My First 48 Hours of Nomad Life

As I set off on this adventure, my first 48 hours included travel by car, train, plane, bus, and taxi. Since I am now living off of my savings and investments, I make use of every option I have to reduce my costs. For this first travel day, I traveled from Maryland to Delaware to New Jersey to Lisbon, Portugal to Seville, Spain almost entirely on travel rewards and points… and one ride from my mother.

Why I Chose to Start in Spain

When I decided to start slow traveling, I knew the first thing I wanted to do was a Spanish immersion course. Originally I planned to start in South America. I decided to go to Spain instead because after watching one-way fares to South America for months, I noticed a fare to Seville, Spain for almost the same price as the fares I was watching to Colombia. I knew I had to be back in the U.S. in May, so I would have about three months to travel before returning to Maryland.

If you are considering long-term travel and plan to spend any of that time in Europe, you will need to familiarize yourself with the Schengen Zone. U.S. passport holders are allowed to spend a maximum of 90 days in the Schengen Zone any 180 period. From the date I decided to leave the U.S. to the date I knew I had to be back was 87 days. So I decided to make the most of the Schengen Zone restrictions and start my trip in Spain and Portugal, then head to South America after my brief return to the U.S.

Leaving the U.S.

The cheap airfare I found to Seville was actually on TAP Portugal a budget Portuguese airline, and was leaving from Newark, New Jersey. Though it is a couple states away, it’s pretty easy for me to get to the Newark airport. Amtrak has a stop there, so I can get on a regional train from Washington, DC (or anywhere on that train route) and it takes me right to the Newark airport. I have managed to mess this up before, and booked a train ticket to Newark’s main station, not the airport, on a previous trip. But I learned from that mistake and made sure the train I booked actually went to the airport.

Since I was leaving from my mother’s house on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, I decided to board the train in Wilmington, Delaware, not Washington, DC. And knowing that I wasn’t going to be traveling much in the U.S., I decided to use the few Amtrak rewards points I had for my one-way train fare to Newark.

Total cost to travel Maryland to New Jersey = $0.

Flying to Portugal

My overnight flight to Europe left at 11pm, so I had plenty of time at the airport. I traveled carry-on only, so once I was through security which went surprisingly quickly, I just found a place to sit for a few hours. I was assigned a middle seat– not ideal. So when the boarding area opened I asked if it was possible to switch to a window or aisle, as it didn’t look like the flight was full. This is one of those catch more bees with sugar things: just ask nicely. The gate agent told me to check back closer to boarding time, and if there were any aisles or windows available, she’d move me. So I said thank you and went back to wait for a while. Sure enough, when it was closer to boarding time and I went up to the counter again, she already knew why I was there and had a new boarding pass ready for me. Easy peasy.

Why was I in a middle seat at all? Like I said, I was flying a budget airline, one of those where they up-charge you for everything after you book your seat. So I didn’t choose a seat and just took what I was assigned. I also didn’t pay to check my bags. I was a little worried they would think my personal item was too big and try to make me weigh it or check it. Since my camera gear was in my personal item, it makes it heavier than your average backpack. But I realized they don’t usually weight things at the gate, so since I wasn’t checking anything and was going right to the gate, and the flight wasn’t full, it was unlikely I would be stopped. Nobody gave me a second glance. So I was all set, and my flight to Lisbon was uneventful.

Lisbon to Seville

At the time of this writing, Portugal currently requires a PCR or antigen test within 72 hours from anyone without a vaccination certificate recognized by the EU. This is true even if you are just passing through on a layover. The U.S. CDC vaccination card is not recognized by the EU. So, despite being vaccinated and boosted, I needed a COVID test to fly through Portugal. Two days before my flight, I went to a free COVID test center for my first ever COVID test. Yes, I managed to make it through almost two full years of the pandemic without ever getting tested. Luckily, and expectedly, it came back negative.

I only had a one hour layover in Lisbon, so I crossed my fingers that customs and COVID checks went quickly. I thought I’d have enough time. After clearing customs and immigration, I waited in line patiently for my COVID test and passenger locator forms to be checked. Until someone came down the line asking if anyone was flying to Seville. So I stepped out of line saying yes, I was flying to Seville. the person started motioning for me to follow them to the head of the line, so I did as instructed. After my test was checked, they set off at a brisk pace across the airport, waving for me to hurry up. I had to go through security again and they again brought me to the front of the line. After security, they handed me off to someone else. I tried to explain I thought I had enough time, but they just kept moving me quickly through the airport. after a couple of turns, they told me my gate was at the end of the hall, told me the gate number, and left me to go the rest of the way. As I started down the longest hallway ever, I realized why they had rushed me through. It took me a solid 15 minutes to get to the end of the hallway and my gate. I had just enough time to go to an ATM to take out some Euros before getting on the plane. But other than my sprint through the airport, my layover was uneventful.

Arriving In Seville

I had not realized there was a time different between Portugal and Spain, so what I thought was a two hour flight was in fact only an hour. Another uneventful flight. We landed in Seville, Spanish health forms were scanned, and that was it, I was ready to head into the city. The Spanish immersion school I signed up for had a service to pick you up from the airport for €56. Another option was to take a taxi from the airport for about €25. I chose door number 3, an airport shuttle to downtown Seville for €4. From the last shuttle stop at one of Seville’s bus terminals I got a taxi to my apartment for €8

I had booked my flight from Newark with a new travel credit card I signed up for in November, and one of the perks of the card was credit on the first $200 of travel purchases. The cost was reimbursed as soon as I booked my flight, . The Spanish health form required from everyone entering Spain was $65. The shuttle and taxi were €12 total.

Total cost of travel to Spain = about $77

My First Day in Spain

It took me a while to kick my jet lag, which seemed to have hit me harder than it used to. Either I’m out of practice from not traveling internationally for over two years, or I’m getting older and just can’t handle it like I used to. Probably both.

The Spanish school I attended provided a number of housing options, from a homestay with a family to making your own arrangements. I chose for their shared flat option: share a flat with a local who lived and worked or studied in Seville. About a week before my arrival I received an email with the address and a little information about my roommate; I responded with a long email introducing myself, but never heard back. Once I arrived I found out why– she didn’t speak a word of English. This was good though, as I wanted to share a flat to be able to practice my Spanish when not in class. I When I got to my apartment I met my roommate for the next month. She told me some things in Spanish, but I was too tired to follow most of it, and I was very out of practice with my Spanish so communicating was a challenge. My phone was not working the way it was supposed to, I needed wifi but her wifi wasn’t working. Actually, it wasn’t turned on, but I didn’t have the words to explain that to her. She called her neighbor who came down and figured out it was off and reset it. Something I could’ve done but didn’t want to start messing with her stuff five minutes after I arrived.

I took a two hour nap, but wanted to adjust to the time quickly so made myself get up and go out to get some food. I still went to bed around 9pm, which for those who know me, is much earlier than normal. Around 6am I woke up, but tried to go back to sleep until 8am when I gave up and got up.

I purposely arrived a few days early so I could get acclimated to the time change and the city before starting classes. After a quick trip to the grocery store, I wandered around the neighborhood a little. I went out again around 2pm and walked some more of the area, got some tapas, but was back by 4pm, having already done 5 miles of walking that day. I rested until about 8 when I wanted to check out the Friday nightlife so I headed back out. It was overwhelming how many people were out and about. I didn’t stay out long before calling it a night.

I didn’t see my roommate again for about a week. After I’d had some sleep I went back over our conversation when I first arrived and concluded that she told me she lived with her boyfriend, and didn’t actually sleep at the apartment. So unfortunately I wouldn’t get the Spanish practice at home that I had wanted. On the other hand, I had my own apartment in Seville.

My first 48 hours of nomad life were hectic and blurry, but I was really excited to be setting off on this adventure. It is invigorating to be traveling again after being stuck at home for so long. And so starts my slow travel nomadic life.