Are you and your family thinking about becoming a digital nomad family? If you’re like us, you’ve been scrolling Instagram and TikTok incessantly, watching other families live the nomadic dream. Or, you’re stuck on the details, trying to figure out how digital nomad families make their chaotic lifestyles work.
After all, isn’t full-time travel for single, unemployed 20-year-olds? (Spoiler Alert: It isn’t.)
I’m Caitlin, a digital nomad mom whose family thrives on chaos – we’re a globe-trotting troupe of digital nomads who escaped the 9-to-5 grind. Leaping our stable lives into our new, chaotic lives was hard. But I have some good news – leaping is the hardest part of living the digital nomad family dream.
Whether you’re already globe-trotting with little ones or just daydreaming about escaping the 9-to-5 grind, this guide will help you understand the realities of digital nomad parenting.
What Is a Digital Nomad Family?
The definition of a digital nomad family is simple: an inter-generational group of people who work remotely while traveling the world. Unlike traditional expats who settle down in one place, nomadic families have deep-seated psychological issues which prevent them from living an everyday, stable life. Just kidding. Sort of!
Nomadic families embrace the uniqueness of our planet. We deep-dive into different climates, countries, cities, and natural parks to find the perfect place for our family. We’ve set up temporary homes in remote islands, campervans, and treehouses while keeping our jobs and raising our son.
Instead of daycare drop-offs and commutes, our daily routine includes:
✔ Answering emails from this beachfront café in Thailand ☕
✔ Homeschooling our toddler in this cozy Airbnb in Portugal 📚
✔ Haggling in a Costa Rican farmer’s market while practicing our Spanish 🌮
If you’re family has ever felt the urge to trade their predictable lives for new adventures, then welcome.
You’re in the right place.
Differences between Solo Digital Nomad Travel and Family Digital Nomad Travel
Solo digital nomad life is everywhere online – but adding kids into the mix changes your travel reality. A lot. You’re not going to be hopping from island to island on a weekly basis, partying at night, and working through a hangover. You’re a parent now. Adjusting your travel plans to make space for your family is key to thriving as a digital nomad family.
Here’s how:
1. Your Travel Speed Slows Down.
Pre-Kids, we could switch cities every other week. Post-kids, speed became our enemy. Our toddler needs three nights to adjust to new surroundings. We, his parents, need three nights to create a routine that works for our family. Slowing our travel down significantly raises our productivity at work and our happiness at home.
Here are a few reasons why families should slow their travels down.
- Long-term rentals are cheaper and better equipped for families.
- Jet Lag hits differently when you haven’t slept through the night in three years.
- Full-time travel is stressful. Parenting is stressful. Give yourselves a much-needed break!
- Slowing your travels down allows you to create friendships around the world.
2. Your Packing List Doubles
When we first started traveling, my husband and I had a large suitcase and a backpack. Each. Now, my husband has two carry-on bags, while the baby and I share a large suitcase and two backpacks.
New things you will suddenly need to pack include (but are not limited to):
✔ This portable crib
✔ An evergrowing snack stash
✔ Toys and Books
✔ Arts & Craft Supplies
✔ A portable pharmacy
✔ A carseat
✔ Balance Bike
✔ Stroller
✔ More clothes. Trust me. Pack extra.
Dennis recently came back from a week-long stay in Germany – hand luggage only. It was a dream come true!
3. Your Daily Routine Requires Active Time Management
Remote work while traveling sounds dreamy – until you have to work full-time hours, take care of your kids, and explore the world.
Working remotely as a solo nomad can be challenging, but it’s nearly impossible as a parent without a quiet, kid-free workspace.
✔ Coworking spaces & cafés: Dennis joins a coworking space whenever we live close enough to one. Bonus points if the coworking space has a playground, restaurant, or outdoor area for baby.
✔ Learn to Prioritize: Deadlines don’t wait for your toddler to decide they’re ready for a nap. We had to learn to adjust our schedule, and our toddler’s schedule, to maximize family time, our productivity, and get our son the care he needs.
✔ Tag-team parenting: We have a color-coded parenting schedule that we change based on our current time zone. In Thailand, I work in the mornings and Dennis in the afternoons.
4. Your Accommodation Priorities Change
Pre-kids, we cared about very little in our accommodation. We were beyond stoked if it’s in our budget with working Wi-Fi and a limited number of cockroaches.
Post-kids, we’ve become a lot pickier.
✔ Space. Hotels are great for short stopovers, but their lack of space, laundry machines, and kitchens make us feel claustrophobic after a week.
✔ Homey Feeling: Full-Time travel is exhausting. We often find ourselves dreaming of actual liveable homes. Enter, TrustedHousesitters.
✔ Long-term rentals are key in creating a home away from home. Search for key family-friendly features, like walkability and a general lack of life-threatening architectural features.
5. You’ll Change Your Priorities As Your Children Grow
After 3 years of full-time travel, I’ve noticed one major difference between my family and other digital nomads. We choose our destinations based on our son, his current developmental stage, and what we, as a family, need. Travel is no longer about experiences or checking things off an ever-growing bucket list. Now, it’s about finding the best places in the world for our family.
We moved to a farmhouse when our son was learning to crawl.
When he became obsessed with bikes, we moved to the Cook Islands, where we rode bikes around the island until our visas expired.
Our son loves sheep, so we often build stopovers in Iceland into our schedule.
Now, we’re focused on finding countries to let him freely explore without worrying about possibly snake bites, tiger attacks, or falling off a cliff.
Exploring the World as a Family
Yes, traveling with kids is more complicated. But it’s also incredibly rewarding.
Watching our son’s world expand as he explores different cultures, discovering his love for plants, tropical fruits, and exotic foods, and experiencing life in a new way right alongside him has made our parenting journey easier, more enjoyable, and much more rewarding.
Sure, we aren’t hitting every Instagrammable hotspot or checking all the sights off our bucket list. But we’re finding incredible hidden gems, like this strawberry-themed playground in Pai. We’re also learning more about ourselves as parents and humans through traveling with our son than we ever though possible. Experiencing the world for the first time together is an incredible gift.
Check out these blogs for some honest insights into our lives as a digital nomad family.
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