5 years from today. 2024. I’ll be 45. A day in the life of me, imagined. A writing exercise in daydreaming about the future, as if I was writing it in the present.

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Despite our months of nomading as a family, we try to make time to be back in Singapore for some months. It’s our roots, after all. It’s a joyous time for reunions and catch-ups, with family, relatives and friends. A time to recap and regroup.

Initially, when we started nomading, leaving Singapore left us with a bittersweet after taste. On one hand, our roots are here, our families and lifelong friends are here. We got a nice home, stable careers, and a support network. The country was stable, has great infrastructure and services, and high quality of life. The best testament to that is the welcome at the airport. We touch down, and within 15 minutes, we cleared immigration through citizen-only automated gantries, got our bags from the belt, and are out of transit area. I’m always reminded of how privileged I am as a Singaporean, when I’m at the airport.

On the other hand, the whole wide world beckons. For us, and especially for our children. Should our loyalty to pledged only to Singapore? If you asked me this questions in my 20s or 30s, I might have said f**k yes! I was passionate about doing my part, to do social good for my country. But it faded over the years. Was it disillusionment and jadedness? Or simply changing of the seasons from age and wisdom? I have no idea. But change was certain, and to embrace the world, one needs to go beyond one’s place of birth. At least that’s how we felt then.

How does one be a citizen of the world, without losing one’s roots?

That’s why we travel and nomad as a family, to find out the answer to that question. Maybe we’ll take a decade to find the answer. Maybe never. Or perhaps it’s an answer for our kids to find. 

Till then, we keep nomading.