Home (away from home) for the Holidays
My first year as a digital nomad has been full of firsts, first time traveling abroad, first time traveling solo, first colivings. Most of these firsts have been incredible experiences from which I have grown so much. One first that I was worried about was being alone on the holidays.
The holidays for me were Christmas and New Years celebrated with family traditions. My sisters and I would spend Christmas Eve exchanging gifts, playing games and eating too much food. Now that my siblings are creating new family traditions of their own and my relationship with gift giving and consumerism has changed I was really concerned that I would be alone and lost when the holidays came around. I reached out to my friend and fellow nomad to see if this is something she had experienced. Her advice was perfect, she said “come home”.
Traveling around as a full time digital nomad challenges you to consider what home really means to you. Is it where you grew up? Where you store your things? Where your family is? Where you currently sleep? For me, home has become less of a place and more of a community. Home is where I feel safe and comfortable and where I feel the most like myself, where I am surrounded by my digital nomad community that has become my family. So when my friend suggested that I “come home” I knew that she was talking about the Chateau, a 12th century castle turned coliving in Normandy France. The Chateau was the first place I traveled to and quickly became a safe haven for me to heal and start my new journey as a digital nomad.
So it was an easy choice, I was going to my Chateau for the holidays. As it so often happens in the digital nomad community, one small conversation sparked a much bigger plan and now I will be spending this holiday season reuniting with my digital nomad family in a castle creating our own traditions like murder mysteries and dance parties.
Now my first holiday season as a digital nomad doesn’t seem so scary.
Where will you be for the holidays?
by Miranda Shirley