Lovely readers, family, friends, world… I am not on a holiday. It might look like it to you when you see what I put up on social media but you don’t see the other side of it. I am a working and travelling digital nomad, not a beach bum (although I do sometimes joke about that – it’s not really true). To show you my life, I took a few days to document my work-while-travel (which is either selfies or photos of my hands because I am solo but anyway – do not judge the large packet of mint chocolate biscuits you see). You can see what my life looks like when I’m not relaxing by the beach.
**
This post was inspired by the lovely Weibke at Miss Abroad. I had to put my own thoughts to paper re: being a working and travelling digital nomad. Bear with me, it might get messy.
**
a working and travelling digital nomad
Since my life is pretty much on the road unless I’m heading somewhere new, I either live in the car or in a hostel. Often, I am only in the hostel for a few hours before heading to bed and then again in the morning for an hour or two before hitting the road. In those few hours, I have to tap out a few articles for my freelance clients, reply to emails/chats from them, maybe write or draft a post for here, look over my Facebook/Pinterest/Twitter/Instagram and respond to comments, interact, etc, read my Flipboard and flip a few articles, cook dinner, and possibly do laundry. Oh, and shower. If I was on holiday, I would leave the laptop at home. Being a digital nomad certainly has its challenges.
Let’s revert to where I stay: a hostel. I’m on a budget, sometimes, depending on the amount of freelance work I have at the moment, a tight budget. In Australia, that wass hard to manage. A hostel bed on the East Coast was never cheaper than $30/night (and those are *really crappy* ones – a nice room is likely to be closer to $50/night). If I was on holiday, I’d be at a nice resort with room service and a view.
When I get the time to stay in one place for a few days, I’m still working. Actually, I’m working more. I wake up, read the news and do my social media check while still in bed (preferable), then make some tea or go get a coffee before cracking the laptop and tapping away at the keys for a while. I might take a break for lunch and then go for a walk, or to the beach. My afternoon is taken up with more tea and more work. Sometimes I go for a walk in the late evening. I make dinner and then eat while working. I work late into the night (as I write this it’s 10:30pm).
Often, I don’t go to bed until 1am, and then I lay there and unwind with a NYT crossword puzzle (yes, that is my version of unwinding). If I was on holiday, I’d be sleeping in til ten and then sleeping at the beach.
if you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends
I may or may not meet people while travelling, and if I do, I might make time to meet them for a drink, or dinner, or a hike. Rarely I go out on a weekend night for an extended period of time. If I was on holiday, I’d be drunk and hungover; I do not remember the last time I was either.
While this stems from not just my peripatetic life, I did lose touch with a lot of friends. Good ones – people I’d known since I was 14. Girls whose weddings I was in. Other friends I hear from once in a blue moon and it feels like no time has passed at all. In this age of FaceTime, I’m so lucky to be able to see family and friends at the touch of a button. At times, though, I feel like I have none because I have no one I can bounce ideas off of or share the joy of figuring out a tricky web problem.
And while we’re on the subject of friends, let’s touch on the romantic side of things. If I was settled in one place, I would be able to meet people and date them. Instead, I meet people, flirt a bit, and then move on. Dating – and thinking about settling down – is a whole lot harder as a digital nomad.
hit the road jack
At times, I feel like I need a holiday from travelling. My friend sent me a Facebook message the other day that said “are you in Italy yet?” and I said “no… I’m still in Australia. Why, do you need a holiday?” and he replied with “no, do you?” And I honestly answered “yes.” Don’t laugh at me, I’m exhausted. I’m not supposed to be exhausted on my holiday, but I am supposed to be tired after an eight-hour workday. Some days, sure, I don’t work eight hours. But throw in the laundry, the repacking to leave the next day, the cooking, the grocery shopping, the driving to another destination, and you’ve got one tired girl with a map tattoo.
money, money, money
My blog does not make money. Yes, there are ads. But do you click on them? Then no, you reading my blog does absolutely nothing for me except give me a little thrill when I see that 107 people viewed my blog today. If I was on holiday, money wouldn’t be an issue.
As a digital nomad, it is. I am living off the money made in New Zealand working at a bar, my freelancing money, and savings. I am trying – while on the road sometimes more than six hours a day – to start a business, run a blog, freelance write… Essentially, I have three jobs. And you think I’m on holiday.
Are you looking for jobs overseas? Search jobs abroad here!
Also, I’m not a big time blogger, so all that scuba diving, the flightseeing trip, the snorkelling I did? I paid for it. No discounts, no freebies. I put it on social media only because I loved it. Not because I got something for it.
You wanna know something?
I started a Go Fund Me. Yes, I did. And while I got some flack for it from some family members, I left it up. My brother said, you need to kickstart your business. And yes, he’s right. But maybe I should have put it on Kickstarter instead of GFM, because the only people that have donated are my family – and that was at Christmas (but thank you – you are all amazing and I do love you and your support!). My business start-up costs are going to exceed $10,000, which I have $1,000 of right now because GFM takes a cut.
I promote my future business and I say that I can write custom itineraries for people. If I get a message from someone asking about a trip to NZ, I offer to help in exchange for a little bit of money but guess what? Nothing ever comes of it.
shine bright like a diamond
Would I love to see this little blog go big? Yes. That’s the dream, right? And with my new platform and self-hosting set up (from which I am learning a bloody lot about CSS, HTML, SSL, PHP, and FTP) there’s a chance to make money. Not today, not tomorrow. But it would be so kickass to know that people out there are reading what I’m doing and sharing it with friends. In addition to working and travelling my way around the world, I want to be the inspiration that some people tell me I am.
To promote that, I spend time on Facebook interacting with other travel bloggers, other working and travelling digital nomad lifestyle seekers. We share each others posts, we read what each other wrote. Some of us are good friends in the virtual world and we make plans to meet when we are nearby – as all working and travelling digital nomad-ics are wont to be at some point. Maybe that isn’t a job but its one helluva way to network, and it takes time and effort – sometimes a lot of time.
**
Please don’t read this as a travel-bashing, life-hating post. I love my life, but I want you all to know that it’s not a holiday, it’s work. Even if it doesn’t look like it. I adore all your posts that tell me you’re jealous, but don’t be. Because while you’re planning your relaxing beach holiday, I’m working on mine.
Like this post? Pin it!
I know what you are going through because I have been there.
I travel and work at the same time and people don’t stop asking me about my amazing life. I mean, to me it’s pretty awesome but I work for it in between.
I might give it a try to Go Fund Me, as well.
xx
I have a Go Fund Me to kickstart my business, not to fund my travels. Please don’t assume that I am trying to get people to pay for me to do things; that is most definitely NOT the case.
I know this pain. I worked nomadically for 5 months, but recently started work in an office again. I found it so hard to travel and work on the go, and now I’m trying to do all 3. Content creation is so time exhausting! But we all have our reasons that keep us at it! 🙂
We sure do. I love travelling and sharing it with people, so that keeps me going!
People don’t realize how much time it takes to write a post, photo editing and then market it…. For us, it’s about 10 hours per article.
I got curious, where to you write to? 🙂
I write about where I am at the moment, and often where I’ve just been. It takes me about 10 hours per post too, although that’s definitely a guess, I’ve never tracked my time.
Certain statements outsiders make to seasoned travelers such as this can be disheartening (I’m not a digital nomad myself, but rarely consider my travels a “vacation” getaway. People don’t realize the blood, sweat and tears that goes into this lifestyle!
I definitely think that even if I had a stationary job (anywhere) that my vacations wouldn’t be a true getaway because I would still want to share things.. but when you have what most people consider a “holiday” but you’re doing a) all the driving, b) shopping + cooking, c) laundry, and d) trying to work 6-8 hours/day to make a living to KEEP travelling, it’s hard.
Can’t imagine how it is travelling all the time. I even get tired when being at home, not on the road, spending hours and hours on marketing, social media, hosting, blogging, it eats my day up without even noticing. It’s great, I love the work, but it’s – hard work! And when someone comes afterwards and tells you that it’s the easiest thing to do… Oh well. Anyway, where do you usually spend your holidays? Hope there’s one for you soon! 😉
Not yet… just work, work, work! I do try to and slip in a day or two of adventures, like my scuba dive or day out snorkelling, but for the most part, I work at least 4-6 hours every day even if I do go off and do stuff. I work 8+ on every other day unless I’m driving/flying a good distance.
Love the honesty. I am sure people think digital nomads are on vacation all the time but in reality most spend a lot of time working.
Thank you! Yes, I try to be honest in all my posts about travelling+working. If I’m not, then that leaves the door open for others to be less than honest, and then where does that leave us? 😉
We love this honest post about being a digital nomad. We find it tough to get all the blogging, networking, and marketing done and we don’t freelance or else wise. We don’t have adverts yet because our following is pretty minuscule, but the dream is big-hitting articles right?
Do you ever find yourself lacking inspiration?
sometimes, yes. or lacking motivation, more often. It can be draining to be on the road for six hours a day, stopping at beaches for photos… and then when I get somewhere, I still have to shower+eat and then when I sit down, it’s like… “well, haven’t been on Facebook today…” and before I know it, and hour’s gone and I still have to write my clients articles. Not impossible, but hectic at times