Nomad Not Mad’s 2024 Year in Review
2024 is behind us and I can only say “Good riddance!” It was a challenging, difficult year that I won’t really miss. Plenty of good things too… but hopefully the worst is behind.
Since nobody really reads these “year in review” articles but myself every now and then, I won’t talk too much, but go about it in an easy to scan way this year, highlighting the highs and lows, the thoughts and everything else I think is worth saying about this past year.
It was one of the worst years ever in terms of income from my online businesses
In 2024, I made almost as much (or as little?) as in 2014. The major difference is that back then I was after selling one big website and it was expected. Plus, prices are A LOT higher today than they were 10 years ago.
But a combination of the rise of AI content and Google algorithms practically destroyed blogging. Even worse, I don’t feel optimistic at all about blogging in general, even though new services like Journey by Mediavine are working well.
I moved my blogging-related content over at Savvy Pro Blogger, but I am not focusing on it a lot at the moment.
Moving back to my home town
After two amazing years spent living by the sea in Constanta, Romania, we were forced to return back home to my small home town where we have our apartment paid for and the costs of living are much lower.
This was a smart move and fortunately it went, overall, better than expected. My son enjoys his new school and colleagues, and this is what matters the most for us. So I will call this a win.
Little travel, overall
We only took a few small trips in 2024, mainly due to the lack of money and the fact that moving took a lot of planning, time and resources.
We visited some smaller places I didn’t get the chance to write about yet (for the most part), from day trips to a few days long and nothing more. It was the first year since starting my nomad life that we didn’t travel extensively.
This year, we visited:
- a few beach resorts and Adamclisi near Constanta, Romania
- Bucharest (spent an amazing day at the Therme spa)
- visited the small town of Negotin in Serbia
- visited Craiova for one of the best Christmas markets in Europe
- spent a lot of time at our village house
Overall… not impressive. And I don’t think that 2025 will see us traveling a lot, either…
Published my first book
I published a health-related book that I’ve been working on for quite some time now and delaying for no real reason.
This was a major success so far – both good reception and better sales than expected.
This proved to me that creating and selling your own product still works today. Also, it goes hand in hand with building a brand and establishing a more genuine connection with the readers. As a result, I want to focus more on this type of business in 2025.
Articles published on Nomad Not Mad worth checking out:
- Best All Inclusive Resorts in Bulgaria
- Best Family Hotels in Lara, Antalya
- Monthly Cost of Living in Prague
- Cost of Living in Valencia
Overall, 2024 was a challenging year for me. Many setbacks, little income, little travel. Despite all these, I managed to be mentally and physically better than in the past two years. And I am at that age where this matters more than anything else.
2025 will also be challenging as it requires me to refocus, start learning new things and basically start from scratch. What I’ve been doing for the past 16 years (blogging) no longer works, so I have to pivot to keep things afloat.
For the past years in review articles, look below:
