“If you don’t like where you are, change it. You’re not a tree – Jim Rohn”
I’ve always dreamed of travel, ever since I was a kid. During my first few years at school I was obsessed with France and the French language. I wanted to be French, more than anything… and as that was clearly not going to happen any time soon, the next best thing was going to France. The dream was realised when I was 21 and first went to Europe. That trip sparked something inside of me and I knew that it was the beginning of something special.
I love travel. I love the novelty of being somewhere new. I love that it’s temporary, so you feel obligated to see as much as possible.
As a child I thought of travel as something you do when you put your real life on hold. Something you could do for a few weeks a year, before returning to your every day life. Temporary.
As an adult, I now see that it’s entirely possible to travel to your heart’s content, while moving forward with other important areas of your life.
Location independence is the result of being able to earn your money wherever in the world you go. Now, if you’d been quick on the property market, invested well and had a massive portfolio of properties then you could probably life off the rent and spend your time sampling fresh coconuts in as many countries as possible. For most, that kind of lifestyle was unattainable but the Internet’s changed the game a little – it’s balanced out the playing field for those who are ready and willing.
When I first started freelance writing, I did so traveling around Europe. I came home for a while, but wasn’t really in the mood to be back so headed off the Asia. Each week I was getting paid – more than I used to in my old job – and spending my spare time exploring beautiful places and meeting new people.
A lot has changed for me since I first started working online. I have a partner whom I really care about – who is thankfully in the same line of work as me. He has a strict training schedule so we can’t be as free as I once was in terms of travel, but we’re still going to be location independent.
In three months we’ll be boarding a flight to Singapore to spend a few days traveling around. Then we’ll fly to Madrid and I’ll show him a city I loved so dearly and the best churros I’ve ever tested. We’ll take a train to Valencia and explore around before settling in Alicante for a month of two. Then we’ll head to France and travel around Europe before moving to Lisbon for a few months. Sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? But for us it’s entirely possible because we earn online – we’re location independent.
There are hubs around the world where location independent people are flocking to, because they’re cheap, have good culture and a great atmosphere. The most common places I know of are: Berlin, Germany; Ubud/Bali, Indonesia and Chiang Mai, Thailand. For most, these places are cheaper than their own countries which means they can leverage the currency, save more, and afford to work less and invest more time on projects that inspire them.
It’s not just young people who are traveling the world freely, earning money online – there are traveling families too. My favourite example is FlashPacker Family who have recently just expanded their family to four.
The only barrier to you achieving your dreams is you! What’s your ideal lifestyle? Would you like to be location independent or do you prefer having a home base?