TRAVEL. NOMADIC LIFE

The Art of Staying Calm Before Moving Abroad

This was clearly not our first move

We’re not your normal traveler. We are nomads. Somehow. In the last two years, we’ve lived and worked every year on three continents. That means we’ve moved six times since the pandemic began.

Booking a flight, packing bags, spending time at the airport aren’t things that really scare us. It’s almost our daily life I would say.

And here we go again. After just over three months living in Thailand, it is time for us to pack our bags and head back to Germany. While my mom is texting me asking if we’re packed and ready to go, we are still sipping cocktails on the island.

T-48 hours

We are at 2 days until departure. Our flat is still a mess but we decided to go one last time to the islands for two nights. Today is the last night on Koh Larn and we’re sipping on a Mai Tai while having only 48 hours left.

T-30 hours

After enjoying one last breakfast with a sea view, we deflate and pack our kayak and paddleboard back into the bags and say goodbye to the island. We had a blast and will cherish these memories for long.

T-26 hours

After getting back from the island, we quickly grabbed a bunch of clothes we wanted to send home to make our luggage lighter and not have overweight, and drove down to the post office to drop of the parcel.

Then it was time for dinner and we decided to enjoy one last time sushi at our favorite all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant.

T-24 hours

After having a quick last beer with a friend of ours, my husband said we had to go upstairs and start packing. But as we got into the flat, he just moved all items from his side on the bed to mine and decided to rest instead.

It’s 9 pm and no, the bags are still not packed.

T-10 hours

We got up this morning looking at the mess in our room. While we should start packing, we also still had to drop the rental scooter in the city. We decided to do that first and jumped on the bike to drive the 30 kilometers through Thailand's traffic.

One last time.

T-7 hours

I guess we can’t push it any further. We had to start packing our bags now. And we did. One bag after the other and because I still had space (and weight allowance) in mine, my husband decided to pack the small hand vacuum cleaner in as well.

Yes, we packed a vacuum cleaner.

I agree with him. We had just bought that piece in Thailand and it would be a waste of money and resources to just leave it behind. We will need one in Germany as well, so while there’s space for it, why not take it with us?

T-6 hours

The bags are packed and we have to clean the flat now. Getting all the dust, sand, and hairs out of this small flat wasn’t too big of a task but since we made our fair share of experiences with landlords trying to keep the deposit, I was rather strict on how clean I wanted to hand over the flat.

T-4,5 hours

We made it. I think. We packed our bags. With no overweight in the checked luggage. We cleaned the floor, the cupboards, the bathroom. Everything. I’m German. I need to return the flat clean and without any marks.

I’m married to an African man. He sees things differently. But he still scrubbed the bathroom.

When the landlord came, he didn’t even step into the room. He glanced inside, made the calculation of what we still had to pay (electricity and water), and deducted it from the deposit. Done. He just asked us to drop the key at reception.

Now we’re sitting in the flat. It’s pouring down rain. We have 45 minutes until our taxi comes to drive us to the airport. So after all the late packing and traveling, we actually have time to spare.

T-4 hours

The taxi arrived. It was still raining. We ran to the cab to drop our bags without soaking all our belongings too much.

The time has come. I closed the door of our tiny flat and dropped the key off. Chapter Thailand is closed. Another adventure awaits us on the other side.

T-3 hours

We arrived at the airport and are standing in the queue for check-in. Lots of counters are open but it all takes very long. With lots of requirements for the airline staff to check and costumers being difficult, we were very happy we still had lots of time to spare.

T-1,5 hours

We checked in our bags, made it past security, and bought ourselves some food. And as our tradition requires, we bought a small bottle of gin in the duty-free shop and some sprite from Burger King to mix our own Gin&Tonic while going through all the memories we made in the last three months.

T-30 minutes

We’re sitting at the gate together with lots of people. Especially families with young children. It’s gonna be a full flight. But we’re in a good mood. Not because of the gin but because we’re not looking at a holiday that just ended but at another adventure that awaits us on the other side.

T-15 minutes

Boarding has just started but we’re clearly going to have a delay on take-off because there is no way everyone will board the plane in such a short time.

T+10 minutes

We made it to our seats. Our hand luggage is stowed away and we’re ready for take-off. The pilot just announces the delay. About 30 minutes delay is to be expected on our arrival in Doha.

Back in the day, this would have stressed me out because we only had 1,5 hours layover in Qatar which would shrink now to one hour. That is even in pandemic times not enough at that huge airport.

But who cares. Not my problem now. And it’s not like I can change anything in the situation if I stress about it for the next seven hours.

T+35 minutes

Wheels off. We’re finally in the air. I’m seeing the city of Bangkok below us. In the dark. Let’s see when and if we will be back here. For now, there are new places to go to.

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