‘We are living a fantasy’: what’s it like to be a digital nomad?

Olivia Warrick is a self-employed marketing consultant from Arlington, Virginia in the USA. She and her partner wanted a change in lifestyle after the pandemic and, having visited Costa Rica several times, the central American country appealed due to ‘the friendly culture, the proximity to diverse settings like beaches, mountains and cities, and the weather.’

Costa Rica’s digital nomad visa is one of the more difficult ones to qualify for – principally because the minimum wage requirement is a bit higher. Individual nomads in the country need to be earning $3,000 (£2,500) per month, while for those bringing families along, it’s $5,000 (£4,200) per month. For context, the average monthly wage in the UK is £2,440 ($2,800), while in the US it’s about $4,100 (£3,570). That makes it a somewhat more exclusive digital nomad destination.

For Warrick, the appeal of digital nomad life is all about its flexibility. She currently rents an apartment in the capital, San José, but also frequently takes ‘work breaks’ to destinations around the country. ‘Sometimes it’s the beach, sometimes we feel like heading to the mountains,’ she says.

Warrick’s main fears before moving abroad concerned language, but those fears have gone unrealised. ‘My high-school Spanish has proven quite useful,’ she says. ‘And Ticos [a friendly term for Costa Ricans] are always willing to teach us new words and phrases.’

That’s allowed Warrick to make the most of attractions that are specifically angled towards digital nomads. For example, she and her partner took off to Isla Chiquita, a glamping retreat on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast. From there, they could still work. ‘We couldn’t believe how fortunate we were to have a deck office with a full view of the surrounding ocean,’ she says.

One particularly life-changing experience at Isla Chiquita saw Warrick go out on a ‘bioluminescence adventure’, seeing living organisms like glow-worms and deep-sea fish light up the sea at night.

‘It truly highlighted that we are living a fantasy,’ she says. ‘Boating around as the ocean sparkled with what looked like tiny submarine stars was simply spectacular. I think that experience made us realise how fortunate we are to have the chance to live a different kind of life.’

During the pandemic, Jenny Williams of sustainable travel company Responsible Travel moved from Brighton to Leicestershire to be closer to her family. From there, she questioned: ‘If we could work from 100 miles away in the UK, why not another country?’

And so earlier this year Williams decided to move to Tbilisi, capital of the rugged western Asian nation of Georgia.

She made the most of the country’s year-long digital nomad visa scheme, which she says was exceptionally quick and simple to apply for. There’s no application fee for the Georgian visa and it usually takes under ten days to process.

Williams hasn’t looked back, finding that the change of location and culture alone transforms everyday life itself into some kind of thrill.

‘Tbilisi has so much character. It’s got theatres, galleries and great local restaurants. But you’ve also got hidden waterfalls, dramatic cliffs and fascinating architecture,’ she says. ‘After work I can go to a traditional sulphur bathhouse, take a cooking class, climb up to the botanical gardens or take in some historic sites.’ 

She rents a flat in central Tbilisi and has opted to live amongst the locals rather than with other expats. ‘It’s a very creative, expressive place,’ Williams says. Her apartment has a central courtyard that not only acts as somewhere to sit and chat with her neighbours, but also a place she can work. 

Like Warrick, Williams also worried about having to live with a new language. ‘Language is a bit of a barrier sometimes,’ says Williams. ‘I hadn’t managed to learn Georgian before I arrived, but I’m picking it up slowly.’

Living in Tblisi is pretty cheap, too. Not only does rent cost much less than it does in the UK, but transport is less pricy, too. ‘You can travel across the country for a few pounds by bus or rail,’ Williams says. ‘Tbilisi is very walkable and buses, metro and even taxis are very cheap.’ Groceries and general shopping aren’t quite as reliably inexpensive, but eating out is affordable outside touristy areas.

Georgia’s time zone only being three hours ahead of the UK is also ideal for Williams. It means she can easily keep in contact with her colleagues, as well as video-chat her family at home.

‘I’m here alone but I don’t feel isolated,’ she says. ‘We sit out, work, chat, hang the washing out. People take calls, call across to each other. It feels very communal.’

Having visited the island of Bali in 2019, Simone Flynn – who also works for Responsible Travel – was persuaded to make the move earlier this year by Indonesia’s five-year digital nomad visa scheme.

Flynn decided to move out to Bali with her daughter, who works for a different company but with whom she first visited the island in 2019. ‘We moved out here within a few months of each other but live separately,’ she says, adding that it’s a ‘huge bonus’ that they’re out there together.

As for her visa, Flynn said both getting one and retaining it is reasonably straightforward. ‘I used an agency’, she said. ‘I paid a couple of hundred pounds and the turnaround was seven to ten days.’ She says that, over six months, the visa has cost her around £550 ($628).

Bali being seven hours ahead of the UK suits Flynn to a tee, allowing her to have a more relaxed start to the day. When everyone back home is up at the crack of dawn, Flynn has already been up for hours: ‘Generally I'll have a slow-ish morning,’ she says. ‘Coffee, work out, go to brunch and explore a little, then be back home in time to start work early afternoon.’

Like Williams in Tbilisi, it’s the everyday differences that make Flynn’s life in Bali so interesting. ‘I really appreciate experiencing day-to-day life within a different culture and environment,’ she says. As well as visiting local temples and eating out, she’s climbed volcanoes and learned to surf.

But digital nomadism hasn’t been all roses for Flynn. She initially lived in Ubud in the Balian uplands when she first became a digital nomad. ‘My initial work schedule meant I was working evenings and sleeping in until late morning, which wasn't great for socialising,’ she says. Flynn found Ubud too isolating – and it’s only now that she’s moved down to the coast that she’s really found her groove.

Flynn isn’t sure exactly how long she’ll be in Bali, but it’s been a welcome change. ‘Bali has given me a new lease of life and excitement for the future that I was lacking in the UK.’