Why I chose to live my life as a nomad: An origin story
When I left the U.S. in 2017 to explore life as a nomad in Europe, I thought it would only be for a year. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
The travel bug
I started traveling back when I lived in Los Angeles. Johnny and I were both in college and took our first grown-up trip to Cancun on a winter break. After college we went to Hawaii, Belize and eventually Italy.
Something changed in me when we took our first trip to Europe. The history, the art, the food, the entire energy was pure magic. It was also very different from the tropical vacations we usually went on. A deep desire was planted to someday travel more in Europe. I dreamed about being transcontinental, living part of the year in Europe and the other part in the U.S. I read a paper newsletter called International Living and fantasized about one day living abroad. It was around 2000 at that time. Cell phones hadn’t been around very long and there were no digital nomads. But I continued to dream. I didn’t think that dream would ever actually become reality until…
Seventeen years later
Portland, Oregon (photo by robin-davidson on Unsplash)
We lived in Portland for twelve years, 2005 to 2017. The last few months in Portland, Oregon before I left were particularly challenging. I was grieving a significant amount of personal loss. I had a hysterectomy earlier that year due to fibroids. Even though I had never planned on having kids, the surgery closed the door on the possibility. But if I had to do it over again, I would make the exact same choice. My quality of life greatly improved, however there was a lingering process of letting go.
In the same year my family home in Los Angeles was sold. It was sad knowing that I could never return to the house where I grew up. I grieved the loss of my familial base, connected to all my childhood memories. And then the final loss came when the house we’d lived in for twelve years, which we didn’t own, was sold.
“Instead of renting an overpriced apartment in Portland, would you like to live in Europe?” Johnny asked.
But that’s just a dream, I remember thinking. That’s something other people do, right?
Apparently, it was the exact thing that people like us do. After a few logistics and number crunching we figured out that we could actually save money by living in Europe. Johnny already had an online gig along with book publications. The last few months in Portland I transitioned my in-person business to an online shop selling prints.
Fear and excitement
The prospect of exploring Europe with Johnny seemed like a bright light after a long dance with loss. I remember going to the airport early in the morning for our international flight, headed to Valencia, Spain. I was excited about this opportunity to travel but also afraid. As we left the U.S. we no longer had a permanent residence. No home base anywhere. The future ahead of us was uncertain. I didn’t know anyone who’d done something like this. I felt like I’d taken a giant leap off a cliff without a parachute. We were going to figure it out as we went, and I assumed we’d return to live in the U.S. again after a year or thereabouts.
The beginning of nomadic travels
Turia Park, Valencia, Spain (photo by Roxanne Patruznick)
The first few months abroad were surreal. I felt like I was living in a dream. Everything felt more vivid and magical. I would take morning runs in Turia Park in Valencia, hearing Spanish people chatting at the outdoor cafes. Or stroll through old, cobblestone streets with thousand-year-old buildings and aromas of fresh-baked bread wafting out of bakeries on every corner. We had an opportunity to stay at a friend’s apartment on Mallorca for two months, which was another fortuitous event in our travels. There have been many of these events since then.
In the early days of travel both Johnny and I went through a period of time where we kept feeling like we were forgetting something (I’m sure other nomads can relate). Could it really be this easy to leave the U.S.? One of the hardest parts about leaving for me was leaving my friends and community behind, especially my best friend back in Portland. Long distance relationships are hard. Sometimes my heart ached so bad. But there was something that compelled me forward in our travels, a curiosity, a fuel for my creative pursuits, I’m not even completely sure I knew all of what it was.
Returning to the U.S.
Take off from Valencia, Spain back to the U.S. (photo by Roxanne Patruznick)
Time moves differently when you’re not rooted in one place. At the end of our first year in Europe I went back to Portland, Oregon for a three-week visit. I wanted to see how my heart and mind felt about being back in Portland and the U.S. But even before the plane touched down, I was fairly certain I wasn’t ready to move back permanently. It was amazing to see my friends who I dearly missed, especially my best friend who I stayed with. A year wasn’t quite long enough to see a dramatic change yet. Things were still very similar to how they were when we left. I visited some of my favorite places and the same people were still there. It still felt like a home but there was a sense of another home far away that beckoned me. I was only in the U.S. for three weeks, but I was ready to go back to Europe. Johnny stayed in Glasgow, and I was anxious to return, be with him, and continue our adventures. Maybe after another year or two we’d come back and settle down.
Returning to Europe
When I returned to Europe after my brief American visit, I was so excited to see Johnny. I realized that he was my home, not a specific place. Wherever we were together was home. We were fortunately on the same page with wanting to continue our nomad adventures. I think we were both curious to see where this way of living would take us and how it would change our writing and art, as well as how it would shape us as people. After over seven years, living as nomads continues to impact who we are, what we create, and how we see the world.
In life, sometimes I make a choice and other times, it feels like life chooses for me. I think back to that year of loss and see that I also gained something. If our house hadn’t sold, we probably wouldn’t have made the choice to become nomads. After all this time on the road, I am so grateful to choose to live as a nomad and just as grateful to do it with the love of my life.
Montreal, Canada (Photo by Roxanne Patruznick)
I think the reasons I started on this adventure as a nomad was an inner desire to heal something, create something, and redefine what home is. And I continue to learn and grow from this life of travel. When I asked Johnny why he chose moving to Europe over staying in Portland, I love his answer, “It just sounds more interesting.”
Written by Roxanne Patruznick