My name is James Clark, and Nomadic Notes is about my travels and life as a digital nomad.
About me
I am long term wanderer from Melbourne, Australia. That is to say that I’m from Melbourne when filling out official forms, though I have been of no fixed address for years.
I’m what’s known as a location independent entrepreneur (AKA a digital nomad), living the work and travel lifestyle since 2003.
My life as a long-term traveller began in 1999 when I moved to the UK on a two-year working holiday visa. Living in London and with Europe on my doorstep, I discovered that I am a travel addict. This was also the year that became fascinated with the internet. I figured I should find a job that involved travel and surfing the web, thus the idea of making travel websites as a business.
Following my time in London I went back to Australia, and then applied for a working holiday visa in Ireland for a year. During my year in Dublin, I was determined to set up a business that would let me work and travel on my own terms. In April 2003 my Ireland work visa expired, so instead of returning to Australia, I decided to try a life of self-employment, which I am still doing to this day.
For the first few years, I was spending the northern summers in Europe and the southern summers in Australia. These days I live in Southeast Asia for most of the year, basing myself in Vietnam and travelling around the region.
About Nomadic Notes
Nomadic Notes is a travel blog from the perspective by me (James Clark) – a long term traveller from Australia. The site features travel guides, travel tips, and notes on places I have visited around the world.
I began Nomadic Notes in February 2009 as an outlet to chronicle my travels. At that point, I had already been working while I travel (AKA a digital nomad) for nearly six years but I wasn’t writing about my travels. Starting a travel blog became a good way to connect with other travellers, both online and in person.
The blog started out as a standard travelogue, and since then the site has evolved into themes that I am interested in. I write about train travel and urban rail transit around the world. I travel extensively in Southeast Asia, so I write where to stay guides for major destinations in Southeast Asia.
I also publish a weekly travel newsletter. Every Friday I publish a summary of latest articles at Nomadic Notes, and a round-up of the best travel reads and interesting travel news from around the web.
How do I afford a life of perpetual travel?
On Nomadic Notes I mostly focus on my travels, which may give the illusion that all I do is travel. While I am indeed a full-time nomad, I work more hours than when I was a salaried employee (there are no 4-hour work weeks for me.) I love my work though, and I can usually be found online checking my web empire first thing in the morning. I’m continually trying to find a balance where I can visit all the places I want to see and work on new projects. This is a good problem to have.
I spend most of my time on Future Southeast Asia, which is a site about transport and urban development in Southeast Asia. This includes a weekly newsletter which includes paid subscription level for more detailed articles.
I have a media business that offers web design, social media, and SEO services for the travel industry. I also help travellers start their own travel blog. I have no office and all I need to run my business is a laptop and decent internet connection.
I also write about railways of Europe, and you can sign up for news about European rail travel.
Since starting this travel blog I also do some freelancing travel writing on other sites, and this blog makes some commissions on referrals on products I use and recommend.
I live without a personal mortgage or a car, so my monthly expenses are reasonably manageable. While living without a fixed address has its challenges (like not having an office), I am a coffee lover so I have no problem working in cafes around the world.
Work with Nomadic Notes
Nomadic Notes features travel guides, personal travel narratives, photography, and tips on living a location-independent lifestyle.
I’m available for tailored press trips from tourism offices and selected travel companies. Any press trip or hosted/discounted travel that is featured on this site is disclosed on the related post, and a condition of my working with any travel company or tourism board is that I have editorial control.
For advertising options refer to the Advertise With Nomadic Notes page.
I’m available for writing about travel and location independence, either as a guest poster or ongoing contributing author. Contact for me to discuss rates and conditions.
Ways to follow Nomadic Notes
To follow without missing a post, subscribe to the newsletter. This goes out weekly and provides a summary of posts along with links to other interesting travel and digital nomad-related articles around the web.
New articles are posted on the Facebook Page. Facebook don’t show all of the posts, so to ensure that you get updated, once you click “Like” hover over “Liked” and select “See First”.
Follow me on Twitter for links that I find about travel, digital nomadism, and other random cool links. I post new articles here as well but, again, don’t rely on it to find out about new posts. I don’t chat much on Twitter so use the site contact page for any questions.
Follow me on Instagram for real-time pictures of where I’m at.
If you still use RSS then you know what to do. I use Feedly to read sites I’m subscribed to.
Contact Me
If you have any questions or comments you would like to send privately you can email me from my contact page or by email nomadicnotes [at] gmail [dot] com.
Thanks for reading!
~ James Clark
