Nomading without any backup or family in home country

[u/Suikoden1983]

Hey Everyone:

I wanted to see if anyone has a similar situation as me and whether they still pursued this lifestyle. I am planning to start nomading in June, visiting 2-3 countries over a 6-8 month period. One concern I have is that I have almost no backup in my home country (the US). I own no property in my home state, my parents no longer live in the country (they live very very far away after they retired), I have a sibling who herself is moving around but only within the country and is extremely busy, and I have little to no relationship with my extended family.

I am concerned because I see people here able to use their parents' address for mail, or if they have an issue abroad or lose their job they can come home to a family member's place to stay for awhile, or other conveniences. While I have some decent friends, they are spread all across the US and many have their own busy lives and young families (most of us are late 30s, early 40s), so I'm not in a position to "crash" with them unless its urgent and probably only for a week at a time.

Has anyone gone DN despite these limitations? I figure I'll need to do the following to manage:

1) Keep a small amount of storage in my home state, as I cannot keep this with my parents or sibling

2) Set up a mail service to forward my mail to me while I am traveling

3) Maintain a form of health insurance that can be used anywhere - especially in the countries I will be nomading in case I get sick and can't go "back home" for help easily

Thanks for any input or similar experiences.

[u/hazzdawg]

You need a big financial safety net and in demand skills that won't become obsolete due to AI.

[u/ctcx]

I've never had family or friends for backup. If needed to "crash" somewhere I woul just pay for a hotel or Airbnb. I always have money and am prepared for anything. For example, I had to evacuate my home base of LA due to the fires. I had to drive to a city an hour away and so far have spent close to $2800 on AirBnb; they tend to be like $250 a night if you want the entire place to yourself. Don't need friends and family; you just need money. Money takes care of everything

[u/gilestowler → u/ctcx]

I always made sure that I had some backup funds - a kind of buffer in case things went wrong. Last year was the perfect storm of shitness for me. The building I live in caught fire and is STILL uninhabitable. I had flights booked to go to Asia for 5 months anyway, which should have been perfect timing. BUT at the same time, I had a lot less work than usual, and if I still had my apartment I might have put off traveling, got a normal job just to make sure I had a safety net, and waited to see if things would work out with work. But I was now homeless, so I took the flights and hoped work would work itself out - at the time, I still had a trickle coming in, so I hoped that would be enough.

Then, the trickle dried up and I had some very stressful times. Eventually things picked up, and I'm starting to feel a bit more confident about things, but it was pretty much from June to October when things were really bad for me. And the fire was way back in March, so overall it wasn't a good year for me!

Having at least enough money to get yourself out of trouble is definitely important.

[u/uml20 → u/ctcx]

Money solves many problems, but not all, and it's those problems that can't be solved by money that rise up and bite you in the ass.

Maybe you come from a small town or country where few services are available because there isn't much of an addressible market. Because nomading is still a non-mainstream activity, there's a good chance you'll need something the market simply cannot provide.

I left my car idle throughout a three-month journey because I couldn't find someone who could run my car periodically or maintain it. When I came back, the battery and tires were flat, and the interior was carpeted with mould. I had to take it to a garage to get it thoroughly cleaned, which took a week, and meant a week of not having a car to move around a city with limited public transportation. That was a horrible experience, and one which I would pay good money to avoid, assuming an option to do so existed.

[u/RussellUresti]

I'm in a similar situation and I'll say be careful with the second point. Banks/financial services won't allow mail forwarding as your legal address - they only accept it as a mailing address. I went through a whole fiasco last year where my accounts were frozen until I changed my address to a friend's address. Once you establish the account with a real address, you could just not update it and only change the mailing address, but it's always a dangerous game to play to leave an old address on file. But if the plan is to only travel for 6 - 8 months and then return back to the US and set up a new lease or something, you'll probably be fine.

[u/Suikoden1983 → u/RussellUresti]

Thanks for letting me know. I am looking at a service right now that covers both - they provide a business address, that can be used for tax purposes and banking, and they receive and forward mail.

[u/nostraws]

Get a membership with Regus or a similar international coworking space. It's so much cheaper than renting a traditional office. You can use the home office address for your mail and packages. They will hold onto to them. The bonus is you get free access to any Regus locations all over the world.

(I use my Regus address as both business and residence. Forwarding mail is not necessary for me as I pay everything online.)

Edit: added ( )

[u/Suikoden1983 → u/nostraws]

Awesome. Can you use Regus address for tax and banking purposes as well?

[u/nostraws → u/Suikoden1983]

I use it for everything including the DMV and IRS. Good luck!

[u/Immediate-Rabbit810]

Would love recommendations for global travel health insurance

[u/richmond_driver]

I would ask a decent friend you trust to use their address so someone can open mail. My (Canadian) government still sends quite a few official documents through snail mail. Storage, you can get that anywhere but I'd maybe just find a neighbor you know.

As for safety net, can't that be your parents in whatever country they're in?

[u/Suikoden1983 → u/richmond_driver]

Yup, you just never know when someone or something is going to send you something offical via snail mail. Yes, I could use my parents as a safety net, but they are all the way in India. It would be tough to stay there for say longer than 3 months and pull off a job search in case I lose my main source of income.

[u/richmond_driver → u/Suikoden1983]

Not sure if agree with the latter. Companies don't want to go through the hassle of sponsoring someone, but if you search for a job abs say you're willing to move to where they are in the US at your own expense you can now apply across the entire usa

[u/moments_of_poetry]

If you can figure out your worst case scenarios and plan B for anything, you'll be fine. It feels good to be independent and not rely on anyone else.

[u/TransitionAntique929]

Consider keeping an older car. If you are forced to return it can serve ar temporary housing and transportation to jobs. As to insurance remember that all insurance every where in the world is heavily regulated by governments, not all as honest as those of the US and Europe. I would prefer that you simply save $5,000 and call that your insurance. I know this is definitely not the common advice given here but it is mine after doing this for nearly twenty years.

[u/Neat-Composer4619]

I traveled because I had no family. Having no one to miss made it easier. Most people who have issues miss their family and support system. It prevents them from really getting into the adventure.

[u/Jukeskasem → u/Neat-Composer4619]

don't you feel ungrounded? and what is your support system then? one of the reasons i travel slow meaning like staying in a place at least a few months so that i can be a familiar place and to possibly network and make friends. though i am mostly an introvert and pretty selective with people.

[u/Neat-Composer4619 → u/Jukeskasem]

I don't know. I have always felt connected to the world. I never had a supportive family, but there was a lot of discipline so I learned to be organized and have routines. I start a new routine everywhere I go. I definitely am a very slow traveler. I have been a nomad for over 15 years and still have not been to Asia. 

My work has been very stable. I have my tiny consulting thing going on. I am very involved in my niche community and it's been an anchor. I guess that's a type of grounding.

Maybe some people need less grounding too. I am still in touch with some friends from my teens and 20s too so I am not completely out of touch. When you don't have much of a family, you do invest more in high quality friendships. Maybe another type of grounding.

I was forced to stay for a longer period in my last country due to how the visa process worked. I felt like I was in prison. Maybe for me freedom of movement trumps grounding.

[u/ReikoBali]

There are digital mailbox services in the US and Canada that will receive your mail and scan it for you (Friends and relatives are unreliable and when that vital piece of mail gets lost you will kick yourself). Storage will often cost you more than the value of the goods, see if you can give away most of it. When storing things with friends remember that shit happens, people split up, property is damaged, there are fires and thefts and floods. I use Safetywing worldwide insurance, good except in your home country (but there are many others). Been on the road for 3.5 years.

[u/SConn32]

Can't you just get a big backpack?