1000 digital nomad days

Anywhereism 1000 digital nomad days Infograph




In January 2013, Rome was our first destination. A short two-day stop over before heading to Asia. I still remember the feeling, somehow unreal; confused but curious, scared but determined. Relieved. Wandering through the ancient ruins, wondering what next.

P1010741Forum Romanum, Italy.

P1020784 Angkor, Cambodia. There's going to be company.

P1070233 Uxmal, Mexico

When getting excited about yet another temple starts to feel like work, it's time to turn the attention back to the everyday life again. For those who mostly stay put, travel often means vacation. That leads to the conclusion that digital nomads are always on one. In contrary, many of the nomads we've met seem to be the hardest working people.

P1030342Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The daily commute — not our thing.

You can learn tons about new places and cultures in 15 minutes: the first fifteen after entering a new place, that refine your preconceptions with a handful of experience. After gaining some surface level understanding, getting deeper into the local culture turned out to be quite challenging. One reason, or excuse, for that is the fact that we spent most of our days online, in a different world than the people around us.

The local language would be one key to the culture,  but often too much for us, as we would need to learn more than a few of them. I've picked up some Spanish, improved my German, learned and forgotten a few words in many other languages. For me the most fun part is learning new alphabets. Next up is Arabic. This time I won't stop before I know at least one hundred words.


guanajuato_31Guanajuato, Mexico

At first we stayed in hotels — in Asia that was quite affordable — but switched to rental appartments and Airbnb, in Europe almost exclusively. Those felt much more cozy and interesting in the long term, while also providing us a peek inside local people's homes. We've continued moving every few weeks. It's much more fun when you can fit all your belongings into a backpack.

P1040672Tallinn, Estonia. No need to visit Ikea this time either.

Housesits have been a nice way to stay, with a cat or a dog or two. In addition to daily excercise, they have brought structure and routine to our sometimes a bit irregular lifestyle. We get a glimpse of what it would be like to settle down somewhere…

P1060757New Orleans, US

In the beginning I imagined working in cafes, coworking spaces, and by the beach. In practice we mostly work from home, where ever that might be at the moment. Some places have been great, some not that much, but usually always good enough.

We've kept office in tiny windowless rooms, in lakeside cabins, in a tent on a camping ground in a thunderstorm, in shady motel rooms somewhere in Louisiana, on a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic, in cold albuergues along the pilgrimage route of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, in all-inclusive hotel during the Coworking Camp in Turkey. Yes, we've worked by the beach too, but that accounts only for a tiny little fraction of the time.

P1010881Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Hostel room and a wifi.

2015-05_08-finland-35.jpgCottage by a lake

2015-04-transatlantic-cruise-3.jpgAllure of the Seas. Yes, there was a wifi available in the middle of the Atlantic.

P1100402Camino de Santiago, Spain. After a long day's walk, pilgrims need food, warmth and — wifi.

coworking-camp-mirjeCoworking Camp, Turkey

P1030195Otres Beach, Cambodia. Even if the power went down every once in a while, the wifi worked with backup batteries. Priorities in order.

Working anywhere — as Christine from Almost Fearless put it — easily turns into working everywhere. For us to really unplug it requires leaving our laptops behind and going to a place with no internet access. That's becoming harder every day. If you find some remote corner of the world with no connection, take some time to appreciate it. Next year there might be a McDonalds and free wifi.

P1030591Anak Krakatau, Indonesia

2015-03-cuba-5.jpgHavana, Cuba

We love to travel far, but we enjoy returning as well. The whole Europe, even with its regional differences, feels like home when arriving from overseas.

P1050599Lisbon, Portugal

cat-under-tableKastellorizo, Greece

Every now and then we visit Finland, our home country. It's always nice to visit friends and family, especially around midsummer and Christmas. We seem to spend quite a lot of time here too, like at the time of writing this.

2015-05_08-finland-16.jpgSastamala, Finland

sun-over-frozen-riverKokemäki, Finland

Around the time when we had 50 days of nomadic life behind, Simon of Never Ending Voyage wrote about their 1000 days.

I read it again now, and found myself nodding all the way through it — it's still a good read, and I pretty much agree on the points he makes there. Back then I didn't really believe we would continue that long.

Now it feels like we've just started.

2015-California-roadtrip-12.jpgHighway 1, California

Antti and Mirje

We are Mirje and Antti, a 30+ digital nomad couple, entrepreneurs with restless feet and passion for experiencing the world. more »