Where in the World is Nina?—Recap: April 2020

Pin this post for later!

Oh hey, welcome to my recap series. You guys asked for it—so here are my monthly musing, life updates, and other personal tidbits that would be annoying to put in my usual blog posts where you’re just trying to get some simple info! Just to note, I’ll be doing these monthly (I mean, I’m going to try to) and in efforts to keep these candid (and like, not mega time consuming like all my other posts) I won’t be editing them TOO much like I usually do (read: 20 times over the course of two months. yes, really) so sorry for any mistakes. I hope you enjoy these little recaps of my month!

Is it weird that it feels like it’s day 395395 in isolation but then again it’s surprising it’s May?

I hope you guys have been hanging in there wherever you may be during this time <3

I hope you are able to still be somewhat productive or at the least are safe and warm.

At the beginning of this month, Garrett and I along with his parents finished our second round of two-week quarantine after our “adventure” of flying from Portugal back to USA during the pandemic. After one month in quarantine (two weeks in Portugal, two weeks in Oregon), we have been self-isolating ever since.

I’ve been quarantined/isolating for just over 7 weeks now.

Here’s how my month of April went…

Where in the World is Nina?

Oregon

Places I Went in April:

LOL

Uh, my living room, backyard, bedroom, bathroom, and grocery story – twice.

Where I was supposed to be:

Morocco to go surfing :-/ 

The front photo of this post is me surfing in Morocco two years ago. I was going back to the same spot to practice even more after my five weeks of surfing in Ecuador.

Musings and Highlights This Month

Silver Lining

I think like most people, I’m trying to find the silver lining in all this, and I think after getting through March and having the initial “wtf” rub off, I’m kinda finding my groove in this weird isolating times we’re all forced to be under right now.

The silver linings that I’ve found so far for me are…

• My monthly costs have plummeted. I barely spend any money. Woo! That’s good since my income has plummeted too lol. I’m only spending a few hundred bucks a month on food. Mega grateful Garrett’s parents have a small RV for us to occupy for free while we’re here BUT even better, we are currently house sitting since Garrett’s friend is semi-stuck in Mexico right now. So we are very fortunate and have no rent to pay!
• I have had some pretty big ideas for this blog but I was putting them off. I was making plenty of money and not having to try as hard for it like all the previous years. So I was having fun relaxing a bit and enjoying my passive income while doing less. I have now picked these ideas back up and put them at the forefront and I’m really stoked for them! More info below.
• I have an actual routine. Living and traveling abroad often means it’s very difficult to have a routine going. We do a pretty good job considering but it does get frustrating because we usually finally get comfortable and in a groove, and then we have to leave! So having our “wake-up, work, work out, brekkie, work, play” routine is nice! Just missing the whole go on random adventures here and there aspect but… soon!
• Lastly, it’s funny, sad, and weird that this self-isolating life is kinda familiar. Garrett and I usually hole up and work online indoor all day anyway. Of course, this is extreme, but we are lucky we already work online, from home, and this life is semi-familiar. I know a lot of others are having a hard time conforming.

Hopefully, you’ve been finding the silver lining in all of this mess too!

Work Out Routine

Speaking of our routine, the whole working out part was always the first thing to fall off the list when we were traveling. It wasn’t too horrible though since our travel style is pretty active. We love hiking so we could kinda get away with not working out if we hiked 7 miles!

Now? I’m lucky if I get 7 flights of stairs worth of walking in a day so… WE HAD to start working out. Our workout is very tame and even, dare I say, kinda lame? It’s not that hard and it’s literally just a random set of daily workouts we found on the internet but I’ll tell ya what, my tummy is flatter!

Here are the before and after pics of just one month of doing small workouts and intermittent fasting:

Intermittent Fasting

Another thing we tried for the month of April is intermittent fasting which I have fallen deeply in love with! I don’t care for diets, mostly because I simply don’t need them (I don’t have weight issues really) and I can’t ever keep track of that shit. So I don’t do them.

BUT THIS is a “diet” I can deal with. It’s so simple. You have an eight-hour window to eat and then you are fasting for the other sixteen hours of the day. That’s it. So simple. You can make it harder as you go along and make your eating window smaller but I think I’m good for now!

This and the mini work out are all I’ve done in April and I look thinner and I’m happy with it. There’s also NEVER any night munchie in front of the TV which is one of the worst things you can do.

 In terms of what we ate, we didn’t change a thing. We eat pretty healthily anyway so there wasn’t anything changed.

Things That Were Meh

Uh… the whole fucking virus situation?!?!

Honestly, nothing is truly terrible right now beyond the obvious.

• We are still fighting to get some of our money back from flights and things that were booked.
• I didn’t lose a single pound after working out the entire month (but I did get tighter so I’ll take it.)
• And we still can’t find the right flour and yeast that we want for Garrett’s mom to make bread.
• I think we decided to not buy a van just yet. We were supposed to buy one to road trip Oregon this summer but it just seems silly to invest a lot in a van right now, one that we may not even be able to drive around very much until next year 🙁 BUUUTTTT we are still keeping our eyes peeled and if something awesome is in front of us, we still might get it!

New-ish Blog Posts/Updated Posts/Look Out For

That New New

• Trekking in Los Nevados – Paramillio del Quindio Summit– Epic 3-day hike in Colombia! At least go look at pics!
• Annapurna Base Camp Without a Guide – 6 Day itinerary – Amazing post on this gorgeous hike in Nepal.
• How to Be a VIPKid Teacher – Start teaching online with VIPKid!
• How to Be a Graphic Designer and Travel – Start now, travel later!
• Teach ANY Language Online – Finally got a post out for my non-native English speakers, yyyaaayy <3
• Free Online Tools! – Working online now? Use these tools to make life easier!
• 56 Work From Home Websites! – Insane amounts of info here, go apply!
• How to Teach in Taiwan – Read now, prep now, go later! (PS – This person SAVED A LOT OF $$!)
• Adventure Guide to Puerto Limon, Costa Rica – Read now go later.

Freshly Updated Blog Posts:

• How to Teach English Online – Freshly updated with 29 schools to apply to and more info!
• How to Start Freelancing – SO much info added here for you guys!
• How to be a Social Media Assistant  – Mega popular online job, check it out!

What’s Next?

Well, a lot actually. I told you guys, I’m making the most of this time because really? What else do I have going on?

1. My Australia eBook is DONE! If you’ve been waiting for one, go get it! 🙂 

I’ve worked on this thing for over a year. It’s a great and easy read while you’re stuck at home! There ARE things you can do now to prep.

Essentially, this ebook is perfect for you if you want to do the Working Holiday Visa in Australia, don’t know where to start, and want to save some life-changing money.

ALSO – if you’re reading this, take $5 off the price as a thank you for being one of the first to purchase.
Use code: here1st!

Grab a copy HERE or Click here for more info

2. I’m also still updating my incredibly long list of posts I want to keep updated for you guys. You can see some of them above under my “updated” list and a few more are coming! Content is getting FRESH!

3. I’ve made some freebie for you guys! Just because we can’t move, doesn’t mean there isn’t a laundry list of prepping we can’t do in the meantime. I’m giving anyone reading this a sneak peek to sign up and get these two freebies.

1. 7 things to do to travel longer – the no BS approach.
2. What you could be doing NOW (despite the world’s current conditions) to travel longer later

4. You can book a chat with me! Haven’t officially broadcasted this yet but if you want to travel longer, are stuck, need a travel expert to weigh in, don’t know how to handle your parents not wanting you to go, don’t know what opportunities you have, etc… Just come talk to me! I’m here for you and I kinda know what I’m doing after nine years. So let’s chat!

More info here – LIMITED TIME – UNTIL JUNE 15th ONLY!

5. Guys, I’ll be going LIVE VERY SOON! I haven’t decided on the exact day but it will probably be sometime next week since I’m wrapping up a couple of things. I’ll be going LIVE for about 6 days straight each morning (PDT) answering TONS of your questions that I’ve been sneakily gathering from all of you… I’ll be answering the best I can!
*If you’re a mega-fan, go turn on notifications on Facebook or Instagram to make sure you catch it!

6. Thinking of other ways to serve you guys, I have lots of things rolling around in my head that I’m not ready to share yet but feel free to let me know what’s on your mind!

ALSO!!!!!!!!

This was all very scary for me to announce. I haven’t done anything like this! Ekk! Thanks for the support <3

LASTLY – It’s my Travelversary today, May 5th. I’ve been traveling for NINE YEARS! oommmgg. I wish I could celebrate by like, actually being somewhere but I guess a beer with Garrett watching a Netflix show is about as good as it will get.

Thanks for tuning in, friends. <3

Until next month! Unless you follow on Instagram stories, were you can find me almost every day 🙂

Pin this post for later!