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28 Comments

What are digital nomads doing right now?

How are digital nomads coping in the current coronavirus situation?

  • Are you staying put abroad?
  • Still travelling?
  • Stuck?
  • Gone home for now?
  1. 7

    For us it's not that bad. We're staying in Greece near a beautiful beach and waiting for the crisis to pass by limiting our interaction with the people as much as possible (we just need to go buy food every 10 days or so).

    I find that being a digital nomad in a van is not that bad in a time such as this:

    • Our work is already remote
    • Our social interactions are limited by default
    • We can stay in nature and enjoy the outside just as we normally would in a normal world

    We don't move even though we could. But I'm sure many people would pay to be where we are...

    van

    1. 2

      How much time do you have left on your visa and where will you go next?

      1. 1

        Hey @alchemist ! I'm a French citizen, there is no visa limitation for me being in Greece. As you may know, inside the EU you don't have much borders anymore.

        As for the next step, before all this we wanted to go to Turkey, and then Romania, but we will probably skip Turkey and stay in the EU instead.

    2. 2

      You are right about that. This looks amazing.

  2. 5

    I'm currently based in Marbella, Spain. The COVID-19 situation has not had a significant impact on my usual work schedule. Apart from the office space that I go to twice a week being closed, my work pattern has stayed the same.

    We are allowed to go for walks/runs here, and go out to the supermarkets and pharmacies. I'm living in a pretty big apartment complex with plenty of green space, so the atmosphere is quite relaxed with people walking their dogs, etc.

    The most disruptive aspect is the gyms and tennis clubs being closed. I would go to the gym or play tennis most evenings. Now I'm doing home workouts, which aren't as good!

    Spain has been hit hard in the north around the major cities, but the number of cases down south is a lot lower. Nevertheless, Spain is in total lockdown in terms of traveling in and out of the country. But I love Marbella so much that I had no plans to travel anywhere else until the end of the summer anyway!

    P.S. I would highly recommend Marbella (or the other coastal cities in Andalusia) to any digital nomad looking for a new location to work from once this crisis ends!

    1. 1

      How much time do you have left on your visa and where will you go next?

      1. 1

        Hey alchemist!

        I'm from Ireland, so I don't require a visa to work in Spain as they are both members of the EU.

        I'm hoping to go to Tel-Aviv next, as it has a booming tech startup scene and also a great climate.

        Let me know if you have any recommendations for remote-friendly cities!

  3. 3

    I'm staying put abroad. My girlfriend and I bought tickets to the UK back in mid-December, and we got to the UK right as things were starting to get dicey in the US. I've hardly left the house in almost two weeks (except groceries and exercise). Fortunately, I'm only a few weeks into my ability to stay in the UK visa-free for six months, so I've got some time to figure things out if things aren't looking up in that amount of time.

  4. 2

    I was fortunately nomading in my country when all this blew up. Came back home to my place in the capital and have been locked down with my wife for 10 days now. I'm focused on my contract work and my open source projects at the moment. My wife is an Instagram traveler (@linaestadeviaje) and she's been posting content on social media management, savings strategy, tips going through uncertainty, etc.

    We're focused on financially helping our relatives in need.

    Adapting is key in these times. Everyone is having a hard time.

  5. 1

    We stucked in Sri Lanka, When COVID-19 Spread here we decided to get back home for a while, but the next day, curfew happened here and now we just stucked. For us it's not bad, we are working on our new project (https://motiveex.com/app/share) But really no Idea what would happen. Still waiting here and keep coding

  6. 1

    My guess is stationary analogs.
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    I'll show myself the door.

  7. 1

    Stay the same, but no hangout and have fun with friends :) that's hurt

  8. 1

    work from home. Purchase once a week, but almost shopping online

  9. 1

    We (I and my wife) were planning to finish our 6 months in Bali and go to Georgia today. Georgia closed their borders a month ago so all this time we thought what to do.

    Traveling isn't an option because 95% of the countries closed the borders for tourists.
    At first, we wanted to go back to Russia, where actually we didn't have anything because we're nomading for 2 years already. But after we started the process of changing our Georgia flight tickets to Russian tickets we discovered that moving somewhere could be pretty reckless right now.
    We discovered that it was the right conclusion a couple of days ago when we've seen the people who stuck in Dubai airport (our flight to Russia should have been through Dubai) without much food, water, and place to sleep.
    Another factor is the price tickets which started to increase in price dramatically and Russian corona situation is not very good right now.

    So eventually we made a decision to stay in Bali. Thankfully the place where we live is still available and the Indonesian government allows people to stay here during the crisis without even valid visas. They extend it automatically. It's very calm here and not so many cases. But we're sitting home with food delivery anyway.

    So far we don't have further plans, just waiting what's going to happen next.

    1. 1

      wow! being nomadic is never easy, but it is fun right?

  10. 1

    we're thinking about... doing some moving...

  11. 1

    It's been an absolutely grueling two weeks.

    My immigration status is a case for real concern. The closing of so many borders to travelers makes a DN lifestyle untennable, so I'm currently trying to get residency (which has also recently become harder). The only home I could normally return to is out since my 85 year-old grandmother is living there. There's no possible way I could take a long-haul flight across the pacific, pass through two or more likely 3 airports and put her at risk.

    A second stressful issue happening at the same time by coincidence is that Chase bank closed my checking account, due to my grandmother's name also being on it and her having been appointed a guardian. What had been a convenience was suddenly a trigger for silently closing the account and my debit card. My Stripe account was connected to that account, too.

    I was able to open a new account online (with difficulty), and am struggling to get Chase to reopen my card I have on me and connect it to the new account. Otherwise, I can't use it to do things like buy food or pay rent. Even if I'm successful in sorting out my immigration issues and becoming a resident where I am, the banking issue could force me back to the US without any good options.

    My main way of "coping" is to just focus on what I can influence. I do everything I can to solve problems, but in cases where there's nothing productive I can do, I just try to empty my mind of it and focus on the immediate.

    The real bright spot is that I've got a great group of friends. Without them, things would really be rough.

    tldr; now is a very "character-building" time to be a digital nomad

    1. 2

      I'm really sorry to read that @alchemist. I hope you will be able to figure this out asap. Where are you right now?

      1. 1

        Taiwan, arrived from Japan in late February.

        1. 1

          Were you able to contact your embassy? I can't see how local authorities could not understand the situation given the pandemic and simply don't care about the duration of your visa. What are you afraid of regarding your visa?

          About the money problem that's quite difficult. I hope you can solve that as well..

          1. 1

            Due to Chinese bullying, there is no embassy.

            What are you afraid of regarding your visa?

            I'm afraid of being required to leave.

    2. 2

      Damn, I really feel for ya. That's a lot of shit to all come down on your head at once.

      Glad to hear you have a social group around you!

    3. 1

      Wish I could give you a helping hand. :|

      What's life like in Taiwan? (Generally, and coronavirus wise).

      1. 1

        This comment was deleted a year ago.

  12. 1

    The Canadians probably came home because their travel insurance had been canceled. My parents, who are retired "snow birds", and were down in Arizona immediately headed North to get over the border.

  13. 1

    This comment was deleted a year ago.

    1. 1

      For when this is all done and you are over London, as I was. I would highly recommend Chiang Mai, Thailand as a start.

      1. 1

        This comment was deleted a year ago.

        1. 1

          Chiang mai is quite busy, but it simultaneously has a chilled out vibe. It doesn't feel like a bustling city at all. For a more chilled place, look at northern Vietnam.

          1. 1

            This comment was deleted a year ago.

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