setting out

So my new life begins.  Work has finished, and I don't intend to take up any offers of further contracts (although you can never say never), so I suppose that means I am retired.  But after 16 years of being an expat, I could not imagine myself settled back in London - especially as a quick trip back showed it to be cold, and expensive.  Plus I have tenants in my flat, paying me rent - and my personal possessions apparently haven't even left Senegal yet - so everything seemed to be pushing me away from a resettlement in London at this point.

Thankfully, I love travelling, and still have a very long 'wish list' of places to visit.  But I've always previously travelled from a base ... packed a suitcase or rucksack with what I need for a three week trip ... and then travelled home again.  Travelling without that home base is a whole new approach!

So I have a lot of learning to do.

At a fundamental level, I really don't know how much I can afford to spend on a monthly basis.  I have savings and investments (although the value of the latter must reflect the 20% fall in stock markets this year and the former will be hit by rising inflation), and in a good year (not this year, unfortunately) I make a reasonable return from my tenants.  But how much of it I can afford to spend now depends upon what I will do in the future - something I just cannot answer right now.  Nor can I calculate what this lifestyle will cost me.  Various nomads have put guides online, but of course it varies enormously by lifestyle: $7 a night in a shared dorm in a hostel?  Or $150 a night in a private room in a mid-range hotel?  It also varies enormously by country.  Complicated by the fact that for the first year at least, I'm looking at mixing an underlying nomadic lifestyle with a number of more expensive paid trips to places where one needs security or a guide.

Then I have a ton of questions at a more practical level.  What do I need to carry around with me in my luggage (will I ever need to look smart?  will I be spending any time in cold climates?  how much time will I be spending in countryside vs in urban areas?)?  What do I not need, but really want and would it be worth the extra weight (kindle, iPod and speaker, exercise bands?)?  What about connectivity (rely on wifi in my accommodation?  buy an international SIM card?  a new local SIM card in each country I visit?)?  How do I pay for things (cash - so an ATM card, with all of the fees that will incur as money is withdrawn in different currencies?  something from one of these new providers such as Revolut or Wise ... but without a residential address, how can I hope to open a new financial account?)?  None of which I knew the answer to before I set off, so I have doubtless made the wrong choices on some or maybe even all of them.

I also wonder if I will even enjoy it.  Yes, I want to see the world.  But will I get lonely?  Will I miss having a 'home' with my things around me - things that in some cases I have collected up over the years to be enjoyed in my retirement?!  But of course I am free to 'give up' at any stage, whether that be after the first month, or after a decade.

Exciting, but scary!

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