Norwin grad combines career, travel, nomadic lifestyle

A North Huntingdon native has found that she can feel at home anywhere in the world, even when she’s thousands of miles away from the hills and rivers of Western Pennsylvania.

Kayla Ihrig has used her husband’s native Netherlands as a base for the past five years while branching out from where they have been living in the city of Groningen in northern Netherlands, not far from Germany.

“You get a perspective (living) abroad, that you never get at home. It’s different,” said Ihrig, 30, who graduated from Norwin in 2011.

Ihrig is the daughter of Lori and Bruce Ihrig. She works as a freelancer while traveling and has been a globetrotter the past seven years.

She spent time in Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Peru and across the Atlantic Ocean in Greece and Portugal.

She’s spent time in more than 30 countries in all, including North Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Balkan peninsula.

“The quality of travel is so much more important than the quantity,” Ihrig said.

Along the way she has become what she characterizes as “traveler proficient” in Dutch, Spanish and French, enough so to get her point across.

Last month, she was in Portugal before returning to Groningen. That’s where her husband, Bert-Jan Schilthuis, hails from. They married in 2019 and Ihrig maintains dual citizenship.

During that time abroad, she has been able to blend two of her passions — writing and traveling — into a successful career.

“I have been working (writing) as a freelancer. My clients are my ‘meat and potatoes,’” Ihrig said.

Even though she is thousands of miles away from clients in the United States, ”it’s the same as anyone else who has a remote job.”

From her experiences as a remote worker — and not just from her home — she has written “How to Be a Digital Nomad: Build a Successful Career While Travelling the World,” which was published in January. The book is described on her website as “a practical guide and an insightful exploration of this unique lifestyle.”

Ihrig said she found people to interview who have been digital nomads in every decade since the 1980s. In some cases, there are now second-generation nomads.

Her blog, Writing from Nowhere, offers tips on how one becomes a digital nomad, from how to build a Pinterest account, the right type of backpack to carry your belongings in and how to work and travel. Mixed in with the lifestyle discussions are offers to provide expertise on building one’s website, content and marketing.

“It is much more doable than people realize. If you speak English natively and have a U.S. passport, you’re already incredibly privileged and have so many opportunities to travel and work abroad accessible to you,” Ihrig said.

Ihrig’s life as a digital nomad comes at a time when Italy in February created a special visa category for digital nomads. This includes non-European Union citizens who perform skilled work using technological tools to allow them to work remotely, regardless of whether the employer is Italian, according to Arletti Partiners, a firm that provides services to Italian industrial associations.

Love of writing

She started to hone the writing skills she has used to earn a living while traveling when she took a college writing class at Norwin taught by Brian Fleckenstein. The 2011 Norwin grad said she found that it to be more fun than work.

“Kayla was one of those students that keeps you on your toes to stay ahead of them,” Fleckenstein said. “She absorbed everything and nothing makes an English teacher happier than when your students find a passion for writing. It’s so great that Kayla is able to follow her passions of travel, journalism, and writing.”

She earned a journalism degree at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, majoring in public relations. She tried her hand at being a newspaper reporter, working for a short time at the Indiana Gazette.

But, she wanted to see life beyond the borders of the Keystone State. She worked for the American Red Cross in Seattle, writing communications and presenting programs about disaster preparedness at schools in Washington state.

She then moved to Chicago, working as a graphic designer for an architecture firm. She realized the 9-to-5 grind and working on the weekends was not what she wanted to do, she said.

“After two years of working a standard 9-to-5 job, I was at odds with letting my job dictate so much about the next four decades of my life,” Ihrig said.

So, she booked a one-way ticket to Cozumel, Mexico, living in a hostel and working online to earn money. She traveled through Latin America and South America for six months, seeing Panama and Peru. It was in Guatemala where she met her husband, who is an English teacher. They work together on their business.

“The great thing about today is that people can be entrepreneurs and follow their passion,” Fleckenstein said.

Ihrig, whose formal last name is Schilthuis-Ihrig, said she has not decided how long she and her husband will continue this lifestyle.

“At some point, I’m sure I’ll tire of traveling full time and crave a long-term home, an herb garden or any other luxury of a stationary life, but not now. I’ll keep moving until it stops being fun.” Ihrig said.

Long trek

Ihrig and her husband recently completed a 150-mile hike on the Camino de Santiago of Portugal. It is a pilgrimage along the Atlantic coast of northwest Portugal, from Porto to Santiago de Compestella. It is part of a network of trails said to lead to the remains of St. James.

The 150-mile trip gave them time to test most of their gear and identify what they must carry when they embark this summer on a four-month journey on the Via Francigena trail. That pilgrimage starts in Canterbury, England, crosses the English Channel to France, then goes south through the Swiss Alps and into Italy, with Rome as the destination. The couple plans to stay in churches and convents open to visitors, but also will carry a tent because they anticipate doing a lot of camping, Ihrig said.

But, before she ventures across the Alps, Ihrig said they will return home be returning home for four weeks, beginning in mid-May. She has plans for a list of long uphill walks around Markvue Manor and running the stairs at Norwin Knights Stadium, as if she was practicing for the upcoming football season.

Then, after the long pilgrimage, they are thinking about traveling the Silk Road, the ancient route of travel from the Middle East to China, once traversed by famed explorer Marco Polo. Africa also could be on the list as well.

Her mother, Lori Ihrig, said they keep in touch with her during these years when she has been abroad, through texts, phone calls and Face Time, the audio and visual calling service. They also make trips to visit her, most recently meeting up in Portugal.

Lori Ihrig said she is not surprised at her daughter’s wanderlust. It was something she had as a youngster growing up.

“She’s a very adventurous soul,” Lori Ihrig said.

Kayla Ihrig said she looks forward all year to visiting her family in North Huntington and her sister, Julia Gray, in Greensburg. Still, she sees herself staying abroad long-term.

“I feel like I’m still just getting started,” she added.