Organised by Coworking Bansko, Nomad Fest describes itself as "a celebration of the location independent lifestyle and nomad mindset".

This was my first nomad focused festival but the vibe was similar to meetups that I've found in Chiang Mai, Lisbon, etc.

Schedule 📋

• Morning talks from invited speakers.
• Afternoon self organised workshops and "unconference" talks.
• Activities like hiking, quad-biking, getting lost in the forest (more on that later).
• Various dinners, get togethers and all out parties in the evening.

The good 👍

• Some great talks from accomplished people with a genuine desire to share information and connect with the community.
• Nomads everywhere! Being somewhat introvert I found the first few days a little overwhelming, but pretty soon you meet enough people that there are familiar faces at most events.
• Diverse topics covered by the talks and workshops. Whether you're a hipster, hacker, hustler or hippie, you'll find something of interest.
• Access to nature, a low stress town, affordable accommodation and food. Essentially all the normal benefits of being in Bansko.

The bad 👎

• Not all the talks were to the same standard. There's always some Dunning-Kruger effect in nomad circles but there were also some salesy "how anyone can make money online" talks from people whose main business seems to be selling courses.
• General disorganisation:
  • The schedule wasn't released until the day of the festival which wasn't great for those only booking some days off work.
  • Everything had to be booked though a buggy app which would frequently crash and fail to update.
  • Dodgy microphones making a few talks hard to follow.
  • An ill-fated expedition to the bonfire night.

Bonfire night 🔥

The bonfire night was held at The Playground, Coworking Bansko's outpost location in the forest. The taxi service we booked was backlogged, but we were informed it would be a pleasant 40-minute hike, so armed with some beers and Rakia (fruit brandy) we set off with the group.

I'm not sure if we got lost or if 40-minutes was extremely "optimistic" but nearly 3 hours later we arrived to find out we'd made better time that most.

The party was cool. Lots of people, glow sticks and a donation based bar. As we arrived close to midnight we didn't stay that long, which is when the real excitement started.

The transport back was a huge off-road open-topped truck. In theory this was for those who had purchased the taxi service but without any enforcement, boarding descended into an inebriated free-for-all. The bumpy drive back brought everyone together, in the sense that you had to cling to strangers to not fall over the mesh of people lying on the floor while remembering to duck under low hanging tree branches.

To be clear, I loved every minute of it. The lack of health and safety was a nice reminder that I was no longer subject to the bureaucracies of Western Europe. However not everyone felt this way and there was a particularly spicy exchange on the festival's WhatsApp group.

Conclusion 🏁

It's easy to complain about Nomad Fest, but honestly I had a great time. Even the mediocre talks provided some new perspectives. You can experience a lot of Bansko's activities in short amount of time.

The real value is in the community. For all its faults there were 500 like-minded people who had come to connect with other nomads. If you can't get value from that then maybe you shouldn't be at a festival to begin with.

I'm glad I went and may go again next year. I hear it's going to be even bigger, what could go wrong...?