Hello World! Welcome Friends! Please welcome Jessica Kane to the blog today! In years gone by, travel was something people did for leisure. In addition, work related travel primarily involved business trips of different types. There has been a change in the manner in which people spend time traveling at this juncture of the 21st century. That change involves the rise of digital nomads.
Source: Hong Kong Airport
What is a Digital Nomad?
A digital nomad is a person who has taken to living life perpetually on the road. A digital nomad doesn’t have a permanent home address. Rather, a digital nomad moves around either consistently or with great regularity. In short, a digital nomad doesn’t spend a great deal of time in one location and has not a spot he or she can really call “home.”
Employment and a Digital Nomad
One aspect of being a digital nomad is that a person embracing this lifestyle has to find ways in which to earn money without a home base and while being on the road a considerable amount of the time.
Examples of the types of work a digital nomad can pursue include such gigs as:
- freelance writing
- web development
- web design
- graphic design
- virtual assistant
- translation
- blogging
- photography
- remote worker
In some ways, a digital nomad is only confined by his or her creativity, ingenuity, and tenacity when it comes to finding and developing means of making money.
Being a digital nomad does not limit a person to pursuing work only via the internet. Many digital nomads will select a destination where they would like to stay for a month or two. In the process of selecting such a location, they will also arrange for some type of employment in the brick and mortar world during the period time they intend to be in a particular locale.
In addition to employment, being a digital nomad means that a person who takes this course uses digital technology for other aspects of his or her life as well. This includes keeping in meaningful contact with family and friends.
Housing and a Digital Nomad
In order to succeed as a digital nomad, a person embarking on this way of living needs to be open to an array of different types of housing structures. If a digital nomad has decided to take off and travel Europe, Asia, the United States, or some other region, hostels are proving to be affordable places for a person to lay his or her head. The number of hostels continues to be on the increase, including in the United States, a country that came in behind Europe, Asia, and elsewhere when it came to the development of hostels.
Airbnb is also an option for some digital nomads. Airbnb does offer lodging options in a variety of price ranges. There is a misconception that all digital nomads are hurting for cash. The fact is, by eliminating many of the costs borne by people who live more traditionally, a digital nomad can end up having a respectable amount of money to be used for such things as overnight accommodations and the like.
As mentioned previously, some digital nomads arrange for “real world” jobs in a particular location. One course a digital nomad can take is to exchange housing for labor. For example, a notable number of digital nomads provide labor on a farm in exchange for housing. They agree to work a set number of hours a week in exchange for housing. Oftentimes, this arrangement includes at least one meal a day. It also leave a digital nomad time to pursue another gig, usually online, to earn money to support that individual’s other needs.
Healthcare, Health Insurance, and a Digital Nomad
Health insurance and healthcare can be an issue for a digital nomad. With that said, most digital nomads are younger people, many in their 20s. Thus, they tend to be healthier and have fewer needs for healthcare. However, health emergencies arise.
If a digital nomad will be traveling from state to state in the U.S.A., that presents challenges when it comes to health insurance coverage. Most policies provide “full coverage” within a state of residence. When an insured leaves the state, issues arise in regard to health insurance coverage. These issues definitely need to be explored by a digital nomad in advance of taking to the road.
If a digital nomad will be traveling internationally, he or she needs to investigate what is available in the way of health insurance that provides coverage in a foreign country. There are insurance policy options available to people who travel internationally and who might not coverage through their existing health insurance policies.
Jessica is a professional blogger who writes for Faxage, a leading company that provide Internet fax service services for individuals and businesses.
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Toodles,
Hey, awesome post! Being a digital nomad must be so cool.