Disqus - Latest Comments for Technomadia

Re: Girl Power – Women in RVs

Cherie @Technomadia — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 20:10:56 -0000

As a new bus babe, I've had a wake-up call in the bus-nut community - it's very male dominated! I'm often one of the only females posting in the various forums (at least, on topics other than quilting), and many of the men just don't let 'the wife' drive THEIR bus.

Hmpt.

We just had a reader on our blog write asking if we both drove the bus - which was a surprising question to me.

I did regularly drive our truck/trailer combo (and got us safety stopped after having a 360 degree jack-knifed spin out after hydroplaning during an intense rainstorm). But honestly, haven't driven the bus much at all... but that'll change now that we've gotten it up to DOT safety standards and know the critical systems are up to date on maitenance.

We recently took a bus driving safety course - and highly recommend that for anyone taking on a big rig for the first time. Especially if you have air brakes.

Re: Keeping Your Credit Clean While You Wander

Cherie @Technomadia — Wed, 25 May 2011 11:45:47 -0000

We use MyDakotaAddress.com in Madison, SD. We've been happy with them, and there are many other services out there across the country. Best to look for recommendations from both the RVing and Sailing/Cruiser communities - as these services tend to cater to their needs. But they'd work for any person needing a physical address.

Be sure to research your domicile for your own unique needs and phase of life. Each state varies widely on how it handles various thing. Lots of considerations to make when selecting a domicile - from income taxes, sale taxes, inheritance taxes, common law marriage rules, vehicle registration, insurance rates, homeschool laws, business logistics, etc.

Oh, one thing that is getting more difficult is the Patriot Act is causing financial institutions to collect a residential address for each customer, just to have on file. And using a business address like a mail forwarding service does not work for that. We're having to use a relative's address for that, and we're told it doesn't affect what is being used for your domicile address.

Re: Keeping Your Credit Clean While You Wander

Cherie @Technomadia — Wed, 25 May 2011 10:07:33 -0000

While keeping our finances in shape should be a concern for everyone, being nomadic really doesn't add too many extra logistics. There are many mail/address services out there catering to us wandering folks that serve as a permanent address for meeting residency requirements (all us US citizens need one), credit, insurance, taxes, vehicle registration, driver's licenses, etc.

In five years of travel, we've had a single address on paper. Our service in South Dakota (which is a great state financially to be from if you have no physical home) is not only our domicile address, but they also collect all our mail and get it to us no matter where we're at. There are even some services out there that will scan your mail and put it online for you.

As far as keeping on top of bills.. we have as much as possible handled electronically, and keep a Google Calendar of all our regular due dates. If we know we're going to be out of signal for a length of time, we make sure everything is taken care of beforehand.

Re: Couple Travel – Who Decides Where You Go?

Cherie @Technomadia — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 19:02:29 -0000

Our destinations in the past 5 years of our full time travels (mostly via RV in the US) have been mostly determined by people we want to see and events we want to attend. We tend to look ahead every so often, look at who's in the general vicinity and put out a call to see what opportunities might arise. Sometimes, stop overs are decided on a whim if one of us has a strong calling. Overall, I'd say we tend to take turns on expressing our preferences for our next stop over, but it's also determined by what's the most logical to route to given our upcoming schedule.

We're now looking at doing different forms of travel, and having a really difficult time narrowing down all the choices :) We tend to just listen for serendipity to decide for us.

Re: This means war!!

Cherie @Technomadia — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 09:23:12 -0000

Awesome Sam.. send us your address, and we'll send him your way! :)

Re: This means war!!

Cherie @Technomadia — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 13:19:41 -0000

Thanks Loiosh! Kiki appreciates the support. Alfredo will either give in and join the kitty party, or run away scared.

Re: This means war!!

Cherie @Technomadia — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 13:18:39 -0000

Yeah. Alfredo definitely has a sadness about him. We've tried being friendly and welcoming to him for months, and it's just not working.

Thanks for your support, Albert! Kiki appreciates it.

Re: Nomadic ≠ Minimalist

Cherie @Technomadia — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 13:16:48 -0000

Thanks a bunch for discovering us, Valynne! And we very much appreciate your contribution towards our efforts by choosing to buy our eBook. Looking forward to seeing you around here.

Re: Propane Powered Generator – Honda EU2000i + Propane Conversion Kit

Cherie @Technomadia — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 05:12:38 -0000

Hi there.. thanks for stopping by. Here's our post that goes over our entire solar electrical system, including our charger:

http://www.technomadia.com/...

Re: The Truth About Location Independence

Cherie @Technomadia — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 11:27:22 -0000

I so resonate with much of this, and you bring up so many points as to why I'm hesitant to take my location independence international.

I've run a small software development company for over 15 years being LI. But it's only been in the past 5 years that I've done it while being *completely* mobile. My sweetie and I have traveled the US via RV for most of that, and now we've in the US Virgin Islands (not by RV) for a few months. Not dealing with things like visas, international taxes and such is one reason we've stayed stateside thus far. And we think we have one heck of an amazing traveling lifestyle.

But there are downsides. As we're fully mobile, we depend on cellular data to keep connected. Which can be quite spotty and definitely not anywhere near broadband speeds and there are *5 GB* caps on some plans. We deal with having to be cautious about state income taxes as we meander about.

So yeah, definitely commiserate with being stunned by folks who assume our life is like living on Easy St. Sure, it is definitely fabulous.. but you have to be darn dedicated to getting your workload done while you're in amazing places. We're pulling sometimes 80 hr work weeks (each) here while in tropical paradise. Our life isn't constantly a day at the beach with a rum drink.

In the future.. we do plan to do extended international travel. And we know it'll be a whole new ball of challenges. But it is so worth it!

Re: Nomadic ≠ Minimalist

Cherie @Technomadia — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 09:16:58 -0000

Getting rid of whatever anchors you feel are holding you back is key. And those anchors will vary for everyone. The important part is being able to identify them, and take the steps to free yourself. Best wishes to you guys in your journey!

Re: Nomadic ≠ Minimalist

Cherie @Technomadia — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 09:14:41 -0000

Indeed - it is about differing perspectives, and making it your own.

Re: Nomadic ≠ Minimalist

Cherie @Technomadia — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:38:06 -0000

Sounds like you had a great time on your cruise!!

We don't just go spend to spend either, and do avoid spending on things that aren't important to us. And we do look for deals when possible. But we're not going to avoid doing things that will bring us great joy just to save money either.

It's all about balance.

Re: Nomadic ≠ Minimalist

Cherie @Technomadia — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:35:02 -0000

Oh, for sure the term minimalist could be used to describe the amount of stuff most nomads own... but I think that's different than identifying as such and setting it as a goal. Significantly cutting down the amount of stuff is a key skill of a nomad to keep mobile. So indeed they do go hand-in-hand.

But at the same time, we're not driven to constantly avoid buying things just to keep our possessions under an arbitrary number. It's more like we have a minimal amount of stuff because of our choice to be nomadic than anything else.

Re: Things we’re not missing about RV’ing…

Cherie @Technomadia — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:03:46 -0000

Guess we should decide pretty soon what is next ... time is slipping away.

Re: Things we’re not missing about RV’ing…

Cherie @Technomadia — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:02:49 -0000

It's definitely a tricky balance when you want to leave yourself open to awesome via serendipity and making sure time to ourselves is made. And we've certainly said no to our fair share of things too. Too much awesome out there :)

Re: Nomadic ≠ Minimalist

Cherie @Technomadia — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:59:08 -0000

It's amazing how far spread the misconceptions are about the cost of full time travel are. Nice to know there are others out there in similar boats/RV/etc :)

For us, our cost of living is down quite a bit. However, we both lived separately before hitting the road together, so tough to gauge.

Re: Things we’re not missing about RV’ing…

Cherie @Technomadia — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 10:59:48 -0000

Sorry our paths didn't cross at BM, Michelle! Always so difficult to get in seeing everyone.

Guess we should start keeping a list of folks interested in the Oliver, should we decide to sell it.

Re: Kinda Sorta But Not Really in the USA

Cherie @Technomadia — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 10:53:20 -0000

The US Virgin Islands is land owned by the US, but it not a full state. Citizens here are US citizens, pay federal income taxes (sorta) but have no representation in government. There's a lot of odd quirks as a result, and there's a good bit of independence from the US too, while getting a lot of the benefits.

Re: Kinda Sorta But Not Really in the USA

Cherie @Technomadia — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 12:43:04 -0000

I've been really surprised with how different it does feel. It's a great meshing and stepping stone to more international travels.

Re: Kinda Sorta But Not Really in the USA

Cherie @Technomadia — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 12:41:57 -0000

Island life definitely rocks :) There are some similarities between the Keys and Virgin Islands, for sure.

Re: Sometimes, Money DOES Equal Happiness. Sometimes, Livin’ On a Prayer Gets OLD.

Cherie @Technomadia — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 09:50:06 -0000

Totally agreed on all of this! I've had a hard time convincing my father (and business partner) of this for the past decade or so. He grew up in a different mentality of just being thankful for having work to bill. But I've slowly gotten him to come around that our time is our most valuable asset, and it doesn't come cheaply. Our contracts are now all priced much closer to where they should be.

If I'm working on my own projects and passions, sure - I'm willing to put in 90 hour work weeks with no promise of a payout. But if I'm putting my time and energy into someone else's projects - it better be worth it. My rates scale inversely to how much the project inspires me.

Sure, money may not buy happiness - but lack of it sure does bring about unhappiness.

Re: Things we’re not missing about RV’ing…

Cherie @Technomadia — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 22:02:32 -0000

Oh yes.. any full-time RVer generally knows they can overnight in many Walmarts (and other retail locations too). And it's great for when we're making miles and just need a place to catch some ZZZs and restock the fridge. But it's certainly not sustainable living - you can't set up camp, you can't unhitch, you can't even level your rig, you can people walking/driving by your house all the time and you certainly can't stay more than a couple nights.

And yes indeed, that is a key. Designing a life to give you the option to be mobile when you're called to it. It's awesome.

Re: Where are you from?

Cherie @Technomadia — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 21:58:02 -0000

I haven't detected that any have. They may at first think we're pulling their leg or something. But it has always opened up a great conversation.

Re: Where are you from?

Cherie @Technomadia — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 09:38:42 -0000

Always fun when you can play games with what folks expect is a simply 'small talk' question :)