My guest for this episode is Valerie Perry. Valerie has made a career out of exciting jobs that made it possible for her to travel and see the world. Valerie is currently a Cruise & Travel Director with the Holland America Line. Previously she worked for National Geographic and before that she spent four years at sea with Royal Caribbean. Valerie’s mission is to inspire people to live larger, more passionate and adventurous lives than they ever dreamed possible.
In this episode we talk about:
As a digital nomad, you will generally have a much better experience if you stay in a private apartment or house, rather than a hotel, guesthouse, or hostel.
One of the major benefits of renting a private apartment is that, unlike hotels, apartments tend to be spread throughout the city, not all clustered in one or two main tourist areas.
This gives you a much better opportunity to experience the place you are visiting as a local, instead of as an outsider.
As a bonus, there’s a good chance that your apartment will be hosted/managed by a local who can give you a head start on finding the best places in the neighborhood.
Apartments typically have more space than even high-end hotel suites, and apartments almost always come with kitchens. Even if you are not planning to do any serious cooking, it’s nice to have space to prepare coffee, tea, breakfasts, and simple snacks.
I recommend using Airbnb for booking apartments. There are plenty of alternatives, but I like using Airbnb for the following reasons:
Here’s the exact process that I have used to book hundreds of nights in Airbnbs all over the world since 2011:
My first morning in Uzbekistan, and I’m exhausted. The journey here has taken days. I only fell asleep a few hours ago, but the morning sun is already burning through our hotel room windows. Unable to sleep any longer, I decided to go for a walk.
Most of the city is still asleep, save for a few birds and the odd policeman. I wandered through the old covered bazaars and caravanserai, past the mosques and medressas that will be packed with tourists in a few hours, and started down one of Bukhara’s dusty back streets.
Instagram now has over one billion users. That’s roughly three times the population of the entire United States, sharing and liking photos and videos. Not exactly a well-kept secret, but I think most people underestimate just how massive the “Instagram effect” can be. Especially when it comes to discovering new trends. Instagram influences the way we dress, the things we buy, and the food we eat. But what about travel? How has Instagram changed the way we travel?
When I tell people that I have lived for years as a nomad, traveling all the time, they often say to me, “You must have been everywhere by now!”
No way!
I am very fortunate, having traveled to many countries, but there are so many more that I have not yet visited. I am missing two whole continents (I have never been to Australia or Antarctica) and I’ve only just scratched the surface of Africa.
Even in Europe, where I’ve done the most exploring, I still have a handful of countries left to visit… like Scotland, Sweden, and Norway in the North; Cyprus and Malta in the South; also Belarus, and a few of the Balkans. Closer to home, I’ve never even been to Mexico, Central America, or anywhere in the Caribbean!
I don’t travel for the sake of “checking countries off my list.” Instead, I go to the places that interest me the most. I also revisit my favorite places as often as I can. As for the rest, I figure I’ll get there eventually.
But there are plenty of new places that I am very eager to visit. Here are a few of the ones that excite me the most at the moment:
April 13, 2018
Arrival in Buenos Aires.
I just traveled for an entire day to get here. Uber from Cascais to Lisbon, three hour flight from Lisbon to Frankfurt, and a 14 hour non-stop flight from Frankfurt to Buenos Aires. Then the taxi ride from the airport to my Airbnb in Palermo took so long that I had to ask the driver to stop for a bathroom break. There was an accident on the main road, so we took a detour. So did everyone else. A few more detours later and we were on a road that was only partially paved, and surrounded by trash heaps.
Even after all that, I’m a little surprised to actually be here. I almost cancelled this entire trip to South America. It sounded fun, but too disruptive. There’s too much going on in my life. Work is busy! I need to get back to DC. All the usual excuses. Plus, this was supposed to be the year to slow down a bit, travel a little less, and spend more time in one place. Instead, I’ve been to five continents in five months.