Eight days ago, something very non-nomadic happened. Something that wraps up the end of my nomad life, in fact. On January 5th, I took possession of a new house. Yes, I have a new permanent address. If you want to read all about the house and why I chose Albuquerque, click this link to go to my other blog. But this post is about why (after 3 years, 2 months, and 26 days) my nomad life came to an end.
The nomad life was mostly amazing. I was able to see so much of the United States and the entire Western Hemisphere. Whenever the weekend came, I was already in my vacation spot, ready to summit new mountains and run new trails and explore new ruins and try new foods. I went places that I never, ever would have otherwise because they were easily accessed on the drive from one place to another, and because I had weeks and weeks to explore each region, rather than a typical six or seven day vacation. I made fun memories with all the friends who came to visit me in the most random places.
I've loved this wandering life and am so grateful for the opportunity and I have no regrets about the choice I made in October 2020.
But I'm tired. I'm very, very tired.
I'm tired of investing time and energy getting to know people I will never see again.
I'm tired of not having my own crew of friends nearby.
I'm tired of not participating regularly in events and groups and belonging to something.
I'm tired of how insanely expensive AirBnB has become.
I'm tired of weird AirBnB hosts and not being in charge of the places I'm living.
I'm tired of uncomfortable pleather couches.
I'm tired of closets with no hangers.
I'm tired of never knowing where the grocery store is, the pharmacy, the post office.
I'm tired of having to fill out new client paperwork at the dentist, the massage therapist, the optometrist.
I'm tired of my computer not recognizing my location (because it's always different) and constantly having to use annoying two-factor authentication.
I'm tired of packing and unpacking and packing and unpacking my carful of stuff.
I'm tired of being disorganized and buying multiples of things I know I already have because I can't find what I need.
I'm tired of feeling so much self-pressure to always go, go, go and do, do, do and see, see, see because I'm in random place XYZ that I'll never be again so I'd better not waste the opportunity when what I really want is a whole weekend of doing absolutely nothing.
I'm tired of the endless planning and logistics.
I'm tired of part of my life still being tied to Colorado.
Okay, that last part won't change because I didn't sell my condo. But at least now I can move my doctor, dentist, mailing address, voter registration, car registration, and all that stuff.
And okay, actually, I'm going to keep doing all these things I'm tired of because my claims about my nomad life ending are greatly exaggerated. I am currently in El Salvador, then I'll be popping over to Baltimore at the beginning of February and Tucson at the end of February, then back to Colorado for a weekend of ice climbing in Ouray in March. And probably New York City in April. And, and, and...
But I will have my own place to go in between all those trips. I will have a home base where everything is in its place and I only have to pack for each small trip, not for the next six months. I don't have to think about where I'm staying in between those trips and how to get there and what I need to pack. And that is an immense relief.
I will have a place to consistently come back to where I will invest time getting to know people who I will actually grow close to and who will be in my life for a long time to come. I will no longer call myself a digital nomad, just someone who travels a lot.
So I am officially retiring this blog. Catch me and all my future adventures on jenwriting.com!