{"id":671325,"date":"2025-05-25T12:22:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T09:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/the-digital-nomad-dream-has-a-dark-side\/"},"modified":"2025-05-25T12:22:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T09:22:00","slug":"the-digital-nomad-dream-has-a-dark-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-digital-nomad-dream-has-a-dark-side\/","title":{"rendered":"The digital nomad dream has a dark side"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a29c31644405\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a29c31644405\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-digital-nomad-dream-has-a-dark-side\/#Forking_out_for_freedom\" >Forking out for freedom<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-digital-nomad-dream-has-a-dark-side\/#Fatigued_by_visa_strategising\" >Fatigued by visa strategising<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-digital-nomad-dream-has-a-dark-side\/#A_strong_pull_no_matter_the_cost\" >A strong pull, no matter the cost<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-main-content\">\n<p><b><i\/><\/b><span>Sophie Rucker<\/span><span> had been living and working in London for five years when a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trip<\/a> to a yoga training school in Bali presented her with an alternative to the rat race. Despite enjoying life in London, witnessing digital nomads balance work with sun, sea, and relaxed vibes in the Indonesian island province prompted her to pursue more freelance work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the start of 2020, having set herself up as a <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">communications strategist for NGOs and <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">social<\/a> impact organisations<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/sophierucker\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Sophie<\/a> quit her permanent role and moved to Bali. Despite the uncertainty of the progressing pandemic, she found the space she needed to grieve her mother, whom she had lost not long before. And to Sophie\u2019s delight, the digital nomad lifestyle has fulfilled many of her expectations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She soon noticed, however, a distinct bias against her choice of location. Some potential clients wouldn\u2019t even entertain a conversation, because she was based in Bali. \u201cI couldn\u2019t make sense of it \u2014 it felt so stupid,\u201d she explains. \u201cI\u2019m working with organisations like Greenpeace and the UNDP to instigate positive global change, as well as being a <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.health.harvard.edu\/blog\/what-is-somatic-therapy-202307072951\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">somatic trauma<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> counsellor, so when people assume I\u2019m not doing \u2018serious work\u2019 out here, it grinds my gears.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\/><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now she has greater control over the projects she pursues, Sophie tells employers she lives in Indonesia, and is transparent about exactly where once she\u2019s secured a contract. It\u2019s the same for many of her remote working friends in Bali, who don\u2019t disclose their location to remote employers for fear of losing work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Getting snubbed from projects, haemorrhaging your savings on basic living costs and constantly edging on burnout are usually the hardships associated with full-time home-based working in a metropolitan centre like London, New York, or Amsterdam.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the dominant utopian narrative presented in the media<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 think bossing it at the beach, bottomless cocktails, and a perennial tan \u2014 the reality of balancing global travel with remote work has always been hard. And it\u2019s only getting harder: surging costs, political turbulence, and fickle visa rules are pushing digital nomads in new directions.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Forking_out_for_freedom\"><\/span>Forking out for freedom<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New research from the Dutch neobank<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bunq<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">has revealed the hidden financial, emotional and mental toll, with <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/static.bunq.com\/framer\/documents\/bunq-Global-Living-Report-2025.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">its survey of 5,000 workers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> across Europe who identify as digital nomads and\/or living internationally. Indeed, just one in five say that working internationally has positively impacted their career, with Britons in particular (25%) saying their career has actually suffered as a result of being a digital nomad.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It\u2019s certainly not the picture that wistful salaried employees conjure when daydreaming at their desks. For experts in the field, however, the tough reality is widely known. \u201cMany of those experimenting with the lifestyle can\u2019t sustain it,\u201d says <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucl.ac.uk\/anthropology\/dave-cook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">David Cook<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, an anthropologist and researcher at University College London who specialises in remote work. \u201cMaintaining self-discipline, staying productive, and finding the space to focus gets worse over time, not better, alongside all the other external circumstances.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\/><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Managing the finance side is an area of particular concern. Bunq found that 17% of study participants feel less financially secure, while 14% are spending more than expected. Although this cohort isn\u2019t weighed down by a mortgage or a huge rental deposit, they do have to factor in local taxes, medical bills, nomad visa costs, insurance claims, legal assistance,\u00a0and banking fees.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1413757 js-lazy\" alt=\"Sophie Rucker boarding a flight from Bali\" width=\"1640\" height=\"2187\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2025\/05\/IMG_4057-3.jpeg\"\/><figcaption>Sophie boarding a flight from Bali to visit family in Australia. Credit: Sophie Rucker<\/figcaption><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1413757\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2025\/05\/IMG_4057-3.jpeg\" alt=\"Sophie Rucker boarding a flight from Bali\" width=\"1640\" height=\"2187\" srcset=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The top unforeseen expenses, according to Bunq, include medical expenses (16%) and local taxes (15%). Less common, but equally unsettling, is that 5% of nomads across Europe have had to pay for emergency evacuation costs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All that is before budgeting for the rise in everyday living costs, which have impacted home-based and remote workers alike. Everyone is feeling the pinch, with the majority of Europeans (67%) noticing the rise in food and beverage prices in the past 12 months, as per data from the Dutch firm <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.innovamarketinsights.com\/trends\/consumer-spending-trends-in-europe\/#:~:text=65%25%20of%20European%20consumers%20have,and%20opting%20for%20bulk%20purchases.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Innova Market Insights<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Day-to-day budgeting trumps a laundry list of other anxieties too. In the first quarter of 2025, <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mckinsey.com\/industries\/consumer-packaged-goods\/our-insights\/an-update-on-european-consumer-sentiment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">McKinsey\u2019s ConsumerWise research<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> found that Europeans ranked rising prices and inflation as their number one concern over issues such as job security, international conflicts, climate change, and political tension, to name a few.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.makemymove.com\/articles\/geoarbitrage-and-remote-work\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Geoarbitrage<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 decoupling life and work from a specific location to make your income go further \u2014 <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">has long been a practice employed by digital nomads. Coined by Tim Ferriss in his 2009 book <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 4-Hour Workweek,<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the tactic is now often being reconsidered due to increased outgoings. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAccommodation has always been the biggest challenge, but in the last few years, after COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, it\u2019s significantly more expensive, sometimes \u20ac200 extra a month for the same place and conditions haven\u2019t changed,\u201d says <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/anna-maria-kochanska\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Anna Maria Kochanska<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a strategist who advises governments on digital nomad policy, and has been nomadic since 2017. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Anna Maria tends to avoid Airbnb, negotiating directly with apartment owners for midterm rentals, but even so, her rental outgoings are much higher in 2025. \u201cI\u2019m based in Barcelona at the moment, and of course, one solution is to go to new and emerging destinations, with fewer tourists and nomads, but my travel costs are going up too, so I\u2019m moving around less frequently.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Popular digital nomad hubs like Barcelona, Lisbon, and Mexico City are losing their affordable edge, as available housing dries up, prices rise, and neighbourhoods are transformed to meet the needs of itinerant knowledge workers. Local residents are tiring of the impact remote workers are having, and have been <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theolivepress.es\/spain-news\/2024\/08\/05\/us-digital-nomads-blast-xenophobic-anti-tourism-movement-in-spain-while-others-say-theyre-scared-to-speak-english-in-public\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">protesting against the influx<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\/><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The souring of once-beloved hubs is leading nomads to look elsewhere and decamp to more off-the-beaten-track destinations. According to 2025 data from <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nomads.com\/digital-nomad-statistics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nomad List<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which tracks cities, locations and remote workers through the trips booked on its platform, cities like Sarajevo, Portimao, and Varna are emerging as some of the most popular among nomad, with 46% of them staying in one city for less than seven days, and 33% staying between seven and 30 days.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Fatigued_by_visa_strategising\"><\/span>Fatigued by visa strategising <b><br \/><\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While some digital nomads are travelling less and avoiding established hotspots to mitigate rising expenses, others are turning their backs on location independence entirely. <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/kach.umandap\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kach Umandap<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has been nomadic since 2014, originally starting as a virtual assistant, then moving into blogging and e-commerce. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cFor a Filipino like me, there are a ton of limitations on the places I can visit visa-free, but I was determined to visit every single country in the world,\u201d says Kach. \u201cI had to be really strategic about planning and already figure out where I would go afterwards, which is perhaps not the carefree image you have of digital nomad life.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During certain weeks, Kach would spend more time arranging visas and doing travel admin than her actual job. She often had to do expensive visa runs to neighbouring countries to reset the clock. For example, when based in Vietnam, she needed to travel to Laos every 30 days, pay for transport, a hotel, and a booking agent each time. Having achieved the goal of working from all 193 UN member states and spending thousands of dollars each year on visa <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>lications, Kach has returned to the Philippines to slowly establish her base there.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1413753 js-lazy\" alt=\"Kach Umandap in Turkmenistan\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1536\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2025\/05\/Turkmenistan-5-1.jpg\"\/><figcaption>Kach in Turkmenista, one of the 193 UN states she\u2019s worked in. Credit: Kach Umandap<\/figcaption><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1413753\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2025\/05\/Turkmenistan-5-1.jpg\" alt=\"Kach Umandap in Turkmenistan\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1536\" srcset=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although new digital nomad visas are being rolled out constantly \u2014 the latest include <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/travel\/2025\/01\/02\/taiwan-to-join-japan-south-korea-and-thailand-in-offering-a-digital-nomad-visa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Taiwan<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.business-standard.com\/immigration\/philippines-launches-digital-nomad-visa-joins-likes-of-thailand-indonesia-125042900782_1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the Philippines<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014 many are launched hurriedly, so governments can have a horse in the race in the global talent tussle. Each one has <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/7306da01-9889-4068-beb7-c2ef123466ec\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">wildly different eligibility criteria<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and often high minimum income requirements. Iceland, for example, requires a <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theworkingtraveller.com\/iceland-digital-nomad-visa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">monthly salary of $7,763<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (\u20ac6,868). <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Few digital nomads actually even engage with these visa programs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Grappling with a messy landscape and muddy definitions of \u201ca digital nomad,\u201d those eligible are being deterred. For nomads who do try, an application can take months to process, and putting one in only to find out you aren\u2019t eligible due to poor signposting is hugely stressful. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe have the best lifestyle in the world, yet the worst ecosystem,\u201d says Gon\u00e7alo Hall, CEO of NomadX, a global platform for digital nomads and president of the Digital Nomad Association Portugal. \u201cNomads have the numbers, energy, and economic force, but the cohesion is missing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\/><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What\u2019s more, n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">omads with <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.passportindex.org\/byRank.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201dweaker\u201d passports<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, such as those from Syria, Pakistan, and Nigeria, have a hard time travelling compared to those from the EU and North America. With ongoing conflicts, political instability, and changing immigration laws, crossing the next border for a period of remote work is getting more intimidating by the day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People drop off from full-time digital nomad lifestyles for many reasons though, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">from loneliness and moving too often<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to dealing with bureaucracy and the precarity of their careers. \u201cIt\u2019s not for everyone, and although many people experiment with the lifestyle, they discover the real struggle a few months to a year in,\u201d says Cook, of UCL. \u201cIt gets harder over time, so successful, long-term nomads need to be disciplined, resilient and self-motivated \u2014 in many ways, the perfect neoliberal person.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cook is in his eighth year of collecting data in Chiang Mai, Thailand with the same group of people and estimates that 90% of the nomads in his research give up the lifestyle in the first year or two. \u201cThey tend to start hyper mobile, but end up craving place and being embedded in communities, which is not easy to sustain while living on the move,\u201d explains Cook. \u201cThis is compounded when their income situation is precarious.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"A_strong_pull_no_matter_the_cost\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\/>A strong pull, no matter the cost<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wysetc.org\/2023\/01\/growth-and-developments-in-the-digital-nomad-market-since-covid-19\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">60 million<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> digital nomads predicted to have joined the ranks by 2030, the lifestyle \u2014 despite, or even because of its challenges \u2014 remains alluring. For the knowledge workers who are forcibly displaced due to war, climate disaster, or fears of persecution, digital nomadism offers the chance to earn, even when on the move.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For today\u2019s remote workers, change is the only constant, and roaming patterns will continue to shift, as people adapt and find ways to thrive amid global change. They might choose to housesit through platforms like <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nomador.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nomador<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.trustedhousesitters.com\/join-now\/pet-parents\/?utm_source=google&amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;utm_campaign=googleads_direct_search_owners_uk_acquisitions&amp;utm_content=all_bm&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=21941635564&amp;gbraid=0AAAAADBK-M6dGDT3IQ8c8iK6A3s8DMZRN&amp;gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjIqb1_6BjQMVWphQBh20lhHpEAAYASAAEgKGTvD_BwE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trusted Housesitters<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> instead of renting, become an e-resident in a country like <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.e-resident.gov.ee\/blog\/posts\/from-geoarbitrage-to-digital-arbitrage\/#definition-of-digital-arbitrage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Estonia<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to maximise profit and minimise cost, or travel less and embed themselves deeper in a community. After all, the same autonomy and flexibility that draws people to this lifestyle also enables them to overcome the hurdles that come their way.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\/><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Back in Bali, the <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.asiapropertyawards.com\/en\/bali-leads-the-charge-in-indonesias-rental-boom-while-other-regions-struggle-to-keep-pace\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">housing and rental market<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is booming \u2014 and the <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/article\/2024\/sep\/10\/indonesia-bali-tourism-hotels-moratorium\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">clamour about overtourism<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is getting louder. To slow its development and ease local worries, the Balinese officials have floated the idea of a <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/travel\/2025\/02\/27\/bali-floats-steep-daily-tourist-tax-amid-concerns-over-mass-tourism-and-unruly-visitors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tourist tax<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, set to cost around $100 (\u20ac88) per day. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the current climate, Sophie is paying \u00a3750 (\u20ac881) a month for her cabin in Bali \u2014 just \u00a370 (\u20ac82) shy of the room she rented in London \u2014 so she cannot save and is feeling the pressure to maintain her earnings. \u201cThe only thing that means I can make it work is the culture and lifestyle \u2014 for example, I work when my clients are sleeping, because of the different time zones,\u201d she explains. \u201cIt eases my anxiety and enables me to solve problems more creatively.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As many of her friends return home due to rocketing costs, Sophie is committed to staying put. \u201cI\u2019m in a privileged position to be working on some big projects, and am paying taxes in the UK and contributing to the local economy here,\u201d she says. \u201cI have to keep checking in on myself, but I\u2019ve come to a very conscious decision: loving Bali and this life as much as I do, why should it be any cheaper than where I started?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/category\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/digital-nomads-struggle-costs-red-tape-geopolitics\" target=\"_blank\" >Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sophie Rucker had been living and working in London for five years when a trip to a yoga training school in Bali presented her with an alternative to the rat race. Despite enjoying life in London, witnessing digital nomads balance work with sun, sea, and relaxed vibes in the Indonesian island province prompted her to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":671326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/tnw-blurple?filter_last=1&fit=1280%2C640&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn0.tnwcdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fblogs.dir%2F1%2Ffiles%2F2025%2F05%2FUntitled-design-47.jpg&signature=73ddf9234fdcbb87e7a40b83358d96c1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-671325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}