Dear Janine,
Are you still in NYC? Still travelling? I’m about to start travelling and right now I call NYC home.

Hi Grace,
Great question! In my experience, it’s easy to make friends when you travel, but difficult to maintain those friendships when you are no longer in the same destination together. Friends come and go on the road, and that’s okay. It comes with the territory.

It also depends on where and how you travel. If you are staying in hostels or working at co-working spaces, it’s easy to network with like-minded people.
It’s almost always easier to meet other travelers or foreigners than to make friends with locals, especially if you’re in a touristy area and they’re so accustomed to the steady stream of foreigners that they don’t even notice you.

Volunteering in trade for free accommodation is also a terrific way to meet people and make friends (both local and travelers). However it’s also quite difficult to maintain a location independent job while volunteering (though the flip side is if your accommodation is for free you don’t need to earn as much money). I highly recommend checking this out: https://www.theprofessionalhobo.com/travel-tips-resources/get-free-accommodation-around-world/

Hope this helps!

My name’s Grace and I recently decided to drop out of college (I just finished my first year) and pursue a more direct path to a location-free career. With the pandemic, everything is up in the air, but I’ve had a lot more time to think. I really really love your blog, and I stumbled upon it again today while doing some research.

I’ve been planning on travelling full-time and working remotely since I was 15, but I’m concerned about the social drawbacks of constantly moving around. I wouldn’t call myself an extrovert, but I’m definitely a people person. Even though I prefer slow travel, I’m afraid I won’t make enough friends during my travels to stay sane. I have a handful of good friends at home, but they’re all going to be in university for years, and I probably won’t get more than a couple of phone calls a month from each of them.

This fear has really made me consider finding a home base before I start travelling so I can make more friends that can keep me company (electronically) while I travel. Reading about your different home bases over the years has definitely given me some perspective. Thank you! It is comforting to remember that I can make any place my home base for as long (or as little) as I need one.

I think I need to build the foundation of my career before I have to make any decisions, but I was wondering if you have written anything about your friendships throughout your travels? I’ve read your post describing your romantic endeavors, but I am also curious if/how you’ve made many friends while travelling (locals or expats?) and if/how you’ve maintained those friendships.

Thanks for all your amazing content, I hope you’re happy and safe (in regards to the pandemic and otherwise).

Hi 33,
Those are great realizations, and indeed it’s fabulous that you didn’t have to learn them the hard way!
Full-time travel served me well for a time, and it may again be great later on. In the meantime, having a base has been instrumental for me on a variety of levels. For example, like you I also benefit greatly from having a routine, and now when I travel it’s more of a reprieve (like you say) and also a chance to shake up my routine for a while. Being able to return to my place for grounding and routine helps me to appreciate my travel experience all the more.

I did get accepted by a couple of airlines in my early 30s but I decided to turn them down. Part reasoning was that I was going thru a divorce, not the best time to uproot to a new city. A deeper reasoning I didn’t get until years later.

Although I love to get away, whenever I felt trapped I got into my car to languish for a week somewhere. I have always traveled solo whenever I took vacation or in college backpacking. Slowly with age I realize that traveling for me isn’t a mean to an end. It is more or less a reprieve, a change of scene to my normal daily life. My daily (currently working) life is the backbone to my existence. Without it I would lose my rudder. I don’t like routine but routine keeps me grounded mentally so that my mind can be free to create.

Although I am still planning to travel extensively after retirement and after my mother departs (always finished research on the cargo van and modification I want as my rig), I will always have a home base and routine to get back to. Full time traveling is not for me. I am happy to come to this realization without a hard lesson.

Wish your time in Toronto much agreeable and fuel your desire to back on the road.

Hi Jo,
Long time! Glad to know that you’re back up and at it after your hip replacement – doing the Camino no less! Wow.
I was only in my Toronto apartment for 2 months before I left for 5 months of travel….and realized (in Guatemala) that what I really needed was to be home.
I’m pleased to say my reentry back home has been smooth and wonderful. I never thought I’d live in Toronto again, but I must say that 12 years abroad has helped me appreciate it on a whole new level.
Happy travels, Jo, and happy pilgrimage! That’s incredible, only 6 months after a hip replacement. You are an inspiration!

Angeline, which country do you want to buy a property without citizenship? I am from NZ and bought a condo in Dallas in 2012 with no Green card etc and the same in NZ is allowed. In fact I dont where where you can’t. I guess there are many but I dont know where.

Hi Sudeep,
While I’d love to wax poetic about how I manage to live in Toronto for a song, I kind of feel like I lucked into it. Like the stars were aligned for me to make this change, as stars can align.
My cost of rent is $1,000/month (in Canadian dollars); not exactly cheap, but a steal for a large 1 bedroom apartment close to downtown and across the street from the subway. Whether my landlord friends are giving me the friend-discount or whether this is the going rate is unknown.

So my life and lifestyle is likely going to go up in terms of expenses (since I’ll be maintaining a base while still traveling), but throughout my life I’ve always made specific spending choices so I can enjoy the things that are really important to me (skydiving, sushi, whatever)!

I hope you find a cost-effective place to live in Sydney so you can enjoy the lifestyle you wish to.

I myself spent 10 years travelling but more conventionally i.e. taking jobs in different countries, plus 2 longish stints of up to 12 months of full time travel. I am now back “home”, in the city I grew up in and love, Sydney, Australia. However, it is this idea of having a base and then traveling 4-6 months a year that most intrigues me. I have loved reading comments on this post of how other people manage it. Some really interesting and creative ideas here. Like Toronto, property in Sydney is crazy expensive as well.

Maybe that might be an idea for a future blog post, i would love to hear more about how you make it work.
thanks again