Kayla Ihring's story is about the beauty of transformation and discovery as she recounts her shift from the structured 9-to-5 life to the freedom of the digital nomad lifestyle. It is a reminder that the world is vast and our time here is precious. Kayla is an author, digital nomad, and full-time traveller. Through our conversation, we traverse the globe, from the electric hum of Chicago to the colourful streets of Mexico and Guatemala, the charming canals of the Netherlands, and, eventually, today's recording. Kayle and her husband were in North Macedonia. Kyla's experiences, including the poignant loss of her aunt, serve as a powerful reminder to chase joy and fulfillment without delay, a theme that resonates throughout our discussion.
As we wrap up, Kyla peels back the curtain on the digital nomad lifestyle's balancing act of working and writing against the backdrop of global explorations. She shares strategies for budget-friendly travel, the importance of off-season adventures, and the significance of maintaining a work-life balance while moving. Discussing her book, "How to Be a Digital Nomad," Kyla underscores the authenticity of the nomadic journey, offering a blend of inspirational anecdotes and grounded advice. Whether you're a seasoned traveller or just beginning to entertain the idea of a location-independent lifestyle, Kyla's insights are an invaluable compass for navigating the freedoms and challenges of the digital nomad path.
Let's enjoy her story.
To connect with Kayla: https://writingfromnowhere.com/
Kayla
Thank you for listening - Hasta Pronto!
Kayla Ihring's story is about the beauty of transformation and discovery as she recounts her shift from the structured 9-to-5 life to the freedom of the digital nomad lifestyle. It is a reminder that the world is vast and our time here is precious. Kayla is an author, digital nomad, and full-time traveller. Through our conversation, we traverse the globe, from the electric hum of Chicago to the colourful streets of Mexico and Guatemala, the charming canals of the Netherlands, and, eventually, today's recording. Kayle and her husband were in North Macedonia. Kyla's experiences, including the poignant loss of her aunt, serve as a powerful reminder to chase joy and fulfillment without delay, a theme that resonates throughout our discussion.
As we wrap up, Kyla peels back the curtain on the digital nomad lifestyle's balancing act of working and writing against the backdrop of global explorations. She shares strategies for budget-friendly travel, the importance of off-season adventures, and the significance of maintaining a work-life balance while moving. Discussing her book, "How to Be a Digital Nomad," Kyla underscores the authenticity of the nomadic journey, offering a blend of inspirational anecdotes and grounded advice. Whether you're a seasoned traveller or just beginning to entertain the idea of a location-independent lifestyle, Kyla's insights are an invaluable compass for navigating the freedoms and challenges of the digital nomad path.
Let's enjoy her story.
To connect with Kayla: https://writingfromnowhere.com/
Kayla
Thank you for listening - Hasta Pronto!
Hi, I'm Daniela. Welcome to my podcast, because everyone has a story, the place to give ordinary people, stories, the chance to be shared and preserved. Our stories become the language of connections. Let's enjoy it, connect and relate, because everyone has a story. Welcome my guest, kyla Eyring.
Daniela SM:Kayla is an author, digital nomad and a full-time traveller. Her story is about the beauty of transformation and discovery, as she shares her journey from a structured 9-5 life to the freedom of the Kayla's story is filled with insights into the practicality of living abroad, the cultural nuance that shapes our experiences and the personal growth that comes from living a life less ordinary. Nomad lifestyle, although it's not exactly completely freedom. Kyla works 40 hours or more every week, but she is crafting her life of adventure in the digital age. Kayla and I are not saying that travelling is a better life, but it is certainly for both of us. She's been doing it for a while, and I will be starting soon, so let's enjoy her story. So welcome, Kayla, to the show. I'm super excited because you have . to share.
Kayla Ihring :Aw, thank you. We had a good chat about travel. I feel like this conversation could go on forever. Yes, I know.
Daniela SM:And I was looking at all your social medias and it is cool. I love the banner that you use. So you are a digital nomad. Yeah, yeah, it's always so impressive when I meet people like that. It's not a big deal, I'm sure for you it's not a big deal, but for those people that just have to go to work and deal with traffic, you can just do whatever you want or go wherever you want. It sounds so cool.
Kayla Ihring :Aw, yeah, it's still a big deal to me, you know, because I had never really traveled before. I became a digital nomad and I remember sitting at my desk thinking, if I ever managed to see the world, I am going to appreciate every minute. And, of course, then you get into the day-to-day takes over and you still have to stay mindful. But it's a lifestyle that makes you engaged with life, which is what I needed whenever I was sitting in a cubicle and unhappy with my job.
Daniela SM:I love that. A lifestyle that helps you engage with life. That sounds amazing. I know that I reach out to you, but you have written a book, so why do you want to share your story?
Kayla Ihring :I wanted to share about the digital nomad lifestyle because it's all of a sudden popular, which is so.
Kayla Ihring :It's still strange to me, because whenever I became a digital nomad in 2017, people didn't really know what that term meant. Whenever I explained it to them, I often was met with like pushback. People either thought, wow, that's so cool, good for you. Or oh, that's risky, that's dangerous. Are you sure? Aren't you throwing away your career? Aren't you going to regret it? And there was a lot of speculation over you know, isn't this like a scam or something that you just get to travel all the time? But I think now, then the pandemic, you know, a silver lining was that people understand what it means to work remotely, and if you worked from your couch for six months during the pandemic, you could have worked from the beach or a different country and you could have traveled. If you could work from home, you could work from anywhere, and I'm grateful that people understand that now.
Daniela SM:Well, there is also depends on the job that you're doing, right? Not everybody gets that opportunity. Yes, like my husband and I, we would love to travel, but the jobs that we have are not digital or you can't be online all the time. I mean, I get to work from home only two times a week. That's very helpful. The distractions are less. You can concentrate more. I think it's fascinating that you start to travel, but tell me, when does your story starts?
Kayla Ihring :It really starts back whenever I was at college. So my last year of college I was, you know, looking at what do I want to do with my life, what's going to happen whenever I leave school. It's a new feeling, very scary time, and in that year seven people in my life died. Wow, for all different reasons cancer, heart attack, plane crash, getting hit by a car. It was really a year of like repeated loss and it made me feel so intensely that I have no idea if I'm going to make it to 30, to retirement. I have no guarantees and none of us do.
Kayla Ihring :But I entered the working force thinking it's risky. All the bad in life is coming for you. You can't dodge cancer, grief, loss you can't dodge any of that. But the happiness you kind of have to fight for, you have to forge that in. That was how I felt whenever I entered the workforce and I was surrounded by you, of course, some very engaged, passionate people. But then there was kind of this overall feeling that people were kind of like waiting for time to pass, like wishing away life. You know this well. You know waiting all day for five PM and all week for the weekend, and I thought I don't want to do that. I'm afraid to do that because I have no idea if I'll make it. I don't want to save all my dreams for down the road someday. I was really afraid of that and that really drove me out of the nine to five and into working freelance so that I could travel.
Daniela SM:Wow, yes, I totally understand you. I think when I was younger, when I finished college in Switzerland and I went back to Venezuela and I was going to work there, jeremiah said, okay, no, I want you to work in sales. And I'm like no, no, I want to work at the front desk. And then I go okay, I go to the front desk, marriage. And he said, yes, we can hire you. It would be $300 a month and you know that was in 1990, but that was absolutely no money at all and I was like $300. I would never be able to travel. I'm leaving. And so I left to London. You know, I always had that feeling too, that I think that there is so much to see that you can just not be stuck. And I have been 28 years in Vancouver and I think, okay, this is time now to start seeing the world. You're ahead of me, for sure.
Kayla Ihring :Oh yeah, I was in a way. It was such a traumatic period of life but in a way I was really lucky because I got to learn that lesson about how precious time is and I really thought about my aunt Jane. She died in November that year and she was counting down the days until she retired. You would ask her how are you today? And Jane, and she would say I have 45, 450 days until I retire. That was how she was, so she was living for that countdown. And then she walked out of work one day and got hit by a car in the parking lot and I thought of her at every big turn in life. Whatever I was in that phase of what am I going to do with my time, I thought of her a lot and I feel, you know, blessed to have learned that lesson. It's a little bit scary about how do you spend your time is limited and how are we going to spend it.
Daniela SM:Nobody. Nobody knows For sure. That puts you into perspective like, wow, she was counting for 100 days and look at what happened. People wait. And to retirement. And then maybe you're too old, you can walk. You don't enjoy life, you know, you're not adventurous, you have more fears, you are more comfortable with what you have and it's much harder to let go. So I think that the society is wrong. We should like just enjoy life when we're younger, tired of enjoying it too much. For those who want to do it, I mean, there's people that just want to have a routine and their life and constant, right, so there's all kind of people, but it should be different.
Kayla Ihring :Yes, and there's nothing wrong with that. I always try to. I always try to say whenever I'm having these conversations you know, travel isn't better, it's not like more important, it's not a form of enlightenment, it's not anything, it's just what I want to do, and if someone else wants to do it too, I would love to. I want to help, but there's no kind of superiority to it. I think it's important because sometimes people talk about these things in a bit of or pretentious tones, and I think travel is so humbling it should never be spoken about in that way.
Daniela SM:Yes, that's true. I mean, I learned that there are all kinds of peoples, of course, and when you and I meet, we probably think, okay, this is how everybody should do it. But it's not true. I mean, if everybody wants to do the same as us, then there will be no space for us. So it's better than people are different. Yes, yeah, yeah, that's a beautiful way to say it so great, so okay. So you were finishing, finishing college and all these terrible things happened to you, about seven people dying. That's really unusual, very unusual. What happened? Like what else? What happened? I?
Kayla Ihring :got a job working for the American Red Cross, so I went the nonprofit route. I thought that's probably really meaningful to spend your your time helping people, and it was. But it was also. It's hard to not have a lot of money. I my my income was at the poverty line of where I was living per year. I had a one year contract and then I moved on to the corporate role.
Kayla Ihring :I thought, let's, you know, life will be easier with a little bit more money, able to do things. And it was. And I really enjoyed having a normal salary and, you know, having everything that comes with that being able to go to the bar and afford like more than one drink. You know these little luxuries in life. And I lasted there for a year before I thought this is not quite for me and I want to, yeah, do something else with my time and leverage technology. So that's whenever I bought a one-way ticket to Mexico. I started there and then I traveled in Latin America for a while and then I moved to Europe and traveled around, and I'm still traveling around in Europe now.
Daniela SM:Hold on, Hold on. So so one year in a nonprofit, one year in corporate, and then you took the plane and went to Mexico, but you weren't working.
Kayla Ihring :I was freelancing.
Kayla Ihring :I started working, so being self-employed. Yeah, I found some freelance writing work on Craigslist, which is kind of like an online newspaper if anyone is unfamiliar like listings, you know you can sell a couch or offer a job. I found somebody looking for a freelance writer on there and it didn't pay a lot, but I was able to really really reduce how much money I was spending. I mean, my rent in Chicago was $1,200 a month and that was just rent and I've I don't think I've ever spent that much on accommodation since then. It's been like just a numbers game. It's cheaper. It's been cheaper for me to be other places, which is, you know, the interesting thing about leveraging. Yeah, it's called geo geo arbitration. Whenever you move somewhere cheaper and try to change where you are to get more.
Daniela SM:When you were working at Red Cross, were you away or were you in Chicago as well?
Kayla Ihring :I was actually in Seattle for that year. That's it.
Daniela SM:Okay, so you were working in a city.
Kayla Ihring :Yeah.
Daniela SM:Working for a nonprofit.
Daniela SM:Yes, I did seven years of nonprofit. It was great because I was raising my kids, so I had a lot of flexibility. But the money was really bad and I always got me upset. People saying, oh, you have to manage your, your overhead cost. And I was always saying, but why do we have to make less than you just because we work in nonprofit? I mean we work as hard, if not harder, and we need to get paid properly. And so with the story that it was nonprofit seven years, so I know what you did in one year and it was a great experience.
Kayla Ihring :Yeah, it's hard to stay for seven years. I mean it's also there's a lot of burnout because a lot of the other people working in nonprofits I'm assuming that your nonprofit was similar to my experience it's pretty. It was pretty standard Big brothers.
Kayla Ihring :Oh yeah, people are very burnt out because they're so mission driven and they are making so little money. The stress level is very high because people feel like it's all for the mission, it's all for the kids, it's all for you, know, and they're pouring themselves into this work and it was a lot of stress, yeah.
Daniela SM:Yeah, okay, so we were in Mexico and you were freelancing, and how long did you spend in Mexico?
Kayla Ihring :I was there for about a month and then I went to Guatemala and to go to Spanish school and I met my husband there. We traveled together south overland through all the way down to Panama and then we ended up going to South America as well Columbia and Peru. Then, after that trip, I moved to the Netherlands, which is where my husband's from, and I worked on building up my bit, turning like a freelancing, because freelancing it paid the bills but it wasn't very steady. So then I worked on turning that into a real business in the Netherlands while we were there with the home base.
Daniela SM:And when you were traveling through South Central and South America, so you were staying one month in each country.
Kayla Ihring :No, it wasn't one month everywhere. Just depended on the pace, the weather, pretty kind of deciding day to day. Do we want to stay, do we want to go? I didn't plan things out very far in advance back then. I plan a little bit more now because we're traveling full time now as well. We don't have an apartment, so we plan out a little bit farther in advance.
Daniela SM:Okay, well, that sounds wonderful. So then the Netherlands column, what are you there for we?
Kayla Ihring :use that as a home base for five years actually, so we traveled as much as we could. I immigrated there, so I integrated into society. I took all these exams on Dutch language and Dutch culture and I got Dutch nationality. So that was a big goal to get. You know, an EU passport was really special. Yeah, that was the five years of life.
Daniela SM:Yes, it is very special to have an EU passport. What happened for you? Like the very different the US and the Netherlands, different culture, but because you were traveling to South America, what is the culture shock there? Like, what is the thing that you were difficult for you to adapt, or things for you to adapt?
Kayla Ihring :Oh, I was surprised by how kind of closed people were in the Netherlands kind of closed off. I found people didn't smile as much as they. I mean, no one smiles as much I think I was. We just spent a few months again in Mexico and I feel like everyone smiles at each other there. It's such a nice thing. I feel like you start smiling more yourself because you're seeing it in other people and then you come to a culture where people don't smile as much and it feels like people are less happy and it doesn't mean, it's true, but it feels more cold and separate and closed off. So that was my one of my first impressions of the Netherlands, and Northern Europe kind of has that reputation.
Daniela SM:Yeah that's true, and so when South America was a big difference, right, I think everybody was very friendly and very talkative and they're always welcoming.
Kayla Ihring :Yeah, and they're very friendly. Even though I didn't speak a lot of Spanish I spoke very little back then. I was people really try to help you and talk to you, and the Netherlands people are also willing to help you, but almost everyone speaks English as a second language or third or fourth, so they switched to English very quickly and help you. I don't know. I guess I didn't feel as kind of in touch with the culture in that way. You're like trying to be fitted with the local presence and, yeah, it was a very different experience.
Daniela SM:Yes, I grew up in Venezuela, so I was used to people being always kind and if they don't have anything, they will give you something. And listening to all these people that I have met now, they're travelers. There is no a place that is perfect. It's just perfect for you. There is a lady that I interviewed. She's from Germany and she moved to Venezuela and one of the islands and she loved it and you know I couldn't do that, but she's the happiest person. So, again, the perfect place for her. And I think that that's why, at the same as you have to find your purpose, I think you have to also find the place that is for you.
Kayla Ihring :Yeah, and it might not, and it might change. That's what I'm learning somewhere that you might like. So a place can be right for you for a few years. A few months could be what you need just right now, and if you have that flexibility to work from any location, then you get to explore that chase. It feel it whenever you're feeling down. Go somewhere with more sunshine and more blue and green, and I find that I crave that whenever it's, whenever I'm feeling low energy. I crave the time spent outside, being able to go to those places.
Daniela SM:Yes, that's true. That's true, and when I talked to you last time, you were in Croatia. Where are you located now? I'm?
Kayla Ihring :in North Macedonia right now.
Daniela SM:Oh wow, I always wanted to go there.
Kayla Ihring :It's so pretty, oh my gosh.
Daniela SM:Yes, that is what it keep hearing. We're thinking about Georgia, but I forgot about North Macedonia.
Kayla Ihring :I keep hearing that Georgia is one of the best places. I've heard it repeatedly. Now you have to. Oh, I've been. We were going to go, but we ended up changing our plans and we came to a different part. We ended up doing the Balkans. We were looking at doing the Caucasus and decided to do the Balkans instead.
Daniela SM:Yes, but I think that everybody knows about Georgia now, so it's not going to be that cool if we don't hurry up. I love that. So one second, let's go back. You were in the Netherlands. Let's carry on with the story. You were in the Netherlands, five years there, and then what happened?
Kayla Ihring :I finished my immigration process. I got Dutch nationality, my husband and I got rid of all of our stuff in our apartment and we downsized two backpacks and we decided to travel full time again. So not having a home base and just living out of Airbnb's.
Daniela SM:And you still kept the same job, you just developed it more.
Kayla Ihring :Yeah, I've just been developing the writing. I started out doing freelance writing in 2017. Well, in 2017, I was freelance writing for it was a pretty crappy job. Not, I didn't pay well, it was not a great experience, but I realized that that was just one type of freelance writing and I could see all these other types. I was on LinkedIn and I saw people who were loving freelance writing and making good money, so I started trying different types of that and I've now been writing for Hubspot and GoDaddy. I got a book deal through LinkedIn. Now, yeah, we focus on writing for different publications, ghost writing for other people, wow. So what did you study? Yes, I studied journalism and public relations.
Daniela SM:Okay, so you love what you do.
Kayla Ihring :Yeah, I do. It took a while to arrive at that point, but I love it now. I love it a lot.
Daniela SM:Excellent, okay. So then you decided to travel, and how do you pick the first place? Oh, how did we pick the first?
Kayla Ihring :place. Oh, I just had a recommendation from a friend. She said Montenegro is so nice. How you know you haven't been there yet. You have to go. And it was. I mean, everything in Europe is kind of close and kind of far away at the same time. But it was only, I think, three days of travel on buses and trains to get from Netherlands to Montenegro. So we just kind of decided to slowly make our way there. So we traveled for like a week or two over land and gone to Montenegro and spent two weeks there and then traveled back a different route and we've just been drifting around. We spend sometimes a week, sometimes month and a place. You have been doing this for about nine months.
Daniela SM:But always in our bmbs, or have you taken hostels as well, did?
Kayla Ihring :hostels originally and we've been doing bmbs now. We find that, well, hostile prices have gone up a lot, a lot in Europe since the pandemic. A lot of small, locally owned hostels sold to companies during the pandemic, so hostile prices I would say maybe they've doubled in some places. And if you book for a month on air bnb, at least in Europe, you always can find a discount like a big discount, like in Croatia. Our apartment was listed for three thousand dollars a month, but For a month discount and it was winter it was only a thousand dollars. Nice, nice. That's what we take advantage of and that's, yeah, that's our budget every month.
Daniela SM:But you know, usually people like to go and follow the sun. However, you are following the winter. Is it kind of like what we are gonna do, to which you worries me because I am a beach person, but what do you think? How is that happening?
Kayla Ihring :I think you have to see what you're in the mood for right now, because we spent two months in Mexico last year and we were so hot and it was lovely, but we were talking about going to Southeast Asia after that and we has my kind of looked. Each other said we don't want to sweat anymore, like let's have a break from the heat, and then we decided to do autumn and winter and we have been enjoying that a lot. I think it's all about contrast. I think that is the thing that keeps life interesting, because if you lived on a beach With the same perfect weather every day, you would also crave a storm or cold weather or, you know, drama you need to see variation.
Daniela SM:Of course, I agree with you is just that, because we live in Vancouver and is cold.
Kayla Ihring :It depends if you go up into the mountains, because you know Germany, france, switzerland, I mean these have mountain ranges that are, I mean, the Alps, the Pyrenees. It's very snowy and cold and even in Spain we always think of Spain is being really hot, but there are mountainous regions in Spain where the kids like go to school on skis in the winter.
Daniela SM:And so what is a normal day for you then? Now that is winter, you're in North Macedonia.
Kayla Ihring :Wake up coffee to work. Normally I schedule my work for the week, so if I don't have that many deadlines I won't work as much, or I'll do all my work at the beginning of the week or I'll save it all for the end. It depends on what kind of week I'm having. But I usually work 40 hours a week. It's a pretty normal work week. So I work and then close things up around two or three, go out for a few hours, walk around, explore and then come back for dinner, and sometimes I put in a little bit more work, depending on how busy it is.
Daniela SM:Oh wow you work a lot yeah yeah, it's pretty normal.
Kayla Ihring :I think most digital nomads work 40 hours a week most that I know it's a pretty standard, or more. It's easy to work more if you're self employed you get. Yeah, overworking is a bigger issue than underworking and I think it's funny because the public perception is, oh, you're pretty much on vacation all the time. You're probably hardly at your computer, but most people I met and have met in real life and I interviewed for the book they struggle with overworking.
Daniela SM:Yeah, I can see that. That happened to me when we started to work from home. Yes, and I didn't like it at all. I was like exhausted and it's like what's going on? Are you like, after two o'clock did you get to go for a walk?
Kayla Ihring :Sometimes it's like 30 minute run to the grocery store and sometimes, if the weather is really nice and there's not a lot of work to do, I'm out all day walking around petting all the cats. There's a lot of cats here in the town we're in.
Daniela SM:Oh nice, you are working too much. You're working 40 hours, and I also wanted to mention that I know that you have the special coffee thing that you travel with. Do you still have it? Oh?
Kayla Ihring :yeah, yeah, yeah, my little coffee maker it's called an Aeropress. Learn to the hard way to bring that. It's small. There's a travel version. So well, if you love coffee, then coffee is different whenever you go to different places. And then you go to an Airbnb and it has one of those place things with a little coffee pods and you go to the store and you buy the wrong ones and it's like I just want a normal cup of coffee and we'll try the local coffee. There's like Greek coffee and Turkish coffee and espresso whenever we were in Italy. You know we always try the local thing, but we're not going to go out every day and buy two or three cups of coffee throughout the day. So that's something that's important to us that we need to be able to do at home.
Daniela SM:And so do you have a small budget or how do you do it? You already said that you got the deal with the Airbnb, but what about food? I mean, do you get to enjoy the restaurants as well as you cook at home?
Kayla Ihring :We cook at home. We don't eat out at restaurants very often. That's something that I know. It surprises people often with this topic because a lot of people associate travel with going out to restaurants and eating out, but it's something we maybe. We do maybe twice a month. It's pretty infrequent and you can't eat at a restaurant every day and to me I can't feel good because you're eating like very heavy food and it's not always very healthy. I did that originally, eating a lot of street food whenever I was traveling and I didn't feel good. I'm also vegetarian, so I had very few options. Like I want to eat tofu, chickpeas, lentils, and I was pretty much getting like cheese everywhere and I felt really sick. So cooking for me is a way to keep myself it like. That's something that has to be normal for me, since everything else is changing.
Daniela SM:Okay interesting, interesting. And your husband is vegetarian too.
Kayla Ihring :He's flexitarian, so he eats meat, but he doesn't cook meat, because he cooks for us Most days. So he eats meat at restaurants or whenever we're out, but he doesn't eat meat at home.
Daniela SM:Okay, okay, interesting, interesting. What about going out and joining, I don't know? Going to, you know you're young so you would like to go to clubs or I don't know, out that night. Would you do that too?
Kayla Ihring :sometimes I used to do it a lot more, but I've gotten kind of out of the routine with COVID. You used to go out to bars find quiz night, or was it trivia night? Go out find live music, but COVID got me out of the bar routine. We still go out sometimes, but it's not a normal part of life. How do you learn about the culture? I like to go out and experience, like all the other things you know, like museums and trying to find we do try to find like music, whenever we're in somewhere, a new place and hitting up all the kind of like recommended. You know. See the churches, what's there, what do the people celebrate and and so you decided to write a book.
Daniela SM:Let's talk about that.
Kayla Ihring :Yeah, yeah, I got a message one day on LinkedIn from a publisher that said that they wanted to publish a book about digital nomadism. And they found my writing and they liked it and they asked me if I wanted to talk and we got on a Zoom call and they offered me the opportunity to put a proposal, work on a proposal with them and, yeah, I got accepted. I got a book deal offer and, yeah, the rest is kind of history. That was in 20, that very end of 2022.
Daniela SM:That must have been really good for your self esteem. My God, you know people were contacting me. It's not like I wanted to write a book. They actually asked me to write a book.
Kayla Ihring :Very much so. Yeah, because I'd be publishing my writing online for years at this point. I started my blog in 2018, and I started my blog because I wanted to write. So I was writing these articles and sending them to other websites and I was like, hey, do you want to publish my article for free? And people weren't responding. I'm literally giving away my writing for free and people don't want it.
Kayla Ihring :And I thought I want to be, I want to write, I want to enjoy it, I want to improve and I thought, well, I guess I just have to do it myself, I'll publish it myself and I'll learn that way. So I was blogging for years and started getting paid more to write for other publications, so I knew I was on the right track. But to have a publisher reach out was a really yeah. It was a very validating moment that it was worthwhile to pursue this, even whenever people would ask me how's your little blog? Oh, are you still doing that? You know these kind of comments that feel a little bit demeaning. And I'm there. I was there for years saying, yes, I'm still doing my little blog because I believe, I think it's going to go somewhere and it did, and that was special.
Daniela SM:Yes, I think I didn't notice and I hope it doesn't stick with me now that you mentioned that. But people say, oh, how's your podcast going? And you know that means that they're not even following, so they wouldn't know. Yes, it's just silly. I'm like, yeah, it's going well. Thanks, that's a relief.
Kayla Ihring :And then those same people, whenever your podcast is huge and super popular, they'll say, wow, you're so lucky that you have this great podcast. And you'll say, well, remember whenever I did it for years and you found it really boring, or whatever you know is behind those questions. Some people think it's kind of I don't know. Do they think it's sad to do something creative? Because if you do something creative, it's a very, like personal thing. And then people look at it and think, oh, what are they doing? It's kind of I don't know. I struggled with that in the beginning, but they'll all follow up whenever and they'll say, wow, it's wonderful, I wish I had done that.
Daniela SM:Well, you know people, they're always interesting and they always have something to say, positive and negative. While I was looking for your book, I saw there was many, many books that actually have similar title. So how does your book stands out and why the same title?
Kayla Ihring :The same title. The title is how to Be a Digital Nomad and that was chosen by my publisher. The full title is how to Be a Digital Nomad Build a Successful Career While Traveling the World, and every book that is published is put into a category and some of those books are put into the travel category or make money online, and my book is classified as a business book. So it's a focus on career and how do you keep your career going, how do you grow, network, get, promote, you know, how do you keep your career thriving while you're in this really dynamic environment. And the real difference from my book I think all the books out there I consider it to be kind of a part of a genre of digital nomad writing versus, you know, directly competing with these other books, because they all have really interesting, different value.
Kayla Ihring :But I focused on stories from other nomads and learning moments from them. Like I think it's so important whenever you have a friend who did something and they tell you and you're like, wow, if my friend did this, maybe I could do it too, and I wanted to introduce that to readers. So I interviewed nomads from all different stages of travel and life and told their story of why did they want to do this and how was it hard and what came from it. And where are they now and kind of showing a little bit of progression of their story, their experience with digital nomadism.
Daniela SM:Yes, and I think that is very valuable. Like that, Like I was reading a lady who she wrote a book and it was interesting that she was saying this is my experience and I was crying bad moments too. And you're like, oh, okay, that's good because you know, everybody says all the good things. Yeah, you know, in videos and YouTube everybody says good things and nobody knows that there is also bad moments. And if you are authentic about the bads and the good, then people are going to understand it better and say, okay, well, I know what to expect now. It's not all going to be amazing.
Kayla Ihring :I appreciate that so much in writing and I focused a lot on that as well. The whole first chapter of the book is titled so you Want to Be a Digital Nomad Question mark and I talk about. What is it really like to live this way and what are people's experiences and what are the daily realities and what do you gain and lose? Because it's a mistake to act like you should throw your old life away, run off into the sunset, have this amazing life. It's ridiculous. Life is the same, it's just somewhere else. You know you're still going to like rip your pants and lose your credit card and have to go to the doctor. And it's a mistake to act like life is great once you travel because it's going to be the same challenges.
Daniela SM:No, it's all in your head. It's all in your head. I know that people may say, oh, you think that you're going to travel now and things are going to be changing. And I feel like, yes, because I want to feel free and I want to have options, but, of course, not having money because we don't have the job, like you, is going to be stressful. However, I feel like, okay, we do it for a year and then we come back and we have to find a job and we struggle. At least I did it. Or maybe I come back and said, oh my God, vancouver is the best place in the world. How did I ever try to leave? But at least I tried it. It's just a try and then we'll see.
Kayla Ihring :Yeah, yeah. There will always be some people who think that trying is a bad thing or risky. I don't think it's risky to try anything. I mean, I don't know, don't go skydiving without a parachute or anything but it's trying, it's good, it's healthy and it doesn't have to be successful. If you were to go traveling and realize, wow, I hate this, it's good, it's not a failure, it's a good thing that you tried, it's an important part of life.
Daniela SM:I know, and then you see, for example, people that are nomadic, that they're also minimalistic, and apparently that was for me. I understood that was the only way. You have to sell everything, and I don't think I'm ready for that.
Daniela SM:You know, I think that everybody also have their own style of doing it. Like somebody I met, this lady, who she goes with four loggages and she doesn't take them out of the car until the people she does house sitting. She doesn't take the bags after the people are gone, so they don't think that she's going to stay there forever, but she likes to travel with her stuff. You know, and some other people have like a mini backpack and that's like you and you can do that Again. Like people like to travel and don't like to travel, there are also people that like to travel in different ways and must be respected, and I think it's fascinating to learn about it. Then you get your own style.
Kayla Ihring :Yeah, absolutely. There's actually four paths of what to do with your stuff. I talk about that a lot in the book and the four common paths. And yeah, getting rid of everything is the extreme option. It is not the only option, it's not the best option. It's all about what works for you.
Daniela SM:I think that you should take steps slowly rather than fast.
Kayla Ihring :It's the best attitude. Yeah, you don't have to force yourself into doing anything that feels really scary or radical.
Daniela SM:Yes, we're talking about a stand for your laptop.
Kayla Ihring :And then you said oh, yeah, you think you need it, but you will forget about it and it's easier to break up with that whenever you're abroad, because you can't buy things, because you can't fit them in your bag, but also whenever you are removed from advertising. I was shocked. I used to love to shop but I couldn't believe once. Magazines, ads, everything, billboards, nothing was in a language I could understand. I had lost the urge to shop and I go back to the US and I still feel that pull to get a new clothes or whatever. It's amazing how I mean, billions of dollars are spent trying to convince you to spend money and whenever you remove yourself from that equation, you realize kind of how you feel about it and not how society is telling you to feel.
Daniela SM:Yes, fascinating, fascinating. So yeah, so that you're right. I find it interesting what you're saying, that if you don't know the language, then you won't be falling into these categories of shopping. I can't wait for that. Definitely we're not going to a Spanish country or a French or anything that I can't understand.
Kayla Ihring :That's wonderful.
Daniela SM:And so you are in North Macedonia, North Macedonia. What is your next plan?
Kayla Ihring :After this we're going to Greece and we will spend a month in Greece and then a month in Portugal, and then we are going to walk the Camino Portuguese, which is a pilgrim trail that goes from Portugal to Spain. I don't know if it's the shortest one, but it's shorter than the French in the Spanish, because what we're doing a long Camino in the summer we're doing four months. We're calling it the baby Camino to prepare.
Daniela SM:Yeah that's awesome. Yeah, everybody is doing a Camino, so that's pretty good. I saw, I researched and I thought that the one from Portugal is like okay, I can do that one, it's not that long.
Kayla Ihring :Yeah, I think it's about two weeks.
Daniela SM:Yeah, good, excellent, excellent. And so you do have a plan. So how do you plan this? Do you sit, you know, can have friends, that a couple that they go every year and they have a meeting, and they have like a MG meeting and German meeting for them to see what are we going to do through this year. So do you do that too, or do you just have a, you know, casual conversation?
Kayla Ihring :We plan month by month, so we talk a lot about what we want to do next. Do we feel like doing something cold, something warm, something new, something familiar? Yeah, it's usually about a month at a time. This is rare that we have so much planned right now. So we've we've three the next three months planned, which is unusual for us.
Daniela SM:Okay, okay, great, great. What about your book? Where can we get it?
Kayla Ihring :Yeah, my book is available in all the usual places Target, Amazon, Barnes, Noble and if you can check with any local booksellers, it's great to support them first.
Daniela SM:Yes, we will put that in your show notes. We will also put your show notes, your website, because you do other things besides writing. What else is how do you help people?
Kayla Ihring :Yeah, I do writing and content management for for brands, so if anyone wants to talk, I would love to talk and see if we can answer any questions about travel, or see if you want to talk about any. Yeah, any content creation Perfect great.
Daniela SM:Okay, kailah, thank you so much for this time. I really appreciate it. I hope to see you eventually. We have to meet somewhere.
Kayla Ihring :I agree, because I will be there soon. Oh, I'd love to Thank you so much for having me, daniela, thank you.
Daniela SM:I hope you enjoyed today's episode I am Daniela and you were listening to, because everyone has a story. Please take five seconds right now and think of somebody in your life that may enjoy what you just heard, or someone that has a story to be shared and preserved. When you think of that person, shoot them a text with the link of this podcast. This will allow the ordinary magic to go further. Join me next time for another story conversation. Thank you for listening. Hasta pronto.