I feel so lucky to be living the digital nomad life. This phase of our lives allows my husband and me to work and travel together, discover new cultures, make new friends, and reconnect with old ones. A few things fell into place to make this the right path, and if you’re thinking to take the leap to travel and work around the world, or maybe you’re just interested in the process, then keep reading as I hope to answer some of those questions as well a share some personal top learnings!

“How did it all start?”

Our mental shift really came after spending 3 months in Mexico. We had to leave the US at the end of 2020 to renew visa paperwork, and figured we might as well extend the trip since it was our first time there, plus the cost of living was much lower than in New York and workwise our jobs were remote for the foreseeable future. We found a friend to take over our lease in New York (so at least we weren’t out of pocket), got our COVID tests, and had a burrito as soon as we landed. Mexico was life-changing, I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like Mexico. If you’re interested in all our food-related travels in Mexico, check out this playlist that has everything we tried, from barbacoa to cricket tacos, to making tortillas and Oaxacan cheese from scratch. When we returned to New York, it wasn’t long until we figured that we had experienced New York to our satisfaction and that our urge to see the world was more enticing. We coordinated our lease end date with our departure date, shipped a few belongings back to Australia, got the OK from work, and started our digital nomad journey at the end of May 2021.

We’ve been super lucky to have lived and worked in Colombia and Turkey for the past 2 months, so this post covers some of the biggest learnings as a digital nomad newbie. Let’s go!

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Lifestyle learnings

1. The digital nomad life is affordable.

We select destinations that offer accommodation for $1000-$1200 USD per month (thank you Airbnb monthly discounts), and budget another $800-1000 USD to spend on transport (Ubers/trains, etc), food, and activities. That comes to a maximum total of $2200 USD per month for 2 people/$1100 per person. I’m not sure if this appears high or low to you, but for us, our new total cost of living is more than $1000 less than our previous rent in New York.

Let’s break down the transport, food, and activities expense of $800 -1000 USD per month/couple:

• In Medellin, Colombia 800 USD is roughly 3 Million Pesos/30 days = 100K Pesos/day/2 people= 50K Pesos per person/day. A cappuccino costs 5–7K, 1x20 min uber costs 10–20K, and 1 meal costs 10–40K per day.
• In Istanbul, Turkey 800 USD is roughly 7000 Turkish Lira/30 days = 233 Turkish Lira/day/2 people= 116TL per person/day. A cappuccino costs 15–20TL, 1x20 min uber costs 35TL, and 1 meal costs 10–45TL per day.

No two days are the same, but overall the prices do average up and we’ve been on track with this budget for the last 2 months. You can see how the addition of $200 USD will account for things such as weekly experiences and the occasional date night splurge. We’re non-smokers and don’t consume much alcohol.

Apart from the above, the other cost worth mentioning is the flights to get you from one destination to another. Say you earn a minimum of $3000 USD per month, and follow the rule of setting aside 1/3 towards savings ($1000), you will still have $2000 USD to spread across rent, living costs (~$1500), and flights (~$500) per month.

2. It’s a really healthy lifestyle for your mind, body, and soul.

There’s just so much walking around to discover your new city, so much to stimulate and inspire you, so many new smiles, new laughs, new excitement, new sights, new sensations, new ways of thinking and doing, new tastes, new everything. It’s a fulfilling way to experience life for those who like learning, engaging, and exploring our wonderful world.

3. You wear the same things, a lot!

Personally, black and earthy pastels are my go-to base colors because they pair well together and are easier when it comes to laundry. I like layering other colorful lightweight items such as scarves and jewelry to act as a pop of color and change things up. The type of fabric is also important, even though cotton is extremely comfortable, I’ve found Tencel, bamboo, linen, and Merino wool to be superb (& sustainable) materials for lightweight, fast-dry & weather-friendly comfort. I recommend choosing a mix of stretch-friendly + loose clothing. If you’re anything like me, love walking in the sun and eating your way through new cities, friendly fabrics will adjust to your body and allow you breathing room as you experience travel/weather fatigue. A final tip here is to select multi-purpose and convertible clothing to save up on space, things such as sport crop tops, scarves, and cargo zip-off pants are great choices.

4. There are other expenses you need to take into account.

As we chose to travel with carry-on only, there are basic necessities you will need to keep stocking up on as you travel, such as cooking oils, spices, soap, and shampoo. While some rentals homes have basic provisions, we love cooking and can be picky on our ingredients, so we always make sure we set aside a budget for these goods.

5. Having someone to share this experience makes it fun, safer & cheaper.

I think this point is pretty self-explanatory. Whether you’re traveling as a group or solo, I recommend activities that give you the opportunity to connect with others in your native language. It’s comforting to take time to reflect and talk about life/experiences with people that understand you. Airbnb Experiences, tours, Facebook groups, meeting ex-pats, are all amazing bridges between you and the new culture you find yourself in. They can ease you in and also give you so many tips.

6. Don’t plan too far and too much in advance. And take your time at each destination.

We live in a time where things change rapidly. We like to plan 1 month in advance, which provides us a safety net, but isn’t too long if our plans need to change.

Living as a digital nomad is not the same as traveling. People will often think you’re on holiday, but you’re not, you’re just changing destinations as you live and work. Therefore, give yourself time to explore and rest. We have found our sweet spot at every location to be 3 weeks. An ideal weekly breakdown for us is a jam-packed Saturday with activities, chill on Sundays and tackle the rest that the city has to offer during downtime on the weekdays.

6. Take opinions with a hint of salt.

Like everything else in life, people have opinions on your chosen destinations/choices based off their experience or what’s been told through the grapevine. I’ve learned to take opinions and turn them into recommendations, and see them as just that, a recommendation. Do your own research, then just go experience it and make your own opinion about it.

Work-related learnings

8. You need to have a place where you can work from.

Co-working spaces are usually pretty reliable with facilities and internet speeds, but if you’ve chosen to work from your nomad home, choose places that have at least 1 room/bedroom (useful if there are multiple calls happening) and a sturdy table and chair set up. Worth checking: your wifi speeds with your host before booking. Having said that, we’ve found speeds of 20mbps high enough to support Zoom calls.

9. You have a better work/life balance.

Because you have put yourself in a situation where you are away and potentially in a different timezone to most of your team, your responsibility to deliver the same caliber of work, and desire to explore all the new things in town, results in intentional scheduling, planning, and setting boundaries. I wrote more on work/life balance in this previous entry.

10. Keep communications high with your team.

Don’t expect your team to know or keep up with your changing work hours and time zones. Keep communication high and schedule frequent quality check-ins so time zones do not become a challenge. I also recommend using voice notes to communicate quickly and effectively when you can’t jump on a call.