170 JOURNEY: Meet 249 Nomads. Where's Wally?

Welcome to the third and final instalment of my Nomad Cruise adventure, where I hopped aboard the Horizon cruise ship and sailed from Spain to Greece for 9 days with a bunch of incredibly talented digital nomads. If you haven't already listened to Part I and II then go back and do so before continuing :) Let's jump back aboard the Horizon! CRETE We arrived on the lovely Greek island of Crete on Saturday. I was really looking forward to this stop a little more than the others because a bunch of us nomads decided to go scuba diving. Unfortunately, our scuba diving excursion got cancelled due to bad weather, which is precisely what happened when I tried to go scuba diving in the Bahamas previously – I guess I'm not meant to frolic with the fishies :( Anyway, a bunch of us decided to hire 3 cars and crammed ourselves in the back to explore the island. I was assigned the driving duties, naturally. If I managed driving up to Sani Pass in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, with a Toyota Corolla then I can certainly handle a few winding roads along the coast of Crete! Because my hands were on the wheel, I enlisted the services of Rosanna to chat with a few of the nomads in the back seat for you to meet. Our nomad convoy drove to a lovely beach and soaked up some Greek sunshine for the afternoon. After our skins were sufficiently sun-kissed, we headed back to the ship to join the rest of the gang. RYAN/RIAAAAAN (FRENCH) Ryan runs his own travel blog called Le sac à dos [https://lesacados.com/] has been a full-time traveller/digital nomad for 8 years. Although he doesn't count the number of countries he has travelled to, the list of places he hasn't visited is far shorter than the ones he has. Like most of us, Ryan joined the Nomad Cruise to connect with other digital nomads to network and make new friends. He has an interesting story as to how he came to be a full-time nomad, and his blog shows his unique style of travelling. He also developed an iPhone app, Budji, which helps you keep track of your budget while you travel. Be sure to follow Ryan on his website/blog [http://lesacados.com/] and his Instagram. [https://www.instagram.com/lefrenchnomad/] NAFPLION We arrived at the beautiful seaport town of Nafplion in the Peloponnese in Greece, up the hillsides near the north end of the Argolic Gulf. The port is so small that we took lifeboats to the shore. I decided to explore the port alone, so I grabbed a nice coffee at the restaurant overlooking the quaint port. Over coffee, I had a chance to quietly reflect on how incredible this Nomad Cruise journey has been so far. I made so many new friends in such a short space of time, establishing deep connections with so many like-minded people. I am still in contact with so many of them to this day - we are a kindred community of nomads and our connection is meaningful. DINING ROOM FAREWELL For the final dinner of the cruise, all the waiters and chefs hosted a really loud and vibrant farewell ceremony for the guests. It was really entertaining. Here I linked up with Carou Llou – you might remember her from episode #24 [https://www.theradiovagabond.com/podcast-024-the-worlds-first-digital-nomads/] when I met her and her husband in Chiang Mai, Thailand. But she lost her voice from all the excitement. :) NOMAD CRUISE CLOSING CEREMONY To keep us all from being sad to say goodbye to each other, Johannes and the Nomad Cruise team put on a closing ceremony for us nomads. Here, we were treated to more performances from a few talented nomads, including guitar virtuoso and good friend, Tobias Rauscher [https://www.youtube.com/user/xTsyx] who stole the show with his own song Memories [https://youtu.be/7X5DmikWn9E]. A big challenge for many nomads is that there isn't really a defined space for deep connections due to the transient nature of the lifestyle. But Nomad Cruise has done just that: they have created a place for all wanderers to come together to make real connections with each other. People who do not live the travelling lifestyle don't really understand it, and so it is really special to come together with a large group of people who know exactly what it is like on the road. I have a great sense of belonging with these people. I feel welcome, and even though I'm not the youngest member (nor the oldest), it really doesn't matter. What matters is our connections we form with one another. It may sound cheesy, but I truly feel like I have finally found my tribe, my people, my extended family. So, I knew for a fact that this wouldn't be my last Nomad Cruise. When Johannes told us that the next cruise was going to be from Barcelona, Spain to Recife, Brazil – across the Atlantic Ocean – I knew I was going to make it my mission to be on that boat. Did I make it to the next cruise? You'll just have to stay tuned to hear if I did… Until the next time… my name is Palle Bo and I gotta keep moving. JOIN THE NOMAD TRIBE As I've mentioned before, this episode series was recorded before the pandemic. Right now, obviously the cruises are cancelled, but when things get back to normal, I'm sure there's going to be more. If you want to join the next Nomad Cruise then drop me a line, I have a way of getting you a discount. You can fill out the form on the Contact [https://www.theradiovagabond.com/contact/] page of my website or just write to me at: listener@TheRadioVagabond.com [listener@TheRadioVagabond.com]. LETTER FROM A LISTENER Here's another letter from a listener. This one is from Kelvin, from Wales: Hi Palle, I came across you on Jason's podcast. Interestingly, I also did Graphic Design in my native Wales. I have always loved radio but never thought of it as a career (I am not hinting or anything). I have been travelling for 20 years but have only managed 52 countries. What am I doing wrong? Anyways, will look forward to hearing some of your podcasts here in lockdown. Best, Kelvin Hayes Thanks for your mail, Kelvin! Come on, visiting 52 countries isn't bad at all - that's pretty amazing. And besides, it's about the adventures, not that country count. I'd like to say that I'm not counting, but I am, and my number is 90 right now. The podcast Kelvin talks about is Zero To Travel [https://zerototravel.com/] with Jason Moore, where I was a guest around 6 months ago. Here I talked about my background as a graphic designer before going full time into radio. And yes, it is a career. With my production company, Radioguru [applewebdata://A53BC5BC-99F5-4D33-9CED-87DCE3706867/radioguru.co.uk] that I started in 2007, I produce radio, sound design, voiceovers, and podcasts. And these are things I'm able to do remotely. In fact, I just produced three soundtracks for The LEGO Group for their new adult product, LEGO Art. We dove into the world of Star Wars, Andy Warhol, and The Marvel Universe. You can listen to those on LEGO.com/art [http://lego.com/art]. I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! I really would like to hear from you. Where are you and what are you doing as you listen to this episode? You can either send me an email on listener@theradiovagabond.com [listener@theradiovagabond.com] or go to the Contact [https://www.theradiovagabond.com/contact/] page on my website TheRadioVagabond.com [https://www.theradiovagabond.com/contact/]. Or send me a voicemail on WhatsApp and I can play it on the next episode. My WhatsApp number is +4540105105. Either way, I would love to hear from you. It's so nice to know who's on the other end of this. SPONSOR A special thank you to my sponsor, Hotels25.com [http://hotels25.com/], who always provide me with the best, most affordable accommodation wherever I am in the world.