The money part is actually fairly easy to explain, at least in my case. I can simply tell them that I’ve spent most of the past couple of years in ex-Soviet countries where even temporary accommodation will be cheaper or barely more expensive than what I’d pay back home for long term rent. It’s even more convincing considering many of them are mortgaged up to the eyeballs for stupidly expensive homes because NZ is a horrifically dysfunctional and regressive shithole when it comes to anything housing related. There’s nothing stopping some of them from cashing up on their capital gains and moving to SE Asia and living a little more minimally on their savings or even on passive rental income or something, but they’re still not going to do it.
As for the envy part, I don’t think there’s much point in trying to combat it. People tend not to understand anything about such a lifestyle and even if you try to explain it to them, they often aren’t truly interested in listening, so I generally don’t bother. Suits me just fine because I don’t tend to bring it up unless absolutely necessary. Since I don’t seek out nomad types and don’t know any IRL, I only really have one friend/acquaintance who properly grasps some of the less obvious realities, difficulties and sacrifices of such a lifestyle and can empathise - it really helps that she had a stint working on a cruise ship as that presents some similar challenges. Almost everyone else assumes everything is amazing all of the time and it’s not unusual for them to react with blind envy or even hostility.
The money part is actually fairly easy to explain, at least in my case. I can simply tell them that I’ve spent most of the past couple of years in ex-Soviet countries where even temporary accommodation will be cheaper or barely more expensive than what I’d pay back home for long term rent. It’s even more convincing considering many of them are mortgaged up to the eyeballs for stupidly expensive homes because NZ is a horrifically dysfunctional and regressive shithole when it comes to anything housing related. There’s nothing stopping some of them from cashing up on their capital gains and moving to SE Asia and living a little more minimally on their savings or even on passive rental income or something, but they’re still not going to do it.
As for the envy part, I don’t think there’s much point in trying to combat it. People tend not to understand anything about such a lifestyle and even if you try to explain it to them, they often aren’t truly interested in listening, so I generally don’t bother. Suits me just fine because I don’t tend to bring it up unless absolutely necessary. Since I don’t seek out nomad types and don’t know any IRL, I only really have one friend/acquaintance who properly grasps some of the less obvious realities, difficulties and sacrifices of such a lifestyle and can empathise - it really helps that she had a stint working on a cruise ship as that presents some similar challenges. Almost everyone else assumes everything is amazing all of the time and it’s not unusual for them to react with blind envy or even hostility.