Aloha!
My name is Earl.
(Actually, Earl is my middle name, but that’s what everyone calls me. Derek is my first name.)
My Life as a Permanent Nomad
On December 25th, 1999, I left the USA for a three-month, post-graduation trip to Southeast Asia. It’s now been over twelve years and that trip has yet to finish.
The adventure has involved over 70+ countries (view the list here) on 6 continents, work as a Tour Manager on board cruise ships, two years in India, experiments with meditation, muse-creation, mountain-climbing and movie acting, volunteer work, an inappropriate amount of time on tropical islands and eating inappropriate amounts of street food, a two-day kidnapping, being placed on the US ‘terror watch list’, teaching English in Asia and a fruitless search for a pair of sandals with sufficient arch-support for my flat feet, among many other things.
It was exactly three days into my first trip back in 1999, as I celebrated the Millennium at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, when I became inflicted with an untreatable addiction to world exploration. So addicted in fact, that the thought of returning home literally made me sick to my stomach. Therefore, without any other option, I made a decision to change paths in life. Instead of going home to follow my original goal of becoming a Sports Agent, I now embarked on a mission to transform myself into a permanent nomad so that I could continue my travels, and more importantly continue learning from those travels, for as long as possible.
The only problem was that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing and I only had $1500 to my name.
Therefore, as any good problem-solver would have done, I ignored this one fact and worked on creating a solution anyway. Miraculously, and perhaps with the help of some determination and refusal to accept anything less than the achievement of my goals, I eventually managed to create the nomadic life I envisioned.
Ever since, I’ve spent my time constantly traveling around the world, always in search of that eye-opening first-hand education that only travel can provide. I don’t travel to simply check countries off a list. In fact, as a permanent nomad, I have little interest in the actual sights that a particular destination may offer, instead preferring to focus on the human interactions and lessons learned along the way.
And when I combine the rewards that such travel provides with the fact that I can pack all of my possessions into my one backpack and hop on a flight to anywhere in the world on any given day, perhaps you can see why I don’t plan to give up this exhilarating lifestyle any time soon.
To learn more about my travel philosophy, check out my “New Breed of Explorer” page!
Join Me On My Global Adventures!
- Stay updated by subscribing to the RSS Feed or by receiving updates via email (simply sign up using the form below).
- Follow @wanderingearl on Twitter.
- Join the Wandering Earl Fan Page on Facebook.
- Email me through my Contact Form – I would honestly love to hear from you and I respond personally to every email, every time. Connecting with readers and other bloggers is first and foremost what this website is all about.
- Comment on the posts you read – Help foster a more rewarding experience by sharing whatever is on your mind with the Wandering Earl community.
Why You Should Follow WanderingEarl.com
WanderingEarl.com came into existence in late 2009 upon realizing that I wanted to share my adventures with a much wider audience while being able to connect with other like-minded folks at the same time.
And what you’re looking at right now is the result.
I don’t claim to have any answers. To be honest, most of the time I don’t even know what the questions are, and truthfully, I don’t worry too much about that. What I am able to do is…
- tell you where to find a heavenly mango lassi (topped with cherries!) in Calcutta
- share entertaining tales of my travel adventures
- offer useful, proven advice on how to live a life of extended travel
- force you to think about how and why you want to explore this world
- and perhaps, inspire you to live a life without regrets
Towards the beginning of my journey, people were quick to tell me that I was wasting my life by refusing to ‘settle down’. Yet over the years, all of those dissenting voices have become silent. I now receive a good chunk of my motivation from the fact that many of these original naysayers have broken free from the conventional life themselves and joined me as fellow permanent nomads and global citizens.
Will you join us as well? The world would certainly be a much better place if you did.
Back in 1999, I left home for a 3 month trip to Asia that has still yet to end.
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I found out about you via nomdicalsabbatical.com and I’m glad I did. I applaud you for what you’re doing. It’s very inspiring. One statement you made that coincides with my way of thinking when it comes to travel was, “In fact, as a permanent nomad, I have little interest in the actual sights that a particular destination may offer, instead preferring to focus on the human interactions and lessons learned along the way.” This is the same objective I have when traveling. I wish you the best in your future journeys.
Hey Kenny – Thanks for the message and I welcome you to the site. I look forward to communicating with you some more about travel on here!
Hi Earl,
I found out about your site via the site of Adventurous Kate and I must see I really admire what you are doing. This year we travelled for 5 months and I always thought that was my dream come true, but back in Amsterdam I just want to travel again and further and more!! So thank you for taking me on your travels and keeping me inspired!
Hey Olfa – Welcome to the site and thank you for reading! Hopefully you’ll be back out on the road again at some point as I know how addicting travel can become!
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Hi Earl,
I just found your site as I was doing some curiosity-driven searches on living abroad. This is something I’ve been considering seriously for two years now. I am a graduate student and I often think of spending one of my free summers away or spending the time I need to write my dissertation abroad. Anyway, your site has been really inspiring. I plan to look around. I’m curious to see the many ways you have employed yourself abroad–I’m sure you talk about it somewhere, so I will dig around to find out. Cheers.
Lauren
Hey Lauren – It’s great to have you as a reader! As for the jobs I’ve done, it’s basically been teaching English in Asia, working on board cruise ships and now working on line. Those are the three main positions that have allowed me to live this lifestyle. If you ever have any questions at all, just send me an email and I’d be more than happy to reply!
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Hey Earl…I really enjoy reading about your travels…as a person with a wandering soul, I soooo want to go on an adventure of my own…I’ll be 60 this yr & life is getting shorter by the day…island life or near an ocean shore with a laid-back culture would be the greatest thing…I can almost feel it now..lol…but my income if very limited ($1100.00/mth) & I’m a little concerned about being a woman who is traveling alone…any advice on places to go where I can afford to live cheaply for a few months, but safely?…I’m not one who is afraid of much, but then I’m also not stupid about things that can happen in foreign travel…I just know that after spending much of my life raising my children & doing what was expected, I want to do something for Donna before this life gives me the boot…any suggestions you have I will definately take under advisement!…have fun in Mexico & maybe one day our paths will cross….D
Hey Donna – All I can say is that the world is a much safer place than most people ever imagine, even for solo female travelers. Usually, if you use the same common sense you would use back home while abroad, you’ll be just as safe. As a result, there are many options for great places to live…from Mexico to Eastern Europe to Southeast Asia…to the Balkan countries, Turkey, parts of Central and South America. There’s too many possibilities to list!
Hey thanks for taking the time to answer me…I’ve traveled a bit in my day..Austria, Spain, Baja Mexico(when it was a little safer), Barbados, & of course the usual island travel…but I’m just drawn to the ocean with the sand & sun…I’m looking into house-sitting opportunities to at least cut expenses, although I may find that too confining since I want adventure..but my health is excellent, I have the desire, & now I just have to decide where to start!… look out world..here I come!!.Again!!..lol
Donna..The Oklahoma Wanderer
Hi Earl ,
Very nice information i got from web. keep writing this kind of valuable info .It help us to see the world from View…..
Thank you for all that you do, Earl.
How do you balance long-term dating/relationships/romance while traveling?
Hey Kevin – Luckily, I have the freedom to stop wherever I want so if I meet someone that I want to spend more time with, nothing is stopping me from sticking around longer or traveling with that person. So it actually works out much better than people imagine.
Hey Earl I just want you to know you are the luckiest person in the world! (in case you didn’t know that already! lol) I planned to do exactly what you are for the rest of my life and somehow ended up married, not going to happen now, so it makes me smile to know there are people out there able to enjoy such a life. I found you on stumbleupon and will be returning to hear more about your awesome life!
I hope it is always as amazing as it sounds!
Hey Sharon – I do feel lucky, that’s for sure
Hey Earl! I saw that you’ve been to Iceland. We’re heading there this May, and tips?!
Hey Micah – It’s a great country…I would definitely try to get up to the north coast. Akureyri was a great place to base out of for a while and I really enjoyed the small community of Isafjordur as well!
Thanks man, we’ll definitely see if we can hit up the north coast some! Thanks again!
Dont you think travelling like this so much you are pushing globalisation? We all know what that has done, ruin cultures, world becoming more interacting thus having nothing left to be explored by man.
Hey Earl,
really… you are the coolest guy on earth. Hope I can join you soon somewhere in the world.
Thanks for your 220 pages manual… Its the best investment I took during the past decade. For sure.
Best greetings from Germany
Michele
Hey Michele – Let me know if you ever have any questions!