When Anthony and Catherine sold their home and left their careers behind, they didn’t know exactly what to expect from eight years as nomads. What they discovered was that long term Travel tips matter far less than the mindset you bring to the journey. Running With Cat documents their extraordinary adventure across five continents, and within that story lies Wisdom about how to actually live abroad for extended periods.
Nomadic living isn’t a vacation. It’s a complete reimagining of how you operate in the world. When you’re running marathons in Madagascar, walking the Great Wall of China, or racing in Antarctica, you learn quickly that the best digital nomad advice isn’t about finding the perfect hotel or booking flights. It’s about understanding yourself, your partner, and what truly matters when everything else is stripped away.
One of the first shocks of nomadic living is realizing how little you actually need. Anthony and Catherine’s approach was radical: they packed only what fit in their suitcases. No storage unit. No backup wardrobe at home. Just the essentials.
This forced simplification taught them something crucial. When you own fewer things, you make better decisions about what you carry forward. Clothes need to be versatile. Shoes need to work for racing and walking. Every item earned its place through utility and purpose.
For anyone considering long term travel, this is perhaps the most important lesson. The freedom you gain from carrying less far outweighs the temporary discomfort of limited possessions. You move faster, adapt more easily, and spend less time managing stuff and more time experiencing places.
Digital nomad advice often emphasizes booking ahead and planning every detail. Running With Cat’s story reveals the opposite approach works better. While Anthony’s background as a pilot meant he understood logistics and route planning, the couple’s real strategy was adaptability.
Their original plan was to race marathons and half-marathons across the globe. As Catherine’s condition progressed, that plan evolved. They shifted from chasing fast times to savoring slower pace racing. They adapted their destinations based on what would be most meaningful rather than what was already booked.
This flexibility allowed them to:
Nomadic living requires you to release the illusion of perfect control. Build your framework, but leave room to pivot when reality demands it.
Long term travel tips often focus on solo strategies: managing finances, staying healthy, finding accommodation. But Anthony and Catherine’s journey proves that having a committed partner changes everything.
They didn’t just tolerate challenges together. They pushed through physical and mental limitations as often as they could. They finished every race hand in hand. This wasn’t romantic posturing. It was a survival strategy and a source of strength.
Their nomadic life also wasn’t purely isolated. They engaged with local communities, other runners, race organizers, and fellow travelers. They didn’t hole themselves up in co-working spaces or digital nomad hubs. They participated in the places they visited.
For anyone considering extended travel, this is critical. Yes, you can travel solo successfully. But the richest experience comes from meaningful human connection, whether that’s with a travel companion or with the communities you pass through.
Most digital nomad advice focuses on location independence, earning potential, or the freedom to work from anywhere. These are legitimate goals, but they miss something deeper.
Running With Cat’s memoirs reveal that Anthony and Catherine weren’t traveling to escape their lives or chase Instagram-worthy moments. They were traveling to seize every moment with the time they had. They were running not to accumulate race medals but to feel alive, together, in the face of something that threatened to take that away.
This reframing matters enormously. If you’re chasing the nomadic Lifestyle because you think it will solve problems or deliver happiness, you’ll be disappointed. If you’re traveling toward something meaningful, toward people you Love, toward experiences that matter to you, then the logistics become secondary.
Ask yourself: Why am I doing this? What am I moving toward, not away from? How will this time change me or strengthen my relationships? These questions matter more than any booking strategy.
Long term travel wears on your body and mind in unexpected ways. Constant movement, changing time zones, different food, unfamiliar medical systems, and the Stress of always being slightly out of place takes a toll.
Running was Anthony and Catherine’s anchor. It provided structure, community, purpose, and a physical outlet for processing what was happening in their lives. They didn’t run to escape. They ran to stay grounded.
For nomadic living to be sustainable, you need a practice that keeps you present and healthy. For some, that’s running. For others, it might be Yoga, swimming, hiking, or writing. Find something that gives you physical Exercise and psychological anchor. Don’t treat it as optional when travel gets hard. Treat it as essential infrastructure.
While community and partnership matter, so does stillness. Nomadic living can feel relentless. There’s always a new place, new logistics to manage, new people to navigate.
Anthony carved out space for reflection. His blog, which later became Running With Cat’s ‘Running All Over the World,’ served as a way to process their experience in real time. Writing wasn’t an afterthought. It was part of the journey itself.
If you’re planning long term travel, build in practices that allow you to reflect and integrate what’s happening. Keep a journal. Take photos for reasons beyond social media. Sit quietly in each place for at least a few hours. Let the experience settle into you rather than just accumulating passport stamps.
Nomadic living teaches you things that no guidebook can explain. It shows you that you’re more resilient than you thought. It proves that meaning comes from connection, not from accumulation. It demonstrates that some of life’s most profound moments happen when you’re far from home, stripped of pretense, operating on instinct and love.
The best long term travel tips won’t come from listicles or travel blogs. They’ll come from deciding what matters most to you, and then building a life around it. Running With Cat proves that when you get that priority right, everything else falls into place. The races will happen. The destinations will surprise you. And the memories will sustain you for the rest of your life.
The post Nomadic Living: Lessons From Long-Term Travel Abroad first appeared on Running With Cat.
