{"id":9600,"date":"2018-06-21T12:37:53","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T12:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/face\/?p=9600"},"modified":"2021-05-05T11:02:51","modified_gmt":"2021-05-05T11:02:51","slug":"why-being-a-digital-nomad-is-not-all-insta-glamour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/why-being-a-digital-nomad-is-not-all-insta-glamour\/","title":{"rendered":"Why being a digital nomad is not all \u2018Insta-glamour\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"Approx read: <\/span> 3<\/span> mins<\/span><\/span>

It\u2019s the Instagram pic guaranteed to drive those back home green with envy:<\/h2>\n

An open Macbook set up in front of gleaming white sands and an impossibly turquoise sea (with bonus points for the artful inclusion of a fancy-looking cocktail).<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother busy day at work guys!\u201d proclaims the caption – a digital nomad who seems to have cracked this life business.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s just one problem: it\u2019s a big fat lie.<\/p>\n

First off, sand and digital devices do not mix. Secondly, the glare from the midday sun makes squinting at a computer screen very tiring, very quickly.<\/p>\n

And finally, I don\u2019t know about you, but it\u2019s shortly after that first cocktail that I tend to get very drowsy indeed – not exactly conducive to a productive day of work.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Not all frozen margaritas<\/h4>\n

The reality of life as a digital nomad – a location-independent worker, often a freelancer, who has opted to travel the world while working – is a much more nuanced proposition than that clich\u00e9d social media pic would suggest.<\/p>\n

It often involves traipsing out to find an internet caf\u00e9 when the wifi fails, strange looks from locals who wonder why you\u2019ve been hunched over a laptop for four hours straight, and scheduling Skype calls for 1am to catch up with contacts back home.<\/p>\n

Sure, you may be able to squeeze in the odd beach bar day (preferably when your itinerary is no more taxing than replying to emails), but the day-to-day grind of earning money in the 21st century is generally spent somewhere with air con and artificial lighting.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Flip flops forever!<\/h4>\n

Despite the occasional mundanity of everyday work, however, I\u2019m a digital nomad evangelist. Working online has allowed me to live in countries as diverse as Cambodia, Colombia and the Czech Republic – and to reap the benefits of life on the road.<\/p>\n

In fact, most of those benefits are the surprisingly small things – the type of stuff you never would have imagined before you took the plunge and booked that flight out of the country.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the joy at forging a genuine connection with local people as you slowly become a (admittedly, temporary) part of their community.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s finding the tucked away local restaurants where you can pick up a delicious lunch for $1.50.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s realising you haven\u2019t worn anything but flip flops on your feet for three months straight.<\/p>\n

And, of course, it\u2019s that sweet, sweet sun, which means you can forgo a winter wardrobe entirely and just chase an endless summer around the world.<\/p>\n

The \u2018work\u2019 in working abroad<\/h4>\n

But, yeah, catch me on a Tuesday afternoon and I\u2019m probably hunched over a laptop, brow furrowed, cursing under my breath at an email attachment that doesn\u2019t seem to want to attach.<\/p>\n

Among the digital nomadic friends I\u2019ve met while travelling abroad, most get the \u2018Insta-life\u2019\u00a0 <\/span>snaps out of their system early on – and get down to the business of making a living pretty quickly.<\/p>\n

Anyone running a one-man business, working as a freelancer, or merely working remotely for a company will know that the each day can bring its stresses and strains. Finding a quiet, cool and connected working environment you can return to day after day goes a long way to removing unnecessary challenges to work.<\/p>\n

So, if your image of digital nomadism is all endless cocktails and sand between your toes, fantastic. But maybe get the work out of the way first.<\/p>\n

Wanna be a digital nomad?<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the Instagram pic guaranteed to drive those back home green with envy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":9601,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1064,1279],"tags":[1078,1075,1087],"class_list":["post-9600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solo-travel","category-travel-tech","tag-digital-nomad-travel-insurance","tag-digital-nomads","tag-remote-working"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9600"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11966,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9600\/revisions\/11966"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}