The digital nomad: pros and cons

When I hear term digital nomad, it still makes me think of something extremely hippie. Nevertheless, I recently came to the realisation that I have become one them. There’s no clear answer to the question as to where I live, it depends on when you ask me. With COVID-19 planning has become nearly impossible, so therefore any changes to my location would be unknown till the very last minute. I work entirely remotely and my geographical location is not of primary importance. Let me reflect on some of the pros and cons of being a digital nomad and list some recommendations that have proven useful for me.

The pros:

• Adventure. By being a remote worker, you get to travel – even in this COVID-hit world. The adventure of getting to see new places and changing your environment fairly often can really help with feeling motivated with work.
• Co-working. Since becoming a digital nomad, I completely restructured the way I work and co-working has become an essential part of my life. I leave at least one day a week dedicated to writing my PhD thesis, a day without meetings. On these days it is also convenient for me to meet up with a friends in a cafe with good internet connection and work together. It creates a sense of belonging, a sense of community and allows for a social after work hours.
• Savings. If you manage to work from a country where living costs are below the costs of the country from where you get your salary, you’ll ultimately be able to save up much more than you normally would.
• Languages. If you are like me and enjoy learning and speaking foreign languages, then living this digitally nomadic life is surely a pro. Having spent a month in Barcelona and almost half a year in Argentina, I now speak Spanish close-to-fluently. I am also taking remote classes through my university: while it’s easy to practice my speaking skills with locals, I would like to improve my grammar and writing skills as well.
• Meeting new people. Remote work can be a lonely experience without local friends. Joining the local expat group or entrepreneurs’ network can be an easy way of meeting others.

And then the cons:

• Meeting new people... Because the digital nomad life can also become exhausting if you have to explain over and over again where you come from and what your hobbies are. Making friends takes time and takes effort. I do miss my close friends from previous stages of my life.
• Life admin. There’s some paperwork sent out to me to various addresses around the world. Health insurance, tax-related documents, updates on bank accounts – it’s not easy task to keep receiving documents by post if you don’t have a permanent address.
• Time zones. I recently gave classes to students in a Hungarian university, starting at 9am Hungarian time, which meant a 4am start for me working from Argentina. I won’t deny it, it was though.
• Tech. Imagine that your computer breaks or your internet service provider shuts down for a day. You literally can’t work and you can’t do a thing about it. I was once supposed to chair a panel on a conference and fifteen minutes before the event my computer sent a blue screen of death error – you can imagine how annoying this situation was.

Tips and recommendations:

• Mental health. I can’t emphasise it enough. While sometimes you find yourself surrounded by great people with great ambitions, remote work can be lonely. It’s important to take breaks, go for walks, do regular exercises – simple and basic things that we often forget about. A habit that I picked up is going for a daily ‘mental health walk’ for about 20-30 minutes after lunch: I change environments, I stretch a bit, I get some fresh air and I can reflect on the events of the day.
• Digital nomad communities. Finding real, close friends needs time investment. Getting involved in remote working communities can help this process. I usually search for terms like ‘digital nomads in X city’ or ‘entrepreneurs in X city’ or ‘female nomads in X city’.
• Address. The world doesn’t seem to be prepared for the idea that you are a citizen of country A, you have a work residence in country B and you are physically in country C. Be prepared for this and try to keep an address in at least two of these countries, it can come in handy when it comes to taxation, health insurance or simply if your employer wants to send you something by post. In certain countries, like the UK, you can actually purchase an address and have a forwarding service at your convenience.
• Back up. I back up my work on the cloud but also on an external hard drive regularly. Anything can happen in this virtual world, I do want to make sure I have access to my work at all times, online or offline.