Belgium is, by far, the best country in the world when it comes to premium beer. There’s no possible argument. For such a small country, it’s amazing the amount of extraordinary beers that are produced in so many different towns, villages or abbeys. But there is much more to Belgium than beer and this is just a summary of all the things that I was able to experience while living for 5 weeks in this awesome country.

Koksijde

It’s been already more than one month since we started travelling and it’s been so fast! We flew from Barcelona to Brussels and immediately went by car to Koksijde where we would stay for the first week of our trip.

Koksjide is one of the cities along the Belgian coast, close to the French border, and it offers mostly calm and peace in this time of the year. My parents in law were kind enough to let us stay at their apartment with a nice internet connection and a comfortable place to spend our first week adapting ourselves to this new nomad style of living. We took small breaks to go for a run along the coast, or a bicycle ride to the supermarket.

The city is well connected to other towns near the coast by tram but also to other cities in Belgium by train. This allowed us, for example, to go to Kortrijk for a nice Thai dinner with friends and get back home with little effort. One thing that I have always noted when coming to Belgium over the years, is that Belgians are used to travel across cities multiple times per week. Some of them work in one city and live in a different one but others simply go for short visits to friends and family very often. In just five weeks I visited more than 10 different cities and never for touristic purposes!

Ghent

After our first week in the coast we moved to Ghent where both my brothers in law live. One of them and his girlfriend kindly let us stay with them and I really felt at home thanks to all the nice things they did for us. In repay we cooked dinner for them some of the nights we shared.

Ghent is one of the most vibrant cities of Belgium. It’s full of eclectic bars and restaurants. To give you an idea, in our first night there, we started the evening with a Turkish Hamam (haircut included), followed by a Turkish dinner. We then went to the Velootje Bar, one of the most jaw-opening bars I’ve ever been (not necessarily the cleanest!), and finished in the famous Dreupelkot drinking all kinds of jenever.

During the course of the week our highlights included rock-climbing (it looks way easier than it actually is), a yoga class, party with friends and an amazing cheese & wine dinner with the family of my wife. Remember, all this happened while working full time.

After one week, we headed towards Antwerp, my favourite city in Belgium.

Antwerp

Much of my feelings for this city are based in how welcome I feel whenever I go to Antwerp. I’ve been there so many times in the past and there is always a good story to tell about all those times and, of course, this was no exception. Big thanks to Janne and Maxime for letting us crash in their cozy house for so many days. You’re the best hosts I could’ve asked for ❤!

Antwerp has so much to offer. From the moment I stepped out of the train and admire its majestic central station some years ago, I was caught in its spell. There are so many restaurants, shops, bars, galleries, etc. that it’s difficult for me to name just a few. I drank glühwein at the Christmas market next to the castle by the river with nice views, had a wonderful experience tasting beers in a connoisseur bar called Billie’s Kafetaria, went for a trendy dinner at the nice Zuid district, had brunch in the Cafe Imperial, went to the movies to see the new Star Wars movie, went for Yoga classes and even took part in an escape room experience. All in ten days.

A long walk for a good cause

During our stay in Antwerp an event called De Warmste Week (the warmest week) took place. The event is organized yearly by Studio Brussel, the most popular radio station amongst the young crowd in Belgium, and its goal is to help raising funds for many different good causes across the country. Each night during this week, thousands of people would gather in a festival venue (the one that is used for Tomorrowland!) in the city of Boom to listen to concerts but also to present some of the good initiatives that had taken place during the week and to announce the amount of funds raised by each cause.

A good friend of mine, who works as a volunteer for Mobile School, had invited us to participate in a 40km march from Leuven to Boom arriving directly at the concert. The idea was to encourage the volunteers from this organization -and walk besides them- while they were pushing one of their portable school devices. The result was spectacular. They raised a very decent amount of funds but more over they flooded the scene with enthusiasm and selfless love for others. I must admit I was deeply moved when, in the end of the walk, the volunteers went on the stage to perform a rehearsed “haka” in front of thousands of people to promote Mobile School.

Family time

Heuvelland means “the hilly region” and is where Sofie’s parents live. More specifically in the small village of Nieuwkerke. It’s a lovely countryside region filled with farms and nice landscapes where time slows down and let us relax and catch up our breath after four intense weeks of diverse experiences. The last days in Belgium were spent amongst family, surrounded by a Christmas atmosphere with lots of food, hugs and gifts.

Days went by and the time to say goodbye arrived faster than expected. When looking back, it seemed incredible that 5 weeks had passed so fast and that so many things had happened. It was time to move and continue our journey. South Africa awaits us with sunny beaches and new experiences but there will always be a special place for Belgium as the starting point of this wonderful adventure.

… to be continued

Beyond the beer, 5 weeks in Belgium was originally published in A Trip Around the World on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Decision one: Leaving my hometown

When I was 18 and about to start Computer Science, a friend suggested the idea of a trip around Europe. His idea was to find any possible job to keep our expenses covered as we “lived the dream” for about six months. I had never considered traveling for that long. My longest experience away from home was a 1 month camp in Canada when I was twelve, but I thought, “why not?.” Sure enough, I found a job in a Mexican restaurant down in Interlaken, Switzerland! In the end, my friend wouldn’t even join the trip but I still packed my bags.

The trip itself was a game changer in my life. It was the spark that helped me get out of my comfort zone. It led me into thinking that there was a whole world out there worth exploring. I spent an amazing time, learning how to work in a kitchen. I earned my first serious salary ever and lived on my own 18sq meter apartment. All for the first time. It was too short, though. I had promised my dad that I would come back after six months to begin with my studies and I like to keep my word.

When I came back I had realized that I wanted to explore other parts of the world and for that I had to leave my hometown. I went back and forth, from Mexico to Europe, a couple of times more until I settled down in Barcelona. Long story short, it hasn’t been always a bed of roses, but I haven’t regretted a single moment the decision I once made.

Decision two: Small business over corporate career

When I finally settled in Barcelona, I had spent my savings living in Poland and Italy with almost no income. I had to look for a steady job. Lucky as I am, I found two different job offers that were completely different in essence. I had to choose between a small agency or a huge software development corporation. The small agency had hardly any hierarchy and I was going to be the only developer there. The big corporation offered me “career opportunities” although I still wonder what that meant. My choice, of course, was to go small.

I chose small because I believed I was going to learn more. I had more freedom but at the same time more responsibility. No one was going to teach me any best practices so I had to “Google” my way out of a problem. Stack Overflow became my mentor. I still feel amazed by the spirit of solidarity of the developers community.

When making this decision I had one idea in mind. The corporate career offered me a higher salary in the beginning. Still, in the small agency I could increase my monthly earnings faster if I demonstrated that I was worth it and I wasn’t mistaken. Not only did I learn loads but I also kept increasing my income to a decent level in a short period of time. Even if I had the chance to go back on time and change my decisions, I’d repeat them once again.

Decision three: Becoming freelance

At some point, during my time in the small design agency, I reached a stage where I stopped learning. I had no more challenges. I felt stuck. I left the job but didn’t look for a new one. Instead, I decided to set up my own digital agency, specialized in web development. I had a decent network of developers who I worked with in the past and after a few months we had built a known brand. I was doing everything from a co-working space in Barcelona. My costs were super low hence I could offer a competitive price for the (high) quality of the work I was providing. In the first year, we sold 50k euros with hardly any connections to reach to. It not only felt like a huge success, but it also taught me the importance of good work and word of mouth. I had also learned some key values that clients consider essential in a good provider.

One of these happy clients was Mobile Jazz. They had hired me for some nice front end projects and things went smooth from the beginning. Not long after that, they offered me to merge forces. I had the chance to found and lead their brand new web team and I found myself working for clients as big as Skyscanner! Today, I’m still leading an amazing team with some of the best developers I’ve ever met.

It’s funny how things had turned out to be. My decisions have taken me all around the professional spectrum. What started as a freelance adventure, transform into a network of professional people. People committed to work to the best standards. With a goal different than the rest of companies. Optimizing for happiness rather than for profit. I find myself surrounded by great minds with the same ethics than me. With the same aspirations in life than me. I couldn’t be prouder of the road I’ve walked and more thrilled about the upcoming challenges.

Focusing on happiness is not about how profitable something will be. It’s not about how rich we will become if something succeeds. It is about how fulfilled we will feel if we make a decision or not at a personal and professional level. Sometimes it means leaving your hometown, betting for a small company or changing your career by becoming self-dependent. This philosophy inspires me and I hope it inspires others. Try it. It’s worth it all the way, even if it seems uncertain.

Have a Remote Friendly Job

This one was the easiest but also the most important thing to have sorted before I was able to make the final decision on becoming a nomad. I say it was easy because, on one side, I’m a developer and nowadays it’s super easy to find a job if your work is good enough but, on the other side, because the company I work for — Mobile Jazz — is remote friendly. As long as I keep things under control within my team and clients, there is no problem to work from a tropical island. To be fair, I’ve been working for MJ for around 1.5 years but this doesn’t mean I didn’t have to worry about having a remote friendly job.

If you can’t find a remote friendly job, there is always the possibility to go freelance and start your own thing. It doesn’t matter if you’re a developer like me or not, the world has never been more connected and I can’t think of a better time to become nomad than this digital era we’re living in.

Banking (commissions, commissions and more commissions)

You all know what I’m talking about. Banks favorite practice and cause of many headaches. There are many ways to avoid commissions if you live/work in the USA or the UK or other countries where online banking is more developed but, here in Spain, I could only find one solution. EVO Bank. They are the only bank I could find that didn’t charge commission on foreign currency transactions. I’d love to hear your suggestions in case there are other options.

Important: Make sure your debit/credit cards won’t expire during the course of your trip to avoid any problems.

Selling Your Furniture vs Storing It

We all like to buy nice furniture and decorate our apartments and houses in a fancy way but, what happens when you realize you need 20 square meters just to store all the things you won’t be able (nor willing) to carry on your trip? If you decide to go for a storage space, prepare your wallet. The smallest storage rooms (around 6 sq. meters) go for around 1k euros per year (charged on a weekly basis). After doing the math, we decided to sell as much as we could and we were able to sell 80% of our furniture for a discounted price and the rest was given away to friends. It will be a bit more expensive when we come back and buy everything again but, on the other hand, we don’t have to worry about it anymore and it’s always good to have some extra cash in case you need it.

But, What About Your “Other” Stuff?

It’s amazing the amount of useless s**t one collects when living for a while in a place you rent or own. A lot of things that have sentimental value but that you rarely use. Ever. I got rid of most of that stuff. I gave away all my books and all of the clothes that I never wear anymore. Sure we keep some other stuff but it all fits now inside a couple of boxes and bags that we can always store anywhere (a friend’s or relative’s house for example).

Health (and Travel) Insurance

After comparing a lot of different possibilities and reading a lot out there. I have decided to go for World Nomads as our insurance provider. As I haven’t started my trip, I can’t really speak about how good their service is but I can tell you that their cost benefit is by far the best. They offer so much more than the rest of companies and all the reviews I have read about them are fantastic. Not that I’m looking forward to claiming anything during my trip, but at least I know I got my back covered. One year costs around 1k euros but covers you even in the case of injury during extreme sports.

Virtual Phone Number

This is not so much of a requirement for me, but it is for my wife as she will be in constant phone communication with her clients and she can’t tell them to call her to different numbers in different countries every now and then. The best solution we’ve found so far is Sonetel which allows you to create unlimited virtual phone numbers that redirect the call always to the same given number. This all works via cellular network and not via VoIP. That’s good since we won’t always be within 3g/4g coverage to have calls that rely on Internet speed.

Vaccines and other medical concerns

Depending where you’re from and where you’re heading to, you might need to get vaccinated for a specific disease. Moreover, some governments won’t allow the entrance of citizens without a specific vaccine. In our case, the most common vaccine we needed to make sure we had is for yellow fever. You may also need to follow an antimalarial treatment if you’re going to places like Madagascar or Zanzibar (amongst others) but this is not required by governments most of the time.

Airline membership card

This one is more a hack than a requirement, but I think it’s useful to mention that, when you’re about to travel around the world, it’s always good to have a membership card that earns you points every time you travel and search for flights within the alliance this airline belongs to. In our case, we have 3 cards, Iberia Plus as part of One World group, Miles and More from Lufthansa for any Star Alliance flight and finally Club Premier for all SkyTeam flights. With this 3 cards (all for free) we cover most of the non-low-cost airlines (for the long-haul flights) we’ll be buying around the globe.

That’s it for now, in just a couple of weeks we’ll be heading to Belgium for a month and later to Cape Town. From that point on, I’ll be able to tell whether I was prepared or not for this amazing adventure.

I don’t know why, but I have the feeling that there will continue to be “one more thing to do” always ;)

ToDo List for Becoming a Nomad was originally published in A Trip Around the World on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We’ve thought about Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, Hawaii and of course Mexico (to visit my family this time), but nothing is yet decided.

Before we leave we need to get rid of some things that we won’t be able to store while we are away so that’s our first milestone. We still have 3 months ahead to prepare everything and this is getting very exciting!

Stay tuned and follow us: https://www.facebook.com/nomadtriparoundtheworld

We are going nomad! was originally published in A Trip Around the World on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.