Christina Davis, a 28-year-old digital nomad coach, currently resides in Bali and hosts masterclasses for those who desire to be digital nomads. After college in Barcelona, she worked in America for 5 years but decided to seek excitement from travel and booked a one-way ticket to Asia 2 years ago! Since then she has been travelling, building social networks, encountering people and making them understand her dream of living abroad.

What did you study before you became a full-time traveller?

I actually studied Biology in university, which has absolutely nothing to do with what I am doing now (laughs). My background was all in science…I worked a bit in sales so I had a background in sales too. When I started my business online I took up a course, learnt how to deal with clients and built my business over time. Throughout the duration of growing my business, I also purchased more courses to learn from others and the mentoring helped me find a way to fast-track myself and curb obstacles.

Why did you start travelling?

I pretty much started travelling in university. After college, I moved to Tokyo and Singapore for a few months each. When I was living abroad, in an apartment and doing normal life in these places, I realised how I really and truly loved living abroad and being immersed in a different country, in a different culture, and still being able to work and make money! This was a completely different experience from the States where I was raised, so that’s where I got the desire to live this lifestyle. Globetrotter Carlos Volpe And His Unique Travel Experiences

How did you become a digital nomad?

It started with virtual assistance, then I grew and became a social media manager. While I was doing social media management while travelling, people would reach out and ask me “how do you live in this (digital nomad) lifestyle?” After that, I realised there was a gap in the market where people wanted to know how digital nomads do what they do, so I started investing in myself and building my digital nomad coaching business. I basically help people discover exactly what they can do online based on their interests, skills, and passions. Then help them build this surface-based business from the ground up!

Does travelling mean something to you personally?

I think travel is different for everyone, and that’s why I love it so much. For me, it really opened my eyes to what the world has to offer. We come from various backgrounds, cultures, and ways of upbringing, but the idea of travelling and being open to someone else’s life, culture or religious customs sparked my love to travel.

The world has so much diversity and I want to see as much as I can in my lifetime because the more you can see the more you can open up about what’s around you. “Best Decision Ever”: Jo & Jack On Living the Van Life

List three things you love about being a digital nomad.

I like being surrounded by like-minded people, that’s a really big one, especially being in a digital nomad community. It’s really difficult and debilitating to make someone understand your dream when you work 9 to 5. So it’s really awesome to be surrounded by people who understand and support your dreams.

Another big one is the food. I love being able to live in different countries, try their food and experience a whole different way of life!

The last one would be having the freedom to decide what your day or week or month would look like. The freedom to decide where and when you’re working. It’s such a big aspect of my digital nomad lifestyle and it’s one of the biggest takeaways as well when you want to create and design your life. Travel Content Creator Kellie Paxian’s Life Of Adventures

Since you talked about your love to try new cultural foods, what is your favourite one?

For me, I really love Japanese food. I think it’s delicious and I’m a big fish person so I love fresh raw seafood. But really… A lot of Asian foods are my favourite, they can be so simple but have the best flavour combinations.

Perhaps you can share your first ever trip?

As a kid, I went travelling with my family, but I would say my first ever impactful trip would be when I went to Barcelona on my own. I think travelling with your family is great, but living solo somewhere is different. I think as a kid, you take for granted the procedures in planning a trip, so figuring things out and living in Barcelona on my own was the first impactful trip I had.

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Did that first adventure teach you something?

It taught me to be outside of my comfort zone. I was in a country where I’ve spoken a bit of Spanish but not too much. I had to find my way of living and find new friends, so it taught me how to be independent and step up for myself.

Since you go on regular weekend trips, where do you usually go?

Currently, I’m doing trips around Bali, which has been amazing. I went to jungles, beaches, cliffs…There are different islands so I went snorkelling and scuba diving. I’m travelling to Bali as much as I can because there’s so much beauty to it.

Are there any interesting incidents that are memorable to you?

I made a mistake which I have learnt afterwards which was I went free diving in the Philippines and flew the next day thinking I had enough time. And I actually burst both of my eardrums on the plane. I landed in Cambodia without hearing anything, which was scary in a sense. The fact that I was by myself and I didn’t have anyone to help me…But obviously, I was able to recover. Looking back, being 90% deaf and trying to get my visa on arrival was definitely an interesting story itself (chuckles). So now I make sure I do not do that again!

How do you think travellers can travel sustainably and lower their carbon footprint?

I think a lot of it is slow travel…To be able to travel, experience the city or town you’re in, stay there for a week or a few months and enjoy the culture there then move on without rushing. I think some digital nomads wanted to hit as many countries or hotspots, and they would travel so much that would increase their carbon footprint.

Do you have any travel hacks for digital nomads?

I think a big one is travel credit cards. They are so important if you’re travelling a lot because a lot of times I would fly for free… Meaning that I would use the points that I’ve acquired over time from travelling to purchase free flights. I definitely think it’s really worth it to look into that, make sure you don’t spend more than you have, pay off your debts and use the benefits that travel credit cards bring.

Follow Christina Davis and Her Adventures at @christinadavis!