
Digital Nomads Went from Niche to Normal - rbanffy
https://www.wired.com/2016/12/how-digital-nomads-went-from-niche-to-normal/?mbid=social_tw_backchannel
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phantom_oracle
Nobody else has mentioned it (yet), so I'll be the first.

The problem with the DN lifestyle is that everyone marketing it hard has a
vested interest (they run some product/service tied to the DN lifestyle).

For everyone else that wants to get their feet wet in this type of living,
they soon realize that things get expensive really quickly (this applies to
everywhere except South East Asia).

You just need to account for plane tickets, visas and short-term rent alone to
see how it is expensive.

Also, the article conflates "work from home" with "digital nomad", which
aren't exactly the same thing.

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stephenr
It's unfortunate that some people can't seem to see the difference between
remote working and being a "digital nomad".

Working from a dedicated space at home is very different from working in a
noisy coffee shop or heck even a co-working space, and I wouldn't be surprised
if some "no remote worker" policies were built around the idea that the person
will be sitting in a Starbucks charging you $100/hr to share their screen with
whoever looks over their shoulder.

A remote (where most people work from a home office or some semi-permanent co-
working space arrangement) team can definitely adapt to some short term "work
from anywhere" changes, but I think the key part is adapt and short term.

I've provided short-notice ops assistance to colleagues from a beach
(literally, feet in the sand, under an umbrella) in Thailand using an iPad.

I'm not going to claim I can work from the beach all day every day though.

~~~
icebraining
But is a Digital Nomad all about working from Starbucks or the beach? The
impression I got from the book (4HWW) and blog posts I've read was more of
people staying for a few weeks/months in rented houses in each place, not in
an hotel for a few days.

~~~
twymer
I'm not really a fan of the term because it covers a huge variety of people
and the most vocal ones are working here and there and largely just
prioritizing the idealized "digital nomad life".

Then there are people, like you said, who are renting apartments for
weeks/months, prioritizing quiet work spaces, and often continuing to hold
full time jobs.

I'm kind of in this category right now and am certainly never working from the
beach. I went to Latin America so I could find apartments with good internet
and continue to work in the same timezone that I started out in.

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pmoriarty
Does anyone remember the Winnebiko?

[https://microship.com/winnebiko/](https://microship.com/winnebiko/)

It was my first exposure to the "digital nomad" lifestyle. I thought it was
super cool. I still do. The world would be a more interesting place if more
people did stuff like this.

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wslh
His latest news: [https://microship.com/](https://microship.com/)

~~~
contingencies
Interesting that he moved from bicycles to shipping containers to
progressively larger boats.

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JeanMarcS
My 2 cents : I've been in my business for 20 years now. Most of my clients are
in France (as a french citizen)

End of 2014, I've been approached by my former co founder to work on a project
with him. So I packed my stuff and my family, and we went to Caribbean. The
project was a failure (at last for me) but I kept all my client so I stayed
´til now.

Next year we plan to go back to EU, most probably Ireland, for our kids to
learn English better. And still work for my clients in France.

Then next, it will be Spain, then probably Sweden.

My point is, am I a DN ? With my wife we decided that, until our kids tell us
to stop, we gonna travel from a country to another, staying 2 years probably.
So we're not moving every month or so, but still. As I can do my work from
anywhere, I think it's a great opportunity to be able to travel like that.

The only problem I see is jet lag, as I am sometimes wake up in the middle of
the night if there's an emergency.

But it will no longer be one when back to EU.

~~~
ttoinou
Great for you ! Yeah not sure you qualify for digital nomad. You're on the
next mainstream niche, though. "Perpetually traveling family" :)

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toomanybeersies
I would consider myself something of a digital nomad, but somewhere in between
a conventional worker and a digital nomad. I just recently moved country, and
in a year or two, or when I get bored, I will leave my job, move to a new
country, and find another job.

I'm in the somewhat uncommon position where I can work in most of the western
world without having to get a skilled work visa. The only country that's
locked to me (in terms of effort required to immigrate) is the USA. Otherwise
I can work visa-free in New Zealand, Australia, and the EU; and Canada isn't
difficult to get a 2 year unrestricted work visa for.

Obviously everyone is different, but I don't really think it's a sustainable
lifestyle to end up in a different city every month, staying in Airbnbs (and
apparently shunning coworking spaces). You don't end up getting meaningful
social connections, I think I would just feel like a permanent tourist who
still has to work.

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robertbenjamin
Are you a EU citizen? How are you able to work in those countries visa-free?

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toomanybeersies
Dual EU-New Zealand citizen. The only way that I could have better luck is if
I was an Australian citizen, so that I could get an E-3 Visa (essentially a
special H-1B for Aussies).

