From Coliving to House Sitting: 10 Ways to Live While Traveling

Living While Traveling: New Ways to Discover the World Beyond Tourism

Rome, Paris, Lisbon, Bali. Places we once rushed through with folded maps and impossible schedules. Today, however, a new way of traveling is growing: staying, inhabiting, living in a place not as a tourist but as a neighbor. After the pandemic, the world changed its rhythm. Seeing is no longer enough—we want to belong, even if only for a while.

🏖️ Retiring Under Different Skies

Every year, thousands of retirees choose to move to Spain, Portugal, Italy, or Greece. The reason is not only the climate or the sea. It is the chance to live more slowly, with neighborhood cafés where greetings are repeated daily, and open-air markets filled with olives, fish, and local cheeses.

🏡 Long Stays: Living Like a Local

Not everyone wants to move forever. Some prefer six months in Provence, a year in Normandy, half a year in Bali or Chiang Mai. They become temporary residents: learning the language, buying tomatoes at the market, discovering everyday walks, and sitting in cafés where the local newspaper is read.

🤝 Cohousing and Coliving: Communities on the Move

In Lisbon, Berlin, or Barcelona, coliving spaces flourish: large houses where each person has a room but shares kitchens, studios, and improvised libraries. In Bali, travelers from around the world rent villas together, working remotely during the day and sharing international dinners at night.

🐾 House Sitting and Pet Sitting: Traveling by Caring for Homes

There is a curious way to travel without paying for hotels: house sitting. Families entrust their homes (and often their pets) to responsible travelers. In exchange for caring for a dog, a cat, or watering plants, the traveler enjoys a full home.

🌱 Volunteering with Accommodation

Volunteering has become another way of life on the road. Through platforms such as Workaway or WWOOF, travelers exchange light work for lodging and meals, gaining direct access to the heart of local communities.

💻 Digital Nomads: Working While Traveling

Perhaps the strongest trend of recent years: digital nomads. After Covid, many countries created special visas that allowed people to live and work remotely from places such as Portugal, Croatia, Mexico, or Colombia. Cities like Lisbon, Medellín, or Bali became filled with coworking spaces and international communities.

📚 Traveling to Learn

Some people travel to learn languages, cooking, or crafts. From cooking workshops in Tuscany to yoga retreats in Thailand, the goal is not just to know but to grow with the place and bring home something deeper than a postcard.

🌍 New Ways of Living While Traveling

1. Slowmads: digital nomads who travel slowly, seeking depth rather than collecting destinations.
2. Bleisure: extending a business trip to discover the place you’re in.
3. Digital Nomad Visas: living legally and working remotely from welcoming countries.
4. Nostalgic Travel: reconnecting with a simpler, offline life.
5. Remote Year: mobile communities that live and work together for months.
6. HospEx: exchanging hospitality and culture without a hotel bill.
7. Voluntourism: combining tourism with active volunteering.

Living while traveling is no fantasy. From retirees under the Mediterranean sun to young travelers caring for cats in London, everyone seeks not just to visit but to belong. Because more than collecting countries, we collect ways of inhabiting the world.