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Digital Nomad Couple

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Is The Digital Nomad Lifestyle Right For You?

Category Digital Nomad, Travel, Work Online Updated on January 23, 2022

The Digital Nomad Lifestyle

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Being a full-time digital nomad truly does give you the freedom to create a lifestyle and routine that you love.

It shifts away from a lifestyle where you work a 9 to 5 office job on weekdays, waiting for the weekend to explore your passions and pursue your hobbies. And that’s if you even have time then…

But is it for everyone? No, probably not.

Although I am yet to find someone who doesn’t want to be location independent and have the freedom to live, travel, and work anywhere in the world, becoming a digital nomad does require some significant adjustments in your life.

I hope that with this blog post, I will help you decide if the digital nomad lifestyle is right for you.

I also want to give you a real perspective on the life of a digital nomad, which is often overhyped with highly edited images and exaggerated captions.

What Is The Digital Nomad Lifestyle?

“Digital nomads are people that leverage technology to be able to live, work and travel anywhere in the world, independent of any specific location.”

matt and ash in sydney with laptops

The digital nomad lifestyle offers you the ability to live, travel and work anywhere you want. You also have the means to travel around (being nomadic) full-time, visiting any country they choose.

Some digital nomads spend 2-4 weeks in a country before moving on, while others, like us, prefer to spend 2-3 months in one place, before traveling to the next location.

The best part is… You get to decide what you want to do based on your work and preferences.

Is The Digital Nomad Lifestyle Right For You?

So, is the digital nomad lifestyle right for you? There are some things you need to consider.

To help you with this, I have written down the 4 “Are You Willing” questions that I had to answer before becoming a digital nomad.

1. Are You Willing To Give Up A Steady Stream Of Income?

This is probably the hardest question to answer, but it is also the most necessary.

digital nomad creating skillshare course laptop
matt creating a course on SEO at the coworking space, Punspace, in Chiang Mai Thailand

Transitioning from a ‘steady’ full-time job where you get a good paycheck every 2 weeks to a freelancer or business owner where the paycheck only comes when you find work and do it, can be scary.

But at the same time, it’s also exciting…

I remember the first client we ever signed into our business. It was very exciting because finally, I was making real money, from my own hard work. And, I got to keep all of the profit.

It was amazing to me particularly, because I realized that my earning potential was defined by the number of hours I worked each week.

We could work as much or as little as we needed, using our time not only for work but also to explore our passions, discover new locations and do more of what we enjoyed.

Moving from a full-time job to living the digital nomad lifestyle can definitely be a little scary and sometimes a little tricky, but is a very necessary step to work through.

2. Are You Willing To Work Hard?

Starting any new business venture involves a lot of hard work.

I remember working 10-12 hour days for a couple of months before we really started earning enough money to travel. It was another few months of hard work after that before we felt comfortable enough to really relax and be able to travel and work comfortably.

matt working at impact hub coworking antigua guatemala
matthew tired from work (?) at Impact Hub in Antigua Guatemala

Even after you are earning enough money to travel, you will likely still work hard.

Most digital nomads that I have met easily work 8+ hours, 5-6 days a week. The difference is they absolutely love their work and are very passionate about it.

They also get the freedom to choose when they work. That means that if they want to take a 3-hour lunch break to go to the beach and then come back and work in the evening, they can.

This may be to your surprise but hard work is a big part of the digital nomad lifestyle.

3. Are You Willing To Become A Minimalist?

As a regular traveler, you won’t have much room to take heaps of stuff. Everything that I take with me fit’s in my 20kg suitcase and 7kg carry-on bag. That’s it…

matthew and ashley digital nomad luggage
with our 2 suitcases (aka our lives in a box)
ashley with suitcase at Phuket Airport
entering Phuket Airport

Digital nomads have no choice but to embrace a minimalist lifestyle. But truthfully, having less stuff is actually really freeing.

We are amazed how every time we come back to our home countries to visit family and friends, the amount of stuff they have. And more amazingly, how much stuff they have, but don’t use.

It reaffirms to us how freeing a more minimalist lifestyle is. If you want to live this digital nomad lifestyle, you will need to have a small packing list and become a minimalist.

4. Are You Willing To Learn New Skills So You Can Compete In The Online Marketplace?

Our businesses are primarily focused on digital marketing. And although I have a business degree, everything that I have learned about digital marketing really was self-taught.

Ironic I know. But a 4 year, $60,000+ Bachelor of Business Administration with a specialization in Marketing didn’t help us that much with starting our digital marketing agency.

I leveraged platforms like Skillshare and Udemy to learn new skills which kept me up to date with the latest industry information, tactics, and strategies in digital marketing.

That combined with my slowly growing experience, eventually snowballed into a unique set of skills and specialties which helped us get more clients and ultimately own and operate 3 businesses remotely.

Regardless of what field you are in, you will probably need to do some learning.

If you have a background in the business that you will create as a digital nomad, you have an advantage.

If not? I am proof that you can teach yourself and make it happen. If I can do it, I guarantee you can too.

Living That Digital Nomad Lifestyle

Not everyone is cut out for it and that’s okay.

To become a digital nomad you need to be able to answer ‘YES’ to all 4 of those questions.

becoming-digital-nomad-2021

You also need to be highly adaptable and disciplined – 2 things that I haven’t always found easy.

If you are somebody who likes to have strong roots planted down firmly, enjoys a comfortable routine, and prefers a more predictable environment, the digital nomad lifestyle probably isn’t for you.

And as I said, that’s ok!

However, if you are someone who embraces change and can work independently, then you are all but set for a life of constant adventure and exploration as a digital nomad.

In: Digital Nomad, Travel, Work Online

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Welcome!

We’re Matt and Ashley, the American-Aussie couple behind this blog. In 2018, we realized we could take our work with us…anywhere in the world. We packed our bags, sold our stuff and bought two tickets to Bali. Today, we slow travel full-time, run our business from our laptops and embrace life one adventure at a time. We’ve completely fallen in love with the freedom that comes with this lifestyle and we hope to inspire you to join us on the digital nomad journey!

Two Tickets Anywhere Newsletter

A newsletter for digital nomads! On the 1st and 15th of every month you'll receive an email with the latest nomad news, digital nomad lifestyle tips, new destination guides and work online tips.

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Follow The Journey In Real-Time @TwoTicketsAnywhere_

better than the movies…💭🌴⁣ ⁣ ⁣ #trav better than the movies…💭🌴⁣
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#travelreels #funnytravel #travelgram #exploretheworld #travel #chasingsunsets #sunsetlover #travelblog⁣
#digitalnomad #laptoplifestyle
3x UNDERRATED digital nomad destinations in europe 3x UNDERRATED digital nomad destinations in europe ✈️ (to visit this summer) - add these to your travel plans in 2023 (or 2024🤓)⁣
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🇭🇷Croatia - stunning coastline, good wifi, growing DN community, beautiful nature and lots of cafes! ⁣
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🇷🇸Serbia - friendly locals, low cost of living, fast wifi, plenty of activities, great cafes to work from & great dining scene. ⁣
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🇨🇾Cyprus - great weather year-round, mountains + beaches, delicious food, growing community, good coworking spaces, endless outdoor activities.⁣
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Have you already been to these countries? Which was your favorite? Share below! 👇⁣
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#digitalnomaddiaries #workfromwifi #fulltimetravel #workandtravel #digitalnomad #laptoplifestyle #workanywhere #digitalnomadlifestyle #travelblog #digitalnomadlife #blogger #twoticketsanywhere #digitalnomadblogger #livethedream #maketheleap #passportcollective #digitalnomadgirl #exploretheworld #worldnomad
living, not surviving 🤝 ⁣ ⁣ why stay in an living, not surviving 🤝 ⁣
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why stay in an office when you can travel + work remotely from anywhere ✈️⁣
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#workfromwifi #fulltimetravel #workandtravel #digitalnomad #laptoplifestyle #workanywhere #travelreels #funnytravel #travelgram
plus you get free access to paddle boards and kaya plus you get free access to paddle boards and kayaks 👀❤️‍🔥⁣
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📍Free Cerveza, Lake Atitlan ⁣🇬🇹
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#visitguatemala #lakeatitlan #travelreels #uniquestays #traveldestination #digitalnomadlife #exploreguatemala #digitalnomad
Flying out to Cyprus just made sense! 🇨🇾⁣ Flying out to Cyprus just made sense! 🇨🇾⁣
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The weather in Europe started to get colder in October and if you know us, you’ll know we chase the sunshine ☀️⁣
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The best part is that we were joining a coliving space with some friends we made back in Zagreb! We spent an awesome month together - exploring the country, getting work done together and getting to know each other better!⁣
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We love coliving because you get to have an instant community as soon as you land. A nomadic life gets lonely (yes, even as a couple) and coliving spaces usually create great communities with like-minded people!⁣
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@tohani_coliving was especially great at creating events for everyone. During our first week, we had a community design meeting to discuss and plan the kind of things we wanted to do together. I'll share more about our experience on coliving soon ✌️⁣
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Here are some of the highlights:⁣
🌊 Swimming in the ocean with friends⁣
🚗 Weekend getaway to northern cyprus⁣
🎳 Bowling night with the coliving fam⁣
🍼 Meeting good friends (+ their cute baby)
🚤 Jet skiing with my girl @jbabbage 
🥟 Monday dinners at home with the coliving fam⁣
🏖️ Exploring the many beaches Cyprus has to offer⁣
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Would you ever try staying in a coliving space?⁣
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#digitalnomadcyprus #colivingspace #tohanicoliving #digitalnomadlife #funnytravel #traveltheworld #coliving #workandtravel #workfromwifi #digitalnomad #travellifestyle #traveladdict #twoticketsanywhere #travelblogger #travelawesome #digitalnomadlifestyle #fulltimetravel #passportcollective #travelcouple #cyprusdigitalnomad #cyprus
Is Skopje, North Macedonia on your destination lis Is Skopje, North Macedonia on your destination list? 🇲🇰⁣
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On our Europe tour, we decided to make Skopje home for a few weeks! One of the main reason is because I needed to renew my passport which is much faster outside the country.⁣
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Other than that, we didn’t really know what to expect. There weren't many blogs or videos about being digital nomads here. We could only find 1 coworking space in the area but there were plenty of cafes to visit! There’s a huge cafe culture which is always nice.⁣
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We had a really nice, modern, comfortable apartment in Skopje for $580 USD which was 5 minutes walking from the city center. The cost of living is pretty affordable and it’s very safe! ⁣
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If you’re looking for a city to get some work done, explore the surrounding destinations and establish some routine or even simply go to the BEST gym I've ever been to (@fit_in_performance) - Skopje could be that place for you!⁣
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Would you visit Skopje, North Macedonia as a digital nomad?⁣
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#workfromeurope #workfromwifi #laptoplifestyle #digitalnomad #digitalnomadlife #remoteworking #digitalnomadcouple #digitalnomadskopje #skopje #skopjedigitalnomad #skopjenorthmacedonia #visitskopje #visitnorthmacedonia #europedigitalnomad
Lisbon, Portugal is the top digital nomad destinat Lisbon, Portugal is the top digital nomad destination in Europe! 🇵🇹Why?⁣
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One word: community!⁣
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According to some digital nomad statistics, loneliness is the #1 reason people leave this lifestyle. When you’re traveling alone (or even as a couple), you easily feel all alone. Thankfully, the digital nomad community is very strong, open and welcoming!⁣
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Lisbon is also a popular spot because of the fast wifi (we had speeds of 500+ Mbps), endless coworking options and a relatively affordable cost of living (except the rising rental prices, of course let's be real). ⁣
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Our month in this wonderful city wasn’t long enough! It’s got all the simple things we love:⁣
 ☕ specialty coffee⁣
🍷 delicious food & wine⁣
🥑 bustling brunch scene and ⁣
👯 friendly people & community⁣
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We can easily see why digital nomads keep coming back to this city and we hope we can explore more of Portugal (Porto, Algrave, etc).⁣
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Have you been a digital nomad in Lisbon before? What were your thoughts?⁣
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#workfromeurope #workfromwifi #laptoplifestyle #digitalnomad #digitalnomadlife #remoteworking #digitalnomadcouple #digitalnomadportugal #lisbon #lisbondigitalnomad #lisbonportugal #visitlisbon #visitportugal #europedigitalnomad
We embarked on another 6-hour bus journey to our n We embarked on another 6-hour bus journey to our next digital nomad destination on this Europe tour.⁣
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Zagreb, Croatia has been on our minds for a while. While most people think of Split or Dubrovnik, we wanted to visit the capital and see what it’s really like for digital nomads.⁣
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These are some things that we think of before choosing a destination:⁣
- Is there an active digital nomad community?⁣
- What’s the wifi speeds like?⁣
- Are there good coworking spaces?⁣
- Is the cafe culture buzzing?⁣
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And so much more! Our biggest concern was the community part. After traveling Serbia alone - we were starting to feel quite lonely! We joined an FB group and found someone had set up a weekly coworking day.⁣
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It’s always nerve-wracking going to events where you don’t know anyone but as digital nomads, you get acquainted pretty quick! TLDR, we had a pretty close group of 8 working from cafes together, exploring Zagreb and getting to know each other.⁣
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Zagreb is a great destination in Europe for a digital nomad wanting a more affordable cost of living while still exploring Croatia! 🇭🇷⁣
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#workfromeurope #workfromwifi #laptoplifestyle #digitalnomad #digitalnomadlife #remoteworking #digitalnomadcouple #digitalnomadcroatia #zagreb #zagrebdigitalnomad #zagrebcroatia #visitcroatia🇭🇷
Never did we think we would visit Serbia…⁣ ⁣ Never did we think we would visit Serbia…⁣
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…but we are SO glad we did!⁣
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Serbia surprised us in so many ways, we honestly didn’t know what to expect! ⁣
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That’s one of the ways we like to approach some of our travels - not judging the country by its cover. You can hear some positive (or negative) things about countries but you never truly know until you experience it for yourself. ⁣
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We spent a month living in Belgrade, Serbia and it wasn’t long enough! With such limited time, as digital nomads you have to hit the ground running to get settled into your new home. We used our first 3 days to find (good) cafes to work from, sign up for a gym membership and plan our travel across Serbia.⁣
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Here are some reasons we can recommend Belgrade to fellow digital nomads:⁣
- friendly, welcoming people⁣
- they have delicious food⁣
- high standard of living⁣
- relatively low cost of living⁣
- fast wifi with tons of cafes to work from ⁣
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We ate countless bureks, drank copious amounts of coffee and worked from some of the coolest cafes. We can’t wait to get back to Belgrade!⁣
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Serbia, you stole our hearts!⁣
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#workfromeurope #workfromwifi #laptoplifestyle #digitalnomad #digitalnomadlife #remoteworking #digitalnomadcouple #digitalnomadserbia #belgrade #belgradedigitalnomad #belgradeserbia #visitserbia
European Digital Nomad Summer 2022, incoming ✨⁣
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After 4 months in Medellin, Colombia - we decided to head to Europe for the rest of the year!⁣
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Travel planning just becomes part of your lifestyle as digital nomads - it almost becomes a side hustle. When we're not working or exploring, we are researching/booking our next destinations!⁣
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What countries did we decide on?⁣
🇬🇧 England⁣
🇦🇹 Austria⁣
🇭🇷 Croatia⁣
🇷🇸 Serbia⁣
🇫🇷 France⁣
🇳🇱 Netherlands⁣
🇵🇹 Portugal⁣
🇲🇰 North Macedonia⁣
and finally, a last-minute decision to visit...⁣
🇨🇾 Cyprus⁣
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We found flights for only $400 to London from Colombia! My lovely friend and her husband were the best hosts and showed us around their new home. We spent a week in London exploring, acclimating to this continent and working from Pret! ⁣
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TTA TIP: If you're in London, Pret has a subscription service for only about £30 and you get 5 drinks per day plus a cafe space to do a little work!⁣
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*I'm going to be recapping the rest of our 2022 as digital nomads for the next few posts, we are currently in Asia🤪 ⁣
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#workfromeurope #workfromwifi #laptoplifestyle #digitalnomad #digitalnomadlife #remoteworking #digitalnomadcouple #locationindependent #freedomlifestyle #fulltimetravel #digitalnomadeurope #remotework #workonline #workfromanywhere #workandtravel #digitalnomadlifestyle

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