, what a read. This is my first time here, can you believe it, so much to catch up on.
This was an eye opening post for me to begin with, and one that will be in my mind as I read others in the future. I’m happy for you that you’ve made another chapter in your life. Your certainly have a story that the world must hear. Thank you for sharing.
Wifey and I are just going to click over year one on the travel scene, that is after letting go of all strings…
Congrats on a year on the travel scene! And thanks so much for the kind words and for reading. I hope our paths cross one day out there on the road. :)
Somehow my reply back to you never posted, but I just wanted to say that I am so sorry to hear that 2014 was a rough year for you as well. Much like what you described in your piece, for a while I found myself caught up in the lure of the online world, in all that I thought I wanted my blog to become, but then floundering from too much time spent working for free and paying attention outside of myself, to what others were doing. It sounds like toward the end of the year you were able to find some clarity, and I look forward to seeing how this year unfolds for you too. Be well :)
This is a great inspiration. I’ve been searching for travel tidbits that highlight each trip and I found your site. Thanks for sharing, you had a blast 6 years of traveling. I’m jealous! Best of luck for your next adventures.
Thanks Mary, appreciate the support.
Six-years….
I can barely even say that. WOW!
My plans for 2015, well…I intend to call it quits with the old jobby-job and hit the road. I have a long way to go before I hit six years though.
Congrats to you!
Congrats on the upcoming trip — that will make 2015 one of the most memorable of your life. Happy travels and thanks for reading! :)
Hi Shannon. Just discovered your blog and have really enjoyed reading through your posts. Glad to read you are back and on the mend. Look forward to reading more. Love the “Balance” goal for 2015.
Thanks for reading and for the support, it’s a month into the year and I am still working on balance. I hope your 2015 is off to a great start as well! :)
Glad to see you are on the mend Shannon, 6 years of constant travel has to take its toll! And sometimes finding balance and a base will help you keep traveling, in smaller doses, but allow you to enjoy it more. Especially after what you had gone through. After even my first time traveling abroad for just 9 months, I was burnt out and somewhat demoralized, and the inexperience probably added to it, and a few events that turned things sour for a long time. But I took a step back for about a year and began traveling again, smarter, and more conscious of my personal physical and mental and emotional needs.
By the way, I saw you on the Nomads World post we contributed on together but I had never read your blog. I really like it, and personal articles like this are what speak to me the most. Thank you for sharing!
I remember I hit a breaking point on my RTW trip at the 8 month mark, I was burned out then too — it’s a long time to traveling non-stop. It’s the less glamorous side of long-term travel. Thank you for sharing your experiences, and for the support. I hope you have a wonderful 2015.
Very honest and vulnerable post. I admire your bravery in traveling and writing. I hope 2015 is balanced for you so far.
Thank you Laura, it can be hard to share the vulnerable ones, but I know other long term travelers can often relate. I appreciate the support. :)
Thank you Laura, it can be hard to share the vulnerable ones, but I know other long term travelers can often relate. I appreciate the support. :)
Ah! There’s a lot that happened for you last year! Congrats on being honored to speak at National Geographic conference. Good to see you back at writing! I am also looking at 2015 with a lot of hope in terms of better travel opportunities – some that I will create and some should come my way.
Thank you Renuka, I hope you have travel opportunities this year as well!
Cool I have also been to Lion head this year :)
It seems like a lot of digital nomads are coming to the same conclusion lately: less travel and finding a base or home. I can completely understand that as I think that most of us don’t want to travel continuously forever. Balance is good and is what I am striving for as well.
Indeed, a lot of travel bloggers who started a while back are moving toward home-bases, it’s been interesting to see how they are dealing with the eventual need to slow down and have some more solid grounding from which to then continue exploring. I hope you find balance as well this year! :)
Extended travel seems like such a fun, easy thing to do, but there are so many factors to keep in mind. I’m sorry you had such a hard time, but you’ll be a much stronger person and traveler because of it. It’s all such a learning experience. This year I’m setting out for more extended travel and have to keep Balance in mind when trying to work out volunteering and time for myself.
I have come to value balance above many other things in the life of a long-term traveler. I wish you all the best and happiness on your upcoming extended trip! :)
I chuckled when I read what travelling through Africa does to you sometimes: indeed you are alone a lot. I drove through Namibia back in 2006 for a month, when I was 21. I had hoped to meet loads of people – especially since I was camping and thought ‘surely this is the best way to meet people’. And then I slept on empty campsite after empty campside. And I barely met anyone. So I travelled back to Windhoek to spend time with my friends and they would occasionally travel with me. I ended up living in Namibia for three years and the people I met in Windhoek are still in my life today. But these were encounters which I came across while being stationary. Funny that. My intention for 2015 is to cultivate self-love. Still intending to travel but on a quest to find a place to grow non-existing roots. Quite a challenge.
It’s so odd and counterintuitive that there are so few travelers! It makes sense now, that many of them are on overland trucks and such, but I really thought there would be the backpacking comradery that I had found in Southeast Asia. It makes it a lot tougher, but I am so glad you had friends in the city to fall back on and still have a wonderful trip. Thanks for reading and sharing your experiences! :)
Try hitchhiking! I hitch-hiked through SA and Namibia in the eighties…of course you could get stuck in some really isolated spots and wait for days before you see a soul…oh well…that is Africa, not flooded by scammer, losers, child molesters, druggies and all sorts of white trash that infect Asia…
2015 has been a real sea change for me. After being more on the road than off for the last seven years and calling Asia home for most of that time, I find myself living on campus and back at school in Australia.
I’m hoping working towards something (while still travelling when time and money allow) and being in a more stable environment will help me finally come to grips with the black dog and start taking some positive steps towards a life that has more to it than simply finding the lifestyle with the most hammock time and the cheapest beer.
Thanks for sharing your story. I’ve had my moment of break-down clarity on the road (and oddly, it also featured the weddings of my two best friends) and – tough as it is – a clearer head and a better definition of what matters is super helpful moving forward.
Good luck :)
It sounds like you have found a wonderful balance right now. Like you, I have considered going back to school part time, using that location as a home base and then continuing the adventures while having the grounded structure of friends, classes, etc. I wish you the best of luck in 2015 taking those positive steps. Thanks for the support and for sharing how you’ve coped with the transition. :)
It was great to read about your burnout. It’s a very real phenomenon that I hadn’t thought of as I plan to embark on my own life change involving travel.
Be well and come visit and stay if in Boston (until I get up and leave lol).
I hope your planning is going well! The biggest thing I learned in the early years was to slow down and really enjoy each new place, rather than rapidly looking ahead and always planning the next step. That slow travel is what delayed the burnout for six years! Good luck planning and traveling! :)
Welcome Back Shannon.. So nice to have back and i been following your blog since last year and You’re one true traveller. Good photos from Africa..:) My word for 2015 is Love my friend..:)
Thank you so much Merwin. I have all these stories in my head and can’t wait to share even more of the Africa photos. I appreciate the support. :)
Thanks for writing this with such honesty Shannon, I appreciate it. As travel bloggers, our lives can look so glamorous from the outside, and people don’t always know the whole story of how tiring and lonely travel can be. I also wrote a similar post recently, http://breathedreamgo.com/2014/12/stumbling-road-dreams/ so I relate very much with what your saying. Burn out is real, and it’s made doubly hard by tiring travel schedules and low income. I’m sure that you are making better self-care choices now, and will look forward to how things evolve. Take care Shannon!
I can’t help staring at your last photo of the most beautiful sunrise I’ve seen.. well, every photo of sunrise or sunset is beautiful to me, they’re my favorite scenes.
I agree Rachel, being present and watching sunrises and sunsets is essentially one of my favorite things to do anywhere in the world! :)
Shannon, glad you’re taking time to do what’s right for you. I’ve had a tough year, too, and also am slowing down on the travels a bit. My word for 2015 is ACCEPT: accept what’s happened, accept what will happen, and accept that I am right where I should be. (Funny enough, balance was my word for 2014; I was working way too much!) Hope to see you out here in SD soon! xoxoxo
Accept is a wonderful world, I hope there will be elements of that within my year as well. They say that much of happiness stems from that word, really taking stock at what you have and accepting that it’s right, that it’s enough. I do hope we cross paths, thanks for the support Susan! :)
So glad you’re back, khun Shannooooon! Though of course to me you were never missing, since I am lucky enough to have the offline version in my life too, I am happy to see your words online again and echo your readers that they were missed. xx
Thank you khun Joooodi! I am so happy to have had you in my offline life this past year.
I’m happy balance is becoming a crucial factor after all these years. I feel a home base and community, even if for part of the year is important. At 40, I’ve just now taken the plunge quitting, and will be in Goa, India to kick things off next week. I’d love to have a *tiny house* owned outright, then take a few months of the year to travel.
The best of both worlds.
Congrats on taking the plunge! And though I haven’t made it yet to Goa, it’s a town that is made for relaxing and sounds like the perfect spot to start this next phase. Like you, I *love* the tiny house movement and the ideal would be exactly what you described — own one and travel the rest of the year. Happy travels :)
Thanks so much Shannon! Good luck with your tiny house hunt as well :)
Thanks Shannon! Goa is definitely a town for relaxing and not much else as Internet is a sufferable affair!
Wow Shannon. I just found your blog as I was doing a google search on World Nomads for a travel group I belong to. In reading this post, I am sitting here with my mouth agape thinking, “OMG, this is exactly my story!” – minus the Africa part. Like you, I have been a solo female traveler
for many years. 8 years for me – 34 countries and 64 international trips. I found 2014 to be an incredibly tough year as I lost my former insatiable desire to travel and dealt with depression as well. I have had a history of it for years but had been free of it for a decade. I am sick of my nomadic life alone, however, I cannot fathom “settling down” in the states. Like you, I am looking for that foreign country that I can life in, build a commuity, travel to nearby countries while being able to have a closet with my clothes to come home to! I just spent 16 months living on the coast in the DR and unexpectedly found myself back in the states for almost all of 2014 -something I never expected to happen. I’m back and forth over which country I will settle in, and I know I will find it. I’m heading to Nicaragua in April 2014 to check it out. I’ll then spend my summer nomading around Europe. I hope you find your spot soon!! Here’s to both of us finding Balance in 2015!! Love your blog!
We are in that same boat, I am weary of the nomadic life, but it’s hard to know how to stop moving. And then there’s that pesky search for the right spot in which to settle. Even part time, it seems so odd to think about coming back to the U.S. But, I think I may actually make the U.S. my base, simply because of the ease of living here (visas and such) and then look at traveling about 4 months a year in three or so separate trips. That way it never feels like I am just stuck here. I wish you the best of luck searching out a spot — and keep me posted if you find a good one! I haven’t visited Nicaragua, but friends have expat-ed there and loved it! :)
PS: I seriously love WN — they have great customer support if you need to contact them and ask questions about insuring your travel group. :)
“I am weary of the nomadic life, but it’s hard to know how to stop moving.”
Amen. Will be curious to read more about if, and how you figure it out.
Thank you Zachary, I will keep an honest log of it on the site, I know it’s an issue a lot of other long-term travelers face.
Sometimes we need to rearrange things to find the balance. Good to read your words again Shannon. Hopefully we cross paths sometime!
Thank you Jimmy, I appreciate the support. And I am counting on us crossing paths at some point soon. :)
Just started following your blog. I must say firstly thanks for sharing your story. Definitely enjoy when bloggers express reality and not what they want people to hear. Feel some of us get to that point to have a home base to do more short term traveling. Can’t wait to see future post.
Thanks for the support, it can be hard sometimes to admit the truth in the travel space when a lot of what is shared focuses on the positive and long-term travel.
Thanks for the support, it can be hard sometimes to admit the truth in the travel space when a lot of what is shared focuses on the positive and long-term travel.
It was definitely a year of change for you as well Tal, thanks for sharing and I hope you find your inner peace as well!
Hi Shannon, I always love your writing, your honesty and reading about your travels. It’s good to hear things are on the upswing. I’m a full-time RVer and think that you might enjoy doing the same. There is an incredible group of digital nomads traveling the US who connect in person regularly and have created an incredibly supportive and close community. Email me if you want to learn more!
You know, I do love the idea of the RV community in the US. I have thought of taking a long road-trip across the US as a next step instead of picking a single spot right now. I’m still torn, but I really appreciate you sharing that there is a good community on the road. That is important to me. If I circle around to that idea you may just get an email from me for advice! :)
I wondered where you’d gone, but I did think you probably needed to regroup after such a long and harrowing trip. So glad you are back, Shannon! I’m headed to the Clearwater Beach/St Pete area in April.
Regrouping was key to processing that trip. And definitely let me know when you make it to the area, we just might overlap!
We miss you too! Thank you for for everything, and I can’t wait to see and hear about about your adventures!
My plan this this year year is to show up.
That’s a good plan! I can’t wait to meet up and hear more about what you plan to make happen this year. :)
It makes me so happy to see that little line that you’re coming to England for our wedding. I miss you Shannon. Can’t wait to see you!
And I ditto you on balance. It’s such a tricky thing to find, but an excellent pursuit xx
I miss you heaps and your wedding is an anchor point in the year for me. I can’t wait to come see you guys and help you celebrate the big day. xo
Boy I felt like reading my own 2014 story…(http://belowzerotohero.com/2014-2015). Similar to you I set one intention for 2015: inner peace. Hope you find your balance!
Wow, I love how you´re being so honest with your readers. It makes you appear a lot more authentic than other bloggers will ever be. I wish you all the best in 2015, safe travels, great moments and the balance you´re looking for :) Lovely regards from Germany
Thank you Amanda, I appreciate the support and kind words. I hope you have a wonderful, safe, and balanced 2015 as well. :)
Glad to see A Little Adrift alive in my Feedly! Travel is tough when you are already feeling burnt out, so glad you have taken time out to recover. Home-base travels is a sensible idea and if it means that ALA will live on, then yay! Hope we cross paths again soon :)
Thanks James! It feels good to take some steps back into the writing world. And though it’s been a while, I do hope our paths cross sooooooon. :)
Glad to hear you’re feeling better & taking time and space to do what’s best for you. It’s strangely a difficult path to take sometimes.
It’s strange, isn’t it, that there is some shame for some of us in admitting that we have to take time to work on ourselves. It was hard to admit that I couldn’t just plough through and carry on. Thanks for the support.
My family (couple with nine year old son) is about to embark on a 9 month trip through South East Asia and we have been drawing from your writings for our preparation. You may not know this, but you have been so helpful in this process and wish to acknowledge this. With gratitude.
Congratulations on your upcoming trip, what an amazing trip for you and I am so happy some of the resources and stories on the site have helped. SEA is an amazing place to explore with your son. I so love knowing that my site has helped you, thank you. Safe and happy travels. :)
Thanks so much for sharing this, Shannon! I too have battled with depression all my life and it is so eyes opening to suddenly see there are others, because really one just feels so alone when in the darkness. I am trying to find a home base too at the moment (and thats actually how i fond your amazing blog, through the san pancho cost of living post) I love the intention of balance for 2015 and am sending you light and love!
I am sorry to hear that you have also struggled with depression, there seems to be a very limited narrative about it online. Like you said, sometimes in the darkness it’s hard to remember there are others out there in a similar place. I wish you such luck in balancing your own life and finding a home base in 2015.