About The Free Nomad



Katharina, founder of The Free Nomad, on a coastal hike.

I was born in Cuba, to a Russian mother and a Cuban father — which means I grew up between two languages, two ways of seeing the world, and a fair number of strong opinions at the dinner table. That blend never really left me, and it's probably why I've spent my life crossing borders instead of settling neatly inside one.

I studied philosophy at the University of Havana, and later studied real estate in Florida after moving to the United States. On paper, those two things have nothing in common. In practice, they taught me the same lesson from opposite directions: philosophy taught me to question what everyone assumes is true and keep digging until I find a real answer; real estate showed me how people make the biggest decisions of their lives — where to live, what to risk, when to stay and when to go.

Since then, life has taken me from the U.S. to Europe and beyond, and these days I build The Free Nomad from a laptop and a lot of curiosity.

This site started from a simple frustration. Most travel advice online is either trying to sell you something or pretending the writer personally tested gear they've never touched. I wanted to do it differently: research honestly, cite real sources, share what actually works, and be upfront about what I'm still figuring out. I'm not here to be the loudest expert in the room — I'm here to be the person who reads everything, organizes it clearly, and saves you the hours so you don't have to spend them.

If you want more freedom in how you live — to travel smarter, work from anywhere, or simply make better choices about where and how you spend the one life you've got — you're in the right place. I'm building that kind of life myself, one step at a time, and I'm documenting the real version: the wins, the mistakes, and everything in between.

Thanks for being here.
— Katharina

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