Tag: quality family time

Nomadic Narratives: Mastering the Digital Work-Life Balance

Posted on by Erika Bud

A nomad I will remain for life, in love with distant and uncharted places. – Isabelle Eberhardt

Nomadic Narratives: Mastering the Digital Work-Life Balance

Imagine a life where your office views constantly change, from serene beaches to bustling city cafes, all while achieving professional success. This is the digital nomad lifestyle, a blend of work and wanderlust. You have the power to make this dream a reality, and this guide is your roadmap to achieving that freedom. Courtesy of Big World Publishing, let’s dive into the essential steps to transition smoothly into a digital nomad life.

Exploring Remote Work Possibilities

Your first step is to explore the vast realm of remote work. Dig into various online platforms where remote jobs are listed, tailoring your search to align with your expertise and interests. Networking plays a crucial role here; connect with others who have carved out a niche in the digital nomad community. Their insights can lead you to unexplored opportunities, opening doors to roles that are a perfect match for your skills and lifestyle aspirations.

Enhancing Skills with Online Education

To thrive in the digital nomad landscape, continuously sharpening your skills is key. With an online degree program in computer science, you can deepen your knowledge in IT and programming. Such education not only boosts your technical prowess but also increases your marketability. This investment in your education will pay dividends, making you a sought-after professional in the remote working world.

Crafting a Compelling Portfolio

Your portfolio is your passport in the digital nomad universe. It should not only display your previous work but also reflect your unique flair and capabilities. A portfolio that speaks volumes about your expertise will set you apart in the competitive remote work marketplace. It’s your visual resume, showcasing your journey, skills, and the value you bring to potential employers or clients.

Navigating the Tax Landscape

When embarking on your digital nomad journey, it’s essential to get your finances in order. Registering for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) streamlines your tax process. It’s a responsible step that signifies your commitment to maintaining a clear, professional financial status while working remotely. This foresight in managing your finances is crucial for sustaining a successful and stress-free digital nomad life.

Packaging Your Services

In the digital nomad world, how you present your services is as important as the services themselves. Craft packages or service offerings that resonate with your target audience. Your focus should be on highlighting the unique advantages you bring, especially the benefits of remote collaboration. This approach will not only attract potential clients but also position you as a valuable asset in the remote work community.

Budgeting for Nomadic Life

A digital nomad’s life is not just about work; it’s a lifestyle choice. Therefore, a realistic assessment of travel and living expenses is crucial. Create a comprehensive budget that includes all aspects of your nomadic life, from accommodation to daily expenses. This financial prudence ensures you enjoy your travels without monetary worries, enabling a truly free and fulfilling nomadic experience.

Planning Accommodations

Before you embark on your journey, meticulous planning of your accommodations is essential. Research various options, from co-living spaces to short-term rentals. Booking in advance gives you peace of mind and stability, allowing you to focus on work and exploration. Well-planned accommodations are the backbone of a successful digital nomad lifestyle, offering you a safe and comfortable haven wherever you go.

 Your transition to a digital nomad lifestyle is an exciting journey toward freedom and professional growth. By following these key strategies, you’re not just preparing for a change in how you work; you’re embracing a new way of living. With the right mindset and preparation, the world becomes your office, and endless possibilities await. Embrace this change, and watch as your career and personal life flourish in ways you never imagined.

What tips do you have for mastering the digital work-life balance? We would love to hear from you! Please post your comments below.

Make travel exciting for children with the Travel Rangers picture book series Available Here

To hear more about family travel abroad experiences, travel tips, and more, listen to the Planes, Trains, & Kids Abroad travel podcast today!

Written by: Linda Robinson

Your Comfortable Bubble

Posted on by Erika Bud

Easter procession in Barcelona

Every time you leave your bubble, you enter someone else’s. The best thing to do is ask questions. Then close your mouth and open your mind. – Kellie McIntyre

 

Your Comfortable Bubble

It’s not easy for many people to leave their bubble. It’s what you know, it’s safe, it’s comfortable. So why should you push yourself out of your bubble and travel to another country?

Because of everything you’ll experience and learn.

My 9-year-old son and I spent a month in Barcelona. Every day my son would come back to our apartment and write something new that he learned or experienced that day…every day. That’s 30 things he learned about a new culture. This list included everything from the Romans who founded Barcelona, to discovering that on Easter, there are processions where men where colored robes and hoods. As my son walked in the footsteps of the Romans, he will never forget that they founded Barcelona. And he’ll never forget the strangely dressed men during Easter processions. Especially since he was so fascinated that he researched more about them when we returned to our apartment(the hoods are called capirotes and the robes and hoods have great meaning).

Will it be strange to leave your bubble?

Yes, it will, because the world is comprised of different cultures. But just because it’s strange and different, doesn’t mean it’s bad. My mom does not like to leave her bubble at all, but she pushed herself to visit us in Barcelona. To stay within the comforts of her bubble, she wanted to find the exact same foods she eats at home. Yes, she was more comfortable, but the problem was that she missed out. As soon as she left, my son and I ate at several tapas restaurants and thoroughly enjoyed new foods that we would have never imagined if we didn’t try to experience the Spanish culture and its food.

So, push yourself. Step out of your bubble and open your mind to a new culture. Let yourself be surprised by new foods, new architects, and walking the footsteps of ancient Romans from 2,000 years ago.

What are your concerns about traveling abraod and leaving your bubble? I would love to hear from you! Please post your comments below.

To hear more about family travel abroad experiences, travel tips, and more, listen to the Planes, Trains, & Kids Abroad travel podcast at:  https://bigworldpub.com/listen-to-travel-podcast/

Written by: Erika Bud. You can find out more about the author, the Travel Rangers book series, and the travel podcast at:  http://bigworldpub.com/

Travel to Ireland – What I Learned From Taking My 8-Year-Old Child

Posted on by Erika Bud

You never know what kids will enjoy, but you undeniably can’t discount the little things. – Erika Bud

 

Travel to Ireland – What I Learned From Taking My 8-year-old Child

I had always wanted to travel to Ireland with my son. This summer, we were able to enjoy a two-week family vacation in Ireland and Northern Ireland. While I advocate for overseas travel adventures with your children, each time I take my son out of the country, I can’t help but cross my fingers that he enjoys the experience. One thing I have learned is that what you think your child will love is not often what they actually love or will even remember most. When you plan a family trip abroad, as a parent, you really must allow your children to make the trip theirs and not force them to have the trip or memories you want them to have.

Let your children make the trip theirs

What does this mean? As parents, we often want the vacation to be so perfect and so memorable, that we plan out almost everything. Even if we don’t verbally share the plan with everyone on the trip with us, we have a fairly good idea about what we’re going to see or do at a certain destination. One thing you learn when you travel abroad is that children often have different ideas about what they want to see or do. For example, while we were on Inishmore, the largest of the three Aran Islands, we wanted to walk around to see this new town since we were only there for an afternoon. To my son, this was boring. All he wanted to do was walk on the sand by the water, something that he’s done many times before in his own country. This wasn’t what I planned, but it was ok. We decided to do a little bit of both, so we all got to do what we wanted. He was happy, and now when he thinks of this island, he thinks about how much fun he had on the beach. He was making the trip to this island his own, with his own memories.

The surprise that enhanced the trip for my son

One of the best decisions we made on this trip was to bring a digital camera just for my son to use. It was an old, waterproof camera, nothing special. We thought he would use it occasionally, but we could not have hoped it would have enhanced his experience as much as it did. I think it was the fact that again, he was making the trip his own. He was taking pictures of things he wanted to take pictures of, like five pictures of the fat caterpillar he saw in the parking lot. I was worried that he would have a challenging time traveling for hours between destinations, but instead, he took pictures out of the window for most of the drive. It not only enhanced his experience, but it enhanced ours since we didn’t have to hear him complaining during the drive.

You never know what will happen when you’re on vacation

While we were visiting the stunning Kylemore Abbey, a rescue helicopter made a rescue on the mountain across the way. My son thought it was the most exciting thing he had ever seen. It’s one thing to see a rescue on TV or in a picture, but to see this happen in front of him while he was on vacation in Ireland was priceless. He was way more excited over that than he was by the Abbey that many people dream of seeing. It just goes to show you that you never know what will happen when you’re on vacation. My son will always remember that experience (because he took a million pictures with his camera) and where he was when he saw it.

Take chances; they might surprise you

One of the excursions, when we were in Dingle, was to go kayaking in Dingle Bay. My son was excited to go, but I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t nervous. I wasn’t nervous he would fall out; I was nervous that halfway into the trip, he would get too tired and complain. The last thing I wanted was to be surrounded by amazing scenery, kayaking in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, and not be able to enjoy it because my son was complaining. This excursion really helped to get that way of thinking out of my head and to start giving my son the benefit of the doubt. He absolutely loved it! When he was tired, we took breaks, which was fine because we needed the break ourselves. He brings up all the time how we were kayaking with jellyfish and how he got to hold one and how he felt like such an adventurer since he got to kayak through caves. I am so glad I took a chance as I know he had one of the best experiences of his life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s the little things

When I take my son to another country, I’m always reminded that it’s often the little things that make the trip fun and memorable for him. Again, what I am excited to see and experience is rarely what he finds exciting. I saw my son’s face light up over things that I would have otherwise forgotten if it weren’t for him. In one of our hotels, you could climb six stories and look down the grand staircase to the bottom. He thought that was so cool and asked us to climb them several times throughout our stay. Another example is when he was having a blast climbing the cannons on the Derry/Londonderry Wall. He had climbed cannons many times throughout his childhood, but these were the coolest cannons because he was in Ireland and on a wall. You never know what kids will enjoy, but you undeniably can’t discount the little things.

What to get a child as a souvenir

I’m a very practical, rather frugal mom. I mean, how else would I afford these family trips abroad? I am not the mom who buys my son whatever he wants whenever we go to a store. This trip to Ireland made me realize that when traveling abroad, I need to relax this a bit. As I said before, I needed to let my son make this his trip, not my trip. While I like to get practical gifts that will provide memories that will last for years to come, my son doesn’t care about that stuff. We wanted to get him a shirt, sweatshirt, or poster…something that would last longer than a few weeks. On this trip, my son asked for a tin whistle and a little box that had a replica of Blarney Castle in it. This gimmicky stuff was not practical to me in the slightest. While I know he will likely lose it and he will lose interest in the whistle soon, I realized I’d rather him love it for a few weeks than wear a t-shirt he couldn’t care less about.

The memories that will always stay with you

As we wrapped up our trip, we all talked about our top three favorite things we saw or did. Hearing that my son could only narrow it down to his top favorite eight things only confirmed how important it is to keep taking him on overseas travel adventures. While we were talking about the Cliffs of Moher or Kylemore Abbey, some of his favorites were rather surprising. They included staying for a night in Abbeyglen Castle, kayaking in the caves in Dingle Bay, visiting Ross Castle, holding a lamb, seeing a rescue helicopter rescuing people, the ferry ride to Inishmore, and Blarney Castle. While his top memories are different from our top memories, those are memories he will always have, and we will always have together.

What did you learn the last time you took a family trip abroad? I would love to hear from you! Please post your comments below.

To hear more about family travel abroad experiences, travel tips, and more, listen to the Planes, Trains, & Kids Abroad travel podcast at:  https://bigworldpub.com/listen-to-travel-podcast/

Written by: Erika Bud. You can find out more about the  author, the Travel Rangers book series, and travel podcast at:  http://bigworldpub.com/

 

Overseas Travel Adventures – Should You Bring Your Children?

Posted on by Erika Bud

Deciding not to travel with your children because they won’t remember the trips you take is like saying don’t read them books because they won’t remember the stories you read. – Unknown

Consider an international family vacation

Overseas Travel Adventures – Should you Bring Your Children?

Like so many parents who love overseas travel adventures, I would not consider an international family vacation until my son was old enough to appreciate it. Why would I take him? He won’t remember anything. He’ll complain about being tired or hungry. The long flight will be a nightmare. I won’t be able to do anything I want to do because what I am interested in, won’t be interesting to him.

Wow, putting this into words makes me feel like the worst parent in the world but, I’m not. I’ve just had my share of parenting struggles and when I travel, I want to be selfish. I want to go away on vacation and enjoy every moment of it without a care in the world. As a parent, it’s ok to let yourself have those special moments, but was it fair that I was choosing to take away these experiences from my son?

The selfish side of a woman who loves to travel abroad

When my son was three, his father and I divorced. It was the last thing I ever wanted for my child, but as we all know, life doesn’t always work out the way we plan. What did this mean for the woman who had traveled to almost thirty countries before she was a parent? It meant I had a built-in babysitter of course! It meant traveling would now be easier knowing my son would be well cared for while I was away. Of course I was going to miss him, but I deserved to indulge occasionally too, right?

The selfish side kicked in and I started planning my next trip. I messaged my friend who lives in England and asked her if she wanted to meet me in Frankfurt, and that was that. I went on a Rhine River cruise for eight days and had an amazing time making new memories with wonderful people. I missed my son, but I checked in every day to let him know I missed him and reminded myself that he would be ok while I was gone. And he was. When I returned, it felt like he barely knew I was gone, even though I know he did. But the trip reignited my passion for travel, and I was committed to traveling overseas at least once per year.

The trip that changed it all

When I was on my river cruise, I met my Australian sister from another mother. When we parted ways in Amsterdam, she and her husband invited me to visit them in Adelaide, Australia. I had lived in Australia for three years, but I had never been to Adelaide and hey, leaving winter to spend time at the beach sounded great. But how could I leave my son already, three months after I returned from my last trip? Then again, how many opportunities do you get to stay with amazing people in a wonderful country?

The battle continued as I thought about the expensive flights and how hard it would be traveling by myself, with a five-year-old, enduring almost two days of travel each way. You’d have to be insane and besides, what’s the point when he won’t remember it anyway? It came down to the fact that I could either spend my first New Year’s Eve divorced, by myself at home, or celebrate it by traveling to Australia with my son. I’m sure you can guess which option won. I thought I was crazy but the idea of passing up on this opportunity sounded even crazier. I got my son’s passport ready and booked the flights. We were going to Australia!

Your child may surprise you

Of course, my son had no idea what was going on. He was just excited that he was going to be on an airplane and that he would be able to watch movies and play video games for hours on end. I braced myself for horrible travel days. I mean I didn’t even like traveling for that long. There was no way my son was going to make it through these two days without at least one tantrum.

The night before our departure, one of our flights was canceled and we now had a 16-hour layover in China. I couldn’t believe it. How was I going to entertain my child in the airport for 16 hours? I figured the best option was to take the airline up on their offer for a free hotel, get a temporary visa at the airport, and make our way into the city of Guangzhou, and that’s what we did.

You are stronger than you realize

Luckily, my son didn’t have any meltdowns on the flight over, but I was going by myself into a foreign country with my son. I was nervous, but I figured it was the only way we were going to make it through the long layover. We would be able to take a nap and I knew we would both desperately need it by that time. We got on a bus arranged by the hotel at the airport (so I felt rather safe), but I was still nervous.

As we started driving away from the airport, my nerves went away (for the most part) when I looked at my son. His facial expression as he looked out of the window let me know I made the right decision. He was in awe. He kept squealing with excitement, telling me to look out of the window because he wanted to make sure I saw everything that was new to him. It made my heart smile. When we arrived at the hotel, we ate in the hotel restaurant, and he tried the local food. He was looking around the entire time, soaking it all in. We then went to our room, took a long nap, and made our way back to the airport. The look of awe rarely left his face.

The turning point that completely changed my perspective

When we returned to the airport, what I saw there would completely change my mind about taking my son with me overseas. As we were sitting in the terminal, waiting for our plane, my son wanted to play on the moving walkway. It was the middle of the night, and the airport was fairly empty, so I let him play. A little Chinese boy smiled at him and before I knew it, the two were playing together, smiling, and laughing the entire time. Neither one of them understood the language spoken but they understood the universal smile, and that was all it took.

I realized from that moment, that not only was I opening his eyes to a new culture and perspective, but he was learning to see people for what they had in common and not for their differences. He learned that even though he couldn’t understand the boy, he was still a friend because he smiled, and that’s all that mattered. I loved that I gave that experience to my son and from that moment on, I wanted to fill his life with many more experiences like that.

Author Erika Bud and her son feeding a kangaroo in Australia

We ended up having an incredible time in Australia. My son got to feed kangaroos and pet koalas. He was surrounded by people who sounded different than him, but he didn’t care because they were so nice to him. He tasted his first pancakes with ice cream and swam in the Indian Ocean. It really is just like reading a book with your child when they are young. While they may not remember every character or every story, when they read the story, they are forming their perspectives and ideas of how they look at other people and the world in general.

Traveling to other countries broadened my son’s perspective and introduced him to new cultures and for that, I will forever be grateful. I have now chosen a career that allows me to travel with my son. I will still travel on my own as I do have a different experience when I travel with adults, but I will keep traveling with my son a priority. I now understand just how much it will contribute to the boy he is and the man he will one day become.

 

Written by: Erika Bud. You can find out more about the  author, Travel Rangers book series, and travel podcast at:  http://bigworldpub.com/