Peter Knudson - The Digital Nomad Survival Guide: How to Successfully Travel the World While Working Remotely

The Digital Nomad Survival Guide

2017 Peter Knudson and Katherine Conaway

Cover design 2017 by Lauren Hom

http://homsweethom.com/

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W ho says you have to go to an office every day to manage a successful career? That having a home of your own and a routine are the only ways to be a real adult? That the place youre happiest is the place where you were born or where you found your job? That youll be able to retire one day and then travel the world?

Weve grown up seeing various models of what it means to be an adult, but the common theme follows the same pattern: get a job, make a home, start a family. That conventional lifestyle is rooted in cultural traditions and historical needs and opportunities.

But its no longer the only way.

People of all walks of life, all industries and nationalities become digital nomads. Despite wildly different backgrounds, the motivation is consistent: to have a lifestyle that exhibits freedom of choice and is enabled by modern technology and travel.

While many companies are still brick-and-mortar, we are seeing more and more opportunities for remote work. Today, we can choose between hostels, hotels, personal apartments, and co-living spaces. We can bounce from place to place or settle in and stay awhile, go local, seek out adventure, or relish in seclusion.

Its never been easier to get recommendations and make reservations for living arrangements, and plans can be solidified months in advance or hours before arrival. The technology has never been more available or more flexible for creating itineraries and will only continue to improve.

However, with all the options available for people living this lifestyle, its hard to know where to start and what will work best for you.

In The Digital Nomad Survival Guide, we share our experiences and insights, plus those of dozens of other digital nomads, to help you join our ranks.

The questions we have to answer paint pictures of your possible future lifestyle and how exciting it is to:

• Select a new place on earth to visit and live (city or nature? hot or cold? busy or chill? familiar or foreign?)
• Scope out a home (apartment, hotel, dorm, or resort? central or isolated?)
• Find a place to work (cafe or coworking? beachfront hammock or desk in an office?)
• Meet new people (through coworking spaces, events, networking, happy hours, pub crawls, yoga, and ways youd never imagine)
• Explore your new surroundings and seek out adventure (mountains, waterfalls, beaches, landmarks, museums, and more)

Even though weve been on the road for years, making that list and thinking about all the options gets us excited too! Thats why we keep living this lifestyle its intoxicating and addicting to explore the endless opportunities of working and living around the world.

But this book isnt about why you should be a digital nomad. Countless blogs and books already inspire people with stories and images and advice about this lifestyle.

So lets talk about why you are here and what we have to offer.

You for one reason or another have decided that you want to live a location-independent lifestyle.

Perhaps youve grown restless staying in one place, or you have decided that you want to travel while still maintaining and growing a career. Or maybe you are already an entrepreneur or freelancer and simply want a change of scenery.

Whatever the reason youve taken the first step. High five! We know its a big and exciting decision. Now its time to turn that decision into your reality, and were here to help.

Who do you want to be, where, and when?

This is the central opportunity of the digital nomad lifestyle: trying out a new life for a finite period of time anywhere on earth, and then doing it again (and again and again). The challenge (though it can be a fun one) is planning it.

You are about to begin your adventure leaving your comfortable routine and entering a world where you might not know where you will be next week or next month, who you will travel with, or where you will call home. (Feel free to revisit Dr. Seusss Oh The Places Youll Go at any time.)

We encourage you to embrace that kind of unknown and variety it will be motivation to wake up in the morning and produce your best work to make your new life work.

This is the book we wish we had read a few years ago. We had jobs, we had dreams, and we had travel experience - but we didnt really know how to go from normal life to being a digital nomad.

Now that we have the experience of making that transition and living this lifestyle for years, we want to share clear advice and recommendations for others looking to make the change.

For everyone, overcoming the inertia of routine is difficult and, frankly, often scary. Then there are all the details that have to be planned in advance (or do they?).

What do I pack? Where should I go? How much money do I need? What phone and plan should I use? What happens if I lose a credit card?

After years on the road (you can learn more about us, Peter and Katherine, in the About Us section at the end), we have a much clearer understanding of what works and what doesnt, whats good and whats bad, what we liked and what we wished we avoided. Those insights have been very helpful for us as we continue to plan our lives as digital nomads.