104: How To live a More Fulfilling Digital Nomad Lifestyle with Bianca

In this episode of the Digital Nomads Daily podcast, Nienke Nina interviews Bianca who has been living the digital nomad lifestyle for five years. Bianca is the author of the book "Soul Truth" which focuses on finding and living in alignment with your truth. This digital nomad conversation covers various topics related to the digital nomad lifestyle, including sustainability, inclusivity, and authenticity.

Bianca shares her experiences and tips on how to approach a more long-lasting digital nomad lifestyle and how to be authentic in your content creation. The episode also touches on the unexpected transformations that come with living a nomadic lifestyle and the importance of being present and mindful in the moment. Get ready for an episode about embracing your personal growth and how to live a more fruitful digital nomad lifestyle.

Transcript

Nienke Nina:

Okay, we're here. It's happening. Hello everyone. Welcome to a new episode of the Digital Nomads Daily podcast. Today I have Bianca here and I'm really excited to have her here because she did something that I did last year too, which was a lot of work, but I loved it. She wrote a book and guess what it's about? About the digital nomad lifestyle. So we're going to chat about all of that today. She's been nomading for a while. I believe it's like... five years or something, which I usually ask in the quick questions, but I'm just going to give it away. She is also a pre-COVID nomad, so there's a lot to learn about her journey and welcome, welcome Bianca.

Bianca:

Thank you so much. I'm really excited about being on the show. Yeah, I really used the term pre-COVID no matter. I think the pandemic definitely shifted the whole narrative around remote work and making this life possible for so many people. But yes, I have been prioritizing freedom for quite a long time.

Nienke Nina:

Love it, love it. All right. So, uh, well, I already said it. How long have you been nomading? But maybe we can like flip the question a little bit. What made you nomading like about five years ago? What happened?

Bianca:

Well, I, it kind of all started, I started off as a backpacker. I don't know if backpackers were the original nomads, but I had a corporate career in my old life where, you know, I was sort of striving to be this version of a person that I thought that I was supposed to be. from the upbringing that I had, you know, get the job, go to university, climb the ladder, climb the corporate ladder and there you are. That's your vision of success. And I think I got to a point where I realized that this was not my vision of success. This was somebody

Nienke Nina:

Thank you.

Bianca:

else's vision of success, whether or not it was society, family influence. And so, you know, I kind of experienced bit of a dark night of the soul where I didn't feel as though I was aligned with my truth and my purpose. And in those moments, you know, we're just asked to surrender and to really sit with do we make a change right now. And I did that. And I quit that career. And I decided to spend one year backpacking through Southeast Asia. And, and so that really kind of ignited my love for for this world and the vastness of it. And then I kind of tried to come back to Australia after that experience. And I think in my book, I described it was like trying to fit a round peg into a square hole. Like I wasn't the me that left. And it was like, do I go back into this life and just go back to what was normal? But I had changed so much. And so then

Nienke Nina:

Mm-hmm.

Bianca:

began this journey of how I feel how I felt to create a new life for myself. And then I decided to become location independent around the end of 2018. And it's been that way ever since.

Nienke Nina:

Cool, I love it. I really resonate with what you say about like when you come home, especially the first time after such a big experience, that changes over time as well. I'm in the Netherlands now, my home country, and it's the first time I actually truly feel at home here. But the first couple of times, coming back after these trips, I was like, ooh, take me out of here. Like, happy to see the friends and the family, but that's kind of it.

Bianca:

Yeah,

Nienke Nina:

Alright,

Bianca:

yeah.

Nienke Nina:

so where are you talking from right now, Dan?

Bianca:

I'm talking from Bulgaria and I'm feeling as though maybe this rural town in Bulgaria is like not the best Wi-Fi. So I'm like feeling as though maybe like should I turn the camera off

Nienke Nina:

It's

Bianca:

as

Nienke Nina:

okay.

Bianca:

much as

Nienke Nina:

We

Bianca:

I want

Nienke Nina:

will

Bianca:

to

Nienke Nina:

take

Bianca:

see your

Nienke Nina:

it

Bianca:

beautiful

Nienke Nina:

out in the

Bianca:

face.

Nienke Nina:

edit and. River site is, um, is, is very good at like taking the right quality. So even if your cam quality goes down, it will pick up the audio properly. So don't worry about it.

Bianca:

Alright, so this system is made for rural villages in Bulgaria that digital nomads decided that we're going to be the place where we all gathered together sometime in the middle of every year. Yeah, I'm in Bansko, it's my first time here and I'm at the Bansko Nomad Fest and I think as I was mentioning earlier in the call, I don't think I've been around this many people that live the similar lifestyle to me

Nienke Nina:

Mm-hmm.

Bianca:

and... It's a warm feeling, you know, I think when we decide to do something that is not normal or kind of against the social norms, it can sometimes be a lonely journey. So it's nice to be here around people that kind of get me.

Nienke Nina:

They get you before even knowing you, which is a really nice thing.

Bianca:

Yeah,

Nienke Nina:

Alright,

Bianca:

for sure.

Nienke Nina:

so let's talk about how you make money online.

Bianca:

Sure. Well, I have a balance. You know, I'm a blogger. I've run the altruistic traveler for seven years. And, you know, a lot of people ask me the question like, oh, is that your main income? And it's actually not. I don't put the energy into that blog with the primary focus of making money because, you know, for me, sometimes, as a creative artist, as a writer, I prefer to write for passion than for money. And

Nienke Nina:

Mm-hmm.

Bianca:

so, you know, for some people, it is a dream to earn money doing what they love, but for others like myself, I do what I love and then I earn money on the side to fund that. And so I am a marketing manager for a company in Sydney, and they are very open and flexible in their working conditions with me. I work part-time actually, working on what I'm passionate about is very important. And so I facilitate my life in such a way that I can work part time remote. And in the other times I write and I do what I love and, and you know, I think I used to tell myself that I needed to do what I loved to get paid for it. But I don't think that that's necessarily always everybody's story. I think it's perfectly fine to do something that you know, maybe isn't your ideal career or dream to fund your dream.

Nienke Nina:

Yeah, I love that. I really love that because online, we see so many like online entrepreneurship kind of vibes where just follow your passion, follow your heart, do what you love, monetize on that, like all these things. And while I feel it's very important to be connected to how you spend your day-to-day life, if you can do a job that is not soul sucking, that you enjoy doing. but it's not like your biggest passion in life, but you have a side hustle or a side project on the side, which fills you up with love and that is a great balance. Like why not? And also I find sometimes with these passion projects, we had a lot of content creators here on the podcast, very successful bloggers, but it's not to say that just because you're passionate, you're gonna have success. Like it's not about passion all the time. It's also about how can you create a sustainable business? And sometimes passion is just, it's not the only ingredient and it's not enough fuel to actually make it work. So it's cool to have a main income and then yeah, have like something you're super crazy passionate about. And then you express yourself. So I really love that you are not that sort of mainstream nomad that is like raving about like, oh yeah, just do what you're passionate about and make money.

Bianca:

I mean, I definitely take my hat off to people that can make like a good living off

Nienke Nina:

What are you

Bianca:

content

Nienke Nina:

doing?

Bianca:

creation. I do. And there's a lot of energy that goes into that for sure. But yeah, I mean, unfortunately, you know, the projects to visit that are going to protect wildlife isn't trending as much as the cheapest place that you can like buy the best coffee. So, you know, my primary focus on my blog is on sustainable tourism and that whole topic is becoming more popular. I think when it comes to sustainability and challenging questions that we need to ask ourselves about the future and ways that we can make a positive change, maybe the hesitancy is just because sometimes we feel like we need to have the answers.

Nienke Nina:

Mm-hmm.

Bianca:

I think it's okay for us to approach these with knowing that we don't have the answers. And so therefore, if we can approach these difficult topics in that way, then it might not seem so scary for us to kind of just start bringing this into our discourse.

Nienke Nina:

Absolutely, absolutely. And I love that topic because I also feel that in the digital nomad space, like a lot of us are not focused on just cheap travel. We want to have great experiences. We also want to give back to local communities. And we had, you know him as well, like Tarek from Nomads Giving Back here on the podcast. Like we have a lot of people who are in the podcast that are so conscious about themselves. about the people that they meet while they're traveling. So including locals and the planet. So I love these topics and I'm so glad that at least in our space and the digital nomad community, it's definitely a topic of interest. It's really cool. And yeah, there's also like different ways on how you can do this lifestyle, right? So there's no good or right, or there's no good or wrong. Like, it's just like, as long as you do it with a lot of intentionality, I think you're... doing it all right.

Bianca:

Yeah.

Nienke Nina:

Alright,

Bianca:

Intentionality

Nienke Nina:

so...

Bianca:

and integrity. Yeah.

Nienke Nina:

Yeah, I love that. So what is like in the digital? Because I want to elaborate on this a little bit more. Like, what are things that you can point out for digital nomads that are currently nomading or people that are want to live this lifestyle? Like, how would you approach a more sustainable digital nomad lifestyle?

Bianca:

Yeah, I feel like I get asked this question a lot and I really think it does come down to, you know, we're talking about intentionality and integrity. The way we show up in the world influences everything around us. You know, I was recently doing a talk on safety wing about ethics in travel promotion and I said, if you have 10 followers or 10,000 followers, you're still an influencer. So the way that you show up in the world, the way that you, you know, embrace this freedom of movement is going to be driving what this movement looks like. And so I like to just bring it back to these kind of four pillars of, you know, authenticity. Are you being authentic in your content? Are you sharing the sides of this journey that are not just wonderful? Like if you go to Bali, and are you sharing the fact that yes, it's a gorgeous destination and beautiful beaches? Are you also sharing the fact that There is a lot of pressure on the waste management systems and there are a lot of issues in the monsoon season where a lot of the plastic waste will run into the oceans.

Nienke Nina:

Good

Bianca:

So

Nienke Nina:

night.

Bianca:

authenticity, sharing all sides of the story, inclusivity, whose stories are we sharing? When we go to these destinations, are we just thinking about our own experience or are we thinking about the people that we interact with, the communities that we. that we visit, how can we bring them into these conversations and include them? And then sustainability, of course, considering the environmental impact of our movements and what we can do. Are we amplifying the voices of NGOs and wonderful grassroots organizations doing good things? And then accessibility. So are we also talking about? how other people can have access to these beautiful privileges that we have access to. But taking all those into consideration, one person can't save the world, but we can definitely examine the way that we show up in it.

Nienke Nina:

Exactly. And it's all also about like contributing. I don't think that like there are some things that you could be very good at and where you can really thrive within like these pillars that you just mentioned. And it's not about doing everything right. But I think it's about find something that fits your personality that is a unique voice for you that where you can spread love and all these things. So then other people are naturally, authentically impacted by it. I did a few years ago, instead of my birthday, I did a donation day. So I just said to my friends, like, look, I care a lot about the planet and I care about the people in the country that I visit. So I found an NGO that would support both. And then instead of people giving me birthday gifts, bottles of wine or whatever they would give me in a normal setup, I would say here's a link you can... donate and then that money went to that NGO and that was for me that was so holistic because I was able in a very natural way to impact or it like advocate for something I stand for and because it was my birthday people were like hey this is cool yeah of course I'm gonna like you know help out and now other people are doing exactly the same thing so it really like spiraled and it was so cool to do something. pretty easy. Like that was not difficult. So yeah, I'm not going to save the world. I didn't save the world, but I did something and it made me feel good and the people that supported the cause. Like everyone was winning at that moment in that moment. So it was great.

Bianca:

Yeah, that's a beautiful example. Birthdays are a really good excuse to get people to donate money.

Nienke Nina:

Yeah, exactly. Christmas, birthdays. All

Bianca:

Yeah.

Nienke Nina:

right. So, you wrote a book and well, of course, I want to know the title of that book. But also, what is it that made you write this book? Like, how did you come up with doing such a large project like this?

Bianca:

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, so the book is called Soul Truth. I actually came up with the name of the book while I was writing it. I didn't have the name in my mind when I started. Last year was the seven year anniversary since I started my blog. And that was sort of going back to the story that I was sharing about this shift that I made in my life where I sort of acknowledged and realized that I wasn't living in alignment with my

Nienke Nina:

Mm-hmm.

Bianca:

values. And so I didn't realize it until seven years on. I mean, sometimes when you look at your life backwards, you can start to see a lot of the things that got you there, that got you here. And I think there was a huge period for me of kind of shedding these older versions of myself that didn't serve me and that were influenced by my upbringing in a society that, you know, that try to put me in a box and kind of oppress my individuality in a way. And so I felt like allowing myself to step out of that career, to step out of relationships, to step out of that city, I was able to finally open up the space for me to meet myself again in, on a deeper level of who I am now. And so the blurb on the back of the book is actually perhaps the greatest journey we'll ever have is the journey to meet ourselves. And I think we like, it's such a beautiful experience to be with ourselves, to have those journeys of self discovery and to allow ourselves to let go of some of the parts of us that are no longer who we are now. And that maybe you have, we're never really a part of who we truly were. And so I tell the story of that, of me leaving corporate and making that identity shift and those of us who are known as in travel, it is really hard, I think it's important to acknowledge how hard it is to leave your hometown and to live a life that for some of us is so different to what we fundamentally knew as children in society, as in our lives. And... You know, that decision and that journey is so unique and individual, but it's hard. And we go through challenges and we have self doubt and we lose things. We lose people, but we find things and we find ourselves. And, and so I weave this concept into the book and then sort of tell a few stories about my time in Southeast Asia and the people that I met there and my journey with spirituality, which became quite strong when I visited Nepal and started to bring in, you know, a lot of those mindfulness techniques and allowed myself to be still. I grew up in Sydney. It's a very fast paced city. You don't slow down. You don't

Nienke Nina:

Hehehe

Bianca:

stop to smell the roses, you know. So and so then ultimately the book was called Soul Truth, which is really about, you know, finding and living in alignment with your truth, not the truth of others, but who you feel that you are.

Nienke Nina:

I love that. And it's also what I sometimes say here on the podcast. And this is why I do this podcast, which aligns very much with what you just said is I think that this lifestyle is not about what you see on Instagram and try to live that lifestyle. It's not something that happens overnight. It's such a long journey. It's, it's a large transformation that is ongoing. So this lifestyle is not about, yay, you have a coconut in Bali and you're left up on the beach, check, you did it. It's so much deeper and so much holistic and it's just so much more behind it, which I feel like for years that has not been visible to the world, but we talk about it in the community. And I'm really grateful for that people are showing up with vulnerability now. And yeah, I'm also like... always asking those questions here in the podcast because I want to show the not so sexy stuff behind the scenes and show other people's transformations. But still, and also guys listening now, like this is your transformation. Everything that we talk about here is not, is inspiration and it's a lot of motivation, but it's still going to be your own transformation. So I really, really resonate with everything that you just said. I'm Could you share a transformation that was very unexpected in like these? And I'm sure that there are a lot, but maybe one thing that really stood out and that is very unexpected, but did happen to you because of living a nomadic lifestyle.

Bianca:

Yeah, it's a good question. The story that comes to mind is something that I actually did write about in my book, which was in Nepal. And I was on a bus in Nepal and the bus is in Nepal. There are tiny mini buses and they cram people in there like tin sardines. And there's a lot of traffic in Kathmandu. I was in Kathmandu and we were at a set of traffic lights and. we weren't moving at all. And I remember just kind of being in this bus thinking, oh, why aren't we moving? This is taking so long. I just need to get to the destination. How could I get out of this bus? How can we go a different way? And I'm just agitated because I can't get to the next place. And I just witnessed myself in that moment of like, Bianca, why are you so in a rush to get to the next place? Like, it's okay, just be here, be here now and be and just sit in presence. And so I think that was sort of just one anecdotal story about how much living in a fast paced society where we're constantly asked to think about the future, you know, when you're at school, think about university, when you're at university, think about work, when you're at work, think about retirement, all these things take us out of the present. And when you ignore deep presence and don't allow yourself to be present, you miss this beautiful life sometimes. And you don't observe that everything is a flow and there are ebbs and flows and things are impermanent. And if things are hard, they could be easy and things are easy. They could be hard. You know, when we lose that presence, I think we miss a lot of the lessons of this life. that whole journey being in Nepal, being in a country where some these people I think had a lot more presence than me growing up in Australia, growing up in Sydney. And I learnt a lot from that.

Nienke Nina:

That's beautiful. I can again like recognize a lot in that. I had a panic attack at the train station here when I arrived because everyone was running so fast and bumping into me. And I'm a tiny person and into each other. And it was just like, I was like, people are rushing constantly. They're mad because the train is one minute late. And I'm like. There's a train that is sort of on time. It's one minute, like it's all good in the head. And the must do, and like, it's just so much pressure the whole time, and I'm very tranquilo and super relaxed right now. And I notice even with my friends and with my family is that I'm like kind of this weird alien that has a very different perspective on time. Like for me, time means something very different. And I'm always like telling people that I'm so grateful for things because I'm pointing it out. It's like me being present. And then yesterday my best friend said, why are you grateful for staying here? I mean, if you would live here, I would stay in your place too, from time to time. And it was just so cute that she said that because she didn't understand that I was just like. Out loud being grateful. It's just like all these brackets. It was, it's so funny to be back home. So I also think when you go back home, like it's. it's cool to be the observant kind of, I mean like how, what's happening to your, even like to your physical, like when you're back home, because automatically you still have those patterns, right? So automatically you might also do things, say stuff or think in a certain way. So it's, I find it now very cool to be home because I'm like, oh, I'm like in, I see my old versions and I see my new versions and you're like there just observing like. How am I gonna respond here?

Bianca:

Yeah, the awareness of the awareness of the

Nienke Nina:

Yeah,

Bianca:

awareness.

Nienke Nina:

they might read a new book, The Awareness of the Awareness of the Awareness.

Bianca:

Yes!

Nienke Nina:

Beautiful. So, how is the book structured? Like, are there stories? Are there also practices in there? Like, how can this also help other people?

Bianca:

Yeah, it's a it's a really a memoir. So it just talks about this story of really, it's my story. But, you know, there are characters in there that have played a role in my life and it's got dialogue and sometimes reading it now, you know, because it's set between 2014 and 2018. It's I read it sort of thinking that it was me but you know, it could also be anyone. And that's the thing, in a way I wanted some parts of this life that I had lived to remain evergreen. And I think we all have stories and as we grow and evolve and, you know, I like to say that actually death and rebirth occurs many times in our lives. And, you know, now I look back on that and I think, OK, that's just a beautiful story about a girl that existed once upon a time, you know. And I think for people reading it. The feedback that I've gotten is that they can resonate with parts of my story and everybody will take and absorb this book in their own way. I mean, I've had people from 17 years old to 60 years old that have resonated with the book. So there are threads in there that will talk to the individual in their own unique way. But in terms of the structure, it's a narrative.

Nienke Nina:

Love it, love it. All right, so now my question is, where can we find it? Where can we buy it?

Bianca:

Yes, thank you so much for giving me the space to talk about this. You know, it's one thing writing a book, but promoting it is next level.

Nienke Nina:

I'm gonna

Bianca:

Like

Nienke Nina:

go to bed.

Bianca:

I would say that's even harder, to be honest. But it's available on the Amazon bookstore at the moment. You can get it on Google Books. It's available in paperback, ebook. I've been telling my friends and followers that I'm going to be recording the audiobook, but I just haven't. found the space to be able to do that yet. But yes, it is coming. I will update everybody. They can follow along on my blog, the altruistic traveler.com for those updates. And I'm hoping to get it in bookstores. So it's in a few bookstores in Sydney, it will be in a few bookstores in London. I've got a book tour coming up. And, and yeah, if you feel that maybe this story resonates or it could It sits in the categories of travel and spirituality and sustainability. The bit of romance in there. If you feel that it might fit well in a store, then please reach out to me. But otherwise, yeah, it's available with one click.

Nienke Nina:

Love it, love it. And what is your Instagram handle, just in case people also wanna check it out on Instagram.

Bianca:

Sure, yeah, so it's the altruistic traveler. So A-L-T-R-U-I-S-T-I-C. It's a word that I learned many years ago when I was watching a TED talk about how people can make change in the world. And it was on effective altruism, which is essentially the most good that we can do. The talk was by a philosopher called Peter Singer, who does a lot of work in this space. And I guess going back to our talk about impact, I think- what is the most good that we can do in the world? I think, you know, if we can show up for each other in a very loving and kind way, we can make such a difference. But yeah, so that's my Instagram handle and you can find me on that handle across other socials as well.

Nienke Nina:

Sweet, sweet. Well, I'm very curious about it. I definitely want to read it just from like our chat right now. I resonate a lot with the things that you shared and this was a quick chat even. So I'm very curious about the book. So guys, if you want to get to know more about that, like you can go to the links, but also to make life easier for everyone. It's going to be in the show notes. If you go to. digitalnomadsdaily.com for slash podcast. You can find this episode there. We will put the links there also or Instagram handle and a nice photo of the book. I think that would be great. And well, I wish you all the best on that journey, but we're not done yet. I always ask my guests if they have one question for me. So, do you have question?

Bianca:

Yeah, I love that. My question for you is, you know, what would be one of the key areas of personal growth that being a digital nomad has helped you to achieve?

Nienke Nina:

I love that. What comes to mind is that I think the awareness, like also what I was I just said, like what I noticed is that because I'm more aware of myself, where I want to go to like things I struggle with, like I identify these things. And because I'm more aware I can also have the option to do something about it. to create an, if I wanna like heal something or to create it or investigate something or create then a community around it that can bring me to that goal. So it's a lot, but it's a lot about, yeah, just awareness of like, who do I wanna be? Who do I wanna become? Where do I struggle? Why do I struggle? Like all these things. And I love in this community, how great we are at asking self-reflecting questions. It's like, I love this thing. So I think that's it. And I hope that also for others. And that's why I'm also a huge advocate for don't buy this lifestyle on Instagram and think happiness is going to happen. It's a never ending self-development journey. And you just got to like embrace that stuff. So embrace the good, the coconuts, but also embrace when life is hard. Whatever that means. Work, relationships, friendships, feeling lonely. I don't know, it's like just embrace it all and be present.

Bianca:

Yeah. And do you think like location independence allowed you to have the space to tap into that awareness?

Nienke Nina:

Absolutely, because of being location independent, you are meeting constantly people from different walks of life. And those are not just other nomads. Those are locals. Even on an airport, all these travel moments, location independent moments, whether it's in a location, on an airplane, in a train, my parents coming to visit me. It's just so much learning. And I think, yeah, you can only learn if you're aware of that and if you're open to learn. Um, so yeah, it's like for me, it's life changing. And that's why I even now being in the Netherlands, I love it here. I want to come back more often. I don't want to wait another three and a half years, but I still don't have that feeling of, I want to stay here because I would miss that ongoing learning. Because here I would kind of, I'm going to slowly fit in a box again. And I don't want to fit in the box. I just want to like. have a free flow of learning and opportunities and live a fruitful life, whatever, however that looks like, I don't know yet.

Bianca:

Yeah, embrace it all. That's what we're here for.

Nienke Nina:

Yay. All right. Well, thanks everyone for listening today to this episode. I hope you loved it. If so, there are a couple of things that you can do. One of them is share it on your socials. I think this is a beautiful conversation that more people can learn about. You can also sign up for our newsletter, which is all about boosting your own freedom. We share tips and conversations there that we have. And Bianca, thank you so much for being here today. I really, really enjoyed it. And yeah, I need a copy of that book.

Bianca:

Thank you so much for the opportunity and for the space that you provide for people to share their story.

Nienke Nina:

Love it. Alright, so I'm gonna stop the recording and then we need to stay for a few minutes.