Digital Nomad

The baby boy life

Sometime during the lock down I stumbled upon a YouTube video about living in Asia. I felt the gods of Google were showing me something because I had been telling anyone who wished to listen about my love for the continent. It all started when I almost accepted a scholarship in 2019 to study medicine in Wuhan. (Yes I dodged a bullet, I know)

So why Asia?

First of all, no, it’s not because of the babes (though I love them). It’s because of how ridiculously cheap it is in comparison to living in Europe or the USA.

The irony is I live in Lagos.

Problem number one: you need to earn in dollars.

This meant since I couldn’t finance myself (Nico, Vini, Gundo) to travel across all of South-east Asia and live in each country for at least a year, so the next best thing was to consume a lot of content on it.

Can’t be broke to travel and be broke to watch YouTube videos. Two Ls don’t make a W.

So I began watching video after video about living in the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, China(??), Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea, Japan and Thailand… yeah just as you paused, so did I.

I had found Thailand; I practically fell in love with the country and, this led me to the channel of a guy called Chris the freelancer. To say the least, it was magical!

I got introduced into a whole new lifestyle, one for people who just travel and work. Considering I have a history of not staying in one place for too long, this fit me perfectly.

But what do you call people who travel around different countries while working remotely? They’re called Digital Nomads and this is because they are location independent. Meaning you only pay for what you use; you aren’t restricted to a particular geographical location and in some cases that means no taxes.

For me, it means escaping the possible implosion of my country and taking a stab at World Domination. (cue evil laughter)

Seeing people flexing with good accommodation (Lagos real estate people take your sub); enjoying a great community of creatives who are also nomads; eating great food; basking in a beautiful scenery and eating food so good you have to say it again. (I ate with my eyes, don’t ask me anything)

All for $600 a month. That’s roughly ₦270,000 a month. Yes, everything is inside. Rent too. Don’t believe me? See for yourself.

I will like to point out however, that it’s hard being a nomad just as much as it is exciting. Pros and Cons.

Now what bugs me about this is that there are people who spend that amount of money ($600 or ₦270,000) monthly and still don’t get the comfort they deserve and desire. So for me that was the very undoing of my love for Lagos. I had embraced the baby boy life; ready to jump on a plane with a school bag and a duffel as I travel around South-East Asia while working.

Only problem is I'm not that rich yet and UpWork thinks they’re sleek not to have verified my freelancer account.

Anyway, I definitely want to spend my entire twenties travelling and doing new things. I mean thank God for remote work because this would’ve been HARD.

That being said, do you like travelling?