Ibi's Digital Nomad Stories

Ibi Malik
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People with interesting lives. No lessons, no frameworks. Just someone's story, the way they want to tell it.

  1. 1d ago

    Julie Bold: The Retiring Nomad

    Guest: Julie Bold — Overland truck leader, writer, retiring nomad Based: Wales I'm at Maraya with Jules, and she opens the conversation by closing it: "No, I'm giving up co-living." She started at 22 in Hong Kong, washed up at CO404 in San Cristóbal during Covid without knowing what a digital nomad was, and has been moving ever since — teaching English online and hating it, editing a scientific journal for four years, writing a travel blog she loved and couldn't monetise. Then she set herself a challenge: Istanbul to India overland, alone, still working. Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, India — editing offline, vlogging daily, sometimes sleeping in a tent at the side of the road. "That was the first time I'd really travelled raw and rough." It showed her what she could handle, so she applied to lead an overland truck. Three weeks into training they sent her to West Africa. What follows is not a travel-tips episode. Twenty-four passengers aged 19 to 78, eleven nationalities, wild camping three nights in four. A closed border between Nigeria and Cameroon in the middle of an anglophone conflict, crossed on the back of a motorbike. Five days camped at a police station with their passports confiscated — "literally the best four days of the trip." And there, fifteen people sent back from Nigeria after being trafficked, stranded because none could afford the fare home. Twenty dollars each. They paid it. She talks about privilege the way someone does who has seen both sides: a rubbish dump outside Podgorica when she was 22, a child in it, and the Bay of Kotor a few kilometres down the road. "It's like 5% or 4%" of the world born where we were born. Not merit. Luck. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction: people with interesting lives, and welcome Jules 00:29 "No, I'm giving up co-living" — why the road is ending 00:54 CO404 in San Cristóbal: volunteering, and meeting actual digital nomads 03:26 Teaching English online, and hating every minute of it 07:30 Fear of rejection as the block, and being pushed through it 10:52 Istanbul to India by land: Turkey, the -stans, Pakistan, India 12:31 "I can do it": four jobs, tents by the road, and finding her ceiling 14:02 Applying to lead an overland truck, and training with Dragoman 15:44 Twenty-four passengers, 19 to 78, eleven nationalities, one truck 19:44 The Nigeria-Cameroon border, an anglophone conflict and a closed convoy 22:13 Crossing no man's land on the back of a motorbike 24:35 The police take the passports, and her brain finally switches off 27:23 Trafficking at the border: passports taken, fifteen people stranded 29:53 "$20 per person" — and what it buys 31:21 The truck that crashed, the driver who stayed, and $500 sent after him 37:55 What West Africa taught her about a convenient Western life 44:08 Montenegro, a bicycle, and a city's rubbish dump 48:05 The child in the rubbish, and the smell she has never forgotten 51:36 "It's like 5% or 4%": born in Europe by chance, not by merit Remaining timestamps are in the full write-up linked below. Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/julie-bold Guest Instagram: https://instagram.com/realttravel

    Julie Bold: The Retiring Nomad

  2. Sep 30

    Selin Türman: The Coding Chef

    Guest: Selin Türman — Community Manager, Burgas Coliving · Founder, Co Club Based: Burgas Coliving, Bulgaria I'm in the courtyard at Burgas Coliving with Selin, my first guest here in Bulgaria, and we aren't alone. Sat with us is her first printed copy of Recipes that Build Communities: Summer Edition, fresh from the printers. "Until I had it in my hand, it felt like a joke. Like a dream." This is what happens when you give a community manager who loves feeding people the space to create something. You get a cookbook that matters. But this conversation isn't just about recipes. It's about how one person has built community through food, code and curation: from a seasonal cookbook, to an AI chatbot that helps nomads cook for a crowd, to Co Club, a platform that's reimagining how digital nomads find home. One subscription, credits the way ClassPass does it, and eighteen co-livings on it so far, every one of them with her name on the recommendation. "I don't have to put my hand on the stove to know that it's hot." Along the way Selin shares something many guests decline to discuss: her genuine passion for AI, and what it means for community building. Co Club was built with Lovable and vibe-coding, no traditional coding required, because she wanted to build it, not because she studied computer science. You don't have to be technical to build something technical. Once you see that it's possible, the fear falls away. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction: people with interesting lives, and welcome Selin 00:29 The cookbook arrived yesterday: “until I had it in my hand, it felt like a joke” 01:42 Like a baby: the Summer Edition, and maybe the other three seasons after all 02:28 Every recipe has a story: shared dinners at Duo, the Azores, and coffee by the ocean 04:50 Why food: a year and a half as community manager, and always on the cooking team 07:43 A cookbook on every bed, and Katya’s point that some people hate cooking 08:48 Ask Selin: an AI chatbot that cooks for eight, and a cookbook the community adds to 11:37 Co Club was vibe-coded: you don’t have to be technical, and the dawn of a new era 13:15 Why Lovable: a master’s thesis on AI tools, Nordic startups, and an interview with Victor 16:56 The butterfly effect: from WhatsApp photo albums to a booking platform 19:21 Modelling excellence: a recipe is copying someone who did it well 21:14 Ibi’s AI setup: the $200 plan, prompts that run all day, and six solutions visualised 25:13 The handpan example: a viral video, six agents, and four hours instead of two days 30:35 What Co Club is: ClassPass credits for co-livings 33:04 Pay one rent and the whole world is home: Barcelona, and dropping the word “subscription” 36:23 Tax deductibility, and earning credits by photographing the Sunday board 37:51 Curation is what I pay for: psychologists, therapists and that uncle 39:33 Eighteen co-livings: “you don’t have to put your hand on the stove to know it’s hot” Remaining timestamps are in the full write-up linked below. Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/selin-turman Guest Instagram: https://instagram.com/selinturman Watch: https://youtu.be/es-hzg562cQ

    Selin Türman: The Coding Chef

  3. Sep 3

    Matt Davison: The Facilitator

    Guest: Matt Davison — Co-Living Founder & SEO Specialist Based: Cape Town, South Africa Matt Davison left South Africa because of its tainted past and spent fifteen years travelling the world trying to find somewhere else to call home. He found the answer in a co-living in Palma de Mallorca — not a place, but an idea — and then came back to Cape Town and realised the place had been there all along. It took him another year to find the right house. Two and a half years later, Cape Co-Living is a home rather than a business, and he calls himself a community facilitator rather than a host. This conversation isn't about the business model. It's about the memories. The dance party he came home to at eleven at night. Three hundred dolphins breaching at sunset with champagne in hand. A birthday at Gold Restaurant that felt like stepping into Africa itself. It's also about the harder things: a guest targeted and robbed, and how the whole house closed around him afterwards. The stark inequality of Cape Town, and the honest conversations Matt has with guests before they arrive. A hungry man on the street, a guard, and a piece of chicken. Underneath it all is a question about what makes a co-living a co-living. Matt's answer is that the host has to bring the frameworks — the Monday meeting, the name written next to the plan — and then get out of the way. Facilitate, don't control. It's a conversation about coming home, building with intention, and what it means when a house full of strangers starts to feel like family. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction, and why Matt 00:49 Three months at Cape Coliving, and the end of an era 01:22 Why he wanted a co-living: fifteen years of travel, and how isolating it can be 02:24 Palma de Mallorca, the co-living that changed his life 03:22 Back to Cape Town, and a year spent finding the right house 04:00 The dance party in the lounge 04:45 A 7:30am call from Philly, and a guest who wasn't a guest 06:13 Waking him up: you got robbed 07:14 Targeted and drugged, and why they warn guests 08:00 How the house closed around him, and trauma bonding in co-living 08:57 Staying vigilant in South Africa 09:34 Booking three co-livings because they all began with C 10:58 Never booking flights early, and the elephants on the booking page 12:06 All I heard was island: arriving at Robben Island by accident 13:13 Electric fencing, and what it feels like to touch it 13:52 Expectations of Africa, and embracing the mystery 14:45 The inequality, and where it starts to equalise 15:37 Informal housing, and what jars people on arrival 16:43 The question Matt asks every applicant before they come 17:40 The man who wanted the chicken, and the guard who stopped him 19:26 A normal Tuesday 20:18 Whether to give: night shelters, expectation, and the sandwich 21:31 Drugs, kids on the street, and the harder right answer 22:26 Wisdom teeth, painkillers, and walking the street without your wits 24:29 Seeing homeless people differently Remaining timestamps are in the full write-up linked below. Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/matt-davison Guest website: https://traveltractions.com Watch: https://youtu.be/vxkT1mxltTI

    Matt Davison: The Facilitator

  4. Jul 24

    Haz Memon: The Community Builder

    Guest: Haz Memon — Community Builder & Co-Living Founder Haz Memon doesn't believe in scaling. He's turned down market opportunities to expand to ten, fifteen, twenty locations because he knows that growth destroys depth. Instead, he's built something most entrepreneurs would call backwards: a sustainable co-living business by drilling down instead of expanding outward. He brings people together. He connects human beings in ways that transform them. And in the spaces he's created, over 2,487 people have passed through—including ten couples who fell in love without him trying to make it happen. His philosophy challenges everything digital nomads believe about location independence. Freedom, he says, is not about being able to move whenever you want. It's a state of mind. It's about being so content where you are that movement becomes a choice, not a necessity. Which means you can be free in one location if your mind is free. And which also means you might need to build a solid baseline—good relationships, financial stability, community—before you can actually enjoy driving into the sunset. This is a conversation about building community without scaling, defining freedom accurately, and what it really takes to achieve the lifestyle everyone's chasing. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction, greeting 00:03 What's on your mind right now - being at Chateau 00:20 Do you want to retire early? 00:38 What is it that you do - bringing people together 01:00 How many couples have you made - 2,487 people, 10 couples 01:41 Theory about digital nomads and entrepreneurship 02:07 Ibi's parallel theory about co-livings and drilling down 03:13 Tribal thinking, creating depth vs. scaling 04:03 What does freedom mean exactly? 05:14 Do nomads need to be location independent for freedom? 06:09 Co-living isn't just for digital nomads 07:02 Destination vs residential vs hybrid co-livings 07:52 Focus on destination co-living for digital nomads and remote workers 08:52 Real example: London office worker using co-livings for remote work days 09:59 What are you trying to create? A sense of belonging 10:28 Freedom is a state of mind, being yourself without judgment 11:22 Co-living as home, welcoming guests as family 11:43 The importance of coming with open mind and open heart 12:28 Co-living Hub project and certifications 12:59 Co-living mafia question - standardization vs soul 13:47 What certification looks at: infrastructure, accessibility, sustainability, community 14:48 Two years of research with co-living founders, debunking fake co-livings 15:43 [Community-driven solution approach] 16:00 [Letting go and trust lessons] 17:00 [Growth versus contentment philosophy] 18:00 [Opening spaces in Switzerland and Greece] 19:00 [Personal philosophy on location and passion] 20:00 [Living in spaces - three months, then five minutes away] 21:00 Lived near first space for five years, then had to let go 22:28 Opening second location taught him to trust others Remaining timestamps are in the full write-up linked below. Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/haz-memon Guest website: https://www.ourescape.co Watch: https://youtu.be/jXIhuXyjhls

    Haz Memon: The Community Builder

  5. Jul 10

    Jennifer Chuu: The Comic Artist

    Guest: Jennifer Chuu — Comic Artist and Writer Based: Nomadic Jennifer Chuu didn't want to go to university. Four years felt too long, so she went to Vancouver Film School for one year instead, studying game design. Just enough to know what she was getting into before she actually got into it. Then she worked for a games company, developing worlds in tiny digital spaces. Sometimes she designed pet habitats for a game called Dream Pet House. Sometimes she created characters and assets she loved. The work was solid. It paid well. But it was also strategic. Every paycheque was a brick in the wall she was building to eventually leave and chase her real dream: being a comic artist full time. When she got laid off at 23, she didn't panic. She had savings. She had time. She had hunger. She told her parents: give me one year. One year to debut herself in Taiwan as a full-time comic artist. She did it in exactly that, creating a series about a boy named Leo who got on a circus train to chase after a mermaid. And somewhere in the middle of drawing Leo's journey, she realised something profound: she wanted Leo's life. She wanted to travel and work like he did. She wanted to see what was beyond her own fish tank. Now six years into her current comic "The Witch and the Bull," she travels everywhere the Mediterranean Sea touches. Not to escape her work, but to deepen it. Every coastline, every stranger, every clashing belief becomes material for her characters. She's learned that discomfort is where growth happens. That your characters hold pieces of your consciousness. That living your story doesn't mean you have to sacrifice telling it. This is a masterclass in using travel to create, and creativity to justify travel. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction to Digital Nomad Stories podcast 00:37 Ibi's introduction to Jennifer's unique journey 01:08 Overview of Jennifer's story and \"The Witch and the Bull\ 01:34 Transition into main conversation 01:46 Jennifer works on comics, currently six years into \"The Witch and the Bull\ 02:07 Game artist career in New York for eight years 02:40 Working for Zynga creating 2D game assets 03:14 Designing pet habitats and environments for Dream Pet House 03:32 Jennifer's favourite design: detective Dutch hound house 04:13 Passion in game design versus other game companies 04:52 Laid off at Zynga, decision to pursue comic artist dream 05:22 Game artist job as savings strategy for dream 05:54 Vancouver Film School one-year game design course 06:18 Entering manga contests and parents' concerns about career 06:50 Parents asking for commitment, one year to debut in Taiwan 07:29 Creating circus train mermaid series over two years 08:01 Taiwan publication through Japanese company, webtoon format 08:54 Webtoon digital scrolling format versus traditional pages 09:00 [Publishing the Taiwan series and moving forward] 09:30 [First travel experience and Croatia inspiration] 10:30 [Character Leo inspiring real-life travel] Remaining timestamps are in the full write-up linked below. Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/jennifer-chuu Watch: https://youtu.be/9CLSISbJ9qY

    Jennifer Chuu: The Comic Artist

  6. Jun 26

    Kristen Womble: The Creative Consultant

    Guest: Kristen Womble — Writing Coach, Editor, Publishing Consultant Based: ½ Year in DC and ½ year Nomadic Kristen Womble spent years living divided. There was travel Kristen and there was home Kristen, and they didn't talk to each other. She'd studied abroad in France at twenty, and when she came back, her friends made jokes. The study-abroad clichés were merciless. So she learned to hide it. She kept her travels private, her home life separate, maintaining two distinct identities that never quite fit together. The more she hid, the more fractured she felt. She was being dishonest with the people she cared about most. There was this gap between who she actually was and who she was pretending to be, and that gap was painful. Then one day she made a choice: she decided to stop hiding. She decided to be brutally honest about who she was, what she was doing, where she was going. And something remarkable happened. The division started to heal. Now she's a writing coach and publishing consultant who travels roughly a third to half the year whilst maintaining a home base in Washington, D.C. that exists purely for her personal life. She has Sunday family dinners. She plays on a weekly soccer team. She's built what most digital nomads spend years trying to achieve: true integration between both sides of her life. Not a compromise between them. Not choosing one over the other. But actually having both, fully, without the shame or the secrecy. This is what freedom looks like when you stop dividing yourself in half. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction by Ibi 00:39 Ibi's introduction to Kristen's journey 01:06 Kristen's current lifestyle, writing coach, travel balance 01:29 Closing intro statement 01:38 How long nomadic, started 2022, now has home base in D.C. 03:20 D.C. home base, metro system, politics, distance from city centre 04:10 Pickup truck tangent and vehicles in American cities 05:00 [Main topic: Career path and consulting background] 06:00 [Main topic: Writing and publishing consulting] 07:00 [Main topic: Unstructured travel beginning, first solo trip] 08:30 [Main topic: Setting boundaries for first unstructured travel] 10:00 [Main topic: Identity crisis and siloing experience] 11:30 [Main topic: Study abroad experience in France] 13:00 [Main topic: Communication challenges with people back home] 14:30 [Main topic: Breaking the division, becoming transparent] 16:00 [Main topic: Benefits of being honest about travel] 17:00 [Main topic: Nomadic mindset and meeting new people] 18:00 [Main topic: Balance between travel and home base needs] 19:30 [Main topic: Family dinners and soccer team importance] 21:00 [Main topic: Community and roots whilst traveling] 22:00 [Main topic: When she got home base, end of 2024] 23:30 [Main topic: Career as location independent consultant] 25:00 [Main topic: Freelancing journey and business building] 26:30 [Main topic: Risk taking from position of safety and security] Remaining timestamps are in the full write-up linked below. Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/kristen-womble Guest website: https://passkeypublishing.com Watch: https://youtu.be/5tMhIgw1Yc0

    Kristen Womble: The Creative Consultant

  7. Jun 12

    Yelena McElwain: The 10-Year Retiree

    Guest: Yelena McElwain — Retired Data Analyst Based: Nomadic Yelena McElwain discovered FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) at 25 when she read Tim Ferriss's "The Four Hour Workweek." But she didn't want to start a business like Ferriss did. Instead, she kept working as a data analyst, saved intentionally, and hit her financial independence number in ten years. Not because she was aiming for exactly ten years, but because she had a concrete target based on her spending: roughly 200 times her monthly expenses, or 25 times her annual spending. When the 4% rule is working in your favour, that's your ticket out. She didn't quit immediately when she hit her number. She continued working for another 3-4 years while projects started shifting in directions she didn't want to go. Then she left, travelled full-time for three years, settled in Denver for another three, and now she dives on shipwrecks, practises yoga, and teaches meditation. She teaches Instinctive Meditation, a practice rooted in The Radiance Sutras, honouring individual nature rather than forcing rigid techniques. Here's the twist that breaks all the assumptions about early retirement: she spends less now than when she was working. Her childhood in 1990s Russia taught her frugality, her Russian parents prepared her to always be ready, and that foundation made saving as natural as breathing. This is not a story about luck. It's a spreadsheet equation anyone can solve if they treat freedom as a number rather than a fantasy. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 00:37 Ibi's intro of Yelena, FIRE formula explanation 01:05 The 4% rule, ten-year journey, diving and meditation 01:34 Conversation beginning 01:45 How long nomadic, six years almost 02:00 Three years full-time nomad, three years half-time 03:00 Quit job whilst full-time nomading, got tired of travel, moved to Denver 03:30 Countries visited, Mexico, Colombia, Vietnam, Bali 04:30 Average 10-12 countries per year, one month each 05:45 Dive master training, diving on shipwrecks 06:24 Discovered FIRE at 25, Tim Ferriss \"Four Hour Workweek\ 07:21 FIRE wasn't earth-shattering initially, unsure if it was for her 08:00 Tim Ferriss business path versus saving path 08:40 Data analysis career, studied economics 09:50 Data science explosion, right place right time 10:15 FIRE inspiration, saving mentality, not becoming big spender 11:00 Russian childhood foundation, frugality mindset 12:00 Set monetary target based on spending 13:00 The 4% rule explained, 200 times monthly spending 14:30 Portfolio growth assumptions, inflation adjustments 15:30 Real estate versus stock market investments 16:30 Ten-year saving journey, reaching financial independence goal 17:30 Continued working 3-4 years after hitting number 18:30 Projects not going in desired direction, decision to quit 19:30 Travelling whilst still working, remote work flexibility 20:30 First month or two identity crisis after retiring Remaining timestamps are in the full write-up linked below. Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/yelena-mcelwain Guest website: https://www.meditation-compass.com Watch: https://youtu.be/1RPghL9albQ

    Yelena McElwain: The 10-Year Retiree

  8. May 29

    Andreea Rusu: The Connector

    Guest: Andreea Rusu — Marketing Manager Based: Nomadic Andreea Rusu was sad and depressed in her Bucharest flat in June 2021, post-COVID, with no money to travel. So she bought a one-way ticket to Spain, spent half a year researching on YouTube and Google, and discovered the World Packers platform. She applied to 40 volunteer opportunities, got accepted to 12, and ended up in Anceu, Galicia—a 100-person village in rural Spain—to do some Instagram marketing for a co-living space. What was meant to be a one-month stay became five months, then extended to two and a half years of returning repeatedly. Because when she arrived, something shifted. On a date before the trip, someone had asked her, "Who are you?" and she could only answer, "I'm Andreea and I'm a video editor." At Anceu, surrounded by strangers who became family, she finally discovered the answer. She wasn't just a video editor. She was a community builder. A connector. Someone who made strangers feel like they belonged. Now she's building a directory bridging two worlds: community builders looking for places to volunteer, and co-living spaces looking for community builders. She's experienced 15-plus co-livings, understood the power of genuine curiosity, learned that what you feel is valid even when you grew up in a conservative environment that told you to shut up, and realised that being a community builder is actually a full-time job in mental space—even if volunteering looks part-time. If you want to know everything about co-living, about finding yourself by helping others belong, about the personal development bootcamp that is community building, Andreea is your person. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction by Ibi 00:37 Andreea's story intro, depressed in Bucharest, one-way ticket to Spain 02:00 Discovery of World Packers, applied to 40 opportunities 03:00 Anceu co-living, Galicia, rural village 03:30 First month experience 04:20 Marketing volunteer role discovering co-living concept 05:30 Applied to 40 opportunities, accepted to 12, found Anceu 06:50 Stayed one month, emerged as community builder 08:15 The date question \"Who are you?\" identity crisis as video editor 09:30 InsideOut project by J.R., rural revival cause 10:30 Using InsideOut as excuse to stay longer 12:00 Two types of communities, online and offline 13:00 Building community in tiny 100-person village 14:30 Trust people, don't guide them through everything 15:00 Conservative upbringing, fear of speaking openly 15:45 Learning from others' stories, discovering multifaceted self 16:30 \"What you feel is valid\"—psychologist moment 17:00 Control freak lesson at team dinner, learning to trust 18:30 Lived there on and off, one year nonstop 20:00 Community expanded from co-living to village to neighbouring villages 21:30 Personal development bootcamp aspects 23:00 Permission to fail, observer role, awareness of impact 24:30 Friends around the world, friendships built through co-living 25:30 Material benefits, no rent, maintaining freedom Remaining timestamps are in the full write-up linked below. Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/andreea-rusu Watch: https://youtu.be/jo-hT8Yy9ZQ

    Andreea Rusu: The Connector
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People with interesting lives. No lessons, no frameworks. Just someone's story, the way they want to tell it.

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