Nomad year 2024 – Adventures on three continents

Published: January 5, 2025

Tags: cost summaries | travel budget | yearly summary

Happy New Year 2025! It’s time to look back and reflect the past year, the ups and downs, the moments of success and joy as well as the failures and lessons learned. With this post we continue our tradition of summarizing the travels, expenses, sports and other statistics. 2024 was our seventh full year as digital nomads, and it was a year with plenty of traveling both in Europe and overseas.

In the summary of the year 2023 we wrote that we would continue traveling in East Africa, visit London, make some road trips in Europe, do house-sits and travel somewhere warm for the winter. All of those things happened, but we thought that the warm winter destination would be either in Africa or in Asia, but it turned to be neither of those!

In this post:

Travels in Kenya and Tanzania in early 2024
Visit to Finland in March
London and Nottingham in spring
Road trip through the Baltic countries and Poland
To beautiful Bohinj in Slovenia
House-sitting, road trips and craft beer in Croatia
Road trip in the Balkans
Trip to Egypt in November
Caribbean calling!
Travel statistics 2024
Costs and revenues 2024
FinnsAway travel blog and our other blogs
Sports and activities 2024
How does 2025 look like?

Travels in Kenya and Tanzania in early 2024

We rang in the new year 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya, that was our home-base during our half-a-year stay in eastern and southeastern Africa. We worked quite a lot, but also got to get to know Nairobi better, and we really did enjoy living in this bustling East-African metropolis. In mid January we made a holiday trip to Tanzania, visiting the beautiful Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam. In Zanzibar we stayed mostly in the small village of Jambiani, exploring the east coast of the Ungula island, and visited Jozani Forest to see the indigenous Red Colobus monkeys. We also stayed for a short while in the Stone Town. Related to our craft beer blog, we visited Crafty Dee’s brewpub in Dar es Salaam, a great place for beer lovers!

Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

In February we made another short trip to the coast of Kenya. Earlier we had been in Mombasa and Diani Beach, so now we headed north from Mombasa to Kilifi. Kilifi turned our to be a rather chilled beach destination, great for relaxing. Blog post about Kilifi will follow.

Visit to Finland in March

In March it was time to say farewell to Nairobi, Kenya and Africa. We enjoyed our stay there a lot, and during the six months we visited altogether seven countries; in addition to Kenya and Tanzania we also traveled in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Uganda and Rwanda. The main reason to leave was work related – we flew back to our home country Finland to once again work in Oulu Music Festival in our former home town. This has been a yearly tradition during our whole nomadic life actually, and in addition to the two-weeks festival we traveled around the country visiting family and friends.

London and Nottingham in spring

In April we flew from Finland to London in the UK. The main reason for this trip was actually a bit unusual; we had to go to the Bank of England to change some outdated Sterling Pounds to new bills. But it as about a time to revisit this iconic city, and we enjoyed our stay a lot!

We got a house-sitting place from Hackney District for almost two weeks, taking care of a lovely lurcher called Ripley. It was a great base for exploring the city, and we liked Hackney and Hackney Wick neighborhoods a lot! Naturally we also got to know the craft beer scene of the area, and wrote about it in our Craft Beer Nomads blog.

From London we traveled to Nottingham. This trip was partly work related, but we liked the city a lot! It’s a vibrant, historical city with beautiful architecture – many may “know” it from the tale of Robin Hood. We also did a short dog-sitting gig near Nottingham in Long Eaton.

Road trip through the Baltic countries and Poland

From England we flew back to Finland in May to pick up our camper van. It was time to begin the vanlife summer in Europe with a road trip south through the Baltic countries. The journey started as usual, with a ferry trip to Tallinn, but this time, instead of the fastest route, Via Baltica, we chose a detour through the west coast of Latvia and Lithuania, visiting the coastal cities of Liepaja in Latvia and Klaipeda in Lithuania.

From Lithuania we continued to Poland. The first stops there were a short visit to Warsaw and a house-sit in a small village close to the capital. We love to do house-sits wherever we travel, since they offer both a cost-free accommodation and a chance to focus more on work in a proper house, usually with better internet than in hostels or airbnb apartments for example. And it’s even better if there are pets, since we love to do dog walks and give cuddles to pets.

The main destination in Poland this time was Wrocław, the fourth largest city of the country, famous for beautiful old town. Wrocław is built on 12 islands and banks of the Oder River, and because of that it’s often called the Venice of Poland. Wrocław, which received city rights in 1261, has a very long history, and the streets of the oldest parts of the city exude the atmosphere of centuries past.

Wrocław is also known for its dwarf statues, representing various professions, legends, events, activities and characters. There are hundreds of these small dwarf statues especially in the old town area statues, and they have sort of become a symbol of Wrocław. The story of the statues dates back to the 1980s and the anti-communist Orange Alternative movement, as well as the hats often used in peaceful protests. The first drafws were drawings on walls, supporting free speech and public gatherings, and the first statues were placed in 2003. A separate post about Wrocław will follow.

To beautiful Bohinj in Slovenia

From Wrocław the road trip continued via Mikulov in Czech Republic and Saalbach in Austria to the Balkan countries. Mikulov is an old town in the South Moravian region near the Austrian border, known for its very well-preserved historical architecture. The town’s most famous attraction is the magnificent Mikulov Chateau, which is located on a hill practically in the middle of the town and can be seen from afar. Saalbach in Austria is best known as a winter holiday and skiing destination. Our plan in there was to do some hike on the mountains, but with the weather being cloudy and rainy, we unfortunately didn’t get to enjoy the mountain views much.

The first destination in the Balkans was Slovenia, where we did a house-sit in a small mountain village in Bohinj in early June. It was wonderful to get to explore this stunningly beautiful area, including the mountainous Triglav National Park and the famous lakes of Slovenia, Lake Bohinj and Lake Bled.

House-sitting, road trips and craft beer in Croatia

In the summer we spent almost two months in Croatia, doing a long dog-sitting gig near Zagreb. We took care of a lovely Corgi named Pela, and also traveled a bit around with her, since she loved to be in the van. We visited a music festival and explored the beautiful coast of Croatia a bit, including a revisit to Zadar, a coastal town with a lovely, walled old town.

As we lived close to Zagred, we made several day trips to the capital, both to explore the city and the craft beer scene of it. We visited several microbreweries in and around the city, and learned a lot about the beer culture of the country and the Balkans in genera. Posts about craft beer in Croatia will follow in the Craft Beer Nomads blog.

Croatia is best know for the coast, but there are plenty of other interesting areas to be explored. We made with Pela a short trip to the northern part of the country, visiting Varaždin and Čakovec. These beautiful, small historical cities were very quiet during the summer weekend, and we got to explore them, and the castles, almost by ourselves.

Road trip and hikes in the Balkans

When the house-sit ended in August, it was time to make a road trip in the Balkans. We headed to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Kosovo, exploring both cities and nature. It was a wonderful road trip full of interesting destinations, including Banja Luka, Sarajevo, Mostar, Trebinje, Počitelj, Durmitor National Park, Bar, Pristina and Prizren, among others. We also made several short hikes in these countries, including a trek on top of the highest peak of Kosovo. Posts from Balkan countries will follow!

In late September we returned to Slovenia, and made another, longer house-sit in Bohinj. During the second sit there, we needed to focus mostly on work, but we also did a couple of day hikes in Triglav National Park, admiring the mountain peaks that had already gotten a snow-cap. We also made several brewery visits in Slovenia, and shortly visited the capital city Ljubljana as well as Maribor, Kamnik and a few other smaller towns.

In October we drove quite a lot around Europe, first through the eastern Europe to visit Finland in October, then back down to Poland and through Germany to France. We stayed for a bit longer periods in Warsaw, where we participated the Warsaw Beer Festival, and in Torun, a beautiful old city in central Poland.

Trip to Egypt in November

In November it was time to leave our van and Europe behind, and start winter season overseas with a trip to Egypt. This trip was party related to work, but we also had time to explore this historical country with endless amount of ancient sites. The first stop in Egypt was Giza, where we stayed for a few days and made a tour to the Pyramids of Giza, to Saqqara and Memphis.

From Giza we took a night bus along the River Nile to Luxor. Luxor is famous for temples and tombs, and the highlights of our stay in there included visits to the Valley of the Kings, to the Karnak Temple Complex and to the Luxor Temple. Amazing sights!

The last destination in Egypt was Hurghada by the Red Sea. Our stay there was mostly work related, but we did get to admire the sea views in Hurghada Marina and to visit El Gouna, a tourist city known for canals, luxus accommodation on islands and a marina with fancy yachts.

Caribbean calling!

From Egypt we flew via Europe to the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean! The plan for the winter month is to explore new countries to us in the Caribbean and in Latin America. We stayed for a month in the Dominican Republic, and started with a house-sit in Dominicus Bayahibe. From Bayahibe we also made a fantastic tour to the idyllic Saona Island.

The next destination in Dominican was the capital city Santo Domingo, with a charming old center. The Ciudad Colonial of Santo Domingo is the oldest still inhabited city funded by Europeans in the new world.

From Santo Domingo we continued to the mountainous central part of the country, visiting Jarabacoa and the Salto Jimenoa Dos waterfall. We also stayed for a few days on the north coast in Sosua and in the south coast in Boca Chica.

Before Christmas we flew to the British Virgin Islands, for a 3,5 weeks house-sit on the beautiful Virgin Gorda island. We are taking care of Bruno-the-dog over the holiday season, and get to explore Virgin Gorda and enjoy the stunning beaches – not a bad way to ring in the new year!

Travel statistics 2024

Visited countries: 25 in total, 4 new countries

Ways of traveling:
– 11 flights
– roughly 15 000 kilometers with our camper van
– 3 long distance ferry trips
– 3 long distance train trips
– 15 long distance bus
– dozens of local buses, metro trips, uber etc.

Accommodation:
– 121 nights in apartments, guest-houses or hostels (mostly via Booking.com)
– 117 nights house-sitting
– 48 nights related to business traveling
-48 with family or friends
– 25 nights in our camper van (8 on camping sites, 17 wild camping)
– 6 nights overnight traveling (bus / airport)
– 1 night in a mountain hut

Costs and revenues of nomad year 2024

Below is the cost summary graph of all the costs of our nomadic life in 2024. During the year we traveled on three continents: Africa, Europa and North America (Caribbean). We flew and spent more money than on the previous years, but it was still a rather budget friendly year, with total costs of 23 223 € all together for two people. Let’s take a short look on what this sum consists of.

Accommodation costs sum up to 3 619 €, which is 714 € more than in 2023. On average the costs were 28 € per night for those nights that we paid for (so excluding all free-of-charge accommodation like house-sitting and business). As described above in the travel statistics, we stayed altogether 177 nights house-sitting, 48 nights related to work, and 48 nights with family and friends. Counting in also cost-free nights wild camping, and overnight traveling, we stayed altogether 237 nights free of charge, which is a lot, and thus the total accommodation costs of the year were again quite low.

Grocery costs, that include all the food and drinks (also quite a lot of wine and craft beer…) bought from supermarkets and other stores, sum up to 4 680 €, which is on average 11,81 € per day for us two. Restaurant costs were altogether 4 718 € (12,89 € per day). We did eat out a bit more than in previous years, and also stayed in countries, where both restaurant costs and prices of groceries were a bit higher. Also, it’s worth noticing that almost half of the restaurant costs are (again) alcohol drinks, mostly craft beer – it’s our nice but quite expensive hobby to taste local brews in craft beer pubs wherever we go!

Traveling (transportation) costs were altogether 5 108 € (14 € per day), which was way more than on previous years. The sum consists of flights (2324 €), fuel (1 448 €), long distance bus and train tickets (423 €) ferry tickets (276 €), local transportation (222 €), uber / other taxis (190 €), and some occasional parking costs, road taxes and fines. In addition to these travel costs that we paid ourselves, there were some business related travel costs like flights to Finland from Kenya, that were covered by our customer, so they are not listed here.

In category Tourism, all together 518 €, there are visa costs, costs of adventures and tours and entrance fees. The sum consists of visas to Tanzania (93 €), environmental fees to entrance the British Virgin Islands (19 €), tours and entrance fees in Egypt (240 €), tour to Saona Island in Dominican Republic (106 €) and some smaller entrance fees to sights.

Other costs, altogether 2 065 €, includes healthcare costs (868 €, mostly dental care costs), clothes and shoes (340 €), gym fees (129 €), presents (75 €) and all small purchases like cosmetics, toiletries, housing goods and camping gas. In addition, in this category there are ATM fees and local SIM cards + prepaid data.

In addition to these above listed costs of traveling and living abroad, we have the so called Yearly Costs category, altogether 1 699 €. This sum consists of travel insurance costs (577 €) and other insurances (154 €), car repair and inspection costs (363 €), car taxes (237 €), phone bills (224 €), purchases for the camping van (87 €) as well as subscriptions (56 €). Also, there is a yearly category called Equipment (815 €) that included a new phone and a tablet (540 €), a sports watch (153 €), headphones and speaker (81 €) and some smaller equipment purchases.

Adding up all the above mentioned together, the price tag of our nomad year was 23 223 € for us two (11 611 € per person), which is on average 1 935 € per month or 63 € per day for the two of us. Taking into account that this sum includes not just traveling, but all the costs of our nomadic life, we think that it’s not that much money, and that every penny was well spent.

On the revenue side, we worked through our own company, doing business development, international sales & marketing, web-development, content creation and other tasks for Finnish companies (mostly for Manna Insect) and for Oulu Music Festival. In addition, we also got some rental income (minus costs) of the apartment that we own in Finland. Our revenue covers all the expenses of the year, and instead of eating our buffers, we were able to save money for years to come.

FinnsAway travel blog and our other blogs

2024 was another quiet year in this blog site. We only published a few new posts about our travels in Africa. It was a challenge to find enough time for this blog with all other writing tasks and work on hand. FinnsAway has been active in social media though, with a bunch of content Facebook page as well as in our Instragram account.

Most read posts in 2024

The list most popular posts in FinnsAway once again included both hiking related content and travel guide. The most read post was about the sun-kissed Algarve region in southern Portugal. Part of the most read posts are quite old already, and we really need to update both the content and the appearance of these old posts. As in previous years, the vast majority of readers come to the blog via Google searches.

In addition to FinnsAway blog, we write posts about craft beer and breweries around the world in our Craft Beer Nomads blog, – the beer blog has been way more active than FinnsAway, and it’s also reaching quite nice audience in Instagram. We also have an active blog for our Finnish speaking audience; Elämää Nomadina, is a site that focuses on our story as nomadic travelers, including informative articles about this lifestyle as well as a travel diary. In addition, we have a (rather inactive) site dedicated to house-sitting, Nomad Housesitters.

Sports and activities 2024

We love active lifestyle and outdoor adventures, and do quite a lot of sports to help us stay healthy and fit. We run a lot, do hikes whenever staying close to mountains, go to gym or do bodyweight exercises, go cross-country skiing if we visit Finland in winter, and do other sporty things depending on the possibilities in our current location.

In 2024 we clocked in altogether 1398 running kilometres (116,5 km per month). That is quite a lot of running, trail running and treadmill running, but remarkable less than in 2023 and especially in 2022, when we were maybe a bit too addicted with our running targets. This led to 2024 being more versatile, as we also focused on other sports that running. We went to gym or did other weight training altogether 88 times, and did 8 hikes / treks, most of them just one day hikes (136 km in total). In addition we clocked in 97,5 km of cross-country skiing (which is not much, but to be fare, we only could go skiing 5 times) and did some SUP-boarding, kayaking and swimming. And of course we also walked a lot, but we do not count it as exercise. If you are interested in our sports statistics, check out our monthly activity summaries on the Sports page.

How does 2024 look like?

Well, we like to think that 2025 is going to be a very good year! We rang in the new year in the British Virgin Islands, and the first couple of months will be all about traveling in the Caribbean. At some point during the spring we will fly to the mainland and travel in Latin America, planning to explore at least in Colombia and in Brazil.

For the summer we will return to Europe and do a road trip with the camper van, most probably returning to the Balkan countries. We will also visit Finland during the summer (so unlike in previous years, we won’t go in March). Regarding the autumn our plan is not clear at all yet, but most probably we will again fly somewhere overseas, maybe finally to South-East Asia?