How to live a Digital Nomad Lifestyle: My Experiences

What is a 'Digital Nomad'?

I define it as someone who is location independent: they have some form of income (e.g. online freelancing or passive investments) and the flexibility to live where they want. They have perhaps a low salary for a rich country (e.g. $1000 or $2000 per month) but can choose move to a country where you can live well for much less ('location arbitrage').

Why is South America a great place for a Digital Nomad?

Before giving this answer, I can only speak from my experience - living mainly in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.

Lots of online freelancers are attracted to Asia, and in the past places like Thailand were the top choice. Amazing food, very low cost of living and a party atmosphere. However in recent years visa laws have tightened and it is becoming harder to live long term in these countries without a traditional job like teaching english or enrolling in an educational course.

I think the South of South America is a great place for a location independent worker because:

The people are incredibly friendly.

From my experience in East Asia I found it hard to make genuine friendships with locals. I had a few bad experiences where people became rude and/or aggressive at me for no reason. Perhaps I broke a cultural rule or maybe they just felt bitter about rich foreign tourists. In South America once you learn a reasonable amount of Spanish (or Portuguese) you can fit in with local people in their environment: spending time with their friends at a bar or restaurant in the local tongue. The culture is much more similar to Europe. Learning these languages is much easier for Europeans or Americans than many of the languages spoken in Asia. I've had times where I've missed my friends in a bar, and locals will just come up to me and make a big effort to include me in their party. English people are not particularly liked in Argentina after the 1982 war (just read the comments on any Argentine news story about the UK), but for me I've only experienced great warmth from local people.

Less Strict Visa Laws

In many South American countries you can get a 3 months visa on arrival, and sometimes increase that to 6 months for a small fee. I've met loads of long term foreigners here and many stay for years on multiple tourist visas.

Cost of Living

South America is much cheaper than places like New York or London. Buenos Aires is probably the most expensive place I've lived in South America, but still here my rent is around a fifth of what I pay in London and in a far better location. Governments tend to have things like free health care and subsidised travel. For me living in Buenos Aires, the subway is around an eighth of the price in London and buses are much cheaper too. Once I took a day-trip to a tourist city and it was just 1.1 pesos ($0.07 USD) each way on the train. A similar thing from London to Brighton would be perhaps £25 ($32 USD) return. Taxis are really cheap, rarely more than $100 pesos ($6.14 USD) for small city-hops. That said, depending on the country some things are surprisingly expensive where the state has been messing with importation taxes to promote local industry. In Argentina electronics and food in the supermarket is much more expensive than the UK.

Great Lifestyle

People are really happy. Family relationships are closer with families often meeting every week. It's incredibly easy to make new friends and have a good social life. Because things are cheaper you can afford to go out more often. When I first got here I was spending a lot of money on frivolous things as it was so much cheaper. I like it when I see old people everywhere, being cared for by their younger family members.

Healthcare

Perhaps a surprising one, but in my experience private healthcare is of very high quality, at least in Buenos Aires. There are public hospitals that are free, but if you pay about $2800 pesos per month (around $170 USD) you can get top quality health insurance. If you are sick the doctor will come to your house, you can get in depth medical checkups where they spend hours doing different tests and you can get all your dental work (fillings etc) paid for by the insurance. I had a few fillings from the UK, the material they used is actually banned in all of South America for health reasons. British people love the NHS (National Health Service) but once you experience private medical care like this it will be impossible to go back!

Safety

Sometimes when people speak about South America, they talk about it like it is a really dangerous place full of drug dealers, guns and smugglers. While you have to be careful not to go to bad areas, if you are careful it can reasonably safe. The dangers are generally from people that are very poor or that have drug problems. In the UK there are more dangers from stupid things, like drunken fights. I've never seen a drunken fight here.

Pace of Life

Everything is more chilled. This is probably worth a separate post of its own because I have too many anecdotes to fit in here.

Questions for Discussing in the Comments

• Are you a 'digital nomad', or considering becoming one?
• Where is the perfect place to be a 'digital nomad'/location independent worker?
• Can you live a digital nomad lifestyle from Steemit rewards alone?
• Do you agree with my comments on why South America is the best place to be a digital nomad?