Nomad Lifestyle

After spending four months backpacking through Central America, I can say from experience that meeting people while traveling can look very different depending on your stage of life. As someone who is single and in my mid-30s, I’ve found it can sometimes be a bit more challenging to meet people on the road. I don’t really feel like I fit the typical hostel scene anymore, and the idea of going out drinking every night to meet people is becoming less and less appealing.

As someone who has lived in Santa Marta, on and off, since 2018, I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the city and its environs.

Any avid snorkeler will know why the title of this article contains the words “off the beach” and doesn’t just say “snorkeling.”

If you are interested in nature travel and wildlife tourism, you will end up in some remote, unfamiliar places, pure and simple. If, like me, you find yourself drawn to many of these environments at night, your chances of getting turned around or injured increase. 

*an electric guitar riff starts playing in the background* YOU PROBABLY WOULDN’T WANT ONE OF THESE KILLERS IN YOUR BACK YARD. *rapid jump cuts of a praying mantis*

I think there is a good argument to be made that van life has become one of the major symbols of both millennial disaffection and our generation’s resignment to a system that has failed us.

I was fortunate enough to be born into a family and community that valued fitness. My parents enrolled me in organized sports at a young age, and I hiked, biked, skied and swam with my dad every weekend.

Cheap travel, rising incomes and an increasingly globalized world have made getting to know more places on our planet easier than ever before.

In the midst of so much existential dread, it seems like more people than ever before are interested in ditching the (mole) rat race becoming a digital nomad.

Anyone who has ever taken a dog on the road understands that it can be both immensely frustrating and highly rewarding.