digital nomad Archives - CLIPPING CHAINS

December 26, 2023December 25, 2023

“The Rewards of Being in One Place for a While” (Meghan Walker and Callan Cooper)

By popular demand, I’ve decided to extend a travel series centered around the topic of building community or maintaining our need for social interactions when away from home. Community building is especially complicated when abroad, where cultures and languages vary considerably from our own. My guests today, veteran travelers with considerable expat experiences, are perfectly suited to discuss this topic.

Meghan Walker, a previous guest who writes at awaytofi.com, spent many of her formative years living abroad in Kenya and New Zealand. Her husband, Callan Cooper, is an expat living in the United States from New Zealand, where they met. Meghan and Callan joined me in my home in Colorado for a rare in-person interview, where we discussed in detail the beauty and challenges of international extended travel, careers, evolving travel philosophies, and financial tactics that can have you living a similar life much sooner than you think.

November 20, 2023November 18, 2023

The Social Dilemma of Extended Travel (Jeff, A Way to FI)

In October I published a mini episode on my thought processes on the pros and cons of extended travel abroad. Many of you left comments or emailed me your thoughts, and I’m so thankful for your input. You’ve all given me plenty to consider. One of the most insightful emails came from Jeff of awaytofi.com, a previous guest on this podcast (Episode 44). Jeff has been living abroad for over fifteen months with his wife, Rose, and as such is well-versed in discussing the impacts of extended travel, particularly on our social lives. This week’s episode is an in-depth exploration of extended travel, especially as it relates to our human need for a sense of place and community. Travel takes us away from our tribe, so how do we create new ones? Do we even need to? You can probably expect more content like this with upcoming guests and articles.

May 10, 2021May 15, 2021

Steven Dimmitt: Taking the Big Leap

Helloooo friends, and welcome to Clipping Chains. This is your host Mr. CC. Wait…does that sound familiar? If so, you—like me—might find yourself listening to a lot of climbing’s refreshing new podcast: The Nugget Climbing Podcast, by Steven Dimmitt.

Today, we’re flipping the mic, so to speak. Steven shares with us how he decided to leave his traditional job as an engineer, move into a van, and start a podcast about life and climbing. He is cultivating a livable income from a product often given away for free. Most importantly, we discuss how Steven is honing a craft that simply cannot be ignored.

It begs the questions: What does it take to make this a repeatable path?

March 8, 2021March 8, 2021

Eliza Marsh: We Can Make This Happen

Good morning. My ankle is doing much better. Sorry to alarm some of you with last week’s post. The photo was bad, but I’m fairly certain it’s only a sprain. Much more importantly, this week I want to welcome Eliza Marsh.

In this week’s interview, we discuss how Eliza has balanced a career with extended travel, and some of her unexpected surprises of life on the road. We examine how she manages full-time remote work, and how she recently stumbled on a new and exciting path towards saving for financial independence, which she rightfully recognizes as a great privilege. Perhaps most importantly, we’ll see how Eliza has completely reframed her mindset around money, her future, and how she plans to use this great gift of financial freedom.

January 25, 2021February 14, 2021

The Simple and Complicated Life on the Road

We’ve been back in a house for just over a month, which feels like a good time to reflect on our five-month 2020 life on the road.

We’ve all heard the myriad benefits of a life of full-time travel: a new and ever-changing environment, chasing good weather, meeting new people, and abundant nature. And certainly, we’ve seen all the photos. But with this sense of freedom comes some significant trade-offs in comfort, ease of living, work productivity, and sometimes even freedom itself.

Does life on the road live up to all the social media hype? How about the costs? What type of vehicles, vans, or RVs are even affordable?

Here’s what to expect:

July 27, 2020July 29, 2020

Keeping Remote Work in a Post-Pandemic World

The global coronavirus pandemic flipped the world on its head: spreading tentacles of infection led to a stock market collapse and unprecedented unemployment for those not fortunate to have remote work. A thick, dry underbrush of discontent and polarization grew unchecked for months, sparked by a series of lightning strikes, resulting in a raging inferno. People amassed on the streets in search of change, driving each side someplace closer to their dreaded corners of hate.

With a new decade came so much promise, yet the rate of change experienced in the first seven months of 2020 feels like that new decade has already come to pass. So much to consider in seven months.

But with all this negativity can come so much promise. While there can be an element of guilt to consider silver linings, we must. We must always look for promise and hope in times of darkness, for every night eventually turns to day.

One such ray of sunshine is the movement towards a more permanent remote work culture. The fortunate white-collar world has been working business on top, party on the bottom (nice shirt for the screen, underwear in the seat) since March.

So…what’s it going to take to keep that cushy remote job in a post-pandemic world?