Back

The Heart of Nomadic Life: Building Friendships Across Borders | Day 290 of my 2023 Journal

Cecilie Conrad·Oct 18, 2023· 3 minutes

A friend in every harbor.

We are in our sixth year of being full-time nomadic. It did not take us long, back in the beginning, to realize the true adventure is the people we meet. Yes, there is a lot of joy in exploring new cultures, cities, mountains, waterfalls, forests, art museums, phenomena, languages, and local histories. But it can not be compared to the people we meet.

The people themselves with their stories, their souls, their smiles, the impact we get to have on each other, the friendships, and the love.

Now, after so many years moving around, we do have friends everywhere. Mostly, of course, in Europe, as we have spent the most time here, but after the castle event in the spring, we met a lot of Americans and now have quite a few friends in "The land of the free".

Several years ago, we met Sarah and Salvatore in Barcelona because of the handpam. Our friend Ravid, with whom we created the handpan course, had met Sarah and felt we needed to meet her, too.

He was right. The match was perfect between us; it has been so great to get to know each other. Of course, we spent more time together when we had the base in the bus, and they lived in BCN, but the fact both of us moved away does not end the friendship.

For people who travel, many things unfold differently. And I think we get to find another kind of friend. We also know we can be friends for life and that we have each other's backs, even though we do not see each other every week.

With Sarah and Salvatore, we walked the Camino last year and will be forever thankful for giving us this first fix for free. And yesterday we got to share a lovely afternoon, having a meal together and walking the beach.

We are leaving in a few days, so this will be the only afternoon for now - but as life is long and the world Is huge, yet small, it is not too painful to say: See you, guys. We love you.

Because we know from experience, there will be a next time before we know it. 

With love

Cecilie-Underskrift-300x133

Cecilie Conrad

Thank you for reading
I would love to hear from you. Listen to your thoughts and reflections - or praise :) It is often emotional to share our lives like this, and we get very happy when we get your feedback. So feel free to share a comment below 😋 

Two hours of planning and negotiations of who was coming and who was not finally got us out walking. Not far, and not all of us, as some are down wit…Read more
Life is this. The moving around. The people we move for. Reaching out to the opportunities, taking what is, and appreciating all the big and little g…Read more
I scored eight out of ten on the travel score sheet of my son-in-law, as I had brought a knife in the packed lunch - the knife took my two last point…Read more
Goodbye, Mexico City. That was fun! And exhausting. We want to come back, but we are also eager to leave. It is intense to visit the huge cities. Read more
The central story of this day is the earthquake. Thank God we have no pictures. Because there was nothing to take photos of. Except for a lot of peop…Read more
It is nice to sometimes just have a practical day. We needed papers to travel with the dogs, so Silke and I walked to the local vet; smiling, profess…Read more
The classic pilgrimage to the main art museum, the cathedral, the central square, and the Aztec ruins took us through a rich array of experiences. Th…Read more
I just wanted to include more images from the same day. The streets with their shiny buildings contrasting the little cargo-bike-food stalls, the arc…Read more
I titled this “Beating Hearts” because the Aztecs’ human sacrifice took out the still beating heart of 52 humans EVERY DAY (according to our guide)! …Read more