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Just kidding. Sort of.
My family and I are digital nomads, meaning we work remotely and travel the world full-time. This means no home, housework, offices, or daycare. We were influenced into this lifestyle by the thousands of digital nomad influencers on Instagram, along with our friends and family members who had taken the leap years ago.
Here are 10 secrets about our lives as digital nomads you won’t find influencers talking about.
The first five are negative aspects of digital nomadism we feel deserve to be discussed more online, but because I am a strong believer in ending on a positive note, the last five are some of our favorite parts of digital nomadism and our tips on surviving this crazy journey.
Negative Effect on Local Economies
In the past three years, we’ve begun to see a pushback from locals against digital nomads in their community. Once you start spending time in local communities and seeing how massive amounts of digital nomads negatively impact the local economy, it becomes understandable.
Digital nomads earn more than locals and act like it.
Locals tend to resent those of us who take our travel lifestyles for granted or talk down to less-traveled neighbors.
Digital nomads price locals out of affordable rentals in their hometowns, creating more resentment.
There are ways to combat your negative influence. We buy local, whenever possible, rent from local landowners, and respect the culture we live in. We thank locals for sharing their paradises with us and remember to behave like guests.
Wrinkles
Everything you own will be wrinkled.
This is a fact.
A huge part of digital nomads’ lives is cramming all their belongings in a 70L backpack or suitcase.
While packing bags and rolling (not folding) can help reduce wrinkles, eventually, you’ll underestimate the time needed to neatly stow all your items and end up desperately cramming them into your suitcase at 3 am.
We’ve tried various folding and packing techniques. I’ve tried rolling, folding to fit the packing cube exactly, not folding, bundling, and stuffing everything into the suitcase.
It all ends up wrinkled.
Uncomfortable Work Spaces
Although working from the beach may seem amazing, the reality is far from fabulous. Beachfront workspaces mean sand. Everywhere. Sand underneath your keyboard, in your mouse, and, most importantly, underneath your butt. Travel as a digital nomad family has permanently changed how we book hotels. Now, we look for comfy seating, a table big enough for our mobile workstation, and a space that inspires us to work.
You can add “designated workspace” to your AirBnB search – but be warned! Just because a place is designated as a workspace doesn’t mean it has an office chair, desk, or adequate lighting!
Most designated workspaces in our budget are kitchen tables.
When trying to meet a deadline, you will want A/C, a table, and walls made of something slightly sturdier than bamboo. You don’t only need A/C to fend off heat stroke—our laptops would overheat within an hour in the heat of the day in Thailand.
Check out this Cooling Lap Desk to keep your laptop functioning during a heat wave.
Lying to Co-Workers, Friends, and Family
Life as a digital nomad is fantastic. I love almost every minute of it. Sure, there are times when I’ve discovered a new bug nesting in my shoe that I miss my secure life in Hamburg, but those times are few and far between.
Our stationary friends and family don’t understand many of the decisions we make. We’re often accused of not living in the real world, or not taking our lives seriously. That couldn’t be further from the truth. We take our lives very seriously – we changed everything to make our dream life a reality.
Co-worker envy is a real and prevalent danger to digital nomads (and their employment.) We’ve noticed our co-workers becoming less forgiving of missed deadlines when we spend every weekend at the beach. We’ve found ourselves lying to our friends about certain aspects of our lives, embellishing the negative elements and skating over the positives.
You’re Still Working
We may summer on a Portuguese Island and winter on a Pacific Atoll, but we don’t spend all day at the beach.
We work while we travel, meaning we spend most of our days in front of a computer screen.
While living in Thailand, we had two friends come and visit us. They saw more of Koh Samui in three days than we did in 9 months! They spent all day exploring the island, scootering to the best viewpoints, and lounging at different beaches. On the other hand, we worked until 8 pm, giving us very little time to be tourists.
Every Weekend’s A Vacation
Now, we’re onto the positives. First up, my favorite part of digital nomad family life.
Although we now work atypical hours and typically work through the weekends (thank you, self-employment) that wasn’t the case when we first began traveling.
Treating every weekend like a vacation is easy and extremely enjoyable when living where other people vacation.
We didn’t need any travel time to the beach, could save our money on flights, and generally had five days to research where we wanted to go on Saturday.
We found it incredibly motivating during the week.
Shitty Wednesdays are a lot easier to handle when you know your Saturday is going to be an all-you-can-drink party at the pool.
Deeper Appreciation for Life and Our Planet
The biggest lesson we’ve learned as a digital nomad family is appreciation. The more we travel and the more lives we get to live, the more appreciative we are of the lives our families built for us. We’ve lived in countries where the adult literacy rate is under 25%. We’ve lived near extreme poverty and seen humanity’s resilience and beauty when challenged.
Traveling the world has shown us how delicate our planet truly is. We’ve swum with dolphins and seen whale sharks swarmed by tourists (ourselves included) eager to snap a one-in-a-lifetime picture.
We’ve seen healthy ecosystems buzzing with insects and felt the overpowering heat caused by artificial flooring in cities.
While plane travel isn’t the most sustainable option, we attempt to offset our carbon emissions by purchasing secondhand when possible and reducing meat consumption.
Advanced Decision Making Power
Digital Nomad family life isn’t for the weak-hearted. There are thousands of decisions to be made weekly. Our lack of a home and routine means more decisions than a stationary family. We continuously search for the best playgrounds, the best brand of diapers, and the most effective wipes, all while dealing with an entirely new climate and a baby.
We’ve discovered a new talent of ours – the ability to make decisions quickly. Yes, we adapt our plans, routines, and purchases to fit our new environment, but we also stick to decisions the first time we’ve made them.
We’ve learned to make big and small decisions with little information. This unusual lifestyle taught us more about ourselves as individuals, couples, and parents than we ever expected.
Permanent Change to Idea of Comfort
Before we started traveling, we had a great bed. We had individual mattresses to ensure each of us had their perfect sleep number. These mattresses were topped with a memory foam topper, providing an added layer of lumbar support. Each of us had an ergonomic pillow recommended by a chiropractor.
Three years later, we’re thrilled by the idea of sleeping in a bed. Any bed. If it’s not a hammock, pull-out sofa, or inflatable mattress, we’re pumped.
This increased flexibility applies to all aspects of life now. We used to dread long travel days, but now, we view them as a regular Tuesday afternoon.
My husband, who once tried to convince his office to buy him a $450 ergonomic chair, now works full days on a wooden stool – or the floor.
Adaptability
Traveling the world as a digital nomad family has shown us a side of ourselves we didn’t know existed. We’re adaptable! We’ve been forced to adapt our daily schedules to fit extreme heat, droughts, freezing temperatures, and an utter lack of sunlight. We’ve learned to adjust our weekly grocery shop to focus on local products and how to stay calm in the face of changing travel plans and canceled flights.
Our baby has learned to sleep when tired, no matter where. He’s napped in golf carts, on planes, in the middle of crowded street markets and in front of picturesque waterfalls.
As traveling parents, we’ve learned to care for our child in various climates, from tropical Thailand to freezing Iceland.
Digital Nomad Family Life is Totally Worth It
Traveling as a family has taught us to adapt to our environment in a way we previously couldn’t have imagined. It’s shown us the incredible diversity of our world, from the stunning geography to awe-inspiring people. Yes, it’s sometimes lonely and difficult to pack everything we own into our suitcases and move on. Often, we find it hard to relate to families living stationary lifestyles, and they find it hard to relate to us.
We’ve gained more wisdom from traveling than we thought possible and grown more as people and as a couple than we previously imagined. It’s been two years, and we’re not ready to stop living our best lives. Not yet, anyway. Even though life as a digital nomad isn’t working from the beach, sunsets every day, and pina coladas for breakfast, it’s still a fantastic opportunity to work, build a career, and see the world.
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