Thinking about going nomadic? Here’s what you need to know.
If you’re planning to leave the U.S. for more than a few months, let us be the first to congratulate you on this important and life-changing decision. As full-time nomads, we can say with certainty that long-term travel around this beautiful planet will be a rewarding and adventure-filled experience. (If you plan on working on the road, also read through our post on becoming a digital nomad.)
Before departing, there are several important things you need to consider.
Long-Term Travel: What to Know Before You Go
You Need a “Home” Address
Even if you sell your house or give up your apartment, you will still need a U.S. mailing address for a variety of reasons. Driver’s license renewals, voter registration, bank and credit card statements, and other important documents need to have an address. Some people use the address of a family member or friend. Others find a mail service that can collect, scan, and forward any mail or packages you might receive.
A new regulation known as KYC (“know your customer”) requires financial institutions to verify their customer’s identity in order to protect against against fraud, money laundering, corruption, and terrorist financing. For this reason, banks now require a physical address be kept on file, in addition to your mailing address. This requirement can really complicate the nomadic lifestyle when you don’t have a home. However, it does need to be worked out.
Banking and Credit Cards
Once the address is sorted, credit cards are a great thing to have while traveling. Make sure one is a debit card so you can get cash from an ATM when you need it. American Express is not as widely accepted as Visa/MC so it’s good to have a mix. Get a good travel rewards credit card and start earning points you can use for flights and upgrades.
Also, pay attention to your card’s expiration. As it gets close, the bank will issue and mail you a new one. Make sure you have a way to get it.
Travel Documentation
You will of course need a valid passport. However, it’s also important to make sure it doesn’t expire before your return (or that you have a plan for renewing it overseas at least six months prior to its expiration). You also want to have multiple blank pages in your passport, as some countries require you to have at least one or two blank pages when you arrive.
Finally, pay attention to visa requirements of any country you are planning to visit. Sometimes you need a visa, and sometimes you have to complete a digital form prior to arrival. For example, a tourist visa in the EU’s 27 Schengen countries is only good for 90 days. At that point (and not an hour later), you must be out of that bloc or risk not being permitted to come back. After another 90 days, you can re-enter. If you enter and exit repeatedly within the 90-day period, there are online Schengen calculators that allow you to track your days more easily. We nomads call the process of departing and returning the “Schengen Shuffle;” countries like Albania, Montenegro, the UK (thank you, Brexit!) and Ireland (EU but NOT Schengen) are popular destinations when you need to duck out.
Staying Connected with Family and Friends
One of the challenges of traveling the world is staying connected. We are on the T-Mobile Magenta MAX plan that provides 5GB of high-speed data in over 215 countries and destinations. It works great when we travel. However, it’s a U.S. plan, and when we use too much overseas data relative to U.S. data, T-Mobile gets annoyed and sends us nasty messages. This plan will not work for traveling more than a month or two – and we cannot risk losing access to our phones – so we had to find another solution.
Airalo to the rescue! Airalo is the world’s first eSIM store that solves the pain of high roaming bills by giving you access to 200+ eSIMs (digital SIM cards) globally at affordable prices. As long as your phone is unlocked (paid for) and has a SIM slot, you can get an eSIM for the country you’re in (in a variety of data sizes and durations). If you’re going to multiple countries, there are regional plans (eg. Europe, Asia) that will cover you.
We stay in touch with family and friends with WhatsApp rather than using text since it uses Wi-Fi or eSIM rather than cellular data. One annoying aspect of modern life is two-factor authentication when logging into websites or apps. We’ve always preferred to get these by text, but we’ve changed them over to email where possible to avoid getting extra texts.
Health and Vaccinations
Make sure your immunizations are up to date. Also, check with the CDC to determine what vaccinations you might need for countries you are planning to visit. If you’re pretty new to international travel and/or are planning to hit some more exotic destinations (like Africa), it might be helpful to find a travel clinic in the U.S. that can help you figure out what you might need. We did this in 2011 before our first trip to Africa. Also, sometimes they can prescribe antibiotics and other meds you can carry with you in case of emergency.
If you take medication, be sure to bring enough for your trip (if it is on the shorter side). For longer trips, bring digital copies of your prescriptions so you can fill them overseas. I highly recommend researching critical medications online before you leave for good, or have a plan to get more from family in the U.S. Monica has Type I Diabetes and has been buying her insulin overseas for the past two years. We’ve found that it’s easy to get (often without a prescription), even the same exact brands, and wildly cheaper than when we had “insurance.”
Travel Health Insurance
Before you head out on your overseas adventure, you definitely want to consider your travel insurance options. It’s essential to be covered during long-term travel should any emergencies arise. There are a variety of options for nomads, and some cover a little time in the U.S. each year. SafetyWing offers terrific global travel medical insurance for nomads and travelers. They have built a global social safety net tailored to the needs of online freelancers, entrepreneurs, and remote companies.
Apps to Download
Ridesharing: We suggest downloading and setting up Uber, Grab, Bolt and InDrive apps before you leave the U.S., so you’ll have them when you need them.
VPN: This is a good tool to have on your phone and laptop to ensure you can access sites in the U.S. (which sometimes ban folks from abroad). Our two favorites are ExpressVPN and Surfshark. Mark has had more success with ExpressVPN (if you want to watch your favorite streaming services overseas) than with Surfshark.
Dining: A lot of cities use OpenTable for reservations. However, it’s a great idea to download a couple of other reservations apps as well. Resy and TheFork are two others we run into.
Find Your Community
You can find nomad groups on Facebook that are full of like-minded people – both full-time and part-time nomads. It’s a great mix of long-time veterans and newbies just starting out on their journey. We find everyone to be very helpful and supportive. Our favorite:
Go With Less – This Facebook Group is for nomads and it’s an amazing community. Every week you can post your locations for the next month, including cruises, and plan meet-ups with others doing the same thing. We’ve met some really nice people this way. They also take cruises together which is fun.
A few other groups we recommend for long-term travel:
Full Time Travelers And Nomads
Long-Term Travel Considerations
A little planning and preparation before departing the U.S. can go a long way in preventing problems during the journey. Think through each of these categories and make sure you’re covered. Then enjoy the adventure!
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