WHere?! Nomad Local Blog

When you want to jump higher, you need constantly to train to make it. If you wish to get ready for a race, you’ve got to go outside and run everyday to become faster.

That’s exactly how it happens with Cultural Traveling. The difference is that if you want to become a better Cultural Traveler, you have to practice hospitality. You need to cultivate values. Additionally, you should exercise to become physically stronger too.

As a discipline, Cultural Traveling requires some skills. These ones can mark the difference between having the best experience in your life, or make you not want to do it again. From not knowing how to speak with a group of strangers to wait 10 hours a host on the street.

So let’s talk about the physical and emotional/mental training you need before making a Cultural Travel.

Physical training to be a Cultural Traveler

When you host people you can give exhasuting tours in your city. When you travel around the world, you can volunteer, jumping from host to host, or you can find a job to make it last. But there are going to be a lot of challenges and mistakes you will cope, and being in shape can be crucial.

For example, when I backpacked with a 13 kg, and another 7 kg bag for the laptop and important things. I can tell that I needed to be ready to walk with all that weight for 14 hours in London to find a volunteer job. In this case, to be in condition helped me to find that opportunity.

Also in WHere?!: Why did hosting travelers change my life? What to do before being a nomad

Likewise, when I was gardening as a volunteer in Macedonia. I had to do it in the middle of the summer and as quick as possible to work less time. So the strength of my arms allowed me to pick up the branches, and the leaves, so I was lees tired.

It’s important to highlight that some Workaway projects requires to be really skillful to do things and get good reviews. But it’s also good to know our skills first and then to be awared what you can and can’t improve. Only be sure to set limits when a task goes beyond your limits.

And the last example is the endurance for service. Even if we tide up our houses (or not), service includes a lot of physical strength. When you carry, clean up, brush, mop, or simply do any kind of activity, it will be needed to be physically stronger.

For example, when I went to my friend’s house, Tomáš, to help him to dig a hole in his dream house. It was a challenge but I wanted to help him for all what he did for me. So you’ve got to be ready for all that before starting the journey.

Mental and Emotional Endurance for a Nomadic Adventure

When you get physical tired during a Cultural Travel, there is a last resource: mental and emotional endurance. Why is important to get mental strenght and get tougher?

As I mentioned in other articles, I left Mexico with only some savings. And discovering how to live and travel with it got me tired in a certain moment. Sometimes I had to figure out where to crash in the very last minute!

I had to look for freelance works as well. I also searched for volunteer and in-person jobs by going to the places directly. All that got me down after months. But I was constantly thinking that everything was going to work out.

And little by little, I found some small freelance projects, opportunities (when I walked throughout London to look for a hostel for volunteering), or a Workaway to be a month in there.

Even though I didn’t know anybody in Turkey, a friend called Furkan helped me to find accommodation in different cities with his friends. And that’s how I amazingly ended up living a monthly local-experience in the country.

And everyday was a challenge. Some days I was locked up alone in my friend’s house the whole day because he didn’t have other keys. As well as when I had to travel without any backup plan in Bucharest, Romania. So I had to change everything in the last minute. Or even without the certainty if I was going to be allowed to enter to London in the airport.

For every scenario, patience, streghtening, happiness, and self-awareness were important. In other words, mental and emotional endurance were key factors to live up all these six months in good conditions. Not easy but definetely enriching and did grow up a lot. It was worth it.

Maybe it is unnoticible any kind of preparation, but physical and emotional/mental growth are important. They help to face the next challenges and be more ready. They also help to cope with the challenges and find solutions quicker and better.

In the end, all you need is to improve your skills. Become physically stronger and find mental health in your place. Only then, you will enjoy, at its best, this adventure called Cultural Traveling.