❤ About Me

Hi, I’m Renata.

Seasonal worker, slow traveler, and the person behind Nomad Sidekick. I write firsthand guides to the national parks and places I’ve actually lived and worked, plus everything I’ve learned about traveling more without being rich.

Hi, I’m Renata, and I’m 26 years young.

If you had asked me in college what my life would look like a few years after graduating, I definitely wouldn’t have said bouncing around the world, working seasonal jobs, and writing a travel blog.

But here we are.

I graduated college in 2021 with a degree in psychology. For the longest time, my plan was to become a child psychologist. It sounded like the responsible path, and I genuinely thought it was what I wanted.

Then, during my senior year, I shadowed a psychologist.

And I realized… I didn’t want to do it at all.

The closer I got to the career I had spent years planning for, the more I realized it just wasn’t the life I wanted. I wasn’t excited about settling into a traditional 9-to-5, living in one place, and following the same routine every day.

There was just one problem: I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do instead.

The Facebook Ad That Changed Everything

Around the time I was finishing college, I came across an ad on Facebook (at least, I think it was Facebook) about seasonal work.

I had never even heard of seasonal jobs before.

I clicked the ad and ended up on a website called CoolWorks, where I discovered that people were actually getting paid to live and work in places like national parks, resorts, ranches, ski towns, and other destinations around the country.

So I applied.

My first seasonal job?

Working at a gas station in Yellowstone National Park.

When I told my parents I got the job, the questions started immediately.

Are you sure this is real?

Are you actually going to get paid?

Is this a scam?

Are you sure you’re not going to get kidnapped?

I told them I was sure.

Well… pretty sure.

Thankfully, it was very real.

And that summer completely changed the direction of my life.

The Summer That Changed Everything

Living and working in Yellowstone gave me something I hadn’t realized I was looking for.

I could work, make money, meet people from all over, and spend my days off exploring one of the most beautiful places in the country.

I met so many people who were doing exactly what I was doing: trying seasonal work for the first time and figuring out life as they went.

Four years later, I still keep in touch with quite a few of them. Some are still working seasonal jobs, while others have moved on to completely different adventures and side quests of their own.

I also got pretty lucky with my first seasonal job. I worked for a smaller concessionaire that treated us well, and between affordable employee housing and low living expenses, I was able to explore Yellowstone while actually saving most of what I earned. I definitely learned later that not every seasonal job is created equal, but for a first experience, I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to this lifestyle.

The entire summer felt a little like a months-long sleepover with friends, except Yellowstone was our backyard.

On my days off, I could hike, explore the park, look for wildlife, and visit places people travel across the world to see.

And somehow, I was getting paid to be there.

I wasn’t making a fortune. Not even close.

But because so many of my living expenses were low, I didn’t need to make a ton of money. I could experience an incredible place while still saving much of what I earned.

That’s when something clicked for me:

Travel didn’t have to be something I squeezed into a one-week vacation every year.

Maybe I could actually build my life around it.

Yellowstone Was Just the Beginning

After that first summer, I wanted more.

I started discovering other ways to travel differently, including volunteer opportunities through sites like Workaway and Worldpackers. That eventually led me to spend time volunteering in Switzerland and Germany the following winter.

And I just kept going.

Since that first seasonal job, travel and seasonal work have taken me to places including Yellowstone National Park, Switzerland, Germany, Custer State Park, Denali in Alaska, New Zealand, and Glacier National Park.

Some trips have been planned months in advance.

Others… not so much.

And honestly, I think some of the best adventures happen when you don’t have everything perfectly figured out.

Why I Love Slow Travel

Somewhere along the way, I realized that slow travel is my favorite way to experience a new place.

I don’t want to arrive, take a picture at the main attraction, check it off a list, and leave.

I want time to actually explore.

I want to find the hikes I didn’t know about before I arrived. Take spontaneous road trips. Discover places by accident. Meet people. Change my plans at the last minute. Stay somewhere long enough that it starts to feel a little less like a destination and a little more like home.

Seasonal work gave me the opportunity to do exactly that.

Instead of visiting Yellowstone for a few days, I got to live there.

And that’s a completely different way of traveling.

Why I Started Nomad Sidekick

After years of traveling this way, I’ve learned a lot.

I’ve learned how to find seasonal jobs that let you live in incredible places. I’ve learned that traveling doesn’t necessarily require being rich. I’ve learned that sometimes the places you weren’t planning to visit become your favorites.

And I’ve definitely learned plenty of things the hard way.

That’s why I created Nomad Sidekick.

This travel blog is where I share my real travel experiences, destination guides, road trip itineraries, seasonal work advice, slow travel tips, and everything I learn along the way.

I want to help people who look at travel and think:

I’d love to do that, but I don’t know how.

Because I didn’t know how either.

I literally clicked a questionable-looking Facebook ad, applied to work at a gas station in Yellowstone, and hoped I wasn’t getting kidnapped.

Everybody starts somewhere.

I still don’t have much interest in the traditional 9-to-5 or having every part of my life planned years in advance.

I like being all over the place.

I like changing plans.

I like deciding to go somewhere with barely enough time to figure out how I’m getting there.

And somehow, those tend to become the best adventures anyway.

So if you want to travel more, stay longer, find seasonal work, take the road trip, or just figure things out as you go, you’re in the right place.

Welcome to Nomad Sidekick. So, where are we going next?

Where seasonal work has taken me

So far, at least.

YellowstoneSwitzerlandGermanyCuster State ParkDenali, AlaskaNew ZealandGlacier