Intrigued by the digital nomad lifestyle but not ready to give up creature comforts? Consider hybrid nomading.
It can seem romantic to be a digital nomad, using technology to be able to work from anywhere in the world. The lifestyle gives you freedom to decide where you are on a given day, and puts more of your life into your hands! But it’s good to know that like any lifestyle, digital nomadism can have its cons too. Loneliness, disorientation, and missing creature comforts are on the list for “full-time” digital nomads who travel for the majority of the year.
So, for folks who are considering making a jump to working remotely, I am here to recommend a happy medium: be a hybrid nomad, a part-time “digital nomad” with a homebase.
To be a full-time digital nomad, you need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
On one end of the digital nomad spectrum, full-time digital nomads travel all the time, and may not have a homebase to return to. They might live with just the possessions that they carry in their suitcases, and maybe a storage space somewhere. They spend several weeks or months in one city, and then move on to the next. Benefits are that they get to spend more time in foreign cities and than most folks would get on a 2-week vacation, and can get a deeper travel experience. They sample more of the local culture, like food, transit and day-to-day customs. They might even go on weekend excursions to see more of the suburbs or rural places nearby. It can be an amazing way to see and be in the world.
Still, there are cons to being a full-time digital nomad. Nomads who operate this way report that they can be lonely, because while it is easy to meet lots of people, it can be tough to make close friends. Full-time nomads also say that they often feel disoriented due to being in new places all the time. If they move monthly, for example, they are often finding their way around local neighborhoods for the first time. Nomads also have to leave behind creature comforts like their own beds, their bicycle and their familiar routines. (Sources here, here, and here.)
Certainly, it’s true that nomads are often used to to living with fewer routines by design, and LOVE that part of the deal. For me too, breaking routine for a new experience on the other side of the world is a total rush. It all depends on your comfort zone.
To be a hybrid digital nomad, you need to be comfortable outside of routine.
While I see lots of benefits to being a full-time digital nomad, and ultimately I would love to try the lifestyle, for now I am at the other end of the nomad spectrum. I am a part-time “digital nomad” with a homebase. And I can wholeheartedly recommend this hybrid lifestyle as a happy medium.
I call myself a hybrid digital nomad because I travel often and identify with many of the specific qualities and needs of the digital nomad group, and especially with the emphasis on “working from anywhere in the world.” But really I am not nomadic in the traditional sense. I don’t move my home around regularly. Instead, I have a homebase (currently in Chicago) and from that base, I travel frequently.
Hybrid nomads can sample from both the digital nomad and traditional home-based lifestyles. We can use the established identity of digital nomads to more easily explain our work-life priorities.
The identity involves structuring your life to make room for more travel. Digital nomads intentionally whittle down their necessary work tools to their computer, some specialized software applications, and maybe a camera, to be able to “work lightly.” They also intentionally simplify their day-to-day needs enough that they could meet those needs almost anywhere. I do this so that I have the flexibility to move myself and my work wherever I want to be. If I do want to (or need to) travel next month, I can, fluidly and confidently. I have that freeing ability to decide where I want to be on any given day.
(This has had the added benefit that, now that my husband Keith’s workplace has a remote work policy, we can do our own projects across the table from one another.)
Plus, we can use resources for digital nomads that are sprouting all over the internet. For example, if you want to find a good list of places with solid wifi in a foreign city, you Google the term “digital nomad friendly work spaces in Bangkok.” Easy. Efficient.
I think of being a digital nomad as a way to see the world under practical circumstances. And being a hybrid digital nomad adds another layer of practicality: you get to keep some of the familiarity and grounding you may have become used to as a traditional 9-to-5 worker.
Because I do have a homebase in Chicago, I have not encountered the cons that many full-time digital nomads encounter. I am never lonely, because I live with my best friend and husband Keith, and have a network of good friends and wonderful family. And when I am traveling, I meet folks all over or revel in time to myself and my introverted side flourishes. I do feel temporary disorientation in a new city, but because I am not traveling all the time, it is still part of the thrill of travel. And having built-in homebase time gives me regular opportunity to stay grounded. Plus, keeping a homebase means that I am never too far from my bike, my biggest creature comfort.
Baby steps.
No, being a hybrid nomad it is not quite the same as being truly nomadic, a free-spirited world citizen. You do sacrifice some of the perks that the full-time nomad lifestyle offers! But being a hybrid digital nomad is a wonderful happy medium. If you are inclined to take the plunge and leave your 9-to-5 in favor of becoming a nomad, but you don’t want to travel year-round, consider hybrid nomading. Get the best of being able to travel more often, and also having a homebase to return to.
You may need to consider down-sizing apartments or getting a roommate to make room in your budget for travel — but that is for another post.
About the writer
I’m Leah, creative lead and owner at urbanwildstudio.com. I am a digital nomad using a crafted skillset and lightweight footprint to work smartly, explore agilely, and reinforce purpose.
You can follow my travels and work at @leahlavelle on Instagram, and get in touch on my studio website or on Twitter.
Support my work by liking or sharing this post, or send a comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
