When I stumbled upon this article at Discovering Ice — the little voice inside me that is brutally honest yelled, “F-yeah!”— brings to light how working on the beach is not practical — many highly public digital nomads claim that they are able to work from anywhere, with few to no restrictions. This includes working on the beach and in extremely remote areas.
I appreciate the freedom of the this lifestyle, but there are restrictions. For one, my electronics are highly reliant on electricity — that seems like an obvious “duh” statement, but I have heard podcasts that suggest you purchase a new fancy computer (Macbook Air) so you can go longer without needing to plug in. In our most remote romping, there was a generator only in the evening; meaning there was no electricity or Internet throughout the day. Days can get pretty long when you rely on the Internet and you are waiting for the generator to start its sweet, sweet humming.
Wi-fi is another beast all together. Sometimes it’s surprisingly hard to find borderline decent Internet in urban areas. We are currently in Central Vietnam and it’s hit or miss in large hotels even. Right before we arrived in Danang, a shark had its’ way with one of the underwater cables supplying precious Internet to a portion of the country. The Internet was “fixed” the day before we were scheduled to arrive.
I will admit, in Thailand we found a beach shack that served great fresh coconut and Malibu shakes and received the wi-fi signal of the restaurant across the street. In this unique situation we were able to work and cocktail on the beach, while the sun set over the mountains. Although, let’s be honest… when the sun is blaring down on you mid-day it is bugger hot! Also there’s a magical thing that happens with most screens in bright light: you can’t see them. There’s also this little phenomenon: sand. Have you ever noticed it gets everywhere, even when you are careful? Brings to mind having sex on the beach… sand in places that sand should never be.
I chose this lifestyle because I wished to break free of restrictions and rules. While we are not doing the “9 to 5 grind,” we do to conform to another set of rules and requirements inherent to this lifestyle. Part of that is wearing a good deal more sunscreen.
Ashley is exuberant about location independence! She relishes new experiences and working with boutique hotels and resorts. She’s always thinking about design and food… and where they’ll travel next!
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