Everyday is Travel and Everyday is Being at Home

I recently had an opportunity to interview Chris Dunphy and Cherie Ve Ard, two Present Day Nomads living life on their terms. It is always a pleasure to meet someone (albeit, virtually) who is doing what we want to do, so I asked them a few questions to get to know them better and to pick their brains, so we can all benefit from their experiences, good and not so good.

Thanks, Chis and Cherie, for your generosity of time and knowledge.

1. I understand that the way you two met is a story in itself. Would you mind sharing it with us?

Cherie: We actually met on a Prius forum (yes, the hybrid car). Chris had just traded in his Prius for a Jeep to pull his new little trailer to set off on his solo nomadic journey. Cherie had just bought her second Prius and was looking for hacks for it. She saw his posting, and actually recognized his user picture as they had friends in common in California. At the time, Chris was in San Francisco and Cherie in Florida.

We corresponded online for several months and finally met in person. It was a pretty instant connection.

2. And now you have a third member in your nomadic team, which most people would think is not nomadic by nature.

Cherie: Yes.. we have a kitten named Kiki traveling with us now. Many nomadic tribes had working animals with them, so we find it quite fitting to have a cat along. And she works too by blogging, tweeting and being the star of many pictures and videos.

Chris: It is absolutely wonderful traveling with a kitten. Cats are much lower maintenance than dogs – they don’t need twice daily walks, for example. But we actually do enjoy taking Kiki for walks whenever we can – she does wonderfully on a leash. We have also discovered that walking around with a kitten on a leash is a great conversation starter. *grin*

3. Tell us about your “home” away from home.

Cherie: Well, first of all, it’s not ‘away from home’ – it is our home. Neither of us have a fixed home anywhere else and we’ve redefined what home means to us.

After almost a year of traveling in Chris’ original small trailer as a trial run, we really knew what we wanted in our ideal home and office on wheels. We discovered a small family company in Tennessee that was custom building trailers that met our ideal basic floor-plan. We contacted them, and they were thrilled to work with us to build our dream home. We were able to have them integrate in things like a full solar electrical system, LCD computer screen on a swing arm (instead of a more traditional TV screen), cellular booster system and more.

Our home is just the perfect size for us, and gives us everything we need to be comfortably content wherever we’re parked. We have an office, a kitchen, a full bathroom, a closet, a full size bed and lots of storage space.

Chris: I started off my nomadic journeying in a small Tab Clamshell trailer that I had customized with solar power and other upgrades. It was great for one person, but once I met Cherie and it was clear that we were going to be traveling together long-term, it was time to upgrade. The Oliver trailer that we had built for us is absolutely perfect for our needs. I don’t miss living in a big house at all.

4. 80 Sq. Ft? My children’s bedrooms are larger than that. How in the world do you manage everything?

Chris: We have the entire world as our backyard, so it really isn’t all that difficult. And since every square inch of our home is so carefully designed, you would be amazed at how much “space” we actually have. Speaking of space – last month was the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, and the Apollo astronauts had a LOT less space than we do. It doesn’t take much!

Cherie: It’s amazing how little space you need when it’s well designed space. Would you believe we actually have empty space in the trailer? After living for nearly a year in a 45 sq ft trailer, our 80 sq ft is huge to us! We do utilize our tow vehicle as extra closet and garage space, so that does help out.

5. Can you describe a typical day in your life? or is there even such a thing?

Cherie: We actively try to avoid the word ‘typical’ describing anything we do  We tend to have a few different types of days:

1) Transition days: When we’re moving to our next destination, our day generally involves waking up, getting in a couple hours of work online, driving in the afternoon, and then being in our spot for the next two nights by nightfall. Most of these days, we don’t even unhitch.

2) Stationary days: When we’re going to be somewhere for several days to a few  months, we’ll unhitch and setup camp. Our days vary widely and can include intensive full days of work, blogging, video editing. Or they can include social time with family and friends, exploring a city, or attending fun festivals.

Chris: One of the primary motivations for pursuing this sort of life is to avoid anything ever feeling “typical”… I can no longer even imagine what it is like to get up at the same time every day to drive the same commute – over and over and over again. *ugh*

6. It must cost you a pretty penny to travel all the time. Would you mind telling us how much it costs to live a nomadic lifestyle?

Cherie: It’s actually much cheaper than you might imagine – as compared to maintaining a traditional home. When you don’t have mortgage payments, rent or any debt.. life can actually be rather sustainable with little money.

In a typical month, we might spend $300-500 on campground fees and gas. These are the sorts of expenses that are most equivalent to what folks pay for rent/mortgage and utilities. That’s certainly just a fraction of the cost that Chris and I were previously paying for our more traditional lifestyles. All of our other expenses are what everyone incurs for typical day-to-day living – insurance, food, entertainment, cell phone, etc.

Chris: Travel is most expensive when you are paying for both travel and for a “home base” at the same time. If you really want to live a life focused on travel, don’t keep paying for an empty house! When the road is your home, life can be surprisingly affordable.

7. I noticed you are not monetizing your blog. So what is your means of income and how does traveling all the time affect your work?

Cherie: That’s correct, as of yet we’re not heavily monetizing our blog, and we’re not sure if we ever will. For us, it’s a great way to connect with other like minds, and we love sharing the trials and tribulations of this sort of lifestyle for others to learn from and be inspired by. Being contacted by folks to let us know they’ve been influenced by something we posted is the greatest reward we can think of.  Besides, we never want traveling and sharing about our lives to seem like a chore or a job – so we’re reluctant to become dependent on income directly related to our blogging efforts.

We both do various technology consulting, and we pick up some fun and interesting projects along the way. We’ve both actively worked to develop a location independent career life that combines with our nomadic lifestyle. Our clients generally hire us because of the lifestyle and the unique perspectives we bring, not in spite of.

Traveling all of the time generally adds to our work. Most of it we do remotely from our trailer and use the Internet extensively. Sometimes however, we’re able to pull in for a spell of time and work on-site when needed.

8. Besides travel, are there any other advantages or benefits to your lifestyle?
Chris: One great advantage is the geographic flexibility that allows us to really be there for loved ones when they need us. Recently, my grandma needed surgery – and we were able to plan an extended stay in St. Louis so that we could be around to help. A more traditional lifestyle would have made this sort of extended visit much more complicated, and costly.

Cherie: In general, we both enjoy much more quality time with family and friends, as instead of only being able to visit on rushed holiday weekends – we can be there for weeks at a time.

9. Tell me about Camp Nomadia

Cherie: Camp Nomadia is a theme camp we host at Burning Man, which is a huge festival held every year in the middle of the Nevada Desert. The camp is for other nomadic minded folks to come together and share inspiration. We welcome past, present, and future nomads to come join us.

Chris: In addition to providing a place for other nomads to camp, we also host several “Nomadic Happy Hours” during the week of Burning Man. These events are open to anyone interested in any sort of a nomadic lifestyle – and we all come together to swap stories, tips, and inspiration.

Note: You can go here for more info on the Burning Man Festival

10. You stay in all sorts of places and meet all kinds of people. Do you have any interesting or unique observations or experiences that you’d like to share with us?

Cherie: We’ve found that across the country, people are more alike than they are different.

Chris: And yet… Even just within the USA, there is SO much variety. This is a huge and beautiful country and there is so much to see and do.

11. There are couple of things I read on your blog that intrigued me, and I wonder if you can elaborate on them for us.

First, “Everyday is travel and everyday is being at home”

Cherie: The phrase comes from the result of redefining our concepts of travel and home to be one and the same. There are days when we feel much more like homebodies – we don’t necessarily feel driven to be out sightseeing. But when we realize that our day at home has an amazing new view, it’s really hard to feel like we’re leading a monotonous life. And there are days when we’re out doing a lot of exploring, when it’s very refreshing to know that we’ll be coming home and sleeping in our own bed at night – instead of some strange hotel.

Chris: People sometimes seem a little confused when we come to a new city that we aren’t out every day playing tourist. But that isn’t the point. We are not in a race to see everything as quickly as possible. Some days we very much enjoy just laying around the house enjoying the new view from our windows.

Second, “…and we take vacations too.” Give us an example.

Cherie: It’s sometimes difficult to really differentiate what is normal everyday life for us, and what is vacation. But if we have to pack our bags and leave our home behind, then we consider it a vacation.

Chris: There have been times where we’ve left our home parked somewhere and traveled by other means. Such as a ski trip with friends. Or a time when we flew to Florida to join Cherie’s parents on a cruise. Going to Burning Man every year is also a bit of vacation, as we’re generally unreachable and not working. Leaving the Internet behind for a week is an even bigger break from our daily life than leaving our house behind!

12. Any final thoughts?

Chris: Just one… This sort of lifestyle is not for everyone. But for those who crave it, it really isn’t as hard as you think.

Cherie: I’ve been working on a series of articles (featured on our website) about the “excuses” people have for not traveling. It is a real joy to help others realize that they can pursue this sort of lifestyle too.

Thank you, Chris and Cherie, you guys have been more than generous. I am sure the readers will gain a lot from your perspectives.

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So, what do you think of Chris and Cherie’s lifestyle? Please feel free to comment below or ask Chris and Cherie any questions you might have.

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Photo Credit: Stolen from Technomadia.com