Being Nomadic, AKA The Freedom Of Getting Rid of Shit

My life in 2 suitcases & 2 guitars

   The time had finally come it was April of 2026 and I was about to hand my home of over 15 years off to a property management company and begin my life as an expat abroad, starting in Argentina... I knew I couldn't bring too much as it would be a matter of whatever I could carry to the airport, that decision became 2 checked bags, one back pack, and two guitars. After 45 years on the Earth, it was time to get rid of all the other shit. I knew I would ultimately be happy with the decision but expected some depression from getting rid of stuff early on... That turned out to be very wrong! 

    Lets start with what I brought beyond the common sense things that everyone brings overseas (some clothes, important documents, etc):

• The 2 Guitars, I have 5, but I had a hard case for my electric which I would put in the fate of baggage handlers and carry the other. It wouldn't save me a ton of money, but I really liked these guitars. That being said if the airline destroyed em I'd buy new ones. Update: the electric guitar made it in great shape!
  
• Certain guitar pedals, hard to find overseas, made life easier bringing them.
  
• Vocal microphones, small and way cheaper to buy in the USA. 
  
• Harmonicas, same thing.
  
• Two coffee mugs, I literally brought these because there was so much extra space in my second luggage and they were both a homage to my life in the USA so I felt I'd bring a part of me there. If there was no space they would have sailed off into the trash.
  
• 2 hard disk drives, these were SUPER IMPORTANT, I said planning on moving abroad, the most important things I owned were photos, music, videos, and guitars. 3 out of the 4 all fit on a hard disk. I also sent one to my brother as a third back up. Normal photos sailed off to trash which we will discuss next, but it was important for the memories to bring the hard disks with me.
  
• I am born in the '80s, so I still had a few photo books from my childhood, and even my early twenties. I didn't want to get rid of these, but it was also unrealistic to carry around photos for the rest of my life. I found a great company called Legacy box, not sponsored, sent them the photos and they sent me back a hard drive. Easy peasy and the memories can now travel with me forever.
  
• Flair Bottles, I have a super weird hobby from my bartending days of flipping bottles, I didn't check  before I left but I venture to say it may be difficult to find these in Argentina. Turns out when I arrived I could have got them there as well. You live you learn.
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
  

    Now lets get to the getting rid of shit, aka the fun part!

    The day I flew out I realized that the above was too much shit! I planned on getting rid of more shit when I got to Buenos Aires, yes I literally was bringing things to another continent just to ultimately get rid of them. I was so frustrated that I didn't even wait to get to Buenos Aires. At the airport in Phoenix, my carry on with essentials had things that weren't so essential. For example a nice watch in a box... I don't need the box! Some documents over 15 years old... Don't need em!!! I also only had my first apartment for a month so after the big move, I would move all my personal stuff again, this was a good opportunity to reevaluate. Here's some things I did wrong and either changed or would have changed:

• CDs, Back to the '80s, or perhaps the '90s. I had a collection of CDs forever. I haven't played them since the early 2000s at best. But I kept them on my wall, kind of a decoration or homage to the bands I like. I always joke that I knew I would never play them again, it was more like an art display. I really did not want to get rid of them, I even considered just putting them up in the attic, the heat would ruin them, but they would still be the art. During this period. I had spent not joking, around $19,000 on my house on upgrades and things to rent it out. And I saw I could sell the CDs for about $200, I decided why not! I probably spent about $2,000 on the CDs, but it wasn't really about money, I just wanted to know they had a good at home. Hopefully the people that bought them on eBay from me or enjoying them now.
  
  
• Socks and underwear... For my normal trips this is the most important thing to load up on, I say you can wear a shirt two or three times in good weather without washing it but you certainly can't do that with socks and underwear. These are also the most easily replaceable items, think about your favorite shirt, gym shirt, pants, you can probably think of them quickly. But if I said your favorite socks or underwear it would be a tough decision. 
  
  
• Reevaluate daily wear! I go to the gym 5-6 times a week, yet I arrived in Argentina with at least 10 gym shirts, I do laundry every week, so this was a waste of space.
  
  
• How many black shirts do I really need? I arrived with 5-7. One short sleeve, one long sleeve, and two tees, would have been better. 
  
  
• Coats, pick 1, unless you are moving somewhere very cold. And that coat will go on your body for the flight, along with one heavy sweater. I however brought 2 coats, and 3 sweaters, which I probably didn't even need for a New York winter where I grew up, but they made good padding for my electronics.
  
  
• Living out of my suitcase also helped more with getting rid of shit. When I say living out of the suitcase I am speaking literally. I was in an Airbnb first, and didn't know if that was what was going to stay for me. So I really only unpacked as needed. After the first week the suitcase was still at least 75% packed. The first week had multiple gym days, a formal event, a few nice dates, and yet still I only needed 25% of the clothes!
  
  
• Shoes: this was a hard one, especially for me personally because my foot is a little bigger and not always easy to find my size, but shoes take up a lot of space in the bags, even if you stuff them with socks. I had to get rid of a good amount of my shoes. I showed up with 6 pairs counting the ones I wore. Threw out about the same amount.
  
  
• Bring $5,000 extra. It's probably too much, or it may be just right if you need to buy furniture. One of my checked bags was worth no more than $1,000 in items. For now I am young and can haul four bags on my own, but if I continue the nomadic life I think it would just be easier to have a padded savings and spend a day buying things on arrival.
  
  

  

  New apartment essentials

The Return Trip: Shit I brought back to Argentina that I Didn't Think I Needed

    I went back to visit the USA and get some work done after about 4 months, I plan on going back every 4-6 months or so. It's my financial center of interest, and Airbnb management companies charge an arm and a leg for a few projects I'll continue to do myself on my rental. So I headed back in June. And even though I just talked about getting rid of shit, I brought more shit back to Argentina! Sort of...

• Italian language novels, I speak fluent Italian but I'm not a native speaker, so I don't want to lose it. It's a bit harder than I thought finding print books in Argentina, and the ones I ordered from Italy in April may never arrive to my apartment in Argentina at this point (September). So I brought 20 or so books mostly paperback back to Argentina. I really gotta bite the bullet and get a kindle!!!
  
  

  

  Argentina homework, don't forget Italian!

• Cast iron pans! In the carne capital of the world we went to so many department stores and couldn't find these. I could have ordered them online, but this is the type of thing I need to touch before I buy it. So I picked up a couple from the US for the meats I cook here. Then of course as karma would have it, I saw them in the same store that didn't have them before I left.
• Electronics is a no brainer, I bought my girlfriend an amazon fire tablet which is dirt cheap in the US compared to here.
• Socks... Work with me here... Yes Argentina sells socks, but I hate organizing my socks! So I don't want different ones. It was hard to find champion socks in Argentina so I bought some in the US to restock! I know I said these are easy to replace, but those damn champion brands are so comfortable!

   I have a formula for my clothes, whatever amount of shirts, pants, etc I own, is the number I will forever own. If I buy a new shirt tomorrow, I need to figure out a shirt to get rid of. I don't get rid of it that day, I take the shirt that is a bit old, or next in the chopping block, and put it in my travel bag. So the next trip the shirt will come with me, but won't come home with me! It's so much easier to get rid of "your favorite shirt from 2015" when it will make more room for a nice bottle of wine, or a new shirt you are buying while back packing Chile. 

Why am I shopping here??? Hmm...

     Little knickknack things are great. I bought a few for my home in Argentina, but the U2 photo, the Bariloche magnet, the Optimus Prime glass, will not be part of my life forever, it's something that's easier to accept now that I've moved across the USA once, and out of the USA once! I even bought a Samurai Sword, it looks great in the apartment, but when I leave, it will be sold or donated... Where does one donate a Samurai Sword??? Hmmm... Anyway...

Transform!

     Minimalist doesn't mean nothing. But I love the freedom I now have living here, and the freedom of being a minimalist to get here. Once you arrive, you think a little bit about everything back home... From the little knickknacks to the big things. But then one day... You wake up, and all of your "things" are now in your new home. You live a life of freedom. Freedom of movement, flexibility, adventure, new frontiers, new memories.... The memories... You don't need any luggage for those, and they are the best things that we can carry forever... All from the freedom of getting rid of shit!

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Mexico

 I've been to Mexico several times, I lived in Arizona for almost 20 years and loved driving down there when it was closer, now I'm a bit further away (currently Argentina)! But here's my Mexico articles!

My Early Trips To Mexico

CDMX Mexico City

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CDMX

     It's 1998ish... Maybe 1997ish? I live in Brooklyn. I am in high school and engulfing myself in a U2 album released a few years ago called "Achtung Baby". Its brought me to read a book by Bill Flanagan about their tour for that album. He writes a page or so about the tour arrival to Mexico City. He speaks of how massive it is, the view from the sky, the feeling, the air, the city... I am enthralled. I have not traveled further than east coast at this point in my life. I don't speak Spanish. Forget about a passport, I don't even have my birth certificate as a teenager. But I decide then, wow... One day I want to go to this Mexico City.

                  

     It's 2003ish... I am a police officer for the NYPD. I'm learning a little Spanish. I've seen U2 on tour now many times, I even went to Cancun on Spring Break. I have my passport for my dream trip, and first overseas trip that would happen in 6 years (Japan). I'm also about to move out of New York City to spend what would be the next 19 years in Arizona. I'm organized and planning things constantly, this includes a list of fun things, aka travel, that I plan on doing once I'm more settled in Arizona better. I put the list in an important binder of important things that I keep and am still using today for my immigration process in Argentina. I know Mexico City is a direct flight from Arizona, so I assume it will happen soon.

                    

    The list doesn't quite happen on time, it's only 4 things. I'll eventually see the Mr. Olympia in Las Vegas in 2014, Japan 2009 as mentioned, Los Angeles becomes somewhat of a recurring destination from friends, concerts, my Italian citizenship process, etc. I go to Mexico several times, Puerto Penasco driving, I speak Spanish fluently now, but for some reason, as I traveled to over 70 countries, and all 7 continents, I never hit that Mexico City bucket list item from the early 2000s. I always say, I want to go, I'll do it soon, I can't do it now because this or that. You know how it goes.

Chapultepec Castle

     2025. Over 27 years since a 16 or 17 year old kid in Brooklyn read that Bill Flanagan book. I am still living in Arizona but the clock is ticking. I am retiring in 2026 from the fire department and have some ideas to move abroad, meaning Mexico City isn't going to be such a close destination soon. It's finally time. I had the usual reasons not to go, work, friends, an event, whatever... The hell with it, I book it.

              

   Its about a 3 hour flight from Phoenix to Mexico City, or as I would now as someone who learned Spanish say CDMX. It's June and its almost boiling in Phoenix. But the time finally came, I booked the flight. This place is an amazing city for everyone, but particularly for Phoenix in the summer with 100+ heat I can't imagine a better quick international trip to immerse in a different world, and cool off at the same time. It's not super cold in June, but it's definitely sweater weather at night time, and relaxed in the day. 

     The flight is smooth and customs is even smoother, I don't speak to any immigration officer, I enter with my passport at an automatic Kiosk. I am sure this is not every experience, but it was a great way to start the trip. If you are at the window seat enjoy the view of the massive sprawl until you land. After immigrations the trip to the city by Uber took about 30 minutes, easy check in and shout out to Kukun Apartments I found on Airbnb, the rooftop views by day and night were both breathtaking.

U2 shirt in honor of the original inspiration

    This can be a short trip, or it can be a lifetime. As I wrote about before, we don't have a lifetime to travel. I only visited for 4 days. Luckily with flight times, it was a pretty solid 4 days, no real loss of time in the air, time zone, etc. But it was an incredible 4 days. I wish I could spend a month here, but it seems like 1998 when the trip was planned was last week, I'm going to blink and it's going to be 2053... If I make it! So 4 days was sufficient. If you are doing the pyramids which I did, that's a day in itself, so it left me 3ish days to really take advantage of the city, I decided early on like many trips, this wasn't going to be a relaxing beachy type trip, this was going to be early mornings exploring, late night partying, and all the fun in between for 80 or so hours there.

              

Day 1: I took the city by foot/uber. The art museum, the Constitution Plaza, Chapultepec Castle, Zocalo, and more...

     The Angel of Independence. It was super important for me to see the angel, it's famous, yet not the most famous. But for me whenever I watch Spanish TV when I see the angel I realize we are in Mexico City much better than just the skyline shots. Plus overall, the symbol of an angel? What's not to love? I was so capitivated by it, that I made it a mission to also visit at night, and to enjoy a rooftop cocktail after over it.

Day 2: was time for the pyramids! Teotihuacan Pyramids! I've been to Egypt and can say these big boy compete with the pyramids of Giza! We did a full day tour starting with a hot air balloon over the pyramids.


Landing to champagne toasts, then on foot, followed by brunch in a cave, and tequila tastings!

This tour can be done on its own... Well, not the air balloon part, but aside from that it can be done on it's own but well worth it for the extra money to have the guides, and all the bonuses.

Breakfast in the cave!

                         

Day 3: As mentioned I grew up in NYC, when we saw the big red tourist buses there, we would laugh, maybe even make fun of them, "these tourists! I'll never be caught dead on on those!!!"

                         

Yeah... Don't throw stones at glass houses. So the big red hop on hop off tour bus in Mexico City was perfect! It goes only to the main tourist sites, there was an audio phone option for history etc, but I elected to speak with friends instead.

    The bus is much cheaper than ubering place to place, and something that never occurred to me in my arrogant New York days, the upper level caught some great views. Museo Soumaya, Zocalo, the revolution monument, and more!

Hotel roof view

Day 4: The flight unfortunately was leaving early, so breakfast at the airport before heading back to Phoenix. 

                       Some Travel Notes

• The trip wasn't super cheap, but from Phoenix it definitely didn't break the bank, under $1,000 for 4 days and three nights staying in the Roma area.
  
  
  
  
• Overall safety it was the safest place I've ever been in Mexico, not to say bad things don't happen, but overall it was a safe feeling.
  
                                                             
• Food! I love the Sonoran Mexican food more than anything else, CDMX didn't change that. But that being said everything from street food to the elegant dining was excellent. 

• Night life has everything you'd expect for a giant city, and it was easy to get around with Uber.
• English is definitely NOT widely spoken, so review your Spanish prior to coming.
  
  

  

  I wasn't kidding about how excited I was for the angel!

    I am currently at the time of writing living in Argentina. Mexico City was a magical place for me. After visiting over 70 countries, and Mexico itself over a dozen times. I didn't think it would have that much of an affect on me, but travel can surprise you like that. From where I live in Argentina to CDMX is a hike now, and costly. But I definitely want to go back. Since there are no direct flights from Buenos Aires to Phoenix, perhaps I can make it my intentional layover trip? Who knows... I would be lying if I said I don't regret not going more often when it was a short flight from Phoenix. It's another world from there and yet so close, I wish I went more. I didn't know in 1997 it would take me almost 30 years to make it there. I hope it doesn't take my 30 years to make it back.

Goodbye CDMX, hope to see you again

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