On Becoming a #DigitalNomad: Tips, Advice, and Reflections after 4 Months on The Road

A late nomad lunch in Ubud, Bali

Krista’s Tips for Becoming a Digital Nomad

On September 7th, I put the remainder of my things in storage in North London, had a hasty late lunch at — surprise — St. John, and left London for life on the road. How long will I be gone? Most likely through March or so at which point DECISIONS MUST BE MADE. Or should be made. Or will hopefully be made. (You can read more about why I decided on becoming a digital nomad here.)

Maybe.

It’s been four months since I handed my keys to the alarmingly attractive flat inspector (WHY NOW GOD?) but it feels like four weeks. I’m constantly amazed at the end of every day how quickly time has evaporated. I feel so busy but yet as my (often) sorely neglected website asks…what have I been doing?

To be fair, I’ve been working. Working-working. I got bills to pay. The point in becoming a digital nomad is not to embark upon a life of leisure but rather to take advantage of lifestyle arbitrage and reduce my expenses by living in low cost-of-living countries. I am joining the ranks of the Financial Independence (hope to) Retire Early Movement. To give you some idea of what’s been going on…I worked on Christmas Eve. I worked on New Year’s Eve. I worked on New Year’s Day.

I am very rarely never not working.

The prospect of retirement looms large and my nest egg is hungry.

In some ways, these last four months have been everything I have ever wanted. I am surprised sometimes by how easy it all feels. I don’t miss London THAT much, which is what I feared the most. I don’t miss anything really, except for drinking water straight from the tap and the ability to throw toilet paper in the loo, directly. Ah, and the ease of purchasing tampons because if there’s just one small thing we women in Western countries should be thankful for, it’s tampons. (OK okay, I miss my friends and family too!!! Of course I do!!)

At the same time, I’ve made mistakes. Stupid ones. Some of you will laugh at my mistakes in that smug sort of way, not believing that I would be THAT unprepared or that uninformed or that…out of it.

These mistake-y experiences alone have become one of the main lessons of these last four months…

Given so many of our own stupidities, who are we to judge anyone, really?

If I have any one resolution for all of us in 2019 it’s that maybe we should all be…kinder. (Exception: Racists. No one should be kind to racists.)

I meant to write this blog post about becoming a digital nomad after one month on the road. But that wasn’t really enough time. So then it was going to be two months on the road. Then three months. But finally, now on the 4 month anniversary of my new life and becoming a digital nomad, here are my tips for surviving.

Always Have a Backup Connection. In Fact, Have Two Backup Connections. Or Three.

As a digital nomad, the internet is your friend and your enemy. Sometimes, I’ve been amazingly lucky, like in Thailand when my tiny 3 star hotel had a 60 Mbps connection that never wavered. Other times, I’ve been damned. Like I am right now in Ubud, during one of my busiest months, where my hotel internet slows to a crawl in the mornings and evenings when everyone is back at the property. (Thank goodness for Hubud.) So don’t rely on hotel wifi if you need to do intense internet related work or Skype calls. Attach yourself to a coworking office if at all possible. And get a local SIM card. And search out a cafe or restaurant close to your hotel with a decent wifi connection as another backup.

Trust me…there are never enough backup connections.

Get Vaccinated. For All The Things

In my rush to leave London, I just didn’t think about this. Stupid, stupid, stupid Krista. Let me tell you…when you are attacked by stray Balinese dogs, don’t ever google “Bali dogs rabies.” And guys, I am not kidding when I say the universe is always trying to tell us things because TODAY while I was on a conference call at my coworking office in Ubud, 30 monkeys started fighting with each other right in front of me and I was trying to be all businesslike and “I’m really going to have to call you back” when ALL I COULD THINK OF WAS RABIES.

So if you are thinking about becoming a digital nomad and working from countries like Thailand, Bali, Vietnam, etc, get vaccinated against all the things before you go. Like rabies. Get vaccinated against rabies especially.

Mosquitoes are The Enemy

If your plan is to work from tropical locations…get ready. I have been bitten by more mosquitoes in the last four months than I probably ever have in my entire life. And this is with wearing Skin So Soft religiously PLUS mosquito repellent. So pack that “light, loose fitting clothing” that everyone talks about to protect yourself from mosquitoes and be prepared. In Koh Lanta, apparently nearly everyone at my coworking office Kohub in Koh Lanta, Thailand came down with Dengue in July. Nobody “wants” to come down with Dengue.

Get a No Foreign Transaction Fee Debit Card

If you’re planning on becoming a digital nomad and living a life on the road, you need to think about money and paying for things. I have both a US and a UK debit card and they both hit me with massive fees every time I take money out. It hurts. Especially in Vietnam where the max you can withdraw in a lot of places is about $90 USD. Get a NTF card and save yourself a few hundred bucks a year.

Hook up Apple Pay to Your No Foreign Transaction Fee Credit Card

This is my new answer to anything that costs over $20 USD so I don’t have to take out cash all the time on my debit card with foreign transaction fees. Now I ask “Do you take Apple Pay?” 50% of the time they will. (It’s the same as taking a credit card really but I feel so much cooler for asking.) They will usually charge 2% or 3% extra but it’s still usually cheaper than the ATM fees which can seriously be 10%.

Make Sure Your Parents Know How to Call You

I have kept my UK number but have cellular data turned off in most locations because of roaming fees. I thought my mother could handle calling me on Facebook. She doesn’t seem to know how to do this. My dad is not on Facebook but is on Skype so I thought we’d be fine there but he is “currently” (we’re going on four months now) locked out of Skype. My parents are old. I should have figured this out more. My brother and oldest cousin are the most tech savvy of the bunch but neither of them seems to want to talk to me. 🙁 I’ll probably get Google Fi BUT that’s still like $5 a day and so that’s a lot of money a year in roaming fees if I expect to be out of the US for 50% of each year. I am open to tips and suggestions here.

Understand that People Just Aren’t Going to Understand Your Life

Hey, I’m not just hanging around in my elephant pants getting massages all day long and being all “Eat Pray Love.” I AM Donna Summer!!!! All day every day.

I told myself I would go to yoga during this sojourn and I have yet to do any yoga. At all. People keep asking me “Oh, how was Koh Lanta in Thailand???” And I CAN’T TELL YOU BECAUSE ALL I DID WAS WORK 12 HOURS A DAY EVERY DAY. I honestly never saw anything on Koh Lanta besides for my hotel and the wonderful KoHub coworking office. (They need better chairs but the food and staff are ace.) OK, one day I went for a massage on Koh Lanta. It wasn’t very good. And the island’s electricity went out while I was getting my massage. Which was stressful. I mean come on!!!

Guys I don’t even have time to Netflix. I haven’t Netflixed since September.

People don’t see this stuff on Instagram. They just see your pictures and think that you are on a really long vacation and that will bother people for some reason that has nothing to do with you and more to do with the fact that life sucks, no one gets enough vacation time or has enough money, and then we all die. Find people who get that you are not on vacation and that YOU WORK HARD FOR THE MONEY. (P.S. I don’t own any elephant pants.)

Wear Shower Shoes

I haven’t taken a shower without shower shoes in four months. I am really afraid of foot diseases. This is the challenge with living out of hotels. If you are thinking about becoming a digital nomad, buy shower shoes.

Take Your Vitamins

I’ve been pretty good food wise but I’m out of my controlled circle of Pret a Manger and Itsu (again, don’t judge) where I’m more conscious of nutrition and able to log all my meals in My Fitness Pal. So I’ve tried to be better about taking vitamins. Take your vitamins.

Ditch the Bottled Water

I could seriously drink three to five liters of water a day. This is why I like tap water. But you can’t drink the tap water in Southeast Asia. So you have to buy bottled. Which sucks. Because it’s all plastic. So you have to learn to ask a place if they filter their water and if so if you can get some of it in your water bottle. Now I always plan ahead so I always have water available even if I don’t need it because I don’t want to buy bottled water I don’t need. Top tip? Buy a Lifestraw water bottle, which filters tap water.

Wear Sunscreen

Like the song says.

Appreciate Local Pharmacists

When in doubt, ask a pharmacist. Since becoming a digital nomad, pharmacists have helped me with a terrible cold in China and a terrible knee infection in Bali. Pharmacists are kind and I kinda feel like they live to answer questions and do their job. Also, as I learned in China, pantomime is amazingly entertaining when describing cold symptoms!! Coughing, holding your throat, holding your forehead. Whenever you have something going on in a foreign country and can’t get to a traveler’s clinic immediately, ask a pharmacist, even if you can’t speak the language. They get you. (And hey, in some countries, you don’t need a prescription for stuff!! Like amoxicillin!)

Realize that Mother Nature is in Charge

I lived through a week-long monsoon on Koh Lanta, wondering if my little bungalow would be lifted from its foundation and if I could get back to the mainland easily. In Bali, there have been days where the heat and humidity have kept me either drenched with sweat and as lazy as the self-employed can be (i.e., not very but somewhat) or (more likely) seeking out the only air conditioned and enclosed restaurant or bar in town. In Vietnam, I prayed and prayed to God on the ride to Hanoi airport…the rain was so heavy that the highway was a pool. And as I write this, my little Balinese bungalow rumbles. Indonesia is always rumbling. Mother Nature is in charge. Realize we are just here for the ride and don’t be upset if the weather upsets your plans.

Buy a Big Phone Charger Block Thingie

One of the most stressful parts of my new life is not knowing where my next charge will come from. I mean, I don’t wake up at home in the morning and go to any one desk in any one office for the next 9 hours and then come home to my home. If there’s one thing I wish I had purchased, it’s one of these big charger block thingies.

Tell People Where You Are

I’ve been surprised over the last few months by the invitations…people I never knew were on the road, wanting me to join them as long as I’m “in the neighborhood.” I haven’t been able to to take up most invitations…non-refundable hotels, visa timing issues, the need for plane ticket, my 40 kg of luggage, WORK…but it’s nice to know people want to see me. And they wouldn’t know that without social media.

Wear a FitBit

My FitBit hasn’t left my wrist since September. I love it. It tracks my steps (pretty good about the 10,000 steps a day except for over New Year’s when I’ve been both slothy and tied to my lapotop) and my sleep (generally, 7 hours a night although I know I feel best at 7 hours 40 minutes from previous experiments) and my cardio (about 45 minutes a day). My FitBit is like my friend. Sometimes I’m like, “OK, let’s take you out for a walk. I’d like to hit 12,000 today mister.”

BE KIND!!

This is perhaps my biggest observation/takeaway/advice for anyone considering becoming a digital nomad. And it’s just good life advice in general. Be kind to people. Everyone will be better off for it. Even when I am having a bad day, I take a deep breath and think “Be kind. Be kind. Be kind.” And I put a big smile on my face and ask for whatever it is that I want or whatever it is that I want to complain about. It works 80% of the time and my expectations are exceeded. It also, uh, helps everyone in your hotel know your name. Which generally is a good thing

Summary of Becoming a Digital Nomad

Thank you for reading my tips for becoming a digital nomad. I hope you found them helpful. Please let me know if you have any others. I am always looking to learn!