Nomadic Diaries: Mastering Global Transitions
Where Global Living Transforms Lives Imagine a life where every border crossed becomes a doorway to personal transformation!Welcome to Nomadic Diaries, the podcast that turns international adventures into extraordinary personal journeys. We're not just telling travel stories. We're uncovering the raw, unfiltered experiences of expats and global nomads who have transformed uncertainty into opportunity. Each episode dives deep into the hearts and minds of extraordinary individuals who've turned geographical transitions into powerful paths of self-discovery. Are you an expat feeling lost between worlds? A digital nomad seeking more than just scenic backdrops? This podcast is your compass.We explore the...
Finances and Healthcare Abroad
The brochure price of a new life abroad is rarely the real one. Doreen looks at the true cost of living, banking and currency swings across borders, finding health insurance and local care, and why a cushion for the unexpected may be the best thing you pack.
Launch to Landed: The A to Z of Life Abroad is a 31-day NaPodPoMo series from Nomadic Diaries. In ten-minute episodes, Doreen Cumberford draws on fifty years of life across eight countries and four continents to guide you from the first thought of moving to the long road home. Whether...
Exiting Well - Endings Before....
How you leave shapes how you land. Doreen explores why saying goodbye well, to people, places, pets and possessions, matters as much as any arrival, and shares simple leaving rituals that help you close the door without slamming it.
Launch to Landed: The A to Z of Life Abroad is a 31-day NaPodPoMo series from Nomadic Diaries. In ten-minute episodes, Doreen Cumberford draws on fifty years of life across eight countries and four continents to guide you from the first thought of moving to the long road home. Whether you’re dreaming, packing, living abroad or heading ho...
Documents, Visas and Doing Your Due Diligence
The paperwork is the part of moving abroad everyone underestimates. Doreen covers why you should start visas and residency earlier than you think, which papers people forget, and why one red folder and a visit in the season you dread most can save you a world of trouble.
Launch to Landed: The A to Z of Life Abroad is a 31-day NaPodPoMo series from Nomadic Diaries. In ten-minute episodes, Doreen Cumberford draws on fifty years of life across eight countries and four continents to guide you from the first thought of moving to the long road home...
Culture Shock: When the Honeymoon Ends
The honeymoon always ends, often in a queue at the bank. Doreen explains why the frustration that follows is normal, not failure, and shares one simple tool for getting through the hard weeks.
Launch to Landed: The A to Z of Life Abroad is a 31-day NaPodPoMo series from Nomadic Diaries. In ten-minute episodes, Doreen Cumberford draws on fifty years of life across eight countries and four continents to guide you from the first thought of moving to the long road home. Whether you’re dreaming, packing, living abroad or heading home, there’s a letter for you...
Believe in Yourself and What’s Possible
You will rarely feel ready to move abroad, and that’s exactly the point. Doreen looks at the gap between fear and readiness, shares stories of people who moved later in life or against the odds, and offers small acts of courage that prove to yourself what’s possible.
Launch to Landed: The A to Z of Life Abroad is a 31-day NaPodPoMo series from Nomadic Diaries. In ten-minute episodes, Doreen Cumberford draws on fifty years of life across eight countries and four continents to guide you from the first thought of moving to the long road home...
ALL About Moving Abroad Permanently
Launch to Landed: The A to Z of Life Abroad is a 31-day NaPodPoMo series from
What does “permanent” really mean when you move abroad? Doreen looks at why people go, how a chosen move differs from a company posting, and the one question to ask yourself before you commit.
Nomadic Diaries. In ten-minute episodes, Doreen Cumberford draws on fifty years of life across eight countries and four continents to guide you from the first thought of moving to the long road home. Whether you’re dreaming, packing, living abroad or heading home, there’s a letter...
Welcome Aboard -
Two suitcases, 31 days, one letter at a time. In this opening episode, Doreen explains why every move abroad is really two journeys, the one you can map and the one you can’t, and invites you to ask yourself where you are on the road right now.
Launch to Landed: The A to Z of Life Abroad is a 31-day NaPodPoMo series from Nomadic Diaries. In ten-minute episodes, Doreen Cumberford draws on fifty years of life across eight countries and four continents to guide you from the first thought of moving to the long road home. Whether you...
Launch to Landed
Fifty years. Eight countries. Two suitcases. Now 31 days.
Welcome to Launch to Landed: The A to Z of Life Abroad, a NaPodPoMo series from Nomadic Diaries. Every day this November, Doreen Cumberford brings you one ten-minute episode, built around one letter. The series runs from the first “what if we moved abroad?” to the homecoming nobody warns you about.
Whether you’re dreaming, packing, living abroad or heading home, there’s a letter for you.
New episodes daily, 1 to 30 November. Follow so you don’t miss one.
nomadicdiariespodcast.com
We would l...
Before You Move the Sofa: Choosing Where to Move Abroad
About our Guest
Simon D. spent fifteen years running his own renovation business in Hamilton, Ontario, before he and his wife swapped Canadian life for Belize in 2022, a country they first fell for on their babymoon.
Leaving his trade behind, he turned to content writing just as large language models arrived, and rather than retreat, he went all in. Today he helps founders and small businesses build AI integrations and automations, hosts the podcast Foreign Radio, and writes about life abroad on Substack. His newest project, MoveSmart, brings those two worlds together: an A...
Don’t Transplant Your Life, Translate It: Repatriating to Poland
Don’t Transplant Your Life, Translate It: Repatriating to Poland
Lucyna Boland left Poland already asking where she could go next. Twenty years later she had lived in the United States, Germany, England, Spain and France. She had built a career in corporate learning and talent development, married a Canadian and started a family. Then, during the pandemic and while grieving her father, she felt a pull home she couldn’t quite explain. Within a week, the family had decided to move into her mother’s attic flat. Today Lucyna is an expat coach and a fract...
Rethinking Self-Care as an Expat
In this inspirational and deeply personal conversation, Doreen Cumberford sits down with Melissa Parks, therapist, coach and author of A Compassionate Mess: A Therapist, Her Monsters, and a Journey to Self-Acceptance - to explore the challenges and rewards of self-compassion, the realities of cross-cultural transitions, and the myths that hold us back from thriving as global nomads and returnees.
Key Topics Covered
Facing Our "Monsters"
Melissa Parks discusses reframing personal struggles as "monsters" instead of "demons," reflecting on her religious upbringing and therapeutic practice. She shares insight into how naming o...
The Homecoming Nobody Saw Coming · Home, Hospitals and the Story I Couldn't Tell
In this deeply personal episode, Doreen Cumberford interviews Sarah Deschamps, author of I Couldn't Tell You. Sarah Deschamps shares the harrowing and ultimately hopeful story of her family’s move from Tokyo back to Minnesota, a journey marked by her daughter's complex medical challenges and the mental health struggles entwined with repatriation. This conversation illuminates the hidden traumas of re-entry, caregiver PTSD, and the transformative power of storytelling.
Key Themes
Repatriation Challenges: Navigating family transition, loss, and the complexities of 'returning home'.Invisible Struggles: Living through—and speaking about—mental health...Kimchi, Culture & Connection: Living a Meaningful Life Across Borders
In this insightful episode, Doreen Cumberford is joined by Saehee Chang, an intercultural trainer, engagement specialist, and founder of Korea Connect. Together, they explore the journey of navigating life across cultures as a Third Culture Kid (TCK), the challenges of repatriation, balancing success and happiness abroad, and the quest for belonging.
Key Topics Covered
Growing Up Global:Saehee shares her nomadic background across Korea, Vietnam, Kenya, the US, and Germany, and reflects on how these transitions shaped her curiosity and resilience as a TCK 00:01:16.Identity & Belonging:
The discussion...
Are You In Transcontinental Overload?
This episode explores the layers of identity, privilege, and adaptation in expat experiences through a conversation with author Stephanie Cook. Topics range from cultural healing, maintaining authenticity, and the paradoxes of belonging, to practical and emotional strategies for global nomads and expat families.
Key Discussion Points
1. The Russian Dolls of Identity
Both speakers discuss how multiple cultural experiences accumulate like Russian nesting dolls.
Stephanie Cook emphasizes embracing every version of oneself: “My little 4-year-old German girl is still there, and so is the 25-y...
Belonging Without a Postcode with Sarah Rapp
Sarah Rapp is Director of Youth Advocacy and People at Junior Achievement Worldwide, and a nomad who has worked internationally for nearly a decade. Born in Germany, she moved abroad as an expat to Malta before building a fully nomadic life shaped by people and purpose rather than beaches. She previously hosted the podcast How to Be Global, closing it after 126 episodes once she felt she had "become global" herself, and has now launched a new movement, 1 Million Humans, drawing on her own experience of burnout and hard-won belonging.
What You'll Walk Away...
Debriefing Your Expat Life: Intercultural Transitions and Going Deeper
Daniel Yalowitz
Daniel Yalowitz psychologist, professor and intercultural mentor came to talk to Nomadic Diaries about his story as a cornerstone of the intercultural field for nearly four decades. Daniel brought to this episode the generosity and warmth that have made him a mentor to so many of us who have navigated life across cultures.
His favorite words all start with a C. Curiosity. Creativity. Collaboration. Communication. Collectivity. When your values and your work align this completely, you stop compartmentalising. That is what living an intercultural life feels like from the inside.
You Can't Go Home - You Can Only Go Forward
Nina Aziz Justin has lived in five countries, worked across forty-seven of them, and spent the better part of five decades asking the question that so many of us quietly carry: where on earth do I actually belong?
She is a serial entrepreneur, cultural chameleon, and self-described "rat in the lab" of her own life experiments, Nina has channelled all of that lived complexity into her memoir, The Home Within: A Nonlinear, Soulful Memoir About Belonging Across Cultures and Change. She sits down with us from France, which feels entirely appropriate fo...
We Call It Capacity: International Women's Nonlinear Careers
Flor Bretón García was born in Venezuela and left her homeland at 22 — which means she's now lived outside her home country longer than she lived in it. Lawyer. Educator. Cross-cultural consultant. Mother of three adult TCKs. President of FIGT. And a woman who, after receiving her 598th job rejection, sat down on a Friday night and wrote an article that stopped LinkedIn in its tracks.
In this conversation, Flor and Doreen unpack what happens when globally complex women hit systems built for linear lives — and why that's not a talent problem. It's a design...
A TCK Raising Thriving World-Wise TCKs!
Adrienne Belaire grew up on Aramco compounds in Saudi Arabia from first grade through high school, a world full of sunshine, small communities, and the particular freedom of a life lived between cultures. She is a wife, mother, potter, and artist who, after navigating her own sometimes turbulent repatriation to the United States, made a quietly remarkable decision: to go back again. She returned to Saudi Arabia as an adult gave birth to and has raised her three children there, giving them the same roots she had always missed. She is one of those rare people...
Dig Here: Story Archaeology and the Expat Life Well Lived
About Lisa Liang
Lisa Liang, known formally as Elizabeth, with a Z - is an intercultural storytelling coach, solo performer, and TCK who grew up across Central America, Southeast Asia, and the United States. She has spent decades helping globally mobile people do one of the hardest things there is: turn a life lived between worlds into a story that actually lands. She works with memoir writers, keynote speakers, and anyone who has ever felt that the people back home simply couldn't understand what their life abroad had been. Her warmth and precision in equal me...
What If You Learned How to Stay? Pia Mailhot-Leichter on Belonging, Creativity and Extinction Moments
About Pia
Pia Mailhot-Leichter is a self-described "recovering nomad" who has lived in more places than most people visit, from Manhattan to Sri Lanka, London to France, and eventually dropping anchor in Copenhagen after decades of following the nomadic pull. Born to a French-Canadian mother and a New York City father, she grew up crossing cultures before she had words for it, and spent years searching for belonging before discovering it lived inside her all along. Today she's an author, creative coach, and founder of Kollective Studio (yes, the Danish spelling), where she h...
Belonging Everywhere and Nowhere: The Expat's Identity Puzzle
About Daniela
Daniela Draugelis didn't just study cultural intelligence, she lived it before she even had a name for it. Born in Argentina to a Lithuanian immigrant family (her father fled Europe as a war refugee), she grew up speaking Lithuanian at home, celebrating cultural traditions on weekends, and navigating between worlds long before anyone called it "code-switching." Twenty-plus years of globally mobile life across China, Indonesia, the US, and now Pakistan, she's a certified Cultural Intelligence facilitator who helps executives, diplomats, and globally mobile individuals not just survive the crossing — but genuinely thrive. Find her...
One Next Best Step: Dr. Joy Wiggins on Moving Abroad Solo, Raising a Teen in Lisbon, and Building a Global Career
Dr. Joy Wiggins
Meet Dr. Joy Wiggins, we chatted about Raising Kids to Boardroomsshe is a cultural agility expert, former professor, and single mum who packed up her life in Texas and moved to Lisbon, Portugal with her teenage daughter Ruby. She's spent decades living and working across cultures, from Germany to China to Jordan, she also now helps globally mobile women build careers and lives that don't fit neatly inside one country's borders.
What You'll Take Away:
There's a world of difference between being culturally competent a...Packed Your Bags But Forgot Your Mind? The Emotional Side of Expat Life
What if the hardest part of moving abroad isn't finding a house, but finding yourself?
In this episode, Doreen Cumberford sits down with Vivian Chiona, founder of Expat Nest, an online counselling platform offering psychological support in nine languages to expats, repats, and global nomads worldwide.
Vivian brings warmth, wisdom, and 12 years of experience helping internationally mobile people navigate the emotional terrain that logistics can't fix. Together they explore the invisible side of expat life including the culture shock, identity shifts, and loneliness that can ambush even the most seasoned global citizen.
I...
Beyond Culture Shock: Kathy Ellis on What It Really Takes to Build a Life Across Cultures
What does it really take to build a life across cultures? In this episode, intercultural trainer Kathy Ellis joins Doreen for an honest conversation about the messy, beautiful reality of cross-cultural living. From her small-town Midwest roots to seven countries, multiple languages, and decades helping others navigate global transitions, Kathy brings both personal experience and professional expertise to the table.
In this conversation:
The Cultural Iceberg: Beyond Tourist-Level Understanding
Kathy explains why cultural awareness is just the tip of the iceberg—the real work happens when you dive beneath the su...
Advertising's Golden Era and the Hard Part: Coming Home
Today on Nomadic Diaries, I sat down with Peter Levitan, former Saatchi & Saatchi executive and serial entrepreneur, to talk about navigating international assignments, adapting to new cultures, and the challenges of returning home after working abroad. Peter shared invaluable insights on building trust, learning cultural nuances, and the importance of empathy in global business.
Peter was one of the few Americans hand-picked to transfer to Saatchi's London office during its heyday. At that time HR was not involved, there was no orientation, no cultural training, no HR support. He figured it out through pub conversations, workplace friendships, a...
"Belonging Is Not Found, It's Formed": 30 Episodes, One Big Question
In this heartfelt farewell to the Nomadic Diaries podcast, Doreen Cumberford and Megan Norton-Newbanks co-host reflect on a remarkable 10-month journey exploring the expansive topic of belonging. Together, they look back over 30 episodes, key guest moments, personal transformations, and the evolution of the conversations. The hosts revisit why belonging matters, share moving stories from the series, and discuss how the podcast impacted their own sense of community and connection. They also express gratitude to their team and listeners, offering wisdom and inspiration for anyone navigating questions of belonging in their own life.
Key Themes
The universal...Hidden Superpowers: Ruth Van Reken on What TCKs Get Right About the World
Show Notes
Welcome back to Nomadic Diaries for part two of our conversation with Ruth Van Reken, the influential voice behind "Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds." Joined by Megan Norton-Newbanks and your host Doreen Cumberford, Ruth dives deep into cross-cultural identity, belonging, and generational perspectives.
Key Topics Discussed
Navigating the "Where Are You From?" QuestionRuth shares practical ways globally mobile people can gracefully answer this challenging question.The Social Dynamics of IdentityExamining why traditional questions about origin can feel alienating, and how...The Woman Who Named the TCK Experience: Ruth Van Reken on Identity and Belonging
Episode Overview
In this enlightening episode of Nomadic Diaries, Doreen Cumberford and Megan Norton-Newbanks welcome renowned author and expert Ruth Van Reken, whose work on third culture kids (TCKs) has impacted countless lives globally. The conversation centers on belonging, identity, and the often-complex emotional terrain of those who grow up between cultures.
What You'll Hear
1. Ruth’s Origin Story and Journey
Ruth’s personal experience of being a third culture kid raised in Nigeria, drawing parallels with her father’s similar upbringing in Iran and her own children’s formative years in...When the Holidays Feel Wrong in Your New Country
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You can map the move. You cannot map the metamorphosis. Nomadic Diaries explores the interior journey of expat life — the belonging, the identity shifts, the repatriation, and everything that travels with you that can't be packed in a suitcase.
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What Filming Survivor Taught One Director About Belonging
In this engaging episode of Nomadic Diaries, Doreen Cumberford and Megan Norton-Newbanks welcome Caz Stuart, an accomplished documentary filmmaker, to discuss the art of storytelling, belonging, and community - both on and off camera. Caz explores her nomadic journey from Europe to San Miguel, Mexico, weaving in her extensive career experiences, particularly in making hard-hitting documentaries on social issues for UK television.
The conversation spans topics from the dynamics of competitive pickleball in San Miguel to the emotional landscape of filmmaking - how empathy, resilience, and a sense of belonging take center stage in both telling and...
Expat Life & the Stories We Carry Home
In this heartfelt episode of Nomadic Diaries, Doreen Cumberford opens up about the challenges and transformations of expat life, drawing from her own 15 years as an accompanying spouse in Saudi Arabia. She reads an excerpt from her book, "Life in the Camel Lane," diving into the core themes of home, identity, and the elusive sense of belonging for global nomads. Listeners are invited to reflect on adaptation, cultural transitions, grief, and the growth that comes from living liminally—caught between cultures and worlds.
Key Topics Covered
Personal Expat Journey:Doreen Cumberfordshares highlights from her me...Who Are You When You've Lived in Five Countries?
In this episode, Doreen Cumberford and Megan Norton-Newbanks sit down with Sa-Eun Park, also known as San Shine, a belonging coach and spiritual entrepreneur based in Incheon, Korea. San shares her powerful story of growing up cross-culturally—moving from Korea to Saudi Arabia, then Austria, and later, the U.S.—and how these experiences shaped her journey with belonging, identity, and self-acceptance.
Key Topics & Takeaways
The Wound of Uprootedness:San discusses the impact of being separated from her family at a young age and growing up across multiple cultures, and how this led to a...
How Creative Kids Navigate Life Between Cultures
In this heartfelt episode, Doreen and Megan sit down with Dr. Jemina Watstein, an internationally experienced visual art educator who specializes in working with third culture kids (TCKs) and international families. Together, they explore the deep connection between art, identity, healing, and belonging - especially for people who’ve lived globally mobile lives.
What You’ll Hear:
Jemina’s Background:Jamina shares her journey as a visual art educator over two decades, teaching in the US, Germany, and Thailand, and her academic path from a Master’s in Fine Art Photography to a PhD in I...
When School Feels Foreign: Third Culture Kids in the Classroom
In this heartfelt and insightful episode, hosts Doreen Cumberford and Megan Norton-Newbanks welcome Stephen Toole for a rich conversation about the challenges and triumphs surrounding belonging and transition for Third Culture Kids (TCKs) and their families. Stephen draws from his decades of teaching and counseling experience across the globe, sharing practical advice and personal anecdotes about fostering community, supporting children and parents through transition, and the growing focus on well-being in international schools.
Key Discussion Topics
1. Challenges of Belonging for TCKs
Increasing diversity in international schools, with more local students mixing with...Being Seen in the Mess: Megan Norton-Newbanks on Letters From 90 Expat Lives
In this heartfelt solo episode, Megan Norton-Newbanks pulls back the curtain on her new book, Letters Now Sent, a collection of letters from over 90 contributors who have experienced life as expats, nomads, and third culture kids (TCKs). Inspired by Ruth Van Ryken's memoir, Letters Never Sent, the project explores themes of belonging, vulnerability, and the emotional tapestry of cross-cultural living.
Key Themes & Highlights
Origins of the Project:Megan Norton-Newbanks was inspired by Ruth Van Ryken’s letter-form memoir and wondered how deeply personal reflections from those living cross-culturally could create a shared archive E...
The Crisis of Belonging: Tayo Rockson on Identity, Inclusion and Living Across Five Countries
In this episode, Doreen and Megan dive into the theme of Belonging with Tayo Rockson, whose life as a global citizen, diplomat’s son, writer, and basketball lover has uniquely shaped his perspective on identity, inclusion, and community. Together, they explore how moving across cultures influences our understanding of self, the growing crisis of belonging in a polarized, fast-paced world, and practical tools for cultivating more inclusive communities.
Key Topics & Takeaways:
Tayo’s Global Journey:Raised in five countries across four continents by age 17.Navigating identity as a Nigerian living abroad: Code-switching, lang...Why Expats Are Obsessed With Food From Back Home
In this delightful “Belonging Bite” mini-episode, hosts Doreen and Megan dive into the profound connection between food and belonging. From childhood comfort foods to international culinary adventures, they explore how what we eat is never just about taste, but deeply tied to our sense of home, community, and personal story.
Key Topics Covered:
Personal Food Memories:Megan shares her love for afternoon tea—a ritual that grounds her and transcends borders. Doreen reminisces about the comfort of udon noodles on a rainy day in Kyoto, and how learning to make rice helped...
The Inner Work of Belonging: Dr. Helen Fagan on Nomadic Heritage and Cultural Self-Awareness
In this insightful episode, Doreen Cumberford and Megan Norton-Newbanks chat with Dr. Helen Fagan about the nomadic spirit, the challenging journey of belonging, and the importance of self-awareness for meaningful inclusion. Dr. Fagan shares her childhood experiences in Iran, her identity as a descendant of Persian Bakhtiari nomads, and how moving across countries and cultures shaped her worldview.
The group discusses the internal and external facets of belonging - from the hard “homework” of self-reflection and letting go of limiting beliefs, to the practical work of including and welcoming others. Dr. Fagan describes the Intercultural Development Inventory, whic...
What Your Body Knows About Belonging: Marcia Bonato Warren on Somatic Awareness Across Cultures
This episode explores the deep connections between movement, body awareness, identity, and belonging, especially as experienced by people who navigate multiple cultures. The conversation dives into Marcia Bonato Warren's unique approach to Embodied Code-Switching® and the role of somatic awareness in feeling at home within our bodies across shifting cultural contexts.
Key Topics Discussed:
What is Somatic Awareness?Originates from the Greek word for “body” (soma).Goes beyond physical presence—encompasses bodily signals, wisdom, five senses, and cultural body norms.Importance of asking: “What have my cultures told me about my body?” and recognizing how societa...