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Personal Essay
We Found a Desert and Fell In
What I am learning in our first days as digital nomads
“Okay, hear me out.”
My boyfriend, James, starts every eccentric idea the same way. He subsequently suggested, in a conversation about our lease end dates and our raw, optimistic future, that we put our toasters and shag rugs into storage and travel — indefinitely.
It was March of 2023 and we had been living in Austin for a handful of years. We both work remotely and felt quite comfortable, though somewhat disillusioned with the city’s hype in recent years.
My experience losing a home in 2021 due to Texas’s fatal freeze had amplified my nerves every time the temperature dropped. Every winter, I was a tightly wound with anxiety. I didn’t trust the city’s infrastructure as much I had when I arrived the July before the catastrophe, and I still don’t.
On top of that, my itchy feet have always won me over. I regularly long for new places to travel, new experiences to have. The comfort I felt in knowing Austin so well was wonderful. But I also had so much fun in the process of getting to know the city: the discomfort of trying new restaurants, driving down new streets, chatting with locals, and spending time in different neighborhoods. We both…
