Six years ago poet Todd Boss embraced the flexibility of "work-from-home" by becoming a middle-aged globe-trotter, bouncing from one temporary residence to another.
I have extreme mixed feelings about this essay. Incredible life -- but, as the child of a similar nomad, I admired my father's life while watching my mother slog away to raise the children left behind.
Thank you. I have always harbored these nomad fantasies and yet, reading this, I long to hear this story from the children's perspective (if not the ex-wife).
I felt the same! Thank you for articulating that. I'm the grandchild of a man who could never see a train or a plane go by without wishing he were on it. He often left the family and the stories of his escapades were legendary. He would advise me, "do everything, tell no one." Experiences of traveling are usually told from from the point of view of the wanderer, yet i'm curious about the view from the ones who stayed. This was a great essay and I enjoyed the read and thoughts it sparked.
Do you think people like this should perhaps marry each other so that no one ‘stays’?
The minimalist nomadic life seems to reduce the number of mundane things that one has to actively worry about. In a similar way to what happens when one is able to focus on one thing rather than multi-task.
I read somewhere of a writer who said that when he was going through intense periods of writing, he forgot how to be a human. He forgot bills that needed to be paid and such things.
The writing that he does in such times is probably quite good.
Perhaps it is the case that for some people, shedding off as much as possible is their best place. And it would be less inconvenient if their chosen life partners were similar.
As it happens, the girl I met in the article is the same one that's still with me today... and she's a minimalist too! As I write this comment, half her furniture is on Craigslist and most of her belongings are being sorted into little sell / keep / give / throw piles all over the house, in preparation for a move to Austin, Texas. She lived a spartan life up till now, but the urge to purge has taken over, and she keep declaring it FUN! ... She's an artist like me, a Grammy-winning musician. Perhaps you're right. At the very least, I can say we've forged a bond over our mutual love for the lightness of being!
Wow! What an inspiring story! At the age of 66 and a year before retirement, I sold my home, gave most of my possessions away, put the rest in storage and moved to NYC. It was perhaps the best year of my life! I love big cities and they don’t get much better than New York. On retiring, I left NYC, spent Covid in a smaller city and then hit the road. For the last 3 years I’ve moved around Europe living in London (3 times), Paris (twice), Dublin, and Prague while visiting other cities along the way. It is not always easy, but it is always rewarding. And it is not as expensive as you think it is! I have made new friends at every stop, explored beautiful cities at a leisurely pace, and learned so much — language, history, food, culture! At 72 I know I can’t do it forever, but what a life I’m living now. Thank you for reminding me of that. Safe travels to you!
At 72, you're the inspiration, Virginia! There's clarity in your comment, and I feel your enthusiasm for the nomad's life. I like how you say you explored "at a leisurely pace." It's true that the nomadic lifestyle affords one of a different calendar. There's more to be written about that. Thanks for the prompt!
I love this so much! I survived the pandemic, mentally and physically, by renting several Airbnbs. My son had just turned 8 yrs old when NYC locked down in March 2020. I began working remotely from from our 2 bed/1 bath apartment while my husband tried to supervise our son's virtual classroom. He was on ssa disability after being diagnosed with stage IV cancer in 2018. His monthly palliative chemo treatments left him immunocompromised while the city was reporting makeshift morgues in hospital parking lots to handle the onslaught of bodies from Covid-19. We couldn't go far because of his treatments, but we had a car. I rented a house in a nearby suburb in Westchester County, NY for April and May 2020. When we learned day camps were remaining closed for the summer, I rented a house with a pool in Westport, CT from June-August 2020. I was grateful we were able to spend so much time together as a family while my husband was still tolerating chemo fairly well. We eventually moved back to the city when our son could go back to school in person, but my husband's health deteriorated and he died in August 2021. I still look back on the summer of 2020 with gratitude, and mourn alongside all those who lost a loved one during the pandemic.
Amy, I’m so glad you had the resources and drive to make the most of tragic situations. Wishing you and your son a beautiful future with solid compounding memories.
Thanks Sari for posting this beautiful essay from Todd. His story, his lessons, his prose resonated deeply as I lived semi-nomadically for a couple of years.
It had been a dream of ours to visit our National Parks. After a trifecta of deaths in less than four months, we verbalized “tomorrow is never promised”. If we were going to realize our dream, we needed to develop a plan. Four years later, still in our prime earning years, my wife and I quit our high paying jobs, sold 95% of our possessions, traveled around the US in an RV for two years and explored our magnificent country. We visited 20 of our 63 national parks. Family and friends thought we lost our minds when we shared our vision. Sure, it was a risk to walk away from the perceived security of money but it would have been an even bigger risk not to realize our dream and live with the regret of could have, should have.
Many say "when the time is right" they'll head for the hills as we have, but I appreciate that you didn't wait, comforts and earnings be damned. Amazing. Thanks for sharing!
As cruising sailors for the last 35 years, my husband and I often hear people say they are planning to go cruising in 5 or 10 years. It usually doesn't happen. Life intrudes. Go sooner not later. There's always time for work later (we both work from home now).
My cousin and her family were making big plans to go cruising in "5 years" before covid hit. When the world shut down and they were working from home, they realized the didn't have to wait for some magical time in the future. They sold they house and all their stuff and bought a 45 ft catamaran. They've been sailing in the Caribbean for the last 3 years, with their teen boys along for the ride. They've met many other traveling families and found a community of other sailors.
Lisa- my husband and I did the same. Quit our big jobs working for “the man” at 52 and headed out on the road, living full time in our self converted van -exploring the all of the wild places in the US. I completely relate to the idea Todd writes of— a change internally gives us the ability to connect with the magic of the world because one is unencumbered by the weight of things and expectations of material society. We are stationary again but I would go out on the road in a heartbeat. House sitting sounds like a wonderful variation on a theme.
“Enchantment has been my only souvenir.” That’s the sentence I’ll take with me. I need more enchantment in my life! Loved going on this journey as I cannot travel often right now, but definitely dream about buying the first ticket and hopping from there. As a mother and now a caregiver it’s not in the cards yet, but it’s helpful to know the fantasy is not crazy. Thanks for sharing this.
Absolutely love this. The nomad life isn't really me - I'm too conventional and too successful and happy that way - but something about this piece struck me and made me want to share it with everyone. Thanks so much for this glimpse into another way of living.
I'm sharing this piece with my husband for the same reason :) He is happy being conventional. We married three years ago, so I'm learning this side of him... now he's going to see my side from a different angle!
I knew it. I just knew there was something good about the life you’ve chosen. But I didn’t know how good. Of course you’ve given us a richer description than most of us can imagine. And of course it’s you and your huge capacity for wonder and for drinking in what’s there. Thank you for living this for those of us less brave.
I love that you kept going when the world changed. In 2019, when my husband turned 50, we pulled our 12 yo out of school and embarked on what was meant to be a 15 month trip around the world. We made it through South America, across the Pacific, through New Zealand and Australia and parts of Asia. We were in Uzbekistan when the world shut down in March 2020. We were evacuated and retreated to be near family in Australia. At the time, we were going to just ride out the pandemic in Australia and then continue our travels. In the end, we stayed in Australia and have settled here for the moment. My son will graduate high school this year. I'm not sure we'll ever be total nomads again, but I do miss so much about it.
My husband is actually Australian, so it was coming home for him. My son is a dual citizen. So I was the only one who had to immigrate, and it was pretty easy because of the family connection. But generally, it’s pretty difficult.
Excellent piece that really "hit home" for this 62-year-old sailing nomad (currently housesitting). I particularly loved these lines: A feel for the planet unvarnished by the faux luxuries of the travel industry. A recalibration of the terms of success." I recalibrate daily.
Last month I was residing in my 50th housesit on my 50th birthday over five years living around the world thanks to Trusted Housesitters. Though my nomad life began as a response to extraordinary loss and grief, it has become a wondrous way of life that fills me with joy, even in the bewildering unmoored moments, of which there are plenty. Thank you for putting your experience into words that resonate deeply in my own heart. The Bay Area is my home base launching pad now, so perhaps we'll cross paths in person one day!
I love this. "The world is neither more vivid nor more meaningful. You’re just more available, more present, more vulnerable. The change is in you." is so resonant. I started traveling young and I always have this anxiety that if I don't continue it right now I'll lose it forever. It's nice to hear your story and themes of rediscovering yourself and starting over as a means for travel.
Oh, man, I love this essay and how it illuminates the choice to love the world, to find a way to love the world. How possible that is if we put our minds to it. I, too, have felt that I might have to erect something along the lines of a fishing shack and drill an auger through the ice in order to find the soul. You've reminded me that when the dream of travel (also known to me as the dream of falling in love with the world) emerges from the mist, the soul often begins to nibble at the line I've cast from my state of utter lostness. I love how the essay begins with the honest admission of disillusionment--which is as inevitable with travel as it is with life--and ends with a dissolving of the resistance to "what is." Today was exactly the day I needed to hear this story. I asked for it, and it arrived. Thank you!
I am soooo glad Todd decided to sell all his stuff. I was just reading in Sunday's New York Times (2/25) about homeless people. Some were spending over $200 EVERY MONTH to store all their belongings. Now there are stuck with late fees and soon it will all be auctioned off. Why didn't they (and all Americans) just sell the stuff instead? That way you get money from it and others can use the stuff. Do you know what the top 2 things are that people put into paid storage? #1 Furniture. #2 "I don't remember." People can't even remember all the crap they have stored! Unless you are moving from one home to another and the closing dates are a few months apart, it never pays to store your furniture and books. And clothes?! Pul-leeze. You're never fitting into them again. Sell/give them away so they can be used instead of sitting in a storage container literally costing you thousands of dollars every year.
I look forward to the Oldster interviews - yet this piece by Todd Boss hits home a bit more than all of them. And tells me, no screams at me, to follow my yearning to let go of the attachments that bind me and follow the path of not the straight and narrow. Thank you for sharing this - I feel the joys, peace, comfort and beautiful challenges this nomadic-esq life takes.
LOL about the lease cancellation. I'm with you!
I have extreme mixed feelings about this essay. Incredible life -- but, as the child of a similar nomad, I admired my father's life while watching my mother slog away to raise the children left behind.
Thank you. I have always harbored these nomad fantasies and yet, reading this, I long to hear this story from the children's perspective (if not the ex-wife).
I felt the same! Thank you for articulating that. I'm the grandchild of a man who could never see a train or a plane go by without wishing he were on it. He often left the family and the stories of his escapades were legendary. He would advise me, "do everything, tell no one." Experiences of traveling are usually told from from the point of view of the wanderer, yet i'm curious about the view from the ones who stayed. This was a great essay and I enjoyed the read and thoughts it sparked.
Do you think people like this should perhaps marry each other so that no one ‘stays’?
The minimalist nomadic life seems to reduce the number of mundane things that one has to actively worry about. In a similar way to what happens when one is able to focus on one thing rather than multi-task.
I read somewhere of a writer who said that when he was going through intense periods of writing, he forgot how to be a human. He forgot bills that needed to be paid and such things.
The writing that he does in such times is probably quite good.
Perhaps it is the case that for some people, shedding off as much as possible is their best place. And it would be less inconvenient if their chosen life partners were similar.
As it happens, the girl I met in the article is the same one that's still with me today... and she's a minimalist too! As I write this comment, half her furniture is on Craigslist and most of her belongings are being sorted into little sell / keep / give / throw piles all over the house, in preparation for a move to Austin, Texas. She lived a spartan life up till now, but the urge to purge has taken over, and she keep declaring it FUN! ... She's an artist like me, a Grammy-winning musician. Perhaps you're right. At the very least, I can say we've forged a bond over our mutual love for the lightness of being!
Congratulations, Todd.
My thoughts as well.
Wow! What an inspiring story! At the age of 66 and a year before retirement, I sold my home, gave most of my possessions away, put the rest in storage and moved to NYC. It was perhaps the best year of my life! I love big cities and they don’t get much better than New York. On retiring, I left NYC, spent Covid in a smaller city and then hit the road. For the last 3 years I’ve moved around Europe living in London (3 times), Paris (twice), Dublin, and Prague while visiting other cities along the way. It is not always easy, but it is always rewarding. And it is not as expensive as you think it is! I have made new friends at every stop, explored beautiful cities at a leisurely pace, and learned so much — language, history, food, culture! At 72 I know I can’t do it forever, but what a life I’m living now. Thank you for reminding me of that. Safe travels to you!
At 72, you're the inspiration, Virginia! There's clarity in your comment, and I feel your enthusiasm for the nomad's life. I like how you say you explored "at a leisurely pace." It's true that the nomadic lifestyle affords one of a different calendar. There's more to be written about that. Thanks for the prompt!
You absolutely rock.
I would love to read a memoir about this. What a fascinating adventure!
I'm working on it! Thanks, Jay.
I second this!
Me too!! 💚
literally was thinking the same as I read this!
I love this so much! I survived the pandemic, mentally and physically, by renting several Airbnbs. My son had just turned 8 yrs old when NYC locked down in March 2020. I began working remotely from from our 2 bed/1 bath apartment while my husband tried to supervise our son's virtual classroom. He was on ssa disability after being diagnosed with stage IV cancer in 2018. His monthly palliative chemo treatments left him immunocompromised while the city was reporting makeshift morgues in hospital parking lots to handle the onslaught of bodies from Covid-19. We couldn't go far because of his treatments, but we had a car. I rented a house in a nearby suburb in Westchester County, NY for April and May 2020. When we learned day camps were remaining closed for the summer, I rented a house with a pool in Westport, CT from June-August 2020. I was grateful we were able to spend so much time together as a family while my husband was still tolerating chemo fairly well. We eventually moved back to the city when our son could go back to school in person, but my husband's health deteriorated and he died in August 2021. I still look back on the summer of 2020 with gratitude, and mourn alongside all those who lost a loved one during the pandemic.
❤️
Amy, I’m so glad you had the resources and drive to make the most of tragic situations. Wishing you and your son a beautiful future with solid compounding memories.
I’m sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing your story.
Thanks Sari for posting this beautiful essay from Todd. His story, his lessons, his prose resonated deeply as I lived semi-nomadically for a couple of years.
It had been a dream of ours to visit our National Parks. After a trifecta of deaths in less than four months, we verbalized “tomorrow is never promised”. If we were going to realize our dream, we needed to develop a plan. Four years later, still in our prime earning years, my wife and I quit our high paying jobs, sold 95% of our possessions, traveled around the US in an RV for two years and explored our magnificent country. We visited 20 of our 63 national parks. Family and friends thought we lost our minds when we shared our vision. Sure, it was a risk to walk away from the perceived security of money but it would have been an even bigger risk not to realize our dream and live with the regret of could have, should have.
Many say "when the time is right" they'll head for the hills as we have, but I appreciate that you didn't wait, comforts and earnings be damned. Amazing. Thanks for sharing!
As cruising sailors for the last 35 years, my husband and I often hear people say they are planning to go cruising in 5 or 10 years. It usually doesn't happen. Life intrudes. Go sooner not later. There's always time for work later (we both work from home now).
My cousin and her family were making big plans to go cruising in "5 years" before covid hit. When the world shut down and they were working from home, they realized the didn't have to wait for some magical time in the future. They sold they house and all their stuff and bought a 45 ft catamaran. They've been sailing in the Caribbean for the last 3 years, with their teen boys along for the ride. They've met many other traveling families and found a community of other sailors.
Genius timing. Lucky them! We have met so many great families while cruising.
Lisa- my husband and I did the same. Quit our big jobs working for “the man” at 52 and headed out on the road, living full time in our self converted van -exploring the all of the wild places in the US. I completely relate to the idea Todd writes of— a change internally gives us the ability to connect with the magic of the world because one is unencumbered by the weight of things and expectations of material society. We are stationary again but I would go out on the road in a heartbeat. House sitting sounds like a wonderful variation on a theme.
“Enchantment has been my only souvenir.” That’s the sentence I’ll take with me. I need more enchantment in my life! Loved going on this journey as I cannot travel often right now, but definitely dream about buying the first ticket and hopping from there. As a mother and now a caregiver it’s not in the cards yet, but it’s helpful to know the fantasy is not crazy. Thanks for sharing this.
Absolutely love this. The nomad life isn't really me - I'm too conventional and too successful and happy that way - but something about this piece struck me and made me want to share it with everyone. Thanks so much for this glimpse into another way of living.
I'm sharing this piece with my husband for the same reason :) He is happy being conventional. We married three years ago, so I'm learning this side of him... now he's going to see my side from a different angle!
…the extraordinary luxury of less. A moving and beautifully told story. Thank you.
I knew it. I just knew there was something good about the life you’ve chosen. But I didn’t know how good. Of course you’ve given us a richer description than most of us can imagine. And of course it’s you and your huge capacity for wonder and for drinking in what’s there. Thank you for living this for those of us less brave.
I love that you kept going when the world changed. In 2019, when my husband turned 50, we pulled our 12 yo out of school and embarked on what was meant to be a 15 month trip around the world. We made it through South America, across the Pacific, through New Zealand and Australia and parts of Asia. We were in Uzbekistan when the world shut down in March 2020. We were evacuated and retreated to be near family in Australia. At the time, we were going to just ride out the pandemic in Australia and then continue our travels. In the end, we stayed in Australia and have settled here for the moment. My son will graduate high school this year. I'm not sure we'll ever be total nomads again, but I do miss so much about it.
Love that!! How hard was it to immigrate to Australia?
My husband is actually Australian, so it was coming home for him. My son is a dual citizen. So I was the only one who had to immigrate, and it was pretty easy because of the family connection. But generally, it’s pretty difficult.
Thanks! Yes, I heard… and no people over 50 …
Excellent piece that really "hit home" for this 62-year-old sailing nomad (currently housesitting). I particularly loved these lines: A feel for the planet unvarnished by the faux luxuries of the travel industry. A recalibration of the terms of success." I recalibrate daily.
Last month I was residing in my 50th housesit on my 50th birthday over five years living around the world thanks to Trusted Housesitters. Though my nomad life began as a response to extraordinary loss and grief, it has become a wondrous way of life that fills me with joy, even in the bewildering unmoored moments, of which there are plenty. Thank you for putting your experience into words that resonate deeply in my own heart. The Bay Area is my home base launching pad now, so perhaps we'll cross paths in person one day!
There are a surprising number of coincidental journey-points between us, Breq. I agree it would be fun to connect with you.
I love this. "The world is neither more vivid nor more meaningful. You’re just more available, more present, more vulnerable. The change is in you." is so resonant. I started traveling young and I always have this anxiety that if I don't continue it right now I'll lose it forever. It's nice to hear your story and themes of rediscovering yourself and starting over as a means for travel.
Oh, man, I love this essay and how it illuminates the choice to love the world, to find a way to love the world. How possible that is if we put our minds to it. I, too, have felt that I might have to erect something along the lines of a fishing shack and drill an auger through the ice in order to find the soul. You've reminded me that when the dream of travel (also known to me as the dream of falling in love with the world) emerges from the mist, the soul often begins to nibble at the line I've cast from my state of utter lostness. I love how the essay begins with the honest admission of disillusionment--which is as inevitable with travel as it is with life--and ends with a dissolving of the resistance to "what is." Today was exactly the day I needed to hear this story. I asked for it, and it arrived. Thank you!
I am soooo glad Todd decided to sell all his stuff. I was just reading in Sunday's New York Times (2/25) about homeless people. Some were spending over $200 EVERY MONTH to store all their belongings. Now there are stuck with late fees and soon it will all be auctioned off. Why didn't they (and all Americans) just sell the stuff instead? That way you get money from it and others can use the stuff. Do you know what the top 2 things are that people put into paid storage? #1 Furniture. #2 "I don't remember." People can't even remember all the crap they have stored! Unless you are moving from one home to another and the closing dates are a few months apart, it never pays to store your furniture and books. And clothes?! Pul-leeze. You're never fitting into them again. Sell/give them away so they can be used instead of sitting in a storage container literally costing you thousands of dollars every year.
I’ve bent over backwards, as the last of my immediate family, to keep historical items for future generations. Yes. It has been costly.
But I love museums. Somebody had to hang onto that stuff initially!
But now that I have met some cousins, they just don’t give a rip or ask for pawnable things not offered…
To hell with it. I’m going to photograph and write about them for my own pleasure and then sell them to supplement my inadequate SS.
I look forward to the Oldster interviews - yet this piece by Todd Boss hits home a bit more than all of them. And tells me, no screams at me, to follow my yearning to let go of the attachments that bind me and follow the path of not the straight and narrow. Thank you for sharing this - I feel the joys, peace, comfort and beautiful challenges this nomadic-esq life takes.
Every life has trade offs but I wouldn't trade traveling for anything else.