Tanya – to travel freely she sold almost everything she owned6 min read

Tanya – to travel freely she sold almost everything she owned6 min read

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Tanya and her husband lived in the UK when they decided to sell almost everything and begin the life of the digital nomads. They have travelled to Asia, Latin Amerika, and Europe by now with a plan a explore Afrika soon.

Tanya and Andy in national park – Honduras

Hi Tanya, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your lifestyle?

My husband Andy and I left the UK to travel, live and work abroad in September 2016. We sold nearly everything we owned, rented out our two properties out in the UK and headed to SE Asia with nothing but a big and a small backpack each.

We’ve been travelling, living and working abroad since then, with the exception of an unexpected year back in the UK for family reasons. In that time, we’ve travelled and lived in Asia, Latin America and Europe.

What is your current destination?

We’re currently in Ermioni in Peloponnese, Greece. We recently relocated here from Siem Reap in Cambodia where we’d been living for 9 months.

Can you tell us a bit about the projects you are currently working on? Are you currently looking for some new projects and clients?

I’m currently working as a freelance SEO, Marketing and Data Consultant and have a variety of clients from the USA, Europe and Cambodia. My current projects are mainly SEO and Project Management and my husband Andy teaches English online, copywrites and is optimises YouTube channels for clients. We’re both pretty busy at the moment but are always on the lookout for new clients as many of the projects we work are short term.

I also run the travel blog Can Travel Will Travel and Andy runs the YouTube channel Going Nomad Aka Pigs on Bikes.

What do you like the most about being a Digital Nomad?

We love the freedom it gives us to allow us to do what we want, when we want and outside of COVID-19 times to travel where we want, when we want. We’re both passionate about travel, which was the reason we decided to pursue this lifestyle.

Tanya and Andy Copper in Mexico canyon

And what are the downsides of it (in case there are any)?

There are a few downside (although far outweighed by the good). Here are the main downsides for us.

  • Having to be reliant on good wifi and the problems it causes when it’s not up to scratch or doesn’t exist, only real downside is having for
  • Language barriers – here, where we are in Greece, it’s the first time we’ve really noticed the language barrier, I think it’s going to be a challenge and we’re going to need to learn Greek quickly as we plan to have it as a base for a while. It wasn’t such an issue though previously in Latin America (as I speak some Spanish) or in SE Asia (as many people spoke English there).
  • Social life (or lack of it). We’re both really sociable people and when you’re on the road a lot you sometimes find yourself in places with very few other people or digital nomads, especially if you like getting off the beaten track with us. Even when living in places for longer stretches of time there’s always the issue of having to start over with making friends every time you go somewhere new. Or, as when we lived in Cambodia, it was such a transient place, that you’d make great new friends, only for them to move on the next month.

What is a place/country you liked the most while traveling and why? What’s on your to-travel-list?

This is a very tricky question, we’ll always have a soft spot for Cambodia and up until now it’s been like our second home. We also really enjoyed our time travelling around Mexico and Central America – we talk about going back at some point to stay longer in Antigua, Guatemala and possibly Honduras and Nicaragua.

Well, I did have Africa on my travel list for later this year – I’d planned to climb Kilimanjaro for my 40 th birthday and go on a safari. That doesn’t look very likely now – so I’m going to stay 39 for another year and we hope to spend 4 to 6 months travelling around Africa in 2021 or 2022.

Until that’s possible though I think we’ll be spending some time exploring some more of Europe, probably by road-trip from Greece when it’s easier to travel.

How often do you use coworking spaces? Is there one that you’d like to recommend to other
nomads?

I actually don’t use co-working spaces a great deal, I tend to work from the Airbnb or hotel where we’re staying or cafes. Mainly because I’m very easily distracted so I’m best to work alone somewhere quiet.

There is a good coworking space in Siem Reap, Cambodia though that I know many other Digital Nomads use called Angkor Hub.

Tanya and Andy in Cambodia

Can you tell us what is your biggest dream?

Again, that’s a tricky one but I’d have to say other than the safari I mentioned above, next on my dream list has to be a trip to Antarctica.

In case you have a motto, could you share it with us?

It’s better to regret something you’ve done, than something you haven’t.

Could you share with us the names of two inspiring digital nomads that you are following?

Milou Van Roon – Explorista
Will Hatton – The Broke Backpacker

Is there something that you would like to add?

If you’d like to follow us on our Digital Nomad journey, check out my travel blog Can Travel Will Travel (Facebook and Instagram as @cantravelwilltravel and Twitter as @cantravwilltrav) and Andy’s YouTube Channel Going Nomad Aka Pigs on Bikes.

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