We all nurture dreams of traveling the world, don’t we? Gone are the days when we waited for the monthly release of our favorite travel magazines or that weekly column in newsprint which took us to an exotic location, by virtue of the narration of an exemplary observer or a stunning photograph through a discerning eye. The Internet has revolutionized the concept of armchair travelers and made the world drop down inside our palms, by just a mere click. The magazines in print are slowly moving towards the digital platform and the travel enthusiast gets to know about a far-flung adventure story on his mobile phone.

The Digital NomadsWith the advent of the Internet and growth of the digital industry, we see a new set of travelers dominating the travel scene across the world. They continue to be nomadic backpackers, living on the same underwear for weeks and sharing their weird stories in a shabby hostel room from some corner of the world. Their only difference with the hippies of yesteryear is in their preaching to the world on how to travel cheap through their blogs or websites.

The storyI have always been fascinated by these digital nomads and desperately wanted a location independent job, where I can be anywhere in the world, yet earning and funding my travel. But as they say, truth is stranger than fiction, my dream never materialized. I realized after quite a few futile attempts, how difficult it is to get a true-blue location independent job. The idea of sipping margaritas sitting by the pool side looking at the ocean in front, writing software programs for a benevolent client or a travel story for a magazine fell flat on its foot! I have quite a lot of friends in the digital nomad fraternity who claim to be doing that daily, but trust me its far from the reality.
They struggle fighting with others to cook their own meal at a weary hostel, they wait for the offers to come out, so that they can get on to that discounted airplane seat. They end up sacrificing on the other rewarding experiences specific to a location and they don’t go back home for years, just because going back and coming again would cost them ten times. And that to me is the saddest part!

The Weekend Travelers

They slog five days a week and earn an extended weekend to travel. They are the ones who run the travel industry by filling the pockets of the travel agents ready to offer package tours; they visit places on best seasons by planning every hour of activity, checking weather forecasts from months before and yet they are the ones who end up experiencing the best of any place. They never fall short of money to miss the long tail boat ride for a complete day in Thailand or miss dining at Restaurant Du Palais Royal in Paris looking at the Louvre.

Who is the Winner?Well, I don’t think I know the answer, but one thing I know for sure, I cannot keep roaming around the world for ever. I need to come back to share the dinner table with my parents. I would love to call a place my home and keep coming back to it to make me feel that I was on a trip. I just cannot live a life out of hostels, ending up forcing my child to be a nomad and deprive him of a proper education and a normal childhood. I will need my friends, their calls; my colleagues, their rants and that odd city, I call my own!