This article was originally posted on LinkedIn on 4th Nov 2022.

Charlie Brown is a wine-pro-turned-writer. In 2020, she sold her home, wine business, and most of her possessions to embark on a life of travel. Now, you can find her hanging around Europe with her husband and laptop, writing about living a slow, simple, sustainable life. Since her background is in wine, you can find her in a not very Digital Nomad-friendly places to live in (such as Logroño in La Rioja, Spain).  Interested in learning more about her life? Find her blogs on Medium and Substack.

✴️ How do you take care of yourself when nomading?

I've never been one for morning routines or building strict habits, so I focus on five priorities. They form the basis of my life - I've dubbed them my five simple living "pillars."

These are the areas of my life that give me energy and focus and where I spend 90% of my time (and money).  They are:

• Exercise

• Writing

• Good quality food, coffee, and wine

• Travel

• Spending time with family and friends

I find that when I focus my time on these five key areas, I feel pretty good. Happily, I can maintain these priorities on the road (even seeing family - Britain isn't ever too far away from where I nomad). There is always a street to run down, a place to find great food, and a quiet corner I can write. I always find that if I hit all five in a day, I can call it a Good Day!

✴️ How do you find community as a nomad?

The answer is hidden in those aforementioned priorities - coffee, food, and wine. They have been part of my professional life for nearly a decade (I owned a wine store and bar for nearly 8 years before setting off to travel and I now write for some wine and food clients).

It's an obsession, which means whenever I land somewhere new, you can bet your bottom dollar you'll find me in the natural wine bar or shop, the specialty coffee shop, or the restaurants championing local produce. And when I'm in there, I talk to the owner, to the regulars. For the month or so that I live in a place, I BECOME a regular.

I've made so many friends this way, and it's led to great experiences like when I was in Porto for a month, and by the end of it, I was looking after a new friend's wine shop whilst his wife had a baby. I've also made some great friends by saying yes to stuff, like learning Spanish during Covid with a tiny group of ex-pats, every single one of which became friends.

🌱 How do you consider the planet and minimise your impact? -

I've always been big on treading lightly on the planet - so much so, living simply and sustainably forms the majority of what I now write about. That means not living beyond my means.

• No car

• Staying for as long as possible in each place to minimise my need for planes, trains, and automobiles

• Not living in apartments bigger than I need

• Not exchanging my laptop, phone, and other tech for a new model every few years

Back in the UK, my wine store specialised in natural, organic, and biodynamic wines made without pesticides, chemicals, and other nasties. I still try only to drink these kinds of wines - because, let's face it, if I'm going to poison myself with alcohol, I at least want to do it with something that isn't poisoning the earth too. 

The same goes for my food - the more local, seasonal, and sustainable, the better. Beer and coffee too. That means prioritising shopping at the local markets over the supermarkets. It means seeking out the small producers, the independently owned stores, bars, and restaurants. And I'll do that in whichever county I happen to be in.

🔗 Connect with Charlie Brown via Medium and Substack. 🔗

......Meet Juliana next, another Digital Nomad!

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This article was originally posted on LinkedIn on 4th Nov 2022.