114. The Digital Nomad Episode: When There's No Return Ticket

I'M THE VILLAIN

When was the last time you decided to go live in another country with no plans to return? In this episode, we talk to Isabel's friend Elaine, who has spent much of her post-college life traveling around the world and is currently teaching English in Shanghai. Prior to the pandemic, she had plans to travel around Asia during this time but China's Covid policies threw a wrench in those plans as you are required to quarantine for 2 weeks whenever you return to the country, so for right now she has to settle for traveling around China. At the beginning of the pandemic, Elaine was teaching in Madrid, and was traveling basically every weekend and after she is done teaching English in Shanghai, she plans to travel around the coast of Australia with her sister.

We talk with Elaine about why traveling is so integral to her life, why she considers herself an adventurer more than a tourist, and how she is able to afford traveling this much (apps like Couchsurfing and Workaway make many of Elaine's travel experiences free or close to free). So many of the hosts she has met while traveling have been exceptionally open and interesting people, and while some of them have admittedly been sketchy, she talks about the importance of trusting your gut, which may lead you to get in a van with a total stranger, but in Elaine's case that decision resulted in a delightful week's worth of good food and good company. She even met one Workaway host in Tuscany whose guests literally helped her birth her child when she was pregnant and they are now considered part of her family.

Links:

Couchsurfing: https://www.couchsurfing.com/

Workaway: https://www.workaway.info/

Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/home/

Music is The Beauty of Maths by Meydän.

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