I Was a Nomad Before it Was Cool
For some time now I’ve been observing young people travel the world and show in real-time their travel adventures as they happen on social media. They have so much documentation of seemingly banal, at least to me, experiences as they visit different countries. I would have never thought to film myself eating gelato while strolling down a quiet, hidden, cobblestoned street in Orvieto. I guess I just took in the moments as they happened instead of thinking about what others would need or want to see me doing. I’ve never really thought much about the opinions of others as I’ve roamed the world; that is, until now.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve recently completed a book about how I cycled the Tour de France route one day before the professionals with a group of French women back in 2018 to celebrate turning fifty. The book details that three-week experience along with chronicling some of the traveling adventures that led me to live in France for the past twenty years.
In the search for a good literary agent, to be attractive, I need a strong social media presence which I don’t really have exactly. I’ve spent a lot of time deciding what I should talk about. You see, like many people my age, my life has been beautifully messy and I wear many hats. I’m a life-long expat, a nomad, an endurance junkie, a triathlon coach, the owner of a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course in Montpellier, France, and a lover of languages, culture, and food. See, that’s a mouthful and I could go on. Already, I’ve probably lost some of you. The creators who are the most successful stick to one topic.
So after struggling for a long time with what to focus on, I’ve decided to tell my nomadic story, as an expat. On TikTok I describe my wanderings on my playlist/series, “ I Was a Nomad Before It Was Cool”. Technically it’s “Nomad Before It Was Cool” TikTok limits you to twenty-five spaces. And, well, if TikTok actually does get banned, it’s on YouTube. What I’ve discovered is that it’s been very therapeutic to tell my story. I’m beginning to remember details that had escaped me which has given me great pleasure. Now see, if only I could have filmed all of that as it was happening some twenty-five years ago while roaming the cobblestoned streets in Orvieto! At any rate, what started as rather awkward monologues to my phone are beginning to turn into more developed storytelling. “Is it okay if I erase the first five episodes and redo them?”
When I cycled the Tour de France route, even though it was more recent, in 2018, I didn’t take much video. I have some photos but honestly, I was often stressed out, starving, and just too tired to think about documenting everything.
I looked into some fancy, slick AI platforms to recreate some video scenes of my experience, and let’s just say, AI isn’t ready for me. I typed, “Create a group of women cycling on road bikes in the French Alps.” I got videos of women with awkward faces in little shorts and bikini tops rolling backward down a hill surrounded by elongated mountain ranges. I tried a variety of prompts that were even more specific, but the results weren’t much better. Judging from the sample image galleries along with the options and results I was given with my prompts; I think the young people in the AI space spend a lot of time indoors thinking about “new world” creation and naked women. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I know, we’re still early in the game.
In sum, I’m going to have to wait for more imagery advancement in the AI realm to help me recount my adventures. In the meantime, even though I lack real-time videos, I’ll continue working on getting my story out there with my old-fashioned voice, imagination, and of course, the use of the written word.