HarrisonFM Goes Global

With the looming advent of Spring, I will again become a backpacking digital nomad. Five years ago, I tried this as a freewheeling, low-budget trip around the United States and had a lot of positive, strange experiences. I roamed a full loop of the United States over six months entirely on ground transit and bicycle, camping all over, working in farms or couchsurfing. In 2023, I will be jetsetting fully international instead.

I’m keeping my fulltime web development work with Mindgrub while I do this, which allows me to afford getting around as well as good accommodations and experiences. I’ve fit into a nice groove working here, and actually did five months of my year employed with them away from my home office, including one month foreign in Mexico City as a test run. This will be a step up in risk, challenge and reward, but I know I’m up to it based on that practice, competency at my job and my general knack for adventuring. Obviously, there’s the tradeoff of being an employee compared to being a part time freelancer (colloquially known as ‘broke’) like I was in 2018, but I haven’t yet felt too constrained to not enjoy myself with my work’s requirements. They’re understanding and lenient while the estimates and deadlines are met.

So what’s my plan? I’m going to be finally visiting Asia, with a prologue in Hawaii. I don’t have a set itinerary or length on this trip, as usual, but the minimum will be six months away as I’ve sublet my Tucson home (and car!) to an occupational therapist for at least that length. I do have a general idea of going from Japan to Taiwan to Thailand as some of the first steps on the trip. Beyond that I have two ideas for how the trip will go, an arc further into Southeast Asia and Oceania or a more direct, global circumnavigation through India and then back to the West. Although international travel has some onerous requirements on proving onward travel and such, I at least don’t have to have more than two stops planned at a time. I don’t plan to visit any countries considered authoritarian, both for my personal mores and the consideration of invasive governments and my security needs. I think humanitarian or journalistic missions would still be appropriate in those places for a future journey.

What I’m hoping for foremost in my time abroad is just cultural absorption. It’s a rare and real opportunity to be in so many different places unlike my own in habits and language. I’m going to take it slowly through most countries I visit, probably spending a month at least in each. I expect to plant primarily in major cities, but we’ll see. Of course, I’d love suggestions. I picked up an international driver’s permit should I wanna try driving or living in a rural place. I’m hoping to make some interesting international friends, be a positive ambassador for veganism and America, maybe learn some new skills (like surfing?), maintain a decent level of fitness, and take back with me the best ideas I see from life on the other side of the world.

I’m still finalizing my gear list, but I’m planning to do this trip without checked luggage. I’ll be wielding a 40 liter carry-on optimized backpack with a week’s worth of clothes, optimized for warm weather, my hygiene and grooming items, and whatever miscellany fits after those. A second “every day carry” backpack will hold my two laptops (alas) and their accoutrements, which having only one back, I guess I’ll be wearing it on my chest while I’m between places. Hope that’s not too dorky. But yeah, that’s it! I’ve always been kinda minimalist and suited for this lifestyle, so I’m not stressed about having so little with me. Some things I’m still debating at this eleventh hour are whether to bring juggling props (probably), a water filter (maybe?), or if I should snap purchase a camera to compliment my iPhone(doubt it, but tempting).

Working for an Eastern US-based company while residing in Asia will be a plot twist, unfortunately one of my compromises will be working some hours of the late night or early morning to have some overlap for meetings and coordination. The median between a 10-6 Baltimore workday is 4 AM in Japan! Oof, but it’s a worthy concession in my eyes to get the chance to see and live in the wider world. I stayed up late many nights in NYC, and have become an early bird in Arizona, so I’m sure I’ll be able to manage either extreme once I settle on which would be preferable.

For Hawaiian beginnings, it’s only a five hour difference, so my sleep schedule will not yet be gravely challenged. I’ll be traveling there with my partner, Elaine, as a sendoff before we go our separate ways in life for some time. Her, to vanlife back home in Scotland, and me, onward to Japan. I hope it won’t feel too sad to say goodbye. We’ll be hanging out in Maui, which I booked on a lark based on it being the cheapest island to fly to and the seemingly endless superlatives from VP, a good friend who knows how to have a good time and is a frequent sojourner there. At least our sendoff will be splendid.

On Maui, while I am greatly looking forward to seeing all the natural splendor and unique Polynesian culture Maui can offer, I still am blown away by how much it will wind up costing. Even hosteling or just camping in people’s yards are at least $50 a night. Perhaps it’s the perception of it being the pinnacle of paradise to an already high spending culture in the US that makes it that way, but it’s still just a big shock to someone who’s usually adept at avoiding unneeded frills. To make the trip affordable and worth the high cost, I’ll be camping half the time in the Haleakalā National Park, and be on a true vacation! Definitely worth the PTO, but it’s a little less flexibility down the line for any unexpected setbacks or to orient myself, such as how I’ll be working on the flight to Japan and winding up 14 hours ahead and probably supposed to be starting the next work day or something. Is that the dark side of time travel?

As for the Japanese beginnings to this journey, once I’m done in Maui, I’ll be crossing the rest of the Pacific to eventually land and stay a month in Osaka, where a few longterm friends live, Chuck and Hannah. Both are working in post-TEFL careers and preparing to sunset their Japan lives this Summer after a decade abroad to resettle in Pennsylvania. Most of our other mutual friends from the tight knit circle of university gamers have made the visits to them once or twice, and I’ll be among the last to drop in. My delay in visiting Japan probably is a surprise to everyone that’s known me, as I’ve been a lifelong consumer of their culture, as well as a student of the language for multiple years once upon a time. Well, that bubble bursts this year, as I’m finally in a place to make the flight worth it, with my finances, responsibilities and priorities all about aligned, at last.

After that month in Osaka, I’m not sure how much longer I’ll spend in Japan. I will also need to drop in on Nick and Yoshi in Tokyo and see just what is happening in that mega metropolis. Tourism visas allow for up to 90 days and it’s possible I may fall in love during this long overdue visit. On the other hand, I could be quite burned out trying to stay vegan in a culture that’s likely quite alien to it, and there are so many other lands to see while I’ve set myself on this course to see the world at large! In the meanwhile, expect me to be more current with updates here, at least writing monthly with thoughts and photography.

If you want to stay in touch with me, I recommend contacting my US number on iMessage, WhatsApp or Signal, emailing me or bantering on Discord. I should be able to still receive US based SMS on a limited basis as well. I don’t have any intents to make any public accounts on any social networks. Stay in touch, on the newsletter and tell me what to see or where to go, as well as what you’re working on or visiting in 2023!