Living The Dream: It Can Be Very Simple And Very Difficult

Karolyn and Patrick are digital nomads from Poland who have been Living The Dream for 4 years, maximising the times they are happy and minimising the times they are stressed. Sounds simple and difficult all at the same time.

Karolyn and Patrick

What was the first country you visited? Who with and why did you choose it?

We've been traveling before we met but it doesn't count for us. The first country we have visited together was Denmark. It was just a random destination- we chose it because we found cheap flights to Legoland in Billund. We had an amazing time there. We felt free and excited to be in a foreign country! It was the beginning of our relationship, we weren't even engaged but we both felt passionate about travels. It somehow connected us. 3 year later we got married and we didn't stop travelling since that memorable trip to Denmark.

When did you start a travel lifestyle? What inspired that change?

It all started 4 years ago. Few months after we started dating, we decided to live a free life, work online and travel around the world. Today we know that people like us are called digitial nomads but back in 2012 we didn't know that there are other people like us. We both get bored very quickly and we hate stagnation. Life of full-time travellers seemed perfect for us. We were able to spend 24 hours a day together, seeing new places everyday and doing fun things. We just wanted to be happy, that was our main motivation.

Do you have a base you travel from? Or is it continuous travel? And why do you choose that style?

We don't really have a base. Our family lives in Poland, so we keep coming back there every year. But we don't have our own flat or anything that keeps us in our homeland. We chose this independent style of living because we don't like to be attached to any places or things. We believe that everything a person needs can be packed in one suitcase. We love this freedom. Right now we are in Asia and we still don't know what we'll be doing next month. In few days we are flying to Penang in Malaysia. If we like this place, we'll stay there few months, if not, we'll choose another country to travel. Isn't it beautiful to have an ability to do whatever you want? :)

How do you fund your travel lifestyle? Is it something you do when travelling or are you a saver?

We work online, we have our own commerce company. We are definitely not savers, everything we earn, we spend on travels. We wish we have more money on our saving account and we are working on it!

If you could tell yourself one tip before you started your travel lifestyle, what would it be?

Go further and longer. At the beginning we were only traveling around Europe and stay few days at each places. It was very exhausting. We have learnt that staying in one place for 2 weeks is optimally for us. We have time for sightseeing, working and relaxing.

What does "Living The Dream" mean to you?

Doing what you love. It's very simple and yet difficult. Living the dream means maximising the time you are happy and minimising the time you are stressed or bored.