Just a good financial habit to help manage your spend if you keep your cssh/credit balanced as often as possible :)

The card issuer definitely sees that you’re using the card regardless of whether or not you carry a balance. I carry $0 balance but my card limit is regularly increased. 800 credit score, etc.

• Never use your debit card for everyday spending

• Keep most liquid cash in high-interest savings

• Have a minimum of 2 checking accounts with 2 debit cards from entirely separate banks

• Have a Wise account because bank transfers arrive in seconds and you can make foreign transfers to yourself or others quickly

• Keep <$2000 in your “cash withdrawals abroad” checking account, transfer more as needed

• Pay for everyday spend with credit cards, rack up points, request credit increases regularly

• Carry Mastercard and VISA. I have Amex too but it’s not accepted in a lot of places. Some places accept Mastercard or VISA but not both. Best to have something of everything

• Pay off credit cards every few days

• Use a permanent VoIP phone number for 24/7 ability to contact your bank if you’re compromised. Americans can use Google Voice. Highly recommend it.

• Keep €500 in cash tucked away somewhere for emergencies.

• If an ATM ever swallows your card and you have to retrieve it from a technician, consider your card already compromised. Motherfuckers lol.

• Use safer ATMs* - mine was only ever skimmed when I made a withdrawal in a shady neighborhood.

*Someone recommended locking your debit card before and after withdrawals but I don’t necessarily recommend that - then you’ll never know if and when your card was compromised. If possible, turn on SMS alerts to ping you every time your card is used anywhere for anything.

A few years back I withdrew some cash in Spain then left and arrived in South Africa to discover $1200 spent on my debit card in a Walmart in Utah lmao. My bank reversed the charges immediately and sent me a new card in 2 days - that shipment alone must have cost them $80. Pleasantly surprised.

OP I’ve felt this way since I was a little kid lmao.

I’m beginning my 13th year nomading abroad, I don’t feel any different. No place feels entirely like home, and I’m still as unsettled as I ever was.

You’ll cross through places that feel like home sometimes… and then you’ll look back and realize it was actually more about the people who were there with you in that place and time, and the location was just a backdrop. The places don’t really matter all that much, once that shine of newness wears off.

Rented a base 1 year ago for the first time ever, because I was tired of dragging all my gear around. I just picked the place where I’ve nomaded through a ton, where I’ve been dating someone, and which happens to be in the middle of everywhere I usually travel. So it was convenient.

It feels nice to have a space of my own that won’t get booked out from under me like an Airbnb. I’ve had zero stress about accommodation this entire year. But I still have one foot half out the door, like always. I just don’t feel settled.

If I owned my own place I would love to put art on the walls and buy a few meaningful “forever” things, but I just can’t bring myself to do that somewhere I will eventually leave behind. So it’s a sort of limbo, like always.

I’ve accepted that this is probably how I will feel forever - neurons have legit rewired to expect a steady stream of unending novelty. So it will be.

Sometimes I worry that I’ve become bored with the entire planet. Elon better hurry the fuck up lol.

Definitely “top 1% first world” problems. Can’t really complain about chasing my dreams and tasting so many different lives in one lifetime. Everything is a tradeoff and I’ll take this any day over the white picket fence bullshit and a life of wondering “what if…”

Uber gets you anywhere for $2-4 and in all of Africa, the drivers were less likely in Nairobi to ask to cancel and get cash for the ride.

I’ve been Ubering in South Africa for 9 years (wtf) and that’s never once happened to me. I’d probably go for it just to get more hard cash to the driver.

Shhhhh don’t tell the others

Last December I’d been nomading abroad for 11 years and found myself suddenly super exhausted with dragging my shit around and the endless bookings and coming and going, so I somewhat spontaneously rented a place for a year here in Spain.

I furnished it myself, sparsely, and felt uncomfortable for months with the idea of owning shit again. Now I’m used to it, but I still can’t bring myself to settle in and buy more things.

I’m still traveling, been to several different countries this past year, so I’m more “nomadic with a base” rather than settled.

The upside is it’s SO goddamn nice to have my own place that is never booked out, always available to me, with my own things, exactly as I left it. My bed is so fucking comfortable and my pans are not scratched and I have a nice stock of supplies. It’s just fucking nice.

The downside is I’ve traveled less than I would have if I didn’t have the place. It’s a bit of an anchor and that’s limiting.

If I could go back a year and do it again I would do it a little differently to feel less anchored. Here’s my advice:

• Rent a place that’s already furnished to reduce stress/logistics and the drag of owning too much shit to deal with later.

• Rent a cheaper space so it’s less of an anchor. (I can afford to burn the $2,000/mo for this place and still travel, but that feels irresponsible so I travel less than I would if I was paying <$1,000/mo for a scrappy studio. That said, it’s a big flat in the center and that’s been pleasant to live and work in.)

Since you’ve been nomading a long time and you sound a bit burned out like I was, it’s a great experiment for you. Try it. If anything, just to get a break from the nonstop logistics of travel.