Inside the Traveler's Mind: Chris and Cherie of Technomadia

Cherie and Chris are living the dream...that is their dream....to travel the country on their own terms and at their own pace. They're part of a new breed of wanderers, the technomad or an itinerant person who remains connected to the internet. I just got back from two weeks on the road and I'm totally addicted. Life on your own pace, waterfront property (often for free) and the ability to see those wide open skies on a regular basis. Chris, Cherie and their kitty, Kiki, have been living this life for the past two years. We asked them to share their story and their travel advice below.

Names:
Cherie Ve Ard & Chris Dunphy
Hometowns:
Cherie grew up in Austin, TX and was living near the Space Center in Florida before embarking on full time travel.
Chris grew up traveling - living in such exotic places as New Jersey, Indonesia, Miami, and St. Louis. Before going nomadic, he called San Francisco home.

Current Location:
on the road (I think they're in Colorado)

Where have you been?
Since we joined paths in May 2007, we have traveled nearly 25,000 miles roadtripping with our little house on wheels behind us. States we have visited include California, Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho and Washington. We've also visited Mexico and the Bahamas together via cruise ship.

Prior to Chris & Cherie joining paths, Chris had very extensive world travel throughout Asia, Europe, Australia and Africa. Cherie has also traveled to Scandinavia, Russia, Ukraine, throughout western Europe, Belize and Honduras.

Who's your travel hero?
Cherie: Chris' inspiration for our technomadic lifestyle originated from Steve Roberts - the man who coined the term technomad. He took off in 1983 on a geeked out bicycle, peddling around the country while keeping in touch online, writing a book (from the bike) and forming community.

Chris: The original technomad Steve Roberts has long been one of my inspirations. I've also been inspired by the travel writing of Rush drummer / lyricist Neil Peart, and the classic roadtrip & philosophy book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".

What's the biggest travel myth that you can debunk?
Cherie: A life of full time travel is not the same as being on vacation. Travel and vacation can be different, and a traveling lifestyle is much more achievable and sustainable if it's not treated as a vacation. Unless you're insanely wealthy and can afford it... which we're not :)

Chris: Quantity does not win over quality. I'd rather see people spend a week visiting a single town than try to cram all the sites of a region into just a few whirlwind days.

What mistake have you learned from that could help others to avoid the same mistake?
Not starting it sooner!

Chris: Exactly! I wish I had done a lot more extended non-work related travel when I was younger. I traveled the world for work, but I barely had a chance to really stop and experience it.

You find yourself in an unfamiliar situation while on the road. What do you do? How do you approach a problem? What advice would you give to a timid traveller?
Cherie: Trust in yourself. Security comes not from trusting that bad things won't happen, but rather that you can handle it when bad stuff does happen. Stuff will happen.. and stuff will resolve. As my dad always told me.. 'This too will pass.'. Keep a calm mind, and you'll see solutions present themselves.

Usually it is the fear of the unknown that is scarier than the reality. Once you've come head to head with some challenging situations, you gain more confidence that you can handle the unpredictable.

Chris: Breath deep and dive right in. As Cherie says, security comes not from avoiding bad experiences - but trusting in yourself that you can handle even the worst outcome.

If you could only give one piece of travel advice, what would it be?
Cherie: You can't see and do it all, as tempting as it might be. Instead, take full advantage of what you can see and do.
Chris: Just go.

What's your take on souvenirs? What do you bring home with you?
Cherie: As we're nomads, we don't have room for souvenirs. We take only pictures. In a digital age, photos don't take up much room, and they're easily shared.
Chris: Anything that can be found in a "gift shop" is probably not worth a second glance. But I have occasionally discovered treasures that felt really special. Usually the best are given as gift, and not purchased.

If you got stuck somewhere and were never able to leave, where would it be?
Cherie: Through our travels, we've been to a few places where we thought... 'yeah, I could live here'. They would include San Francisco, Seattle, Austin and Santa Fe. We'd also include a few spots across the country where we have close friends who own land that have given us open invites to come be stuck with them. That would be appealing as well.

Chris: The idea of being stuck anywhere is incredibly unappealing, but hopefully us prisoners would at least have fast Internet. Places that I love and could see myself most enjoying being trapped in though include San Francisco, London, Prague, New York City, Bali, and I'm sure I could come up with a few others... Fortunately, as nomads, we don't have to choose!

Do you have a travel experience that's changed how you look at the world or changed your life?
Cherie: Our entire travel experience has the purpose of changing the way we interact with the world and see our place in it. We hope that when we look back it is not just a single experience we can point to, but the entire journey.
Chris: Not one particular experience, but a constant string of unexpected nomadic serendipity has taught me to trust the road in front of me, even when it take an unexpected turn.

Do you think this kind of travel is for everyone? What do you think are the qualities one needs to survive and thrive in this lifestyle?

Chris: No - it is absolutely NOT for everyone. But there really are few (if any) lifestyle decisions that really are one-size-fits-all. Everyone needs to pursue and embrace a path that calls to them. If you continuously feel like you are forcing yourself into a round hole, you are doing it wrong.

To survive and thrive living like we are, you need to have an extremely high tolerance for uncertainty and change. You need to have a lot of faith that things will work out for the best, and that when they occasionally do not - you need to trust that you will have the ability to handle whatever happens.

Cherie: Agreed. Full time travel is definitely not for everyone - and more so, not having a fixed home somewhere is even less appealing to most folks. A lot of people love to travel, but most want to have a home to come back to. It's an entirely different notion to live your life traveling all of the time, without anywhere fixed to return to.

Qualities that tend to make one more apt to this sort of lifestyle
include:

Extreme adaptability - With environments changing constantly, you must be able to quickly adapt. Whether it be climate, food availability, cultures, urban vs rural and more. If you're someone who needs a set routine to feel grounded, it will likely be difficult to find that.

Even tempered - When you are constantly exposing yourself to various modes of transit and different environments, and when you aren't operating on a set daily schedule - things tend to not always work out as planned. If you're likely to get stressed out in such situations, this may not be a sustainable lifestyle for you. Being able to quickly adapt and appreciate the curves life throws at you is
essential to enjoying life on the road.

Quick thinking - When traveling, you don't always have a household full of tools and resources, or a shopping mecca nearby with everything you could possible need to tackle problems. Being creative and quick thinking aids with everything - from navigation, maintenance, fixes and emergencies.

Detachment from stuff - With a premium on space, you have to be able to shed yourself from collecting 'stuff'. Everything you have with you has to be well considered and serve a critical purpose, or more. If you get something new, something else generally has to go.

For most people, travel is a break. What do you guys do for a break?

Cherie: Our life is constantly changing environments and paces. It's really hard to draw a solid line between our daily life and being on a break. It's all simply life for us. And that was one of our goals with adopting this lifestyle - is having it all at once.

Our biggest annual break from anything normal is likely attending Burning Man every year - a huge festival in the middle of the Nevada desert.

Chris: One of the main reasons I set out to pursue this sort of life was that I didn't like having distinctions between work and play, travel and home, etc. I personally am much happier when they are all blended together.

What are the benefits of your technomadic lifestyle? What do you love about it? What has it allowed you to accomplish that you may not have been able to do in your old life?

Cherie: Exposure to varying cultures (yes, even in the USA cultures vary widely from place to place) and groups of people leads to a lot of motivation and inspiration for us. Being able to quickly adapt to a new environment and learn as much as possible from our experiences gives us more perspective on life in general. Our biggest challenge
sometimes is to hush the inspiration a bit so that we have time to actually act on the creativity we've gained.

Chris: Another benefit for us has been the ability to have more quality time with family and friends. Instead of just being able to fly in for a rushed holiday weekend, we're able to pull in for weeks at a time and really be present.

Does the technomadic lifestyle allow you to experience new places in a different way?

Cherie: We get to experience local life in some places more than other - it really depends upon how long we're staying in an area and the circumstances. If we're there for more than a few days, we try to live more like locals - seeking out local foods, taking mass transit and running errands. If we're just passing through, we tend to explore more like a tourist, with our cameras out for the quick tour.

Our length of stay in one area ranges from a couple minutes to 4 months so far. So our experience of places is quite varied. And we like it that way.

Chris: I often still feel like I am only getting a whirlwind tour of a place, even when we are there for weeks! No matter where you go, there is so much to soak in. I think I could spend a year in each town we visit and still not feel like I have experienced it all. I can't even imagine doing a typical American tourist style "long weekend" vacation anymore!

What would you suggest as must haves for a traveling blogger? What tricks have you found along the way to help stay connected, work on the road, etc.

Cherie: Essential for us has been having a good wireless cellular setup for internet accessibility. We have a wireless datacard and an onboard cellular booster system that gives us pretty good coverage. The speed is tolerable. But our big trick is having a network of friends and family across the US who are happy to share their wifi (and hot showers) with us from time to time as we pass through so that we can do things like operating system updates, video uploads and more.

Chris: There are a lot of tricks for working on slow data connections that are valuable to learn. Using a tabbed web browser so that you can queue up several pages loading while you read one is one great tip. Also - batching up your work so that you can sync when you stumble across a fast connection. We also have both AT&T and Sprint service, so we have better odds of finding a workable signal.
Do you have aspirations to see all 50 states or take your rig down South of the border? What's in the future for Technomadia?

Cherie: All 50 states would be difficult, unless we can find a way to affordably transport our trailer to Hawaii :). But otherwise, yes - we hope to drive to all 49 accessible states. And we'd also like to travel throughout the Americas in general, including Canada, Mexico and more. Our biggest obstacle with that right now is setting ourselves up for international internet connectivity to allow us to continue to work remotely while in motion.

Chris: In the future we'd also love to explore other modes of transit. Most immediately we're craving some time at sea - perhaps on a sailboat. We're keeping our eyes pealed for sailing nomads who'd like to exchange homes for a while - they get some time on land and we get some time on water. Longer term, we'd love to do some extended global travel too.

What's your next trip?
We're still figuring out what our summer will look like - we may duck up into Canada and then travel around the northeastern part of the US. Our only firm plan is to be to Burning Man at the end of August.

Thanks again to Cherie and Chris for sharing their life with us, be sure to keep up with their travels on their site, Technomadia.