The School of Travels Becky Gillespie

In my interview today, I talk with Illeana Salvo, a new nomadic traveler with an incredible story of how she turned her love of languages at an early age into the chance to travel internationally, live in Japan, and then eventually become location independent through helping one of her online language students with a new project. From dealing with taxes when you’re not really based in one country to how to handle the feeling that you’re missing out on climbing the corporate ladder by being nomadic, Illeana and I discuss a number of issues that can come up for new digital nomads. I hope you enjoy Illeana’s story and find it useful for questions you may have about leading this nomadic lifestyle.

Hello listeners and welcome back to the School of Travels podcast! Today we are going to travel from America to Europe to Asia to the Middle East and all the way back to Europe with my two special guests Josh and Kalie, a couple from The United States.

I first became familiar with Josh and Kalie when I came across their channel on their YouTube channel Expats Everywhere while preparing for my move to Portugal in 2020. Josh and Kalie were only a couple of months ahead of me in the get your residency in Portugal game, but they were also doing it with a young child and a dog.

I wanted to bring Josh and Kalie on to share their story of traveling right after university, living in four different countries, deciding to become parents, and then continuing to travel and maintain their love of travel right along with their young daughter in tow.

As you will learn, their daughter, despite only being two years old, has definitely inherited her parents’ love for travel. So what’s it like when you’ve been traveling for a while and then you add a child into the mix? Let’s get into my interview with Josh and Kalie and find out.

I introduced Akina Shu to you back in Episode 73 and she is back for Part 2 today to talk about being a digitial nomad in Japan. Akina Shu spent a year traveling around Japan working from different locations and we will talk about how she found accommodation, how coliving services typically work in Japan, and some of Akina’s favorite places to work around the country. Have you ever dreamed of working remotely from Japan? Well, let’s learn about how to do it right now. 

Today, Naman Mehrotra is going to share with us his experience growing up in 7 different countries and attending 11 schools across Asia, Africa, and Europe before eventually moving to the US.
Naman and I discuss his personal experiences with moving around so much as a child, what it is like changing schools so often and also his current position at Safety Wing helping develop new products and strategies for travel insurance around the world. Naman has had quite a unique upbringing with so much travel at an early age, but I personally believe his experience may be one that becomes more common as more jobs become location independent - so knowing how to navigate so much change whether it’s for yourself or your family is valuable advice before you get on the road.

Do you know what a co-living is? Have you ever stayed in one? I spent years living in sharehouses when I worked full-time in Tokyo, but as a location independent traveler I’ve never actually stayed in a coliving, so I was very interested to learn more about them – and better yet – discover what it’s like to design and build one from scratch with my guest Kate Shifman.
 
Kate is a fellow American citizen residing in Portugal, although she is way ahead of the trend and has almost reached the 5-yr residency mark, which here in Portugal means that she can soon apply for her Portuguese citizenship.
 
In our discussion today, Kate and I talk about why she chose the surf town of Ericeira on Portugal’s beautiful West coast to build her very first co-living space. We also discuss how she is implementing sustainability into all of her design and construction choices and the future events and collaboration with businesses in Ericeira she plans for her new space.
 

This week, we are going on a grand adventure to the high mountains of Nepal. In 2015, I was fortunate enough to go trekking in Nepal to Everest Base Camp with Hari Bohara of Himalayan Trekking Alliance as my guide, and I am happy to say that I have finally been able to get him on the show this week to talk about what it’s like to prepare for a long multi-day trek in Nepal. We will talk about how Hari became a guide, what you need to get ready to set off on your trek, what it’s like to land at one of the world’s most dangerous airports, and the day-to-day life of hiking at high altitude on your way to Everest Base Camp. Are you ready for an adventure? Then, tune in and let’s go to Nepal with Hari.