DIGITAL NOMAD SINCE 2006
I’m Andy. I worked my way around the world in 2006 with a Pocket PC and a roaming GPRS SIM. These days I’m based on the North East coast, close to my four kids. I still get itchy feet.
01 / MY STORY
The first time I left the UK, I was 17 and had saved up for a week in Tenerife. I came home wanting to see a lot more of the world.
JULY 2006
I’d gone self-employed building websites. We sold the flat, put wedding gifts towards round-the-world tickets and flew to Japan with our backpacks. I kept my own sites and client work going on an XDA Exec over GPRS, until I finally bought a laptop a few months in.
Read the original story2018–19
We packed up Lightning, our motorhome, and took the kids around Europe. I kept doing web development while we figured out what learning could look like on the move, from the Scottish Highlands to Scandinavia and Spain.
Read the worldschooling posts2020–NOW
When we came back from Spain in 2020, my priority was finding a place near the kids with room for each of them. I called that chapter “Static Dad” on the old blog. I’m a dad of four now, and being close enough to show up for each of them still shapes where I call home.
More about life now02 / TRAVEL LOG
Start with two trips that tell a lot of my story. The full routes, photos and notes are on my Polarsteps profile.
JULY 2006 – APRIL 2007
Newcastle to Japan, then on through China, India and Thailand, across to Australia and New Zealand, and home via South America.
See all 58 stops on Polarsteps
2018–19 / WORLDSCHOOLING
We started in Scotland, crossed to the Netherlands and worked our way through Scandinavia, the Alps and down to the Iberian Peninsula.
See all 149 stops on PolarstepsItineraries from Polarsteps. Coastlines from Natural Earth.
03 / LIFE NOW
I spend more time in one place these days. My four kids are at different stages of life, and being nearby means I can give each of them the time and support they need.
I used to call myself a “Life Nomad”. To me that meant using the freedom my work gave me to choose how and where I lived. Right now, that freedom lets me be close to my kids, work from home and make time for adventures that fit around family life.
A lot of those adventures happen on a mountain bike now. I film rides in real conditions around the Tweed Valley and other UK trails for Nomadic Dad MTB.
Read my latest update, Still Nomadic, Just Closer to Home.
Watch Nomadic Dad MTB04 / FROM THE ORIGINAL BLOG
Start with stories from the original Nomadic Dad blog.
REMOTE WORK / ORIGIN STORY
How a mobile phone comparison site helped me take my work around the world.
EUROPE BY MOTORHOME / 2018
A stop in the Swiss Alps during our year of learning and travelling in Lightning.
FATHERHOOD / 2021
Coming home from Spain and making room for a new chapter on the coast.
