Many people dream about selling everything and traveling the world. The freedom, the adventure, and the idea of no longer being tied to one place are incredibly appealing. But what does it actually feel like in the moment when it becomes real, when you truly no longer have a home?
The Moment You Realize You Have No Home
Yesterday, we sold our house. After nine months of preparing, making decisions, and slowly letting go, that moment was suddenly there. And yet, when it finally happened, it didn’t feel like a dramatic turning point. There was no clear “this is it” moment where everything stood still.
What we mainly felt was relief. It felt like closing something we had been ready to let go of for a while. As if all the loose ends of the past months finally came together in a decision that felt right. We sold our home to someone we genuinely feel good about, someone we trust will take care of it, and that made letting go easier than we expected.
At the same time, we notice that it hasn’t fully sunk in yet. We are still in Spain, still close to the place that has been our home for so long, and because of that, it almost feels like we are just “away for a bit.” But we’re not. We no longer have a home. And this is exactly the moment we’ve been working toward all this time.
Digital Nomad Freedom: It Feels Different Than You Expect
You might expect a moment like this to feel chaotic, empty, or overwhelming. That reality would hit instantly and everything would feel different. For us, that’s not the case. What we feel right now is calm.
We have spent nine months working toward this point. Everything revolved around finishing, organizing, and preparing. And now that all of that is gone, space appears. Not chaos, but silence. Not pressure, but clarity. We know that soon we’ll drive to the Netherlands to take care of a few final things, like our will, vaccinations, and new passports. And we know that on May 20th, we’ll fly from Madrid to Lombok.
But everything in between is open. For the first time in a long time, we can truly decide day by day what our days look like. Of course, within the boundaries we’ve set for ourselves, like our budget, but beyond that, there is space to choose based on what feels right in the moment. That brings a sense of freedom, but also the realization that we still need to learn how to navigate that freedom.
Preparing for Long-Term Travel: Why Letting Go Took More Energy
The final weeks before handing over the house required more energy than we anticipated. Not because we had to, but because we felt it was the right thing to do. We made a conscious decision to leave the house the way we would want to receive it ourselves. And that meant going further than what most people would consider “enough.”
We cleared the garden and driveway of weeds, cleaned the pool after it had filled with Saharan sand, and thoroughly cleaned the entire house, inside and out. On top of that, we sorted through all of our belongings, sold, gave away, or threw things out, and created a detailed handover document so the new owner would understand everything about the house.
For us, that felt natural. For others around us, not always. We were often asked why we put in so much effort and why we went so far in leaving everything behind in perfect condition. To some, it felt like “too much,” while for us it felt like the only way to do it. If you close a chapter, you want it to feel right for everyone involved.
The Reality of Giving Up Security to Travel
The moment we truly noticed something had changed came right after the handover. Not so much because we no longer had a house, but because a sense of obligation disappeared. There was nothing left to finish, no checklist waiting for us, no tasks hanging over our heads.
We sat in the sun with a coffee and realized that, for the first time in a long time, we didn’t have to think about what still needed to be done, only about what we wanted to do. The difference is subtle, but it feels big. We drove to the hotel slowly, took our time to settle in, and let the day unfold without rushing. Today, we feel that same sense of freedom again. We make decisions in the moment, without pressure, knowing that tomorrow we can simply decide again what feels right.
Life Without a Fixed Address: The Small Changes
Right now, we’re staying in a hotel, and in the coming period we’ll move between hotels, Airbnbs, and staying with friends and family. We no longer have a fixed place. And you don’t notice that most in big moments, but in the small ones.
The idea of “going home” no longer exists. There’s no place you automatically return to in order to recharge. Today, we were sitting on the bed in our hotel room, working, exhausted from the past few weeks, with one simple need: to retreat for a moment. That’s still possible, but it feels different when the place you’re in is temporary. It’s not an uncomfortable feeling, but it is something we’re becoming more aware of.
As we write this, we can feel the realization slowly settling in. We no longer have a house, no fixed place to fall back on. What we own fits into a backpack and a single box stored at our parents’ house. Content creation is fully digital, giving us the freedom to go wherever we want. In that sense, we are now nomads. And yet, it doesn’t fully feel that way.
Back to the Netherlands: Closing the Final Chapter
In the coming week, we’ll drive to the Netherlands. Not to return to our old life, but to close the final chapter. We’re looking forward to seeing friends and family again, as we haven’t seen many of them as much as we would have liked over the past two years.
After that, we’ll say goodbye again. Two years ago, we said goodbye when we moved to Spain. But this time, it feels different. Back then, we moved to one new place. Now, we are leaving without a fixed destination. “Coming back to the Netherlands” no longer feels as obvious as it once did.
What Long-Term World Travel Preparation Taught Us
Even before our journey truly begins, this phase has already taught us something important. The things we owned are not part of who we are. A house provides structure, but not real security. And a fixed place is not what ultimately makes us feel safe.
We do that ourselves. We’ve let go of a lot, but what remains feels stronger than ever. Us. That is our foundation. And that is our home.
What Comes Next for Two Wild Nomads
Our journey has begun, just not in the way you might expect. We are in an in-between phase, where we’ve closed the old chapter and are slowly moving toward the moment where everything truly opens up.
Two Wild Nomads. Stories about chasing dreams, freedom and creating a life on your own terms.
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