I don’t have a home. I mean I do have a home, but it’s not permanently located at one spot. I used to say, home is wherever my backpack is. But also it is everywhere I feel comfortable. Home is where family and friends are. But it can also be a familiar place I come back to. My home is always moving and to cut it short for you: This blogpost is about how my (moving) home came to life.
While I was still studying I always thought I should start to work right after, find a job in a big company, make career and move in with someone. The closer my studies came to an end, the more I realized that this didn’t feel right. I didn’t wanna settle down at all. All I had was this feeling though, there was no plan and not even the slightest idea what I’m gonna do.
By total coincidence I found a small IT company to write my Master thesis with. I neither considered myself working in IT nor did I know that there are companies without offices. How does that even work? Frankly speaking, I was very close cancelling the job interview as I was scared of the unknown. Luckily I didn’t cancel. Never try never know, is what I thought, when I took the job.
And this is, how totally unexpected, my moving home came (in)to (my) life.
If someone told me two years ago that I would be moving around with my laptop and having a proper fulltime job with lots of responsibility, I probably wouldn’t have believed them. I’ve never planned or even thought of living a life like that.
Read more about my Coliving adventures so far!
Work life balance at its finest
The first country I worked from was Thailand in February 2020. I usually worked from where I was staying – mostly hostels. Maybe it was due to COVID or I was just lucky, but there weren’t many people around so I either worked from dorms or common areas. The work feeling itself wasn’t very different from working at home. Except for all the other perks that came with being in Thailand: Yoga before work, beach after, good food and company in between. Summing up: A work life balance at its finest. In the end I stayed in Thailand for five months. Four of them on the beautiful island of Koh Tao. Read more about my life on an island or check out my video.
![working and eating papaya](https://i0.wp.com/placesoflinda.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/File_000-2.jpeg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
![mona lisa in le louvre august 2020](https://i0.wp.com/placesoflinda.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/File_001.jpeg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
As we all know, travelling in 2020 wasn’t as easy as expected. But when the whole pandemic situation relaxed a bit during summer I decided to spend a week in Paris. This time I got myself an AirBnb. What can I say… going to see the Eiffel tower, the Louvre, eating crêpes and sitting by the Seine after work was just too good to be true.
In September I spent 1.5 weeks in London – a city I fell in love with in 2013. I went back there in November and at this very moment I’m calling it my current home.
This is how I spent the first months of the pandemic.
There is no perfect
It has always been a big dream of mine to live in different places for a while and to experience new lifestyles and cultures. My moving home – but especially my employer – made all this possible, which I’m really grateful for. So far my laptop and I have been to great places and met awesome people along the way.
There are a few things very important for me to mention. Don’t get the image that this is a perfect (work) life, because it isn’t. There are indeed great advantages that come with it, but also some burdens. I have to be very active for example to have a social life and meet people during my stays. And I don’t get the pleasure of having lunch or even a coffee with a colleague. Also I don’t get to see my friends and family on a regular basis. Continuity is something that is not really part of this lifestyle.
Most importantly, it’s not that I just got offered to travel around. I had many talks with my employer and also worked hard to get this privilege. There’s so much more behind something that seems so perfect on social media – please never forget that.
![Seine Paris](https://i0.wp.com/placesoflinda.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/File_000-1-scaled-1-e1675831026552-1024x676.webp?resize=800%2C528&ssl=1)
Where to next?
For me – right now – being a ‘nomad’ feels right. I love packing my bags and going to new places. I love coming back to my home home. I love the changes and adapting to them. And as long as this feels right, I want to keep doing this. Because who knows, one day I might settle down somewhere and it will feel right.
I don’t have a plan yet, where or when my moving home and I are going next. Also in regard to the pandemic and lockdown it’s best to not move around too much. So I guess we’ll move around when the time is right, and it will happen soon.