Carlos Peñalba: The Year He Became a Nomad
June 22, 2016 | Podcast
Originally from Spain, Carlos Peñalba is a passionate traveler and photographer who quit his job in New York to backpack through Asia for a year. It turned into an 18-month journey, during which he was also launching a new freelance career. After leaving Asia and as he tried to figure out what was next for him, Carlos wrote a memoir about his adventure, The Year I Became a Nomad: A Journey through Asia on a Quest for Freedom, Love and Happiness.
Most Memorable Location-Independent Experiences
The whole journey I made from Nepal to Japan during 18 months that I’ve written about in my travel memoir.
Biggest Surprise along the Way
Freedom and autonomy are the great advantages of my lifestyle. The most difficult aspect has been accomplishing all I wanted to do on my own. I’m not very disciplined, and many times I have underestimated the time required to complete many tasks. Both have pushed back the completion of my book as well as many other aspects of my photography career.
In this episode
- Finally deciding to quit his job to travel
- Why he went to Asia
- Logistics of his 18-month trip
- Costs and priorities while traveling long-term
- Challenges of starting a new career
- How he’s promoting his travel memoir
- Adjusting to life after travel
- And much more
Resources we talked about
Note: Links with an asterisk are affiliate links, which means you may receive free credit or another bonus and I may earn a small commission or other benefits if you sign up/purchase using that link. There’s no additional cost to you, of course!
- Couchsurfing
- WikiTravel
- Goodreads
- Instafreebie
- Gumroad
- Blog post about Facebook advertising for authors
- Carlos’s book, The Year I Became a Nomad*
Connect with Carlos
Connect with Nomadtopia
Hi, I’m Amy!
I’ve been location-independent since 2004, and after bouncing all over the world I’m currently based in central Mexico with my husband and our twin preschoolers. I founded Nomadtopia to help you create—and thrive in—the location-independent lifestyle that’s right for you.
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