Nomadic living – not all it’s cracked up to be?

Posted on January 17, 2010 by The Engineer

Some people are super nomads – living here or there, owning less things than will fit on a table, and staying ultra-mobile.  Other are so stuck in their place they couldn’t move if they were forced.  Somewhere there is a nice balance.

If you’ve been aware and following the Lifestyle Design trend as of the past couple years, I’m sure you’ve seen the extremes as well.  NomadicMatt is off somewhere cruising around the world, author Tim Ferris and almost everyone on CouchSurfing.com is trying to living out their dreams of being free and traveling.

I’m not against this way of living at all – I love to travel for weeks and months at a time.  At the same time, I like owning a tent, some snowshoes, and being married.  I wouldn’t trade that last one for anything in the world.

Up in the Air portrays the life of an ultra nomad in the most modern and corporate sense – a traveling businessman who’s only real goal is to earn 10,000,000 sky miles.  Not to be confused with the Kevin Bacon classic -

The character (George Clooney) in Up in the Air does it too.  What does he forego?  Real relationships.  He’s not friends with his family, hasn’t seen them in a long time, and is somewhat disconnected from a life he once had.

Please don’t think that I’m saying ultra mobility is a waste or somehow less than suburban life, oh no, I tend to lean more to the mobile lifestyle than the opposite, I’m just saying I don’t want people to forego relationships, friendships, and family just to say they earned 10,000,000 miles or visited every country in the world.  There is a balance, and is for each to decide themselves.