Stepping right into a curated community with an experience that flows in a well orchestrated way has made living abroad feel easy – a feeling I don’t know that many expats would describe in their first months abroad. I’m one month into life as a nomad and while I left San Francisco alone, I have been anything but alone this first month in Europe. I’ve been participating in a remote working program called GlobeKick. Twenty of us met in Lisbon to live, work and travel together for 3 months, Portugal being the first home base, then Spain and Morocco will follow. GlobeKick sets us up with accommodation, coworking space and many more resources along the way, while we provide our own jobs.
This program allowed me to confidently take the leap into nomad life while feeling safe and supported. Everything was taken care of upon arrival – I didn’t have to search for a place to live or a work space or even people to socialize with. I could instead spend time bonding with the new friends around me, exploring the city, diving right back into work and getting adjusted to everyday life abroad like trying to buy laundry detergent in Portuguese. In addition to setting up logistics like where to work and live, GlobeKick arranges other activities that we can participate in. Opportunities like volunteering in the community, group yoga & meditation, heart opening discussions, day trips to nearby places, family dinners and much more.
The program ethos stems from the co-founders themselves and their own personal lifestyle values. When I first met them I was thrilled to find people whose mindsets aligned with mine, to realize I wasn’t crazy to desire a different lifestyle, one where travel & wellness are priorities. They were the type of people I wanted to spend more time with and if they were recruiting others with that same mindset, this was the community for me.
We’re all here with different jobs and reasons for being on the trip. But no matter how similar or different we may be, there is an utmost desire to support one another. This community is accepting, encouraging, optimistic and constantly asking the questions that matter. We’re having an ongoing dialogue about life values and what each of us is searching for in our next steps. It’s incredibly inspiring to be surrounded by people openly figuring it all out just as much as me. There’s an honest ease to living your story like an open book and being able to turn to the person next to you for business, personal, emotional or loving support whether it’s in an office setting, a beach or a bar.
It is truly a gift to feel taken care of while on a journey of personal growth and expansion, to feel protected at a time when I am so open and vulnerable, to allow me to be open and vulnerable rather than closing myself off because I’m in a foreign land. The support of this community means I can explore both personal and professional growth each day without sacrificing one or the other. I’ve already learned and gained so much and it’s only been 1 month.
I’m using these 3 months as an experiment to see if I can make this lifestyle work long term. I may not have it all figured out by then, but the trajectory will be to wind up rather than wind down by the end of this program. At that point, it will be up to me to cultivate my own experience but luckily I’m already seeing what it could look like. I can’t imagine having tried to step into this lifestyle without this program as my starting point. I’m honored to be part of GlobeKick’s first group trip and thrilled to watch them grow and expand. I’m ecstatic for the next 2 months together and seeing what life looks like by the end of month 3.
