Life as a digital nomad

We have seen it a lot during the pandemics. People fled to the countryside, their summerhouse or a winter cottage up in the mountains. Some even invested in village houses in order to get away from people-congested urban dwellings. All because of the obliged or voluntary home-office opportunities that became commonplace. Nevertheless, some of us have been working remotely for a long, long time already. New technologies allow for that.

A quick look into Wikipedia shows us this description: Digital nomads are people who use telecommunications technologies to earn a living and conduct their life in a nomadic manner. Such workers often work remotely from foreign countries, coffee shops, public libraries, co-working spaces, or recreational vehicles.

Yup. People free from family or other similar obligations, stay connected and deliver their professional services from practically anywhere in the world, to their employer or to customer if they are self-employed. As long as they have an internet connection, and adapt to different time-zones, much is possible with modern telecommunications technology and a laptop computer.

Have you ever spoken to that ski-instructor in that Alpine resort? Chance is that the same guy works half of the year where you meet him in Europe, and the other half of the year also as a ski-instructor, but in Chile – on the southern hemisphere.

Or, he stays in Europe in summer, for some kind of beach or water sport professional. That is being a seasonal nomad.

I know that quite a few people take their family away from the daily routines and life, for a year or more, on a sailing boat! Maybe they go to the Caribbean, or sail around the globe. And, yes, their children in many cases can keep up with schoolwork. Thanks to the digital freedom offered by mobile computing and digital connections.

Isn’t that great, or what!? If you only have the guts to jump, it is actually possible to keep up digitally. If you need to, that is.

And if your job is one that requires international travelling anyway, maybe it does not matter if you start your business-trip from Oslo or Madrid, Turin or Mallorca. The rest of the job, you do with your mobile phone or your laptop anyway.

Well, at least if you are single. If you have a family, that frequent change of residence might be difficult for a child in mandatory schooling age, or for a partner with a 8-5 job situation.