Alter-Nomad: Preface

The best way to learn something is to write a book about it. To digest your thoughts, actions, and encounters, a few words at a time. The one you are reading has been in my stomach for three years. It started as a school essay during my time as a French engineering student: Nomadism as an ascending vector. I had just read Tim Ferris’ The 4-Hour Workweek, and the concept of location-independence struck me as a path to become a better engineer. Investigating the topic of nomadism for a few months opened myself up to fresh and innovative ideas about remote work and the art of travel. One thing was still lacking: firsthand experience living as a full-time traveler.

I was 22 when I went abroad to study software engineering at the University of Stockholm. Sweden has one of the most advanced education systems in the world, which gave me the opportunity to study remotely. All the lectures were recorded, and the professors were freely available via Skype or email. I would work from my apartment whenever I would not feel like braving the cold winter to attend a lecture. That was my first experience as a digital nomad, and I’ve never stopped moving ever since. I started working as a software engineer in Switzerland, to end up building my own tech products remotely while traveling across Europe and Asia.

I have always been a traveler. I owe this to my parents. When I was a baby they would take me around Iberia whenever they could go on vacation. They didn’t have a lot of money, but traveling was the best gift they could offer to my brother and me. My father spent his youth riding his motorbike in Greece and Italy listening to Bob Dylan. My mother was hanging out with gypsy kids when she was still a child. Sometimes I imagine myself as a modern Corto Maltese, born from a French gypsy witch and a Vietnamese biker. For as long as I can remember I spent my summer holidays in a van on the roads of Spain and Portugal. We met people and made friends. We could stay in a given location for as long as we pleased, and move to another town the next day. We lived like tziganes. It felt great. Today I’m a nomad entrepreneur. I am still living like a gypsy, in a sense.

This work documents my thoughts living as a digital nomad. I experienced the good and bad aspects of it. There are many resources about being a full-time traveler, but few dive deep in the real problematic, which is the sustainability of such way of life. The number of remote workers is increasing by the day. Some of them become digital nomads, for a few years. That’s when the side effects kick in. The modern adventurers take a step back and return to their previous life. To me, digital nomadism doesn’t have to be a mere phase, it has the potential to become an original lifestyle, and it is time to implement it with sustainability in mind. Alter-nomadism is my answer to the challenges of globalization.

Four months ago I decided to write at least 200 words on a daily basis, and publish the result on social networks. I was stuck in my first startup attempt. Words allowed me to escape and keep my sanity in check. I wanted to develop a writing habit. This is how the 200 Words a Day challenge came to be. A month later, it became an open online writing community, and I announced my plan to release a book. It was supposed to be an autobiography. The volume of my work grew quickly. I was covering many topics. Too many, in fact. I finally went with nomadism as the sole subject of the book.

Being French, writing in English is far from easy. Yet English is the closest we have to a universal language: it was worth the pain. I apologize in advance for the poor grammar. I thought about giving up a few times. I ended up writing a meaningful message with love and overlooked my poor skills as a wordsmith. This work is bound to be quickly depreciated. It is also bound to evolve. Do not hesitate to send me your feedback and suggestion, it is my deepest wish to iterate over the current version to improve it.

I want to thank all my readers for putting their trust in me and taking the time to read this book. I hope you find my insights valuable. Feel free to drop me an email at hello@alternomad.com, I would be happy to connect.

I want to thank my family and friends for supporting me. More specifically, I want to dedicate this book to my grandparents who fled from Vietnam so many years ago as refugees. They taught me to love diversity and to cherish my time on this planet. Thank you.

Much love,

Basile Samel