4 ms·
I didn't have a bad experience, but just got tired of it after a while. Here are a few reasons: When you're an expat you meet a lot of people, but it's hard to
by snhorne 10y ago
I didn't have a bad experience, but just got tired of it after a while. Here are a few reasons:
When you're an expat you meet a lot of people, but it's hard to form anything but superficial friendships because everyone is always on the move. You can always become friends with locals, but cultural/language differences get in the way.
While it may not seem like it now, your digital nomad life will eventually become predictable and ordinary just like life at home. Especially if you're working. Work is the same no matter where you are.
And the big one for me....it's hard or impossible to do a lot of things while you're nomadding. For example, growing a garden. Cooking barbecue. Fiddling with electronics. Playing in a band.
That said, there's no reason not to try it. Just don't assume it's a rest-of-your-life choice.
- kfrz 10y agoYeah, I don't get why a lot of people are locked into a binary view point about it -- the beauty of this lifestyle is that you can just pick a spot and settle. I like to think of it as a walkabout to see more places before I decide where I want to settle.
- et-al 10y agoI think when "digital nomad" is mentioned, readers' minds generally conjure up a person who never stays at a place longer than 3 months. There's a notion of constant movement. On the other hand, "expats" are people who are relatively settled on year-long contracts with a rented flat. I'm not agreeing with the binary, but there's a common image that comes to mind.
- smcguinness 10y agoCompletely agree. It was hard to have an extended relationship with anyone. It isn't like being at camp where you will see that person every day. If you aren't a place for an extended amount of time, it can be limited to hanging out only a handful of times. I wouldn't say I got "tired of it", but when the time came to come home and I thought about it, I realized how exhausted I was. Even though we felt like we took it easy, it was physically & mentally draining. I think the excitement masked it, potentially artificially, where I just didn't know I was so exhausted, but was. I've tried to think of things which might have been impacted by that.