Digital Nomad Trial Run
, updated:

Digital Nomad Trial Run

In roughly a month, I will be boarding a flight to Colombia South America and plan to stay for 33 days working truly remotely and living life as a “digital nomad.”

What is a digital nomad?

According to Wikipedia…

“Digital nomads are people who use telecommunications technologies to earn a living and conduct their life in a nomadic manner. Such workers often work remotely from foreign countries, coffee shops, public libraries, co-working spaces, or recreational vehicles. It is often accomplished through the use of devices that have wireless Internet capabilities such as smartphones or mobile hotspots. Successful digital nomads typically have a financial cushion or need to develop high levels of self-reliance and self-discipline.”

Wikipedia

Why am I doing this?

When I ask myself this question I keep coming up with the answer “why not?” The year 2020 made us all realize that a) many of us can effectively work remotely and b) we should all travel and explore the world while we can!

Over quarantine I watched a ton of travel vlogs on YouTube (shout out to Brett Conti & Lost LeBlanc). Being stuck at home gave me even more of an itch to travel the world and explore cultures unfamiliar to myself. When traveling to other countries, staying in a hotel for a week you don’t truly experience the culture. Living and working for an extended period of time gives you more time to explore which makes the digital nomad concept very appealing.

Aside from shoots, most of the functions I do on a day to day basis as a video producer can be done from anywhere I have a fast computer, massive storage and a reliable & fast internet connection. As far as coaching goes, although remote coaching isn’t as optimal as in person, we’ve figured out how to make it work—especially for only a month!

Why Medellín Colombia?

Medellín Colombia Skyline
Medellín Colombia Skyline

Many of the travel vlogs I watched were about South-East Asia and while I’d love to go to Bali or Manila, travel there is still restricted so I looked elsewhere. (Maybe someday!)

My criteria in finding a country to go to was:

  1. Open to US travelers
  2. Affordable
  3. Warm in August/September

I quickly stumbled on Colombia since it checked all three boxes.

  • Travel is open with pretty much no restrictions and visa-free travel for US citizens is permitted for up to 90 days (extendable to 180/calendar year).
  • The US dollar goes very far there. The place I’m staying for the month would easily be triple in a good neighborhood in Cleveland and even the CrossFit gym I’m going to is about 1/3rd the price.
  • Colombia is close to the equator so temperatures are pretty much stable year-round however, weather it’s warm or cool depends on your elevation as it’s a very mountainous country.

Initially I looked into staying in the city of Bogotá, the countries capital and largest city. While the city has much to offer, being at a higher elevation temperatures tend to be cooler, especially that time of year. As I researched more, I found that Medellín was a hotspot for digital nomads and has spring-like temperatures year round (it’s referred to as the “city of eternal spring”).

Expectations

Honestly I’m trying to go about this with an open mind. I feel like I’m either going to love it and want to make it an annual thing or I’m going to be super bored and want to go home early. My goal is to step out of my comfort zone, explore the culture and make international friends.

Although I have an apartment to work from in Medellín, I also have weekend trips planned to Bogotá and Cartagena.

From travel tips to experiences, good and bad, I plan to document the experience here with lots of photos/videos. This blog is mostly for myself, but follow along if you’d like!

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