If you are traveling somewhere for remote work, you might find these travel hacks for digital nomads, especially helpful. Make sure also though to let us know of your travel hacks too!
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Table of Contents
1. Create a Digital Copy of Your Passport
Make sure you scan the key pages from your passport and then save it onto a password-protected cloud space or in a special folder on a web-based email address.
If you lose your passport or have it stolen, you will then have an easy way to access and print the passport number and other details to expedite the process of getting a replacement.
2. Carry a Couple of Passport Style Photos
There are so many situations as we travel and work as digital nomads where a passport photo can be so handy.
It might be to get a discount card or membership to some local group.
It certainly does no harm to carry a couple of spare passport photos and they might come in real handy.
3. Use Digital Nomad Travel & Medical Insurance
As a digital nomad working online from locations around the world, I recommend having the right type of insurance and medical cover.
I recommend Safety Wing.
Safety Wing’s policies are underwritten by Lloyds of London and they provide specialized insurance and medical cover for Digital Nomads.
4. Use the Local Data Allowances in Whatever Country You Are Using a Glocalme
It is now possible to create your own WiFi signal and at a very low price and even in the remotest of locations worldwide and very easily.
The trick is to use local data allowances and to do this with very little effort a Glocalme device does the job brilliantly. The unit finds the best local data allowances and costs and you buy the data on the Glocalme in your own language.
If you are in Spain, for example, just buy a local Spain data package on the Glocame and then use it as a WiFi hotspot.
5. Use a Mailbox Service
It is easy these days (and more than affordable) as a digital nomad to have a postal address in your home country that you pay for, and to then have any postal mail that goes to that address, opened, and then scanned and emailed to you and/or forwarded to you.
In the U.S. you can use a service such as Travelingmailbox or in the UK UKPostBox.
Whatever country you are from, there is likely to be a similar service.
6. Avoid Relying on One Credit Card
A very common mistake I have seen many nomads make is only taking one credit card with them.
You might lose it, the electronic strip on the back gets damaged or for some other reason, the card becomes unusable.
Always have at least one backup credit card you can use.
7. Acclimatize to a New City – Do One of the Free Walking Tours
There are many free walking tours that you can do these days in the major cities (although I recommend giving a decent tip if you find the tour good).
Going on one of these tours is a great way to acclimatize to the city you are in.
Some companies who offer these tours include:
Even if you are in a city as a remote worker playing to stay for say a month or longer, one of these free walking tours really gives you a chance to hit the ground running, by giving you an instant understanding of the key areas.
8. Carry a Travel Water Bottle
Don’t pay for bottled water in the airport or on an airplane.
Use your travel water bottle and fill it once you are through security in an airport. It’s always a good idea to travel with water.
9. Use Effective Clothes Folding for Travelling
You can free up a huge amount of packing space if you use this packing technique.
Take a look at this video below and you’ll see exactly how it’s done.
Master how to fold clothes the right way and it is amazing how much packing space you can save.
10. Consider Using Coliving Space
As a remote worker in a new country or destination, why not solve the accommodation + social + Internet access considerations all in one go?!
As a remote worker staying in coliving space is a fantastic concept and it brings together all of these elements together. In a good coliving space you expect:
- High-speed Internet access (so you can work from your accommodation as needed)
- Organized events and social events for those staying in the coliving (this is one of the aspects that makes coliving different from the likes of an Airbnb or hotel)
- Good quality accommodation normally with a big kitchen and communal area
- Co-working space is also normally close by or attached to the coliving location.
>> You can read the post we have already done on our favorite coliving spaces around the world that we’ve visited.
11. Use a VPN for Accessing the Internet as You Travel
It is essential to stay secure as you travel and work.
Whether you are using an iPad, mobile phone (cellphone), laptop, or other portable device, using a secure WiFi or connection is essential.
I strongly recommend using a VPN (Virtual Private Network).
It is extremely easy. You just load the program onto your device and click to access the Internet by going through the VPN.
There are many VPNs but I use PureVPN and can recommend it.
12. Use a Chapstick (Lip Balm) Container to Hide Cash
There are certain places many digital nomads and other travelers put cash and the most obvious is in a money strap.
Personally, I like to roll up some emergency money and place it inside an empty chapstick container. It’s a great hiding place and less commonly used.
13. Use a Portable Laptop Travel Stand
Ergonomics is essential to consider if you are sat at a computer all day, as many of us digital nomads are.
Save yourself future back and neck problems and make sure you use a laptop stand, even when traveling the world.
The easy solution is a foldable laptop stand!
14. Secret Flying for Flight Bargains
If you want to be informed of the latest flight bargains, then sign up for the Secret Flying newsletter and set your location.
You will receive a daily email with the very latest amazing flight deals and it’ll be customized for flights to and from your region.
15. Being Smart with Your Luggage Packing
When traveling as a remote worker to go and spend several weeks or months abroad, you can face the issue of what to take.
A quick tip here is to optimize what you can take by following these two rules:
- Wear your heaviest clothes (so that you can save on baggage weight if needed)
- Use all of your hand luggage allowances (to maximize how much you can take with you)
16. Download Google Maps Ahead of Your Trip
If you are traveling to somewhere new and where you might have issues getting WiFi or if you are worried about what the data costs, consider downloading Google Maps for that place.
You can download Google Maps for free and view them offline! Just go to:
- Google Play for Android devices
- iPhone and Apple devices
Once you have the Google Maps app open and are signed in, search for the place you are visiting, such as ‘Bangkok’.
Then, on the bottom, select the address of the place you’re visiting and then click the ‘Download’ option to download.
17. Packpoint Smart Packing App
Packpoint is an extremely useful app that is very simple yet very effective.
In simple terms, packpoint is an app that suggests what you need to pack, based on the:
- climate
- location
- type of trip (business trip, remote working, beach)
- length of trip
You might be traveling to Costa Rica for the first time and going during the summer and planning to stay for several months to remotely work as a blogger from there.
Let Packpoint help you decide what you need to pack!
Sometimes the very best apps and tools are the simplest.
18. Try Flying on a Tuesday
Although flight prices can vary drastically and because of many factors, Tuesdays and Wednesdays tend to be the cheapest days of the week to fly!
It’s not an exact science, but it is what we personally have always found and it is supported by findings from airfarewatchdog.
19. Use the Hotel TV to Recharge Your Devices
For charging devices such as a smartphone, camera or an iPad, if you have forgotten your charger, do not forget that you can use the USB socket on the hotel’s TV to charge your devices.
As a digital nomad on the go, this can be a great way to charge your devices.
One huge caveat though: please do not forget and leave your device in the hotel room when you leave. I have warned you!
20. Download the Free Digital Nomads eBook onto Your device
If you haven’t already done so, download the Free 30-page ebook on WFA (Working From Anywhere) as a Digital Nomad.
[mailerlite_form form_id=0]21. Use Instant Camera Translation with the Google Translate App
Another app that we absolutely love and have found incredibly useful as we travel as digital nomads, is the Google Translate App (here for the Android version and here for the iPhone version).
The beauty of this app as you travel is that you can:
- Use the camera on your phone to take a picture of something (such as a food menu) and then use the app to translate the text in the image.
- You can download the app onto your phone and use the app offline as needed too.
22. Use Lounge Buddy to Use Airport Lounges at Good Rates
Yet another amazing app that we love and use often and that we highly recommend is the ‘LoungeBuddy’ app/service.
The one app provides you with access to all of the main airport lounges for airports worldwide and you can reserve at what seems often to be a discounted price.
The app is only available at the moment on iPhone but you can, of course, use the website on an Android phone or device as needed.
- LoungeBuddy website
- LoungeBuddy iPhone app
23. Use Compressions Packing Cubes
A brilliant space-saving technique we sometimes use also when traveling abroad to work for long periods is to use compression packing cubes.
It is amazing how much more you can store using compression!
If we are going on a long trip, i.e., a month-long or longer to work remotely somewhere such as in Costa Rica, then we use the compression packing cubes to take as much as we can.
24. Get Free Travel Cash Back
Quidco is a fantastic way to get FREE cash back simply by clicking through via their website.
It really could not be easier as you just go to Quidco and do a search for whatever travel or business service you are looking for. Then you click through and you’ll get a commission from Quidco if you make a purchase.
Visit Quidco here.
If you are looking to build a business online also to help support you as your travel and work remotely, as we have done, take a look below at our blogging intro course.
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- What Is Co-Working and the Benefits for Digital Nomads - January 6, 2024
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