📩 In Today’s Email

The Deep Dive: Why now is the best time in history to be an AI-powered digital nomad—and what’s changed since the early Eurail + ThinkPad days.

The Read: Re-reading Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek—what aged well, what got completely eclipsed by AI, and why it still matters (kinda).

The Stream: Matt Wolfe’s latest AI breakdowns—and why the man will not stop howling at the moon every time GPT updates.

The Gear: The Top 5 AI Tools every digital nomad should start using today—and how they replace whole teams, agencies, and assistants.

📢 Newsletter News

We missed last week because I was out sick (sorry!)—turns out the only thing AI can’t do (yet) is send newsletters on my behalf when I’m laid up in bed.

But here’s the silver lining: this short break reminded me why we’re here.

A Texas Nomad isn’t just about travel—it’s about building a life of freedom, creativity, and intelligence. And as AI takes center stage, it’s time to lean in. We’re going deeper into how AI, travel, and personal growth intersect.

Oh, and a big thank you: we crossed 500 subscribers!

Your support means a lot—this is just the start.

Travel Trivia

🤿 The Deep Dive

I remember the first time I really tried to work on the road.

Early 2000s... I had a Eurail pass, a Lonely Planet, and a backpack so heavy it left grooves in my shoulders. The straps had foam shoulder pads. I used to bite them. Out of frustration. Or hunger. Or both.

I’d hop off a train in Prague or Florence, hunt down a café with a dusty corner plug, and pray the espresso wasn’t watered down.

Internet cafés were grimy dens of dial-up wires, secondhand cigarette smoke, and overpriced minutes. Maybe an early morning chocolate y churros if you were lucky.

My “work kit” was a stickered IBM ThinkPad—the one with that textured red nub in the middle.

It felt like a spaceship compared to the hostel computers, but without solid Wi-Fi, it was just a sleek paperweight. Good luck with that in rural Spain.

And if you forgot your PCMCIA card? 

We were dreamers. But also jugglers.

Twizzoring local SIM cards into Nokia phones (the iPhone of their day), wrestling with paper maps (mankind’s most persistent unfolded puzzle).

Lurking on travel forums. Running on a cocktail of curiosity and blind optimism.

Fast forward to this year when I launched A Texas Nomad as a weekly transmission.

Issue #2 was already about AI, because even then, the digital nomad landscape was shifting.

That was January. It’s June now.

And the shift has become a rupture.

The updates haven’t just been frequent. They’ve been foundational.

In four months, AI has leapfrogged into a new dimension: reshaping work, creativity, and how we move through the world.

What’s Actually New?

1️⃣ Autonomous AI Agents

Earlier this year, ChatGPT was a personal assistant—now it’s becoming a personal executor. Tools like Arcade.dev are pushing agents that don’t just suggest—they act.

Need a flight to Bogotá? Your AI can book it, manage your itinerary, and even message the hotel to confirm check-in.

2️⃣ Smarter Travel & Logistics

Apps like GuideGeek and Roamify now handle entire trip logistics, tailored to your budget, visa status, and real-time events.

You’re not just getting recommendations—you’re getting dynamic, living itineraries that update as you go.

3️⃣ Real-Time, No-Barrier Collaboration

Language is no longer a gatekeeper. Zoom and Slack, are folding in real-time translation. You can run a team across five continents without losing nuance or momentum.

4️⃣ Infrastructure Everywhere

The UAE is now importing half a million Nvidia chips each year, building the world’s largest AI campus outside the U.S. Translation: even if you’re in Bali or Cape Town, the global AI backbone is strengthening, fast.

5️⃣ Smarter Search, Smarter Decisions

Google’s new AI Mode turns search into conversation. Instead of digging through page after page, you’re getting contextual, direct answers—an instant upgrade for anyone who’s ever spent an hour trying to find the “right” visa advice.

Why It Matters for Digital Nomads

Back then, being a digital nomad was like playing Oregon Trail—guessing, glitching, hoping not to die of dysentery.

Now? You’ve got AI-routing your life with drone-level precision.

Here’s the difference:

• No More Siloed Hustles – AI unifies content creation, design, outreach, and sales. You’re not juggling; you’re orchestrating.

• Always-On Execution – Your AI co-pilot doesn’t get jet-lagged. While you sleep, it’s working.

• Instant Cultural Fluency – No more lonely phrasebooks. AI bridges language and culture in real-time, making you a local anywhere.

• Freedom to Scale – Want to launch a mini brand while you’re in Lisbon? Your AI assistant can script, design, publish, and even market it before your second bica.

Work From Anywhere—Truly.

I’ve always believed in the “anywhere office.” But until now, it came with trade-offs—spotty Wi-Fi, language barriers, endless manual hacks.

AI changes that.

“Anywhere” isn’t just a romantic notion; it’s your new default.

You can be in a bamboo hut in Ubud or a co-working loft in Berlin, and your AI is seamlessly plugged in—managing tasks, translating deals, researching your next move.

The world didn’t just open up. It turned into your playground—and your HQ.

What’s Next?

🔮 Fully autonomous AI travel agents

🔮 Nomad-run microbusinesses that scale like agencies—minus the payroll

🔮 Even faster iterations: what took weeks now takes hours, or minutes

AI is rewriting the rules of the game, not replacing the game itself.

It’s your force multiplier—your partner in building a life that’s borderless and creatively rich.

🤓 The Read

A few weeks ago, I dusted off my copy (meaning this time I played the audiobook) of The 4-Hour Workweek—the book that turned “digital nomad” from fringe fantasy to global phenomenon.

It’s been nearly two decades since Ferriss first published it. Rereading it now is like opening a time capsule.

At the time, his ideas were revolutionary.

He preached remote work before it had a name. Told us to escape the 9–5. Hack life. Outsource to virtual assistants in Bangalore.

Getting someone in India to handle your email felt like a secret superpower.

But reading it today? Almost everything he recommended is… moot.

His chapter on geoarbitrage—mailing checks to a fulfillment service in Ohio—might as well be instructions for sending telegrams by horse.

Hiring a VA to manage blog comments? Quaint. Niche dropshipping? Wtf.

What still holds up is the spirit of it: build a life around what matters. Automate what doesn’t.

But the methods? They’ve been replaced, upgraded, or made irrelevant by AI and the borderless economy we’re living in now.

The one line that still rings with me:

“What if you could design your life exactly how you want it?”

That’s still the North Star for every high-agency traveler.

So no—this isn’t a recommendation. It’s a relic worth flipping through, if only to remember how much has changed. Or if you still need to learn Blackberry shortcuts.

Thanks, Timothy, for showing us the path.

But the map has changed.

🍿 The Stream - Matt Wolfe’s AI Rundown

If you’re looking to stay updated on the latest in AI without getting overwhelmed, Matt Wolfe’s YouTube channel is a great place to start.

He offers concise, engaging videos that break down recent AI developments, tools, and trends. Whether you’re a digital nomad, entrepreneur, or just curious about AI, his content is accessible and informative.

One thing I love about Matt Wolfe: every time there’s a new AI breakthrough—no matter how complex—he insists on including an image of a wolf howling at the moon. It’s like his personal brand handshake with the algorithm.

Forget the days of AI-generated people with six fingers and Picasso-level face proportions.

Matt’s videos now feature wolves that look, well… like actual wolves.

Check out his channel here: Matt Wolfe on YouTube

The Gear

Gear: The 5 AIs Every Nomad Should Try First

✅ ChatGPT (OpenAI) – The Swiss Army knife. It writes, brainstorms, translates, and acts like your mini-consultant.

✅ Claude (Anthropic) – More conversational, a solid alternative for rewriting captions and ideas.

✅ Midjourney – Design and image creation in a prompt.

✅ Descript – Video editing and audio transcription for easy content creation.

✅ Perplexity AI – Fast, thorough research—like a personal librarian who never sleeps.

Why these five?

Because they’re the simplest to start with and give you a full toolkit: writing, research, visuals, and content. No more excuses—plug these in, and you’re already ahead of the old digital nomad model.

🛤️ Outtro

Enjoyed This? Share It.

Or, if you’re feeling extra nerdy:

01010011 01101000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01010100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01000100 01100001 01101101 01101110 00100000 01001110 01100101 01110111 01110011 01101100 01100101 01110100 01110100 01100101 01110010

See you next week. Keep moving. Keep making.