- Quick facts
- Total days on the road: 586
- Currently in: USA
- Miles Driven: 36821
- Countries Visited: 17
- Days Camping: 389
- Days Indoors: 202
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Plan Your Trip with Google Earth and Google Maps
{jcomments lock}Google Earth and Google Maps are two online tools that we use frequently to plan and record our travels. Google Maps is great at finding places we want to go, calculating mileage and giving driving directions. Google Earth helps us keep track of long itineraries and document where we've been.
Creating and Sharing Documents in the Cloud
{jcomments lock}No matter your profession; storing, sharing, backing up and collaborating on documents are tasks you will need to adapt to a location independent lifestyle. Taking your job or business on the road requires that you simplify many processes you previously took for granted. You also have to worry about security, both in terms of physical access and keeping backups in case of emergency.
In recent years, tools for creating and storing documents have moved to the cloud. That’s a fancy way of saying that your documents can now be written, saved and backed up online. You can also share these documents with others, and collaborate in real-time. These features have many potential benefits for remote workers, as well as a few drawbacks.
This article describes my experience using several of these tools, and explains the pros and cons of using online document management tools and traditional laptop/desktop-based programs while you travel.
Paying Taxes in your Home Country When You Aren’t Living There
{jcomments lock}If you aren’t actually in your country of citizenship, do you need to pay taxes in that country? Is it really necessary? Will anyone ever know if you don’t?
The short answer is—Maybe. It depends on where you are from, where your employer is from and how long you are traveling.
This article doesn’t discuss whether you need to pay taxes where you are currently living or traveling to. I’m only discussing if you need to pay taxes your country of citizenship if you are not actually residing there.
U.S. Business Structures
{jcomments lock}If you are considering becoming location independent, it is likely you will also be making a career shift. Most digital nomads are in business for themselves. They are either service-based freelancers, contractors working for a single company, or entrepreneurs. All of these types of work usually require the formal creation and licensing of a business.
Once you decide to start your own gig, you’ll have to determine what type of business structure is best. Your business type determines how you handle taxes and who is in charge of business decisions.
I list the specific types of businesses at the end of this article, but first there are a few key things to understand. My apologies to our international readers, this article is only helpful for US-based companies.
Balancing Work and Travel
{jcomments lock}All digital nomads eventually face the challenge of balancing time spent traveling and time spent working. In principle, it’s the same as balancing a normal life with a normal job. It isn’t something you can figure out overnight and then forget about. It’s a constant back and forth between earning enough cash and taking time to enjoy your travels. You will be happy when neither work, nor travel, seem like a chore.
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Subcategories
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Online Tools
Online Tools
As internet services continue to grow, online tools are becoming a great asset for location independent professionals. Here you'll find information about the various software tools we use while working and traveling. From managing documents and sharing files to ensuring your precious work stays safe while you're far from home.
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Managing a Business
Managing a Business
The life of a digital nomad presents unique challenges. Whether you are a freelancer, telecommuter, or an entrepreneur, working and traveling forces you to change how your business is managed. You have to maintain the books, pay taxes, write checks, pay bills, collect money and find customers, all without a permanent address. Below you’ll find our advice for dealing with these issues, and articles about how to balance work and a location independent lifestyle.
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Freelancing
Freelancing
This section addresses how to transform an existing freelance business into one that can be done remotely from around the world. How do you manage clients, get paid, work with time zone differences and not get fired when you are potentially thousands of miles away?
The Life Remotely team consists of a graphic designer, web developer and a software developer. We have such a huge variety of clients that we’re confident this advice will apply most all freelancers.
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Getting Started
Getting Started
Becoming a full-time digital nomad is a daunting task, there is much to consider and plenty of mistakes to be made. You should be willing to accept a few risks and plan for flexibility. Getting started as a location independent professional is not much different than starting a long-term travel adventure. Your goal is to combine and simplify many aspects of your life and to plan for the additional burden of working remotely while you travel.
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Cruise Ships
Cruise Ships
What is it like to live and work aboard a cruise ship? This question we have heard over and over again. In this category we hope to demystify some of these questions.
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The Lifestyle
The Lifestyle
Want to know what being a digital nomad is really like? In this section we delve into the nitty-gritty details of day-to-day life. Learn how both your work and travel habits will change. As well as logistical details like how to schedule work, maintain a work/life balance and what challenges to expect.
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Telecommuting
Telecommuting
The rise of the internet age has allowed many professionals to work remotely. Telecommuting continues to be a growing trend for a variety of careers. If you spend your day on the phone and behind a monitor, chances are your job can just as easily be done from home, or while traveling.
The articles in this section outline the types of jobs that can be done remotely, and provide helpful resources for professionals who wish to transition their jobs to telecommuting positions. We’ll also give you some advice for being a successful telecommuter and what you can do to keep your boss happy with your new lifestyle.
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Staying Connected
Staying Connected
Staying connected with your clients, friends and family is one of the most logistically challenging aspects of becoming a digital nomad. At the same time, you don’t want to be tethered to technology, whether you need to check emails, manage a project, upload files or just make a phone call. Here is some advice for maintaining your availability while keeping cost and stress to a minimum.