My Digital Nomad Story: a 6 Year Journey

A question I get asked quite often by other travelers and non-travelers is about how I started as a digital nomad. I definitely don’t blame people for being curious. Although working remotely is becoming more accessible, the fact remains that most people still don’t live the work and travel life.

So here I’ll take a moment to re-introduce myself and explain how it started and how it’s going.

What I did Before Traveling

I graduated with a business degree in 2015 and started my first corporate job doing sales for a trading company. This role eventually led to me being promoted and transferred to work from our head office in Japan.

It wasn’t my first time living abroad since I did half my undergrad at a Business School in Paris. But still, it felt surreal to be working in a foreign country, in a leadership role for a multinational company where I traveled all over the world each month as part of my job at just 25 years old.

Living the Dream

On paper, I was doing well. This type of job seemed like something I should have wanted as someone who has a business degree. But after a year or so of doing this, I quickly became burnt out, deeply unhappy, and extremely anxious.

As it turns out, traveling for work is not the same as traveling for fun.

One day I’d had enough and decided that in 6 months I was going to quit my job and backpack the world on the cheap.

By this point, I had religiously read through dozens of blogs talking about budget travel and felt confident I could travel on a shoestring budget for at least a year or two.

In just half a year I saved $18,000 plus what I already had in savings and decided I was ready.

In 2018, I quit my job and left Japan on July 3rd which happened to be my birthday.

Early Travel Days

After the first few months of being unemployed and traveling, I eventually decided to checked in with my finances and was utterly shocked.

I had completely blown my budget out of the water. The amount I’d thought I would spend in about seven months I’d spent in less than three.

Honestly, before this I no idea what it would cost to backpack the world full-time. I really only had blogs like Nomadic Matt and Be My Travel Muse to go off of.

And although their information helped me come up with a loose idea of what I would spend, what they did didn’t seem to apply to me: I was not a backpacker.

I wasn’t choosing the cheapest accommodations nor was I eating the cheapest foods. Hell, I love eating and back then eating out and trying new cuisine was a HUGE part of why I loved to travel.

Budget travel is not for everyone and I quickly realized I myself desired a different level of comfort while traveling.

Landing a Remote Job

I knew that if I continued this way, I’d run out of money before a year.

So, I started wondering if there was a way to make money while I traveled. After a month of crashing on my friend’s couch in Paris to do some serious job hunting, I settled on what I viewed as the easiest route: teaching English online.

And surprisingly, while this type of work doesn’t make the big bucks, it certainly made enough for me to travel comfortably for a couple years before I switched to another field in 2021. At the peak of my days teaching, I made up to $27 an hour.

More importantly, it was an easy job that was enjoyable most of the time. I had an amazing work life balance in the sense that once I closed my computer for the day, I was completely mentally checked out of work.

It was a stress-free gig and I was free to enjoy my travels to the fullest with the least responsibility possible.

Nowadays, my income is more diversified and I do a number of things to make money (including this website). If there is anything that digital nomad life taught me, it’s to always have more than one income stream.

You never know when you’ll get laid off or when the government where your employer resides will render your role illegal in their country (true story).

Digital Nomad Life Today

At the time of writing, I have visited 70 countries and counting, half of which I’d already visited before becoming a digital nomad. Still, the fact that I was able to visit 35+ new countries in the last 6 years, while continuously working, is still something that blows my mind.

If you had told me ten years ago that this would be possible, I would have laughed in your face. I am truly in awe of this lifestyle each and every day.

How I balance work and travel

This is something I deeply struggle with especially when traveling with others, so it’s honestly a work in progress.

When I travel alone I do tend to manage my responsibilities a lot better. My biggest tips to those getting started would be to stay in one place for a full month at a time.

That way you can establish a routine, save money on rent (monthly airbnb rentals are cheaper than hotels and even hostels), and feel rooted enough to get some serious work done.

How I Maintain a Sense of Community

These days I mostly travel with my boyfriend, but for the first years of my journey, I was 100% solo.

Back then, I mostly relied on Couchsurfing Hangouts and joining hostel activities on weekends in order to meet other people. Of the two, I prefer Couchsurfing Hangouts because you have the chance to meet up with both travelers and locals.

With hostels, you’re only meeting other travelers and for me, meeting and connecting with locals is a very important part of travel. You can’t say you know a country if you don’t talk to a single local.

How to Balance Adventure and Stability

Nowadays, I approach digital nomad life a lot differently.

My partner is not a nomad and has a job that requires him to be in one location. That location right now happens to be Iceland, so I usually split my time between visiting Europe and traveling to new places.

This is honestly perfect, because after 6 years, I do like the feeling of having a home base. Even if I’m merely a tourist on a 90 day visa.

After 6 years on the road, spending even 2 months in one place provides a lot more stability and structure into my life.

How you can get started

I’d say the biggest part of taking the leap to become a digital nomad is giving yourself a realistic deadline and establishing actionable steps each month (or weeks, days, years, etc) that you can take in order to make that lifestyle your reality.

That will look different for everyone. It depends on things like how much money you have saved, if you already have a remote job or not, and other obligations.

The first step is just deciding you’re doing it, then establishing a timeline and outlining what needs to be done by that date.

Everything else will fall into place.

If you’ve already started

If you’re here because you’ve already started digital nomad life, then kudos to you!

Some things I’d advise that you do, if you haven’t already, is look into getting an eSIM and make sure you have travel insurance.

Safety Wing is a great insurance for digital nomads and I can wholeheartedly recommend them. They’re a company for digital nomads ran by actual digital nomads, so you can be sure they’ve designed these policies to cater to this lifestyle.

Ready to travel? Book your Safety Wing travel insurance here!

And that’s the story.

Do you have any questions for me about digital nomad life? If so, feel free to reach out. I tend to answer instagram DMs faster, so shoot me a message and let me know your burning questions about digital nomad life, how to find a job, how to get started, etc. I’d love to hear from you!

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