Thread by @marshal

😃 Life update: I’ve decided to stop doing the “digital nomad” thing.

For the last 5 month my wife and I got to see some beautiful places around the world. We had planned to do this for all of 2019.

However, we decided to stop for a few reasons...

1/ Lack of routine — the constant moving takes its toll on you. Basic things like figuring out where to eat breakfast becomes a time consuming task with each new place.

Staying in 1 place longer helps though.

2/ I was way less productive — the lack of consistency had a negative affect on my work. It was difficult with variations in timezones, inconsistent workspaces, FOMO, etc.

I felt more “inspired” in the beginning from the variety of surroundings. That wore off after month 1 tho.

3/ Life was on hold — we missed our dog, our friend’s, and family. Additionally my wife finished her interior design degree right before we left to travel.

Understandably she was itching to work in her field more.

4/ The plan was to move to Dallas, TX when we finished traveling.

We would eventually build a home + be closer to family. About 4 months in we caught ourselves looking forward to that next chapter more than the next travel spot.

That’s when we knew it was time to head home.

5/ I feel lucky we traveled for 5 months. Don’t get me wrong, it was amazing. But I’m here to say, extended travel won’t solve all your problems. Novelty wears off. The basics matter.

For me contentment =
* Friends/family
* A daily routine
* Fulfilling work

6/ Ironically, we actually spent much less money traveling than we did living in St. Louis. In fact, we would have made an extra $30-50k this year if we continued traveling (on top of the savings).

7/ How?

In the USA $105k of income per spouse is tax free if you’re outside the US for 330 of 365 days. The tax is refunded at the end of the year.

We gave that up by coming home early.