Welcome to The Working Nomads
Let me tell you what this site is about. This isn't a website focused on one particular topic – it's my view on what's happening around us right now, across multiple countries and around the world. You could call it a blog about my life experiences. Maybe you'll learn something interesting, maybe you won't. This site isn't about making money. It's simply about putting my thoughts out there and sharing what I see.
The Rat Race We're All Running
Let me get to the crux of it: the way most of us are living – I'm talking about the 99%, or let's even say 90% – we're living to work, constantly chasing our tails like dogs until we're completely exhausted or dead.
I consider myself privileged to some extent, and the reason I say that is simple: when someone earning minimum wage considers someone earning £20 an hour privileged, you realise we're all just fighting each other for scraps. It doesn't matter where you live – whether you're somewhere in the US, London, Berlin, Kenya, or even Bangkok – you're far more likely to blame and be jealous of somebody doing slightly better than you than the multimillionaires you never interact with, the ones who actually pull the strings in your life.
Most of us have been educated (if we're supposedly lucky) to be cogs in the machine, to work for the millionaires and billionaires who own that machine.
My Father's Story – And Why It Matters
I myself am tired of living like I'm constantly chasing my tail. I know my dad did the same. By the time he thought he'd reached his goal and saved enough to retire, he developed dementia within a very short period. After that, it was never the same. He slowly withered away and died. The vast majority of us are on that same conveyor belt, heading towards the same destination.
I don't claim to have all the answers, and I'm not claiming to be a particularly smart person. All I know is that I don't want to be living this way anymore, so I've been working towards a way out for myself. I also don't want others to suffer the way people are suffering everywhere.
The Real Problem
If we keep fighting amongst ourselves – because of religion, because of race, because of nationality, and most importantly because you rent whilst somebody else owns their own house – it means those at the top win. And here's the thing: someone who owns one or two houses or runs a small business doesn't make much of a dent in the system. They don't have any real power. They might be a bit more privileged than someone on minimum wage, but nevertheless, they're pawns just like everybody else.
The problem, in my opinion, is the politicians who get bought by the millionaires, billionaires, and the "Tech Bros." Until we all realise this and learn to fight collectively (and I do mean in a non-violent way), the misery that exists in most countries right now will continue to exist and will only get worse.
A Bit About Me
I feel I should tell you a little bit about myself. I'm about 50 years old now. Ever since I can remember, even before the age of 16, I wanted to live a travelling lifestyle – in other words, not settle in one place. This was well before the whole digital nomad explosion and before the internet became what it is today.
But I grew up in a poor household. To make matters more complicated, I was what you would nowadays describe as autistic, although I didn't realise it at the time. I'm what's described as high-functioning autistic. The reason I know these terms is because I have a child – I only have one child – and she is officially diagnosed as autistic. She's on a whole other level compared to me. She's also high-functioning, but her autism has caused severe trauma in her life, so I've had to educate myself extensively about autism.
I always knew she was different because she had many of the traits that I had, but nobody around me, including my wife, would accept that she was different. The problem is that she masks extremely well. Girls tend to mask better than boys, and adults tend to love her. She comes across as highly intelligent, and I taught her to make eye contact with people and use social skills, which meant most professional psychologists struggled to diagnose her in the early days. It was a real battle getting help for her. She even had to be institutionalised for a while. Nevertheless, our perseverance and her incredible efforts have paid off, and she's doing great compared to where she was.
Privilege and Perspective
I've always been raised to be thankful for what you have, so I consider myself privileged even though I'm not a millionaire or what many people would consider rich. However, I am still far better off than 70% of the UK population. That doesn't mean I'm a better person or a worse person – it just means I worked endlessly hard and got some lucky breaks. It's got nothing to do with me being more intelligent or anything else. I'll explain more about that in another post.
The Journey Begins
About five to eight years ago, I decided to leave my home in the UK with my family and live abroad, country-hopping for a while. We started in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt – for those who don't know, it's a well-known holiday resort. We lived there for almost a year, and it was one of the few times I felt genuine peace.
I started with that location because my wife wasn't a big fan of travelling, and I wanted to ease her into the process. We have very differing views on life and other things. She's from the school of "keeping up with the Joneses" and the white picket fence dream. My thinking is more like a contradictory mix of anarchist, socialist, and capitalist ideas. I know it's all contradictions, and in many ways, I'm a hypocrite.
However, because of my autism and my inability to work for others, I had to become financially independent. There are other factors that went into that decision which I can't say openly. So I worked like crazy to make myself financially independent, even if only to a small degree. I had a small business, and I made the mistake of leaving that business behind when we moved abroad. As it was a reasonably profitable business, I didn't have the heart to close it, so I put someone in charge, gave them a wage plus a percentage of the profits.
However, they got greedy (you can call it human nature), and within a few months of me leaving the UK, they wanted 50% of my business for nothing. In other words, they were trying to hold me to ransom. And I'm not someone you want to try to hold to ransom – they obviously didn't realise that. This person was a very manipulative individual, but I'd rather destroy everything than give in to someone trying to blackmail me. I paid a big price for that decision – I had to move back to the UK to deal with the legal consequences of the mess they created because they'd left with client property.
Where I Am Now
Fast forward to where we are today, and I've been working for the last three to five years on a project that will hopefully allow me to live the way I want to live – country-hopping with my family. The truth is, I don't know if this project will be successful. I ran a basic MVP (minimum viable product), and it showed very good potential. However, I also have a backup plan, which I won't go into detail about right now.
The project took me a very long time to finish because of everything that was happening with my daughter over the last few years. Plus, I had to rebuild the business from the ground up more than once, partly because my autism means I want to get things as perfect as possible. Take my word for it – perfectionism isn't always a good trait when you're trying to get something launched.
Why This Site Exists
I purchased this domain over 10 years ago, meaning to document my thoughts on the direction we're heading as a human race, and also to document my journeys should my plans come together.
So that's it. That's what this site is all about. I hope my backstory gives you some context for the perspectives I'll be sharing here. Whether you agree with everything I say or not, I hope it at least makes you think.
I'll leave it here for now. Thank you for reading.