Have you missed your chance to be a digital nomad?

The life of a digital nomad lends itself to adventure and glamour. Yes, you're working, but you're also in a new location, so your lunch break might be on a tropical beach and after-work drinks could lead you anywhere.

Yet SBS recently shared the shine has come off the trend, as former digital nomads share endless searches for reliable internet and a sustainable routine.

As Benjamin Munro Smith shares, "I can't help but smile when I recall celebrating securing my first remote client from a beach in Mauritius; Starting my day by climbing Lions Head in Cape Town, South Africa and still making it into the office for 9am calls; Solving a social media account problem with a group of digital marketers while we played cards on a train headed to Cusco, Peru."

But he doesn't suggest we all fly away to become digital nomads. Rather, he says this lifestyle can work against the work-life balance you may be craving.

"The reality is that it can blur the lines between work and personal life," Munro Smith says.

"You’ll often be working with clients who aren’t in the same time zone as you, meaning the idea of logging off at 5pm doesn’t really exist. This imbalance can lead to burnout and affect overall wellbeing."

Luke Burton (Formerly Jesse Chard) served as head of video for travel brand World Nomads, putting him into contact with a lot of people trying to make this lifestyle work.

He tells LinkedIn pre pandemic, there was a huge contingent of digital nomads carving out a “meagre living with a patch-quilt of odds and sodds, some affiliate marketing stuff here, a bit of Google ad sense revenue there — especially if they took advantage of the absolute dirt cheapness of living off the back of developing nations — something that still does irk me to this day.”

Yet for the vast majority of these jetsetters, Chard believes, “They were putting forward an 'image' of success and financial freedom, but the back-end reality — the real pathway I saw — was filled with frustration, and endlessly feeding a beast that never really spat out a return.”

As the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, travel for Australians and New Zealanders abruptly ended, and while many industries proved jobs could be done from home (or Bali), there is also mounting evidence bosses want employees back in the office.

Roderick (Ricky) Rutledge says the digital nomad trend doesn’t need to end with a petering out of the Covid-19 flexible work revolution.

“Companies are keen to get staff back to the corporate grindstone, but I don't see that as spelling the end of digital nomadism," he says on LinkedIn. "You've just got to be in the right job, the right industry, and in the right [fibre-optic] place.

"If you're being called back to the fold, maybe you should retrain, refocus, resign, revolt or retire!”

Craig Ford agrees, saying, “I think it’s only going to grow.”

“With industries like cyber security, you can literally work from anywhere with a reliable internet connection and a decent computer setup. The time has passed when we all need to be in the same room. Covid-19 taught us that, we can do it and we can do it extremely well.”

Melissa Gerke recently spent a month in Eastern Europe and says she could work but there were some things that needed to be done in person, or at least the same time zone.

“While the internet was fantastic and I had some time to work, I'm still conflicted with the idea of being a digital nomad. As a copywriter, I could easily hide behind emails. But picking up the phone and having a chat is part of my process. That's a bit difficult when you throw in international time zones.”

Paul B. also just returned from a trip, spending two months working remotely in Thailand and Indonesia. He says being a digital nomad is not a trend.

“It is, rather, a permanent fixture in the economic and productive landscape. Not only will I be continuing to pursue this existence anywhere I can cart my laptop and get a wifi signal, I saw many others on my travels doing just that.”

He says the only thing slowing him down is barriers to spending longer periods of time in some countries, “Meaning it's time for a digital nomad passport that allows remote workers to stay longer and to be truly global citizens.”

Do you want to give it a go? Sue Ellson suggests considering the below points before taking the plunge:

🌴 Consider a defined time length and specific locations to avoid decision fatigue and a constant sense of planning and organising.

🌴 Consider short mini-nomad experiences — perhaps you can tack this option on to existing holiday plans and spend some of your time travelling and some working in a different location so you get the travel cost halved but you may also be able to negotiate a better accommodation deal.

🌴 Plan beforehand — some countries have areas set up for digital nomads, so make these a part of your initial induction to a location to learn all the local tricks much sooner.

🌴 Talk to other digital nomads — find them on LinkedIn, and get the lowdown from them before you book your travel.

Have you been a digital nomad in the past? Share your experiences and what made it worthwhile for you in the comments.

Want to switch off from work? Employees at ANZ will soon have the right to switch off from work and refuse unreasonable additional work hours, as part of the Financial Sector Union's bid to improve employee work-life balance. Read more here.

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