July 30, 2025 • 44 mins
Joined this week by nomad coach Ryan Mellon to discuss his introduction to travel and how he was able to go from 9-5 to digital nomad while traveling the globe. Including:
- Traveling to Costa Rica and contracting the "travel fever"
- Exploring his own country (USA) and his first opportunity to work remote
- Leveling up his real estate business and beginning coaching
- Sailing through the Komodo Islands
- Meeting locals and singing karaoke on the Ha Giang Loop
- & much more!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Try just 7 through the knee on lights from Tokyo to Rios.
Go riding high, the beat drops low.
(00:27):
Number one. Everywhere he goes.
Late night with stories ball gold plated entails untold
microphone his mighty sword podcast world he can't ignore.
Welcome to the Up in the Clouds podcast featuring your host
(00:50):
Adrian Hussling. What's up everybody?
Welcome back to another episode of the Up in the Clouds podcast.
I'm your host, Adrian, and I am just hanging out in my friend's
basement today, super sore from playing some tennis yesterday
with a friend, played for three hours.
(01:11):
My body is not used to that authenticity, even though
they're not hiking. But still, tennis is a little
different. Doing the suicide sprints up and
down. He definitely, he definitely
kicked my butt, but it was fun. But yeah, I'm actually back in
Canada right now. That was not originally part of
the plan. The plan was going to be I was
(01:31):
going to fly straight from LatinAmerica over to Australia and
get that adventure started. But due to some unforeseen
circumstances, mostly need to bebeing broke, I decided to make a
quick little trip back to Canada.
So I'm here in Calgary right nowfor a couple weeks and it's good
to be back. It's good to see some familiar
(01:52):
faces, see some friends. Unfortunately, no family because
they're all on the other side ofthe country, but good to be home
and catch up with everyone. We're going to be going camping
for the long weekend, so I'm excited for that.
And my birthday is actually coming up tomorrow, which I
don't really want to celebrate because I'm turning the right
age of 35, so I would rather just pretend it's not happening.
(02:16):
But either way, good to be back.But yeah, so I think as I've
mentioned, you know, in past episodes, I have a certain
budget when I started this trip and the idea was I'd still have
money left over by the end of Latin America to fly to
Australia and go get started over there and find a job.
But Latin America is a little more expensive than I thought
(02:38):
and I have some big ticket itemsthat I did do.
So I'm back home now and actually just recently sold my
car. I was going to try to hold on to
that and to so that I'd have it when I come back to Canada.
But considering I'm going to be in Australia for anywhere up to
two years and then potentially still traveling after that
(02:59):
didn't really make sense to holdon to it.
Plus I really could use the extra money.
So put the ad U sold it two dayslater.
That's right, it sold pretty quick.
And yeah, so now I got some money in the bank.
Still waiting for some money from the government, but that's
a whole different story for another day.
But anyway, so we're just here to kind of retool, restock.
(03:19):
I have to actually had to get some of my clothes that is
stored away in my friend's housebecause I lost half my wardrobe
while I was traveling. You know, just misplacing things
or forget about leaving items somewhere or losing them in the
laundry service, all that fun stuff.
So restock, retool, see some friends before heading on to the
(03:40):
next destination. That's going to be Australia.
But interestingly enough, the cheapest flights to get to
Australia, weather was from Latin America or from Canada are
actually through Hawaii. Sold.
I booked the flights last night and your boy is going to Hawaii.
So I'm actually going to fly to Hawaii first for a week.
(04:02):
Just enjoy some time on the beach, relax, have a couple my
galley dots, and then I'll be heading down to Australia and
Phil's listing. If you're in the area or if you
know someone around the area, feel free to reach out.
I'd love to love to see some familiar faces or meet the new
people while I'm down there. I'm going to be flying to
(04:22):
Sydney. That's going to be my first stop
because at the moment I don't have a job lined up.
I'm still looking for work in Australia, but it hasn't been
the easiest because I think I'm not in country yet.
So I am applying from abroad andI think the fact that when they
see OK, he's not in country yet,he's gonna be here in two weeks,
3 weeks, whatever it is, they'renot quite as keen.
(04:43):
So hopefully that changes in thecoming weeks because I'd love to
have something lined up before Iactually go there.
But because I don't have a job lined up at the moment, I'm
going to fly to Sydney and so the cheapest option.
I do know a couple people in thearea and I also know it's kind
of the the hub for the expats for the people travelling down
(05:04):
there work with their work and visas.
So I figure it's a good place tostart and I can go from there.
But to be honest, I really don'thave much of A plan for
Australia other than the fact I'm flying to Sydney.
That's it. I don't even know where I'm
staying yet. I don't know, long term
accommodations, like obviously maybe a week or two in a
hostile, but at some point, you know, I might want to find an
(05:27):
apartment or somewhere to rent because the hostels will get
expensive. Yeah, I honestly no plan.
I just got to get down there, start grinding, hopefully find a
job somewhere whether I gotta fly or if it's in Sydney.
And yeah, I just want to work essentially for up to a year,
save some money, put some money in the bank.
(05:49):
And then the plan is I want to do van life out there in
Australia. So I want to buy a van tour
around the coast. Who knows how long that will
take. That could take upwards of a
year. I know it takes quite a long
while to get around and I will be by no means in a rush.
So we will see how it goes in the in the coming months here.
But it's exciting. So yeah, home for a couple of
(06:11):
weeks, over to Hawaii, have a little beach vacation for a week
and then and then over to Australia.
So a lot of things happen right now.
I'm not going to lie, the last week or so trying to figure
everything out. A little stressful, but it seems
to be going in the right direction.
So that is good news. But anyways, let's talk about
podcast. We've got our next guest coming
(06:31):
on today. His name is Ryan Mellon.
I want to say metal, but I know that's not how you actually say
it. And she's actually a digital
nomad coach, but that's not how he started.
So I actually brought him on. He talked about his introduction
into travel, some of his storiesalong the way, and then we
talked about how he got into thedigital nomad landscape, what he
(06:52):
actually does right now for work, and the fact that he's
actually a coach. So he's helping other people
achieve their dreams of being able to work remote.
So really cool episode, especially for people who are
maybe wanting to explore that realm, maybe want to become a
digital nomad or be able to workremote, able to travel or
instant income, all that fun stuff to give some good insight
(07:13):
into that. So yeah, that's what we're going
to be working with today. And I'm trying to think of
anymore, anymore updates for youfine folks.
But I think that is it for now, to be honest.
I have one more week here, couple weekends.
So we're not trying to just enjoy myself, apply to jobs.
I get mad man. And again, anyone listening, if
(07:35):
you're in the Sydney area, definitely, definitely reach out
to me. I'd love to about to meet up or
you know, if you, if you know ofanyone hiring by chance, um, you
know, I'm, I'm pretty open to, to any kind of work at this
point. So anyways, before I start
rambling on, I might as well head on over to the interview.
(07:55):
So hopefully you like it. And as well, you know, I'm
always looking for for guests for the pod.
So if you've been listening and you feel like you have some cool
travel stories or maybe we've met in the past, I haven't had a
chance to bring you on, feel free to reach out.
It's up in the clouds@gmail.com or an Instagram app Up in the
clouds under Score. But.
(08:15):
Without further ado, let's head on over to the interview.
All right, welcoming our next guest to the podcast.
He's mastered the art of traveling while working
remotely, having traveled through 23 States and 23
countries. How's that for symmetry?
He's currently based in the digital nomad Mecca Abali, but I
just realized he's actually in the states.
(08:37):
So correct that he's offering coaching to those who want to
pursue a more flexible and free lifestyle.
The skydiving monkey loving adventure seeking Ryan Mellon
and I'm hoping that man right. You got it.
You got it absolutely correct. Yeah.
Thank you so much for having me,man.
(08:57):
Looking forward to this conversation.
Absolutely. Well, I'm very intrigued by your
lifestyle and the whole digital nomad concept because it's
definitely something that I wantto pursue and get into.
So we're going to talk about that today.
But before we get started, I start every interview with a
segment called Speed Round Questions.
Are you familiar with this? Yes.
(09:17):
Yes. OK, perfect.
I'm gonna give you 2 options. You pick the option like the
best. Here we go.
Work 9:00 to 5:00 or work remote.
Work remote window or aisle seat?
Aisle. Hostel or hotel?
A hotel at this point. OK, gringo trailer off the
(09:38):
beaten path. Off the beaten path.
Travel international or travel domestic?
International. Fallen off the bike or remained
unscathed. Remained unscathed.
Wow, that's impressive. Mac or PC?
(10:00):
You broke up on the last one. Oh sorry, Mac or PC?
Mac. Skydiving or bungee jumping?
Skydiving. South America or Southeast Asia?
Southeast Asia all day. Beach or mountains?
Beach. Easy, buddy, you nailed that.
(10:20):
And yeah, I apologize in advance, I am in Ecuador, so the
Wi-Fi might cut out at times, but anyways, absolutely crush
that. But yeah, let's get started
right away here. So I was reading your bio there
on Pod Match and you mentioned that your first trip was to
Costa Rica. You saved up all your money, you
managed to get some time off. So I wanted to ask, why did you
choose Costa Rica and what was your first experience traveling
(10:43):
like? Yeah, so that was my first solo
backpacking trip ever. It was only my second time out
of the country. First time I was out of the
country was with friends in a resort in Cancun, which I I
don't even know that you could say that that's an out of
country experience, not a real one in my opinion.
(11:05):
But so yeah, I was working 2 jobs 14 hours a day, six days a
week. I read like 4 hour work week veg
bonding those books. Was reading Nomadic Mats blog
posts and got excited about trying solo travel and just
hitting the road without any plan and and you know, just
(11:28):
going with the backpack and that's it.
Pretty much it. And so I managed to get 2 weeks
off from both my jobs at the same time.
I'm from the States so we get very little vacation here.
And even if you do get multiple weeks, they don't like you to
take it back-to-back. So that was a whole thing to
negotiate that from in between two different jobs.
(11:49):
And I flew to Costa Rica by myself, didn't know anyone,
didn't know Spanish, stayed in ahostel for the very first time,
and I met tons of people that were traveling all over the
world. And it was just an absolutely
amazing experience. You asked me why I picked Costa
Rica. I think I picked Costa Rica
(12:10):
because it was somewhat close. There was some good cheap
flights and it does have a little bit of a A it has a
little bit of a reputation for being one of the more safer
countries in Central America. And since this was my very first
time solo traveling, I wanted to, you know, hedge my bets a
(12:31):
little bit and go somewhere where I thought I might feel
comfortable. Plus it's a big backpacker.
Like, you know, everyone loves the backpack Costa Rica.
So I knew I was going to not be alone and, and make friends.
So I, yeah, I, I did both coastsof Costa Rica, Pacific and, uh,
the Caribbean and Iowa zip lining through jungles and
(12:54):
climbing volcano, swimming in the Crater Lake and soaking in,
uh, like hot spas, like hot rivers and sauna, like
geothermal as, and like just really having an amazing time,
staying in hostels, meeting new people from all over the world.
Some of that had traveled for years on end and that really
(13:19):
kind of like blew my mind. I didn't know people were like
traveling for years. I'm on this two week vacation.
Gotta get back to work soon typedeal.
And so then when I came back to work, I was just like, man, I've
gotta make some major changes inmy life.
Like I told both my jobs like, I'm here for like maybe one more
(13:39):
year and I'm out of here. I'm doing something different.
And they all just laughed it off.
Like, OK, dude, you've been herelike a decade, so you're not
going anywhere. But that's kind of the journey
of, or the beginning of my journey with Costa Rica.
Yeah, well, it sounds like you got the travel fever, which
happens now. I'm curious, just for people
listening that haven't taken that leap yet.
(14:00):
They haven't stayed at the hostels.
They haven't gone backpacking. What was that first feeling
like, staying at the hostel where you're nervous, where
you're optimistic? And then how did that change
over time? Yeah, no, totally nervous and
and not knowing what to expect. I showed up like middle of the
night and I don't want that. They just taxi driver left me
(14:21):
out on the street and like you gotta get like buzzed into.
This hostel is in San Jose and the city.
I'm not a big city person, especially capital cities.
And so I'm like out on the street, like waiting to get
buzzed in, like hopefully, you know, checking around, making
sure there's no one like, you know, I don't know, it's just
(14:43):
it's it's scary coming into a new country at night, especially
my very first country ever by myself.
So I get buzzed in and it was itwas absolutely amazing there.
You know, they make you right athome, tell you what you need to
do. Stayed in like a six person
dorm, woke up the next day. Spent the whole day just hanging
(15:03):
out at the pool, just like meeting people and, and what I
thought was great about that was, um, because of the San Jose
was the hostel near the airport.A lot of people had just gotten
there, but a lot of people had just finished doing all of Costa
Rica and now they're leaving. So I got to talk with people who
(15:25):
just spent like a whole month ora couple weeks in Costa Rica and
they were like, and so I was like, you know, give me your top
three best things you've ever done the whole time you're here.
And so just from that, cause I had no plan, I had booked any
other hostels or any other cities, I was able to figure out
what's my next step. And then I went to, I think I
(15:48):
went to La Fortuna after that, which is like jungle mountains
where all the zip lining and that and volcanoes are.
And then just literally just kind of pieced it together.
And then over those two weeks ended up back in San Jose,
finished at the same hostel and then flew home.
And that was just just life changing.
(16:10):
That's the beauty of hostels. It's all about the people you
meet and they actually have boots on the ground.
They've been there, they've donethat.
They can give you the recommendations.
People before they leave that don't have experience, right?
They think they have to plan every moment, but it's not the
case. It's better if you just plan
your first destination and just go with it from there because
you're either going to get recommendations or you're going
to meet people who are going to a next destination and you're
(16:31):
going to join them. And you know, it just happens
from there. So it really is a beautiful
thing for sure. Did you end up in Santa Teresa?
Uh, I believe so. It's been so long.
I. Believe I would have to look at
my map. I could tell you that.
Well, well, you might not believe because Santa Teresa is
(16:51):
a big party town so that might just be a blur for you, but.
I mean the Ola Costa Rica was a fairly decent party in my
opinion. Fair enough, fair enough.
Oh yeah. OK, well, we'll move on from
that. Um, so I did notice as well in
your bio there that, you know, after that trip you ended up
going back, saving some more money, and then needed a year of
(17:13):
traveling throughout the States.Now I'm curious about that trip
because I myself have traveled through the states.
I've done two different Rd. trips, one in the winter for
snowboarding, one in the summer for camping, both on the West
Coast mind you, but absolutely beautiful.
So I just want to know kind of where you went, what your trip
was and what were you doing along the way?
Were you camping or what was kind of the itinerary?
Yeah, so I I talked my what my best friend and his wife and
(17:37):
then quitting their jobs with meand like I quit my 2 jobs of
like 10 and 12 years and we saved up enough money we
actually were able to borrow my buddies uncles are B and just
take over his payments because he was unemployed at the time.
So it was like a win win for him.
RV's not sitting in the driveway.
(17:58):
We're taking over the payments insurance all that.
And so we had an RV that we wentacross the US one year and we
did 23 states in that one year. We started in Virginia, had in
Florida. We that we let October 2017 when
we left. So we wanted to stay in the
(18:18):
warmer climate. So we left in Virginia and we
just had it S all the way down to Florida.
We had Thanksgiving and the Florida Keys, which was awesome.
It's like my first Thanksgiving ever where it's where was in
warm weather. It's usually I go to family in
Pennsylvania. It's cold.
(18:38):
So it didn't even feel like Thanksgiving.
Like we're hanging out at the pool and like cooking a Turkey
and the RV. It was wild.
But yeah. So we spent a lot of time in in
Florida for sure because they have great campgrounds and
places to be in good weather. And then we just kept, we went
(18:59):
headed West, you know, through Georgia and Alabama and
Mississippi, Louisiana, through Texas and just had it all the
way out to California, staying on the most Southern states.
And then we headed up, we spent like 2 months in California and
then we spent one month in Oregon and up to Washington
(19:20):
state and then Idaho. And then we kind of just we
started to get towards the end and we're starting to get low on
on money and then we just kind of like be lined it through the
Midwest to get back to Virginia like.
Yeah. That sounds like a heck of a
trip. Well, out of all of that, what
is the state that was your favorite and why?
(19:43):
Maybe one that you wouldn't normally recommend or hear
about? Yeah, I think the one that
surprised me most was Oregon. Like it's absolutely just really
good untouched nature up there. And like the climate, even in
the we were there in the summer time doesn't get too hot even a
lot of people don't even have air conditioning in their
houses, which is like. You wouldn't think of that where
(20:07):
I am in the South. So, um, I know it sounds like
you're from Canada, so I you guys probably don't have a lot
of AC up there, but yeah, we're gon was beautiful and just the,
the national parks and the nature and the coastline.
It was happening. Hell yeah.
(20:27):
Well, that's The thing is a lot of the states that are near
Canada are very similar to Canada, where exactly a lot of
places in Canada do not have AC because we don't have those
super warm summers or weather ingeneral.
And I notice that the organs of Montanas are very similar to
Canada, which is quite nice. And I've gone down to visit.
So I always recommend that to people that are that are
visiting. OK, we'll move forward from that
(20:48):
because this is something I wantto talk about.
You are the coach, the master. How did you start earning money
while traveling? Tell me what the secret is.
Sure. So I started How in real estate.
Real estate. Travel.
Yeah. Real estate traveling,
absolutely. Yeah.
You wouldn't expect that as a real estate agent.
(21:09):
So I have my 2 jobs. I also have my real estate
license. I was dabbling a little bit in
real estate when I had those twojobs.
And about halfway through my oneyear road trip, I realized,
like, this thing's coming up quick and I'm running out of
money, I'm going to go back to my jobs or do something.
So I called my friend Laurie, who is investing, and she was
(21:30):
buying tons of houses. She was flipping houses use
renovating them, keeping them asrentals and so I called her.
I was like is there anyway I canhelp you with my license to find
you deals while I'm on this roadtrip?
She's like, absolutely, I don't care where you are.
Like, if you can help find me deals, let's do it.
And so I made it so that I had another agent in my office who
(21:54):
was boots on the ground who could get in the properties,
videotape them for us, come up with like construction costs.
And then I was the one just shooting out the paperwork and
like all the contracts and keeping everything on on online
and ready for closing. And then we ended up doing like
25 deals that last six months asa real estate agent.
(22:17):
So then I realized at the end ofthat trip, I'm a digital nomad.
It wasn't even a word then. Like this is this is 2019.
That wasn't even really a thing yet, but I realized like I
didn't have to go back to my jobs.
I could just keep doing this real estate thing.
But then when it ended up happening is over the past seven
(22:37):
years I have traveled every winter like 6 months to get out
of the cold. Even though I live in Virginia
and I know nothing about the cold.
I still don't like our cold here.
I still don't like the cold hereand so I leave.
I was home in the summer and gone in the winter and I was
helping her do more deals. I was helping her do deals when
(23:00):
I was traveling and then I was also started actually building
and buying up rental properties and renovating them and keeping
them myself. So I build up a portfolio rental
properties. That's some semi passive income
that covers my monthly costs andthat's how I got my initial
freedom. So how I got into coaching was I
(23:23):
had a friend that I met Mexico on my travels.
He's Mexican citizen. He was working as a digital
marketing manager for a company in office and not making a ton
of money. Really wanted to travel like I I
why I was doing and I was like, it's totally doable.
So I got him set up and helped him build out his freelance
(23:46):
business using Upwork and fiber through the same thing he's
doing for his company. Yeah.
But um, he 5X his income and hassince traveled to like 13
countries doing just working as a freelancer over the past, you
(24:08):
know, couple years. So when I realized if I thought
I could help a friend do it, I was like, I can help a lot of
other people do it because I constantly get questions on my
social media and from friends and family.
Like how do you, how do you pay for it?
How do you work? What's the logistics of being a
digital nomad? Because there's time changes and
(24:29):
visas and taxes. What do you do with your house,
your car, your personal belongings, your pets, your if
you have kids, kids, do you travel with them?
So. I discovered.
Anything. Just get rid of the kids.
That that's that's the easiest thing you can do, like Plan B is
you can take them with you. So there's that.
(24:50):
And so I help. So I started the one-on-one
coaching to help people get thatfreedom because if it wasn't for
the bloggers and the four hour work week and vagabonding and
all these people that inspired me, I wouldn't be doing what I'm
doing. So I help people come up with
one-on-one custom game plans to get their freedom.
(25:14):
And I'm also launching a course in August of 25, so next month
that is a super concert comprehensive 9 module course
that takes people from zero to hero.
Like working at a job that it's not even digital at all like I
was and fast food and warehouse to working as a digital nomad on
(25:36):
a island in Thailand, if that's what you want.
And so I take you through all this.
I take them through all the steps, video course worksheets,
everything. It's like 5 to 10 hours worth of
video and it's super comprehensive.
And so it's just this this coaching thing is more about
(25:57):
having a purpose and helping other peoples become nomads.
Because if I have to renovate another one, three bed, 1 bath
again, I could do that in my sleep and it's not that exciting
anymore. So.
Yeah, exactly. So you've now moved on to
coaching full time then? So the real estate things more
about just a part. Time on it kind of on the side,
(26:18):
yeah. So I manage everything that I
have personally managed the rentals, um, and I've set it up
so I can do that from anywhere. I still do other types of deals
like wholesaling and stuff like that as they come along.
People just know me and know that I buy things.
So I'll get deals that fall on my lap.
So I still do real estate from anywhere in the world, from land
(26:40):
back here in Virginia when I wasin Bali over the winter and
that's on the market now. So I do still do in Boots.
No, I love that. I love that.
And there's so much money in real estate, even having the
rental properties, like you said, where you just maintain
them at that point and they pay your bills and then you have the
freedom to go explore their options.
And I feel like getting into that digital nomad space and
(27:01):
something maybe I've struggled with and you know, maybe I'll
have to sign up and talk to you in the future.
Here is I feel like you have to determine what your skill set
is. That's the biggest thing.
Like the rest of it, you can figure it out as you go, but
it's figuring out what is my skill?
What can I provide to other people that's valuable?
And that's the hardest thing to figure out.
Yeah, and that's a, that's an exercise that I go through with
(27:21):
people because like, you know, Iwas literally working fast food
in management and fast food and in management at UPS in the
warehouse in the evenings. None of that is, is remote work
possible. But I was able to use those
skills, plus the skills that I learned in real estate to do
(27:43):
everything that I'm doing now. So I go through with people and
we look at their past jobs, their education, their life
experiences, we find those skills and then we go, alright,
well, how can we use these skills to find you something
that works for you online? So you're right, it's one of the
very first steps. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
(28:06):
OK, Well on that now I'm gonna ask you, and I don't want you to
give up too much, obviously, butmaybe just a couple things is
what are some travel hacks and tips that you could give us for
saving money while you're on theroad?
Yeah, absolutely. So, um, staying in hospitals is
definitely a thing. I've stayed in over 100
hospitals over the years. You know, I just turned 40.
I feel like I aged myself out ofthe hospitals a little bit
(28:29):
sometimes. Now I, I still do, but I get a
private room. You know, you value privacy a
little bit more as you get older, but it's a great place to
save money, especially if you, you know, you're younger, you're
on a budget and meet people and really just not be alone at all,
even as a solo traveler. So I would say that's a good
(28:52):
one. The other thing I would say is
I'm big on travel hacking and this is only open to, you know,
U.S. Citizens, Canadians, Australia
and I think people from the UK, um, those are the like four or
five countries that have credit cards that give you points and
(29:13):
miles that you can hack to get free freight, free flights.
And I've done really well in that over the past seven years
to the point where I legitimately haven't paid for a
flight in seven years. The only time, the only time
I'll pay for a flight is if it'slike, you know, like a short hop
(29:34):
$100 flight. I'm like, oh, I don't wanna use
my miles for that. I'll just pay the $100.
But like, if it's a long haul flight, like to Bali, I'm using
points and miles. So yeah.
That's that. No, that's a good tip for sure.
And that's something that I needto invest in as well because
right now I have a credit card and it's very basic.
(29:55):
It has no reward miles. It's got cash back that doesn't
really do much. So that is a great tip for sure.
Because yeah, that adds up quickly, of course.
OK, so we got a little bit more time left.
I just want to know maybe what are some of your more notable
travel stories, if there's anything that comes to mind?
Not to put you on the spot, but.Yeah, yeah.
No, I'm all, I always have travel stories, The holster,
(30:16):
man. I'm all I'm writing.
Nice, nice. I love that.
Alright, fire away, I'm all yours.
Yeah, I think one of the most notable top five experiences,
um, in my travel is, um, sailingthrough the Komodo Islands and
(30:37):
in, in Indonesia. So it's close to Bali, those
islands somewhat close. So you actually have to take a
ferry boat to Lombok, which is about four hours away from Bali.
And then I got on a boat with 30strangers, like a pretty decent
sized boat with 30 strain, and we sailed through the Komodo
(31:00):
Islands for four days and it wasjust the Komodo Islands, our
home of the Komodo Dragons. And they are a bunch of
uninhabited islands. There are certain islands where
The Commodores are that are protected and their national
parks and stuff like that. So, but it was just the most
(31:21):
amazing experience to be all on this, like, kind of rickety
wooden boat out in the middle ofthe islands.
Like literally the one night they let us sleep on the roof.
Yeah, yeah. Take our little mattresses up
there and sleep on the roof underneath the stars anchored in
the middle of nowhere in the islands.
(31:41):
And then we just became, like, good friends with everybody,
even the crew. They fed us three amazing meals
a day. We got to go like one epic hikes
to tops of islands that had the most beautiful beaches and see
the sunset, you know, every night from there.
And then swimming during the dayoff the boat.
(32:03):
And then there's one beach that you stop at that's called Pink
Beach and the the sand is actually pink.
It's like due to the silica content.
So it's a really cool beat out. Very remote as well.
So not a lot of people there kind of had the whole place to
yourself. Go.
(32:24):
No, I didn't. I maybe I should have, but I I I
left it there actually. OK, that'd be cool souvenir.
I know. It would be like a yeah like put
in a little glass file or something.
Yeah, yeah, like the one behind you.
Yeah, this is. My model, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, but I got that in Brazil and Ubatuba when I got stuck
(32:48):
there from a whole nother story.But it was funny because we were
like, you know, partying every night on the ship and like they
had us fill out how many beers we needed for our whole four
days before the trip. And we're all being like our
most discipline sober cells filling out the filling out
(33:10):
these forms of how much we need for four days.
Right. Well, in the last night of our,
our journey, we're just like, like last night and we're like
all running out of beer because we drank all our beers way too
quickly. So they called in some guys that
came out on a small boat at like1:00 in the morning from like an
(33:33):
island an hour or so away and just were like cooler full of
beer for just throwing them up to us.
And I was like, man, like, whereelse in the world are you gonna
get like a favor called in, likeI'm sure.
And we definitely paid a premiumfor those fears.
But like last night, we were loving it.
(33:55):
Such a good time. And then they drop you off in
Flores, which is where they justhad a lot of volcanic, volcanic
activity recently. It's been in the news.
It's shut down Bowling airport and and then you can take a
flight from Flores back to Bali for like $100.
Um, that, that was, that's definitely one of my top five,
(34:15):
like coolest experiences, plus just like getting to see the
Komodos up close and taking photos with them and.
Yeah, yeah. And you mentioned, I'm guessing
you were sleeping on the boat there because the islands are
uninhabited. And then what were the meals
they were serving you too? I did a similar trip actually,
through San Blas, where we sailed.
Doesn't sound good as yours, butyeah, I'm just curious what
(34:37):
they're what they're feeding you.
I've, I've almost done the Sandblast trip before, but I
didn't um, yeah, like it was like typical Indonesian food.
So you had a lot of rice and, and fried vegetables and I like
chicken and beef rendang and like, it would just be a big
spread. And it was just like on the
floor in the main area. Like they put a blanket down and
(35:01):
just put all the food out and wejust kind of buffet style and
that was like that three meals aday and it was amazing.
And how much were you sailing each day?
Was it a lot of sailing or kind of just an hour or two to the
next island and then you're? Chilling out, I mean we did a
quite a bit of moving like it's geographically we probably went
(35:22):
a couple like a well over 100K or so and travel over those four
days. So like, um, yeah, a couple
hours, maybe half the day, and then we'd stop and anchor, you
know, sunset, and we'd go on a hike or go swimming.
OK, OK, that sounds alright. Yeah, because mine, like the 1st
(35:46):
2 1/2 days, you only do an hour or two sailing and then you're
just hanging out in the islands,which was amazing.
It was incredible. Go snorkeling, beach volleyball,
karaoke at night. That was a good time.
Unfortunately, beers were not provided.
We had to buy our own alcohol. And as you were mentioning, we
had the sober brain at the time.We're like, we're not even going
to drink that much. Like whatever, we'll just bring
like a six pack, literally a sixpack.
(36:06):
That was no. Huge mistake, but luckily we
were with another catamaran and they had a ton of booze so we we
would that be alright. And I remember the one island
actually they had a bar on the island.
So I ended up being like how much is that bottle of rum
because I need some liquor rightnow.
And obviously overpaid but it was worth it at the time.
But the two days at open sea or 2 1/2 days at open sea were
(36:30):
absolute misery. Like your zombie dough?
You're sleeping. You ain't doing much.
Burned. Yeah, that that was a that was a
big difference. And to be honest, like if I were
to have the option to do it again, I would probably not and
maybe just do the island part but not the.
Yeah, Yeah, yeah. No, I mean it's not for
everybody. It's it's gnarly out there.
(36:52):
And while it's an early and justthe fact that like you're not
really doing anything and like this trip in particular was
quite expensive. So I figured the amount I was
paying, it was like, don't know if it's worth it in the future.
But yeah, maybe I'll have to trythe one that you did for sure.
No, definitely. We had good sees pretty much
every day. So it and we, we stayed busy and
(37:13):
it was a big enough ship that wecould move around and be like
outdoor on the bell or outdoor on the back or up top on the sun
deck or like, you know, inside. So it didn't feel like too
cramped or anything, which I think helps.
Yeah, which is especially with 30 people, right?
Well, you have one more story inthe holster there for us that
you could share. Absolutely.
(37:35):
Yeah. Another one that I really
enjoyed, There's a doing a motorcycle tour to Vietnam.
It's called the. Heard about this?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Hysong Loop is absolutely
amazing if you're any, if you'readventurous and you can ride a
bike or just want to learn to ride a bike.
(37:57):
There's a lot of newcomers that do it, although it is a little,
little dangerous. So you show up at at the the
starting place, this town in themiddle of nowhere.
I think I took the took a bus inlike 3:00 AM, found the hostel
crashed and then they gave me a motorcycle the next day.
(38:18):
It's like a four speed clutch list Honda.
And so they give that to you just to get your bearings and
running around town. So I went to this amazing
waterfall like on this person's random persons like farmland and
check that out with super cool. Got a feel for the bike and then
they, they can, they'll put you in a group.
(38:38):
So some, some of the girls were like paying guides to drive them
around. They would just hop on the back
And so they would have a Vietnamese guide.
So we ended up being in a group with two Vietnamese guides that
have people paying on back. And then it was like 5 of us,
five or six of us on our own motorcycles.
(39:01):
And like the, it's like 4 days of like driving like 8 hours a
day like through like ice road trucker, like contrary northern
mountains of Vietnam, like gnarly stuff.
Yeah. And the very first night we
stayed in like a barn in the countryside that upstairs just
(39:24):
had like bunch of mats laid out on the floor for us sleep.
Guys and girls had their own room.
And then downstairs there was just like a kitchen and one
living area, like one light bulband a karaoke machine.
Of course. Yeah, and they had a huge layout
of food for us there was absolutely amazing.
(39:46):
And then they got the like localmoonshine, like plastic bottle
moonshine out and got us all hammered and we sang karaoke to
like, you know, 2:00 in the morning and then woke up
hungover and it had to ride another 8 hours through the
mountains and it was cold. All of us went there with shorts
(40:07):
and T-shirts. It's Vietnam, but the elevation
and being north and like close to China, we even stopped at the
Chinese border. It's cold.
So we were buying like gloves and hats and jackets anywhere we
could. It was so freezing.
And we just, every night we wentto a place they had already
picked out a hostile homestay and just.
(40:29):
And had an amazing time, had great 2 great drinks, met some
of the most coolest people, makegreat friends.
And then you circle back all theway to your starting point, give
your bike back and everything. I'm going to say that whole four
days with the bike rentals, the hostels, like all your food
included the guides was like $100, you know, like.
(40:51):
That's it. Oh, it's so cheap over there.
And that's the thing. I gotta get over there because
I've I've been doing South America and it's not as cheap as
I guess it used to be as my friend told me but he traveler
10 years ago but I believe something is still super cheap.
But what's your go to karaoke song?
And never mind driving hungover,you're probably still drunk at
that point, let's be honest. Well, I mean, who knows?
(41:14):
It's. Hard to say.
But yeah, so my go to karaoke isFight for Your Right to Party by
the Beastie Boys. Oh, that's a great job.
That's a good choice. Gets the people going.
Oh. Yeah, dude, it was.
I was the only American in that group, which was great.
I always like being like the only one, only American in the
group. Yeah, yeah.
(41:35):
Immersed with just people from everywhere else.
So yeah, it was. It was awesome.
It sounds phenomenal, it's on the list.
I plan to go there after after Australia but I've heard nothing
but good things. Heard the people are amazing,
experiences are great, super cheap and I'm a huge karaoke fan
so and I know they love it over there.
(41:57):
It's dude, it's like you'll be walking down the street on a
Thursday and there will be like this little lady with speaker
stacks that are for like a Guns and Roses concert stacked
outside of the house on the street.
And it's like 11 AM and she's just tell now karaoke, like
that's just the culture and it'sand and they have a great
(42:20):
drinking culture as well and Vietnam.
And they do like a chant before every drink and like between
that and the karaoke dude, it's a blast.
It sounds like an incredible time.
I'm definitely, definitely goingto add to the list while we are
running short on time. So at this point I want to open
up the platform to you, let people know where they can find
you, maybe your website if they want to get some coaching and
(42:41):
all that fun stuff. Or yeah, so the digital nomad
coach.com, that's my website. You can download my free guide
there, Seven Ways to Become a Digital Nomad.
And then IMDb Digital Nomad Coach on Instagram, Facebook and
YouTube. And then I have a podcast,
Digital Nomad Nation. So if you want to get inspired
(43:01):
by other people's stories, checkthat out.
You've got it all, man. I mean, what more do you need?
You got the YouTube, you got thepodcast.
It's an exhausting man. I, I can only imagine you, you
need a social media manager or something like that, right?
Like. I do have some help, but I do
have some help. But yeah, just like, very
(43:22):
thankful for what I'm able to doand to be able to help other
people, how I make make this like lifestyle a reality.
So yeah. Absolutely.
I love that and hopefully I can do that soon too.
Well, Ryan, I just want to thankyou so much for your time and
for coming on. Thanks man.
Thanks. Thanks again for having me.
(43:42):
That's it for today's episode. Thanks for listening.
If you enjoyed it, make sure to leave a review and follow us on
your preferred listening platform as well.
You can follow at U in the Clouds under score on Instagram
and at Up in the Clouds on TikTok for my latest travel
updates. We'll see you next week for an
all new episode. Take care.
Try just 7 through the knee on lights from Tokyo to Rios.
Go riding high, the beat drops low.
(00:27):
Number one. Everywhere he goes.
Late night with stories ball gold plated entails untold
microphone his mighty sword podcast world he can't ignore.
Welcome to the Up in the Clouds podcast featuring your host
(00:50):
Adrian Hussling. What's up everybody?
Welcome back to another episode of the Up in the Clouds podcast.
I'm your host, Adrian, and I am just hanging out in my friend's
basement today, super sore from playing some tennis yesterday
with a friend, played for three hours.
(01:11):
My body is not used to that authenticity, even though
they're not hiking. But still, tennis is a little
different. Doing the suicide sprints up and
down. He definitely, he definitely
kicked my butt, but it was fun. But yeah, I'm actually back in
Canada right now. That was not originally part of
the plan. The plan was going to be I was
(01:31):
going to fly straight from LatinAmerica over to Australia and
get that adventure started. But due to some unforeseen
circumstances, mostly need to bebeing broke, I decided to make a
quick little trip back to Canada.
So I'm here in Calgary right nowfor a couple weeks and it's good
to be back. It's good to see some familiar
(01:52):
faces, see some friends. Unfortunately, no family because
they're all on the other side ofthe country, but good to be home
and catch up with everyone. We're going to be going camping
for the long weekend, so I'm excited for that.
And my birthday is actually coming up tomorrow, which I
don't really want to celebrate because I'm turning the right
age of 35, so I would rather just pretend it's not happening.
(02:16):
But either way, good to be back.But yeah, so I think as I've
mentioned, you know, in past episodes, I have a certain
budget when I started this trip and the idea was I'd still have
money left over by the end of Latin America to fly to
Australia and go get started over there and find a job.
But Latin America is a little more expensive than I thought
(02:38):
and I have some big ticket itemsthat I did do.
So I'm back home now and actually just recently sold my
car. I was going to try to hold on to
that and to so that I'd have it when I come back to Canada.
But considering I'm going to be in Australia for anywhere up to
two years and then potentially still traveling after that
(02:59):
didn't really make sense to holdon to it.
Plus I really could use the extra money.
So put the ad U sold it two dayslater.
That's right, it sold pretty quick.
And yeah, so now I got some money in the bank.
Still waiting for some money from the government, but that's
a whole different story for another day.
But anyway, so we're just here to kind of retool, restock.
(03:19):
I have to actually had to get some of my clothes that is
stored away in my friend's housebecause I lost half my wardrobe
while I was traveling. You know, just misplacing things
or forget about leaving items somewhere or losing them in the
laundry service, all that fun stuff.
So restock, retool, see some friends before heading on to the
(03:40):
next destination. That's going to be Australia.
But interestingly enough, the cheapest flights to get to
Australia, weather was from Latin America or from Canada are
actually through Hawaii. Sold.
I booked the flights last night and your boy is going to Hawaii.
So I'm actually going to fly to Hawaii first for a week.
(04:02):
Just enjoy some time on the beach, relax, have a couple my
galley dots, and then I'll be heading down to Australia and
Phil's listing. If you're in the area or if you
know someone around the area, feel free to reach out.
I'd love to love to see some familiar faces or meet the new
people while I'm down there. I'm going to be flying to
(04:22):
Sydney. That's going to be my first stop
because at the moment I don't have a job lined up.
I'm still looking for work in Australia, but it hasn't been
the easiest because I think I'm not in country yet.
So I am applying from abroad andI think the fact that when they
see OK, he's not in country yet,he's gonna be here in two weeks,
3 weeks, whatever it is, they'renot quite as keen.
(04:43):
So hopefully that changes in thecoming weeks because I'd love to
have something lined up before Iactually go there.
But because I don't have a job lined up at the moment, I'm
going to fly to Sydney and so the cheapest option.
I do know a couple people in thearea and I also know it's kind
of the the hub for the expats for the people travelling down
(05:04):
there work with their work and visas.
So I figure it's a good place tostart and I can go from there.
But to be honest, I really don'thave much of A plan for
Australia other than the fact I'm flying to Sydney.
That's it. I don't even know where I'm
staying yet. I don't know, long term
accommodations, like obviously maybe a week or two in a
hostile, but at some point, you know, I might want to find an
(05:27):
apartment or somewhere to rent because the hostels will get
expensive. Yeah, I honestly no plan.
I just got to get down there, start grinding, hopefully find a
job somewhere whether I gotta fly or if it's in Sydney.
And yeah, I just want to work essentially for up to a year,
save some money, put some money in the bank.
(05:49):
And then the plan is I want to do van life out there in
Australia. So I want to buy a van tour
around the coast. Who knows how long that will
take. That could take upwards of a
year. I know it takes quite a long
while to get around and I will be by no means in a rush.
So we will see how it goes in the in the coming months here.
But it's exciting. So yeah, home for a couple of
(06:11):
weeks, over to Hawaii, have a little beach vacation for a week
and then and then over to Australia.
So a lot of things happen right now.
I'm not going to lie, the last week or so trying to figure
everything out. A little stressful, but it seems
to be going in the right direction.
So that is good news. But anyways, let's talk about
podcast. We've got our next guest coming
(06:31):
on today. His name is Ryan Mellon.
I want to say metal, but I know that's not how you actually say
it. And she's actually a digital
nomad coach, but that's not how he started.
So I actually brought him on. He talked about his introduction
into travel, some of his storiesalong the way, and then we
talked about how he got into thedigital nomad landscape, what he
(06:52):
actually does right now for work, and the fact that he's
actually a coach. So he's helping other people
achieve their dreams of being able to work remote.
So really cool episode, especially for people who are
maybe wanting to explore that realm, maybe want to become a
digital nomad or be able to workremote, able to travel or
instant income, all that fun stuff to give some good insight
(07:13):
into that. So yeah, that's what we're going
to be working with today. And I'm trying to think of
anymore, anymore updates for youfine folks.
But I think that is it for now, to be honest.
I have one more week here, couple weekends.
So we're not trying to just enjoy myself, apply to jobs.
I get mad man. And again, anyone listening, if
(07:35):
you're in the Sydney area, definitely, definitely reach out
to me. I'd love to about to meet up or
you know, if you, if you know ofanyone hiring by chance, um, you
know, I'm, I'm pretty open to, to any kind of work at this
point. So anyways, before I start
rambling on, I might as well head on over to the interview.
(07:55):
So hopefully you like it. And as well, you know, I'm
always looking for for guests for the pod.
So if you've been listening and you feel like you have some cool
travel stories or maybe we've met in the past, I haven't had a
chance to bring you on, feel free to reach out.
It's up in the clouds@gmail.com or an Instagram app Up in the
clouds under Score. But.
(08:15):
Without further ado, let's head on over to the interview.
All right, welcoming our next guest to the podcast.
He's mastered the art of traveling while working
remotely, having traveled through 23 States and 23
countries. How's that for symmetry?
He's currently based in the digital nomad Mecca Abali, but I
just realized he's actually in the states.
(08:37):
So correct that he's offering coaching to those who want to
pursue a more flexible and free lifestyle.
The skydiving monkey loving adventure seeking Ryan Mellon
and I'm hoping that man right. You got it.
You got it absolutely correct. Yeah.
Thank you so much for having me,man.
(08:57):
Looking forward to this conversation.
Absolutely. Well, I'm very intrigued by your
lifestyle and the whole digital nomad concept because it's
definitely something that I wantto pursue and get into.
So we're going to talk about that today.
But before we get started, I start every interview with a
segment called Speed Round Questions.
Are you familiar with this? Yes.
(09:17):
Yes. OK, perfect.
I'm gonna give you 2 options. You pick the option like the
best. Here we go.
Work 9:00 to 5:00 or work remote.
Work remote window or aisle seat?
Aisle. Hostel or hotel?
A hotel at this point. OK, gringo trailer off the
(09:38):
beaten path. Off the beaten path.
Travel international or travel domestic?
International. Fallen off the bike or remained
unscathed. Remained unscathed.
Wow, that's impressive. Mac or PC?
(10:00):
You broke up on the last one. Oh sorry, Mac or PC?
Mac. Skydiving or bungee jumping?
Skydiving. South America or Southeast Asia?
Southeast Asia all day. Beach or mountains?
Beach. Easy, buddy, you nailed that.
(10:20):
And yeah, I apologize in advance, I am in Ecuador, so the
Wi-Fi might cut out at times, but anyways, absolutely crush
that. But yeah, let's get started
right away here. So I was reading your bio there
on Pod Match and you mentioned that your first trip was to
Costa Rica. You saved up all your money, you
managed to get some time off. So I wanted to ask, why did you
choose Costa Rica and what was your first experience traveling
(10:43):
like? Yeah, so that was my first solo
backpacking trip ever. It was only my second time out
of the country. First time I was out of the
country was with friends in a resort in Cancun, which I I
don't even know that you could say that that's an out of
country experience, not a real one in my opinion.
(11:05):
But so yeah, I was working 2 jobs 14 hours a day, six days a
week. I read like 4 hour work week veg
bonding those books. Was reading Nomadic Mats blog
posts and got excited about trying solo travel and just
hitting the road without any plan and and you know, just
(11:28):
going with the backpack and that's it.
Pretty much it. And so I managed to get 2 weeks
off from both my jobs at the same time.
I'm from the States so we get very little vacation here.
And even if you do get multiple weeks, they don't like you to
take it back-to-back. So that was a whole thing to
negotiate that from in between two different jobs.
(11:49):
And I flew to Costa Rica by myself, didn't know anyone,
didn't know Spanish, stayed in ahostel for the very first time,
and I met tons of people that were traveling all over the
world. And it was just an absolutely
amazing experience. You asked me why I picked Costa
Rica. I think I picked Costa Rica
(12:10):
because it was somewhat close. There was some good cheap
flights and it does have a little bit of a A it has a
little bit of a reputation for being one of the more safer
countries in Central America. And since this was my very first
time solo traveling, I wanted to, you know, hedge my bets a
(12:31):
little bit and go somewhere where I thought I might feel
comfortable. Plus it's a big backpacker.
Like, you know, everyone loves the backpack Costa Rica.
So I knew I was going to not be alone and, and make friends.
So I, yeah, I, I did both coastsof Costa Rica, Pacific and, uh,
the Caribbean and Iowa zip lining through jungles and
(12:54):
climbing volcano, swimming in the Crater Lake and soaking in,
uh, like hot spas, like hot rivers and sauna, like
geothermal as, and like just really having an amazing time,
staying in hostels, meeting new people from all over the world.
Some of that had traveled for years on end and that really
(13:19):
kind of like blew my mind. I didn't know people were like
traveling for years. I'm on this two week vacation.
Gotta get back to work soon typedeal.
And so then when I came back to work, I was just like, man, I've
gotta make some major changes inmy life.
Like I told both my jobs like, I'm here for like maybe one more
(13:39):
year and I'm out of here. I'm doing something different.
And they all just laughed it off.
Like, OK, dude, you've been herelike a decade, so you're not
going anywhere. But that's kind of the journey
of, or the beginning of my journey with Costa Rica.
Yeah, well, it sounds like you got the travel fever, which
happens now. I'm curious, just for people
listening that haven't taken that leap yet.
(14:00):
They haven't stayed at the hostels.
They haven't gone backpacking. What was that first feeling
like, staying at the hostel where you're nervous, where
you're optimistic? And then how did that change
over time? Yeah, no, totally nervous and
and not knowing what to expect. I showed up like middle of the
night and I don't want that. They just taxi driver left me
(14:21):
out on the street and like you gotta get like buzzed into.
This hostel is in San Jose and the city.
I'm not a big city person, especially capital cities.
And so I'm like out on the street, like waiting to get
buzzed in, like hopefully, you know, checking around, making
sure there's no one like, you know, I don't know, it's just
(14:43):
it's it's scary coming into a new country at night, especially
my very first country ever by myself.
So I get buzzed in and it was itwas absolutely amazing there.
You know, they make you right athome, tell you what you need to
do. Stayed in like a six person
dorm, woke up the next day. Spent the whole day just hanging
(15:03):
out at the pool, just like meeting people and, and what I
thought was great about that was, um, because of the San Jose
was the hostel near the airport.A lot of people had just gotten
there, but a lot of people had just finished doing all of Costa
Rica and now they're leaving. So I got to talk with people who
(15:25):
just spent like a whole month ora couple weeks in Costa Rica and
they were like, and so I was like, you know, give me your top
three best things you've ever done the whole time you're here.
And so just from that, cause I had no plan, I had booked any
other hostels or any other cities, I was able to figure out
what's my next step. And then I went to, I think I
(15:48):
went to La Fortuna after that, which is like jungle mountains
where all the zip lining and that and volcanoes are.
And then just literally just kind of pieced it together.
And then over those two weeks ended up back in San Jose,
finished at the same hostel and then flew home.
And that was just just life changing.
(16:10):
That's the beauty of hostels. It's all about the people you
meet and they actually have boots on the ground.
They've been there, they've donethat.
They can give you the recommendations.
People before they leave that don't have experience, right?
They think they have to plan every moment, but it's not the
case. It's better if you just plan
your first destination and just go with it from there because
you're either going to get recommendations or you're going
to meet people who are going to a next destination and you're
(16:31):
going to join them. And you know, it just happens
from there. So it really is a beautiful
thing for sure. Did you end up in Santa Teresa?
Uh, I believe so. It's been so long.
I. Believe I would have to look at
my map. I could tell you that.
Well, well, you might not believe because Santa Teresa is
(16:51):
a big party town so that might just be a blur for you, but.
I mean the Ola Costa Rica was a fairly decent party in my
opinion. Fair enough, fair enough.
Oh yeah. OK, well, we'll move on from
that. Um, so I did notice as well in
your bio there that, you know, after that trip you ended up
going back, saving some more money, and then needed a year of
(17:13):
traveling throughout the States.Now I'm curious about that trip
because I myself have traveled through the states.
I've done two different Rd. trips, one in the winter for
snowboarding, one in the summer for camping, both on the West
Coast mind you, but absolutely beautiful.
So I just want to know kind of where you went, what your trip
was and what were you doing along the way?
Were you camping or what was kind of the itinerary?
Yeah, so I I talked my what my best friend and his wife and
(17:37):
then quitting their jobs with meand like I quit my 2 jobs of
like 10 and 12 years and we saved up enough money we
actually were able to borrow my buddies uncles are B and just
take over his payments because he was unemployed at the time.
So it was like a win win for him.
RV's not sitting in the driveway.
(17:58):
We're taking over the payments insurance all that.
And so we had an RV that we wentacross the US one year and we
did 23 states in that one year. We started in Virginia, had in
Florida. We that we let October 2017 when
we left. So we wanted to stay in the
(18:18):
warmer climate. So we left in Virginia and we
just had it S all the way down to Florida.
We had Thanksgiving and the Florida Keys, which was awesome.
It's like my first Thanksgiving ever where it's where was in
warm weather. It's usually I go to family in
Pennsylvania. It's cold.
(18:38):
So it didn't even feel like Thanksgiving.
Like we're hanging out at the pool and like cooking a Turkey
and the RV. It was wild.
But yeah. So we spent a lot of time in in
Florida for sure because they have great campgrounds and
places to be in good weather. And then we just kept, we went
(18:59):
headed West, you know, through Georgia and Alabama and
Mississippi, Louisiana, through Texas and just had it all the
way out to California, staying on the most Southern states.
And then we headed up, we spent like 2 months in California and
then we spent one month in Oregon and up to Washington
(19:20):
state and then Idaho. And then we kind of just we
started to get towards the end and we're starting to get low on
on money and then we just kind of like be lined it through the
Midwest to get back to Virginia like.
Yeah. That sounds like a heck of a
trip. Well, out of all of that, what
is the state that was your favorite and why?
(19:43):
Maybe one that you wouldn't normally recommend or hear
about? Yeah, I think the one that
surprised me most was Oregon. Like it's absolutely just really
good untouched nature up there. And like the climate, even in
the we were there in the summer time doesn't get too hot even a
lot of people don't even have air conditioning in their
houses, which is like. You wouldn't think of that where
(20:07):
I am in the South. So, um, I know it sounds like
you're from Canada, so I you guys probably don't have a lot
of AC up there, but yeah, we're gon was beautiful and just the,
the national parks and the nature and the coastline.
It was happening. Hell yeah.
(20:27):
Well, that's The thing is a lot of the states that are near
Canada are very similar to Canada, where exactly a lot of
places in Canada do not have AC because we don't have those
super warm summers or weather ingeneral.
And I notice that the organs of Montanas are very similar to
Canada, which is quite nice. And I've gone down to visit.
So I always recommend that to people that are that are
visiting. OK, we'll move forward from that
(20:48):
because this is something I wantto talk about.
You are the coach, the master. How did you start earning money
while traveling? Tell me what the secret is.
Sure. So I started How in real estate.
Real estate. Travel.
Yeah. Real estate traveling,
absolutely. Yeah.
You wouldn't expect that as a real estate agent.
(21:09):
So I have my 2 jobs. I also have my real estate
license. I was dabbling a little bit in
real estate when I had those twojobs.
And about halfway through my oneyear road trip, I realized,
like, this thing's coming up quick and I'm running out of
money, I'm going to go back to my jobs or do something.
So I called my friend Laurie, who is investing, and she was
(21:30):
buying tons of houses. She was flipping houses use
renovating them, keeping them asrentals and so I called her.
I was like is there anyway I canhelp you with my license to find
you deals while I'm on this roadtrip?
She's like, absolutely, I don't care where you are.
Like, if you can help find me deals, let's do it.
And so I made it so that I had another agent in my office who
(21:54):
was boots on the ground who could get in the properties,
videotape them for us, come up with like construction costs.
And then I was the one just shooting out the paperwork and
like all the contracts and keeping everything on on online
and ready for closing. And then we ended up doing like
25 deals that last six months asa real estate agent.
(22:17):
So then I realized at the end ofthat trip, I'm a digital nomad.
It wasn't even a word then. Like this is this is 2019.
That wasn't even really a thing yet, but I realized like I
didn't have to go back to my jobs.
I could just keep doing this real estate thing.
But then when it ended up happening is over the past seven
(22:37):
years I have traveled every winter like 6 months to get out
of the cold. Even though I live in Virginia
and I know nothing about the cold.
I still don't like our cold here.
I still don't like the cold hereand so I leave.
I was home in the summer and gone in the winter and I was
helping her do more deals. I was helping her do deals when
(23:00):
I was traveling and then I was also started actually building
and buying up rental properties and renovating them and keeping
them myself. So I build up a portfolio rental
properties. That's some semi passive income
that covers my monthly costs andthat's how I got my initial
freedom. So how I got into coaching was I
(23:23):
had a friend that I met Mexico on my travels.
He's Mexican citizen. He was working as a digital
marketing manager for a company in office and not making a ton
of money. Really wanted to travel like I I
why I was doing and I was like, it's totally doable.
So I got him set up and helped him build out his freelance
(23:46):
business using Upwork and fiber through the same thing he's
doing for his company. Yeah.
But um, he 5X his income and hassince traveled to like 13
countries doing just working as a freelancer over the past, you
(24:08):
know, couple years. So when I realized if I thought
I could help a friend do it, I was like, I can help a lot of
other people do it because I constantly get questions on my
social media and from friends and family.
Like how do you, how do you pay for it?
How do you work? What's the logistics of being a
digital nomad? Because there's time changes and
(24:29):
visas and taxes. What do you do with your house,
your car, your personal belongings, your pets, your if
you have kids, kids, do you travel with them?
So. I discovered.
Anything. Just get rid of the kids.
That that's that's the easiest thing you can do, like Plan B is
you can take them with you. So there's that.
(24:50):
And so I help. So I started the one-on-one
coaching to help people get thatfreedom because if it wasn't for
the bloggers and the four hour work week and vagabonding and
all these people that inspired me, I wouldn't be doing what I'm
doing. So I help people come up with
one-on-one custom game plans to get their freedom.
(25:14):
And I'm also launching a course in August of 25, so next month
that is a super concert comprehensive 9 module course
that takes people from zero to hero.
Like working at a job that it's not even digital at all like I
was and fast food and warehouse to working as a digital nomad on
(25:36):
a island in Thailand, if that's what you want.
And so I take you through all this.
I take them through all the steps, video course worksheets,
everything. It's like 5 to 10 hours worth of
video and it's super comprehensive.
And so it's just this this coaching thing is more about
(25:57):
having a purpose and helping other peoples become nomads.
Because if I have to renovate another one, three bed, 1 bath
again, I could do that in my sleep and it's not that exciting
anymore. So.
Yeah, exactly. So you've now moved on to
coaching full time then? So the real estate things more
about just a part. Time on it kind of on the side,
(26:18):
yeah. So I manage everything that I
have personally managed the rentals, um, and I've set it up
so I can do that from anywhere. I still do other types of deals
like wholesaling and stuff like that as they come along.
People just know me and know that I buy things.
So I'll get deals that fall on my lap.
So I still do real estate from anywhere in the world, from land
(26:40):
back here in Virginia when I wasin Bali over the winter and
that's on the market now. So I do still do in Boots.
No, I love that. I love that.
And there's so much money in real estate, even having the
rental properties, like you said, where you just maintain
them at that point and they pay your bills and then you have the
freedom to go explore their options.
And I feel like getting into that digital nomad space and
(27:01):
something maybe I've struggled with and you know, maybe I'll
have to sign up and talk to you in the future.
Here is I feel like you have to determine what your skill set
is. That's the biggest thing.
Like the rest of it, you can figure it out as you go, but
it's figuring out what is my skill?
What can I provide to other people that's valuable?
And that's the hardest thing to figure out.
Yeah, and that's a, that's an exercise that I go through with
(27:21):
people because like, you know, Iwas literally working fast food
in management and fast food and in management at UPS in the
warehouse in the evenings. None of that is, is remote work
possible. But I was able to use those
skills, plus the skills that I learned in real estate to do
(27:43):
everything that I'm doing now. So I go through with people and
we look at their past jobs, their education, their life
experiences, we find those skills and then we go, alright,
well, how can we use these skills to find you something
that works for you online? So you're right, it's one of the
very first steps. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
(28:06):
OK, Well on that now I'm gonna ask you, and I don't want you to
give up too much, obviously, butmaybe just a couple things is
what are some travel hacks and tips that you could give us for
saving money while you're on theroad?
Yeah, absolutely. So, um, staying in hospitals is
definitely a thing. I've stayed in over 100
hospitals over the years. You know, I just turned 40.
I feel like I aged myself out ofthe hospitals a little bit
(28:29):
sometimes. Now I, I still do, but I get a
private room. You know, you value privacy a
little bit more as you get older, but it's a great place to
save money, especially if you, you know, you're younger, you're
on a budget and meet people and really just not be alone at all,
even as a solo traveler. So I would say that's a good
(28:52):
one. The other thing I would say is
I'm big on travel hacking and this is only open to, you know,
U.S. Citizens, Canadians, Australia
and I think people from the UK, um, those are the like four or
five countries that have credit cards that give you points and
(29:13):
miles that you can hack to get free freight, free flights.
And I've done really well in that over the past seven years
to the point where I legitimately haven't paid for a
flight in seven years. The only time, the only time
I'll pay for a flight is if it'slike, you know, like a short hop
(29:34):
$100 flight. I'm like, oh, I don't wanna use
my miles for that. I'll just pay the $100.
But like, if it's a long haul flight, like to Bali, I'm using
points and miles. So yeah.
That's that. No, that's a good tip for sure.
And that's something that I needto invest in as well because
right now I have a credit card and it's very basic.
(29:55):
It has no reward miles. It's got cash back that doesn't
really do much. So that is a great tip for sure.
Because yeah, that adds up quickly, of course.
OK, so we got a little bit more time left.
I just want to know maybe what are some of your more notable
travel stories, if there's anything that comes to mind?
Not to put you on the spot, but.Yeah, yeah.
No, I'm all, I always have travel stories, The holster,
(30:16):
man. I'm all I'm writing.
Nice, nice. I love that.
Alright, fire away, I'm all yours.
Yeah, I think one of the most notable top five experiences,
um, in my travel is, um, sailingthrough the Komodo Islands and
(30:37):
in, in Indonesia. So it's close to Bali, those
islands somewhat close. So you actually have to take a
ferry boat to Lombok, which is about four hours away from Bali.
And then I got on a boat with 30strangers, like a pretty decent
sized boat with 30 strain, and we sailed through the Komodo
(31:00):
Islands for four days and it wasjust the Komodo Islands, our
home of the Komodo Dragons. And they are a bunch of
uninhabited islands. There are certain islands where
The Commodores are that are protected and their national
parks and stuff like that. So, but it was just the most
(31:21):
amazing experience to be all on this, like, kind of rickety
wooden boat out in the middle ofthe islands.
Like literally the one night they let us sleep on the roof.
Yeah, yeah. Take our little mattresses up
there and sleep on the roof underneath the stars anchored in
the middle of nowhere in the islands.
(31:41):
And then we just became, like, good friends with everybody,
even the crew. They fed us three amazing meals
a day. We got to go like one epic hikes
to tops of islands that had the most beautiful beaches and see
the sunset, you know, every night from there.
And then swimming during the dayoff the boat.
(32:03):
And then there's one beach that you stop at that's called Pink
Beach and the the sand is actually pink.
It's like due to the silica content.
So it's a really cool beat out. Very remote as well.
So not a lot of people there kind of had the whole place to
yourself. Go.
(32:24):
No, I didn't. I maybe I should have, but I I I
left it there actually. OK, that'd be cool souvenir.
I know. It would be like a yeah like put
in a little glass file or something.
Yeah, yeah, like the one behind you.
Yeah, this is. My model, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, but I got that in Brazil and Ubatuba when I got stuck
(32:48):
there from a whole nother story.But it was funny because we were
like, you know, partying every night on the ship and like they
had us fill out how many beers we needed for our whole four
days before the trip. And we're all being like our
most discipline sober cells filling out the filling out
(33:10):
these forms of how much we need for four days.
Right. Well, in the last night of our,
our journey, we're just like, like last night and we're like
all running out of beer because we drank all our beers way too
quickly. So they called in some guys that
came out on a small boat at like1:00 in the morning from like an
(33:33):
island an hour or so away and just were like cooler full of
beer for just throwing them up to us.
And I was like, man, like, whereelse in the world are you gonna
get like a favor called in, likeI'm sure.
And we definitely paid a premiumfor those fears.
But like last night, we were loving it.
(33:55):
Such a good time. And then they drop you off in
Flores, which is where they justhad a lot of volcanic, volcanic
activity recently. It's been in the news.
It's shut down Bowling airport and and then you can take a
flight from Flores back to Bali for like $100.
Um, that, that was, that's definitely one of my top five,
(34:15):
like coolest experiences, plus just like getting to see the
Komodos up close and taking photos with them and.
Yeah, yeah. And you mentioned, I'm guessing
you were sleeping on the boat there because the islands are
uninhabited. And then what were the meals
they were serving you too? I did a similar trip actually,
through San Blas, where we sailed.
Doesn't sound good as yours, butyeah, I'm just curious what
(34:37):
they're what they're feeding you.
I've, I've almost done the Sandblast trip before, but I
didn't um, yeah, like it was like typical Indonesian food.
So you had a lot of rice and, and fried vegetables and I like
chicken and beef rendang and like, it would just be a big
spread. And it was just like on the
floor in the main area. Like they put a blanket down and
(35:01):
just put all the food out and wejust kind of buffet style and
that was like that three meals aday and it was amazing.
And how much were you sailing each day?
Was it a lot of sailing or kind of just an hour or two to the
next island and then you're? Chilling out, I mean we did a
quite a bit of moving like it's geographically we probably went
(35:22):
a couple like a well over 100K or so and travel over those four
days. So like, um, yeah, a couple
hours, maybe half the day, and then we'd stop and anchor, you
know, sunset, and we'd go on a hike or go swimming.
OK, OK, that sounds alright. Yeah, because mine, like the 1st
(35:46):
2 1/2 days, you only do an hour or two sailing and then you're
just hanging out in the islands,which was amazing.
It was incredible. Go snorkeling, beach volleyball,
karaoke at night. That was a good time.
Unfortunately, beers were not provided.
We had to buy our own alcohol. And as you were mentioning, we
had the sober brain at the time.We're like, we're not even going
to drink that much. Like whatever, we'll just bring
like a six pack, literally a sixpack.
(36:06):
That was no. Huge mistake, but luckily we
were with another catamaran and they had a ton of booze so we we
would that be alright. And I remember the one island
actually they had a bar on the island.
So I ended up being like how much is that bottle of rum
because I need some liquor rightnow.
And obviously overpaid but it was worth it at the time.
But the two days at open sea or 2 1/2 days at open sea were
(36:30):
absolute misery. Like your zombie dough?
You're sleeping. You ain't doing much.
Burned. Yeah, that that was a that was a
big difference. And to be honest, like if I were
to have the option to do it again, I would probably not and
maybe just do the island part but not the.
Yeah, Yeah, yeah. No, I mean it's not for
everybody. It's it's gnarly out there.
(36:52):
And while it's an early and justthe fact that like you're not
really doing anything and like this trip in particular was
quite expensive. So I figured the amount I was
paying, it was like, don't know if it's worth it in the future.
But yeah, maybe I'll have to trythe one that you did for sure.
No, definitely. We had good sees pretty much
every day. So it and we, we stayed busy and
(37:13):
it was a big enough ship that wecould move around and be like
outdoor on the bell or outdoor on the back or up top on the sun
deck or like, you know, inside. So it didn't feel like too
cramped or anything, which I think helps.
Yeah, which is especially with 30 people, right?
Well, you have one more story inthe holster there for us that
you could share. Absolutely.
(37:35):
Yeah. Another one that I really
enjoyed, There's a doing a motorcycle tour to Vietnam.
It's called the. Heard about this?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Hysong Loop is absolutely
amazing if you're any, if you'readventurous and you can ride a
bike or just want to learn to ride a bike.
(37:57):
There's a lot of newcomers that do it, although it is a little,
little dangerous. So you show up at at the the
starting place, this town in themiddle of nowhere.
I think I took the took a bus inlike 3:00 AM, found the hostel
crashed and then they gave me a motorcycle the next day.
(38:18):
It's like a four speed clutch list Honda.
And so they give that to you just to get your bearings and
running around town. So I went to this amazing
waterfall like on this person's random persons like farmland and
check that out with super cool. Got a feel for the bike and then
they, they can, they'll put you in a group.
(38:38):
So some, some of the girls were like paying guides to drive them
around. They would just hop on the back
And so they would have a Vietnamese guide.
So we ended up being in a group with two Vietnamese guides that
have people paying on back. And then it was like 5 of us,
five or six of us on our own motorcycles.
(39:01):
And like the, it's like 4 days of like driving like 8 hours a
day like through like ice road trucker, like contrary northern
mountains of Vietnam, like gnarly stuff.
Yeah. And the very first night we
stayed in like a barn in the countryside that upstairs just
(39:24):
had like bunch of mats laid out on the floor for us sleep.
Guys and girls had their own room.
And then downstairs there was just like a kitchen and one
living area, like one light bulband a karaoke machine.
Of course. Yeah, and they had a huge layout
of food for us there was absolutely amazing.
(39:46):
And then they got the like localmoonshine, like plastic bottle
moonshine out and got us all hammered and we sang karaoke to
like, you know, 2:00 in the morning and then woke up
hungover and it had to ride another 8 hours through the
mountains and it was cold. All of us went there with shorts
(40:07):
and T-shirts. It's Vietnam, but the elevation
and being north and like close to China, we even stopped at the
Chinese border. It's cold.
So we were buying like gloves and hats and jackets anywhere we
could. It was so freezing.
And we just, every night we wentto a place they had already
picked out a hostile homestay and just.
(40:29):
And had an amazing time, had great 2 great drinks, met some
of the most coolest people, makegreat friends.
And then you circle back all theway to your starting point, give
your bike back and everything. I'm going to say that whole four
days with the bike rentals, the hostels, like all your food
included the guides was like $100, you know, like.
(40:51):
That's it. Oh, it's so cheap over there.
And that's the thing. I gotta get over there because
I've I've been doing South America and it's not as cheap as
I guess it used to be as my friend told me but he traveler
10 years ago but I believe something is still super cheap.
But what's your go to karaoke song?
And never mind driving hungover,you're probably still drunk at
that point, let's be honest. Well, I mean, who knows?
(41:14):
It's. Hard to say.
But yeah, so my go to karaoke isFight for Your Right to Party by
the Beastie Boys. Oh, that's a great job.
That's a good choice. Gets the people going.
Oh. Yeah, dude, it was.
I was the only American in that group, which was great.
I always like being like the only one, only American in the
group. Yeah, yeah.
(41:35):
Immersed with just people from everywhere else.
So yeah, it was. It was awesome.
It sounds phenomenal, it's on the list.
I plan to go there after after Australia but I've heard nothing
but good things. Heard the people are amazing,
experiences are great, super cheap and I'm a huge karaoke fan
so and I know they love it over there.
(41:57):
It's dude, it's like you'll be walking down the street on a
Thursday and there will be like this little lady with speaker
stacks that are for like a Guns and Roses concert stacked
outside of the house on the street.
And it's like 11 AM and she's just tell now karaoke, like
that's just the culture and it'sand and they have a great
(42:20):
drinking culture as well and Vietnam.
And they do like a chant before every drink and like between
that and the karaoke dude, it's a blast.
It sounds like an incredible time.
I'm definitely, definitely goingto add to the list while we are
running short on time. So at this point I want to open
up the platform to you, let people know where they can find
you, maybe your website if they want to get some coaching and
(42:41):
all that fun stuff. Or yeah, so the digital nomad
coach.com, that's my website. You can download my free guide
there, Seven Ways to Become a Digital Nomad.
And then IMDb Digital Nomad Coach on Instagram, Facebook and
YouTube. And then I have a podcast,
Digital Nomad Nation. So if you want to get inspired
(43:01):
by other people's stories, checkthat out.
You've got it all, man. I mean, what more do you need?
You got the YouTube, you got thepodcast.
It's an exhausting man. I, I can only imagine you, you
need a social media manager or something like that, right?
Like. I do have some help, but I do
have some help. But yeah, just like, very
(43:22):
thankful for what I'm able to doand to be able to help other
people, how I make make this like lifestyle a reality.
So yeah. Absolutely.
I love that and hopefully I can do that soon too.
Well, Ryan, I just want to thankyou so much for your time and
for coming on. Thanks man.
Thanks. Thanks again for having me.
(43:42):
That's it for today's episode. Thanks for listening.
If you enjoyed it, make sure to leave a review and follow us on
your preferred listening platform as well.
You can follow at U in the Clouds under score on Instagram
and at Up in the Clouds on TikTok for my latest travel
updates. We'll see you next week for an
all new episode. Take care.
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