| I left my home country about 10 years ago when I got hired by a US-based startup that allowed me to work remotely. Since then I've been living abroad and have often referred to myself and by others as a digital nomad, though some people might disagree. I think the main thing that I did differently from a typical digital nomad described in the article is to not pursue continuous travel to new locations (that's what I take vacations for) but instead spend significant time each year in a few places around the world that you like, and come back to those places. This allowed me to get to know a couple of cities pretty well. I got to know people and places, and it made it easier to get back in the flow when you come back, as you already know your way around, and you understand how things like money, groceries, transport and other services work. Besides that I optimized for productivity. So I try to minimize the amount of time I need to depend on a coffeeshop by getting Airbnb's that have a desk or rent a desk in a co-working. I always bring a laptop stand, keyboard and mouse and sometimes use my tablet as a second screen to get max ergonomics. I met my wife during one of these trips and we have been living and traveling together since 2018. For the last 5 years we've rented several places for longer time that we call home. I typically spend around 6 months per year there, the rest I'm still traveling, my wife tends to spend a bit more time at home. End of this year we'll move to SE Asia, we'll travel around for like 2 months before we decide where we want to rent a place to call home. From there, we'll continue to explore the region and hopefully get to know some more amazing spots. We feel we're not exhausted yet and are looking forward to what the next years will bring us |