There was the time she gave massages in bars; worked at a bookstore; ![\"Yolanda](\"https:\/\/clippings-me-blog.imgix.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/7EBB2074-9ABC-49D7-A9F0-3C2F0EB52E5E-250x445.jpeg?auto=format%2Cenhance%2Ccompress\")
managed Airbnb properties; cleaned houses; and worked at half a dozen hostels.<\/p>\n
Then there was the time she volunteered in a medical experiment that involved drawing blood, sitting in a car with a smoker and getting MRIs.<\/p>\n
All of these jobs would be remarkable enough; but for many of them, Evans was living in cities like London, Dublin, Prague, Morocco and Belfast.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a byproduct of what she refers to repeatedly as her \u201crestless\u201d nature; her resistance to conformity and the banal; and her desire to live abroad and seek out new challenges.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also a lifestyle choice that allows her to recharge, fuel her creativity, and cross paths with people she otherwise wouldn\u2019t meet, she said.<\/p>\n
Evans is the archetypal digital nomad<\/a>, living out the dream of many travel journalists and writers. Except that while others may hem and haw about buying a plane ticket because of responsibilities like family, mortgages or because they\u2019re risk-averse, Evans is single and adventurous and doesn\u2019t think twice about taking the leap.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how the American freelance writer, now based out of Berlin, has managed to live abroad for years at a time \u2014 without relying on a trust fund or a spouse with a steady income.<\/p>\n Delayed start<\/b><\/p>\n After graduating from J-school in New Orleans in 1999, Evans says she deliberately tried out different jobs here and there before committing to a career in journalism.<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t sure I wanted to do journalism for the rest of my life, I was still young and I didn\u2019t want to put all my eggs in one basket,\u201d she said. \u201cI did everything else, retail, volunteer work, a whole bunch of jobs because I didn\u2019t want to start off in journalism and hate it by the time I was 30 and have a pre-midlife crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2005, after saving up money from her odd jobs, she took off for what was supposed to be a three-month trip to Europe. But she managed to extend it to two years thanks in large part to a stint writing travel-related newsletters for St. Christopher\u2019s Inn hostel in London in exchange for free accommodation.<\/p>\n Eventually, however, the money and streak of good luck ran out and she returned to the US, settling in Los Angeles, where she worked alternately at Flavorpill, an ad company and part-time at Eater Los Angeles, where her interest in writing about booze and liquor took shape.<\/p>\n From then on she would fall in and out of love with freelancing throughout different phases of her life. There would be periods of severe burnout from unanswered pitches and constantly having to chase publications down for payment. On and off travel would become her antidote.<\/p>\n In 2013, she moved back home to St. Louis to live with her parents. After a year of saving money, she flew off to Europe again to live in different cities for months at a time, including a surf town in Ireland where she volunteered at a surf lodge.<\/p>\n \u201cThe thing about me is I like learning new skills, otherwise I get bored. I volunteer to meet new people, find new stories, and take new paths that I wouldn\u2019t have taken otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n Her big break and the importance of Twitter (she says reluctantly)<\/b><\/p>\n Evans has a love hate relationship with Twitter (follow her at @yolie007<\/a>). But she reluctantly acknowledges that she found her big break writing for Travel and Leisure via the micro-blogging site when one of the editors put out a call for a Writer of Color (WOC) in 2015.<\/p>\n \u201cI hate Twitter but I realized it\u2019s become necessary in journalism,\u201d she said. \u201cBut unlike others, I\u2019m not using it to build a personal brand. I don\u2019t want to be there all day. I\u2019m using it to find jobs and write.\u201d<\/p>\n Evans also credits Twitter for helping her land her favorite piece on Irish moonshine which she had been pitching for three years.<\/p>\n For the first year, it was crickets. In the second year, she changed tactics and started to engage with editors on Twitter. That\u2019s when the tide started to turn.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom there, I realized that editors were getting back to me and replying to my pitches. They were recognizing my name and getting back to me a lot more, even if it was just to say, \u2018we can\u2019t take it now but please pitch again.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, in 2018, Wine Enthusiast bit and published the piece titled \u201cPoitin, Ireland\u2019s Original Illegal Spirit, is Making a Comeback.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was my last-ditch effort. I had told myself I was going to retire the pitch. It\u2019s my favorite story because it gave me a real high when it was finally published.\u201d<\/p>\n The nomad lifestyle and moving to Berlin<\/b><\/p>\n Evans\u2019 lifestyle choices may not be realistic for writers with families and other responsibilities that tie them down to their home country. And she acknowledges she lives what others could consider a frugal lifestyle. When living in Ireland, for instance, she shared a house with five other people so that she paid $200 in rent a month.<\/p>\n