{"id":13524,"date":"2021-02-08T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theprofessionalhobo.com\/?p=13524"},"modified":"2024-06-18T07:33:17","modified_gmt":"2024-06-18T11:33:17","slug":"pros-and-cons-of-being-a-digital-nomad-vs-having-a-home-base-with-sherry-ott","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theprofessionalhobo.com\/pros-and-cons-of-being-a-digital-nomad-vs-having-a-home-base-with-sherry-ott\/","title":{"rendered":"Pros and Cons of Being a Digital Nomad vs Having a Home Base, with Sherry Ott"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I was a digital nomad (ie: I traveled the world without a home) for 12 years, before returning to Canada and getting an apartment as a home base. It wasn’t that I had stopped traveling; I simply changed the way I travel. Sherry Ott did something similar; she was a digital nomad for 11 years before getting a home base in Colorado. So she and I sat down and had a lengthy discussion about the pros and cons of being a digital nomad vs. having a home base. Learn more about it here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jump right into my Awesome Interview Series videos on YouTube here<\/a> – and please give it a thumbs up, leave comments and subscribe! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Sherry Ott’s travel career started innocently enough as a career break, during which she realized she had too much unfinished business with the world to return to her desk job. So she put her stuff in storage and taught English in Vietnam for a year, before really letting loose and roaming the world as a digital nomad for the next 10 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During this time she financially supported herself<\/a> with her travel website and photography which she showcases on OttsWorld<\/a> and various social channels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sherry and I traveled in circles around each other, meeting up occasionally in far flung destinations, but mostly maintaining our friendship online. We even simultaneously did a huge campaign with Club Carlson; I traveled through 8 countries in 3 weeks in Europe<\/a>, while she covered 7 cities in the Americas<\/a> during the exact same time period. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Despite our distance, Sherry and I shared a lot in common. We started our remote careers and digital nomad lifestyles <\/a>in our 30s; older than many of our compadres. We each lasted as digital nomads for over 10 years; something we both admit is an accomplishment we are proud of (while of course acknowledging that it’s not a competition). And within a year of one another, we both got home bases in our home countries. (Here’s more about my <\/em>Epic Search for a Home Base<\/em><\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there are some differences between how Sherry and I traveled and lived around the world as well. She consistently traveled at a feverish pace through most of her 11 years. I did that for one year and it damn near broke me (I needed six months in a near-comatose state in New Zealand<\/a> to recover). I subsequently traveled slowly and had a few home bases along the way; places I could temporarily call \u201chome\u201d around the world, from which I could venture and travel without lugging everything I owned with me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sherry’s website also had more of a focus on destinations, and thus she was consistently hosted on press trips by tourism boards and tour providers. I have only done a handful of such trips, largely because my style of travel often meant committing to long-term volunteering or house-sitting gigs<\/a> from which I couldn’t stray for a press trip. <\/p>\n\n\n

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While in the throes of a discussion about the pros and cons of digital nomad life vs having a home base, we turned on the camera so we could share 25 years of collective travel experiences and lessons with you. Watch below, or click here to watch it on YouTube<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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