Digital Nomad – Wikipedia Definition
A type of people who use telecommunications technologies to earn a living and, more generally, conduct their life in a nomadic manner. Such workers often work remotely from foreign countries, coffee shops, public libraries, co-working spaces, or recreational vehicles.
The idea has evolved from the business world where you would see company executives carting around laptops the size of briefcases and working in bars and cafes. These pioneers didn’t even realise they were the path-forgers of the future, creating a whole new world of work. Its now filtered down to the individual level because of advances and miniaturization of technology and readily available access to the internet.
Its aspirational to work like this because the millennial generation is now putting more emphasis on experiential wealth than financial wealth. The ability to live anywhere and travel on demand provides such a wealth of experiences that creating money to sustain this lifestyle is key. And so, utilising nothing more than a laptop, entrepreneurship and lust, digital nomads have been born
One of the reasons for bringing the laptop on this holiday is to test out remote working abroad. It’s one of my ambitions to be a digital nomad and join this expanding version on living life. I can do most things from a phone and laptop and where a physical presence is needed, I’m working out ways of providing one.
Key to the success of this lifestyle is the access to The Internet. Without this glorious invention, none of this would be possible. My phone contract allows me to access the internet and call anyone in Croatia, just as if I was at home. I made sure this was possible when I modified my contract about 6 months ago.
This morning I found myself a quite little dead end alleyway, lined with coffee shop wrought iron tables and pot plants. The hot sun couldn’t reach where I sat at the bottom of the cliffs created by the tall white stone buildings either side of me. Some soft jazz music playing in the background with accompanying percussion on the teacups completed the calm noise I needed for working. Feeling very happy with myself, I opened the laptop and connected to “drop it like its hotspot” my phones wifi connection.
Nothing.
No internet.
Disaster!
Where the next couple hours should have been a productive cacophony of keystrokes, instead I was sat with an expensive grey metal taco in front of me while I furiously stabbed my phone to find out why it wasn’t working. I had internet on my phone, I can search and scan and surf all I like on there, WHY WONT IT WORK ON MY LAPTOP!!! It’s not even like this was the first time I had used “drop it like its hotspot”, its something I use almost daily in the UK working from my van.
After reading through Three’s FAQ’s and Conditions of Service [ YAWN ] I found out that tethering ( the act of passing internet through your phone and onto another device ) was restricted while out of the UK. Unless you paid £5 per day for the privilege, of course…. I was seething and so launched a tirade of finger pokes at my phone screen chatting to a Three agent USING THE INTERNET.
They sympathised and while not able to provide me with the service I thought I should have, ie; tetherable internet throughout europe, they did provide me £50 worth of credit to my account so I could access it while I was in croatia and stranded. Nice that they looked after me in my time of need, I do really appreciate the gesture and feel valued. I’ve been with Three for about 9 years now so it’s good to see that some big companies DO value their loyal customers.
That trial took most of my work time before I had to meet the Button party for our day trip to Lokrum. This is the benefit / drawback working remotely as a digital nomad; you can design your day to fit around activities and the location you want to be in. However, if you want to sustain your lifestyle and income, you do actually have to do some work from time to time and this can be very difficult to self motivate.
I just made it in time to the boat that just had enough space for little old 6ft2 of me. The day was hot and people sat shoulder to sunscreen sweaty shoulder. Funnily enough you could only buy a return ticket to the island. This is were a benedictine monastery had been set up wayyyyyy back in time. It was forcibly purchased and the monks forced to leave in 1808. On their last night they walked around the entire island in procession with candles pointing downwards dripping wax, cursing the future owners of the island. Only when the last drop of wax has been picked clean will the curse be lifted and true to word, the subsequent owners have all been plagued by terrible misfortune while owning the island.
Luckily for us, the most vicious thing we encountered on our trip there were some rabbits. Button had brought some cabbages with him that they ripped apart mercilessly. After some coaxing, I managed to tempt one of the fluffy demons of the island close enough to me to be able to catch it.
Now, more famous for its botanical gardens appearance in the Game Of Thrones TV series there is a room in the old monastery ruins dedicated to the show, with a replica Iron Throne. Everyone wanted their picture taken in this modern landmark. I have to admit, it was comfy, and i felt oddly powerful but I was a little disappointed it was made from fibreglass rather that the dragons breath melted swords of former kings….
In the grounds we found a salty pool off water surrounded by trees and small cliffs. Being the adventurous sort, Button and I proceeded directly to the cave in the cliff wall for a spot of lite DWS action. Deep Water Soloing (DWS) is a type of climbing where you only have your hands and feet to stop you falling off. This is why it is done over deep pools of water to offer a safe-ish place to land in the eventuality. It was great fun working out the different holds and hauling our dripping bodies out of the water and up the rockface. We managed 2 routes of about 4 meters high before exhaustion and standing on sharp rocks took their toll and we jumped off. It was a really beautiful place to climb. The little oasis of cool water and people lounging around gave a friendly summer holiday sort of feel.
After this cool off, we grabbed a couple beers and set off up the hill to the french fort established to protect the chanel leading to Dubrovnik’s old town harbour. It was a fair walk up but the view when we got to the top was exceptional. You could see right across the water into the old town. Viewed from this angle it is a fantastically impressive fortification that any naval force would have been petrified to attack. The huge cream stone walls rising vertically out of the sea on pointy rocks offer no protection for any advancing army. We took a load of photos and explored the ruins for a while before being reminded that there was a last ferry to be caught.
Back in town we all freshened up before finding a pizza restaurant for dinner. Finding a place for 9 of us to be seated in the tiny alleyways of the old town was a challenge but we got one in the end. It was Jenny’s birthday today and also the mini-mexicans joined us. A full day of activity had given me a huge appetite so i tucked into a large salad and massive pizza. This was exactly what the doctor ordered and was exceptionally satisfying. I think Button and I were the only ones to finish our pizza’s . Jenny was surprised with a banana split with birthday candles organised by her thoughtful sister.