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Untethered
Living the digital nomad life in an uncertain world
By Nathan James Thomas
Published by Exisle Books
ISBN 9781933539694
New Zealander, Nathan James Thomas is the veteran digital nomad. Several years ago he started travelling at the age of 17 when he bought a ticket to travel around Australia on the Greyhound Bus network
Since then his travels have taken him far and wide and to some exotic destinations. In 2014, Nathan founded the digital travel magazine Intrepid Times as a vehicle for sharing stories from the road and as an excuse to meet and interview his favourite writers.
In his third book, Untethered, he shares the benefits and pitfalls of designing an unconventional life living and working in different countries as a digital nomad. Is this the life you've dreamed of having? Time for a reality check and to get helpful tips and hints.
This is an easy and relatively quick read, which would be helpful to keep to refer to from time to time. The information is well thought out and easy to understand using personal experience from people who are successful digital nomads.There are helpful tips in each chapter for making the big change to becoming a remote worker or digital nomad, or, perhaps not after reading the challenges that lie ahead.
Nathan wrote Untethered in the latter part of 2022 as the world was coming out of the pandemic which made life rather difficult for digital nomads and remote workers. He also explains the differences between being a digital nomad, a remote worker and an expat, plus discusses which may best suit the reader's personality.
You may want to remain as a full-time employee with the company for which you are currently working and negotiating remote working or consider other options such as freelancing, with guidelines on how to do this, or to work as an digital nomad entrepreneur. There are suggestions on marketing your services, where to find work that is well paid and not to sell yourself short. Nathan also discusses visas and border controls.
Several established digital nomads share how they work to fund their travels over various time frames., Some spend less than a month in each place while others several months and up to a year. While the idea of ditching the day-to-day life in your home country may sound appealing if you have seen ads with people working on a beautiful exotic beach, I suggest you read this book first.
It can be tricky when your bank blocks your access to your card because a perfectly legitimate transaction looks dodgy or you are searching for the best wi-fi options for zoom meetings while wanting to fulfil business obligations. Included are several useful websites covering everything you might need.
Going on holiday to various destinations is fun but having to do this and earn a decent living can come with its pitfalls. It isn't easy as you think, especially if you don't speak the local language and know the local way of life.
A lot of the information resonates and makes good sense. This is something I can relate to as several years ago I lived in France for a five months while working in Australia. However, I noticed that the people interviewed for their stories mostly worked during their daytime which made me wonder how much time was left to enjoy each day in the country they were living.It also meant they may not have been available during their client's or employers usual working hours. I adjusted my time to work Australian times, beginning at 2;30am and finishing work by 9:30am Monday to Friday, leaving me free to go enjoy and explore France, while living as a local. It did mean I had to go to sleep earlier but it was worthwhile.
Untethered together with Nathan's other book Travel Your Way would be helpful reading preparing this big life change whether it be for taking a gap year, sabbatical or for a long term life change.
This is independent review, I am not paid by the publishers, so.If you Liked this review, Buy me a coffee
