Digital Nomad and Tourism

When we say or think about tourism, first though that comes up is the vacation, right? Days when we can forget about everything. Forget about work and our daily obligation and simply enjoy the place, moment or just shut down.

For most of us, life is pretty much like this. We work, so we can enjoy our vacations or free weekends, and at the end, we still have that feeling that was not enough and want a bit more. But we never dream of having both at the same time, either you work or you are on vacations.

How about do both at the same time? Tourism and work. Travel the world, working! Well, that’s what we do!

Rio de la Plata, Uruguay

After 10 months on the road that combination, work + tourism, still scares me. Today, while writing this post, we are in Montevideo, Uruguay and it all started in Auckland, New Zealand. So far, we’ve been to Japan and Brazil and next week we’ll be in Chile (check here how our 9-month trip around South America was!)

It may sound crazy, but it isn’t. In 10 months, we’ve been to only 4 countries and this is what facilitates the nomadic life and tourism. When on vacation, we think only in how to do more or visit more places in fewer days. It all about the free days you have instead of the moment and destination. We spent what was planned, not always and then back home relaxed but looking for the next one.

For us, nomads, the travel x tourism thing, works a bit different. We have to choose a place, city or country, with a minimum infrastructure required, power and stable internet, also with a market close by. In the same topic, the length of our stay in each place plays a very important role. While in New Zealand, we’ve visited around 15 cities in 5 months. In Japan, were 3 cities in 1 month, meanwhile in Uruguay, only 2 cities in 1 month.

What is the relation between the length of stay, nomadic life and tourism? It is all linked! Check it out:

• When we stay longer, we can negotiate a better price in accommodations, always, save us money;
• We can enjoy the city as locals, we can go to all places when they are not crowded and even get into places that are not on the tourist maps;
• Nothing is done in a rush, we can do one thing today and nothing tomorrow, maybe just an easy walk or a sunset;
• We can plan our work week, saving time between travels and transit and being more productive.

Each city or country demands attention and a particular schedule. it can be due to time zones or activities that we are planning to do. In general, we work around 5-6 hours per day and twice a month we do a big work day, where we try to smash all our big tasks or catch up with tasks left behind.

Luzes e Candelabros

I, particularly, don’t have full control of my working hours, as many of my tasks depend on my customers and I need to be in touch, around 4 hours daily, with them. It reiterates the importance of planned week, so I can be available for them. Example, currently in Uruguay, we are 16h behind New Zealand, where my customer and company is based. So, for any kind of communication, I must have in mind that they are one day ahead of me. This happens for weekends, that currently were shifted from Saturday/Sunday to Friday/Saturday.

Another important point, my customers know that we are travelling and they know where we are, actually some of them even follow us. When everybody is aware of your whereabouts, things are way easier. It may sound boring or inconvenient, but I have to carry my mobile all the time and even laptop some days. Also, everyplace with a connection, I’m checking and answering my customer’s emails.

But, I may say that 2017 didn’t start as I’ve planned. My head was still in 2016 and took long to adjust and kick off. I was in a 100% tourism mode and it was hard to manage my work. It took me a month to manage my delayed tasks and catch up with my customers. Honestly, I think it was a good lesson as I never had any problems like this one. It is all about nomadic life and how to survive in it.

Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

That’s all. There is no secret. Travel and work are possible, we just need to commit to what we’ve planned, so we can enjoy it at most!

How about you, do you want to become a nomad?
Here you can find my bits and pieces in how to become one and if you are interested or want to talk about it, just send me a message and get in contact!

“It’s All about the Journey, Not the Destination!”

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