The New Nomads

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However, after September 11, his fortunes changed. "All my friends in the graphic design field were suddenly in trouble economically and foreigners like me started to come back home. I imagined an online business giving me financial security and independence using my skills as graphic designer."

Two months after the terrorist attacks, Moulinet created his online logo-design firm and hit the road, staying in hotels and friends' apartments in New York, Miami, Paris, and Tokyo. In 2005, he met his girlfriend, Yoko Chiba, who is also a designer and world traveler. The two teamed up on their current company last year. It primarily serves companies in Japan, but they hope to expand to additional countries in the near future.

Like Moulinet, Chiba grew up on the road. "I am from a salaryman family, so from an early age it was part of my lifestyle to move every now and then when my dad was promoted or repositioned," she wrote in an e-mail. "But the first time I went abroad was on my own, when I was 16 as an exchange student, staying with a host family in Alabama." Chiba returned to Japan for a university degree and then studied fashion design in Europe, living on the Continent for seven years in various countries. Although she's now back in Tokyo, she and Moulinet feel that traveling is an essential part of their lives.

Spiritual and Financial Benefits

"The only downsides are that my dream has been always to have a beautiful rose garden and we both would love to have pets," Chiba wrote. Yes, there are cons to the wanderlust lifestyle, though Bolanos calls them "challenges" rather than "cons." "You must work downtime into your professional schedule when you are transitioning from one place to another," she wrote. "I have often been caught off-guard by how many days it takes me to shake jet lag and get acclimated to new surroundings before I can really be mentally available to clients. I've learned not to push too hard when we are moving."

The pros, of course, far outweigh the "challenges"—at least as far as the Nu Nomads are concerned. "I make Western wages, but spend it in developing countries, [which is] about one-quarter the cost of living of Southern California, where I'm from," Hamel wrote. "Personally, I've enjoyed being influenced by the differing communities I have visited and/or lived in, and [have benefited also] spiritually—not in a religious sense, but being able to home in on the core of my value system and learn to love more and fear less."

Anna Nicole Who?

Bolanos also notes the spiritual and emotional benefits of being footloose several months a year: "There is an immense feeling of freedom when you realize you are not tied geographically to your income source. The idea that I could work on a beach in Thailand as easily as in the center of Paris or traversing Canada is incredible. Technology has evolved to a degree that telephone and Internet communication make it very simple to stay in touch with clients, to pay yourself, do your banking while away, etc. My children are getting to experience other cultures and languages as well as see the world in a way that most do not have a chance," she wrote.

"I'm able to keep one foot within my profession as nonprofit professional for causes and concerns that I'm passionate about…and have the other foot in places where people wear flip-flops, live a far simpler and more charming life, and may not even understand the threat of nuclear war, global warming, or that Anna Nicole has died," Hamel wrote.

Karen E. Klein is a Los Angeles-based writer who covers entrepreneurship and small-business issues.