Welcome to the second part of the “Digital nomad series” which talks about the purpose of traveling long-term. Have you missed the first post about Blogging: My source of energy and focus.?

In this post I would like to react on an article published by VICE, talking about Maartje Smit from the Netherlands “who’s been on vacation for 3 years”. The headline is very catchy and I’m sure that it attracted lot of readers and also lot of critics (who wants to be on such a long vacation?).

I must admit that when I saw this article for the first time, I became grumpy. It was forwarded by various friends who wrote that “this sounds like you!”, My first reaction was the following: “Yes, I’ve been also traveling for 3 years, but I did much more than just being on vacation!” ☺ The same goes for Maartje – the main character from VICE story – who had to experience, learn and use her skills in those 3 years. She worked too and that’s what makes a big difference. Don’t get me wrong, but that’s the difference between a tourist and a traveller. Tourist on vacation is a visitor with a pretty limited time of stay. Traveller is a visitor too, but she or he has a chance to stay longer, absorb the culture and most probably make a difference. There is no better or worse, it’s just a different experience.

Traveling is a lifestyle with it’s ups and downs and as much as it can be amazing, it can get boring or unfulfilling if you don’t get a chance to use your talents or skills.

Why do we like to travel for long time?

Traveling is extremely addictive. You experience situations that you’ve never thought about that could happen in your life. Traveling is very inspiring too. It’s like a state of mind when you go with the flow and you live in the moment. That’s exactly what we’re forgetting about when we’re living the “ordinary” lives. That’s what is so attractive for many of us, because we need to disconnect, see the world, experience and explore. And many times we need to explore our selves because we didn’t have time during our studies and first career jobs. Until we settle down, or for those that love this lifestyle: make it possible to travel and work while traveling.

What about working and contributing to the society?

When it comes to the topic of a long-term vacation and working… I believe that when people do what they love, under the conditions they like and in the environment they enjoy they don’t need to go on a long vacation. Sometimes it just takes longer time to find that balance. But when you find that passion it will lead you into creating and producing more – for your old or new community.” I know that there comes a moment when you want to give back for all of those “easy-going” and “go with the flow moments”.

Travelers, I have some food for your thoughts:

Imagine all the things that you’ve seen and explored – especially in the third world countries.

What was that special quality of the particular country that you could bring back home and share with your compatriots?

Life after long-term traveling is different.

When I started traveling longterm I needed a break from my old workplace, daily tasks, colleagues, family and “my-old-self”. The more I traveled the more I realized that if I want to achieve my goals and help this world to be a better place, I have to slow down and work even harder than before. The timing was important though and I needed to find a way how to combine the passion for traveling and surfing with my career. I had to be location independent.

It’s been over a year since I started a mission of exploring ways how to be a “digital nomad” and that’s a journey of: solopreneur or travelpreneur. New dimensions were opened in my life and I can feel that I’m benefiting from many unique experiences and contacts that I gained during my long travels. I’m looking for the ways how to use my talents and skills to make that next step into my personal and professional freedom. I’m inviting you to be part of this journey – don’t miss a post and subscribe to my NEWSLETTER.

Finally, one of the most important things that I learned during my travels was that it’s very important to have a PURPOSE, YOUR VOICE and a CAUSE even though the road is always curvy but it’s exciting too (something like roads in Bolivia haha).

That’s life.

Add-on: Something for all of you who like to analyze stuff as much as I do 🙂
Reading and thinking about that “vacation for 3 years headline“, some questions pop-up in my head. I’d be happy to hear/read your thoughts, so please write them in the comments below:
– Why do we find articles about this topic in a mainstream online magazine?
– What’s happening in our society (North America or Europe) that we are so excited about being on vacation for so long?
– Is there anything wrong about working?

About the author
Thanks for reading this article 🙂 My name is Silvia and I’m form Slovakia. I’m passionate about entrepreneurship, marketing, traveling, surfing, photography and I’m in the search of the best ways how to combine it all. Over the past 3 years I changed my lifestyle completely. From an employee in a larger company I started freelancing and working online to be location independent. What drives me is the idea that if I want to, I can book a ticket and go surfing anywhere in the world and stay as long as I want. Also, I gathered lot of content and ideas inspired by beautiful people, places and products. I blog and organize presentations about these topics. Safe travels!