Are you a nomad or an expat?

As an RVer, you often find yourself in different towns.

Maybe that's one of the reasons you wanted to live the RVing lifestyle. You wanted to experience being in different places.

When you go into a coffee shop in a strange city, do you feel like you fit in?

When you're in a different town or a different country, do you consider yourself to be a nomad or an expat? The terms could mean more or less the same thing, but usually, people consider the terms to have slightly different meanings.

For example, I think of a nomad as someone who will be in an area for a short time. Maybe for a few weeks or even for a month or so. I think of an expat as someone who has moved there and now lives there or, at least, will be there for several months.

I don't think of a snowbird as being an expat.

How do the locals see you when you're in a new area?

Maybe they see you as a tourist. How do you want locals to see you when you're in an area?

When I'm traveling, I like to go where the locals go, eat where they eat, and basically, I don't want to be a tourist.

When you're in a foreign country, it's harder to blend in, and sometimes you can't even blend in when you're in different parts of your home country.

If someone from NY or Boston goes to Alabama or Georgia, they're going to stand out, mainly because of the way they talk. Sometimes that's a good thing.

Bottom line: The truth is– as Eleanor Roosevelt so eloquently put it– You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.-