The Downsides of Being a Digital Nomad

“Wow, that’s perfect!” That’s the response I often get from fellow travellers when I say I work online and am slow travelling for an undetermined amount of time. From the outside, the digital nomad lifestyle looks like a dream: walking barefoot to a beachside café, sitting in class from a hammock with monkeys in the background, and logging into meetings from tropical co-working spaces.

And don’t get me wrong—it can be dreamy. But after over a year of remote work and fulltime travel, I’ve also come to realise that this lifestyle isn’t always as effortless or energising as it appears. In fact, the more I’ve embraced it, the more I’ve learned about the complexities and the downsides of being a digital nomad.

Photo by author

What Digital Nomad Jobs Really Look Like

There are many types of digital nomads, and it all depends on your job, your personality, and your travel style. You might be working a full-time 9-5 remotely, managing freelance gigs, running an online business, or, like me right now, doing an online Master’s while working part-time. There are digital nomads that travel fulltime and there are digital nomads that have a steady homebase and take occasional digital nomad trips to popular digital nomad hubs.

What type of digital nomad you are, affects everything: how long you stay in one place, how much you can explore during the week, whether your time zone aligns with your work, your budget, and your capacity to actually enjoy the location that you are in.

So when people ask, “What jobs allow you to travel freely?” or “What remote jobs can I do while travelling?”—the truth is: it depends. A lot of digital nomad jobs require serious structure. If you're in meetings all day, your freedom may be more imagined than real.

During a recent trip, I planned to stay in a beach town called Caraíva (Brazil) for just three or four days. I extended my stay five times and ended up staying for almost two weeks. It was a magical place with incredible vegetarian and vegan food alongside fresh fish dishes. Yet, between attending classes and work calls, I barely scratched the surface of that place.

That’s the trade-off: if you’re working full-time or studying while on the road, don’t count on exploring everything—unless you stay somewhere for several weeks or months. You cannot always just arrive in a new location and expect to both work and be present. One or both will suffer at some point.

What surprised me most was how working remotely as a digital nomad slowly shifted how I experience travel. The whole context of my work—my colleagues, clients, and projects—is somewhere else entirely. So even if my body is in Central America, my mind is still navigating deadlines in Europe. That constant switching is draining.

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At one point in 2024, while working from Puerto Escondido in Mexico, I realised that I had stopped feeling curious. I had stopped seeking stories and I had stopped playing. I was too preoccupied with work. I decided to take a break from my work hours and enjoyed several days just swimming, surfing, fire spinning, watching sunsets, hiking, walking barefoot, and doing yoga again because I wanted to and not because I should.

In those days, I remembered what made me fall in love with travel in the first place: being present, being in my body, being inspired by new environments, cultures, and people. Not just checking off deliverables from a beachfront.

That clarity eventually made me take a big step months later: I decided to quit my "perfect" remote job and decided to focus on my freelance work instead.

Digital nomad life ≠ travel freedom

So, here’s the real talk: digital nomad living isn’t just about sipping smoothies on a hammock. It’s also about missing out on what’s around you because your focus is pulled elsewhere. It’s about trying to balance Wi-Fi signals with wanderlust, deadlines with day trips, and productivity with presence.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t make it work. Many do and I eventually did. But it requires choosing the right destinations, the right jobs, and the right rhythm. (Where to digital nomad is a huge question in itself—and should depend on your work setup, time zone, and energy needs.)

Whether you stay in digital nomad hostels, short-term rentals, or co-living housing, your accommodation while digital nomading also affects how easily you can work and live in a place.

Photo by author - One of my favourite digital nomad-proof accommodations

I used to think that because I was a digital nomad, I had a great work/free time relationship—I always avoid the phrase “work-life balance” because I am a firm believer that when you work, ideally, you should also feel alive, right? But I’ve realised: being remote and flexible doesn’t automatically make your life fulfilling.

And sometimes, the only way to reconnect with what energises you is to step away—even from the dream job you thought you wanted.

So, if you’re wondering how to become a digital nomad or looking for digital nomad jobs without a degree (like my first remote job), the most important advice I give to anyone now is: take into account that freedom does not automatically come with a remote job.

Ask yourself why you love travelling and what kind of person travelling allows you to be. Then, try to find a digital nomad job that aligns with that passion for travel, rather than settle for any job that is remote. How you like to travel or live as a nomad AND the type of work you do matter.

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