Tulum, Mexico Digital Nomad Lifestyle – Does It Live Up to the Hype?

Sneak Peek:

Darren:    00:00:00    Okay. Well, Tulum 101. Okay.  

Kristin:    00:00:02    <laugh>? Yes. Tulum 101. Let's do this. Tulum. Grab your warm rose.  

Darren:    00:00:05    Let's grab a warm rose. Exactly. Let's cheers to that before I dive in. <laugh>  

Kristin:    00:00:09    <laugh>

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 Wilson, Host:    00:00:30    Hi, everyone. Kristin from Traveling with Kristin here. And Welcome to episode 102 of Badass Digital Nomads Podcast. Podcast. My guest today is Darren Lamison-White, one of the very first members of the Badass Digital Nomads Facebook group. Darren joined back in 2018 when I was living in Japan, and so if you're in the group, you've probably seen him posting in there as Darren LW. So Darren and I have become friends over the years, and I wanted to have him on the podcast because last time I saw him was a week before the pandemic. We were having drinks on a rooftop in Miami as you do <laugh>. And he was talking about how he had just quit his job to take a job with more flexibility. Little did we both know, however, that he would become fully remote just a week later. So a lot has changed for him from the time he joined the Facebook group through today.  

Kristin:    00:01:26    Darren is a seasoned world traveler who has been riding out most of the pandemic down in Tulum, Mexico. So I invited him on today to shed some light on how he made this transition from quitting his job to becoming fully location independent and what he's learned since then, as well as doing a deep dive into what the lifestyle is really like down in Tulum and Playa del Carmen, so you can decide if it's a good place for you. We're talking pros and cons, cost of living, internet speed, community and more is Tulum over rated. Let's find out. 

Podcast Interview:

Kristin:  Welcome Darren to Badass Digital Nomads podcast. This has been a long time in the works.  

Darren:    00:02:25    Yes, it has. There's so many, uh, schedules of rescheduling went into us finally being able to make this happen. So yeah, happy to be here.  

Kristin:    00:02:33    And let's set the stage because you just got the covid vaccine like on the way over here.

Darren:  Yep.

Kristin: Or in person in Miami, which never happens. <laugh>, every, all of my interviews are over Zoom.

Darren:  Yep.

Kristin:  So you got the Covid vaccine. I offered you some lukewarm Rosé, classy <laugh>.  

Darren:    00:02:51    Honestly, any Rosé will make me happy. <laugh>.  

Kristin:    00:02:55    Um, so how was it getting the vaccine?  

Darren:    00:02:58    I was actually very happy to get it now. Getting it, there are some slight side effects now if you've ever had covid, just think of a mild version of that, but it's supposed to be over and done with within a day. So I would say, wait, if you have the chance to get the vaccine, go ahead and get it. It helps you cross a lot of things off your list and it's gonna make your, the rest of 2021 very smooth.  

Kristin:    00:03:19    And you had covid already, right?  

Darren:    00:03:21    Yes. Yes. So let's, uh, let's, six months ago, September, I caught Covid, actually here in Miami. So I did catch Covid like mid-September. So I was at a friend's birthday party and despite all of our attempts to social distance, me, myself and a couple other people came down with Covid. It was a weird four days of pretty odd symptoms. I personally didn't feel like, I wouldn't say it was the worst thing I ever had, but it was definitely something that was gonna put you down for a few days. So four days was pretty bad. It followed by maybe the following week, I kind of had a slight head cold before I finally tested negative again. So I was actually happy to have caught it then. 'cause then I had these antibodies, which I don't, which uh, full circle for six months later ended up donating blood at a, a blood drive. And they tested to see if you still have the antibodies. And I still had 'em. So it turns out, even without the vaccine, these antibodies do last for a while.  

Kristin:    00:04:11    So that was the last time that we were supposed to do this podcast. And we canceled it. 'cause you're like, Hey, I have Covid. And I was like, please don't come over <laugh> <laugh>.  

Darren:    00:04:21    That's exactly what happened.  

Kristin:    00:04:22    Well, let's go back a little bit to the beginning. Um, tell everyone who are you, uh, what do you do and how did you get interested in the digital nomad lifestyle? 

Darren:    00:04:34    Well,  my name's Darren Lamison-White. Now I am a Miami resident for the last eight years. And prior to that I was living in the DC area, uh, where I was born and raised. Now what do I do for a living? Now what I do, I work in IT security cybersecurity, where I pretty much in my capacity is the governance risk and compliance enforcement, where you're pretty much, uh, testing controls, policies and procedures to make sure that whatever, uh, company that's, that's you, that's, uh, hiring me, uh, for that role that we're in compliance with, with, uh, state local government or even, uh, it compliance for that's necessary for the industry. Now I'm currently in the private investment banking role for a pretty large international, uh, private investment bank. And so I get to learn a bit about, uh, various, uh, banking regulations that I'm, that I, we have to adhere to in various countries, as well as American anti-money laundering.  

Darren:    00:05:27    Prior to that, I was working for the, uh, a very large home builder ba uh, based outta here in the United States. Now, that was prior to me being a digital nomad, but I had been there for a number of years, about seven years before I moved on to my current role. And now how I was, um, I really gotten into the digital nomad or wanting to become a digital nomad. I always had a passion for travel, seeing other cultures, wanted to go around the world a lot. And the idea of saving up my two weeks vacation per year, which for those non-American listeners, that's what's pretty common in America. We pretty much--

Kristin:    00:06:04    It's that ,that's like a lucky if you get a full two weeks.  

Darren:    00:06:06    Yeah. Full two weeks, um, that you may be too busy to even use. And, uh, so I wanted to know how could I work support myself while still traveling more often, or at least have the freedom to do so. And, uh, that's when I started maybe about a number six, seven years ago, I started hearing the term digital nomad. And I would see a lot of them had YouTube content, uh, mostly about their travels, but sometimes we'll talk about what they did and, uh, it seems like the majority of them would. Uh, and similar to you, you, you guys felt it, Simone, your line of work that you pretty much set up to be digital. So you don't have an office. You go to, you're, you're working as you're traveling and any of your coworkers or possibly people you've never met. So always trying to figure out how I could do that and leveraging my skillset. I've, I've been able to land a role that has been fully remote. I would say thanks to Covid, if there's a silver, silver lining from this whole pandemic. So I almost wanna say, am I a digital nomad or am I a covid nomad?  

Kristin:    00:07:08    Ooh.  So how long have you technically been location independent where your company has said you could work from anywhere? Or have they  

Darren:    00:07:17    Well, I can say for, uh, a little over 13, about 13 to 14 months, I've been completely location independent where I've been able to work from anywhere. So I'll take this past year, I've worked from Croatia and I've, and for the last five, almost six months, I've been working from Tulum, Mexico.  

Kristin:    00:07:38   Oh yeah. We're gonna talk about that. <laugh>. And you've maintained a home base in Miami?  

Darren:    00:07:43    Yeah. So I'm maintained a home base in Miami, just out of the pure convenience of it. So I, since I was taking advantage of all the New Yorkers that were coming down to Miami, trying to escape New York, and I was basically subletting my place, uh, as much as I could, I would say it, it was really easy to do. So yeah, at first I thought, ah, man, I'm gonna have to do all this work to find somebody I can trust that I wanted to sublet this too. And turns out I just have friends of mine who just would've, Hey, we'll pay your rent for you. I'll just, just love you live there while you're in Mexico. And I just did that. Never looked back.  

Kristin:    00:08:16    That's awesome. So, and then how did we meet? I don't even remember, or I know that you were in my Facebook group, but did we have mutual friends? 

Darren:    00:08:26    So  we had at least one mutual friend, a, a friend of our back in DC, Neil? 

Kristin:    00:08:30    Mm.  Oh yeah, Neil.  

Darren:    00:08:32    He's also living in Mexico right now.  

Kristin:    00:08:34    Yeah. I met our friend Neil. He's like this, the token best friend of everybody. He's the nicest guy. I met him at a, some big vacation party thing in the Caribbean. I think we were in St. Lucia. And you've knew him from DC, because you were living there. And then we all hung out here in Miami right before Covid. Yeah. I can't believe that was a year ago. Year ago. Or over a year ago ago. Yeah.  

Darren:    00:09:00    Yeah.  

Kristin:    00:09:01    Wow. <laugh>. Yeah. So you've probably been in my group since like, you were probably like the first 50 people I would say in the group.  

Darren:    00:09:09    I And how did I come across your group? I think I saw your content online. I think, I don't know if it was called Traveling with Kristin yet, or, or something with Nomad in the title.  

Kristin:    00:09:18    You're an early adopter, Darren.  

Darren:    00:09:20    Yeah.  I'm an early adopter  

Kristin:    00:09:20    Of like, everything <laugh>.  

Darren:    00:09:22    Yeah. Yeah. So I was like, once I saw, once I saw that, I think you mentioned something about your Facebook girl, I was like, let me join that. She probably has tips that I want to, that I can probably learn from or that I can contribute to maybe. And once lo and behold, Facebook I saw had a mutual friend in come and I was like, so I just had to reach out to you. I know how weird it came across me reaching out. I was like, Hey, how do you know Neil?  

Kristin:    00:09:42    No, I talk to everybody. So. That's so funny. You're a huge contributor to the group. Thank you so much. No worries. You do you wanna be a moderator? <laugh> <laugh>. You post so much really valuable content. Because it's funny that from the time that we met until now, you've become a basically a professional remote nomad. And you've learned so much. I think we've known each other for two years now. Yes. And you have come a long way. So Darren is hashtag goals. <laugh> really just went from being curious about the lifestyle to owning it. And you travel way more than me, <laugh>. So let's talk about some of your travels. Well, first, so the motivation for becoming a nomad was because you didn't wanna just have these two weeks of vacation. Was there anything else?   

Darren:    00:10:34    I always saw myself as a global person. So I, I never wanted to just get complacent about living the, the standard life in one place. As much as I love Miami, there's a large world out there. So I just wanted to like, how do I live with this world? So that's why. So it wasn't just, oh, I just wanna vacation more, or I just wanna have a, I just wanna live a leisure life more. I just wanted to, but I do wanted to see this world. So that's why that world, the digital nomad lifestyle just appealed to me. I mean, sure. I read, uh, the Four Hour work Week and I, I even followed Tim Ferris's podcast. However, my approach to getting there or my, or as you like to say, my why finding my why was just, I see myself in more than one place and I wanna experience much or even contribute as much as I can around the world. And that only way I can do that was being a digital nomad.  

Kristin:    00:11:24    And what are some of the countries that you've been to? Do you have a number? Do you know how many places you've been?   

Darren:    00:11:30    Uh, I know it's not as high as yours. I'm probably in the low twenties of countries I've been to, even though most years I went up in some new countries. There's a lot of repeats. I wanted to, I I wound up going back to like, took my last passport. I had to renew that one five years early because it was full. But as many countries were in there, half these stamps were Mexico, <laugh>,  

Kristin:    00:11:50    <laugh>. Yeah. Where you just came from. What are some of the countries that you've gone back to a few times?   

Darren:    00:11:55    Alright, Well, outside of Mexico, uh, Columbia, Croatia, um, I've been to St. Martin a couple times. I'll, I'll put Spain, Spain's probably the, and when it comes to Europe, I've been to that country more times than any other country in Europe. And I've re done a repeat for Amsterdam. 

Kristin:    00:12:14    And you've been to Budapest too, right? Yes. And what keeps bringing you back to those places in particular?  

Darren:    00:12:21    The confluence of lifestyle fit and culture that just kind of just sits well with me. Those tend to do it. Uh, I'll say Mexico, mainly outta convenience. 'cause it's literally right there, but, and it's open and it's, and it's open. Yeah. So this year, this year has been a boom for the Mexican tourism board.  

Kristin:    00:12:36    <laugh>. Yeah. They just never closed.  

Darren:    00:12:38    They never closed. And like, I'm a regular in Mexico. Um, those, the, the amount of crowds that were there this summer is what you would typically only see in like January or February. So you go there. It was July, August. It was just slammed Tulum, Playa Del Carmen, in Cancun. It was, they were, it was full down there.  

Kristin:    00:12:55    So last time you passed through Miami and I was asking you about Tulum, we were laughing about why it doesn't make sense for digital nomads to live in Tulum, even though Tulum is a massive digital nomad destination right now. Yeah. So explain to people who haven't been to Tulum or even don't know where it is. Explain where Tulum in a nutshell, and why is it trending?  

Darren:    00:13:22    Okay. Well, Tulum 101, okay.   

Kristin:    00:13:25    Yes. Tulum 101. Let's do this. Tulum, grab your warm rose. 

Darren:    00:13:28    Let's  grab a warm rose. Exactly. Let's cheers to that before I dive in. <laugh>. Okay. So Tulum, it's on the Riviera May, and if you don't know, that's the Yucatan Peninsula. So the state Quintana Roo. So you fly in the Cancun so everyone knows Cancun. That's been a hot spot since as long as most of our listeners have been alive. It's been around, like, I remember MTV spring break was always in Tulum.  

Kristin:    00:13:51    It pops into my head anytime I think of Cancun. I think MTV Spring break. 

Darren:    00:13:56    Yeah. That was one of my favorite things to watch when I was 16. However, now, um, going further down, uh, that part of Mexico, like an hour south of that, you have Playa del Carmen that super trendy spot, very beautiful city. And below that, another hour is Tulum. Now Tulum, it always, it started off as this boho chic paradise. When you go there, everyone's dressing. Like they're kind of going to Coachella or Burning Man <laugh>. You're, you're, you're, you're wearing a shawl or kimonos with a wide brimm hats with the feathers in the, and a and a poker card poking outta the hat. 'cause you gotta look Tulum cool.  Hashtag to illuminati and <laugh> <laugh>. So it was always, it was always trending with that crowd and the crowd that likes to, uh, be eco-friendly, eco-friendly tourism and the Acai Bowl lovers. 

Kristin:    00:14:41  That is good. That's Tulum in a nutshell.  

Darren:    00:14:43    That's Tulum in a nutshell. And it has its own vibe. And in fact, Tulum vibes was probably one of the most trending hashtags all summer. Now, fast forward to 2020 when this pandemic was in full force. So when every country shut down, Mexico may have shut down for maybe like a month or two, but I think July 1st, they just opened everything back up because so much of it was so, uh, tourism dependent. We're talking about the town, the beach towns that you vacation to in Mexico. 80% of the economy is based on the tourism sector. Yeah. So that's why they had to open back up. And they had no PCR test requirements. You just show up to Mexico, and if you're an American, you can, your stamp, the stamp they gives you allows you to be there for 180 days. And it's not like it's a 180 day period, then you have to, that expires and then you have to have a wait time. It's once you're stamped, you have 180 days. And if you had to leave the country for any reason and come right back, it's another 180 days that starts back over. So you can indefinitely play the, what do you call that? The border run game with Mexico?  

Kristin:    00:15:46    Yeah. Perpetual tourism.  

Darren:    00:15:47    Yeah. Perpetual tourists. Yeah. And so you wouldn't even have to do the permanent residency if you didn't want to, you know, maybe if you wanted to own property, which a lot of my friends that I made down there that are, uh, that weren't Mexican, they wanted to go for the, uh, permanent residency card, uh, that makes renting cars, owning property or anything beyond your basic tourism related things, uh, a lot easier to do. So it's a fun game to play. It's one of the few remaining countries that lets you, that that makes it so easy to do.  

Kristin:    00:16:16    Yeah. So people ask me a lot about how to stay in these countries for a long time. And perpetual tourism is the way that I have been living my entire adult life. So people will be shocked to hear that, that I've, even people I've interviewed that have other podcasts, my friend Mikkel, who has the Expat Money show. Yeah. He was shocked. He's had permanent residency in three or four countries. He's like, how have you been living in these countries without residency? Because I've always worked for myself. So I've never had a sponsor. And I tried to get residency in Costa Rica in 2007, and I paid thousands of dollars to this residency attorney. I waited a year, I did all this paperwork, and then he just never filed or he filed. And then I didn't know I had an appointment, so I missed it.  

Kristin:    00:17:06    And it was this massive process where I actually had to fly to Miami to get all these documents authenticated. I went to Miami, to Tallahassee, all around the state of Florida Yeah. To get documents that I tried to get by mail, but they didn't come properly or they didn't come on time. So I literally went in person to the offices to get documents, then get them authenticated, notarized, apple styled. It was this whole ordeal for what, you know, by the end of the year, I had no residency. I had spent a lot of money and time and I was still, I had been living with my passport in Costa Rica since 2005. Yeah. So I thought if I could do this for two years, why not four years? And that kept happening. And actually Mexico, it's way easier to do that because it's six months instead of three months.  

Kristin:    00:17:55    Right. So you get 180 days instead of 90 days. And in both Costa Rica and Mexico and in many other countries, you can leave and come back in the same day and get a new passport stamp. There have always been these doomsdayers saying that they're cracking down on perpetual tourism and they're gonna turn you away at the airport. But I don't know anyone that that's ever happened to unless there was some other reason that they weren't getting let into the country because of exactly the reason you said these countries are dependent on tourism.  And so they don't have any incentive to turn money spending tourists away. That's why they make it so easy to go there <laugh> and to stay there. And so, um, now that there's all of these digital nomad visas that makes things easier too in other countries. But Mexico is one of the few countries that you can be a perpetual tourist for decades or forever if you wanted to. As long as you're willing to leave every 180 days. And, and leaving could mean going to Columbia and back or something.   

Darren:    00:19:03    Yeah. Or driving across the border to Belize.  

Kristin:    00:19:05    Right.  

Darren:    00:19:05    Yeah. So it, there's many, you don't always have to fly back to the states if you're concerned about the cost of the flight.  

Kristin:    00:19:11    And meanwhile, if you wanna get residency in Mexico, you have to start the process before you get there get all the documents and everything. And so if you've never lived in Mexico before and you start with going through all, jumping through all of these hoops to get permanent residency there, you might end up spending a lot of time and money doing that and then getting there and realizing that you don't wanna live there forever. Or that there's not really many benefits to it. Like yes, you can get a bank account. Yes. It's easier to start a business and maybe to buy property.  But if you want to be semi or fully nomadic and you don't see yourself living in Mexico for the rest of your life, you could move to Mexico with your passport, stay there as a tourist if you need to do your banking open an account with, with Wise or Revolut or one of the online banks. When I used to live in Mexico, those banks didn't exist. Yeah. Or those accounts didn't exist. So if I wanted to do any transactions there, I had to go open a bank account. And that is a big headache. You can actually can do it with a passport. But there's only certain branches you can open an account at. But these days you don't even need a local bank account because you can hold a digital account with multiple currencies.  

Darren:    00:20:22    Yeah. And TransferWise has been one of the greatest inventions in the last, I don't know, when did that come about five years ago.  

Kristin:    00:20:28    I think they launched in 2013 or so. Something.  

Darren:    00:20:33    So definitely in the past decade, that's one of the best, uh, that's been one of the, the game changer.

Kristin:  Game changers.

Darren:   Yeah. So when I planning trips where you are splitting the cost on like a boat rental or an Airbnb and you have people paying from that owe you money from different countries, it was easier to get my, for them to let me pay me in Canadian dollars, Australian dollars, pounds, euros. Yeah. I definitely love, I'm a huge proponent of TransferWise. I've not gone too heavily in Revolut yet. I definitely see a lot of great use cases for it. So, uh, like I'm glad it exists.  

Kristin:    00:21:05    Yeah. So I mean, this is not an ad for now. They're called Wise, they changed their name to Wise. Even though disclaimer that TransferWise has sponsored some videos on my YouTube channel. I already was hyping them up in this podcast long before that. 'cause I've been using it for so long because my life used to be moving to a country, Poland, Mexico, Canada, and spending the first couple weeks figuring out how to open a bank account there. And it's really annoying. And then it was a mess, a nightmare when it was time to declare, uh, file for my US tax return. And getting all the bank accounts and filing all the right forms and account balances. So these days it's really convenient. So, yeah. Long story short, I, I can't think of many reasons why people would need to concern themselves with getting pers a permanent residency in Mexico. Unless you wanna live there a really long time and you do business there, invest in property and et cetera, et cetera. So, okay, Tulum. So what are the, let's talk pros and cons of Tulum. What's the upside of going there?  

Darren:    00:22:14    You know, the upside of going to Tulum, you have one of the most, uh, scenic beaches in Mexico. You have for the cost of a one, one, your one one apartment here in the states or wherever you live, you can get an amazing penthouse or condo and Tulum, it has some of the best, the vibes there are just amazing that can never be said too many times. The, the type of tourism that they do attract, the ecotourism, the, uh, sustainability that, those are some of the, the pros of Tulum. I'll say. Uh, I wanna touch on a couple of the cons. Wifi can be problematic. So you definitely wanna have someone on, on the ground, uh, that can, uh, make, that can help you make sure that the place you're gonna rent, uh, has pretty fast wifi. Some of the neighborhoods that you can live in, they still have above ground wiring and you kind of are in the jungle still.  

Darren:    00:23:05    So let's say a tree falls over onto a power line, it is gonna shut out the power for that, for that entire neighborhood. So that could be problematic. Uh, I, there were some coworking spaces that were being set up where their generators are meant to power the, the wifi when the power does go out. Now, I'll say the last few months I was there, I got set up into, uh, one of the more modern neighborhoods. Uh, if you're ever there, it's called Aldea Zamá. It's beautiful winding roads with some of the best condominiums you've, uh, in the set in the town where you have these corner shop ca--cafes. So, aside from owning a car, you definitely wanna have a, a nice queued bicycle to, uh, get around town with when you're, when you're in that neighborhood.  

Kristin:    00:23:44    Boho chic, boho chic.

Darren:    00:23:46    Boho chic all day. And yes, your bike has to have a front basket.  

Kristin:    00:23:50    Yes. <laugh> just like the photos on Unsplash.   

Darren:    00:23:53    Yeah. Oh, it's just like that <laugh>.  

Kristin:    00:23:56    So what was your accommodation set up like and how much was it?  

Darren:    00:24:00    So my accommodation, I actually signed, ended up signing a lease, uh, through a developer where I was living in a two bed, two bathroom penthouse with two balconies. And on the, one of the balcony had a spiral staircase it takes, took me up to my own private terrace that had a jacuzzi in the back, a grill in the front and a palapa covering it.  

Kristin:    00:24:19    Amazing.   

Darren:    00:24:20    Yeah. So, uh, and I was living there by myself. I had it for the express purposes of friends coming to crash, whether it was friends I made there, friends visiting me from abroad, the states or wherever. I, I even had one friend who invited himself <laugh> down to stay there for two weeks. And at first I was like, okay, I don't know what going down. I know if two weeks is gonna happen. But then one of the best roommates ever had every morning cooking food.  

Kristin:    00:24:41    Nice.  

Darren:    00:24:42    After we're done working, making cocktails. And we're not just, we're not talking about a beer and a mescal. We're talking about like signature premium cocktails here.  

Kristin:    00:24:53    You know, when I, I lived in Playa Del Carmen on 2013 for a few months. And it is where I perfected my margarita seals and guacamole. Okay. I ate a lot of chips in guac and you can get walking down the street. And probably in Tulum also, I only went to Tulum for day trips. I didn't actually live there, but walking down the street in Playa, there's tequila everywhere. And so I tried so many different random kinds of tequila and just would make sunset drinks. It was like happy hour at my house. We'd sit out on the balcony or on the roof. Beautiful blue ocean.  Mixing margaritas and, uh, just living that life <laugh>. So I'm glad to hear it's still the same.  

Darren:    00:25:40    Oh, it's still the same. You, you definitely are living that life when you're down there.  

Kristin:    00:25:43    Oh yeah. So what did this apartment run you?  

Darren:    00:25:46    Oh yeah. So the deal I worked out with, I was paying 1300 a month. That's about, at the time of this recording, 26,000 pesos. So it was a pretty, it was a very good deal. Yeah. I was coming outta headaches. It's actually less than what my one one here in Miami.  

Kristin:    00:25:59    Was that a six month lease?  

Darren:    00:26:01    I had it for three months and I extended it for an extra month at the end.  

Kristin:    00:26:05    That's amazing. 'cause I, I heard of people going down there for a few weeks or a month and they were just paying so much money.

Darren:    00:26:11    

Yeah. So the case of like any vacation destination, high season, you're gonna be paying, spending way more money. So I moved down there in September, so come out October, myself, uh, a friend of mine from la, he had a bunch of friends that were all gonna be coming to Tulum. So we kind of worked with this developer to come out with a contract to get us all these really special rates at low in low season. And so we can be locked to the same rate through the duration of high season. So we're paying like a summertime rate in December, January, where things could go for three to five times as much easily.  

Kristin:    00:26:43    That is a ninja strategy that I use all the time. Whenever people ask me that are relocating to other countries, they ask me for the comps. How much rentals are going to be. I'm like, okay, what when are you arriving? How long are you staying? Because if you think you're rolling into Tulum on December 15th and you're gonna spend 1300 a month, you have another thing coming. But if you get there in the low season, and this goes for Costa Rica and anywhere, if you arrive in the low season or the shoulder season and you lock yourself into a long-term lease, like three or six months that goes through those holiday days. You're good to go. But if you get there November, December, right. When things are about to heat up and they stay high, the rates will be high from usually around December 1st through Easter. And then they drop again. So that's a really good strategy for, um, for getting those good rates and Yeah, I like that you guys got together as a group.  

Darren:    00:27:39    Yeah. Yeah. So I really like to come in my friends coordinating coordination skills and that. 'cause at first I wasn't really on board with it, but then once I saw the apartment, realizing what I was getting myself into, I was like, okay, I can't really go wrong by doing this. So that being said, speaking of the expense of Tulum, that is not the cheapest destination to go by the way. I would say it's the most expensive place in Mexico, especially when you're going out. Now you can cut cornerstone costs, you can go downtown in Tulum, uh, the area's called El Centro or Pueblo as they call it there. And you can have a plate of tacos for $2. It's the most amazing outfit store. Or you can go to the most high-end restaurants. And there's plenty of those where you're gonna be dropping at least a hundred something dollars every meal. So living there long-term, you gotta realize, yes, your friends are gonna be visiting you every week, or you're gonna meet a new set of energy coming in and out every week. Who all are there? Who, who's been saving up money for months for this vacation of a lifetime? You can't go to every meal with them.  

Kristin:    00:28:38    That is a really good point. This is a hashtag digital nomad problem. Because when you live in one of these vacation destinations and people pass through or come to visit, or even if you're meeting strangers that are just passing through everyone's kind of in vacation mode. And so they invite you out and you end up just spending a lot of money and drinking a lot of alcohol. And that's not the normal life that you would have if you are just in your hometown working a nine to five. Like, if you're in a, a regular traditional job, you are able to manage your energy better because you can get into a routine. But then when you move to an exotic place, it's really tempting to do what everyone else is doing, which is usually going out and partying and --and it's a, it's great fun, but ha did that affect your productivity or, you know, your physical health or your mental health or how was that?  

Darren:    00:29:36    It can affect your productivity and mental health. I didn't let it affect my productivity. 'cause at the end of the day, this is how I'm affording to live there. So I was able to pump the brakes when necessary based off of that now.  

Kristin:    00:29:47    I did see that you are doing zoom calls at 6:00 AM so.  

Darren:    00:29:50    <laugh>. Yeah. So between that and can it affect your physical health? Well, if you drink too much <laugh> and you're going out.  

Kristin:    00:29:56     I eat too many tacos.  

Darren:    00:29:57    Eat too many tacos. Too much tacos and mezcal. By the way, I want someone to answer this question later on. What is your opinion? Mezcal or tequila?  

Kristin:    00:30:06    Tequila.  

Darren:    00:30:07    Okay. Okay.  

Kristin:    00:30:08    I mean, I'll still drink mezcal, don't get me wrong. <laugh>, but yeah. Tequila. So we've talked about the good things about Tulum. Take me into the day in your lifestyle here on your Facebook page. You've put daily schedule in Tulum morning rooftop yoga, early afternoon, acai berry bowl, uh, chatting up a yoga girl who uses the word sustainability in a sentence more times than you imagined humanly possible <laugh> beach or villa swimming pool invite commenting on the most amazing kimonos and suede feather hats you've seen that day. Sunset ceviche. And then debating whether or not Tulum is still as magical as it was three years ago while still trying to decide what place on earth will be the next Tulum <laugh> censored evening plans. <laugh> <laugh> is that sounds about right.  

Darren:    00:31:03    That is every day it's Tulum <laugh>. Yeah. So fit that around my work schedule, by the way, I had the best kimono collection down there. Hands down. We're not debating this.  

Kristin:    00:31:12    I have a kimono from Japan. I'll bring it next time I go. Apparently. Okay. Would I fit in? Would anyone listening? Would we fit in? I've never been to Burning Man and even though I lived in Playa, I guess seven or eight years ago now, and hung out in Tulum, I went snorkeling with the turtles. I did that kind of beach stuff like just ceviche on the sand. It wasn't a thing then though, right? Would we still fit in or are we gonna get there and feel like we're the outsiders?  

Darren:    00:31:40    You know what, uh, I would say, because Tulum has just become such a hotspot now, you'd actually, it's a lot more inclusive to the non kimono boho-shi crowd. Okay. So like, there's so much more that wasn't, that didn't fit that mold this, um, this last year than ever. Now when I first started going down there, yeah. It was strictly this burner Ibiza crowd, <laugh> <laugh>  

Kristin:    00:32:04    People from all over the world. Right.

Darren:    00:32:06    Yeah.  That was actually one of my favorite things about going to that region. And not just Tulum, Playa Del Carmen as well. When you go there, the amount of tourists that were European from South America, Israel, Australia, you name it, I just would never seen such a hodgepodge of just that much international tourism there. Now, granted with the lockdown that were happening around the world, 2020, I would say it was the first time I was down there and I just saw 90% Americans. Completely different vibe that way. Still fun. But it was, once things started opening up towards December, January, I started seeing more of the, uh, expats from other parts of the world showing up. Then it kind of started reminding me of the, uh, some womb from, uh, two, three years ago.  

Kristin:    00:32:41    So if someone's thinking of going down to Mexico, so Tulum or Playa Del Carmen. What, let's say archetype or personality of person would wanna go to Playa versus Tulum.  

Darren:    00:32:53    You get, okay. I would say the Tulum is the more of the outside the box kind of person. Playa, and don't get me wrong, I think Playa is actually a, has a much better city layout.  

Kristin:    00:33:03    Better infrastructure.  

Darren:    00:33:04    Better infrastructure. In fact, next time I go, I might do a month in Playa. Just 'cause I like so convenient, being able to walk places,

Kristin: So convenient.

Darren:  Things are convenient. I like to be able to go to an amazing rooftop and have lots of options. Kimpton, hotel rooftop and play. I love that spot.  

Kristin:    00:33:18    Oh yeah. I've been there. 

Darren:    00:33:20    And, uh, what else? You have Walmart there. So you have a lot more of your things that exist in normal cities. Tulum, you're talking about a place that prior to 10 years ago was just a sleepy fisher village, fisherman's village that now has way more people, uh, visiting and exp padding there, uh, than probably the actual population of the, of the local Mexicans there. So that one now that city's, uh, it grew in a way that's not really, it wasn't really planned for all that. That being said, the type of person who's, I would say the, uh, you have more of the unique half things happening in Tukum when it comes to what you're gonna go out and have fun and do. Whether it's like a, a cool beach, get together, a cool hotel, throwing this kind of event, this type of in the know, in the scene kind of kind of thing that you're gonna get way more of that in Tulum right now.  

Kristin:    00:34:09    It kind of reminds me of Nosara in Costa Rica. So kind of Canggu slash Ubud, Bali vibes. Yeah. But also if anyone is interested in this kind of lifestyle, also check out Nosara and Playa Guiones also has horrible infrastructure, <laugh>, but and also has a lot of Americans and a lot of foreigners. Almost probably more than the local population. Yeah. But lots of yoga, lots of hooping on the beach at sunset. Lots of Burning Man style. DJ parties.   

Darren:    00:34:43    Yeah. Yeah.  

Kristin:    00:34:43    On the beach and Yeah. That kind of thing. So it's good. It's a nice experience. But I prefer for work, I would say think about what you're going there for and how long you're staying. Yeah. If you wanna go and have that beautiful experience and chill out music and rooftop bars. I mean, you have the rooftop bars and Playa also, but Playa is great for just being able to have a good home base, walk outside. You would never even need to go outside. Actually. You could walk anywhere almost in five or 10 minutes, depending on where you're located. On the beach. Near the Fifth Avenue. But there's also such good delivery services there. There's Playa Express, there's  

Darren:    00:35:28    Tomato.mx saved my life so many times.  

Kristin:    00:35:32    Oh yeah. Is that a, that must be a new one. I didn't use that one.  

Darren:    00:35:34    Yeah, so it's kind of a newer one. So they, they have an app. Uh, the app's not as robust as like Uber Eats, but it accomplishes the exact same thing  

Kristin:    00:35:42    And everything. I mean, not, maybe not during the pandemic, but maybe also during the pandemic. But I remember everything being open 24/7 pretty much. Yeah. If you have Walmart, you have the massive grocery stores, the clubs, the sports bars. You can get food in the middle of the night. And there were a lot of places that I had been living in the past few years, both in Central America and in Europe and all, all over. That would just shut down really early. Like in Costa Rica, people eat dinner at 6:00 PM and go to bed kind of early and things are closed or it's very remote in certain places. So you can't really, I got used to not being able to get stuff and the sun goes down at five or six and so it's kind of like everything shuts down. But then in Playa del Carmen, maybe it has something to do with the cruise ports and being close to Cancun and having that highway directly from Cancun Airport. That just gives that, that specific area so much infrastructure. And it makes it just a really convenient place for digital nomads and expats live. 'cause you can just, there's coworking spaces, there's everything.  

Darren:    00:36:52    Yep. Yeah. You cannot discount the convenience that Plato Corner offers for the, for digital nets. Now when it comes to, since they're trying to make, they're basically essentially trying to make someone kinda like the next Canggu um, like they're hashtag next Bali. I saw so much of that. Uh, so they do have these, uh, really very cool looking, uh, uh, coworking spaces that they, that they've opened up. And I spent a few times, I worked at, at 'em for a few times as well, just for the experience. I do like that. I like that lifestyle. Except on the days when I'm gonna be having, if I'm gonna have a lot of meetings, I kind of wanna stay home and do that. Yeah. They're, so, they're, they're bringing that scene there as well. However, internet speed is, can be a slight issue. How so? You always wanna just test ahead of time. Uh, if you, if you know someone that's gonna be there, have 'em go to SpeedTest.net and send you, send 'em a screenshot of the upload and download speeds before you make your decision. So I'll say there's a lot of pros and cons, but if you're willing to, if you're just willing to work around a few of the cons, Tulums a great place for to be a digital nomad.  

Kristin:    00:37:53    Yeah. And now in the past couple years, Playa has a lot of fiber optic connections that didn't exist before. So that, that cabling is quite new in the past two years probably. So those are things for you guys to consider in choosing a destination. And then you have a really funny photo on your Facebook that says Ted Cruz after 24 hours in Tulum <laugh> <laugh>, and it's like a Photoshop picture. He's wearing a hat and he's wearing Burning Man attire. It's great. <laugh>. I can't ever imagine politicians in Tulum. They should go actually. I think it would open their mind. Oh yeah, absolutely. For the better. This is how we save America. Let's just ship all of the politicians down to Tulum. Right. Be like you guys. We'll make an itinerary for them. Turn them into digital nomads for a couple months.  

Kristin:    00:38:47    Be like, this is the world right now. Go back and fix the country in the problems with this context. <laugh>. Wishful thinking. So you wrote, after five months of living in Tulum, I can say it was a solid run. It was a wild ride with many ups and downs. I definitely learned a lot about myself and others. I better understand what amazing things to keep in my life and what to shed that no longer serves me. Things, ideas and people moving forward. And at the end of it, I'm grateful I got to live a brief experience here as a digital nomad living life on my own terms. I'm finally closing this chapter hashtag and of an era. Can you expand on some of those feelings that you are having and, and how you grew so much in six months?  

Darren:    00:39:38    What, what I'll say is, uh, when, when you throw yourself out there like that, everything you're is an experience. The highs and the things that make you happy, the highs and things that necessarily aren't your favorite experience, they're equally exacerbated where the things that make you happy are really happy. So the highs are really high, the lows are really low. And you're dealing with, uh, the, the normal goings and comings in that part of Mexico may not be as what you're used to. So you're, you're dealing with time. Like to me, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a huge in time management that part of Mexico, not so much schedules are a suggestion that may, they may not have follow through on that. I understand what type of, when it comes to, you know, your, um, intelligence quotient or your personality, basically how you navigate the world.  

Darren:    00:40:22    You learn what works for me, which, or, and what kind of places I would, I would probably go to in the future based on how things really work for how my brain's wired. So like me, I think the next few places that I want to, that I do want to go and spend at least a month or so would have to be more of a, whether I would like an exotic destination. It does, it can't necessarily be the the tourist hotspot. Because, uh, I like to be around people that also have things to do. Like, so if I go to a Medellín, or I don't know, São Paulo, your average person that you're gonna run into on the streets has a nine to five or some structure in their life, whereas you're in a vacation destination. It's people showing up every week that they, for the express purpose of having no structure.

Kristin:  Yes.

Darren:  So, and that can really wear you down, uh, after a number of months  

Kristin:    00:41:10    When you are trying to have structure. And that's why it's so important for you to lean into your routine and know yourself and know your own circadian rhythm really well. Right. Because it takes a lot of intentionality to fight that temptation --to go with the flow because we become a product of our environment and the people around us. 

Darren:    00:41:34    Yeah. And it's, um, like I said, routine and intentionality are the two biggest takeaways. So that, and that, that statement you read, it's, it's how I'm just redefining my intentionalities and my routines. Uh, and you mentioned, uh, from the previous post you read the yoga, I had never done yoga prior to going to Tulum. And once I tried it, so it was, um, a friend of mine, uh, who had lived next door to me, she would run a morning yoga. And so I just said, lemme just try this one day. Now, I was probably the worst person to watch do yoga, but it actually definitely unleashes some new energy or, or feelings that I just, I always heard people say that, but I was thinking, okay, that's, some of that's a new age stuff that I don't really, I don't really need that in my life really. No. I tried it. I, like, I probably wanna incorporate that, that more going forward.  

Kristin:    00:42:20    Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. I love to hear that. My brother started doing yoga out in California. And he had never been that type of yogi person and he started going five times a week. He's probably more flexible than I am. And I was a gymnast and I've been doing yoga since I was 18. So I think just being exposed to the opportunity to try new things is huge. And when I first went to yoga, I thought it was a religion. I really didn't know anything about it. And so I was kind of afraid to go because I thought, I'm like, am I joining some kind of cult by doing yoga <laugh>? Right. And then, you know, it's been like a lifelong practice. And then flip fast forward, I'd be doing yoga and the treetops, there's literally a place called Treetops Yoga Studio in Nosara, Costa Rica. And yeah. I just never would've pictured myself doing that. And it became a really important part of my after work routine. Go to yoga, Sunset yoga, go home.  

Darren:    00:43:23    Well, you know what, you know what, Kristin, you're, you're putting Nosara, Costa Rica pretty high on my list now <laugh>, because I've, uh, I don't think I, like I know Costa Rica, I know you have the places Tamarindo, Santa Teresa, Jaco, a few other places along that stretch I'd, however, I hadn't made it over there yet. So, um, I might have to do that sooner than later.  

Kristin:    00:43:42    I would probably combine it after having some contrast to the Tulum lifestyle because it is so similar. But I can definitely relate to that, wanting that contrast after being somewhere for a long time. Because you explore this side of yourself and it becomes very interesting and new. You have these feelings and these experiences that you haven't had before. But then there also comes this kind of natural inclination to keep moving. And I think that's what comes from our nomadic DNA. Because nomadic tribes would roam around and still do in some places, and they would stay in a place for some time and then it was time to move on. Right. And there wasn't necessarily any rhyme or reason as to why sometimes it had to do with food, climate, seasonality. But sometimes there are probably other reasons. And, and that's kind of what we are Yeah. Living out right now.  

Darren:    00:44:42    Right, right. And and you think, you look at the, just the timeline of human history, more of it, uh, a lot more of it was us as nomads than it's not been. So when it, when we discovered farming and agriculture to the modern age, that's such a smaller window. That was only in the last 10,000 years. Yeah. And humanity in its current form has existed what, 250,000? That's so much such a longer stretch where we were nomadic. So we, it's not, we can't just say we've out evolved that we don't do that anymore. But for some of us, we still have that inclination built in our DNA and our brain wiring.  

Kristin:    00:45:17    Yeah. Especially thinking of how recent the Industrial Revolution was as like a couple hundred years ago. Yeah. When you were leaving Tulum, did you declare to your friends, I am now leaving because I'm sure that you met people there. Did anyone try to get you to stay? Or what was that separation like from your new friends? 

Darren:    00:45:36    A  lot of people were trying to get me to stay. Interesting. Because like, lemme uh, another part I never touched on when you're in Tulum is like once you're, after you're there for a couple. No, I was a, I'm a very social person, so I was probably going out every night. Guilty <laugh>. But, so let's say if I'm, I'm just going around town running errands or just going like, I'm biking into town real quick just to grab some lunch. You're gonna pass at least 20, 30 people that you know, that you know is set that are eating at this restaurant or sitting at that cafe just walking down the street. So it's like when, by the time I'm leaving, after five months, there was a lot of, so many people were trying to convince me to stay now. And I, I was already there a month longer than I planned on being.  

Darren:    00:46:13    So yeah. They're like, oh, don't go. Everyone keeps saying that. No, you'll be back. You're gonna be right back in two weeks like everybody else is. I'm like, no, I'm actually leaving <laugh>. I need to get outta here. So that being said, would I go back to Tulum? Yeah, I would definitely go back. I would always visit. I don't know if I'll do a six months, five, six months stay again. But, uh, I definitely would come back for like a few weeks to a month. Again, just to, I mean, just to revisit, I mean yeah. Had friends there now. Even when I first moved there, it was like getting my first apartment. It was a friend of mine that I'd known for a few years who had then been living in Tulum with a remote job for the last, uh, two years. So person to know basically like, it was like your, your plug for the town. Best way to get st best kind of person to know when you're getting started in new place.  

Kristin:    00:46:56    Do you feel like you have met new friends for life that you might see in other countries? 

Darren:    00:47:01    Oh,  Absolutely. Absolutely. Will, Uh, friends, like a friend, the number of friends I met were all travelers. I'm, I'm still in, I don't know how many fa-- uh, WhatsApp groups. I'm with all these people. So for a town as small as Tulum, I should not have been in that many WhatsApp groups. <laugh>, so.  

Kristin:    00:47:17    <laugh>, I keep getting invites to people's groups in different countries. Yeah. I'm like, I have enough FOMO as it is and I don't need to be in any more text message group. <laugh>, is it surreal to feel so local in another country where you're riding down the street on your cool bike? And you're waving to people that, you know, like, just to wrap your head around that.   

Darren:    00:47:40    Yeah. It's, It's, you know, it's so surreal because like most people, your average American probably hasn't moved outta their own state before, let alone lived in another country. So it was very slowing thing like, wow, I'm, I'm finally getting my feet wet in another country. I know the locals, I mean, I go to a barber shop down the street, they don't even speak English in there. And we've, I've navigated how to get the right haircut. I want, I'm very particular about my fade by the way. Um, <laugh>, I communicate that when I'm not necessarily have the most fluent Spanish. Yeah. It was just so many things like, uh, going to the gym there, you're a local, in a different country. In a different culture. Yeah. Surreal is the word that, uh, that that best describes that. And yes, it really is.   

Kristin:    00:48:18    It just never ceases to amaze me. You just made me think I have a flashback moment of getting a haircut in Costa Rica at night in Jaco? Yeah. Under a streetlight. Oh, nice. My friends, I mean, my random friend who I met this Costa Rican guy on a bus and we became friends and he surfed too. Yeah. And so we would go surfing together. I needed a haircut. And he's like, oh, my friend cuts hair. So he just called her to come over and I was standing outside under the street lamp and she put Herbal essences conditioner in my hair , to detangle it. 'cause I had been surfing at sunset and then cut my hair outside in the dark. And I was like, this is a really weird haircut. But those are the kinds of experiences.

Darren:  Yeah. <laugh>

Kristin:  you know, if you went to super cuts, you'd be like, okay, let's at least wash my hair first.

Darren:  Right, right.

Kristin: And there was no blow dryer or anything. She's like, okay, bye. $5, 2000 cologne or whatever.  

Darren:    00:49:15    Yeah. You've been doing this for 20 years. Does this still feel surreal when you merge yourself in a different town and, and you, you almost feel like a local?  

Kristin:    00:49:23    It does. It hits me when people walk up to me on the street and ask for directions.

Darren:  Yeah.  

Kristin:    00:49:30    And I give it to them. Like, tourists come up to me, I don't know why, but they just ask, do I know this place? Oh yeah. Down there or, and then it, they walk away and I'm like, wow, that's so cool that they asked me for directions and I could help them. And I'm in a different country that I feel at home in. And also sometimes I don't think about it at all. But last year, or I guess the year before, I was in Amsterdam and I've been going there for many years and it was my friend's wedding. So I happened to be there at the same time as his wedding. So he invited me to the wedding and I posted some pictures or I got tagged on Facebook. And people were like, how did you get invited to these guys' wedding in Amsterdam and it was the, this most fabulous gay wedding that was leopard everywhere. It was in this restaurant that was hot pink, mixed with leopard. Yeah. So there were these amazing photos and people, my friends from home were like, how are you going to weddings of Dutch people in another country? And these are real friendships. Like the same as you would get invited to your best friend's wedding from high school. You start to make those relationships in other countries. And it's just normal life.  

Darren:    00:50:50    I mean, and, and I mean, adding to that, and it's funny you mentioned Amsterdam. I got a great story like that. I was in Mexico City about five years ago and it's like the first night I'm there, I didn't go anywhere special. I just went to some random bar. I just on travel day and uh, the first people, I'm, I'm there by myself. So the first people I'm talking is these two, is these, uh, these two Dutch friends. I guess I came on on a huge family trip to Mexico City from Amsterdam. And we just get to talking and they're, they're just selling me on Amsterdam or you have to go to this when you come to Amsterdam. And I just thought about it. I was like, how have I never, first of all, how have I never been to Amsterdam? And I, and fast forward to that October, this is January by the way. So that October I'm showing up to Amsterdam and uh, I actually just remember like, lemme reach back out to these guys. And they were so happy that I actually showed up. They actually had a welcoming gift for me. <laugh>. They came to my Airbnb and they took me, they took me out one night and it was a crazy night. <laugh>.  

Kristin:    00:51:43    Oh my gosh. That's so cool. Yeah. You, and you just feel at home there and people make you feel so welcome. And then over time this can feel, it can feel a bit lonely when you're coming and going and leaving places because you might not see those people for three years and then it's hard to pick up where you left off. And a lot of stuff has happened that you don't have the context for. And then you've changed 'cause you've been around. And so these are long-term considerations in this lifestyle that I think everyone is still trying to figure out. But it is pretty exciting. At the same time, like, I was having a drink with a friend from Germany in Amsterdam. He just happened to be there. I don't know why he was there at the same time, but we had been friends from before and we went out for drinks and I, I had been to the Anne Frank House that day.  

Kristin:    00:52:36    So I love being a digital nomad where you can feel like a local in a city, but then you can also be a tourist. At the same time. And I had just gone through the museum and was in that mindset of 19, I don't know, was it the 1930s? I don't know which year exactly that she was there if it was in the forties. But I was in the mindset of World War II in Amsterdam. And there I was sitting with my German friend having drinks at a Middle Eastern restaurant in Amsterdam. And I was like, well, like what if we were born during that time, we would've never been friends. We wouldn't be sitting here right now in this restaurant. Like, yeah. Kristin, we just, we wouldn't be friends. I'm like, you could have died in the war. Yeah. And I was just going on with this whole, it was very, um, like sentimental in a way. It was very strange feeling to think that the only reason that I was able to be friends with my German friend who was at this age, that he was, that if we were in a different time in history, that he would be in the war and I would be in the US and Amsterdam would be under German occupation. With the underground resistance going on. And it just boggles my mind. But yet here we are.   

Darren:    00:53:52  Here we are. And honestly, I feel like for people like you and I, this is the best time to be alive. Back to your story, if we were born in a different time, wouldn't be, wouldn't be friends. Also transcontinental travel just wouldn't be so easy.  

Kristin:    00:54:06    Yeah.  

Darren:    00:54:07    And, um, then no internet, so we couldn't get our job done online.  

Kristin:    00:54:10    Right. So everyone listening, just think of how much can happen in two years. You know, you can go from being curious about the lifestyle. And wondering if you could have a remote job to being a local in Tulum, like Darren <laugh>. So it looks like we can close down in the next few minutes, but I wanted to ask you, what is the number one thing that you have learned in this lifestyle to date that has been the most significant?  

Darren:    00:54:46    The number one thing to learn is you, you have to know yourself. You have to always be self-aware of yourself and to also be very present. Because when you're constantly making travel plans and thinking about the next move you have to make or wanna make you, you can definitely come across as aloof because you're, you, you're just, when you're talking to someone that having just a back and forth exchange, if you're constantly in your head, you're gonna come, come across as aloof and you're not gonna personally even enjoy, uh, everything in life that's happening right around you because you're just constantly trying to check off the next box. You have to learn. So being present and being self-aware and understanding yourself are the number one things you have to learn.  

Kristin:    00:55:32    Very good advice. And, and has this changed your purpose in life? What do you feel is that you're striving for right now?  

Darren:    00:55:44    How to best answer? I'm striving for, Hmm. My purpose in life now that I've been, I don't have forbid I definitely wanna continue this lifestyle, my purpose in life. Oof. That's a hard one. Okay. I'll say my, uh, definitely my purpose in life is I'm the type of person that, that I, I've learned that I'm, I'm a very good connector and it seems like me bridging gaps, whether it's helping someone meet this, the kind of person they need to help further grow their business, or being a connector between this divide happening between two different groups of people in order to help drive things forward. I realized I'm very good at that. And so I feel like my purpose is basically just connecting people as I go. And so I'm not sure the best way to word articulate that, but, um, so doing the best I can, that's what I see my purpose is. That's my drive to continue to do those kind of things to foster these connections.  

Kristin:    00:56:41    That's great. And, and do you think that, does your job really relate to that?  

Darren:    00:56:47    I'll say one underlying aspect in my line of work is that I'm kind of the bridge the gap between a company's, uh, technology department and just their overall business to make sure that their, their goals are aligned so they're actually moving in one accord. 'cause um, like I would say prior to the technological revolution, maybe like 20 years ago, each area of the company was just so siloed that you would end, actually end up hindering productivity by just misaligned strategies. And so my goal is to be that that bridge in between that helps realign, uh, to make sure all these strategies are in sync. That, that way they become, uh, for the greater good of that organization.  

Kristin:    00:57:31    And has your traveling lifestyle supported your job skills and your effectiveness? How has that changed your role? 

Darren:    00:57:40    Well --It's, I would say my current, the current company I work for, it's a foreign company. So, uh, I'm probably one of the only Americans on the team, uh, from, that's not from South America. So, so I work for a Brazilian company and being able to have this cross-cultural communication, even in a professional setting, the fact that I've traveled so much, I've been exposed to so many things that is, that's played an invaluable asset that I've been able to leverage in my current role. So yeah, my, my travel lifestyle has given me that.  

Kristin:    00:58:11   Have they given you any cross-cultural training? Or has it all been just you doing your thing?  

Darren:    00:58:17    It's all been me doing my thing.  

Kristin:    00:58:19    So interesting because when I studied human resources there was so much focus on companies training their employees to communicate across cultures. And it seems like in this past 20 years, we've gotten to the point where the internet is there and everyone's so mobile that companies aren't even really focusing on it. Yeah. I think it's a missed opportunity because there is an opportunity for structured training and helping people, especially remote employees that are planning their own travel and going to other countries and learning as they go. But it's also interesting that they're just letting everybody find their way.  

Darren:    00:58:59    I will say that, uh, the role that I took on it was actually meant to be in an office role when I first landed it. However, I, I'm gonna, I'm the kind of person I like to take advantage of a good situation where I ended my last role and instead of quickly landed this role, uh, and instead of just immediately starting, I was like, Hey, what's the farthest I can push out before I have to start? I planned a, like a two week Caribbean trip for myself. So I went to Curacao, St. Martin, and that's right when the pandemic was shutting down every border, I was the last flight out of St. Martin that day. The next day it was like no flights in, no flights out. And so when I get back, luckily, so I'm already back in my start date's. The next day I wake up getting ready to go to the office suit. Hi. I luckily I checked my email and it said, Hey, due to the lockdown in, in Miami, uh, we're gonna have to onboard you from home and, uh, however we think within a month you'll be back in the office, but we're just gonna get things gets you up to speed here. You just start your role from home. And that month get, we got pushed to three months and six months, then no one knows we're going back to the office. I've actually not met a single coworker.

Kristin:  Wow.

Darren:  So.  

Kristin:    01:00:06    <laugh>, has your company made an announcement if it's permanent work from home? Or what's their decision? 

Darren:    01:00:10    Right now? They're, they're re assessing which roles can stay. 'cause they've already downsized their office footprint. So there's actually a lot less office space. So you can't have everyone come back. 'cause they realized, the company learned that how how much work can be done remotely and still be effective. So that being said, was there, back to your original question about the cultural training, since a lot of things were in disarray, 'cause no one really knew how to move forward, that that might've just slipped through the cracks. It might've, there might've been some they just forgot to tell me about  

Kristin:    01:00:40    They were probably overwhelmed with everything else Right. Than getting out of their commercial lease.  

Darren:    01:00:45    Yeah. <laugh>. Exactly. So <laugh>. So if there's a cultural chaining, they forgot to give it to me, but I think I did a good job where maybe, maybe I don't need it or maybe I need to teach the cholesterol training. Yeah.

Kristin:    01:00:55    Yeah. Yeah. Just ask for a raise.  

Darren:    01:00:58    Uh, yeah. <laugh>, well I that's, I'll do that one day.  

Kristin:    01:01:01    Yeah. Outside of the scope of the job description, <laugh>, I was talking to a, a client today and she was saying how everyone that their, their company has cut their staff by two thirds. And so now everyone's doing four or five jobs. And she said she was not here for it. <laugh>, she's ready to, uh, change companies. So, well, what's next for you? I saw that you were thinking of going to Brazil, but then there were some news about the lockdowns. That's one of the reasons I haven't been traveling. It's too much uncertainty when Miami's wide open. But yeah. What's next?  

Darren:    01:01:33    Right? So what's next? So, like I said, Brazil was my original plan. Um, I wanted to do like a, a month in Rio or maybe even São Paulo, Florianópolis something --Rio, definitely. I just wanted to, I wanted to get a, I was imagining that apartment in Leblon next to sur-seeing sure--

Kristin: The view.

Darren:  The distance, I was just, I was very looking forward to that very much. But their lockdown was rolling back in because they were wide open for like a quite a while. And, uh, so it didn't make any sense anymore. Maybe I'll get down to, when it comes to Latin America, maybe I'll do Costa Rica, but I feel like I already did a beach down. Let me do a con. Lemme get some contrast and go to a city. So definitely thinking Medellin possibly Lima love roofing food. Almost wanna go just for that. But I like being in shape too. I don't know if that's a good move. I just wanna eat all day.  

Kristin:    01:02:22    It's pretty healthy though.  

Darren:    01:02:24    Yeah. Ceviche, uh, love that. 

Kristin:    01:02:27    Yeah.

Darren:    01:02:28    Bueno Aires. I could see myself there. Um, I gotta, I'm not really sure on how lockdown they are, but I definitely have some friends who are from there who definitely wanna put me in touch with the right people if I do go.  

Kristin:    01:02:38    Maybe at the end of the year. I have some friends there too. You wanna check out Nomad Hub?

Darren:  Yeah.

Kristin:  They've got the co-living space there. I wanna say it was only $500 a month or something to live there. And you can get connected to all the locals and the expats that way. They do a lot of meetups down there.  Maybe that's how you found me through my Buenos Aires videos back in the day. 

Darren:    01:03:01    Yeah.  Maybe. That might have been. Yeah.  

Kristin:    01:03:02    Yeah. That's a good foodie destination too.  

Darren:    01:03:05    Okay. <laugh>. That's good. I like, I like good food, but I, I like to good little place that has a good fitness culture too. So that's why. So I, because I, if I just go straight to a foodie destination. I'm not gonna look the same in a couple months.  

Kristin:    01:03:17    <laugh>. That is a real concern. That's a first world problem. First world. But it is the consideration because it affects you if You know, if you gain a lot of weight suddenly and you're not feeling your best, it can roll over into your sleep habits, into your work habits. And when I lived in Buenos Aires, I was really struggling to maintain balance because I, I lived across the street from a WeWork. And it was the end of the year and I had just done Nomad Cruise. So I felt this pressure to catch up with work. 'cause I hadn't been working that much. 

Darren:    01:03:51    That's  right. You did that. That was a Nomad Cruise. I think that was the year I started in Spain and then went to,  

Kristin:    01:03:57    Yeah, we started from Spain and flew or sailed to Brazil.  

Darren:    01:04:01    Okay. Yeah.  

Kristin:    01:04:02    And then from Brazil, I flew by myself to Bueno Aires. Okay. 'cause I had reached my maximum co-living limit at that point. I just wanted to get an apartment by myself and just

Darren:  I hear you

Kristin:  focus and I had too much social overload, <laugh>.  

Darren:    01:04:17    Oh. Uh, that was me towards the end of Tulum actually. Like, I was living by myself, but I definitely had social overload. Okay. Uh, real quick question. Best neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Go.  

Kristin:    01:04:28    I would say Palermo. I was staying in the business district in the center, which apparently is quite dangerous, but I didn't know that at the time. It seemed okay. But unfortunately didn't meet the Nomad Hub guys until the end when I was leaving. But I was working from home in my Airbnb or at the WeWork across the street. But there was so much good food that I was eating a lot and drinking a lot and having steak dinners with wine and bread and they have bakeries everywhere. It's really not the healthiest place. And then I would go to spin classes. Also on my block. And it was all with locals and they were all telling me like, yeah, you can't eat Madea Lunas every day. Which are the croissants. They're like sweet croissants. They have them here in Miami. I'm like, I wanna indulge, I wanna experience the, the culture and the flavors and everything of Yeah. Of Argentina, but also not gain 30 pounds in a, in a month.  

Darren:    01:05:26    Uh, you know, another place where I I if I, if I went there, I was gonna have that same struggle Portugal food there. 

Kristin:    01:05:31    Oh. Ericeira is supposed to be the next Bali slash Tulum in Portugal.

Darren:  Oh, really?

Kristin:  So put that on your list. Everybody. Ericeira. I actually have, or Ericeira. I have a new video coming out on the best places to live in Portugal. And so I've been interviewing all of my friends that live in Portugal. So keep an eye out for that. We'll link to that one. And also my Japan video. There's this video where I talk about how, what it was like to live in Japan and some things that surprised me about living there. I do talk about the food a lot in that video. I don't know if you, have you seen that one yet?  

Darren:    01:06:10    I, I actually have -- 

Kristin:    01:06:11    In the last few weeks. Okay. What did you think?  

Darren:    01:06:15    No, I loved it. 'cause I actually haven't been in Japan yet, so I definitely want, I want to get there. And that's a good guide to how I wanted to give you some ideas of how I wanted to approach Japan from a foodie standpoint.  

Kristin:    01:06:24    Good insights. Okay. <laugh>.  

Darren:    01:06:26    Some good insights. Really.  

Kristin:    01:06:27    Awesome. Didn't mean to put you on the spot. It's okay if you don't like the video. Do <laugh>. I hope that you all enjoyed this conversation with Darren. He's such a legend. Thanks for sharing all of your wisdom on Tulum in Mexico.  

Darren:    01:06:41    Hey, thanks for listening to me.  

Kristin:    01:06:43    <laugh> Your positivity. I think the rose is cooled off now, so we can go have another glass. And yeah, thanks for being here. 

Darren:    01:06:51    Hey,  Thanks for inviting me. And, uh, to all the listeners, have a good night and keep on traveling.  

Kristin:    01:06:56    Yes. Great closing words. Bye everyone. See you next week.  

Kristin:    01:07:03    If one of the reasons you want to travel or live abroad is to meet new people, well, you're definitely not alone. But even if you're not traveling right now, did you know that you can start connecting with other aspiring and experienced digital nomads today? It's true. As you know, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And in the Badass Digital Nomads Facebook group, you can connect with 4,000 other like-minded people from around the world who all share the same values of freedom and location independence. Plus, if you wanna become part of my inner circle, you can join my Patreon page for $5 per month and get direct access to private message me. Submit your questions for my podcast guests, contribute your opinion on new content ideas, and get early access to preview all of my YouTube videos before they're published. You'll also get to attend monthly private Zoom Hangouts with myself and other patrons. We just had a one and a half hour call last night with patrons from around the world calling in from places like Bali, California, Michigan, and Nebraska. It was so much fun. And you can join us for the next call by becoming a patron today at patreon.com/travelingwithKristin. That's P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com/travelingwithKristin.