Travel Creator Spotlight: Eva Rios on Embracing a Nomadic Lifestyle

Get inspired by Eva Rios, a passionate travel creator who has embraced a nomadic lifestyle. Learn how she listens to her intuition, travels the world, and helps others achieve their dream lives through her travel shop and social media.

Liv Coning

Marketing Lead

Travel Creator Spotlight: Eva Rios on Embracing a Nomadic Lifestyle

Jul 31 2024

Meet Eva, a passionate travel creator who has been inspiring others to travel and live abroad.

An interview with Eva Rios on how she listened to her intuition, embraced a nomadic lifestyle, and built a career around her travel experiences.

Hi Eva! Can you kick things off by telling us about what inspired you to become a nomad and how you’ve maintained this lifestyle?

Since always I've got a feeling in my inner self telling me that I need to live something else apart from home. It's always been there as an uncomfortable feeling to coexist with, because it felt like an urgency to cover as soon as possible.

I got to become nomad, and travel very cheap around the world, even for free on some occasions, and also while earning money, once I listened to my inner voice and followed my intuition. Intuition never fails, at least for me, this is my guidance and what makes me accomplish so many dreams and allow to find so many opportunities around the world.

Once I started, I couldn't stop. It's already been 6 years of living as a nomad (and keep going). I've kept living like this thanks to working abroad, which gave me the chance to forget about the excuse of not having money, I actually always was earning money even if I was travelling! The clue is being a local, not a tourist.

At this moment, I am still doing this, but I am also focusing on some online projects, which can also help me to keep living like this for a very long time.

Your travel shop and social media showcases various travel experiences. What inspired you to start sharing your journey with others?

Again, intuition. I started sharing my experiences on social media because I felt like doing it. Doing whatever you feel like doing will bring you amazing things and opportunities in life. Especially, because it is what you truly want to do. I started sharing my travels and experiences since I moved abroad for the first time, and got to improve my skills and content along the way. And I'm always learning and trying to improve.

When I realized that my content was having an impact on others who were asking me about my life, because they felt inspired and would love to do something similar, is when I decided to launch my Travel Shop, with Guides and Services.

And after doing that, I found my biggest passion: helping others accomplishing their dream life, motivating them, and giving them the tools to achieve it, based on my experience. I love doing this.

Can you talk briefly about voluntourism, your favorite volunteering experiences, and how others can learn about volunteering abroad?

Volunteering is one of the best ways to travel because you are helping others at the same time you're discovering a new part of the world, a new lifestyle, learning from others point of views, learning from yourself... Undoubtedly, it is a very enriching experience.

The volunteering experience which has made a big change in me and in others it's been the one I did in Ethiopia. And I love they way life gave the chance to live this, it was super random and I love it. Basically I met the NGO's owner doing hitchhiking in the most remote island of Norway, and 4 years later I contacted her to be a volunteer in her NGO, when I felt ready to help. The most beautiful part is that nowadays I still give support to the NGO.

I've also done volunteering with Worldpackers, which is a very safe volunteering platform, during my time backpacking in Latin America. The volunteering I did in Costa Rica helping a conservation sea turtle project and learning permaculture was absolutely incredible, too.

I believe that people should try travelling this way, volunteering, because it will generate a positive impact not only to others, but also to oneself. You'll get to see new perspectives, open your mind and your heart, and it is very likely that this experience will become a before and an after in your life. It is a beautiful way to travel with purpose.

You've visited many incredible places. Is there a destination that holds a special place in your heart, and why?

Yes, Tanzania and Iceland. And recently also Mexico.

I like to live in the place rather than just visit it, because the attachment, connection and feelings you get to live with that place and the people you lived there with is very fulfilling and special, I cannot describe it in words.

Tanzania was a dream, and it will always be in my heart. I got to live many dreams (for free while working) that I found unattainable to reach like doing a Safari or working in the savannah and seeing wild animals near me (how crazy is that). It was also my first experience in East Africa, and I imagine that it was very special because it became the first time in my life that I got to see a completely different lifestyle, conditions, culture... than the one we have in the Occidental world.

Iceland stole my heart, I felt so much peace and freedom. I found out that being outdoors, showing to others insane and inspiring experiences is what I love doing. And it is a very special place to me because I was super impressed by everything there. Actually after Iceland, I find it very hard to get impressed by any landscape, Iceland is too beautiful (but, of course, I need to see more parts of the world that I am sure will impress me a lot, too).

Mexico was about the people. I got attached with people, with the connections I made there. I found so much comfort and hospitality from the others and I lived things in a very intense way.

So, in every destination that I lived in (and I will live in in the future) I got to experience something different, but that I needed in that period of my life. And, at this point in my life, I cannot imagine living in a different way than this.

What advice would you give aspiring travel creators who want to build a brand and business around their travel experiences?

To think about achieving something is a good start, but you need to take action. That's why most people find it hard to accomplish their objectives, because they don't act, just think about it.

Don't be afraid, and remember, when you feel scared but excited at the same time, it is right there. That's what your heart needs to do, and what you really feel doing.

So, start by learning photography skills, get a second-hand drone to start learning, get inspired by other creators, ask for tips... but most importantly, start today to create content and share it with others. You'll improve step by step, but this will only happen if you start NOW.

Last but not least, I learnt that anything you do with your heart and passion, will be accepted by others. Because you get to transmit those real and honest emotions through the content, which can inspire a lot of people and even change lifes. Think about it.

Any best practices for creating travel guides and services on Thatch?

I am constantly learning new things and improving my Guides and Services.

About the Services in particular, as I feel passionate about helping others, and every time I have a call I feel super happy and fulfilled, I'd say, once more, that I just try to be my real self, and help others in a very sincere way.

There's no other way. Just do things from the heart. And of course, if you're offering a service, make sure you have experience about that in specific, or you're a real expert. And make sure this thing you're offering is your passion or hobby, otherwise, it will be hard to provide a good service.

About the Guides, a more technical part, I must confess that it takes more time for me to work on it than the Services, because yes, you need to spend a lot of time on it in order to create an organized, effective and useful guide to help others.

Here are my top three guide tips:

First, be patient when creating guides.
Secondly, when you are travelling around the destination, make sure to save all the places you want to talk about in the guide and even add some notes so you don't forget anything.
Lastly, use simple vocabulary, easy and fast to read. Try to make a practical guide, the less text and complexity the better, you can even ask your relatives' opinion, friends... so they can tell you if they would feel like reading your guide at first sight or not, so then you can improve the text, the design, and more.