Katelin and I dreamed for 2 years about taking our business fully remote. Our desire has always been to use our "location-independent" business to travel to some awesome places while working abroad. The dream of working-while-traveling used to seem wishful and far-fetched to us until we did it for our first big international trip earlier this year. We traveled for 4 months throughout Asia including stops in Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, India and Qatar. 

I never had this strong desire to travel internationally until Katelin & I began traveling and dreaming about the potential to create an unconventional/creative lifestyle for ourselves. We were already used to working from coffee shops, at our home, or wherever else seemed fitting for the day. So, we decided to put this "work from anywhere" dream to the test.

Backpacking Asia was the perfect opportunity to do that. Making the digital nomad leap has been a life-changing move for us so far, and has really opened up our minds to the possibilities of creative entrepreneurship. I admittedly had a pretty limited worldview before we hopped out of our “bubble” for this trip. I had some significant perspective changes that helped me see truths about my life through experiencing other cultures.

1) Travel made me realize I can turn “unrealistic” dreams into reality.

Though it was really Katelin’s lifelong goal to travel internationally, it was really an amazing process even for us to plan this trip out 2 years before it even happened. Soon enough, it became my dream too.

From our studio apartment in Pensacola, FL, we decided we were going to sell everything and travel the world. We didn’t know exactly how it would look, and we ended up going a year after our initially planned date, but we friggin’ did it and that feeling alone is so incredible. 

We had a lot of resistance in planning and prepping for this adventure. There were many things bouncing around in our heads like “what if we stop getting business during our trip”, “what if we get robbed/kidnapped/etc” and the list of things goes on and on. Some people supported us, some people passively tried to intimidate us out of our decision, but that’s just a part of the process of doing something unconventional with your life. There will always be setbacks, naysayers, and self-doubt. But just do the thing and you’ll be happy you did.

Touching our feet down in Hanoi, Vietnam (first destination of our trip) was such a surreal and impactful experience that I will never forget. There’s something incredible about the feeling when a dream or a thought becomes manifested through the senses. You can see pictures or videos of a place/event, but there's absolutely nothing like experiencing the thing first-hand, especially when it comes to fulfilling your dreams.

2 ) Experiencing a new culture makes you realize that your reality is only one way of seeing the world.

The experience of “culture shock” alone will awaken you to the fact that your limited little worldview is just that; limited and biased. This is simply because the things that make up who you are as a person is only the sum of what you have personally been exposed to, experienced, or have been taught.

I think in realizing this, it makes a huge difference in how you approach and handle situations in your life with people, especially of different ethnicities, nationalities, and upbringings. My privileged American, white-dude life from small town Texas is much different than a young woman living in rural India. It's humbling and freeing to have that perspective change and will influence how you think about other peoples' situations.

Believing in a concept about your world is no match for making eye contact with a human being in a completely different part of the world. This will really make a big impact on you and the experience will stay with you in your daily life. Talk about having your bubble BURSTED.

3) A new appreciation for your home country will emerge from the depths of your soul.

People get really negative about their home town, state, country, myself included, but there’s something magical about being immersed in a completely new world that will teach you to appreciate things from your home. 

For instance, it could be small things like missing tasty craft beer or late-night Taco Bell like it was for me in Asia; or it could be more meaningful things like seeing IRL how damaging Communism and systemic oppression is. Walking away from some of the countries we visited, we couldn’t help but hold some of those American liberties we have dear to our hearts as we experienced some of the harsh realities millions of people around the world face on a daily basis. 

These types of things will at least rekindle a small fire of love and appreciation for your home country and upbringing, regardless of the negative aspects of them.

One important thing to note: Not all travelers have a mindset of  what I call ‘readiness to be revolutionized’ when it comes to their travels. When I took off to Asia, I was mentally and emotionally prepared to be impacted through by the history, culture, and people of the places I was going and was actively seeking opportunities to connect with locals, not backpackers. (I personally find many backpackers annoying, but maybe some good ones will change my mind one day).

My tip for meaningful travel experiences: It all depends on what mindset you go into your trip with. What type of traveler are you? Are you a vacationer? A volunteer? A student? A freeloader? I think we’re all one of these at one time or another, and that’s perfectly fine, you just have to adjust your mindset before your trip to get what you truly want out of it. I think you’ll attract the type of experiences you want to have if you approach situations with the proper mindset.

There’s so much more that I could have said, but I tried to keep it light & easy for my first blog at NewlyNomadic.com. I really appreciate you taking the time to read and join me in this recollection of our first real international trip. We hope to take many, many more and will include all the details of our new life living in Mexico (where we are currently). 

Written by Ricky Blaine