Would you leave everything to see the whole world?

Traveling is inspiring on so many levels, and you know you have a traveler soul when in your heart you feel that you could just keep traveling. Forever. When you miss home, but you don’t really look forward to going back, not even after two months. When you like your routine, but can easily throw it out the window in the name of adventure.

Alex and I had a crazy thought a few weeks ago: why couldn’t we just travel? Why couldn’t we try for a couple of years what people call nomadic life? What would really keep us from selling everything we own, put the rest in a couple of big luggages, and just travel from one place to the other? What would we lose or miss? And what would we gain?

Since we talked about it, this idea of a nomadic lifestyle keeps going through my head and the only way I know to deal with it is to write it down. So here it goes, pros and cons, wishes and concerns, in the most simplistic form I can express them. Because you, my readers, are always a source of inspiration and advice, and I can’t wait to hear what you think.

PROS

• I always say that traveling is the only thing that you buy that makes you richer. Imagine how much traveling we could do if we didn’t have (m)any fixed expenses—rent, car, school, nursery—but traveling.
• I hate the thought of dying eventually—always have—and if I had to think about one thing that would really make my life worth living, I'd think about traveling. There is so much world to see and so limited time to see it. A nomadic lifestyle would allow us to see the whole world, and as I’m writing this a rush of adrenaline runs through my veins and I get tears in my eyes.
• Alex and I can travel anywhere in the world: we’re in such a privileged position that we would be completely insane not to take advantage of it.
• We could live the minimalistic lifestyle we’ve always wanted. The idea of selling everything we own, and leave with only a couple of luggages is so appealing to me.
• Oliver and Emily would get to live the world, to know so many cultures, to experience so much life. It would give them a different mindset for the rest of their life.
• A two-month travel like the one we did in Canada is expensive—no matter how frugal you are. And back at home there's always a rent to pay, too, which makes the holiday even more expensive. That expense wouldn't exist if we didn't have a place to go back to.

CONS

• We wouldn’t have a place to call “home” anymore, which I always liked. Home to me is not where my house is, it’s where my people are. I’d miss my people so so much, I’d miss seeing my friends’ kids grow up, I’d miss my dance shows with the people I consider family.
• I like my stuff. It might sound silly, but I like my good frying pan, my HomePod, my projector. I like Oliver and Emily’s toys and books. I like that Alex has his own bike, because it’s his only hobby. I like making all our long-term apartments gorgeous to my own standards: I’d miss that when traveling around the world constantly.
• I can’t help thinking, are we being selfish? Would this be right for the kids? Kids love routine, and they have their people, too. Oliver doesn’t talk much about his friends, but I know he misses them, and he misses friends in general: the other day he was playing with some new friends at the playground, and as I was watching him play with other kids, I realized that it was the first time in over a week. When you travel constantly, it's hard(er) to make friends.
• Last but not least. In September I’ll be regaining some of my blogging time when Emily starts nursery. Traveling and not having a routine most likely means I’ll have to give my "me time" up again—or at least part of it.

Truth is, he idea of actually starting a nomadic life makes me bite my nails (which is what I do when I feel stressed or nervous). But I also know that when I can find pros to my cons, and talk myself into doing something I feel nervous about, it means that I really want it.

PROS TO MY CONS

As I was writing down my cons, the little voice inside me was saying:

• True, but it wouldn’t be much different from the way I've lived with my extended family for the past 10+ years. It's a choice, and I could make it work like I did with my family. And just imagine how many new friends we would make, we’d have a friend in every part of the world.
• A month into our Canadian adventure, I haven’t missed a single thing that I left behind. I' flexible, I adapt easily, and lately I’ve actually learnt to be even more conscious when buying. Having a place to put stuff triggers the need/want to buy more of it.
• We might be selfish. It might not be 100% what the kids need. But a) If we don’t do it now that the kids are not in school yet, then when?; b) They might not go to nursery all year round, but isn’t the real world the best school ever anyway? And c) We could stay in each place for a bit longer, or even go where we find Montessori nurseries. There are so many possibilities if we only wanted to explore them.
• True, but then imagine just how much more material I’ll have to write about. Nomadic life with toddlers… it sounds to me like an infinite source of amazing posts for my blog! And also… Nothing is irreversible, we can stop and settle again any time.

This is what’s going on in my mind, intermittently.

But mostly there’s this mind-blowing thought: at the end of this adventure, we’ll have spent two months in east Canada. What if we could just move on to West Canada? And then down to the States. Or to Latin America. And then all the way around the globe to Australia. And then to Asia. And then to the North Pole… How amazing would that be?

So I’m asking you. Would you do it, if you could?