About

Nomad Not Mad is a travel blog created by me, Calin Ciabai, a digital nomad, content creator, published author & website manager. I am living a location independent lifestyle since 2008, when I quit my 9-to-5 job and hopped into making a living online (and never stopped since – hopefully I will never do!)

I hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism (class of 2007), and over the years, my writing and travel intertwined, becoming both a lifestyle and a job.

My work has been featured on notable platforms, including AOL.com, and in 2023, Nomad Not Mad was honored as one of the “Best Travel Blogs” by BeforeItsNews.com.

If you want to get in touch with me, you can send me an email using the contact form on this page. You can also find me on Linkedin , Twitter aka X or Facebook (yes, still using that). And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram too!

I’ve always been fascinated about the idea of traveling the world and living life as a digital nomad: I love seeing new places, exploring new cultures and meet new people all over the world.

On this website, I share that passion for travel, as well as the knowledge I’ve accumulated over all these years to help you become a location independent world traveler and see the world on your own terms.

Why “Nomad, Not Mad”?

I’ve always appreciated a good bit of wordplay – that’s what happens when you grow up listening to hip hop music and believing you’ll be the next Eminem or KRS One.

Years ago, when I told a friend I’d be visiting far-off places like Thailand or Indonesia, he asked: “Are you MAD?” I replied, “Not mad – NOmad!” and just like that, a name (and a personal mantra) was born. I registered this domain soon after, and the rest is history.

Since 2008, I’ve earned my livelihood exclusively from writing for my various websites and have traveled more and more with each passing year, even though my family grew. This made things even more special and gave me more stories to tell.

But it took time – and courage – to start my own travel blog. I worried the market was saturated, or that my non-native English might hold me back. In the end, I realized if I truly loved this, I owed it to myself (and you, the reader) to give it my best shot.

The truth is that there will always be tons of reasons NOT to do something. But if you dream about it, you can make it happen. Or at least you should give it your best shot and know that you at least did your best.

So… here I am with Nomad, Not Mad.

More about me (and my family)

Many travel blogs focus on solo travelers, but I’ve found that family life and world travel can go hand in hand. I started exploring the digital nomad lifestyle in earnest after my son was born.

We even took a month-long trip around Europe when he was just two years old – 9 countries later, we were tired but happy, proof that family and travel can coexist beautifully.

By the way, you can read about our first, month-long train adventure in Europe here.

And we kept doing so, even though we have, at the moment, to mix and match our travels with our son’s school schedule, after trying homeschooling and not getting the great results others are getting.

I am a blogger by heart and I love to write. I don’t have the freedom to create content as solid as I can in my native language because of vocabulary limitations, but at least I can make myself understood, and that’s all that matters.

I am currently living in Romania full time, but we’re taking more and more time to spend months abroad. Or just weeks. Or days – it doesn’t really matter!

We generally travel around Europe and experience the amazing culture around here. And we’re not breaking the bank either, as you will see in the articles I’ll publish on the website.

I prefer slow travel (because fast travel with a kid is indeed a challenge) and that will be reflected in most of the content published on this blog and my other blogs, as I also like to write about health and gaming or anything geeky.

So this would be it. I wrote everything above in the spur of the moment, with my heart beating fast, minutes after creating and launching this blog. It’s very late now and I’ve had a full day, but I felt the need to write this.

And, God, it feels so good to finally have your own travel / digital nomad blog! And it feels even better to know that I have like-minded people reading it, so thank you so much for your visit and interest in Nomad, Not Mad!