Midlife Nomads explores how people are redesigning work, travel, and life in our 40s, 50s & beyond.
When I started building Midlife Nomads three years ago, it was to argue that this life is possible. That you could work somewhere other than where your employer sits, that travel doesn’t have to mean two weeks a year saved up to spend getting annihilated at a resort, and that the North American dream we were handed isn’t the only (or best, or even ideal) way to live.
Then the readers arrived, and a lot of you have turned out to be well past that argument.
There are people reading Midlife Nomads in more than 80 countries now, and most of the questions I get aren’t asking whether it’s possible to move abroad. They’re asking whether the Schengen clock resets the way somebody told them it does. Or what a three-month lease in Spain actually commits them to, or whether the visa they were planning around still exists in the shape it did in June.
So that’s what I’ve decided to write more of. Residency rule changes, border and visa news, flight trends, the mechanics of staying somewhere for months, all rounded up here once a week without flooding your inbox.
Some of this is timing. Last week I told you I’d lost a client that was a fair chunk of my freelance revenue. The obvious move is to replace them, but I’d rather spend some of those hours here, writing more of what matters to me — and you — than to some faceless corporation.
The Shortlist still lands monthly, there's new work going into the Members Vault, and the features on real people living a location independent life aren't going anywhere. Travel news through the lens of slow travel and nomad life is a new perk, not a replacement for the rest of it.
Below is the first of two new things you’ll see in this newsletter: what’s changed in the past seven days.
What Changed This Week
Border rules, visa terms, the fare news that decides whether you book now or wait. Click through for the full brief behind it if the issue is yours to worry about.
Thailand’s Royal Gazette confirms countries including EU member states, the U.K., U.S., Canada, Australia and Japan drop to 30 days visa-free, with land border entries capped at two per calendar year.
The biometrics capture grace period that let overwhelmed Schengen border posts skip it expires Sept. 7, so a first entry now means fingerprints and a facial scan even when the queue is out the door.
The EU has stopped naming a launch date for ETIAS, so nothing is required of you at the border yet, whatever the countdown clocks are saying.
If you’re eyeing permanent residency in Japan, the paperwork gets 20x more expensive on Oct. 1, and a draft rule would make the pension test mathematically unpassable for anyone who starts working there after about 35.
The U.S. advisory covering Gulf airspace now runs to Sept. 30, which matters mainly if your route to Asia connects through Dubai or Doha.
Barcelona’s tourist tax is €5 a night this year, capped at seven nights — so it stops mattering after the first week of a longer stay.
Ryanair is holding winter capacity flat rather than growing into expensive fuel, and says European short-haul fares rise materially next summer if oil stays where it is.
What’s Coming Up
This is the second new thing. The Shortlist helps you choose where to stay; those are the places I’d send a friend, and mostly places I’ve been or keep hearing about from nomad friends.
This is the other half of the question: what’s worth being somewhere for at a specific time.
Conferences, retreats, group trips, immersion months. Some of it is work, and some of it is the reason you picked the country in the first place. I’ll share the next few events that are happening, and full subscribers who want to see more info and what’s coming further out can find the upcoming year on the website under Events Calendar.
Sept 5 to 13
Unsettled: Peru in Cusco, a nine-day coworking and reset retreat
Sept 10 to 13
The Nomad World Fest in Porto, Portugal, organized by DNA Portugal
Sept 16 to 18
FinCon, the business conference for people who make money content — bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers, coaches.
From the Blog: ICYMI
That’s it for now. Until next time, may the queues be short and your customs agent in a good mood.
✌🏻 Miranda
P.S. I’ve opened up consulting sessions for people working through a specific remote work or relocation question. Details and rates are on the Work With Me page.
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