Sunset above clouds near the Teide volcano, Tenerife.

One Year, One Bag

In June, I moved out of my apartment without any plans to move into another one. On the 1st of July, I became homeless.

It started almost a lifelong dream of being a Digital Vagabond — Living anywhere around the world from a small backpack, setting up shop for a few months in each place while keeping the mobility and freedom.

As a small child, I never had an answer when anybody asked me what I wanted to do. Later, I figured out one thing — “I want to do something I can do from anywhere.”

I was thinking about being a doctor or photographer, as those two are needed everywhere. But doctors never looked happy or healthy to me, and making money with my camera took the joy out of it.

As the internet became more of a thing, I learned about working online. I finally had my answer.

The vision of long-term travel was there, but I always had too many things going on. It was too easy to find an excuse.

Knowing I will get to it one day in the future influenced me in small but significant ways. I became a minimalist, added the no-in-person-business-meetings rule, and strayed away from all opportunities that would tie me down to one place, for better or for worse.

At the beginning of 2020, I looked deeply into my fears about long-term travel. I realized that many of them are not as big as I thought and can be reversed relatively easily.

Part of the fear-setting exercise I did in March 2020. Seeing all possible bad outcomes and how I can prevent/repair them helped tremendously.

I decided to test it out.

Then, the pandemic happened. But that didn't stop me, and in August, when things got a little better, I escaped to Tenerife with a one-way ticket and a small backpack.

I jumped into it while still keeping my options open. I kept the apartment I could return to, and I didn't make any drastic changes to how I lived. At any time, I could get a return ticket and go back to living my life.

This four-month experiment cleared everything out, and I learned what to expect from traveling long-term,

The decision to do it became easier.

In June 2021, I sold, gave away, or stored everything that didn't fit in my backpack and moved out of my apartment into my bag.

This is what I'm starting with it. I am sure it will change as I travel. At around 10kg, I can comfortably haul it around and take it to the plane with me.

So far, I've spent two weeks in Porto, a month showing my family Tenerife, and a few weeks with friends in the Czech Republic. I'm leaving for Serbia in September, and then we'll see. I'm making this up as I go.

You can see some of my adventures on my Instagram (@lozitalks).

I document my travels in my Instagram stories.