The good and bad of being a digital nomad

Hi everybody,

I love to travel and since I’ve been working, my holidays have always been 100% for that. I’m not one of the people who takes days off to be at home and run errands; For me, it seems to throw away that limited and precious time.

Diego started working remotely just a few months after I did and from there, we devised a plan to travel the world working remotely and at the same time, see in which countries we could invest in a property in which we could live all year round (ideally without cold) and that at the same time we could adapt for tourist rental.

At the end of July 2020, Diego was already full time with the new company, but there were still many restrictions from the covid. So, the places you could go were very few. There was also the detail that we had to wait for Diego to have his orthodontics removed so that we could leave Spain.

We started the test in Italy where we spent 2 weeks. The idea we had was of long stays, but Italy helped us to prove that we can travel and work at the same time. What happens is that we end up busted because spending half a day touring and then 8 hours working, is quite tiring. In addition, we must add the work of organizing photos, arranging videos and planning visits.

Then we started doing longer stays where the covid left us and today I am going to tell you the good and the bad of being a digital nomad from my experience.

The good

• Get to know many places in a relatively short time

Normally working fixed in a place, I could organize vacations to see 3 or 4 countries a year. In total, I had a month and a few days that I organized to make the most of it.

As a digital nomad you have no limits because you can go whenever you want wherever you want.

• More time to visit calmly

For me, the good thing about being a digital nomad is having travel quality instead of accumulating passport stamps like crazy. Instead of spending two weeks at each site and seeing everything in a hurry, you can spend 4 or 6 months to better explore the destination and have a better experience.

After each trip I needed a month to rest because after spending several weeks walking 10 or 12 hours a day, one ends up exhausted. Because my vacations are anything but to rest.

Therefore, my intention as a digital nomad is not to know more places but to spend more time and get to know each country in more detail.

• Live in the places you visit

Working remotely also allows you to live in several countries.

Imagine, you go to México for 6 months and spend the week as if you were living there. Working 8 hours a day and going to your dancing classes, doing sports, maybe taking a course. Then on the weekends you make the most of it to do that part of tourism.

The bad

• Romanticize remote work

It seems to me the most important thing. Now that being a digital nomad has become fashionable, you find some photos and videos on social networks that are the most unreal thing in the world.

The most typical photo is of someone sitting on the grass in a park or on the sand at the beach with their laptop. NO! You cannot spend 8 hours in that position torturing your spine and neck; much less in full sun since you will not be able to see your computer screen. You’re still going to need a decent desk and chair.

Another atrocity is watching the videos of the lodgings in which the digital nomads stay. Apartments or houses that do not cost less than 3000 euros per month. Who can afford to pay those prices? Very few people because in the world we live in, if you earn 1000USD per month you already must thank the universe and with that money you have few options.

So, you must have your feet on the ground and common sense. Everything is money in this life and most people are not the protagonists of those wonderful videos that we see on TikTok.

• It is impossible to find the accommodation of your dreams

No accommodation is going to be like one’s home, that must be clearly understood. For me, the worst thing is the issue of cleanliness because I need everything to be impeccable and nobody has my standards in that regard; Also, a cleaning clerk will do the bare minimum to make it look clean overhead. Therefore, you must assume that you have to spend a few hours cleaning in order to have a fairly decent place.

Then there is the internet. Since you are not on vacation and you must work, you need to make sure that the internet works for you. Ask exactly the speed they have contracted because everyone is going to tell you that their internet is excellent.

Another thing that always fails is the kitchen equipment. Tourist accommodations and in general the places that are rented furnished are not going to have everything you need. These are homes used by people on vacation who rarely eat at home. They all have the basic, but not what you need if you live there.

So, you must assume that you will have to buy some things and it is money lost because then you leave. In Portugal, for example, in an accommodation I asked the host for some things, and she said she didn’t have them, so I had to buy a large bowl, a cooler and a glass for the blender.

Another problem we always have is “dedicated workspace” because even if you filter the accommodations so that only those that have a work area come out, then it turns out that the only thing they have is the dining room table, which logically is not comfortable for working.

Finally, we established a $ 1000 monthly budget for accommodation. For that price you can’t find movie mansions and it seems like a lot of money to me, then we had to raise the budget to 1500 dollars. I was hoping to find better options for that price. Also, there are sites that are still crap despite being expensive.

There are people less demanding who can stay in hostels or colivings and pay less. Still, we also researched colivings and they are not cheap.

• Problems getting the products you use

This is something that bothers me a lot when traveling. I use certain skincare products that are sometimes difficult to find in some countries.

For example, in Armação de Pêra I ran out of the LIDL body cream, and I had to buy a nivea. I was all that month with skin that looked like a crocodile. In Portugal there were not all the ISDIN products that I wanted.

There is also the fact that perhaps the address you are staying at is incomplete and the carrier cannot find you to deliver the package.

• More expenses

If you travel more, you spend more. The logical thing.

In addition, you must consider that tourist rentals are more expensive than a long-term rent and that way you will also spend more. Add to that: flights and transportation.

• It is necessary to have a base

After traveling as digital nomads, we needed to have a home or a base with our things, our cleaning, our kitchen, etc. There are people who don’t need it, but we do. A place we can return to when we get tired of traveling.

• Pay taxes

This is a big problem as the system is not yet ready for digital nomads. Normally, people pay taxes in the country of which they have nationality and complications are avoided.

But since in Spain they steal more than half of your salary if you are self-employed, we need to find a decent place to pay taxes. In another post I will tell you about it because it has been an extensive and frustrating investigation.

• Noise

Almost anywhere we found is an improvement in this aspect because in Diego’s apartment the upstairs neighbors were idiots and every day either the baby was crying, or they were hammering, or dragging the furniture.

But keep in mind that you may not have the most favorable conditions to work. For example, in Armação de pêra we had the gardener mowing the grass almost every day and it was quite annoying.

• You may not be able to do all the activities you want.

You must know how to adapt and try new things. You will not have your Pilates class in all the places you go and in many there will be no gym. So, in that aspect you will be a bit limited, but you will have the opportunity to do new things and get out of your comfort zone.

As a nomad, I have a few things and some coreos to train in case that there are no gyms.

WHAT I RECOMMEND

• Minimize your clothes

As a child I was a fan of buying a lot of clothes and had an absurd amount. Then I matured and went to the other side, now I have the minimum necessary. First, because I hate consumerism and because in the end you don’t wear so many clothes. Second, because life is easier the less things you have; you spend less and save more, you need less space, you have less to clean and wash and most importantly, you have less to pack.

If you can only carry 23 kg of luggage and 10 kg in hand, those are the clothes you should have in your life if you are a digital nomad. We now carry a large suitcase with summer clothes, one with winter clothes and another with bathing items, sports and shoes; in our handbags we carry computers, cameras and two stuffed animals.

• Comfort above all

When I was little, I traveled with organized outfits and with all the matching accessories. At one point I gave away all my earrings, bracelets, chains, etc. And bags! I even took the matching bags. I also had many pairs of sandals for when I went to the beach.

Now I always wear the same earrings and I don’t wear necklaces or chains. To travel I only take a backpack and a couple of sandals for inside the house and others for the beach.

Also, my outfits are 100% sportswear and basic casual wear. Comfort is quality of life.

From 40 pairs of shoes that I had (or more), I went to 6 that are all sports shoes: running or trail running, because they are the only ones with whom you can walk 20 kilometers a day. Goodbye heels, sandals, boots and anything of the sort.

• Don’t spend money on suitcases

When I started traveling alone, I loved samsonite suitcases because at that time you had to have suitcases that couldn’t be stolen from. I still have them, and they are of very good quality, but expensive.

Nowadays it is quite unlikely that they would open your suitcase, and I think you have to buy the cheapest thing available; when it gets damaged, you throw it away and buy another cheap one. Also, the uglier the suitcase, the less it will appear that you have something worth stealing.

I also find it useful to buy a cover, thus avoiding damage to the suitcase.

Also, if you travel like us, it is better to opt for backpacks. This depends on the type of trips you do and your physical condition because it is not easy to carry 10 to 15kg on your back for several hours. We travel with backpacks from the Vietnam trip

• Relax with the cleaning

I am obsessive about cleanliness and order. My clothes, for example, are sorted by color, season and type. In my house I put the robot vacuum cleaner every day, so you will not find a particle of dust on the floor.

As a digital nomad, aside from assuming that you are going to find the places dirty, I learned to relax a bit with cleaning because it is not my home, and I will not be there for long. If the windows are not flawless as I like them, they will stay that way because I am not going to clean them for free to leave in a month or two. Clothes are stored in the fastest way, and I leave things in the kitchen “as they fall”.

In addition, we take advantage of the fact that almost every accommodation has a dishwasher, and I don’t bother to wash a plate.

In conclusion, to be a digital nomad you must continue with your feet on the ground and be clear that not everything is going to be perfect or how you see it on social networks. Still, it’s great to be able to work from anywhere in the world. In addition, you can move around for a few years, return to your base or stay in one place to rest and then keep moving.

Being a remote worker, you have more control of your time and more possibilities in life if you like to travel. In addition, you manage it so that the trip adapts to your time, your rhythm and your monetary capacity.

The best thing is that you have all the time in the world, and you are not limited to waiting for a vacation to be able to go somewhere.