[Belize - famous for offshore incorporation.]

I’ve been keeping track of when I visit a country for the first time with the New Country Day tag, and it turns out I haven’t been to a new country in over a year. While I have visited numerous countries in this time, they have all been countries I have been to before. And most of that time has been slow travelling or based in one place.

So this is my first time in Belize, and it is also my first time anywhere in the Americas below Mexico. Central and South America have been calling my name for years, yet I am still working my way there. I have realised over the past year that I’m in no hurry to see every country in the world.

I’ll be in Belize for a week and then I will be making my way to Guatemala. This will also be a quick trip but I will be looking into places for long term stays, and no doubt I will check out a coffee plantation as well.

New Country Day: Belize is a post from: Nomadic Notes

Nuremberg was an unexpected surprise for me. I went here solely to see the museum that stands at the Nazi party rally grounds (more on that later). What I didn’t expect to find was an old town which was worthy of more time that I had allocated for Nuremberg.

At the old market square I found these figures on a beautiful fountain called Schöner Brunnen (which in English means Beautiful Fountain).

[I travelled to Nuremberg thanks to Eurail.com.]

Travel Photos: Nuremberg photo gallery

Beautiful Fountain, Nuremberg – Germany is a post from: Nomadic Notes

As much as I love Skype though, sometimes it’s just not a viable option. To get around those times when I am on the road and I need to make an important phone call I use the NotVOIP app.

NotVOIP

NotVOIP is a service that enables you to make landline quality phone calls via ‘callback’.

I tested out this app when I was in Malaysia and I needed to call my bank in Australia. The wifi at my guest house was patchy and was making my Skype calls sound robotic, and the cafes in town were too noisy.

NotVOIP is available as an Android or iPhone app and can be used without internet. For this app you will need an actual phone number. In my case I had a Malaysian pay-as-you-go sim card, which I get in any country I am spending some time in. To make a call, open the NotVOIP app and dial the number you want to call. NotVOIP will then call you back.

I dialled the Australian phone number, NotVoIP then called me back on my phone. Once I answered the call I was connected automatically to the number. Sure enough, the call quality was as if I was on a landline with no noticeable delay or echo, and I was able to use the touchpad menu as well.

Rates vary according to country. It’s not as cheap as Skype, but it is definitely worth it for those occasions when a VOIP call isn’t going to cut it.

NotVOIP Free Credit

NotVOIP are offering free credit for Nomadic Notes readers so you can try it out for yourself. Register a new account using this link and your account will receive $2 credit which is good for 20 minutes talk time, depending on destination.

Register at: www.notvoip.com/user/register/code/nomadicnotes

NotVOIP – Use any phone, anywhere, to make international calls. is a post from: Nomadic Notes

Travelling long distances by rail in Europe will often require one or two changes of train. On my trip from Strasbourg to Nuremberg I had about ninety minutes between connecting trains in Offenburg (which made three types of bergs in one day). Hitherto that day I had never heard of Offenburg, but I as the station was close to town I figured a little wander was better than standing on the platform for over an hour. In that time I found these delightful man-birds on the street which made the detour worth it.

[I travelled to Offenburg (from Strasbourg to Nuremberg) thanks to Eurail.com.]

Travel Photos: Offenburg photo gallery

Man-birds of Offenburg – Germany is a post from: Nomadic Notes

2013 marked the fifteenth year in a row that I have visited London. That is the longest run I’ve had for any destination, and one that I am happy to continue. It all started in 1999 when I first arrived in London on a working holiday visa. That counted for three calendar years, followed by two years in Dublin (via London), then another decade of hubbing through on he way to somewhere else.

London is such a great walking city. I usually start with the intention of going for a short walk, then several hours later I find I’ve walked half way across the city. On this trip I was staying with a friend in Wapping, in the East of the city, so I spent most of my time walking The City and East End. Walking down Holborn I saw this Red London theme at the Holborn Bars Prudential Assurance building. I just needed a double decker bus to pass by to complete the picture.

Travel Photos: London photo gallery

[Travel Photo] London in red, London – UK is a post from: Nomadic Notes

The Sri Mahamariamman Hindu temple in Georgetown, Penang – Malaysia.

Travel Photos: Georgetown photo gallery

[Travel Photo] Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Georgetown Penang – Malaysia is a post from: Nomadic Notes

I arrived in Bangkok last July with a plan to be here for three months before heading back to London. During that time I ended up going to Ho Chi Minh City instead, where I spent five of the last nine months. It seems that Saigon is putting in a good case for being a home base in this part of the world.

I am now back in Bangkok to complete my flight to London that I was supposed to take in November. I will be in Europe for the rest of May before making my way to the US and then Toronto for TBEX. After a quick visit back in the US I will be making my first trip to Central America, which will take me to Belize and Guatemala. I will of course be reporting on digital nomad conditions and coffee!

Where I’m At: Bangkok – On my way to Europe is a post from: Nomadic Notes

[Kopi Joss - it tastes better than it looks.]

Kopi Joss preparation starts off in the usual Javanese style, with loose coffee grinds and sugar added to a cup and hot water poured on top. The magic ingredient – flaming hot charcoal – is then added to the brew. So basically this is a coffee with a piece of burnt wood floating in it.

Apparently the charcoal neutralizes the acidity of the coffee, making it easier to drink for those who get an upset stomach from coffee. I must have an iron stomach when it comes to coffee as I didn’t notice the difference. The coffee is surprisingly smooth though and it has no burnt or woody aftertaste like I thought it might.

Wood-fired stove.

A flaming red piece of charcoal is taken from the stove and the ash and loose embers are blown off.

The hot charcoal is added to the coffee.

The satisfying sight and sound of watching the charcoal sizzle as it cools.

Once the fire is out you can then fish the charcoal from your cup. Sometimes the coffee bubbles over, leaving messy cup covered in coffee grinds. No napkins here, so if you are offended by a few loose coffee grinds then you are in the wrong place.

I was in Jogja for over a week and I went back several times to get a charcoal coffee fix. One afternoon there was a storm passing through and it was getting dark. The kopi joss dealer lit up a kerosene lantern and continued on his business of preparing coffee. With the light of the lantern and the glow of the fire it felt like I was drinking The Devil’s Cup. It crossed my mind that this would probably not be legal in Australia.

There are a row of kopi joss stalls on the north side of main train station (Tugu) and they open around 4pm. One cup was 3500 IDR (35 cents USD).

Kopi Joss – The charcoal coffee of Yogyakarta is a post from: Nomadic Notes

Like most visitors to Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park (more commonly called Bromo) I arrived to my guest house in the evening without having seen the park. The tour begins with a jeep ride in the morning darkness to the crater rim, arriving in time for the sun rise. As the day breaks a feint outline of the volcanos that make up the park begin to appear.

Pictured is the constantly steaming Mount Bromo, Mount Semeru in the background, the evenly formed Mount Batok in the foreground, and a moring mist covering the sea of sand.

Travel Photos: Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park photo gallery

Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park, Java – Indonesia is a post from: Nomadic Notes

Today I am in Penang, Malaysia, filled with gratitude that I have been able to create this life. I’ve been reflecting on my journey, and how the landscape of being a digital nomad and travel blogger has changed over the years. I began blogging long after I was working online, so this is a good time to fill in some of the back story.

[At the office on a train in Austria]

The working holidays that changed my life

My life as an expat began in 1999 when I moved to London on a two year working holiday visa. I was still figuring out what to do with my life at that point, so I did temp work while travelling around the UK and Europe between jobs.

Working abroad gave me fresh perspective on life and new ideas on what I wanted to do work wise. It was while I was in London that I realised that I had a passion for the internet. I also discovered that I have the travel bug something fierce.

After my time in London I went back to Australia, but it wasn’t long before the desire to live abroad returned. I worked for a year, did a web design course, then applied for a working holiday visa to Ireland.

I arrived in Dublin in 2002 when the Celtic tiger was going through a downturn, so jobs were not as plentiful as during the boom years. With only limited savings I maxed out my credit card with a laptop purchase in my first week in Dublin.

I managed to stay employed during those 12 months, finding casual work that lasted from 1 week to 4 months. During this year I continued to learn about web design, SEO, and affiliate marketing in the evenings, and the experience of working in mind-numbing jobs made me more determined than ever to work for myself.

All of my earnings went into debt repayments and savings, and most of my time outside of work was spent on my business. At one point the cold, rainy weather and boring office jobs nearly sent me back home again, but I had no return ticket, so I had to ride it out. I look back on those days though with nostalgia as it was one of the most formative years of my life.

The life of location independence begins

April 25, 2003, was the day I began working for myself full-time. I was only making about $100 a month in affiliate sales at that point so I wasn’t exactly ready to begin, but my working visa in Ireland had just expired so I didn’t have a choice. I had enough savings to last the rest of the year, and I was fortunate to be staying with my then girlfriend in Switzerland.

While Switzerland isn’t the first place you would go to start a business on a shoestring, cooking at home made the cost of living comparable to Australia and Ireland at the time. I had yet to discover the joys of living in Southeast Asia, so I didn’t know about currency arbitrage.

[Lucerne - my first location independent home]

Switzerland turned out to be a excellent introduction to living a location independent lifestyle. While I worked long hours, I still took time out in the day to go for a swim in the lake and walks in countryside.

By the end of the year I was making enough to live on without spending my savings.

A business/travel lifestyle scene emerges

When I started out I got all my information online from webmaster and marketing forums. They were valuable resources to help me grow my business, but there wasn’t much talk about lifestyle. A lot of the guys I knew were working from home but not travelling.

For years I went about my travels without meeting other working travellers. There were, of course, many others doing the same thing but I had yet to discover this world, and I wasn’t actively seeking it anyway. This began to change in 2007, especially after The 4-Hour Workweek was released. This book brought the concept of running a business while travelling to the mainstream.

There are now countless sites dedicated to the subject of working remotely and the location independent lifestyle. I’ve found a forum where people talk business and travel, with members who have been doing this since the 1990′s.

The rise of travel blogging, and travel gets more social

With the rise of social media, travel blogging became more social as well, with a vibrant community of travel bloggers forming around Facebook and Twitter. I began Nomadic Notes as a way to interact with other travel bloggers that were becoming more prominent in the travel sphere, and as non-business online home for others to find me.

Seeing that we are travellers it was only a matter of time before I started meeting these online friends in real life. I went to my first travel meet up in Bangkok in February, 2010, which was fittingly called the unconventional meetup. The event was hosted by Chris Guillebeau, and got to meet some familiar online faces.

[Bangkok Meetup. Jodi, Gary, Rob, Benny were some names I knew online before meeting.]

Over the last few years there has been a growing number of conferences, meet ups, organisations, summits, and unconventions catering for travel bloggers, online business entrepreneurs, and lifestyle designers. It has now got to the point where I cross paths with some of my online friends several times a year.

Of course you don’t need a conference to have a meet up. I gravitated towards places like Chiang Mai and Saigon when I was not travelling, partly to be around fellow bloggers.

[Working in Chiang Mai with Jodi from Legal Nomads and Shannon from A Little Adrift.]

Home Base vs No Fixed Address

Over the last ten years of being of being location independent, I have switched between having no fixed address, to keeping a home base in Melbourne, and back to no fixed address. In Melbourne I rented a room in a share house for a number of years, sometimes sub-renting when I was away for longer stretches. Every time I returned I felt sure I wanted to live abroad again. I left Melbourne again in September 2010 and I’ve been of no permanent abode ever since.

In the first five years of my digital nomadism I spent half of my time in Europe. In the last five years my focus has shifted to Asia, and if I was to get a home base again it would be in Southeast Asia.

[The view from my room in Penang, where I'm celebrating my 10 year digital nomadiversary.]

Aren’t you tired of travelling?

I often get asked, “aren’t you tired of travelling?” Sometimes I do get tired, but when that happens I will slow down and stay in one place for a while, such as in Playa del Carmen, Chiang Mai, and Ho Chi Minh City.

What I found more tiring was getting up at 6am everyday and commuting for a hour to a job I didn’t like. My current lifestyle is easy in comparison.

Where to next?

I couldn’t have imagined what an incredible life this would be when I started out ten years ago. Occasionally I think that it might all end and I would have to go back to an office. I had a couple of lean years and I nearly did, so I have always tried to make the most of my travel opportunities while I can.

Looking forward, I can’t imagine a life that doesn’t revolve around travel, but it might be a lot slower with fewer destinations each year. For now my heart and work community is set in Southeast Asia, so I will continue to use this region as a base and go on shorter, more regular trips from there. I will continue to work on online projects, as well as resurrecting some offline business ideas, such as my stalled property rental business.

As for Nomadic Notes, this site will still be based on my travels, but I will be featuring more long term travel tips, digital nomad resources, and of course, cafes around the world. I’ve made so many friends through this site and it has also been a doorway to other business opportunities so I will be continuing to blog here.

Thanks for following along!

10 years as a digital nomad is a post from: Nomadic Notes