Digital Nomad Lifestyle in Lisbon, Portugal with Christabella Travels

Introduction: Welcome to Badass Digital Nomads, where we're pushing the boundaries of remote work and travel, all while staying grounded with a little bit of old school philosophy, self-development, and business advice from our guests.  

Kristin:        You know, critics of remote work say that you need meetings and face-to-face interaction in order to get things done. But we all know that communication and community are two of the most important factors for success in a location independent lifestyle. So every time you listen to an episode of this or any podcast that you find value in, I challenge you to share the wealth. Take a moment to think of one person in your professional or personal network who might benefit from listening in. Then share it with them and tell them why. Doing this will help you absorb and apply the info that most resonated with you from the episode, putting it into practice in your own life while delivering value to someone you care about. And with that, let's get on with today's show.  

Kristin:    00:01:15    Well welcome everybody to the second official live version of the Badass Digital Nomads podcast. I'm your host, Kristin, and today we are joined by the beautiful Christa Romano, also known as Christabella Travel if you're an Instagram person. And she is joining us from Lisbon right now, which is looking amazing. I have her, I can see her, obviously you guys can see her too on YouTube, but I'm also looking at her already on Instagram Live, <laugh> <laugh>, and I just wanna teleport myself over there. So, welcome Christa, welcome to the show. I'm so happy to have you here.  

Podcast Interview:

Christa:    00:01:53    Thanks so much, Kristin. I feel like this, I feel like this meeting is long overdue. We met, uh, like a year ago. Right? And I feel like we just have so many similarities, so Yeah.  

Kristin:    00:02:02    It's fun. We almost even have the same name.  

Christa:    00:02:04    I know. We have the same name, we have the same hair. It's all kinds of weird things going on. <laugh>.  

Kristin:    00:02:09    Yes. So, just to give some context and background as to how Christa came on my channel, um, we actually were connected through the Nomad Cruise community, which is a really great way to meet other digital nomads and remote workers. Mm-Hmm. Um, I was writing an article called Dating as a Digital Nomad, how to Approach Love and the Laptop Lifestyle, which we haven't quite figured out yet, but we're gonna talk about that later. And, uh, people recommended that I talk to Christa <laugh>. I don't remember why, but probably because both of us are such pros at dating, I'm sure.  

Christa:    00:02:45    Oh, yeah. That's gotta be the reason why I think I volunteered. I was probably just like, you know what? I wanna talk about this because it's weird. <laugh>  

Kristin:    00:02:53    If people want  

Christa:    00:02:54    To, um, yeah. It's a weird life.  

Kristin:    00:02:55    We will talk about that, um, later. But let's see. I'll show you guys if you can see it on the, uh, on the screen share over here. I have it up. So it says, digital nomads are pushing the boundaries of dating to the only place we know outside our comfort zones. And here I have an interview with Christa, we talk about the problems. Uh,  

Christa:    00:03:19    This is a great article. So many people actually approach me still to this day. And they're like, oh, I saw that article that you were quoted on, um, about Dating as a Digital Nomad. And it really resonated with me. And I think a a lot of people resonate with this topic. 'cause it's just, you know, it's sort of a, a new thing that we're all pioneering. It  

Kristin:    00:03:38    Is, it affects everybody, you know? Mm-Hmm. Yeah. And as a, a billion people or however many there are of us, and move into this lifestyle, it's becoming a more important topic. So I still have the follow up part two of that article in draft. Okay. So we'll definitely revisit that topic later. Cool. Um, so the other reason I wanted Christabell, um, or Chri, keep calling you Christabell, Christa, I know a girl named Christabel. Chris -- 

Christa:    00:04:01    Christabell is actually my, my family name. That's where that name comes from on my profile. Originally, I was just Christabella, which was like, you know what my, what my grandmother calls me all the time, um, and my cousins and stuff. But, uh, now I'm Christabella Travel because I didn't wanna completely take away the original, the original name. So I love it. I'm Christa or Christabella, whatever you wanna call me.  

Kristin:    00:04:22    So for everybody watching, and if you're just listening later to the podcast, you're gonna have to come and look us up in the show notes because, uh, Christa is just, well, she's like me. We're short, petite, blonde girls, and we travel around the world all by ourselves, and we've been doing it for many years. So one of the reasons that I wanted Christa to come on the show is because a big question that I get is, is traveling safe? Is it safe for women to travel alone? And Christa is like my kind of soulmate when it comes to this, because she goes to these places that are supposed to be dangerous. And both of us have been to like Bosnia and Herzegovina and a lot of places in the Balkans. And she actually writes stories about the places that she visits in her Instagram, uh, descriptions. And she's always kind of busting these myths about places that are dangerous. And she's going there and showing the real side of it. And I've, I feel like we're kindred spirits in that way because I've done the same thing with Serbia and Albania and a few other places. So I would love to talk about that too. So, first Christa, yeah. Can you just tell us, um, a little bit about your background, what you were doing before you became Christabella travels, and why you wanted to be a digital nomad and what you're doing now?  

Christa:    00:05:42    Sure. Okay. So yeah, whole, whole life in a, in a short, short intro. So let's see if I can do it. Um, I'm originally from Boston. I lived in New York City for several years after I graduated from university, just because I wanted the travel life. And I thought, uh, if I was working New York City was the best place to travel on a daily basis. But then, you know, I didn't have any vacation time. I didn't have any money, and I just wasn't seeing the world and in the way that I wanted to. Like New York was fulfilling to, to an extent with like, food and, and people and stuff. But I wanted to see the world. So after doing a lot, a lot, a lot of research, I decided to move to Thailand and teach English. I did that for two years, from 2013 to 2015.  

Christa:    00:06:26    Um, and then after that, um, that was an amazing experience, by the way. And for anybody listening, if you kind of feel like stuck in your nine to five, feel like you don't have the skills to sort of like get a digital nomad job right away. I can't recommend doing the teaching English thing. Um, it was, yeah, maybe the best two years of my life. Yeah. Wow. Um, anyway, but the thing about Thailand is it's so far away from the states, and I also needed, um, vacation time to visit my family. And I just felt like even though I was seeing the world, I, I wasn't truly free. Um, so I left Thailand and the next thing I did was I was looking online for, for different jobs. Um, I found a remote job and kind of the rest is history. So yeah, I just, I just applied to a job that was remote, sort of like you would apply to any job.  

Christa:    00:07:19    Um, got it. And I was actually accepting that full-time position when I happened to be on a two week trip to Costa Rica. So I was already in Costa Rica when I, when I accepted this job. And, you know, I was expecting to go back to New York City at the time, but I was like, it's cold in New York. It's so nice in Costa Rica, there's a pool, there's a beach, and I think I'll just cancel my return ticket, stay a little bit longer. And that was three and a half years ago, and I was still traveling around and working <laugh>, which is crazy. But  

Kristin:    00:07:51    I love that too, because, you know, I used to live in Costa Rica for eight years, so I didn't even know that about you, but that is such a great story. Thanks. Um, what, what did you study in, did you go to college or did you have any previous training before you got this marketing job?  

Christa:    00:08:07    So I studied journalism, um, which if there's any college students listening or people that are about to go into college or university, I, journalism is such a great, um, degree to get, because there's so many applicable skills to anything that you do online. Learning how to write is, is really such an important skill. Um, so yeah, I studied journalism, but every job that I've ever had post-graduation, um, and yes, so I, I did go to university at four year university in Massachusetts. Um, uh, what was I gonna say? Yeah, I, and then only worked in marketing. So I have about 10 years of experience working in marketing. I had a bunch of internships when I was in school. Um, the first job that I got was at a digital marketing agency. When I went to Thailand. Um, I ended up not really teaching English. I I ended up getting a job in marketing in Thailand as well. Um, and now the job that I have is also in marketing. So, uh, yeah, that's, that's my background.  

Kristin:    00:09:06    So you're staying, um, you're staying true to your core competency and skills, which is something that I really recommend that everybody do because there is this assumption or preconception that you need to become techie or a programmer or a software developer or something like that. If you want to be a digital nomad, and you really don't have to, the fastest way to become a digital nomad is to do something that's based on your current skillset so that you don't have to have a big skills gap and learn and take a lot of time to get good at something you've never done before. You can just kind of rely on your base set of skills and your expertise and just get a remote job. So I think that you, the way that you explained it and the way that it happened for you, w it seems so simple, but it really can be that way. I mean, people are always asking how do they find remote jobs? And Mm-Hmm.. So how did you find your remote job? Did you just look for it online?  

Christa:    00:10:07    So, when I was looking for, when I was looking for work, it was after I had already left Thailand. Um, and actually I had, I didn't know what a digital nomad was. Um, I thought working online or working from home sounded super boring and not social. So I actually wasn't interested in working online at all. Um, and again, like I didn't think that I had technical skills to, to get a job like that. So I was just looking for a temporary writing job, which, like you said, sticking with your core competencies, that was just a skill that I had. Um, I was just looking for kind of like a temporary thing to hold me over until I decided where I wanted to live again. Um, so yeah, so I was just looking for like contract work and it just, it all really sort of fell into my hands.  

Christa:    00:10:56    But for anybody listening it, yeah, I did get lucky, which is amazing. But also, that was like many years ago before this was as common as it is now. Um, and yeah, there's this, I mean, there, there are lots of remote jobs online. I can list off like a bunch of different platforms. If you go to Angel List, angellist.co, I think it's like a big directory of startups. They have, um, a job listing section and you can just go click on the filter that says remote. Okay. And it will only show you jobs that the employer thinks it's okay for you to work remotely. Um, Craigslist has a similar thing, um, like so does Monsters, so does Indeed. Um, and then there's a bunch of other job boards too that are specifically for remote jobs. So the, the opportunities are out there for sure. And now, like even though at the time, um, several years ago when this situation kind of came to me, uh, very organically, now I'm at a point in my life where I know that there's so many opportunities out there. I am confident I will never have to work in an office again, and I won't. Exactly.  

Kristin:    00:12:04    Yeah. And that's good news because apparently 90% of remote workers don't wanna go back to an office. And so I've been saying that to my parents ever since I graduated from college. I said, you know what, if it doesn't work out, I can always come home and get a real job. And that never happened. And that was like 14 years ago. So <laugh>, it doesn't matter. Really.  

Christa:    00:12:26    Og. Yeah.  

Kristin:    00:12:27    Oh yeah, og. So it doesn't matter, even if you have the perfect job, because it's funny that you, uh, taught English in Thailand because when I was in college, the only thing that I knew that I wanted to do was travel, but I didn't know what I wanted to do as a job. And so I was just doing the same thing, kind of looking and grasping for opportunities that could allow me to travel. So I started exploring hospitality management, hotel management, and then I was afraid I might end up in some like Holiday Inn in the middle of Kansas or something. No offense to anyone who works there, but, you know, I wanted to go to somewhere exotic and somewhere exciting and somewhere outside of my, uh, country's borders. And my economics teacher, my senior year of college, global economics teacher, recommended that I go to Japan to teach English.  

Kristin:    00:13:17    And so I looked into doing that as well. And any sort, sort of experiment like this can kind of give you like a gap year where you might make good money or you might not, but at least you're getting out there, you're working, you're getting experience, you're traveling, and you're getting to know what you like and what you don't like. So yeah, for anybody listening, um, AngelList is a great place to get a remote job. You can actually build a profile on that site and, um, you can be extremely specific about what you're looking for. So just anyone looking for a remote job, definitely think about what you want before you start applying. But there are so many jobs, uh, so many job boards now just for remote jobs. And I actually have a whole chapter on that. It is the longest chapter in my book, digital Nomad 1 0 1, that's coming out later this year. And I was, I was really dreading editing it. Actually, I did it. I edited the second draft yesterday and it took like half the day just to edit that one chapter that I've already rewritten twice. So it's  

Christa:    00:14:19    Very, you gotta get that one right.  

Kristin:    00:14:21    Lots of info. Important  

Christa:    00:14:22    Stuff. I didn't know you were writing a book. That's really cool.  

Kristin:    00:14:25    Yeah, just add one more thing to my plate. <laugh>. I dunno. I'm just going for it. Anything I feel like doing, I'm doing it. I love  

Christa:    00:14:32    It.  

Kristin:    00:14:33    So you've been a nomad for three and a half years now. You've been traveling all around, and you also have grown your Instagram falling from zero to like, I don't know, 10 or 20,000 people. So can you talk a little bit about how you're able to balance travel with a full-time remote job with doing your side hustle? Because I think it's interesting that you are already a digital nomad who still has a side project going on. And I know that you've been very cognizant during our group travel about where you go and when, so that you can make sure that you're working in the right time zone for your company. Mm-Hmm.  

Christa:    00:15:14    <affirmative>. Yeah. Um, yeah, so for people listening who, who don't know me, um, I, I, I have a remote job where I'm working nine to five. Um, I'm currently on my lunch break because it's 1:00 PM at home eastern time. Um, here in Portugal it's 6:00 PM So, um, when I'm in Portugal, I open my laptop when it's nine at home, which is two here. And I close it when it's 5:00 PM at home, which is 10:00 PM here. Um, so going to Asia is really difficult for me, but pretty much I actually really like working in later time zones. 'cause I love having the morning free and like no pressure to, um, yeah, having, having no pressure to basically like wake up and work, um, which is me  

Kristin:    00:15:56    Too,  

Christa:    00:15:56    As much of a morning person. So it's better for me. Um, but, uh, yeah, I try to stick to locations where it makes sense and that I know I can have good wifi. So I, I think I'm just a really energetic person anyway. Um, I don't really spend much time relaxing. I'm usually, my, my day is like this. I wake up and I, I socialize with people around and I've been doing this for so long. I always know people around. So usually I have a friend to catch up with in whatever city I happen to be in. Um, I might, uh, you know, work for a couple of hours on my side project before I open my laptop and do my nine to five. Um, and then maybe I'll spend some time on Instagram at the end of the day. Um, which Instagram is also very time consuming. It's like a, it's side hustle completely on its own. So, yeah. Um, yeah. So my days are pretty hectic usually, but always really fun.  

Kristin:    00:16:55    That's, um, that's great to be able to work. I just wanna give a shout out to the Europe time zone. If you're working on the US time zone and you're living in Europe, it's the best because you're like, anywhere from five to eight hours ahead of business hours. So you have the whole day free and you can sleep in, you can go have coffee, go to lunch, do activities, and then in the afternoon settle in and start working. And then when you're done, you can like just go to bed or have a late dinner. And it's just the best. I love that time zone.  

Christa:    00:17:26    I love it too. I was really nervous to, um, to kind of like break into a different time zone. I remember the first year and a half that I was a nomad. I was only in North or South America. And I really thought that like any, anywhere beyond that wasn't possible because of the time zone restriction. And then I sort of took like a vacation, like a work vacation where I took a bunch of days off, but I also worked like a couple of days, um, in that two week span. And then I realized like, this is totally possible. And actually also for me, preferable, like I could never work from California. It's just like I would have to work way too early, so  

Kristin:    00:18:00    Oh, yeah. No, you'd to get  

Christa:    00:18:02    Up  

Kristin:    00:18:02    At like 4:00 AM <laugh>. Yeah.  

Christa:    00:18:04    Not for me.  

Kristin:    00:18:05    And so what are, what is the technology that you need specifically, because a lot of people are concerned with what kind of tools they need as a digital nomad, and I always say you might not know this, but you probably already have them with you right now. So what are, what do you need for your job? Just a laptop or anything else?  

Christa:    00:18:22    Literally just a laptop and headphones and a place so that I can get wifi. Um, so a comfortable workspace. So as you can see, this rooftop is wonderful. I, there's an outlet right below me, and the wifi is great. Um, but other than that, I mean, I, I love clothes, so I travel with a lot of clothes and that leaves me with literally no room for anything else but my laptop, um, and like my teeny little headphones. So you don't need anything. Yeah. You have software that I, I have like, um, slack is a great software that, uh, my team uses to communicate, but it's not like that takes up any physical space, so you don't need stuff. Some people tell me you need to have noise canceling headphones, but whatever. I don't even have the pods,  

Kristin:    00:19:10    <laugh>, I have all of the headphones and all of the equipment and gear, because now that I'm filming and documenting everything Yeah, true. I now have two suitcases. I'm the, the worst at packing light. But, um, I like clothes and I like to have variety and yeah, my stuff's really heavy, so maybe you're not the best person for that. But, and Christa <laugh>, we, we have a lot of stuff, but  

Christa:    00:19:33    I got a packing video on my, on my Instagram if anybody wants to watch that. So  

Kristin:    00:19:36    Yeah, I'm going to make one. Oh, I have a Digital Nomad Tools video and it's like 45 minutes long  

Christa:    00:19:44    <laugh>. Wow.  

Kristin:    00:19:45    'cause I have so much stuff, but you don't actually need it. The worst case scenario. And one of my friends told me this when I was stressing out before a one year trip around the world. He said, do you have your debit card and your passport? And I said, yeah. And he is like, well, that's all you need <laugh>. Like, as long as you just have money in a passport, you can sort pretty much anything. And I was like, good point. So what are some of the places that you have been traveling to in the past couple years that people told you we're not safe, but you went and you were like, this is actually so safe and was totally like, blown out of proportion. Can you tell us a little bit about those places? And also for people who are watching live, if you want to post questions in the Instagram chat or the YouTube chat, we will answer them at the end. So just wanted to let you guys know.  

Christa:    00:20:39    Yeah. Um, the first country that comes to mind is Guatemala. I just have such a place in my heart for Guatemala. I had an amazing three weeks there. I went completely by myself. Um, and that was the destination where I actually didn't have a lot of people that I knew around. So I, I was genuinely traveling there a solo. Um, and it was amazing. I mean, like, I felt that it was okay for me to walk home at night by myself after dinner or something when it was dark out. 'cause it gets dark out super fast around <inaudible>. Um, yeah, Guatemala was just wonderful. It's very peaceful, beautiful. People were friendly. Um, it was so super affordable, like just awesome. Um, I also, so like the question is like, what places do, so Guatemala for sure just checks all the boxes. And I think there's so many misconceptions about it.  

Christa:    00:21:35    Other places that I love that people say are not safe, um, are Columbia, Turkey, and, um, Brazil. Oh. So I can't necessarily say confidently that like, Brazil is super safe. 'cause 'cause actually it's not. Um, and same thing with Turkey. Like there are things, there are like threats that happen there, I guess. But also I think that media blows safety issues completely out of proportion. And you just have to remember that there are millions of people living in all of these places. Um, and there are millions of people that are, that are living their day-to-day lives and that are fine every single day. Um, so, and also that like, really bad things can happen in the United States too. If people were really concerned about their safety, I wouldn't necessarily recommend that they come to the United States, you know what I mean? Because there's, there's like a lot of straight up shootings and stuff, so  

Kristin:    00:22:36    I know.  

Christa:    00:22:36    Anyway, I just, I have like a lot of thoughts about safety traveling, and I would just say if anyone isn't sure, talk to Kristin or I about a destination. But, um, just don't be afraid. I see Taylor listening, shout out to Guatemala. I, I did hang out with Taylor in Guatemala. It was amazing.  

Kristin:    00:22:54    I have your Instagram up right now on screen share because I love your photos and Oh, there's one of Brazil.  

Christa:    00:23:00    Yeah. Mm-Hmm..  

Kristin:    00:23:02    And yeah, I mean, people all at least used to tell me that I was going to get abducted or something, and it's, oh, and here's Bosnia. Yeah, it's  

Christa:    00:23:10    Bosnia  

Kristin:    00:23:11    And it, you know, it is possible. But I was at the dentist the other day and the hygienist, oh, here's Turkey, right?  

Christa:    00:23:17    Yeah. Beautiful. Turkey looks fabulous. I, I, I might go back actually this November. Kristin, are you gonna do one of the nomad cruises? Did we talk about this?  

Kristin:    00:23:27    We have not talked about it yet, but I do want to ask you you about that because, so I'm feeling like very weird right now because the places you mentioned, well, I've been to Columbia, but I haven't been to Guatemala and I haven't been to Turkey because I also was under the impression that it was too dangerous. And when I lived in Nicaragua, it was near the border of Honduras. And, um, I remember the Guatemalan president's daughter came to the area where I was living, and she actually, I was living in a hotel because there were no houses. It was like the middle of nowhere. So it was a hotel that was closed in the off season. And, um, we just had it open for like, certain people to come in. And she came with like armored vehicles and a whole entourage. And I was like, I'm never going to Guatemala because this is crazy.  

Kristin:    00:24:20    But I mean, of course this girl is the, the president's daughter, so maybe she was higher risk, but now that you mention it, I, I'm starting to realize that maybe subconsciously I didn't go to these places because I just had that impression. Even though I've been to so many other places I've been to like, yeah. So many places that people have said were really dangerous. So I'm gonna have to definitely open my mind a little bit more to this. And I've heard so many good things about Turkey, especially having spent so much time in Bulgaria this year. And so it's so close. So a lot of people have just driven over there. And yeah, my dental hygienist was like, oh, aren't you scared of traveling? And I was like, no, <laugh>. And I said, I'm more scared to go to an elementary school in the US than I am to go to like Eastern Europe or wherever some the Middle East or someplace that's perceived as really dangerous. So seriously do that.  

Christa:    00:25:16    I mean, I think, um, e even if it's, even if it's not the media blowing things out of proportion, it could be people that, from a different generation have a perception about different countries and, and what happened there because of what was happening. For example, when I used to live in Thailand, my dad was planning on visiting me. Um, and it was for like a long period of time. So I was trying to think like, what other countries can we visit? And I suggested going to Vietnam because I, everything I had heard, and I went to Vietnam afterwards, and Vietnam's one of my favorite countries of all time. It is amazing for anyone listening, it's like top travel destination. Um, but yeah, I suggested, yeah, dad, let's go from Thailand to Vietnam. And his reaction was like, do you know how crazy it is for me to think about going to Vietnam?  

Christa:    00:26:06    That's like me suggesting you go to Afghanistan? Which then I thought about it and I was like, that's so true. Because he grew up during, uh, during the time of the Vietnam War, and like all of his perceptions of Vietnam, because you never hear about Vietnam anymore in the news, right? Um, like all of his perceptions about are, are very much like, are, are, are very negative of course. Um, that there was like all this, you know, horrible stuff that's happening there. And yeah, like Nicaragua's gone through lots of, lots of difficult times and so has Guatemala. Um, but Nicaragua's one of my favorite countries too. Mm-Hmm.. I loved Nicaragua. I had such a beautiful, peaceful time there. I don't know politically what's happening right now. It's always good to check the news about what's happening in a country at a particular time. But I would say like, there are very few exceptions to this rule that just most places statistically, you're, you're gonna be fine.  

Kristin:    00:26:59    Yeah, I would, I would definitely say that there appears to be some type of, I don't wanna say correlation, but sort of between a country's history and how recent, how recently they've had a civil war and today's perception of how dangerous they are, because we've seen this pattern play out in Nicaragua, um, in Columbia, of course, with the drug war in the former Yugoslavian region. That's huge. I mean, with nato, and that was very recent. I mean, that was in the nineties. So yeah. And I tell people like, they're not at war now <laugh>, like they were right  

Christa:    00:27:39    Decades  

Kristin:    00:27:40    Ago. The US also had a civil war, but we don't say like, don't go because it's a war torn country or something. So it's kind of weird how these, um, kind of assumptions persist for so many years after there has been civil unrest. Yeah. So are thinking of going somewhere, um, take another look if you might, if you were afraid before.  

Christa:    00:28:03    That's true. I just wanna address this. One thing that someone just wrote to me said, but you need to define what makes a place dangerous for you. Because some people would say robbery, poor health resources, um, might make a country unsafe. So, Mm-Hmm, <affirmative>. I guess, I guess my answer to that is like, um, <laugh>, I don't know. I think, uh, if you're from a completely developed country, um, like the United States or many places in Europe where you're used to having all, all, all the niceties, um, you know, like sterile everything, then I have nothing to say. Cool. Then just ignore, ignore 70% of the world and, and don't travel, right? Like,  

Kristin:    00:28:45    Yeah, I mean, you can  

Christa:    00:28:47    Anywhere,  

Kristin:    00:28:49    You can look at the crime rate and you can look at the, the GPI, the Global Peace Index, and that's quite accurate. But in a lot of places, especially developing countries, the crime rate is under reported. So you can't really tell. But that's a good objective gauge if you wanna see if a country is dangerous or not. And of course, if there's any ongoing war or bombings happening, like in Yemen or Syria or somewhere like that, um, but otherwise, as long as you just use your head and act appropriately as you would at home or anywhere and don't take unnecessary risks, it's usually quite safe. So  

Christa:    00:29:35    I guess, I guess what, what my thought to to that particular comment was is like, um, I think you and I, we have, uh, maybe different standards of like what we need comfort wise in a place than maybe someone who is, um, uh, less frequent traveler. Mm-Hmm. or, um, yeah, like, I don't know, just the, the more that you see other countries, um, you, you may be shocked at the conditions of different countries, like, um, I don't know, like the, the United States to Columbia, to India, like the, the, the, the quality of healthcare or like the cleanliness of, of restaurants or whatever. Like if you, if you go straight to, oh God, something's someone's calling me. Can you hear that?  

Kristin:    00:30:30    No.  

Christa:    00:30:31    Here, hold on. I'm gonna decline that call. Okay. All right. I think we're, oh, someone's calling me again. Sorry. This is super distracting and weird. That's okay.  

Kristin:    00:30:39    We're live. This is what happens.  

Christa:    00:30:40    I know. Awkward. Hi,  

Kristin:    00:30:42    Cinnamon  

Christa:    00:30:42    Traveler.  

Kristin:    00:30:43    We'll have to go through some questions at the end. Um, let me see if there's some other things I wanted to,  

Christa:    00:30:50    I'm just gonna ignore this sound that's playing in my ear. Okay. Basically, my point is, for people that are worried about safety, um, maybe just if, if you are a person that's very concerned about safety, maybe start traveling to more developed destinations. So if you wanna go to Asia, maybe start with Japan. If you wanna go to South America, um, you know, maybe start with Argentina if you want to go to, I don't know, Europe, like start with Western Europe versus Eastern Europe. Um, but I think the more, the more that you go to these different places, the more you start to ease yourself into seeing that, like other cultures, they might be different at different than what you're used to, but they're not, it doesn't make them bad, it doesn't make them scary. It doesn't make them dangerous. Exactly. Say about that.  

Kristin:    00:31:40    I always tell people that, um, people who haven't been able to travel as much, when they ask me what is it like in a certain place or what are the people like, like, the one thing that I realized after going through 50, 60 countries is that we are actually, it sounds cliche, but we are one human race. Like every personality type of your friends and your friend group, wherever you live in the world, you guys have like clones, <laugh> in other countries. You notice that.  

Christa:    00:32:12    Yeah, absolutely. Definitely.  

Kristin:    00:32:14    Like, there's people that remind me of people back at home and, and I'll notice the same things. Like I've used this example recently how, um, you'll see like stereotypes like women sitting outside and rocking chairs gossiping or like old men playing checkers and drinking beers and like smoking cigarettes. Like you'll see these kind of behavioral patterns, whether you're in Miami or you're in Belgrade or wherever you are in the world. And like, even if you're in Paris or you know, it's everywhere. So it's kind of fun to, to notice that. Yeah. But,  

Christa:    00:32:49    Um, I remember when I first, when I first went to Thailand, I literally thought I saw every single person I had ever been to high school with, like on the street. I was like, oh my God, is that Chris? Is that so andSo? And, um, yeah, it just, yeah, eventually traveling makes you realize that places are different, but at the same time, it also makes you realize that everything's kind of the same.  

Kristin:    00:33:09    It's a small world. Mm-Hmm.  

Christa:    00:33:10    <affirmative>.  

Kristin:    00:33:11    And you have had a lot of experiences with co-living and anyone who's been on my channel knows what a fan I am of co-living and co-working. I think it's changing the world and it's super underrated and underutilized. So what are some of the, I know that you were mentioning that you know, a lot of people right now in Lisbon, and that's kind of how it is when you're in the digital nomad community, you start to see people over and over again. But are you living or staying in a place with other nomads, um, like you have with co life and a few other groups that you've been with? And how do you like doing that compared to traveling by yourself?  

Christa:    00:33:52    Great question. Okay. So, um, I'm gonna tell a little bit of a little bit of my background. Um, so like I said earlier in the podcast, I started traveling as a nomad three and a half years ago. And, um, the lifestyle came to me very serendipitously. It was completely unplanned. And I didn't know anybody else who was doing it because I didn't even know that digital nomad was like, I had literally never heard that term before. So I was traveling all around South America for what, for six months. And I wasn't meeting anybody else that was doing this. Um, which I was surprised by because as I started learning about it, I read that there was like all these places that you could go to meet other digital nomads, but I just wasn't. So I was one day 

googling how to meet other digital nomads, and I discovered the wifi tribe.  

Christa:    00:34:39    Um, someone's calling me again. Oh my gosh. It won't stop <laugh>. Um, yeah. So I, so I discovered this co-living group, which had just launched. And co-living is really a new kind of, it's a new thing. Um, so, sorry, someone's still calling me. I don't know how 

to shut it off. It's super distracting. I'm gonna turn that off. Okay. Sorry guys. Um, yeah, it's over. Okay. So, so yeah, co-Living was a new thing. Um, but I just, I went into it, uh, super open-minded, and there were all of a sudden 15 other digital nooma living in the same house with me for an entire month where, like I said, I'd been traveling for months not meeting any like-minded people. And then all of a sudden I had all these people that I was living with, eating with every single day, like hanging out with on the weekends, sitting next to with my laptop for eight hours a day.  

Christa:    00:35:32    So by the end of that month, I knew these people really, really well. Um, and that happens every single time that I do a co-living experience. So I've done wifi tribe a bunch of times, um, co life a couple of times. I did, um, another thing called a Bright Tribe. Um, I'm outside, uh, in a public space. That's okay. Um, so yeah, I always meet awesome people. And then the Nomad Cruise is like these, these experiences, but like exponentially magnified. So yeah, having joined the wifi tribe for three and a half years ago, I've met honestly probably like 300 plus other digital nomads. And a lot of them I have spent a lot of quality time with and like really got to know. So, um, yeah, it's not even that I run into just like, uh, like random acquaintances around the world. I'm actually running into my friends. So for anyone listening who wants to be a digital nomad, I just cannot recommend co-living enough. It's like game changing.  

Kristin:    00:36:37    I had a very similar experience because I had been already living abroad for so many years and I, when I found out what digital nomads were, I was like, oh my God, that's me. How do I meet these people? <laugh>. And it was another five years before I met a digital nomad and it didn't happen until I was intentional about doing so. And so my first step was to join a co-living space. And I started at Rome in Tokyo and I was looking at wifi tribe, I was looking at remote year, which, um, for anyone listening who isn't familiar with that, these are basically companies that create weekly or monthly travel groups or retreats of digital nomads. Um, and there's a lot of different ones. There's like Hacker Paradise, there's Mm-Hmm., so many new ones popping up all the time. So you can live, work and travel with other people who are kind of doing the same thing and living the same lifestyle. And so I started at Rome Tokyo last year and made that my intention for the whole year. So after that, I went to Nomad Cruise, I did two Nomad cruises, and I think I counted, oh, I did the Nomad Summit and I think I met over a thousand digital nomads in one year just from going to conferences and events or co-living spaces. So it's a really fast way to make friends as a digital nomad and go deep with people like getting to know them really well.  

Christa:    00:38:08    Yeah. So  

Kristin:    00:38:09    True. And so I guess we should just touch on that topic before moving on to the live q and a. Um, throughout all of these experiences, have you met anybody that you've had a relationship with, like a local or an expat or another digital nomad, or what is, for me that's like a part of my personal life that I feel like doesn't get a lot of attention, especially for people like you and I. 'cause we're so driven and we're working all the time. Mm-Hmm. because we just like it. Mm-Hmm. and we just kind of forget about it. So what, uh, how has that experience been with like, with co-living and, and wifi tribe and traveling and, um, what has it been like for you?  

Christa:    00:38:51    Um, yeah, so over the last few years, I mean, I've had relationships, no really long ones, but also I think that might just be me. I think I'm just not someone that needs a relationship. So if it's like not worth it, then it's really not worth it. Um, <laugh>. But, uh, it, yeah, like these co-living experiences, I mean, relationships develop all the time. Like, um, Julia, who's the founder of the wifi tribe, I think I told you she's sitting over there, she just told me that the first nomad, the first wifi tribe wedding is happening this year. Oh my God. Which is really cute, Lindsay and Will if they are listening or Benny, but their friends are listening. Congratulations guys. I heard the news. Um, so yeah, I mean, I've met guys in co-living groups. I've met guys on, on Bumble who de who describes themselves as digital nomads, um, in like digital nomad meetups, which are also a thing. So it's, it's definitely possible to, to meet others. Um, if you're looking to date, it's just the logistics might be a little bit harder.  

Kristin:    00:39:58    Yeah. And the chemistry too. Like the chemistry has to be there. And I know that, well, one of the things that I put in that article when we were talking before a few months ago, was that, uh, life is good as it is, and a lot of digital nomads don't want to kind of interrupt that for something that they're unsure about. So it's like a lot of us would want to have relationships, but it not at the cost of the freedom that we are experiencing right now.  

Christa:    00:40:35    Right. Yeah. Um, like I'm sure if I decided to move back to New York City, um, that I probably could, that maybe I'd have an easier time entering into an actual like, long-term committed relationship. Um, but I just don't wanna do that. Yeah. I just, I just don't. So I don't know. I've kind of basically said, um, I'm just gonna say goodbye to my friend. Why are you leaving? Good to you. Choose tomorrow. Okay. Okay. Bye. Bye. Um, my friend Alberto, who I met, uh, a couple of years ago when I was in Grandin area, um, oh, cool. Yeah, he, I literally ran into him in the park the other day. <laugh>. So wild. Um, anyway, uh, what was I saying?  

Kristin:    00:41:19    Oh, that we don't want to, like, we don't wanna give up this type of lifestyle of traveling to go plant ourselves in one geographical location to increase our odds to some unknown degree of meeting somebody that could be a potential for a long-term boyfriend <laugh>. It's too, it's too uncertain.  

Christa:    00:41:42    I mean, we just, we've just chosen to live alternative lifestyles and with that there are so many benefits. Like, I'm very satisfied with my lifestyle, I don't wanna change it. Um, so I've kind of just said like, all right, I'm just gonna cut out 90%, maybe 95, maybe even 99% of all eligible bachelors out there. Maybe guys that I would've been attracted to. And just if they're not a digital nomad, um, or are not open to traveling, hey, see you <laugh>. That's my coworker <laugh>. Um, bye. Um, then yeah, it's just not, probably not gonna work out unless something amazing happens, which, which I'm open to too.  

Kristin:    00:42:29    Well, time will tell and you know, anything can happen. So maybe you just meet some significant other, like an airport or something <laugh>, but yeah. You know, like with your friends walking by in the background, which is hilarious. Mm-Hmm.. Um, when I was in Berlin, I went to a dinner party through people on like meetup.com and a small world.net, which are two really good websites for meeting people while you're traveling. Yeah. And then one of the guys at the dinner party, I saw him two more times the same year in Europe. I saw him once at an airport and once at a club in Barcelona at like six in the morning <laugh>. I was like looking across the bar and I was like, Christian. And it was just so funny. So we, we said we have to be friends forever now, but that literally  

Christa:    00:43:21    Happens way, way, way, way too often. It's kind of freaky actually. Yeah. And just on that note, two of my exes hung out on a boat in South Africa several months ago and I wasn't there. And now they're following each other on Instagram. <laugh>,  

Kristin:    00:43:38    You can't make this stuff up. No.  

Christa:    00:43:40    Well,  

Kristin:    00:43:40    The stories get more interesting. The dating stories get more interesting when you're living this lifestyle, so Yeah, for sure. <laugh>. Alright, I guess we can move to some questions. Um, let's check here. We have Tech Lords and Walt on the stream. Uh, tech Lords is a crypto trader and he only likes to work four hours per week. So he's adopting the Tim Ferris lifestyle. <laugh> Nice. The, the, the, uh, vintage Tim Ferris of four Hour Work Week. Um, and he, I think Tim  

Christa:    00:44:14    Ferris works more than four hours a week. Oh yeah. By the way, he definitely works like 80 hours a week. He is crazy.  

Kristin:    00:44:21    But it was a great title.  

Christa:    00:44:23    It was, it was very, very compelling. <laugh>, I'm just saying, I'm calling his bluff  

Kristin:    00:44:30    And he says Istanbul is a nice and cheap place to work as a digital nomad. And then I gotta go, go over there next time I go to Bulgaria Nomad  

Christa:    00:44:39    Cruise. A lot of people from the nomad crews are talking about meeting up in Istanbul in November. So just FYI,  

Kristin:    00:44:44    Well, I don't have any plans yet for no November, so I might do that. Um, to answer your question about the Nomad cruise, I have decided not to plan anything this far in advance because it, I've been traveling so much the past couple years. It's just become a cause of anxiety to have like so many things stacked one after another. And I'm always changing my mind <laugh>. So I probably will either go on Nomad Cruise 10, which is in, starts around like the end of November or beginning of December, and it goes from Athens to Dubai and it's a 17 day cruise with hundreds of other digital nomads. So I might do that or I'll meet you guys before or after. That's one of those three things will probably happen.  

Christa:    00:45:31    Cool. So maybe, maybe Istanbul in November.  

Kristin:    00:45:33    Yeah. Uh, you'll be my tour guide then. <laugh>.  

Christa:    00:45:37    Yeah. I love it. I had go back,  

Kristin:    00:45:39    Um, and Telar is asking about what is the cost of living in Lisbon, where you're located right now. And I just wanna give a shout out to, uh, Lisbon. My number one video on YouTube is Lisbon for Digital Nomads. So that was a good decision, I guess <laugh>, I just really like Lisbon and I was like, I need to make a video about this place because it's so beautiful. But there's been a lot of controversy over my own cost of living interpretation. So you can Google that video if you wanna see it, but what is your opinion, Christa?  

Christa:    00:46:11    I think Lisbon's not cheap. And anybody that tells you that it's cheap, just don't listen to them. It's just not true. It might be cheaper than Paris. It's definitely cheaper than London. It's cheaper than New York City.  

Kristin:    00:46:23    Yeah. It's, that's  

Christa:    00:46:24    Where, that's where it ends. I mean, um, so, but like, the thing about Lisbon, I guess is that it's still a great place for digital nomads because the wifi is amazing. There's a huge community here. Every single Thursday there's a big party, um, that's listed on meetup.com called the Lisbon, hosted by Lisbon Digital Nomads. Um, and there's always like a hundred people at that party. So it's just a great place to network. The weather is always temperate. There's water. You can do like water activities like surfing and kite surfing and stuff here. Um, there's like mountains nearby. So Lisbon just kind of is a city that sort of has everything and it's small enough that you can run into your friends as you saw several times on this video already. Um, but yeah, as if, if some listening is like interested in becoming a digital nomad, but you are not super confident about your savings, um, and you still want to enter the digital nomad scene, maybe don't start with Lisbon. Maybe go to um, Chang Bali. You could go to Chiang Mai Thailand, or you could go to Metje Columbia. And those are three extremely affordable destinations that are very, very, very digital nomad friendly.  

Kristin:    00:47:38    I agree. I think Lisbon is a nice digital nomad destination, but it's so big and the cost of living has skyrocketed in recent years that it's such a really wide range and you can kind of get lost there. Like I feel like Lisbon can kind of swallow you up if you don't already know the digital nomad scene. Mm. I think there's a potential to feel a little bit isolated there unless you get in with like a good group of people and you're really active in the, um, in the different social activities. But, uh, Chang Mai and Chang Gu are such tiny towns that yeah, it's, uh, well, Chang Mai is kind of big, but it, it's a small town feel, so you're more Mm-Hmm. likely to, to meet people more organically and naturally instead of having to seek them out. So  

Christa:    00:48:23    Yeah. Columbia too. Have you been to Columbia to ine?  

Kristin:    00:48:26    Yeah, I did, but that was in, uh, 2009. So there were no digital nomad there. It  

Christa:    00:48:32    Was before the movement <laugh>.  

Kristin:    00:48:34    Yeah. I should go back. Because back then I was like, yeah, I don't get, I was like, I don't get it. <laugh>. No, it's beautiful and it has a great weather, but I was pretty bored  

Christa:    00:48:44    By myself. No, I went there in 2016. It was my first, it was my first like intentional digital nomad destination. And then, and I like, that was a place where I thought that I would be meeting other nomads. There were a lot of cool coffee shops and stuff, but I didn't really meet that many other people. But then when I went back this past February, it's like it has exploded. Wow. The Selena there. Um, I'm at, I'm at a Selena, which is like a co-living co-working, um, hotel hostile thing. Right. I don't know, it's worldwide. Um, they, there were like a hundred people in that co-working space every single day. And all the coffee shops had like 20 plus people on their laptops every single day. And it just really, um, in the neighborhood called Blato in Metagene, um, it's very much like Chino. You just walk down the street and you run into people that you know. And, um, it's a really cool community vibe.  

Kristin:    00:49:34    Yeah, it is. It is fun there. I, I mean, I'm sure now that there's like more international and it's has less of the perception of being dangerous as it did before. Mm-Hmm.. So you have, um, while I was asking your top five destinations, so we've talked about Guatemala. Yeah. We've talked about Chiang Mai or Thailand. Vietnam Lisbon. Is there another spot that you, that you like that sticks out in your travels?  

Christa:    00:50:00    Um, I always say Rio de Janeiro, but I don't, I don't necessarily recommend everybody go to Rio 'cause it is like probably the most dangerous place I've ever been. Mm-Hmm.. Um, but I just love it. Ugh. The culture, the, like the food, the people, the beach, the mountains, the weather, just like everything about it I just adore. Um, but Cape Town is really cool. It has many, many, many similar qualities to Rio. Um, and you know, K town like has some crazy stuff happening too, but if you kind of stay, stick to like the more touristy areas, you'll be fine. And it's a very, yeah, it's a great place to spend a lot of time and there's a lot to do.  

Kristin:    00:50:42    Awesome. That is high on my list. I actually had a plane ticket from Tokyo to Cape Town via Dubai at this time last year. Or maybe like in April, but no, no, it was even earlier. But I broke my thumb snowboarding in Japan and I couldn't like, carry my stuff. I couldn't surf. Oh my gosh. I couldn't kite surf, so I was like, I'll just do that later.  

Christa:    00:51:06    No, yeah, you gotta get there. It's great. But there's so many places I love, like Bosnia is like the most surprising destination that I loved. I know you have an affinity for it as well.  

Kristin:    00:51:17    Loved. I'm looking at your Instagram Live now. Let's take some questions from there. Hi, Christa's Instagram,  

Christa:    00:51:24    <laugh>,  

Kristin:    00:51:25    The Cinnamon Traveler. I love that name. I also love Cinnamon. She says, how do you girls get around whenever you go to a place for the first time?  

Christa:    00:51:35    Get around. Like, I try to take public transportation, but sometimes it's a little like, I don't always feel super comfortable. I take a lot of Ubers, Uber's worldwide by the way.  

Kristin:    00:51:45    Yeah. It's in most places. Um, my favorite way to get to know a city really fast is by bike. And I'm kind of obsessed with biking around. I've never been like a cyclist per se, but just a recreational biker <laugh>. And so I try to do that wherever I can. Um, and also walking and running around helps, but I'm really bad. I think maybe it's because I, um, am from Florida and we didn't grow up with public transportation, so, oh,  

Christa:    00:52:19    I dropped the phone. Sorry guys. <laugh>.  

Kristin:    00:52:21    So we, uh, I'm really bad at the Metro. I mean, I can use it in anywhere. The first place I ever learned how to use the Metro was in Budapest, which I don't recommend because like my first time using like a Subway and it was in Hungarian. I was like, are you kidding me? But I figured it out, but uh, I don't like it 'cause I don't have my sense of direction down there. So I try to avoid that as my last favorite thing to do. But if it, if I can't walk or bike, then Uber taxi or tram or something like that, any above ground transportation, I prefer. Yeah,  

Christa:    00:52:58    Same. Um, yeah,  

Kristin:    00:53:03    Let's see. They're talking about, um, is AngelList only for angel investors? Um, actually I thought that at first too, but it has become a job, a remote jobs board site. Well, it's for all types of jobs, but, um, it is a really underrated, um, option for finding remote work.  

Christa:    00:53:25    Yeah, I think it, it started as, um, it's like a startup directory. So for startups who are looking for angel investors, um, they, they must be listed on AngelList, right? 'cause that's kind of like the main directory. But I think just as AngelList grew, so many other applications came out of it, like the job board, so Yeah. Yeah. It's not just for angel investors.  

Kristin:    00:53:48    Yeah. So that's a kind of a hack for anybody who's looking for a remote job. Um, and actually we have um, mark Van der Hyden here from, uh, from Nomad Cruz. And he says there are more remote workers than remote jobs. How can we bridge that gap? Um, well I think the issue right now, mark, is that there are a lot of remote jobs. There are a lot of jobs available, but there's a gap in qualified people for a lot of jobs. So it's a really good op opportunity right now for people who are motivated and wanna learn new skills that they can spend some time thinking about what they wanna work in and what type of remote job they would like and kind of shift their mindset from being a job seeker who's like desperate to go out and get any job, like the first job that they get, that they apply for, and flip the script around and really think about what are you really good at, what do you have natural talents for?  

Kristin:    00:54:54    What do people pay you for already? And could you find that job in a remote version? Because like Christo was saying at the beginning, a lot of jobs that are remote jobs require the same types of skills, traits, characteristics and abilities that a regular job, um, that a location dependent traditional job would require. It's just done remotely. What you wanna do is think about if you wanna get a remote job, you're probably already qualified to have one. It's just about identifying what are your best skills, traits and abilities, and how can you, um, leverage those so that you don't need to learn anything new. You can take the skills that you already have, and then you can apply for a remote job that you're qualified for. And if there's any small skill gaps, you can always fill those later. But, um, some of the places that Christa and I were talking about that you can find remote jobs online are sites.  

Kristin:    00:55:52    Like while there's, we Work remotely, there's Angel List, which is, people think it's just for startups, but you can actually get remote jobs there. You can even use Craigslist. Yep. Um, you can use a traditional jobs board like Indeed.com or monster.com, and you can filter for remote jobs. So there are sites that are only remote jobs, so you don't need to filter them out. And there are sites that are for traditional jobs where you can use a different, I know you guys know how to Google <laugh>. Everybody's a Google Ninja by this point, so you just use different combinations of keywords and terms like remote or location independent or something like that, and you can search for jobs that way. And actually, a couple weeks ago I had Kika Tover on the show, and she is a remote jobs coach and consultant, and she gave some strategies for that. So look that up in the archives if you guys wanna, wanna see that. Um, so yeah, I would just say that you're, you guys are probably qualified for a lot of remote jobs, you just don't know it yet. And then  

Christa:    00:56:57    Go for it. I wanna add to that though. Um, so like the question was, or, uh, yeah, for anybody who joined late, um, the comment was there are more remote workers than remote jobs. I disagree with that statement altogether actually, because I think, um, I think that is coming from a place of a, a very traditional mindset where you need to apply to a job and then get hired and get the benefits and stuff. And like, full disclosure, that's, that's the kind of job that I have. But because since I've been in this scene for so long, I'm very aware of the fact that like, my, my future opportunities, if I don't have this job, um, or if I decide to move on or decide to do something else, I don't have to go look for a job. There are a way, like lots of opportunities to create your own kind of job, to create your own kind of career, to create your own business.  

Christa:    00:57:49    Um, and there's so much information online where you can take courses on affiliate marketing, on drop shipping, on how to sell on YouTube, on, um, like something called design hacking, where basically you don't even need to be a designer. You sort of copy like, uh, effective designs online and recreate them for brands. You can become a social media manager. Like there's you and there's just, there's just so many ways. There's so many things. Yeah. Be virtual assistant, um, so to disassociate jobs with digital nomadism in the traditional sense and think about digital nomadism as just a way, like a term to talk about people who make money online. Um, then I think that there are actually more opportunities than there are people willing to pursue them. So  

Kristin:    00:58:40    I agree.  

Christa:    00:58:40    Actually change the mindset on that.  

Kristin:    00:58:42    Yeah. Um, I have a, a whole, in my book, I have a whole nother chapter on how to create your own digital nomad job and some blog articles about that because, um, I think getting a remote job is one of the more straightforward ways to get, uh, to become location independent or to work remotely because there's no real like startup cost or time, but there are infinite opportunities to like, make money online with stuff that you already know how to do as a freelancer. So like Christa and I could both be freelancers as well. We are writers, we know online marketing, we know social media, we know how to edit videos. Like we have a lot of skills that could be monetized in a, like a consulting or freelancing capacity as well. Um, and God knows I invented my own job. I'm the only person who's a professional poker player, relocation consultant in the world, <laugh>.  

Christa:    00:59:42    So that's amazing. I didn't even know that about you because there's so many other things that you do that's,  

Kristin:    00:59:47    Yeah, you can do so many things now. So in the first job you have as a digital nomad doesn't have to be like the job you're gonna have for the rest of your life. You don't even have to like, it, it doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be a way of making money online. So if you have 10 things that you do that make you a hundred dollars a month or a thousand dollars a month, then like all of a sudden you're, you're good. So getting a remote job could take a day or it could take a few months to do it, but that's one possible way of doing it. And then of course, making up your own job or, or starting some sort of online business or freelancing. Uh, you can sign up today on Upwork and start making money freelancing or go on Facebook post a status update that you are now offering whatever it is that you do for whatever price per hour. And you, I bet you'll get some private messages, <laugh>, and then if you get enough clients, then all of a sudden you don't have to be where you are anymore. You can work anywhere, you know, so  

Christa:    01:00:44    Yeah. And also there are so many jobs that are becoming more suitable for being remote that you would've literally never, never imagined. Like I know someone who works remotely as an interior designer, as a real estate agent, um, as an architect, um, as a doctor. Like, there's all, there's all these, all these different ways that you can take whatever skillset that you have and turn it into something else. And like Kristin said too, whatever, whatever your skill is, maybe you're a massage therapist, like use the internet to your advantage. Go to a place maybe you, maybe you don't have the freedom to like travel every three days, but maybe you go to a city and stay there for four months and then people start to get to know you as a massage therapist because you are listing your services on a local Facebook group. So I just think, um, you gotta get creative because digital nomadism remote working, traveling while working, this is such a new concept. Like literally it's only maybe, well Kristin, you've been doing it for a long time, but I feel like it's really only started to gain traction over the last several years. Um, so comps, many companies might be okay with it and they just don't even know it yet. So maybe it's up to these people who wanna be a remote worker to, uh, educate their employer about all the benefits.  

Kristin:    01:02:08    Oh yeah. I always say that the digital nomad revolution, and I'm gonna, well, we can call it the remote work revolution because people get all eggy about using the word digital nomad so much. But the remote work revolution is not a top down thing. It's a bottom up like disruption of the employees and the global workforce telling their employers, you know what, this is what I want. I want flexibility. I want to work remotely. I wanna work from home two days a week. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. And if employers say no, then like just quit. You know, there's gonna be another company that will offer it. And once we get to a critical mass of companies, everyone's going to have to offer it where they're just going to get less time, they won't be able to compete. Their hiring pool will be so slim compared to their competitors and like, yeah. So do it now. I mean, you guys don't have to wait  

Christa:    01:03:02    Into that. Thank you <laugh>.  

Kristin:    01:03:05    Yeah, if there's any other questions.  

Christa:    01:03:08    I know.  

Kristin:    01:03:10    Hi guys. <laugh>, this is the funniest live stream  

Christa:    01:03:14    I know for  

Kristin:    01:03:15    Anyone who's joining late. We started late because YouTube decided not to let me log in today from my computer. So we had to go through a,  

Christa:    01:03:25    My son is getting a little crazy over here, isn't it?  

Kristin:    01:03:28    Oh no. We need a professional lighting assistant for you. I know.  

Christa:    01:03:32    I'm trying to block it. Oh, well  

Kristin:    01:03:34    Let's take, uh, one more question. Um, let me see here. Hi Judy. Yep. She's saying you can definitely learn skills you don't have online. Mm-Hmm.. Yeah. We have the internet now, so anything you don't know how to do, you could, you could learn it pretty quickly for free if you want or Yeah. Or paid  

Christa:    01:03:57    Definitely for free or just accelerate the process and, and pay a few hundred bucks for a course that probably will give you more value than an entire year in university. Honestly.  

Kristin:    01:04:07    Yeah. I went to college and grad school because that was before all of this happened, but, um, if I was going to college now, like I might not go and at the time I didn't know what I wanted to do for work, so I was like, I just need more time. I was literally buying time. That's what I did. <laugh>. Yeah, I stayed in school, but yet my brother, oh, this is the other thing I was saying, that there are as many paths to becoming a digital nomad as there are people in the world. So no one can tell you that your path isn't going to work. You just get to try it out and see if it works and if it doesn't, you make adjustments. But like, my brother didn't go to college, he became a photographer and this is how things come full circle. He's in Lisbon right now on a surf trip  

Christa:    01:04:52    Where I am,  

Kristin:    01:04:53    Which I mean, it's his Instagram story literally this morning was in Lisbon at that place where it's on the hill with a statue. Mm,  

Christa:    01:05:02    Yeah.  

Kristin:    01:05:02    Yeah. It's like  

Christa:    01:05:03    A Jesus statue.  

Kristin:    01:05:04    Yeah. Yeah. So, okay, one more question from David. How do you get work done versus being in a tourism mindset? How do you balance work and travel? He says he's had success with past companies, so he's created a retiree mindset, <laugh>. Um, so he's in basically retiree mode or, or tourist mode. Um, how do you get in the mood to work when everybody around you is on vacation?Christa?  

Christa:    01:05:34    Um, well first of all, not everyone around me is on vacation because I surround myself with people that have to work too. So, um, that is another huge, huge, huge benefit of co-living, which we spent a long time talking about earlier, um, where the co-living groups usually weed out people that are in a retirement mindset. So maybe whoever this person is that's listening, you might not be the target demographic for it because you'd just be annoying everybody else that has work to do. Um, but there are lots of people that have work to do. So. Um, yeah, I would say surround yourself by other people that have a similar kind of schedule and lifestyle as you and, and goals and objectives. Um, and uh, also to practice gratitude because for me, like I wouldn't have this lifestyle right now if I didn't have my job.  

Christa:    01:06:25    So, um, this, I'm taking a very long lunch break right now, <laugh>, so I probably should get back to work, but, um, like I am. But when I'm done with this, I'm like, okay, now it's time to get work done and like I don't care what anybody else is asking me to do today because I need to do my job because I don't wanna get fired. Right. Um, so to, to to be grateful for your situation and to, oh, I think keep that in mind. Um, oh, are we cutting out? Oh, I lost you for a second.  

Kristin:    01:06:54    Oh, you're back.  

Christa:    01:06:55    Okay. Um, yeah, I was just talking about keeping, keeping gratitude in mind as, uh, as you go about your, your day-to-day life, because you're not gonna be able to do all these fun things if you lose your job or don't, you're not making money. Yeah. Don't blow it. Don't blow it. Um, and I guess just, I don't know, just,  

Kristin:    01:07:16    Well, we're gonna, Christa, I'm on 10% battery, so I wanna cut off the Instagram live before my phone dies so we can save it. But, um, I will just add to that, that there's two ways of looking at it. Like if you are a retired person or you've been semi-retired and you wanna get back into the mindset, it's just a matter of starting and getting back into that habit. And if you are a digital nomad who's struggling with focus and getting work done while traveling, I second what Christo is saying, that you are a product of the people that you surround yourself with and you're also a product of your environment. So if you're putting yourself in a good environment to work around other people who are also motivated to work, it's gonna be a lot easier than like pushing a boulder uphill and doing it by yourself in the middle of like spring break and Cancun when everybody's around you doing like beer bongs and taking, taking shots of like coconut rum.  

Kristin:    01:08:14    Yeah. So just put yourself in the right place and you can, yeah, don't go to those places. Make it easy for yourself. Thank you to everybody who came live on YouTube and Instagram with your questions. It's so much fun to have you all participating. And, um, we'll be live pretty much every week, just depending on people's travel schedules and like where I am in the world, but we're trying to do it every Tuesday. Um, there will be a video and a podcast, so, um, if you're here live, today's podcast that's out on iTunes is my episode with Freya Casey, and we talk about how to become a digital nomad as a single mom. So if you're interested in that, that's out today. And if you're listening to this later, then you can look it up in the archives. Um, is there anything else that we want to say?  

Kristin:    01:09:07    I wanna actually give a, let's see. I wanted to give a shout out to, uh, Walt and Tech Lords who are my patrons on Patreon. Thanks guys for coming to hang out and I also wanted to give a shout out to, um, somebody who left my podcast, went live a couple days ago on iTunes. So I want to thank some of the people who left a review. Um, David Wanner said Kristin has been active in the digital nomad community for years. She spent the last decade of her life to helping people relocate, go remote and start their travel journey. Now she's interviewing super informative guests and bringing you all their knowledge in a fun podcast format. Thank you, David Wanner, <laugh>, um, Cobb, Brandon said, fantastic podcast, great information, awesome content, tempting lifestyle to ponder during my commute to and from my nine to five job.  

Kristin:    01:10:08    Ha ha. Thank you Ka for that one <laugh>. And, um, Patrick Far said if you want to learn how to work remotely or even just create better work life balance, Kristin is your guru. Oh, thank you. This podcast is the best way to learn all the digital nomad tips and tricks in one place. Love the first episode and hearing your story. I'm grateful to be on this remote work digital nomad journey with you. So thank you to everyone who has left a five star rating or review, including Christa who left a, one of the first people to leave a review. Thank you so much. Um, and I can't wait to cross paths with you again in real life, Christa. I  

Christa:    01:10:49    Know. Hopefully soon. It's been so long. It's been like  

Kristin:    01:10:52    A year. I'll let you get to work over there. And <laugh> and the rest of you guys will see you every week here on youtube.com/travelingwithKristin or /Digital Nomad.  

Christa:    01:11:05    Thanks so much for having me, Kristin. It was a lot of fun to catch up with you. So we'll see soon. Bye.  

Kristin:    01:11:17    Thanks for listening. Remember to leave a review and share this episode with someone in your network. And if you want more tips and advice on working remotely, make sure to sign up for my insider list at travelingwithKristin.com/subscribe, where you can find links to download free resources like My Digital Nomad Starter guide. Of course, also subscribe to youtube.com/digitalnomad so you don't miss any of our weekly videos, Digital Nomad News or Live Streams. See you there.