Questions I Get While Travelling The World As A Digital Nomad
By Lead Kinetics29 October 2020
Travelling the world properly means constantly starting over in small ways, working out a new neighbourhood, finding somewhere to eat, figuring out the local basics, every time you move on. Over three years and 56 countries, our own digital nomad has picked up a fairly consistent set of questions along the way. Here are the honest answers.
Remote freelance work genuinely does make a location-independent life possible, but it takes real discipline, not luck or family money, to sustain it long-term.
What do you actually do?
This comes up more than anything else. It started as remote editing and travel consultancy work for a couple of California-based startups, which meant getting comfortable with awkward time zone gaps early on. After losing that work during the pandemic, freelancing became the path instead, covering copywriting, social media, SEO and content strategy, run entirely on his own schedule and client list.
So you're a digital nomad, then?
Fair description, though the reality looks less like a laptop on a beach and more like working from a co-working space between a safari and a surfing lesson, or finding decent wifi on a Greek island. Coffee shops, shared workspaces and public wifi do most of the heavy lifting.
Is your family wealthy?
A common assumption, and not an accurate one. None of this has been funded by family money, it's been built entirely through the work itself. Family back in Wisconsin has offered plenty of support, just not financial.
What's your favourite place?
Impossible to answer fairly, since each place means something different. Budapest for meeting a partner, Split for where the journey began, Varanasi for how overwhelming it was spiritually, Marrakesh for finding beauty inside the chaos, Nairobi for a childhood dream finally realised, Batumi for pure seaside calm.
Why did you start?
A few years working as a journalist in a windowless basement office in Washington State, with limited room to grow and only two weeks off a year, made the decision fairly straightforward. Rather than following the expected script, university, job, marriage, house, the choice was to quit and book a one-way flight instead.
How do you decide where to go next?
Before the pandemic, destinations got shortlisted based on cost, flights, food, culture and things to do, then narrowed down and picked at random from a hat once the shortlist was set. It kept the process fun rather than overthought.
Top of the bucket list?
Antarctica, without question, the islands of South Georgia and the seventh continent itself. Penguins, icebergs and the kind of silence that's hard to find almost anywhere else.
Freelancing is what makes a life like this genuinely possible, and it's exactly the kind of flexible career our network of specialists builds for themselves. If you're thinking about doing something similar yourself, our 9 tips on how to work remote and travel is a practical place to start.
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