How Work Has Changed While Traveling Full-Time

As I write this article, I’m sitting at a coworking space in Bogota, Colombia. I’m happily perched with my MacBook on my lap, subtly swaying on an oversized swing, listening to Spanish, German and English clamor around me. This is my office today. And a few blocks away is my home, or at least my temporary resting space before I’m traveling to Mexico City in a week or so. Then Cabo. Next Jamaica. Then South Africa.

Then, who knows?

As I approach my 12th month of traveling full-time as a digital nomad, the concept of ‘work’ has shifted dramatically for me. My offices are as transient as my interests: in September, I frequented beer halls in Prague, while in January I started my day sipping juice out of a fresh coconut Chiang Mai. And in April? I worked from yet another transitory home in my robe, in the Miraflores district until it was time to watch yet another dazzling pink sunset from the roadside cliffs of Lima, Peru (with a pisco sour, of course).

I know this all sounds dreamy — and at times, it really is — but also, it is work. A lot of it, actually. I log as many hours — and then some — as a freelancer than I did when I was gainfully employed. And though sure, I caught plenty of Instagrams (and okay, feels) as I passed through 20 countries over the past 365 days — I’ve also doubled my output. And my clients. And most importantly, my happiness. I’ve done it with my own rules — and in a way that is not traditional to most.

For now, anyway.

The definition of what it means to ‘work’ continues to shift as remote opportunities continue to rise. And considering there have never been more freelancers in history as there are now, I’m definitely not the only professional who has carved a life for herself where timezones, set hours and weeks are undefinable and ever-changing.

This life isn’t forever for me — though I fully intend on traveling up to four months a year moving forward. Even so, this globetrotting period has not only changed me as a woman but as a journalist and citizen of the world. I hope to remain a “solopreneur” using many of the lessons I’ve collected abroad to further my career and talents.

Here, just a few I always pack with me, wherever I roam:

Read the rest of my story here.