Do you ever miss having a home or base?

Having lived as a digital nomad for 14 years, whenever I step into a hostel or meet other nomads, this simple question always floors me.

I have a complicated relationship with the idea of what home means. I guess having been born in England, moving to India at the age of 9, heading to Scotland for university at the age of 19 and then deciding to go fully nomadic in 2012, home is no longer a fixed place for me. It’s a feeling of connection.

I like to think I have not just one but several homes around the world where I feel happy and at ease. Lisbon. Athens. Vienna. Bangkok. Chiang Mai. Koh Lanta. Kolkata. Edinburgh. Madeira. Berlin.

Over the years I have developed a happy habit of returning to certain places. While the itch to explore new places is strong, with the constant travelling and intense lifestyle that nomads have, I have found great comfort in going back to the same spots.

It is like slipping into a pair of well worn shoes. You already know your way around the city, you have favourite haunts you are looking forward to revisiting, you know the language and the customs, you have a coworking space you like to work from, and you have a network of friends and contacts from previous trips that makes everything much easier than starting from scratch. Running a business from the road can be exhausting, and the fewer unknowns, the better you can focus your energy on the things that matter to you.

I’ve created a few rituals and ideas to give me a sense of home and connection wherever I travel. Here are my top 3 tips for you.

1. Stay at hostels

Rooted in the local community, hostels plug me into the DNA of a place. Great for meeting fellow solo travellers, and they usually have brilliant spaces to work from too.

Hostels I’d recommend for nomads: The Yard Hostel Bangkok and The Yard Hostel Chiang Mai, Circus Hostel Berlin, Next House Copenhagen, Sandeman Hostel and Suites Porto, Bogentrakt in Chur, Ostello Bello, YellowSquare, Zeus is Loose Thessaloniki, Hyve Basel, and Superbude Hamburg and Vienna. (Check out my guide to the best hostels for nomads.)

2. Invest in working from a good coworking space

The best coworking spaces feel like hostels: community, great places to work from and brilliant for connecting with creatives.

My favourites: Cowork Funchal, juggleHUB, St Oberholz, betahaus, Impact Hub Athens, Beet Community Palermo, KoHub Koh Lanta and Alt Coliving Chiang Mai.

3. Get into a routine

A few rituals and a routine give you structure on the road. Always start with a good cup of coffee. Aeropress is magic. The gym has become really important for us, and if there isn’t one nearby, a run or a walk along the beach works just as well. Cooking also brings a sense of home, so I carry a bag of Indian spices wherever I go.

And last but not least, a good travel adapter keeps you connected wherever you land. Our TESSAN Universal Travel Adapter, who kindly supported this video and our work, has been indispensable. If you are looking to reduce the number of adapters and lighten your backpack, then you should enter below our fantastic giveaway of 5 of the TESSAN Ultra Thin Universal Travel Adapter PD 20W. Equipped with 2 USB-C ports and 1 USB-A port, this adapter you can charge your smartphone, tablets, and accessories efficiently at airports, hotels, or cafes.

Note: Giveaway is only open to residents from UK, USA and Germany.

In the video below, I have tried to explain what home means to me and how the concept of “home” has evolved over the years.

What does home mean to you? Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below and good luck with entering our TESSAN giveaway!

I like to think of Ile de Ré as the island of “no tomorrow”. This is the perfect place to lose all track of time. You happily live in the moment here and escape the worries and stresses of everyday life. There is not even the chance of finding a pub to watch my beloved Liverpool FC. No distractions. Absolutely none. Bliss. Given its popularity, the “white island” is best visited in autumn or spring, when you can sidestep the summer invasion of well-heeled Parisians and Brits. It is also wonderfully accessible to budget travellers, just half an hour from the charming port town of La Rochelle, which is well served by budget airlines. ( Checkout my recently updated guide to the best things to do in La Rochelle )

I went in September, when the island was full of wrinkly pensioners and families soaking up the last of the late summer sun. At just 30 kilometres long and 5 wide, Ile de Ré is made for exploring by bicycle, with over 100km of cycle tracks linking all ten villages, never more than 10km apart. Which is a bit of a bummer, since I am not much of a cyclist. I prefer to walk.

And Ile de Ré’s streets were made for walking.

Close your eyes a moment. Don’t look at the pictures. Just picture it. Long winding lanes lined with whitewashed cottages. Picture-postcard blue shutters and green doors. Baskets of flowers hanging from every house. Pretty wrought iron balconies. And maybe, just maybe, the odd black cat dozing on a windowsill.

Getting around the island

If you don’t fancy cycling, you can hire a car, but you may not need to. From April to September a free electric shuttle called RespiRé loops between the main villages of Saint-Martin, La Flotte, Sainte-Marie and Le Bois-Plage, which is ideal if you are travelling on a budget and happy to walk the rest. Otherwise the regional Line 150 coach runs the length of the island all year.

Explore Saint-Martin and meet the donkeys in trousers

One of my first stops was the charming port town of Saint-Martin. You know you have arrived when, just outside the ancient fortifications, you meet the woolly and very cuddly “donkeys in trousers” who are the island’s lucky charm and symbol.

Since the 19th century the donkey has been a hard-working citizen of Ile de Ré, used to collect seaweed along the coast, to work the salt marshes and to help in the fields. The tradition of dressing them in gingham trousers dates back to protecting their succulent legs from the mosquitoes that plagued the marshes. Genuinely.

Saint-Martin itself is a bustling harbour ringed with lovely open-air terrace cafés, perfect for sitting in the sun with a cold bière and watching the boats, with a clutch of charming boutiques nearby if you fancy a browse.

And if the idea of creamy, salty flavours in your ice cream appeals, test your tastebuds at the stylish La Martinière parlour, which serves dozens of flavours of ice cream and sorbet ranging from the pedestrian to the gloriously bizarre.

Climb the church of Saint-Martin

If the lack of exercise is starting to nag at you, climb the bell tower of the 12th century church of Saint-Martin. Fought over by Catholics and Protestants alike, the church wears the scars of a colourful and brutal past. From the top you get mesmerising panoramic views over the Breton Strait and the rooftops of the town below.

The lighthouse of all lighthouses: Phare des Baleines

There are lighthouses, and then there is the Phare des Baleines. Standing 57 metres tall and facing down the stormy Atlantic from its rocky perch on the island’s north-western tip, this is a working lighthouse whose beam can be seen 50km out to sea. There is a museum at its foot where you can dig into the history of lighthouses and how they work.

Climbing the 257 steps up a memorable, vertigo-inducing spiral staircase brings you out at the top, where you are rewarded with sweeping views of the island’s coastline and the broad, fiery expanse of the ocean. Tickets start from around €4.35 for the lighthouse alone, with combined lighthouse, old tower and museum tickets from roughly €7.65, depending on the season. It is the most visited spot on the island, so come before noon or after 5pm to dodge the crowds.

Cycle to Le Bois Plage

Le Bois Plage is a small coastal town to the south of the island. Hire a bike from St Martin and pedal down to this charming sea side town along with any required beach paraphernalia. Apart from the charm of the beach, the cycle paths skirting marshes, oyster beds and vast stretches of unbridled Atlantic coastline are
a sight to behold. There is a very nice indoor market in town where you can pick up any required picnic supplies.

Visit the Cistercian Abbaye des Chateliers

About two miles away from St Martin, you will find the harbour town of La Flotte. Interestingly, La Flotte is slated as one of the most beautiful villages in France (Plus Beaux Villages de France). Enjoy either a morning coffee or evening drink, sitting at the harbourside or indulge in an ice cream whilst wandering the
shopping streets or the market. The grounds of the ancient Abbaye, built in 1156, are free to enter
and make for lovely photo opportunities. The ancient walls set against the cliff edge will transport you back to another era. The absence of a roof structure will have you looking up into the skies and trying to reconstruct the ambience of this sacred place in your mind’s eye.

Visit an Oyster Shack

One of the greatest pleasures on Ile de Ré costs almost nothing and takes about five minutes to find. Pull up a chair at one of the island’s oyster huts, order a dozen fresh from the water in front of you, pour a glass of local white wine and just sit there. There is nowhere better to be.

The island has been producing oysters for centuries and the huts, little coloured cabins dotted along the cycle paths and salt marsh edges, are where the farmers sell direct from their own beds. You are eating something that was in the sea a very short time ago, and you can taste it. A dozen oysters will set you back around €8 to €12 depending on size, and a glass of Pineau or a local white another €4 or so. One of the best value lunches you will have anywhere in France.

La Cabane Océane at La Flotte is the place to visit. Sitting on the site of an old oursinerie, an urchin farm, on the oyster beds of Petit Praud, it has a wonderful shaded terrace overlooking the sea. Everything you will eat here is harvested by them: Fines, Spéciales and Cocktail oysters, plus shellfish depending on what has come in that day. There is also a small boutique where you can buy oysters to take away. No reservations needed.

Address: 9 Route du Praud, 17630 La Flotte en Ré. Tel: 05 46 66 54 08.

Sample the mussels at L’Aile de Ré

For seafood lovers, and mussel lovers especially, a meal at Le Morinand in Le Bois-Plage is a must. Honesty flag for longtime readers: I originally raved about La Bouvette and its magnificent open-coal-grilled mussels here, run by Laurent Mertz. La Bouvette closed back in 2012 and the spot is now home to L’Aile de Ré, run by Ludivine and Julien, who kept the seafood focus the place was always loved for. It is a small, family-run dining room facing the vines and fields, and the mussels, smoked over a fire of pine needles, is still the main draw. Worth booking ahead, as they seat only a few dozen.

L’Aile de Ré, Raise Flottaise, Le Morinand, 17580 Le Bois-Plage-en-Ré. Tel: 05 46 09 29 87.

Where to stay: Hotel Le Vieux Gréement

In the heart of the village of La Couarde-sur-Mer sits the charming and still very lovely Hotel Le Vieux Gréement. You are right in the hub of things here, with a bar and tapas terrace on site, a beautiful church across the square, a cracking boulangerie a few steps away, and some of the island’s finest beaches a five minute walk down the road.

It has grown up a little since I first stayed. It is now a 3-star with 19 individually decorated rooms in the local rétais style. Standard doubles start from €115 in low season up to €145 in high season, with breakfast at €14 a head and a small tourist tax on top. Still a warm, characterful and well-run place, and good value for the setting.

Hotel Le Vieux Gréement

13 Place Carnot, 17670 La Couarde-sur-Mer. Tel: 05 46 29 82 18. Book direct at levieuxgreement.com.

Getting to Ile de Ré

La Rochelle airport is served by budget airlines, with Ryanair running seasonal routes from London Stansted, Dublin, Brussels Charleroi, Porto and more (worth checking current schedules before you book, as these change each season).

From La Rochelle’s SNCF train station, the regional Line 150 coach runs across the bridge to the island’s ten villages all year round. It costs just €2.50 one way or €4.50 return, and you buy your ticket on board or via the Ticket Modalis app. No need to reserve. A quick and very cheap way onto the island.

Plus, if you missed, here are my earlier guides to Bordeaux, Angoulême and Cognac which all share excellent connections with Ile De Re and can be combined, for a short break or longer visit.

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