Why the #$!@%! Would Anyone Become a Nomad?

Actually, there are some pretty good reasons.

Michael and I have been nomading for almost five years now, but it’s not always popcorn and pinwheels. In the last two months, here are all the mishaps that have befallen us:

• At our first apartment in Ohrid, North Macedonia, the water pressure was too low to take a shower, the washing machine leaked and flooded the bathroom, and the street noise was so bad we had to cancel the whole deal.

• At our replacement place, the washing machine also leaked, and the Wi-Fi dropped at least once a day — and we had no way of rebooting it ourselves.

• The last three Airbnbs we’ve stayed in had no main showerhead, and broken holders for the handheld one, which meant you had to awkwardly hold the showerhead the whole time you were taking a shower.

• In Macedonia, we also lost a credit card — the kind that accrues points! — and we won’t be able to replace it until we return to the U.S. in January.

• While staying with friends at a hundred-year-old villa on Lake Como, the lock to the front door broke, and we were stuck outside in the rain for over an hour while the host rushed all over town on her scooter trying to find the key to a different door.

• The villa was lovely, and the view from our decks was spectacular, but at dusk, clouds of mosquitoes descended which made it impossible to be outside.

• Traveling from Como to our next destination, there was a train strike, with very limited service. (Fortunately, we bought tickets in advance.)

• At our current apartment, we initially had no hot water. Then for half a day, we had hot water that was icky and brown.

So why the #$!@%! would anyone be a nomad?

Well, for one thing, annoying stuff like this also happened back when we had a conventional life in Seattle.

And this is what else happened in the last two months:

Exploring Lake Ohrid, North Macedonia.

Hiking, boating, and eating our way through Lake Como, Italy.

Now we’ve arrived in Levanto, Italy, gateway to the famous Cinque Terre, where we’ll be for the next month.

And it looks incredible:

Photos by Stéphan Valentin, Sean Sweeney, and Bjorn Snelders.

Update: it is! Mostly. More soon.

Brent (and Michael)

P.S. The funny thing about the annoying stuff that happen while we travel? Once we solve a problem — and we always do solve it, one way or another — we barely even remember it happened.