How Cristina went from solo traveller to digital nomad

Personally, I see travelling as a privilege, and something we should try to learn from. By travelling with a group, or your partner, you're less open to learning and trying new things as you're more likely to stick to existing patterns. By travelling solo, you're fully open to other people. Conversations get more interesting, I can jump on any opportunity that might come up without having to convince others, and I have 100% of the decision power myself. There's no need to compromise, and no pressure from others that want to push their agenda through. 

A lot of travellers are hell-bent on seeing and doing everything in one go, rushing through a destination. I purposefully leave something for next time, and save things to see for the inevitable next visit. I never want to feel like I'm done travelling and ''seen it all'', this is my way of coping with that. I love that my adventure will never be over!

There's two countries that have a special place in my heart, for very different reasons. I absolutely love India, as I have a thing for destinations where tourism hasn't really changed the culture yet. India is one of those places where you can still have an authentic experience. If there was no tourism in India, most of the country would probably still be exactly the same. Try to imagine the same thing for Bali or Thailand, those places would look very different without the masses of tourists coming every year. 

The flip side of that is that India as a country is very intense. I think I wouldn't really recommend it to first-time travellers, since it can be challenging if you're not very adaptable yet. Not everything is perfectly arranged and you wil experience some hiccups, but the welcoming people and hospitality will more than make up for it. It will also depends on how you're travelling though. I always travel as cheap as I can, so I experienced some wild train rides spending the night in sleeper class in the top bunk, just under the roof of the train with barely any room. I once upgraded to a nicer class, finding random people sitting on my bed when waking up after a night of sleep. You have to be ready for those kinds of situations when travelling cheaply through a third world country. There were no bad intentions here though. I've seen plenty of the poor life, but also experienced the rich life in India. On both sided, people were just as open and hospitable. In general I felt like there was a big desire to show off the best sides of their country, and the beauty of whatever they have. It made me feel like we underappreciate what we have in Europe. 

Definitely Japan. Crazy in a different way, especially since I visited before the days of public Wi-Fi being available literally everywhere, and no offline Google Maps. In Japan you have to navigate their customs a little bit, and get a feel for the country and the ''unwritten'' rules. It's really a country of perfectionists, also language-wise. After a while I found out when you speak broken English, they are way more likely to try and converse with you because they feel less self-conscious. Alternatively: get them drunk. Social lines and rules of society seem to disappear when alcohol is in the game. Apart from the cultural curiosity I had for Japan, it's also simply a beautiful country to visit. Nature, architecture and lot's of pop culture. On top of that, it's the safest place I've visited which as a (female) solo traveller is a huge plus. 

In our world we have to acknowledge that no place is truly safe, but at the same time we shouldn't get affected by that. To cope with this, I have two rules. The first is always use your common sense. This means you don't do things you normally wouldn't do at home. Number two is to follow your sixth sense. By travelling you develop that intuition were you can decide whether you can trust someone very quickly. If something is off, leave. Listen to your gut feeling. It can help to always have a few sentences in your mind for when this situation occurs, so you won't have a blackout on the spot. What also helps is the language barrier, it's easier to play dumb in a foreign language while saying no to someone. 

Looking back there are probably some instances where things could have gone wrong very easily, but luckily haven't. I once received a ride home on a motorbike with a random guy in India who insisted on dropping me off at my hostel. He could have taken me anywhere, but it turned out he was a nice guy. My gut was right on this one. 

I have always been really good at avoiding financial scams though. I had a bad experience in India with a dude following me around, so I tested him by taking a couple of very weird turns in my walking route to figure out if he was following me and he definitely was. I realised there was a potential danger, so I went into a store with some security guards present. I explained the situation and asked them to called me an Uber and they did, so I got off easy. It's just good to always be on your guard in this case and never compromise your safety. But if something bad happens, make the best of it like in any given situation. For example when my phone got robbed, I lived without a phone for a month and I've never felt more in the present, doing this digital detox. It's also an important lesson to not store your whole life in this one little machine, always have important phone numbers written down for emergency situations. 

Yes! But my career as digital nomad didn't start overnight. There was a lot of trial and error for a long time. Often people ask me, how do you get started as a digital nomad. I think there are many ways, but for me it started with picking the kind of lifestyle I wanted trying to create my work around it. In life it's usually the other way around. You find a job and design your life around that instead. When I started out I was mostly doing seasonal work, nothing glamorous to be honest. You have to take what you can get to move up right! Sometimes I would do photography or social media projects while I was travelling, and because it turned out I was good at doing that and enjoyed it, I turned it into my own little agency. I have clients locally here in the DR or from the United States for example. I mostly work online, so I can always go travelling whenever I want to. There are still choices to make though, as my clients of course expect an output. For example, I never take a full day off. I like my life a little more balanced between work and free time, so I always have time to go to the beach during the day, and work during the evening. 

I was travelling through South America, particularly Ecuador, when looking for the next adventure. Me and a couple of friends found cheap tickets to the Dominican Republic, and off we went to explore there. We travelled around the Dominican Republic, and Las Terrenas where I live now was actually our final stop. There was a click with the town, the vibe and the people right away, so I decided to stay there. I hadn't imagined to stay here for such a long time, but I still love it. The Dominican Republic and Las Terrenas in particular is a good place for digital nomads. We've got Starlink internet, even deep in the jungle, and the community is lovely. Prices are low compared to Europe or the US, so if you get clients from abroad you can make a living here. I still solo travel from the Dominican republic to other countries, the connections aren't bad and flights tend to be pretty affordable so for now I'm staying. Who knows what the future brings! My last words are for anyone envying this lifestyle and wanting to life and work on the go. Just try it and see if it works for you, but don't give up too easily if you experience setbacks. It's all part of the journey!