Why I stopped traveling to live in a Farm

In an era where everyone keeps sharing breathtaking snaps on Instagram and showing off a lifestyle of continuous and never ending travel I decided to stop moving around so often and “settle down” in an old farm.

I was based in Thailand and traveling continuously to Exotic and picturesque destinations for over 2 years. Meeting people from all around the world, working online and living what everyone points as a dream life. It was indeed amazing, but something was missing for me.

Back in early 2016 I came back to Portugal to surprise my father for his birthday.  I arrived a few days before his birthday to find out he had prostate cancer. My heart raced, my mind was a chaos and all I could think about was how I wish I had spent more time with my dad. In that moment, I knew I wanted to spend as much time as I could with him doing what I knew he loved the most.

Since I was a kid I was used to see my dad spend his day off visiting the old house where he was raised. A lovely small farm in the Portuguese countryside.

He always said that he loved to go there and take care of the gardens, fix things around and play with the dogs. As a kid I didn’t really understand why that was so relaxing and enjoyable for him but I decided to give it a try.

The farm was uninhabited for over 20 years and the only person going there was my dad on his day off to take care of the garden but sadly he didn’t have the time or energy to fix the house and  keep the gardens in good shape.

One night, over dinner, I told my dad I was moving to the farm. That I would live there and rebuild it from the ground. That way I would be close to him and my mother, he could come visit me on his day off and we could fix the place he always cared about to make it a lovely and enjoyable place as it once was.

On the 1st of April 2016 I gave up on the plan of traveling around the world to move to a small abandoned farm in the middle of nowhere but close to my parents.

I opened the doors for travelers and let people from around the world come into my house, share my house and skills with them in exchange of good company and some help to rebuild the farm.

During the next 6 months I welcomed over 40 people at the farm and together we worked on the reconstruction of the house and gardens.  During that, I had the chance to spend at least 2 days per week with my parents and have them around the farm on my fathers day off.

I also got the chance to meet the woman of my life , living just a few miles from the farm and I understood that this place is exactly what I was missing in my life. A place where I could relax, work on something with purpose and where I could spend quality time with good people and most of all with my parents.

During the winters, I still go away from the cold and spend a few months traveling but always looking forwards to returning to the place I now call home, The Nomad Farm.

Growing my own vegetables, taking care of the animals, enjoying the nature and working a few hours per day in a quiet and lovely space is what nowadays makes me happy. Whenever I get bored, I book a flight and me and Marina go somewhere for a few days.

It’s been over 2 years since the day I moved to this place and a lot changed in my life. I settled down, found true love,  connected with my parents more than I ever did and I found joy and happiness in small things that I wasn’t aware could bring me so much joy.

I love the freedom that working online brings me and that allows me to travel, but I also realized that the real freedom is not to jump from place to place every other month but to be able to be close to those you love and care about and to be able to spend quality time with them whenever you want because you never know when they will be gone.