Recently I came across a post where someone asked how they can become a digital nomad.

To someone like me it would seem obvious all you need is a job whereby, you can work from home or abroad. Or you have a source of passive income from an investment, like property, stock and shares, pension or a very large savings.

However, I soon realised to some of us these things are not entirely obvious, the reason being that most of us are schooled or tuned to work a regular job get a house to live in buy either renting and buying and do then do the regular commute back and forth.

 

So based on that fact and also because in some cases if you post a question how do I become a digital nomad? Or any other question on the internet these days, you have what I call wolves and there are some of them out there. So beware!! 

So instead of you getting a simple explanation on becoming a nomad. People start selling you adverts on a myriad of courses examples I’ve seen some like learning to become an Amazon affiliate seller, others I’ve seen is getting involved in a financial instrument like crypto, amongst a few.

I am not saying these don’t work but. A question like asking how do I become a nomad or digital one in my opinion should be answered with a few simple suggestions rather than some complex strategy on making money.

Any way I digress, there are a myriad of ways and things that would enable you to become a digital nomad and I would say because we are all different in our understandings and experiences one shoe doesn’t fit all but here a few points to take into consideration on whether the digital nomad lifestyle is for you or not. Plus, you need to understand that though becoming a digital nomad can be fun. It is no holiday.

 

 

Cost of living

Before you jet off somewhere to become a nomad, it’s good to know the cost of living there. Doing some research on an area you are planning to move to, will help in you plan financially ahead. Or which area is suitable.

There are various sites that list areas cost of living one I recently came across is https://nomadlist.com/

However, keep in mind this site lists cities and towns. Whereas rural areas in some countries can be much, much cheaper also if you want to volunteer which I will talk about later you generally find is done in more rural areas. Than in major cities.

 

Income

Unless you have a very, very large amount of savings, you would need a regular income coming in and in some cases it could be as little as $200, yes $200.  There is a reason why I said as little as $200.

I myself lived off less than $200 for more than 6 months and had a whale of a good time. Involving social interactions partying living close to a beautiful beach, oh and setting up my new way of earning money. Now compare that to living in five star hotels eating luxury meals taking taxis everywhere, living off somewhere like between $3000 to $5000 a month, but being bored out of my skull. And on the phone all the time.

Now geographical location features here the location I was living off $200 was in Asia. And where was living off $3000 -5000 was in Europe.

But here is the trick the continents could easily be reversed, as some locations in Asia and Europe are cheaper than others. Georgia in Europe is cheap as anywhere in Asia with favourable conditions.

The caveat here is what I would call your comfort zone are you a king sized bed kind of person or can you make do with a single bunk bed or a straw mattress, or even a hammock.

So to summarise try and find a way of generating a regular income before you leave your home country no matter how small. For peace of mind.

 

Willing to accept a different culture

The world as we know it is a much smaller place than in the past. In many cosmopolitan areas of the world you can come across various cultural varieties. In London or in New York you can go to an Indian restaurant and get tastes and flavours of the sub-continent. Including the level of service.

I know it’s not the same as travelling to a place 1000s of miles away from home but it’s a start right.

So yeah travelling and living elsewhere can generate a culture shock so being open minded and patient is a must. And unless you are going to stay a five-star hotel don’t expect a five-star level of service at most times. Time delays, punctuality is something that can sometimes make one frustrated so keeping an open mind always helps.

 

Location Knowledge

In my opinion it always helps to know a bit about the place your going even more so during this pandemic hit period.

This could be a bit of the local language phrases, even if it’s just to say hello or able to tell a taxi where you’re going and then hand him a piece of paper of the address. This helped me a lot on my visit to China where a lot of the local taxi drivers don’t speak English and there is no Uber or Bolt.

Plus, keeping up to date with some local politics can save you walking into a political storm where by an airport of arrival was surrounded by protestors. Even possible elections going on which could cause disruptions. After all, if Washington DC can be raided by anti-government protestors it could happen anywhere.

 

Volunteering

 

Another way starting out as a digital nomad is as a volunteer. I myself did this after leaving university looking for a job, where by I worked as a school teacher where my accommodation was provided for living on the school grounds and even had an allowance for food and other stuff. Dare I say it did not go as planned but it was an opportunity to leave my location. 

 

Countries I would start with, if you want to work remotely and are on a limited budget

 

These are countries some of which I have visited in exploring of wether the remote lifestyle is for you or not.

(1) Vietnam: 

 Very few countries can beat Vietnam for cost of living. Accomodation can be very cheap or expensive if you want. Plus food can be extremely cheap I remeber eating a BahnMi which is a baguette with egg or sausage for as low as 30 cents. Street food is also very cheap and safe by most indications .

Plus you can buy a cheap motorcycle and have your own transport though I recommend you get to know the traffic rules first. 

 

(2 )Cambodia:

Not as cheap as Vietnam but you can still easily survive on $1000 a month. One of the positives about Cambodia the accept US Dollars for finance transactions. So no extra cost of changing currency if your from the US. 

Not staying in the bigger cities like Phonm Penn will bring your costs down even more. Siem Riep is pretty cheap for accomodation. You can get Airbnb for as low as $12 a night for a bedsit. And I've even found hostels that charge $5 a night.

 

(3) Kenya

Kenya is one of the top countries to visit for activities on a budget. However unlike the other two above you have to shop around or it would not be that cheap especially accomodation. Mind you it is one of the few places where Couchsurfing works across the board, and not for some person who has a pretty face. Nairobi is cheap to eat out and drink or go clubbing. But depending on your chosen location, accomodation can get expensive. Or if you want to go to one of the sea side towns like Kitsuru on Lake Victoria or Diani on the Indian Ocean you can get very cheap accomodation. One more Internet in Kenya is one of the best on the continent almost everywhere. SIM cards in Kenya are so cheap that it's a must to have one and they practically work everywhere in the country. 

 

 (4) Thailand 

Similar to Kenya you have to shop around for for bargains in terms of places to stay. Since the pandemic prices of things like food and transport have increased slightly. But Thailand, is Thailand!!!, lots of eating out drinking and partying plus now that cannabis has been legalized you have cannabis bars too where you can both get drunk and stoned as similar to Amsterdam. The south and the beach areas are still great places to be and cheaper than say Bangkok. Internet is available, however depending on location it could be hit or miss. So get a good local SIM card with enough data if you want to move around