“I like novelty rather than familiarity, and I can read a local community very quickly now. A local swimming pool or gym is an accurate social barometer of what a place is like. I can travel and work easily and have private art commissions, based on images of boat life. For me it is the best of all worlds. My only worry now is that I won’t be able to settle. Maybe that restless thing is part of my nature anyway, but living on a boat has certainly encouraged it.”

Continued on page 2: The move and shaker, and the jet-set writer

THE MOVER AND SHAKER

Andy Camonie, 33, is the financial director of a Dutch company based in England. He has spent his working life travelling and usually moves countries every six months

“Conventional aspirations — home ownership or having a stable job — make me claustrophobic. When I started work, I chose an unstable position in a company that was relocating. I was living in Holland, but within a week of joining, I went to Minneapolis. Since then, I have chosen change over stability. I feel most at home in a hotel: it’s my natural habitat.

“Living nomadically has shaped my domestic life. I am good at whittling down my personal belongings. I’m not attached to my things, and although I would happily spend £1,000 on accessories for a house, because they can be left behind, I would never spend money on a big piece of furniture. I only ever take short-term lets, and always insist on a three-month break clause in rental agreements: in the back of my mind is the thought that I will be moving on again soon. I once took a job that required me to drive the same route to work every day. I lasted only three weeks. The claustrophobia of it got to me, I felt as if I was living at the end of the world.

“It takes a certain sort of person to live like this, but once you start, it’s hard to get tied down again. Home is England at the moment, but next month, it might just as easily be Geneva or New York. There is a novelty to my life that sometimes makes it feel like a permanent holiday.”

THE JET-SET WRITER

Since 2001, Clem Cecil, 30, has divided her time between Russia and the UK, taking short lets in Moscow and staying with her siblings in London. She works as a writer and in architectural preservation

“I’m used to living in two different cities now, and although it leaves you with a slight feeling of dislocation, it’s also exciting. It is completely liberating and encourages you to take bigger risks, because you know that you can always detach yourself from any situation. It’s a brilliant cover when you are dealing with boyfriends, for example, as you can always disentangle yourself if things get tricky by saying you are leaving the country. It also gives you a certain mystique, which is particularly useful in a very masculine society like Russia.

“Leading this kind of life also gives you a much more relaxed attitude to possessions. You can’t get too upset about your things when you move around a lot — their significance diminishes when you’re dealing with practical considerations. I have clothes all over London and Moscow, so I just wear whatever I can find.

“I also get a different fix from each place. Life in Moscow is extremely fast-paced, and it is the place where I find the most adventure and excitement. Everything is open 24 hours, and Russians need no excuse to get the vodka out. Each time I leave or return, there is a party, so it can get extremely exhausting. After Moscow, London is quite calming and restful — and it’s definitely the best place to eat and shop.”

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