The best (and worst) parts of living a nomadic lifestyle
These are the pros and cons and of my nomadic life
Like almost everyone else, I reevaluated my work life during the pandemic.
Working full-time as a content writer and editor in New Zealand, I felt disenchanted with going back to the office.
I wanted more freedom to travel and explore the world.
So, in June 2022 — as soon as New Zealand’s borders re-opened to the world — I quit my job and started freelancing instead, so I could travel and work remotely.
I’ve been living a nomadic lifestyle ever since, hopping from Indonesia, to Europe, and Latin America, before returning to New Zealand.
I’ve achieved the freedom I wanted, but it has come at a price.
Here is what it’s like being a digital nomad.
jump ahead.
Why I decided to quit my stable, full-time job to live a nomadic life
Lombok was one of my first nomad destinations
At the start of 2022, I was in the camp of people resisting returning to the office after 18 months of working from home.
My reasons were the same as those echoed by people around the world – commuting felt like a waste of time, I could focus better at home, and office camaraderie felt hollow.
I wanted more out of life than trekking to an air-conditioned office every day.
I wanted to spend more time doing the things I love, like hiking through mountains or learning to surf.
So, I quit my comfortable, well-paid editor job six months after starting it.
I moved out of the central Auckland flat I shared with three others, sold most of my belongings, and bought a one-way ticket to Indonesia.
I had been freelancing as a side hustle to my full-time job for several years, so I already had a small monthly income and a plan on how to scale this up.
I also had a healthy savings account as a fallback if I didn't manage to achieve all of my freelance income goals.
What is a nomadic lifestyle?
Playa Maderas in Nicaragua is a digital nomad hub
Surfers and remote workers head to Playa Maderas for the waves
A nomadic lifestyle means constantly moving from place to place, with no permanent home or intention of settling down for a long period of time.
True nomadic cultures are rare in our modern world, so the term ‘nomadic lifestyle’ is now increasingly applied to people from wealthy western countries who opt to work in lower-income places where their money goes further.
I’m well aware of the privilege bound up in a digital nomad lifestyle.
For me, a nomadic lifestyle means I don’t have a permanent home base. I left some things in storage at my mum’s place in New Zealand, but other than that I only own as much as I can carry in my backpack.
For a while, I was a van life nomad in New Zealand. I worked from my van in the South Island for a few months, before leaving the country.
But as much as I love New Zealand, I longed to go further afield.
This instinct to migrate, or go on a very long journey, is a deep-seated desired for some people, myself included. Maybe this is some evolutionary quirk passed down from our ancestors of more than 12,000 years ago, and a time when people roamed the land in small, nomadic groups.
In my international travels, I typically stop in each destination for around a month, which is long enough to feel somewhat settled, but not long enough to put down proper roots.
In my experience of the nomadic lifestyle, there are highs and lows — the same as you would experience in everyday life, but often played out with a little more drama.
The best things about a nomadic lifestyle
In Mexico, nomad vans lined the beach in Puerto Escondido
Sunset walks were a part of my daily routine in Puerto Escondido
Nomad living has plenty of benefits — if it didn’t, I would have returned to a permanent home.
These are the main reasons I’m still living life on the road.
1. I have flexibility with my time
I enjoy being in control of my time.
I love that I can choose my hours of work, instead of having to be online when colleagues are online. Instead, I can work when I feel most creative — usually early in the morning or mid-afternoon.
I can organise my days around surfing or yoga classes, and stop working whenever I want.
I usually work about four or five hours a day. That’s about as much time as I want to spend staring at my laptop each day, and about as much time as I can sustain concentrated thinking.
Working less than a 40 hour work week means I might not get rich anytime soon, but my quality of life is better.
Being able to adjust my days to suit my energy levels means that instead of staring at a screen when I feel uninspired, I take a break to go to the beach or explore my new neighbourhood.
2. I don’t have to go to the office
Do I need to explain this any further?
I know some people love working from an office, and I do appreciate a dedicated workspace.
But there were so many things that chafed against me when I was working in the corporate world.
I’m an introvert, so trying to do creative work like writing in an open plan office was very difficult for me.
There were far too many demands on my attention, which left me feeling constantly tense and drained,
There’s no freedom to day dream in an office — everything is geared toward being as productive as possible.
I love that in my nomad life, I don’t have to deal with commuting, or small talk with colleagues, or having to navigate office.
I work from where I want, when I want. Sometimes that’s a cafe, sometimes a coworking space, and sometimes just the couch at whatever place I’m staying.
There might be less ergonomic support, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
3. Staying in each place longer lets me to get more out of the experience
Sunset through the trees — it was quiet and still
The forests were so beautiful, and so healing
Spending one month working from the forests of Finnish Lapland gave me a lot of time to think.
I loved being able to hike at the end of each day, exploring the forest of Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park. It felt like forest bathing each day.
Having an entire month there gave me a chance to soak it it, and let the forest get under my skin. I was there for the ruska, when the leaves change colour and the forest becomes red and gold.
Over the course of a month, I got to see the whole sweeping evolution.
I find that staying at least three weeks in one spot gives me a chance to get to know it, and have time to work, explore, and rest.
After all, the main benefits of being a digital nomad are to travel slowly and soak up more culture.
I’m incredibly grateful that my travels aren’t confined to a few weeks of holiday each year, but are expansive and ongoing.
4. Living a nomad life has allowed me to explore new ideas and ways of living
Living a nomadic lifestyle means breaking out of an everyday routine.
Once you ditch the patterns of your ‘normal’. life, you open yourself up to so many new possibilities.
In Mexico, I connected with people who held different belief systems to my own.
In a coworking/coliving space in Puerto Escondido, I met other people on different journeys. Getting to live with other nomad souls meant a lot of inspiring conversations, and getting introduced to a lot of new ideas.
5. It’s easier than ever to be a digital nomad
Sunset surfing at Playa Maderas
Sunsets at Maderas were stunning
Thanks to networks of other digital nomads, it’s easier than ever to set yourself up to work remotely in a new town.
Coworksurf lists coworking places for remote workers who want to surf. Through this website, I have found places to stay with other surfing nomads in Mexico and Portugal.
Facebook groups for digital nomads are also a great source of information — through Facebook I found another co-living in Puerto Escondido.
There I met two wonderful women, and we went to Mexico City together for a month, finding a beautiful house to sublet through a Whatsapp network of remote-working women.
Through the connections I’ve made through coworking/coliving spaces, I’ve heard about other awesome places to stay in France, Morocco, Peru, and Senegal — I can’t wait to make it to the sleepy surf towns in all of these places.
As well as accommodation and coworking infrastructure, visas are becoming more flexible to accommodate digital nomads.
In Indonesia I stayed on a tourist visa, which I extended once, giving me 60 days in total.
Since then, Indonesia has announced a new six-month visa for people working remotely online. Portugal and Spain have also recently announced one year digital nomad visas, which is great news as I am tired of hopscotching in and out of the Schengen Zone.
They join dozens of other countries around the world in welcoming digital nomads.
The bad things about a nomadic lifestyle
1. Being a nomad can be lonely — maintaining friendships is hard
The problem with being a nomad and moving frequently is that it’s hard to build deep connections with people.
I’ve met incredible people during my time as a digital nomad, particularly in co-living spaces in Mexico and Portugal.
However, many people stay for just a month or two, so while you can have a great time together, you don’t have time to get into deep friendships.
It’s also hard to keep connections at home.
When you’re not present, life moves on without you. Even if you’re good at keeping in touch (and I’m not) you’ll miss key events and milestones, like marriages, births, and birthdays.
I’m mostly happy in my own company, but sometimes I miss the lack of support a close circle of friends can provide.
In Nicaragua, I was in a scooter accident and spent several weeks laid up in bed, unable to walk far because of a leg injury.
I made the most of it, and enjoyed slow sunset walks and sitting on my balcony watching howler monkeys play. But, being on my own, I felt isolated and it was hard not to get down.
2. Dating is even harder
I have heard of couples meeting while on the road, but so far it hasn’t happened to me.
Living a nomadic lifestyle makes it hard to explore romantic connections. Several times now, I’ve met someone wonderful only to have to pack up and leave a week or two later.
3. People question my nomadic lifestyle
One of the things I find most difficult about a nomadic lifestyle is trying to explain my choices to everyone who still lives a ‘normal’ life.
My friends and family in New Zealand don’t fully understand what I’m doing or why — there isn’t a big digital nomad culture in New Zealand, like there is in places like Portugal or Mexico, so the idea is more foreign.
4. Staying healthy without a routine is challenging
5. You have to adapt to minimalist living
Living out of a single bag is challenging.
Most of my clothes are for the beach.
In Mexico city, a (well-dressed) friend opened the door and laughed at me, saying I always look like I’m headed to the beach, no matter the occasion.
I can only fit a certain number of clothes in my backpack, so I can’t have city outfits, hiking outfits, and beachy outfits.
I only travel with two pairs of shoes — my Vejas and my Birkenstocks.
I get tired of wearing the same things all the time, and I hate to admit it but I started to miss the clothes I left in storage in New Zealand.
Getting ready for nights out, I would dream wistfully of my lemon-yellow Anine Bing boots, and any of the dresses I could pair them with.
6. Finding the balance between work and travel
If you want to travel at pace, for example hopping between locations every three to five days, it’s not worth the effort of trying to work at the same time.
At first, it was almost too much freedom. I learned early on that having a routine is important, because staying focused can be challenging.
It’s tempting to go into holiday mode and want to explore everywhere and do everything, so having the right mindset about work and travel is important.
I try to have a set routine – waking up at a certain time, starting work at a set time, and carrying out a certain number of hours a day. If I wasn’t strict with myself it would be too easy to spend the day reading by the pool instead of doing any work.
When you’re working and travelling at the same time, it’s easy to end up doing a bad job of both.
When I landed in Bali, I stayed in a hostel in Canggu – before I realised Canggu is party central. I was going to bed when my dorm roommates were going out, and getting up just after they got home. They were there to party. I was there to join swaths of other laptop-toting remote workers in local cafes and coworking spaces.
I found I needed some semblance of a work routine, which meant travelling slowly and spending at least a week in each place. This helped me find a balance between working and enjoying my surroundings. I also decided to stop staying in dorm rooms.
On weekdays, I wake up and enjoy coffee, yoga, or a walk wherever I am. By 9am I try to find a cafe or somewhere to park my laptop for a few hours. I’ll work until lunchtime then take a break to explore. Around 3pm I’ll work for another hour or two. The rest of the afternoon I go back to being a tourist. I try to keep weekends work free and work around 25 hours a week.
I always have the freedom to shuffle work around travel. I’ve taken time off to spend four days on a boat sailing around islands in Komodo National Park. I enjoyed a week offline in a surf and yoga retreat in Lombok. And I made time for a week-long family get-together in a villa in the south of France.
7. As a freelancer, money is a constant concern
Walking away from a comfortable full-time salary when the cost of living is a constant topic of conversation was scary.
But I prepared to take the leap.
I’d had a freelance side hustle for years, so already had a decent portfolio, connections, and a solid business plan.
None of that accounted for a contracting economy though, or the arrival of AI which prompted clients to drop me.
I’ve been spending roughly $3000 per month, which includes everything from accommodation, to food, activities, and shopping. I’m spending about the same amount in Europe as I did in Indonesia, despite the fact that I’m staying with friends and family.
The cost of transport, food, and drinks in France and the United Kingdom has been much higher.
My income each month so far has varied from $8000 to $3000. That’s enough to live comfortably while only working about five hours a day. Over time, my plan is to find somewhere to settle for longer and grow my freelance income so I can actively save and invest. This isn’t an extended holiday but a different way of working.
8. Being a digital nomad is different from going on holiday, which means budgeting more for costs like accommodation
One big mistake I made when first leaping into the digital nomad life was booking a hostel dorm room in Canggu, Bali.
My roommates were only on short holidays and mostly wanted to party.
I found myself going to bed when they were going out, and waking up when they came home at 6am.
I quickly decided to upgrade myself to private rooms – I need to be able to sleep well to get work done, even if that means spending more and sacrificing the social nature of hostels.
I easily found affordable rooms on booking.com and Airbnb, but also saw people posting options to sublet their rooms in Facebook groups, which seemed like a good option for finding longer-term accommodation.
I still stay in dorm rooms occasionally, but it’s tough living in a dorm for weeks at a time.
In places like Portugal in July, a dorm was the only thing I can afford.
In other places, I have tried to find sublets through Whatsapp groups or connections, or have booked longer-term accommodation to get a cheaper rate (monthly stays cost less on a per-night basis than short stays).
9. Deciding where to go as a digital nomad is mentally exhausting
Of course, there are challenges too. I’m making plans weeks, and sometimes only days, in advance. This can be stressful – and expensive when last-minute flights are involved – but the ultimate flexibility of this lifestyle means I see myself sticking to it. Here’s to another four months of working from wherever I want.
This sounds like an extremely privileged problem to have, but the truth is, constantly having to think about your next step is mentally exhausting.
When you can go anywhere, choosing a place to travel can become overwhelming.
More than 40 countries now offer some variation of digital nomad visas, including Mexico, Greece, Costa Rica, and Seychelles.
This means there is a world of opportunity out there for digital nomads, so much so that I almost found choosing where to go overwhelming.
So far I haven’t explored longer-term digital nomad visas and I’m just travelling on tourist visas which are usually issued on arrival (I have a British passport).
I plan on exploring a longer stay visa when I find a place I like enough to settle there for a year.
After leaving New Zealand, my first destination was Indonesia. I went straight to Bali, attracted by the low cost of living and established remote working culture.
There are endless cafes with wifi and great healthy menu options, coworking spaces if you prefer an office vibe, and accommodation is affordable.
I expected to stay in Bali for several weeks but quickly found there were other aspects that didn’t resonate with me.
I didn’t love how busy it was, or the beaches in Canggu. I hopped over to Lombok instead and preferred the laid-back lifestyle, as well as the white sand beaches there.
My advice when choosing a digital nomad destination would be to schedule one to two weeks of holiday travel to a destination before committing to working there.
As well as great wifi, you also need to know that you will mesh with the culture, enjoy the local cuisine, be able to network locally, and so on.
My advice on getting started as a digital nomad
Adopt the right mindset
I found that it’s easier to decide if I want to stay in a location and arrange longer-term accommodation once I’m already there. Then I can answer questions like, is this somewhere I can see myself staying? Do I like the area? Is it easy to get around? What’s the wifi like? If you don’t have a lot of travel experience under your belt, you might want to consider easy ways to ease yourself into life in another country or on the road.
Thanks for reading this far! I hope this has given you some insight into what it’s like to live a nomadic lifestyle. If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email.
Before you go, you might also be interested in reading these articles:
