Part of having a home base is making the most of the stability. As a full-time traveler, there is very little about your life that could be called stable. This instability can take a toll on you after a while. It’s not one big factor that makes traveling nonstop hard, but it is the accumulation of all of the small insecurities and moving parts to an ever-changing lifestyle that makes it difficult at times to keep it all together.
Many travelers burn out after a month, some after six months and others seem to handle it better and last for years. Very few, however, manage to travel full-time while running a business for long periods of time before they call it in and add a home base into the mix.
I’ve definitely started staying in places longer but still traveling at a hot pace within that destination. It wasn’t til I needed to set up a home base as part of my business structure that I added the home base into the equation. For various reasons, I settled in Cebu as it is in a country I love and has relatively cheap and handy access to Asia, Australia and other countries around the world.
With this home base, I am able to have periods throughout the year where I drop back to the base and it gives me time to breathe. Waking up in the same place, my gear all organized and unpacked and without the need to search for where to eat… life becomes simplified. These are all normalities for the 9-5 folk who live in their hometown but they are nothing normal to me.
Given that I now had that stability, this time for 25 days in Cebu, I thought it was a good time to add in certain daily routines to level-up my health, productivity, strength and life quality across the board. I wasn’t unhealthy, weak or with a poor life quality but we can always improve.
With a lot of solo time, I was able to reflect on what I needed to be doing better. I was honest with myself about my health, screen-time, injuries and other issues in my life. I researched, had some solid Youtube and internet sessions and came up with a few plans.
- The first plan was to try intermittent fasting with the 16:8 method. I hadn’t previously attempted this due to my fear of the unknown effects when it came to training. I still wanted to train 150km a week on the bike, run 20km, go on adventures and hit the gym 4-5 times a week. I didn’t personally know people who were fasting who also did the intense physical activity. I only knew people doing it who were very low-level adventurers or regular 9-5ers. I added it in and did it 21 days straight. I actually found it quite handy. I woke up and didn’t need to think about anything other than my tasks. When I did eat I was actually hungry not just bored. I didn’t snack at night as my fasting began at around 6 pm and finished at 10 or 11 am. There are plenty of non-visible benefits so they say but I also enjoyed the slight reduction in calories as I wasn’t snacking and it helped me cut a lot of bullshit sugars like cookies, bars, juices, milk etc. out of my diet that I filled the gaps with. I ate big, healthy meals twice a day.
- The second key introduction was not touching my phone until after my morning routine. That meant no emails, social media etc. I think most of us between 20-30 and even older are guilty of waking up and running to our form for that notification fix. When you really stop and think about it, it’s strange and just an addiction while not actually a necessary action.
- I added in a morning routine called the ‘Core Project’. It’s not about getting abs, it’s about strengthening my core, glutes and lessening the strain on my quads and hip-flexors, which seem to be the causes of a lot of my injuries. I’m going to stick with this all year and hopefully, it means I have fewer issues and can run, ride and hike consistently.
- I really did cut down on sugar. I didn’t cut it completely but in conjunction with the fasting, I did cut out chocolate bars, snacks, sugared milks, sugared juices. I was eating hearty, healthy meals in big portions just twice a day and I didn’t snack much in between. I began to practice a lot of self control. While many people think rules and structure are the opposite of freedom, if you believe in the process and the outcome it is actually freedom because you aren’t a slave to cravings and impulse, that is real freedom.
- I added in a minimum rule of 100km a week on the bike and aimed for 20km of running and minimum four gym sessions. I enjoy all of that so it wasn’t hard.
So that was my little life upgrade, which I will try and keep rolling while I’m on the road. Travel requires leniency on these but if you can at least maintain them, it helps you bring them into your life permanently in the easier, simplified periods.
I did get out on a mission this week with Kia and her boyfreind, Johan. We headed up to Himbabawud Falls, which was a nice little adventure to cap off my time in Cebu. Next week I’m off to Japan for 3-weeks so that will be a whole new chapter. I’ll add a little info about that waterfall below.
HIMBABAWUD FALLS
The Himbabawud Falls is an incredible series of waterfalls in Busay, Cebu just a 40-minute drive from Cebu City. To reach the falls you first need to drive to Lava Mountain River Farm and then trek for 45-minutes through the river to reach the Himbabawud Falls.
This is one of the wildest waterfall treks on Cebu as you are often completely surrounded by a wall of green as you wade through the water of the river, following it all the way to the waterfall. I really loved this one and it’s super close to Cebu City.
View the full blog post: HIMBABAWUD FALLS IN BUSAY, CEBU: HIDDEN WATERFALL
